YAY PICTURES!!!!

I have reached the conclusion that any sort of long term commitment to post on this blog on a regular basis is extremely difficult for me. As of late, I have been busy with finishing up my service, writing papers and taking exams.


Funny Story- There was a confusion about my Sociology exam on Monday which was kind of a mess, but now I'm sorted. The UCT schedule said that the exam was at 5pm, when in reality, it was at 12.30pm instead. I had studied about 15 minutes when I received a call from my program director saying that the professor had called wondering where we were. I was in town at the time so had to rush up to campus to complete my exam! Thankfully the professor allowed me the full 2 hours to write and I used every last minute of those two hours. I think that was the least I have ever studied for an exam in my life, but I feel like it went very well surprisingly enough. We'll see when the grade comes in! :)


As for the rest of the week, a few hours of sleep and 39 pages later, I finally have finished my research report for Sociology. I really don't like how it is right now, but I think it will be sufficient for a grade. I plan to continue to revise and rework the paper until I feel it is adequate even though I already turned it in. Kind of nerdy I know, but I want it to be perfect! My paper is a report on all of my semester's work and research in Khayelitsha so you can imagine it was quite a big task. I've been working on it for the past 3 weeks and feel no where near where I want it to be. I plan to come back to South Africa to do research later on and I need to have something to show for the research I have already started.

Anyways, that's pretty much what I've been up to recently. My next exam is on the 10th of November and then presentations for my research are shortly thereafter. Crazy! I can't believe this semester is winding down already. I still have a month and a half here, but most of my housemates leave in just a few short weeks :(

Here are the pictures promised that correspond with the last post--hope you enjoy!
***note-if you click on the pictures, you can view them in a larger size!***

Khayelitsha School Girls with Homemade Signs



Table Mountain provided the perfect backdrop for this march


Housemates at Moyo for final dinner
L-R: Deepa, Marissa, me, Alyssa, Liz, Marianne, Rachel, Drew



The girls in black--Marianne, me, and Liz
(I teach in Khayelitsha with Marianne and travel everywhere with Liz)



Sitting at dinner with painted faces!


Nygaards backyard with recent awning addition


Kelsey, Liz, me, and Alyssa


Wishing Ubs a Happy Birthday African style!

I Think It's Been Awhile.....

So I was chatting with the 'rents last night when I was informed that people have been asking about me here in Africa due to my lack of blogging. I apologize to any person who has been diligently checking this blog only to find that I have not posted in a good 2 weeks. I'm sorry if any one of you has suffered from any sort of anxiety, stress, or loss of appetite as a result of lack of communication on my part. Rest assured, I still have NOT gotten mugged, stolen, kidnapped, or hurt in the past two weeks. My lack of blogging is strictly due to the amount of work and fun which have been occurring here in this lovely city. My deepest apologies.....

Now to inform you on the past two weeks:

1. On October 10th, I participated in a "march" (I will explain the quotes in a minute, just be patient) for an organization called Equal Education. It is an activist organization which is dedicated to improving the area schools in Khayelitsha. This particular "march" which received ample tv coverage, was to demand that the Board of Education fix the windows in Luhlaza Highschool in Khayelitsha. I went there about 2 weeks prior to the march and counted over 500 broken windows to the outside. They have promised to fix these windows by 2010 (a lot of things have been promised by 2010 because of the World Cup), but that means that the students must sit through 2 more winters with broken windows. The teachers said that it is hard to teach because of the rain and wind and cold and the students find it extremely hard to learn in those conditions. Anyways, 200 kids from school all over Khayelitsha showed up and sang songs they had written, performed a dance that they had choreographed themselves, and read poetry about their experiences at school. We had a bit of trouble with the police allowing us to march so it actually ended up being a peaceful gathering rather than a march. But, the president of the Board of Education was there and so were some other Cape Town hotshots so it ended up having a great turn out. The students' work was incredibly inspiring and hopefully it struck a chord with the Board.

2. Final Dinner- On Friday, my service-learning program had its final dinner with everyone. It's kind of strange that it is so early because we all are still doing service and have a big presentation at the end of the semester, but it was on the calendar and no one was about to argue for a free meal! Anyways, we drove out to Stellenbosch (the wine country) to a place called Moyo's which is an incredible African restaraunt. The entire restaraunt in outside underneath huge tents with big fireplaces and trees all around. It was kind of like a big bedouin campsite. Now, remember how I said there were trees all around??? Well, it ended up that our table was actually in the tree!!! Yeah, we had dinner in a tree....no big deal :) The food was buffet style and you had every kind of meat to choose from---I had ox tail, ostrich, springbok, calamari, buttered line fish......It was incredible! The food was soooo good and soooo rich! And yes, they had 3 tables for dessert! It was pretty much fantastic! During the dinner, they had traditional tribal dancers and musicians walking around this place for entertainment. They also had people painting tribal designs on faces as well. This place really had it's whole experience figured out because as soon as the sun set, it got pretty cold there so on the back of every chair, there was a huge blanket to wrap up in. How cool is that?? Since we were out in the wine country, the sky was crystal clear and if you looked up you could see a million stars. It was a fantastic way to end the week and we all really enjoyed each other's company.

3. Bruce Turns 50!- Ubs (short for Uncle Bruce) had his 50th birthday party on Saturday which was a huge success. About 60 friends came through the newly renovated house which had an incredible awning over the back patio. It was a no talent contest party so people brought instruments and had a blast playing them, whether they were good or not..... There is a crazy (more traditional) African way to wish someone happy birthday and all the people in my Bible Study wanted to wish Ubs a happy birthday in this way. Somehow, I got roped into this tribal dance/song and had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but it was a lot of fun. Several of us stayed around after everyone had left and we sat drinking wine by the pool and reminicing about the day......

So, that's what I've been up to recently. Besides all of that great stuff, I've been going to plays in Afrikaans (not a good idea), leaving the house at 3am to go watch presidential debates at the 24hr diner, and attempting to finish my research for the entire semester. My last day of actual classes was a week ago today so I'm pretty much done with school now. I have 2 exams and this paper and then I'm finished. Yay! Well, I'm not too excited about being finished....I really don't want to go home (sorry mom and dad, you can come here for christmas!!! :) ). I'll post some pictures later today from the past few weeks. Hope all is well with you guys back in the states (or wherever you are reading this from). I haven't forgotten about you! Much love!

The Parentals Have Left the Country....

Yes, it's true--mom and dad left the wonderful and glorious city of Cape Town on Saturday evening. For those concerned, I talked with them last night and they arrived home safely. The past two weeks have been incredibly refreshing for me and their visit has excited me for the next half of my stay here. I loved simply spending time with them and enjoying their company. My parents spent a good deal of time with my housemates too so that they could get some good parental lovin' halfway around the world. I know my housemates really enjoyed having them here and always refer to them as "such a cute couple!" One of the days they were here, all of us boarded a bus and went out to Hermanus for Wine tasting and Whale Watching. Let me just tell ya, those were some good looking whales! :)

It was great to show my parents around Cape Town and let them peak into what life is for me in South Africa. We went out to most of my favorite places to hang out, spent time with the Nygaards, and they got to come (and help!) in my IT class one day. I'm pretty sure they enjoyed their stay and even though it was sad to see them go, I know it wasn't the last time we will be hanging out in Cape Town. I will (hopefully) be living here again at some point in my life and they are going to have to visit me to see what I'm up to then. If ANYONE wants to come to Cape Town, you are more than welcome to! I would love to show you around! So, start booking your flights now folks because I miss y'all! Hope you are having a great monday!

Mom and Dad walking the streets of Khayelitsha with a new friend.

Housemates in the bus on the way to Hermanus--can you find mom and dad?? (note-please don't mind Marriane in this picture, I'm not sure what she was thinking, lol)

At lookout point overlooking Khayelitsha with Table Mountain in the far background.

By the sea at Hermanus watching whales!

Freeing mother-daughter moment in a field of african wild flowers.