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.

Parent Township Extravaganza

Well, they survived my surprise weekend. It definitely wasn't what they were expecting, but they made it through...

This Friday I took my parents on a surprise weekend adventure which they had a bit of an idea about, but never knew the specifics. I took them to Khayeltisha (the township where I work) to a nice shack B&B for the night. There is this incredible woman in the community named Vikky who has renovated her shack for guests to come in and experience life in the township. Let's just say it was a weekend they will never forget. We arrived late afternoon to find 2 Christian American girls staying the night there--one of them works for Young Life! We all became fast friends and then walked around the neigborhood a bit, drank some traditional shack-brewed Africa beer(see my post on Langa for details) and then had dinner with Vikky and her family. There were tons of kids around so most of the rest of the evening was spent playing hand games, tickling, playing with hair, and talking to Vikky about Apartheid and her whole story of the B&B.

They next day I arranged for my friend Thabo to come and pick us up for a larger in depth tour of 2 townships. He did a fantastic job of showing my parents around (he grew up in Langa and now lives in Khayelitsha). The parents did pretty well until we went to a traditional healer--Thabo and I both agreed that that might have been a bit much. I guess all the animal skins and bones hanging on the walls with the dried herbs and one random string of condoms might have been too much culture shock for our little adventure so we finished the touring part there.

We then headed to yet another township called Guguletu (goo-goo-LAY-too) to an huge outdoor Braai (BBQ) place called Mzoli's. We were met by most of my housemates and friends for a huge braai to hang out talk and just be in the township community. There were close to 200 other Africans at this place and it wasn't even that busy! (We were there on a Saturday and Sundays are the crazy day) Anyways, they made it through my township extravaganza and I think they learned a lot (which was a huge part of why I had them come). They saw that the township wasn't just a place of extreme poverty, but a place of intense community where people live and just do life. They are the same as you and I only in worse conditions. Just people doing community with what they have.

All in all it was a successful weekend. To get the real first-hand emotions, I will tell you to ask them about their trip. They are the ones who were out of their comfort zone all weekend so they have way more stories about how they are feeling! Happy Monday!

They're Here!

This post is a bit tardy, but the parents arrived safely on Monday afternoon! They will be here hanging out with me until next weekend---that's 2 whole weeks, folks! It's so good to have them here and just sit and talk with them, I guess I kind of like them :) Anyways, I'm off to class before suprising my parents with a weekend adventure. Have a fantastic weekend!

Service Work

Wow, I just logged in today to see that I haven't posted in quite a while. Sorry about that guys! I know you always are waiting with baited breath for my next post....well, maybe not really, but it's a nice thought anyways.....

I've recently been just going about life as usual in Africa. Ya know, going to class, going to Khayeltisha, waiting to do laundry until it's sunny because we don't have a dryer, hitchiking home from the American Consulate, sending roommates on scavenger hunts all over Cape Town for their birthdays, spending too much money at Cocoa Wah Wah and spending afternoons at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens or the beach. Life's rough, huh? :) I have so many little stories here and there and I guess I should post about them so that I actually have record of them happening, but I just haven't taken the time. Part of that is because I'm being stingy with my internet. You see, here in Africa everyone pays for internet by the megabite. Now I don't know a lot about computers, but I do know that websites like Facebook, YouTube and any other site with large graphics takes up a ton of megabites. Hence, I haven't gotten on my internet recently at my house to post. Ok, enough of excuses.....

Now that I've gotten my rambling out of the way, I thought I would let you guys know about my service work. I've talked to several of you via email, phone, facebook, skype, etc so I guess I just assumed that I had posted about. ANYWAYS......I'm taking 2 classes at UCT which means I'm done by 11am with school. Then, a bus comes to pick me and housemate, Marianne up and takes us to Khayeltisha, one of the largest townships in Cape Town. There are just over 4 million people in Cape Town and 1.2 million of them live in Khayelitsha (kai-a-leet-sha). Anyways, on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1-2.30pm we teach a beginners class in information technology. There is a wide range of abilities of the women in the class anywhere from never using a computer before to barely knowing how to open Microsoft Word. We spend a lot of time in that class with double clicking and clicking and dragging, both very hard concepts for someone who is never around computers before. We started with about 15 women in that class, but our numbers have slowly dwindled down to about 6 regulars. It's kind of hard because most of the women walk to class and the last two classes it has been pouring down rain. The time before that, the power was out at the center (also something that happens randomly and there's no way to get it back on). So, hopefully the weather will be nice and more women will want to come back.

Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays we teach our advanced class. I LOVE our advanced class!!! Some of the women were in a previous IT class so they kind of know the basics of what's going on the computer. But these women have such a passion and determination to make a difference and break out of the cycle of poverty. One woman wants to start her own catering business and so we spent a week on Excel and the importance of budgeting. Another woman wants to get a job as a secretary and so we work with her to improve her typing every week. This class is required to do a powerpoint presentation for the rest of the class at the end of the term which they are terrified of, but it will be so good for them. They really try to learn the concepts and the skills because they realize how much it can help them.

Working in Khayelitsha has really opened my eyes to how much everyone her in South Africa can help to end such horrible poverty. White South Africans DONT go into the townships, the only white people you see in Khayelitsha (if you see any white people) are ususally foreigners who are volunteering. But I take an hour and a half out of my day every day to teach women how to use computers. I don't really know that much about computers, but it's more than they have ever learned and so I can help to teach them the basics. This gives them the confidence to go out and look for a job and the skills to be qualified for a job. IT skills open up a whole new realm of possiblilities for jobs for these women and then they can set an example in their community of how they took an initiative to make a difference. I know I'm not saving the world over here, but if one woman gets a job because of this class, then my time here was worth it. It just blows my mind that giving just a little bit of my time and knowledge can literally make a world of difference to these women. If someone gets a steady job, then they don't have to worry about if their kids can eat at night or if they are able to go to school. I know this sounds pretty cliche, but I see poverty every single day. They need inspiriation and encouragement and a few skills to make it in the world. If everyone here just took a little bit out of their day to teach or empower these people, think about what a different place we would live in.....

The Blessings of Globalization

As I sit here tonight drinking my South African Rooibos tea and eating "The Original Tennis Biscuits" I am thankful. Thankful of so much in general--life, travel, my house, warm clothes (yes, it's still cold here), but more specifically I am thankful for the community which I am a part of here. Tonight I went to bible study just as any Tuesday night, but for the first time since I've been here, I felt like I was a valuable member of that group. I walked in the door to loads of hugs and "Lindsay!" exclamations which was so encouraging. I was absent last week because of my trip to JoBurg and everyone was asking how it was and saying that they missed me last week. It was so exciting to realize that I have moved from just the international student that showed up a couple times to a friend and companion of this group of amazing Africans. Just last Saturday I went to the beach with one of the girls and we spent the afternoon talking and laughing the afternoon away! It has been an absolute answer to prayer!

There were also 2 new people that showed up to bible study--a girl from Germany and a guy from Holland. So that puts white students at a total of 3 in the study :) I love foreign cultures!!! Getting to talk with them was great and they really had a lot to add to the conversation and new perspectives on life. The guy actually spoke not only English and Dutch, but Swahili and Xhosa too!! So here I was in South Africa, an American girl talking in Xhosa to a guy from Holland while Ngami next to me is telling me to stop in Swahili! What a global living room that was!!

Anyways, I was just super excited about the new friends that I have made here and the fact that we are more than just bible study aquaintances now. We have plans to go to the theatre next week and a coffee shop later! Well, my tea is almost gone now and I've eating 5 too many tennis biscuits so I should probably go. Hope everyone back home is having a fantastic day!

Spring Break! (Part 2)

I guess I should finish the story I started earlier. I know you all are waiting with baited breath.....ok, so maybe not, but I'll finish it nevertheless.

Remember that we had just arrived in this old apartment complex to find that the gallery had only 4 paintings on the wall. Everything in this place was dirty and run down, but the man who welcomed us in was very talkative and we began to chat. He told us that his name was Peter Sibeko and he was from Soweto himself. He then told us about how he grew up and his artistic beginnings at age 11. After that, he told us in great detail about the 4 paintings on the wall and then just when we thought that was all, he took us over to the corner to a large filing cabinet with about 7 drawers. As he pulled out drawer after drawer, he took out all sorts of original artwork from artists all over Soweto as well as himself. He told us about those artists and their lives, struggles, successes and art as well as the paintings and what they meant. He must have gone through 50 pieces with us and there were still hundreds more to look at! It was so incredible that we spent at least an hour there completely captivated by this man's stories. Here was this man who lived in a tiny little dirty apartment who didn't have enough space to display his art and he opened up his place to us and was willing to share so much! It was incredible!!

I found 2 pieces that I really really liked, but did not have the cash to pay for them at the time so we thanked him for his time and said that we would call him later. I went home and thought about the pieces for a while and through the help of my mom (thanks mom!) I was able to go back on Monday and purchase the both pieces! I bought my first 2 pieces of original artwork in a sketchy apartment complex in down town Johannesburg from an incredible man! It was so great!

I will definately post pictures and write more later, but for now some African friends are coming over to the house to make s'mores! They didn't even know what s'mores were! It was kind of difficult getting the ingredients because they don't sell graham crackers here and the marshmellows are ALL flavored. They're pretty nasty if you ask me, but we'll do our best! Enjoy your Saturday!

Urgent Prayer

Some of you may have heard on the news that there was an American student from Georgetown University who passed away Monday in South Africa. To fill you all in, Terrance Davis was studying abroad with CIEE (my organization) when a freak wave came up on to the rocks he was sitting on and washed him out to sea. He was with 4 other people some of who were washed out as well, but Terrance couldn’t swim. They have yet to find his body. While I wasn’t close with Terrance, I knew him and we would greet each other every time we saw each other. He volunteered twice a week and picked up the bus right outside my house and I shared a cab home with him just a few weeks ago. He always had a smile on his face and was so full of joy for life. Everyone here is still in shock at his passing and I don’t think it has quite sunk in that he is gone. If you could keep his family and everyone here in Cape Town in your prayers it would be greatly appreciated. It was a completely freak accident as the day was sunny and calm and the wave came out of nowhere.

It’s weird because you read about these things happening, but you never think that they will happen to someone you know. It is yet another reminder that we do not know the number of days we have left on this earth. Kind of puts things in perspective doesn’t it? Please keep us in your prayers. It’s a hard time for everyone. Hope all is safe and well with you guys in the States.

P.S.- I promise I will finish my story from the previous post soon, but it does not seem appropriate now.

Spring Break! (Part 1)

This spring break kicked off early Friday morning when Liz and I headed out at 6.45am to catch our flight to Johannesburg (aka- JoBurg). We had a rough itinerary planned, but by the time we arrived, we changed it multiple times. On Friday we checked into our hostel and caught a cab out to Constitution Hill. This used to be a prison where many political prisoners were held and tortured during the apartheid regime but now is the home of a major courtroom in South Africa. It was very interesting to see a place where so much injustice was carried out now is a place where justice is sought out everyday.

Saturday was the real adventure…..We started off the day at the Carlton Center which has a view of the city from the 50th floor. Got some pics there and then headed out to the Soweto Art Gallery. We walked for about 15 minutes to the intersection where it was supposed to be, but couldn’t find it. So, we just kind of wandered around the area looking for a sign or something to tell us where it was. Now, you have to realize that there are certain parts of JoBurg that aren’t exactly what you would call “nice” in the States. After searching for about 10 more minutes, Liz and I realized that we hadn’t seen another white person in a while and most of the people around us were men….Good thing Liz and I both realized this because we started walking very quickly back to the intersection. For the first time in my life, I experienced what it was like to be a part of the minority. My area of town in Cape Town is very diverse and mixed because of the university so this was completely different. Anyways, we finally found a sign for the art gallery which said it was on the 2nd floor of this building. Well, this building was more like an old shady apartment complex with cracked stairs and places where there used to be windows, but were no longer. We went to the second floor (which was actually the third, but that’s beside the point) and wandered up and down the hallway without finding anything. Then there was this room with bars over the door and a little tiny sign that read “Soweto Art Gallery.” We looked thru the bars a bit before a guy came out and let us into a little room with a computer and desk attached to another small room with 4 paintings on the wall. That was it….4 paintings….We had wandered around for half an hour to see 4 paintings….little did we know what was in store for us….

(to be continued…..)