Seriously, Dude: Cape Town Holiday

Monday, April 11, 2011

It had been such a while since I last wrote. Whoops, maybe I’m not very good at this blogging thing. It doesn’t help that internet is scarce over here.

But so much has happened in the past couple weeks, its just crazy ~ Africa and life are crazy! I will be spending my summer in North Carolina where my boyfriend Mark has gotten an internship! I am so proud and excited to spend the summer with him, but we leave a week after I get back from SA. So that’s not as cool. But I have one more student teaching placement in the fall so Mark and I will probably be apart then as well, so I’m just going to enjoy my summer with him. I already have come up with a name for my summer wardrobe collection. SANC couture. A South African influence on a newcomer in the Southern States. Like much?!

As far as school here at VG (Victoria Girls) it is absolutely ridiculous. Today is the start of their term 2 (like their second quarter) so the girls are all riled up about that. Then the Matric dance is this weekend (it’s like prom for the grade 12 girls) so all these girls are getting their hair did ~ it is horrible for me because whenever they add braids or undo them the girls look soooo different. And to think I thought names were hard before! Also, the month of April has holiday from April 1-11 (which we just got back from!) and then we have 9 days of school and then Easter holiday, which is even longer! So teachers are scrambling to teach material and girls are just literally screaming at each other in delight when they see their friends are back from vacay. The hostel was so ridiculously loud last night. It feels so funny to be back at school with everyone already counting down the days till the next holiday.

But I must tell you about my previous holiday. It was our big trip into Cape Town! Cape town is about 12 hours away from Grahmstown. So we rented our car, which was just again, ridiculous. It was bright red with racing strips. It screamed American. Driving was its own challenge and the fact that we made it a whole entire week without any accidents is a miracle I truly thank divine spirits for. Emily was the only one who kind of knew how to drive a manual (cause they only drive manuals here – and they also drive on the wrong side of the road). Kathleen and I both learned, but …. Emily really picked it up by the end of the week. She had to do all our city driving. But we definitely had some issues where people came to our rescue. We almost drove over the edge of a ledge because we couldn’t reverse it soon enough and without being slamming the person behind us. But a parking attendant helped us out, thank goodness! We also got stuck in a festival crowd because we always start with a jolt and we didn’t want to run anyone over! It was pretty much a spectacle. Whenever we would drive our long distances where we didn’t think we would have to do as much Kathleen or I would drive. But Kathleen never really mastered driving on the other side of the road, and I can’t come to a complete stop without stalling ~ its lucky there aren’t a lot of cops here, lets just say that.

But we made it! And it was amazingly beautiful! We drove inland on our way there and it would be like mountains on one side of us and desert on the other. On the way back we drove the garden route, which is kinda along the coasts, so it was ocean on one side, mountains on the other. Just gorgeous.

We went on a treetop canopy tour, which is like zip lining. I thought it would be more thrilling, but it was actually quite peaceful. It was really pretty, just not scary at all. We were up in the super old and tall trees and I felt like a zip-lining Pocahontas. It was so incredibly beautiful. We got to stand in a super tall yellow wood tree, and that was cool because they are heavily protected in SA because it’s the national tree.

We then stayed at a really unique backpackers place. It was crappy in a cool way, the dude running it was named Riann and he was the receptionist/cook/guide/and a total hippie. But the whole place was on top of a hill so the sunrise the next morning was so vivid.

The next day we toured the Cango Caves, which were cool to walk around in, and then we went to an ostrich farm. The ostrich farm was neat because first, I’ve never seen so many ostriches before, and also they are as my grandma would say ‘goofy looking!’ The ostriches used to be raised for their feathers back in the day, but now they are used for their eggs and meat. I got to ride an ostrich as well, it was weird because they have such huge powerful legs and then their wings are like how chicken wings are, just weird! And they’re fast.

We made it to Cape Town and our hotel we stayed in was right in the heart of downtown and right by the Green Market Square. This Green market is an open-air market where the vendors set up and take down their stuff everyday. They also start setting up at 5 am every morning and it’s very loud so we wound up going to bed VERY early almost every night. The market is where I bought a lot of the gifts I’m bringing home for my fam. But these people jack up the prices since they all barter to try to get people to pay more. It makes me wonder what I got that was actually a good deal and what wasn’t. So like I bought a djembe (I know right! How am I going to bring that home!) and at first their price was 900 Rand, but I didn’t want to pay more than $50 so I said my budget was 250 Rand. They pretend to be offended and go on about how their brother made such and such – which at first I bought into, but literally you start seeing the exact same things at some of these booths. These people are tricky and they know it and you know it. Ugh. One seller wouldn’t go down past 450. So I walked away and went to the next guy. Heather and I both bought a drum so we were able to talk him down to 300 Rand ~ that’s like $45! Yay!

While in Cape Town we went to Robben Island, which used to be a prison. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for I think like 18 years or something. They show you his cell and other famous political prisoners, who were kept in solitary confinement so they couldn’t rile people up. It was cool to see all that but it was a little weird. First off, when we took the ferry over to the island the sea was super rough so I was so ready to get off that boat. Then they bus you around the island (people still live there, not as prisoners though) but the tour guide was creepy and kept hitting on people. And at one part of the tour they have a former inmate talk to you, but you could tell he didn’t want to talk about like his personal experience at all. Which I can understand, but then why is he working there. Either way it was cool and weird to think that they only finally stopped using it as a prison in 1996 (I think).

Another day we rode the cable cars up to the top of Table Mountain. You can hike up but it takes a couple hours and its so hot here! There were crazy views from the top of the mountain, and because it’s flat on top you can walk around on up there for quite a while. The whole city of Cape Town on one side and ocean views on the other.

Later that day we went to Vergelegan Wine Estate, which I had randomly picked out of like 80 vineyards in the area to tour. It turned out to be like the second oldest Wine Estate in SA and it was so ritzy and picturesque. Also it was interesting. I’ve only toured breweries before, so it was interesting to see the difference between how wine in made and beer. Parts of it are pretty similar. I didn’t realize that the wood they store wine in has such an important factor in the aging process. We tasted wines after and one of them was white, I forget what kind, but it had hints of green peppers in it and I could actually taste it. I have some beautiful pics of the grounds.

The other really cool thing we did was take a tour around the whole Cape Point. Our guide, John, was really neat to listen to as well. The main thing I really realized on this tour we did is that Africa definitely has its poor people, we saw a ton of townships and some of them are LESS than slanting shacks. But there are also rich people, and lots of them. I feel like in the states we have poor people, rich people, but most are middle class people. In South Africa, there are lots of rich people, lots of well off people, lots of middle class, lots of lower class, and lots of townships. It’s all over and it’s just simply how it is here. Even though the Apartheid was over a while ago, its still black people living in townships. Oh, and I didn’t realize but black and colored people are different groups of peoples here. So there are colored townships, which are ‘bush’ people or people who are indigenous to SA. It’s very complex and it is very interesting to hear things about their government, which is new as well. SA became a country in 1996. I have heard lots of people here compare SA with the States in the 90’s, and I think it is a good comparison. It is interesting to hear what people think about their government and to kind of hear the beginning of problems that we now have in the states. For instance, standardized testing is huge in the States. I mean, some teachers salary will literally depend on how well their students performed on one national test. It’s ridic. In the States it feels like the only things you can teach are whatever will be on that test. And subjects that aren’t on the test, like music and art are being cut sometimes. I get both sides, but it’s still getting intense. Here in SA they are starting on that. Like they have tests that they take very VERY seriously, but it hasn’t gotten to the point that teacher will ONLY teach to the standards represented on the test. But eventually it will. With what teachers have said and looking at the standards (music standards) myself it is a developing process (which is good) but you wonder how it’s going to turn out. Will they let it go down so that they only ‘teach to the tests?’

I digress. But we also got to go to the Cape of Good Hope which a lot of people think is the most southernest point of SA (which is wrong) and where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet (also wrong). It is amazing though, and quite a climb to the top. Very windy, very dramatic! We also toured around and went to Boulder beach. This was probably my fav part of the trip. Boulder beach is a beach filled with Jackass Penguins. And that’s really what they’re called, but if you’re in fourth grade and not allowed to say that word…. You may call them South African penguins, but that’s not nearly as cool. They really do sound like donkeys! But they were so cute; they waddled around and they would stand or sleep by their mates (for life, how cute!). I saw a little baby, it really just looked like a puff of grey feathers. There was a boardwalk so you could walk a little above the penguins while they went on doing their own thing. So ridic though.

Oh and I also bungee jumped from the highest bungee jump in the world. I wasn’t scared until I jumped down and felt that free fall take over. The guys working up top bring you to the edge and count you down and if you don’t jump they push you. I knew I wanted to jump on my own so once they got to one I made sure to look like I was moving. I jumped how they told me to and I remember screaming and hearing it echo back in the gorge below and thinking ‘ah, that’s my voice’. The second part of that first terrifying fall was very cool though. I was probably still screaming, but I felt amazing! I was able to enjoy the rushing sense and freedom of falling for that long.

Also, I’ve decided to start putting up a list in case you all want to start speaking SA English. I’m starting to get hooked on izzit?!

Robots= traffic lights

Just now=later

Now now=almost right now

Later=much much later, like next week maybe

Izzit?=really? (I get this one way too much from teenage girls)

Shame= means the same thing in the US but they use it ALL the time here

Naughty= mean, bad. They never use the word mean unless its like ‘what do you mean?’

Plunger=French press

Rubber=eraser