Picture Captions: View from the exit of the Boomslang caves; Fires on Table Mountain(picture driving home, picture from our street); St. Patty's Day at the Dubliner; before entering the Boomslang caves; Molly and I at 100's club.
Sorry it has been so long since I have updated this…I have been very busy…
Anyway last Wednesday in our core class we met with 4 IDASA researchers. IDASA is a private NGO research analysis organization. It was interesting because they basically broke down everything dealing with the government and the country. It was a lot of information to take in, in fact I am still processing everything… After class I spent the evening in the library working on papers...
Thursday after classes I worked on my readings and then in the evening we had another core seminar. This time it was at Bollihope (our home…but in the back house). We met 3 Zimbabwe ‘citizens’ who spoke with us about their experiences in the country and their feelings towards President Mugabe. I say ‘citizens’ because they all no longer reside in Zimbabwe, in fact one of them lost her citizenship years ago, even though she was a natural born citizen the government denied her the right to declare as a Zimbabwean citizen. We watched a short film documentary and it was so disturbing…I can’t even describe what I saw…It was a film produced little over 3 years ago and if you didn’t know any better you could potentially mistake it for a video depicting corruption in the early 20th Century. The government in Zimbabwe is extremely corrupt and President Mugabe is power hungry…although the people vote their votes don’t actually count and he has been in power for years!! People are dying on a daily basis because of food shortages as well as improper sanitation. We read an article before class stating how for Mugabe’s birthday he is going to spend R5 million on a celebratory party, but then it said how the health care system in the country has literally shut down because they don’t have the proper funds for medicines or doctors…. It was horrible…. After dinner we had a Braai with our class and our guest speakers. It was nice, but I couldn’t stay long because I had to finish two papers… I didn’t end up getting to bed until very late because of the papers…
Friday after classes I went to Cocowawa for a late lunch with Molly, it was really good. We then ran errands and got AMAZING frozen yoghurt at Marcel’s in Rhondebosh…sooo good! Later I spoke with Kate for a few minutes on SKYPE!!!!!! The neighbours 100’s club party was a blast..at first it was a bit awkward, but by shot 20 everyone was mixing and mingling. It was a lot of fun, but I definitely cheated. There was no way I was going to make it to 100!!!!
Saturday I woke up and went to Love Green Food for breakfast in Observatory with my friends. It was DELICIOUS!!! I had an egg croissant, and it was the first time since I got here that I had eggs….!! Food her is really healthy and good, but some days I am secretly craving a big fat juicy steak :D yummm.. In the afternoon we decided to go hiking in Kalk Bay and go cave exploring! It was sooo much fun. We took the train two stops past Muzienburg, and it was funny because everyone we spoke with was like, you should really have a guide because it is dangerous…blahblahblah. But we wanted to go exploring for ourselves. So we get to kalk bay and find the trail. It was about an hour hike up, and by the time we got to the top we were soaked because it was so hot out. On the way up though there was this great spot to rock climb. Evan, tyler and I went climbing on rocks for a bit before we moved on. We stopped and ate and we happen to meet Bankers who were on a guided tour, so we lucked out and followed them into the caves. At the beginning of the caves you literally had to army crawl and keep your head down. Not kidding at all, I believe I hit my head a few times on the top of the cave on our way in. I luckily had a flashlight unlike some of the others in the group! But eventually the caves opened up into a big room. It was so cool because it was literally pitch dark and there were bats flying around every where!! When we reached the exit to the cave the view was GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have seen a lot of amazing views since I got here, but I think that was probably my favourite. We then climbed up some rocks and just chilled on the top. It was so relaxing. Then on our way down you had to choose to either go right or left. We decided that we would go left because it was the different way, but we should have known from the beginning difficulties that we were going the WRONG way. Honestly, scary how difficult the beginning was, but then it started to get easier so we thought we were on the right way….that was until the trail just stopped. We thought we just lost the trail so we started to make up our own trail. Which sounded like a good idea at the time….but no, such a BAD idea. Haha we ended up bush whacking our way down the mountain, and if only I could describe what that was really like. Haha it was not at all funny at the time, but looking back it’s hilarious. These really prickly bushes were about to my chest the entire way down and the further you went down the mountain the thicker the bushes became. At one point we were literally running because the longer we stopped to think about it the more it hurt. At one point I jumped off a rock and over a bush where I then proceeded to fall. It was at that point when we all broke down and started cracking up at the situation. Eventually we made it down the mountain only to find the trail we thought we lost! Oyy.. We were starving at this point so we decided to go to this great place right on the ocean called Brass Bells! Although we looked disgusting and were so dirty they served us and I put my legs in the salt water to clean out the many cuts I had all over my legs. At dinner I got a steak, salad, and chips (aka fries) for R75! Ugh so good and so cheap…definitely does NOT make me miss the US. After dinner we finally made it home where I then passed out from exhaustion!
Sunday- Dave took me out to breakfast at this place in Newlands called Melissa’s. I had an egg croissant again! It was delicious! During the day I was planning on doing school work all day, but I went and hung out with the girls in the back house all day. In the evening we went to Café Caprice in Camp Spay. It was one of those places you “have” to go before you leave. And well…it was ok. A wide range of ages, which is fine but not when 50 year old men were drunk and you weren’t….semi-awkward.
Monday was a pretty day at least in the morning it started off that way. Classes were fine, but then it started to mist and the temperature dropped remarkably!! SHAWCO was intense because the kids were so hyper! I went over their ‘right and responsibilities’ because Saturday is a national holiday- Human Rights day. I found it amusing that I was the one going over a lesson with them on their ‘rights’ when I am not even a citizen. Afterwards we worked on money excersies, and this was when they decided to act out of control…seriously. It was insane, but I managed and then of course two boys started fighting and I had to break it up and take them both outside of the class… all I can say is that after 2 hours I was so exhausted! When I got back I decided to run a 5K with the girls again, which was relaxing (in comparison).
Tuesday I went to my 8am but I haven’t been feeling very well lately…the food I have been eating is really started to get to my stomach so I’ve been taking this medicine that my doctor from home prescribed but it makes you drowsy…and wow. Does it! So I had to miss my last two classes where I literally slept for 4 hours straight. I then woke up did some school work and made dinner. Haha After dinner I went to the Dubliner for St. Patty’s Day. It was crowded but fun. The vibe made it much more fun. After the Dubliner I went with Dave to Catu (another irish pub). On the way home I noticed the top of the mountain glowing and when we got to the other side of the mountain the entire thing was on fire. It was so scary. When I got home I took pictures. It was extremely close to us, but they had it under control and luckily the winds were blowing in the opposite direction.
Wednesday when I walked outside the mountain was still smoking but not nearly as bad. Campus was a bit smoky and in the morning they continually brought in water and sand via helicopter to pour on the fires. Classes went smoothly and then for our core seminar we reviewed and discussed current events. It’s crazy because we are already 2/3 of the way finished. We only have 5 more classes including the final presentations and final exam. I will miss that class when it’s over. It’s the only class I actually enjoy going to. – I spent the evening writing a history essay….ugh it was painful.
Thursday after classes I ran errands and spent a good amount of time working on break plans. We have our VAC break in 2 weeks! :D UWC students start their break tomorrow!!
What’s new: I created a flickr account so people can see my pictures. I will not be uploading pictures onto Facebook anymore. So if you would like to see new photos you have to check out my flicr account. You do not need to an account to
view my own. The link is:
Upcoming: I was going to go on a township tour this weekend where you stay the night, but I feel very patronizing and uncomfortable going so I changed my mind. Although a group of them are still going I am going to find something else to do :D
Cave exploring sounds like SO much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol- something right out of a movie, i'm jealous! :)
ReplyDeleteI want to go cave exploring! Minus the part about the pirckly bushes and things haha that would happen to you! Oh and I feel special because I am in your blog! I miss you so much!
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