Disclaimer: this entry is less upbeat, but know that I still love it here!
I’m beginning to grow quite frustrated with the registration process for classes here. I am in a program that is pretty much set. I have several 9 hours a week of Theory of Service Learning and Community Development, 3 hours of Afrikaans, and 3 hours of a political science elective. I really want to take a number of them, but the ones I like best (and am allowed to select) are Negotiating Transitions and Transitional Justice. These were originally scheduled for Saturday morning and afternoon. Not surprisingly, they had low enrollment. The positives are that they are combining the two so I don’t have to choose one over the other and that they are rescheduling. The frustrating part is that I don’t know when (though Friday night is most likely), so I can’t finalize my schedule yet even though we’re two weeks into classes and final decisions are due on Thursday. Still, I’m sure I’ll learn a lot in whichever elective course I end up in and will be glad I could take it.
Today I found out my placement for the service learning portion of my course. I have to say, I was initially disappointed. Last week, the initial list (that was subject to change) posted me at CWS, partnered with my friend Carly. I didn’t know what CWS meant until today, but I was excited to be with Carly and we suspected we would be working with children since that is the most common placement and we both work at summer camps. I found out today that my placement changed to working in the Office of HIV Coordination. That’s an on-campus placement, and from what I can tell so far, it’s mainly an educational campaign. I was placed there because of my background in event management. It turns out that Carly and another girl will be working with children who are HIV affected (HIV+ but not AIDS) or infected (HIV has progressed to AIDS). That was essentially my dream placement. It’s a new community this year because the community where they worked last year isn’t so safe due to uprisings surrounding the upcoming presidential election. When I heard that, I was crushed. I felt cheated: instead of interacting with children in townships, I’ll be staying on campus and encouraging students to get tested and handing out condoms. That’s not what I signed up for.
Now, it’s not fair yet to judge the placement because I haven’t even gotten there yet, and I do enjoy organizing specific projects with an outcome rather than something that is less tangible like making children happier for six hours a week. I’ll have my first meeting with the organization next week and by the end of this semester, I’m sure that I will have a deeper understanding of how to effectively reach out to people and talk about HIV. I’ve wanted to work with HIV care and prevention for 5 years, and this is my chance. I suspect I’ll even be glad I got this placement by the end, but I just hope that I have a chance to get out into the community beyond the borders of the Stellenbosch bubble. For now, I’ll stay positive and try not to judge the experience too much before I find out the full description.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
First Rugby Match!
On Monday I went to my first live rugby game. I didn’t expect it to be such a big deal, but about an hour before students in Maties Rugby shirts started walking towards the stadium. When I got there just after the start of the game (kickoff?), the stadium was packed. It’s probably about the size of Valley Stadium, but with seating in either endzone. Monday night rugby here is as big as Saturday college football in the USA! I had fun watching, though none of us knew what was going on for the most part. I had only limited knowledge from watching a couple of games with avid fans at King’s, an English sports bar in Leiden. My favorite is when the ball goes out of bounds and there’s something called a “line in” (I think) where each team lifts up one of their teammates off the ground to try to hoist him high enough to get the ball before it comes within reach of the rest of the players.
After the game, I had my first meeting as the co-director of recreational activities for the International Student Organization of Stellenbosch. Ironically, my co-director goes to the University of Iowa. We’re really excited about planning adventure trips and hikes and visits to theater events in the coming semester! I’m thinking white-water rafting, sky diving, abseiling (like rappelling), sand boarding, surf lessons, sea kayaking, and at least one hike up Lion’s Head Mountain in Cape Town during a full moon. The best part: since I’m planning them, I can go on them all!
Also, there was a full moon out tonight (or close enough to full that it counted) and that made me happy :)
After the game, I had my first meeting as the co-director of recreational activities for the International Student Organization of Stellenbosch. Ironically, my co-director goes to the University of Iowa. We’re really excited about planning adventure trips and hikes and visits to theater events in the coming semester! I’m thinking white-water rafting, sky diving, abseiling (like rappelling), sand boarding, surf lessons, sea kayaking, and at least one hike up Lion’s Head Mountain in Cape Town during a full moon. The best part: since I’m planning them, I can go on them all!
Also, there was a full moon out tonight (or close enough to full that it counted) and that made me happy :)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Stellenbosch Vineyard Tour by Bike: Asara and Neethlingshof
At about 11am today, I got an SMS (the local lingo for text message) from Kathrin, my German neighbor. I had to laugh at the fact that she messaged me since we can each be standing in our kitchens and talk through the windows to each other. She asked if I was up for a bike ride to a local vineyard. Absolutely! (It turns out she was still in bed and was only planning to get up if I was going, which explains the SMS rather than a knock on the door.)
Stefan, another German in Kathrin’s program, is off exploring Namibia this week, so we had his bike. After visiting a couple of bike shops that were closed on a Sunday, a petrol station attendant was able to help us lower the seat on Kathrin’s bike so that I could actually sit in the saddle while riding for the duration of the day. Kathrin braved the height of Stefan’s bike since she has very long legs and can manage such things. Then, armed with bottles of water, sunscreen, sunglasses, and bags large enough to hold any future purchases, we were off.
Asara is about 5 kilometers outside of Stellenbosch, so not a bad ride, but it’s been a while since I biked in a place that was either sunny or had hills. By the time we reached Asara, we were ready to sit. Luckily, the cellar was air conditioned. We sat down at a large table and made our selections – try any five wines for 30 rands (~$3). As we waited, I practiced my new German phrases (I can now say, “Let’s go out!” and “Have fun tomorrow!”), we listened to two small boys at the adjacent table sing “Twinkle Twinkle” with South African accents, and admired the view of the lake, flowers and mountains.
Between the two of us, we tried 10 of the 12 wines offered for tasting (excluding dessert wines). I was not at all a fan of the Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc, but did like the Sauvignon Blanc and the Chardonnay Reserve. I wanted to like the reds, but on such a hot day (approx 40C/104F), the chilled whites tasted best. We considered making a purchase or two, but decided that it was too expensive (even at $4.50 - $9 for a nice wine) – but what did we expect from a 5-star resort? We wandered around for a bit longer, tasted some truffles (the champagne flavor is nice, the cabernet sauvignon is not), and enjoyed ice cream cones in the shade as we admired the view from paradise.
After consulting the map, we learned that the vineyard next door was also open on Sundays until 4pm. That was 2 km away, home was 5 km, and the sun was at its hottest. On to Neethlingshof we biked.
Then Kathrin got a flat tire.
On to Neethlingshof we walked.
The map was a bit inaccurate in placing the location of the vineyard right on the road as we walked at least .75 km up the oak-lined drive before the cellar came into sight, but we did eventually reach our reward: 6 wines for $3/€2.
We put on our sweetest faces and told the server of our dilemma (a flat tire 7 km from home) and asked if he knew how we might fix it. Indeed he did and as we enjoyed our wines, the house artist patched up the bike. As it turns out, our server had met an American girl on Friday night and wondered if we knew her. Sure enough, when she left the party where she met him, it was to come dancing with us! From then on, we got extra special treatment and he even brought our wine selections out to the patio for us, rather than making us come in to the cellar for the next choice.
Neethlingshof is a strange vineyard in my mind because while I really liked the Gewurtztraminer at Simonsig and generally like Sauv Blanc and Chardonnay (wooded), these ones weren’t my favorites. However, the Lord Neethling Pinotage was fantastic. [Pinotage is the most famous red wine in the Stellenbosch region.] Of course, it was the most expensive on the list and I didn’t have enough of a desire to bike it back home again. At closing time, we paid for our tasting, ascertained an offer of a free tasting in the future, and promised to deliver the server’s number to our friend.
The bikes were fixed and we were set to go. 1.5 km later, Asara appeared at up the road. If I haven’t mentioned it, and I’m sure I have, the African sun is hot, and the atmosphere is thin. Kathrin is quite tan having spent the past 5 months here, but I have only reached “not pale” and occasionally “bright red”. Asara is open until 6pm on Sundays, has several dining options, and is air conditioned. We turned back into the vineyard we had left only two hours earlier and made our way down to the tapas restaurant. We had great seats in the shade on the deck overlooking the water that gave us the sensation that we were on a dock.
Kathrin ordered a Sauv Blanc/Chardonnay mix, her favorite from the earlier tasting, and pizza. I ordered the Sauv Blanc and stuffed calamari, and we got orders of ostrich and fish to start. The food was good, the wine was great, and the view was breathtaking. I decided that this would be a great location for my parent’s first meal in the country and Kathrin thought the same for her friends who are coming in from Germany next weekend.
At 6pm, we finished our meals, jumped on the bikes for the final leg of the journey, and returned to our flats, thrilled with a Sunday well-spent.
Stefan, another German in Kathrin’s program, is off exploring Namibia this week, so we had his bike. After visiting a couple of bike shops that were closed on a Sunday, a petrol station attendant was able to help us lower the seat on Kathrin’s bike so that I could actually sit in the saddle while riding for the duration of the day. Kathrin braved the height of Stefan’s bike since she has very long legs and can manage such things. Then, armed with bottles of water, sunscreen, sunglasses, and bags large enough to hold any future purchases, we were off.
Asara is about 5 kilometers outside of Stellenbosch, so not a bad ride, but it’s been a while since I biked in a place that was either sunny or had hills. By the time we reached Asara, we were ready to sit. Luckily, the cellar was air conditioned. We sat down at a large table and made our selections – try any five wines for 30 rands (~$3). As we waited, I practiced my new German phrases (I can now say, “Let’s go out!” and “Have fun tomorrow!”), we listened to two small boys at the adjacent table sing “Twinkle Twinkle” with South African accents, and admired the view of the lake, flowers and mountains.
Between the two of us, we tried 10 of the 12 wines offered for tasting (excluding dessert wines). I was not at all a fan of the Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc, but did like the Sauvignon Blanc and the Chardonnay Reserve. I wanted to like the reds, but on such a hot day (approx 40C/104F), the chilled whites tasted best. We considered making a purchase or two, but decided that it was too expensive (even at $4.50 - $9 for a nice wine) – but what did we expect from a 5-star resort? We wandered around for a bit longer, tasted some truffles (the champagne flavor is nice, the cabernet sauvignon is not), and enjoyed ice cream cones in the shade as we admired the view from paradise.
After consulting the map, we learned that the vineyard next door was also open on Sundays until 4pm. That was 2 km away, home was 5 km, and the sun was at its hottest. On to Neethlingshof we biked.
Then Kathrin got a flat tire.
On to Neethlingshof we walked.
The map was a bit inaccurate in placing the location of the vineyard right on the road as we walked at least .75 km up the oak-lined drive before the cellar came into sight, but we did eventually reach our reward: 6 wines for $3/€2.
We put on our sweetest faces and told the server of our dilemma (a flat tire 7 km from home) and asked if he knew how we might fix it. Indeed he did and as we enjoyed our wines, the house artist patched up the bike. As it turns out, our server had met an American girl on Friday night and wondered if we knew her. Sure enough, when she left the party where she met him, it was to come dancing with us! From then on, we got extra special treatment and he even brought our wine selections out to the patio for us, rather than making us come in to the cellar for the next choice.
Neethlingshof is a strange vineyard in my mind because while I really liked the Gewurtztraminer at Simonsig and generally like Sauv Blanc and Chardonnay (wooded), these ones weren’t my favorites. However, the Lord Neethling Pinotage was fantastic. [Pinotage is the most famous red wine in the Stellenbosch region.] Of course, it was the most expensive on the list and I didn’t have enough of a desire to bike it back home again. At closing time, we paid for our tasting, ascertained an offer of a free tasting in the future, and promised to deliver the server’s number to our friend.
The bikes were fixed and we were set to go. 1.5 km later, Asara appeared at up the road. If I haven’t mentioned it, and I’m sure I have, the African sun is hot, and the atmosphere is thin. Kathrin is quite tan having spent the past 5 months here, but I have only reached “not pale” and occasionally “bright red”. Asara is open until 6pm on Sundays, has several dining options, and is air conditioned. We turned back into the vineyard we had left only two hours earlier and made our way down to the tapas restaurant. We had great seats in the shade on the deck overlooking the water that gave us the sensation that we were on a dock.
Kathrin ordered a Sauv Blanc/Chardonnay mix, her favorite from the earlier tasting, and pizza. I ordered the Sauv Blanc and stuffed calamari, and we got orders of ostrich and fish to start. The food was good, the wine was great, and the view was breathtaking. I decided that this would be a great location for my parent’s first meal in the country and Kathrin thought the same for her friends who are coming in from Germany next weekend.
At 6pm, we finished our meals, jumped on the bikes for the final leg of the journey, and returned to our flats, thrilled with a Sunday well-spent.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Forest Fires Blazing
On Wednesday, I got up and did a bit of scheduling to try to sort out my classes, then packed a lunch and met up with the ISU gals for a hike up Stellenbosch mountain. Hannah, Liz, Shelly (William & Mary in DC), and I made the 30 min trek across town to the base of the mountain, then hiked up for another 30 min or so before taking a break. We intended to hike further up to find a picnic spot, but all ended up sitting on tree trunks, enjoying the view and chatting away as we let the sun turn our hair lighter and skin darker (a paradox that Hannah brought to our attention). Before we knew it, we had to get back down so two of the girls could get to class on time.
I did not have a class to get to, so took advantage of the fact that the gym was at the base of the mountain to try out the equipment. After a quick work out, I met Kathrin and Carly at the pool for sunbathing and swimming laps.
Not too long after we arrived, we saw smoke rising from somewhere beyond the gym. Later, a helicopter flew over towing what appeared to be a container of water. We stayed at the pool for a while, enjoying the last real day of freedom before classes got into full swing. Then Carly headed home and Kathrin and I headed to the Adventure Center to plan for our upcoming visitors: Mom, Dad, Jim, Gina, and Susan for me (YAY!) and two friends from Germany for her. After spending an hour or so with our travel agent, Kathrin introduced me to THE place to get smoothies in Stellenbosch. The smoke had gotten thicker while we were at the travel agency and by the time we finished our drinks, the sun was blocked out by the black smoke originating from the mountain, so all we could see was a pink dot of the sun. It was eerie. We put on sunglasses for the walk home to keep the ash in the air from blowing into our eyes in the wind.
We had a braai (South African bbq) that evening in the courtyard of my residence, but the main attraction was not the fire on which we were grilling, but the one on the mountain. My roommate returned from volleyball practice to tell me that the flames were only feet away from the gym and she had a sore throat from breathing in all the ash. From the third floor walkway of our building (about a mile from the base of the mountain), the mountain looked like lava flowing from a volcano. For the girls from Arizona it wasn’t anything new, but I had never seen a forest fire in person and was amazed at the sheer power of the wind to spread the flames, and the human inability to contain it.
The fire blazed on throughout Thursday, Friday, and today. We watched as the wind carried it from one mountain to the next. On Thursday night, it was mainly burning on the far side of the mountain which created an amazing silhouette of red around the peak in the darkness of night. My camera wouldn’t focus right, but I’ll get pictures from Leena to share.
I got up today for a 10am class. Yes, I am writing on Saturday. “Negotiating Transitions” looks like such a fantastic course that I thought I would try it out, and I can probably manage at 10.00 – 13.00 class on a Saturday morning while most of my friends are still in bed. As much as I would love to take “Transitional Justice,” though, I will not take the course from 14.00 – 17.00 on a Saturday. I was back and forth on the class during the lecture. On the one hand, it’s a course with fascinating topics and it goes in depth on the topics and I think I would learn a lot that I can use in my future. On the other hand, it is a Saturday and the two professors were clearly incapable of saying in 10 words what could be said in 10 minutes. The question: could I handle such complete answers, knowing that I could hear what they said, go off in a tangent about a related thought in my head, realize I wasn’t paying attention three minutes later and start again and not miss anything? Not on a Saturday. But at the same time, I still felt so inspired by the end of the class that it was tempting. Until we went 20 minutes overtime and I lost patience.
At the end of class, a number of students address the professors about the fact that class was on Saturday (they seemed to be oblivious to the fact that study abroad students might be phased by this). After a long negotiation, we agreed that Fridays from 16.30 – 19.30 in Cape Town would be a much better meeting time for all involved (pending agreement by the International Office to find a venue and transportation), and I was happy again, despite just having agreed to take a course on Friday nights.
I spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around. It was really too hot to do anything and the whole town felt dead. We had a surprise party for Ethan in the evening (he turns 20 on Monday), and then the most amazing thing happened: it rained.
Logically, we changed into our swimsuits, set up the slip ‘n’ slide into the inflatable pool, and played in the rain and sprinklers.
We all had dinner at Carly’s, then Kathrin came over and we watched Scrubs on my bed. It made me miss my Leiden roommates. In December it became habit that several nights a week we would watch a movie in Annamieke’s room if we got started early or an episode of Scrubs in my room if we didn’t finish up reading and papers until later in the night.
As I go to sleep, I don’t see any more flames in the distance.
I did not have a class to get to, so took advantage of the fact that the gym was at the base of the mountain to try out the equipment. After a quick work out, I met Kathrin and Carly at the pool for sunbathing and swimming laps.
Not too long after we arrived, we saw smoke rising from somewhere beyond the gym. Later, a helicopter flew over towing what appeared to be a container of water. We stayed at the pool for a while, enjoying the last real day of freedom before classes got into full swing. Then Carly headed home and Kathrin and I headed to the Adventure Center to plan for our upcoming visitors: Mom, Dad, Jim, Gina, and Susan for me (YAY!) and two friends from Germany for her. After spending an hour or so with our travel agent, Kathrin introduced me to THE place to get smoothies in Stellenbosch. The smoke had gotten thicker while we were at the travel agency and by the time we finished our drinks, the sun was blocked out by the black smoke originating from the mountain, so all we could see was a pink dot of the sun. It was eerie. We put on sunglasses for the walk home to keep the ash in the air from blowing into our eyes in the wind.
We had a braai (South African bbq) that evening in the courtyard of my residence, but the main attraction was not the fire on which we were grilling, but the one on the mountain. My roommate returned from volleyball practice to tell me that the flames were only feet away from the gym and she had a sore throat from breathing in all the ash. From the third floor walkway of our building (about a mile from the base of the mountain), the mountain looked like lava flowing from a volcano. For the girls from Arizona it wasn’t anything new, but I had never seen a forest fire in person and was amazed at the sheer power of the wind to spread the flames, and the human inability to contain it.
The fire blazed on throughout Thursday, Friday, and today. We watched as the wind carried it from one mountain to the next. On Thursday night, it was mainly burning on the far side of the mountain which created an amazing silhouette of red around the peak in the darkness of night. My camera wouldn’t focus right, but I’ll get pictures from Leena to share.
I got up today for a 10am class. Yes, I am writing on Saturday. “Negotiating Transitions” looks like such a fantastic course that I thought I would try it out, and I can probably manage at 10.00 – 13.00 class on a Saturday morning while most of my friends are still in bed. As much as I would love to take “Transitional Justice,” though, I will not take the course from 14.00 – 17.00 on a Saturday. I was back and forth on the class during the lecture. On the one hand, it’s a course with fascinating topics and it goes in depth on the topics and I think I would learn a lot that I can use in my future. On the other hand, it is a Saturday and the two professors were clearly incapable of saying in 10 words what could be said in 10 minutes. The question: could I handle such complete answers, knowing that I could hear what they said, go off in a tangent about a related thought in my head, realize I wasn’t paying attention three minutes later and start again and not miss anything? Not on a Saturday. But at the same time, I still felt so inspired by the end of the class that it was tempting. Until we went 20 minutes overtime and I lost patience.
At the end of class, a number of students address the professors about the fact that class was on Saturday (they seemed to be oblivious to the fact that study abroad students might be phased by this). After a long negotiation, we agreed that Fridays from 16.30 – 19.30 in Cape Town would be a much better meeting time for all involved (pending agreement by the International Office to find a venue and transportation), and I was happy again, despite just having agreed to take a course on Friday nights.
I spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around. It was really too hot to do anything and the whole town felt dead. We had a surprise party for Ethan in the evening (he turns 20 on Monday), and then the most amazing thing happened: it rained.
Logically, we changed into our swimsuits, set up the slip ‘n’ slide into the inflatable pool, and played in the rain and sprinklers.
We all had dinner at Carly’s, then Kathrin came over and we watched Scrubs on my bed. It made me miss my Leiden roommates. In December it became habit that several nights a week we would watch a movie in Annamieke’s room if we got started early or an episode of Scrubs in my room if we didn’t finish up reading and papers until later in the night.
As I go to sleep, I don’t see any more flames in the distance.
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