Papers on Papers on Papers in South Africa…

It is my last week of class, finally. However, I still have 2 more papers I need to write and 2 finals to study for. So class is over but the schoolwork has yet to stop building. Last weekend I finally got to check one of the ‘touristy’ things of my list and go to the neighborhood in downtown Cape Town called Bo-Kaap. This neighborhood is famous because during the apartheid, the residence painted their houses bright colors in rebellion against the forced removals that were being implemented on black and colored South Africans. I also got to walk down Long Street during the day and shop around at many of cool boutiques and stuff. Long Street is somewhere in between Bourbon Street and 6th Street but is probably way more sketchy than both of them. 

Some other updates in my abroad adventure. 

I don’t believe I ever talked about Rocking the Daises, the ACL (Austin City Limits) of Cape Town except for better because music patrons get to camp at the festival and it is on a beautiful wine estate. My favorite artists from Rocking the Daises were Goldfish and KOAN sound. Goldfish is a South African grown electric artist, but seriously youtube it because it’s pretty awesome and all of the people here go nuts over it. KOAN sound is more of a dubstep sound, which I have come to really appreciate in South Africa.

Fast forwards back to the present, which means it time for some reflection as I am sitting at a cafe in University of Cape Town sipping on an Americano. 
When I found out that I would be overseas during the 2012 presidential election I was super bummed. Now, what I have realized is that not being in the US during election season is phenomenal because not only do I still get to vote I don’t have to listen to the stupid TV and radio adds. The only information about the presidential election that I get is information I seek out or what news stations here say about it.

Today I had a major I am going to miss Africa moment when I got on campus, albiet at a very early hour, and when I came up to the main plaza in front of the library all of the workers (which are all black women) were standing around in circles singing and clapping. This is something that would probably never happen in the US but it happens all the time here and pretty much everyone always knows the songs and dances. Its like real life African High School Musical, for lack of a better comparison, but really one of the many things I am going to miss about this crazy place. I guess in order to fill the void I am going to have to take a history class on Africa next semester or obsessively watch movies on Africa. 

The picture below is me and 3 friends watching the sunset from the top of Lions Head

Cheers,
Claire 

So basically the last few weeks since my last blog post have been pretty routine, consisting of going to class and working on homework. The workload post spring break increased a significant amount, which unfortunately means that instead of spending my last month in Cape Town doing fun things I am going to have to study a lot. But hey I guess it isn’t called study abroad for nothing right.  On a similar notes, as if I didn’t have enough work to do already in my last month of classes, the program that I am in IES (International Education of Students) gave us another surprise for the last month. Apparently as part of my IES Social and Economic Development in South Africa class, we have to participate in a community project in an informal settlement called Egoli. Last semester the IES students started a project where they helped to rebuild the community center, which also doubles as a church, library and kitchen. However we are only now finding out about this project, which is unfortunate because there is so much that needs to be improved in this community and my time in South Africa is rapidly coming to close.  Despite this, I am excited to get a jump on this project and attempt to make a difference or even implement a project that could have a lasting effect in the community. Egoli is called an “informal settlement” because the people living in it are living on private property that is owned by someone else. The government can’t really do anything about these settlers because of the squatter’s laws in South Africa. Many of these informal settlements are a legacy of the apartheid when the government tried to get many of the workers who came from rural areas to move into township, but because these townships were far away from their places of work many people just settled on open land. This means that there is no running water in the community, no electricity (people use generators for power), and there is also no organized trash collection because the person who owns the land does not want to pay for the government to collect trash. All of this culminates in different heath, social and economic problems within this informal settlement. Some of which my IES program hopes to elevate and maybe even fix.

On a more positive note Monday October 5^th was a full moon, which in Cape Town means hiking lions head and watching the sun go down, waiting for the moon and then hiking back down the Mountain using the moonlight as a guide. So in order to “do as the Capetonians do” a group of people and I hiked to the top of Lions Head.  Not gonna lie, at times I was a little concerned that I was going to fall off the Mountain, but regardless it was really fun and breathtaking to see the sun set over the ocean on top of a mountain. The view of the city was amazing! Now this weekend I am going to have another adventure at the South African version of Austin City Limits called Rocking the Daisies! Except for this music festival in on a wine estate about an hour outside of the city. Should be pretty exciting!! Some of the headliners seem pretty cool from what I have looked up, they include Bloc Party (which I’m pretty sure is well known in the US) and this awesome South African electric group called Goldfish. Seriously y’all should look up Goldfish because they have some really cool stuff. Anyhow I will report back after the festival to see how it compares to music festivals in the US!  

Me picture above in action)

This semester I am taking a class called African Dance and last wednesday my class (which is made up of all international students) got to perform in the showcase of the African Dance department at UCT. This was really fun because all of my friends came to watch and I also got to perform a "traditional" Zulu Dance, which involves drums and lots of stopping.  Unfortunately, I don't have a video of it but if I remember it when I get home I will gladly reenact this performance (I even has the skirt from the performance). 

Cheers,

Claire