One Month Mark

I know it' been forever since I blogged. Its not that I havent wanted to its just that our internet hasnt been working. There's a phrase people always say here. It's "TIA". It means "this is Africa". Whenever you want to complain about slow internet or no hot water or no heat or air conditioner in buildings or any other luxuries we dont have here people always say "oh well, TIA". So,I haven had the internet for over a week but, "TIA" so I cant complain lol.



Anyways, the last week has been very dense and I'm sure that I have for gotten most of what I've done, but I'm going to attempt to remember. So... two weeks ago was my roomate Alex's 20th birthday. So, after school on Friday we all came home and got all dressed up and went to a club in Camps Bay called Karma. It was a very high in place but Alex's "boyfreind" took care of us. There was a R50 cover charge, but we got in for free. Her birthday was actually on Saturday, so at midnight at the club we Reme' (her "boyfriend") bought a bottle of Moet Champagne (which costs over R1000) and we did a champagne toast. It was a really fun night, and the only thing we had to pay for was cabs to and from the club. We all just danced and had a great time. After that all the rommates and these two guys named Glen and Bjorn came back to the house. Glen and Bjorn are our good friends. They go to UCT (university of cape town) with us and come from Namibia. We always have a blast with them. When we got home I passed out because I was so exhausted, but everyone else stayed up and played King's Cup. Aparently Glen and Bjorn left around 6am. The next day was the day of Alex's actual birthday. We didnt do much during the day because that was right when everyone was getting sick. The flu is going around campus really bad right now so three of my roomates were sick. But, that night we had a birthday party for Alex at our house. Well, first we took her out to dinner and when we got home to start the party the electricity was out! People were here for the party and we had no lights!! You see, here in South Africa almost everything is "pay as you go", even electricity. So you buy a pre-paid electricity card for like R200 and when it runs out your lights just go off..... we didnt know that. We are used to the American system. So, for the first half of our party we had no lights and were using candles lol. TIA!!! But, eventually Nicole went to the gas station and bought an electricity card so we had lights again. That was a VERY adventurous night lol!! I have a best friend a school here, her name is Mpho. She slept over that night for the first time and we just talked for hours. We've been like two peas in a pod ever since. She's actually laying in my bed memorizing lines right now as I write this. She slept over again last night. I was feeling a little down so she came over to help me feel better last night. She goes to UCT, but she's from Limpopo. That is a province in Northern South Africa. She went to high school in Johannesburg at a really prestigious all girls school then came down to Cape Town for University. We are very similar because Limpopo is a little farther from UCT than Atlanta is from UARTS, so we both are used to being away from our parents and families for long amounts of time. Like me, she usually just stays at school for breaks and is very independent.

There are 11 official languages in South Africa. Mpho speaks about five!!!! I know that sounds outrageous, but all black people here speak multiple languages. Its crazy!! Anyways, she is teaching me her mother tongue which is Sesotho (commomly known as "soo too"). Its SSOOOO hard. There sre so many crazy sounds that my mouth just isnt used to making. You have to engage your entire mouth, EVERY articulator to speak this language. There are all these crazy sounds you have to make with your tongue and throat. Hopefully when I get home I can teach you guys some. The class that I was going to take to teach me Xhosa didn't fit into my schedule so I am so grateful to Mpho for teaching me this language. I think its also better to learn this way because I learn conversational dialogue instead of intellectual vocabulary that I probaby will never use. Because of apartheid (for all you YEA peeps- the black people here say I pronounce "apartheid too pretty. Its an an ugly word. Its also Afrikaans so its deep and in your throat. I cant realy write it the way its pronounced, but its sort of like "aparrr-tet"). Anyways, because of aparteid languang and race are HUGE issues here. The white Afrikaners are so proud of their language and culture that they want to speak Afrikaans to everyone and expect us to understand... I can 't speak any Afrikaans except for a few neccessary words but when people say things I dont understand I just nod and smile lol... especially my teachers. When they get really angry or really happy they usually start saying things in Afrikaans. Then there are the coloureds. They also speak Afrikaans but they have a much different accent. (for those of you who dont know, coloured here basically means not black and not white. They are black people who have some white blood in them. They usually look like "light skinned" people. Once you have a little white blood in you you move up in classes from just ordinary black to "coloured"). Then you have the black people who speak sssssssoooooooo many different languages. They usually speak their mother tongue which is what they speak at home and a couple other Bantu languages. Of course all black people speak english because everyone speaks english, and then most blacks can understand if not speak Afrikaans...... Okay all that was just me trying to generalize so you guys set the feel of how things basically are. These are just generalizations, of course there are many exceptions. Some coloureds dont speak Afrikaans, some blacks can only speak two languages, there are some only english speaking whites etc....
So, yes, race and language are a gigantic part of South African culture.

Moving on... So, the party was saturday night and then on Sunday we pretty much all stayed in and did homework. I went to a new Church that night. I liked it a lot. Its very accepting and casual (you can wear whatever). The sermons are easy to understand. Like most churches, I dont agree with all of their beliefs, but we all believe in the same God, So I like it. I went back again last week and plan to continue to attend. Actually, tomorrow morning I am going with a group of people from the church to build the foundation of a home in a black township near by. I have to be at the church at 8 am :( But, it will definately be worth it.

The rest of the week went well. I saw a really good play reading called "Speak Truth To Power" which moved me a lot. Classes went pretty well. I am taking three classes at UCT. The first one is called Learning Through Drama and Theatre. Its a pretty cool class. It required a lot of work though. We these groups that we are in and we had a month to creat a 40 minute show and then we have to take the show to different schools and perform it for kids. Thats a big part of our marks. Then we have exams and research projects. Im also taking a movement class that I really love. Its ssssoooooooo hard!! but, I like a challenge. My teacher is very hard on me and if I dont stay focused I get very discouraged, but its god for me. I am happy that Im being pushed. The third class Im taking is a voice class. I HATE IT. I dont agree with anything the teacher teaches. It goes against everthing I've learned and believe to be true. She's an awful teacher and talks way too much. The class I am taking outside of school is called Contemporary Issues in South Africa. In some ways its great because I am very aware of everything thats going on here, and get to go to amazing places and meet amazing people. In some ways I dont like it because a lot of the stuff is very political and too hard for me to understand.
So that was the week! On Friday I got out of rehearsal at 11 am and had no other classes!! It was great because I just came home, went grocery shopping, took a shower and then my roomates and I went into town. We had dessert at this really good pastry cafe. We got an assortment of different stuff and then shared. Everything was so good and it was really nice out so we ate outside . After that we walked down to long street and shopped. Nobody bought anything, but we just looked around in different shops and stuff. It was really cool. We then went to dinner at a really cool Ethiopean restaurant. I had the lamb. It was really good. I, of course, got really emotional at the table because I was just looking around at this beautiful restaurant and looking out the window at beautifu Cape Town and looking at all my new friends at the table and I just felt so happy. I dont see why God would choose me to blessed with such a wonderful experience. It is still sometimes hard for me to believe that I am here. It still seems to good to be true at times. Anyways, after dinner a few of us went to see a play at school, then we went home. I did some reading then went to bed.
NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS.... SATURDAY!!! ONE OF MY FAVORITE DAYS HERE SO FAR!! You guys wont believe this, but Saturday I hiked to the tip top of Lion's Head mountain. Please google lion's head and see what im talking about. It was soo scary I was shaking so badly. I was crying so much. I was so afraid. What made it worse is that there is an easy path and a "use at your own risk" path... my roomates made us take the "use at your own risk" path. We had to rock climb and pull ourselves up with chains and climb latters and get all muddy and gross. Its like nothing I've ever done before Im afraid of heights so I cant even explain to you how scary this was. So many times we were so close to cliffs that hung off the gigantic mountain. The entire time I was climbing I was using climbing this mountain as a meaphore for getting over mountains in my life. I learned that there is no such thing as moving a mountain. The only way to get to the top is to face it, breathe, and climb over it. It is definately not easy, but there will always be someone there to lend you a helping hand. When it gets hard and you feel like you cant go any further you just have to breathe and keep going. Allow yourself to cry. Allow yourself to feel afraid. Just dont look down and keep pushing... I cant ever remember feeling as good as I felt when I got to the top. I finally let myself look down and my eyes filled with tears. I started to sob tears of joy. There is no way I can explain how beautiful the view is from up top. The ocean looks massive and you can see way out. You see all the hills and mountains. You see Camps Bay and all these other beautiful areas. You see Robben Island. Its just incredible. More than the scene, its the feeling you get when you stand up there. Its very spiritual. When you are that high up and have already excerted that much energy and emotion you just feel open and vulnerable. and then you look out and this over powering feeling of love and light and joy and gratefulness and everything good hits you like a ton of bricks. It sounds wierd, but its true. God's presence is so strong up there. After sitting and sobbing on a rock for a while I got up and went back to my roomates who were sitting a on a rock a little further away. There was a loose dog coming in my direction. I felt no fear. It was so wierd. My roomates all came rushing over tryong to protect me from the dog but I told them it was okay. They were so happy for me. I felt so much good that there was no room for fear or any other bad energy. We sat up there for a while and ate some snacks. I felt invensible for the rest day!!!

After the hike I went in did some volunteer work in a coloured township called Ravensmead. We were helping them put together a show for the Out of the Box Theatre Festival. This was a very interesting experience. I had fun teaching the kids drama, but the rest of the experience was quite.... unique. It was hard becaue there was such a language barrier. In a coloured township it is very difficult to get people to speak to you in english. They all can speak english but prefer to speak afrikaans because that is their mother tongue. We also bought in a few kids from a black township to be a part of the show and they all spoke Xhosa. So, every now and then people would say and english phrase or two, but for the most part I was completely lost because I didnt speak the languages. Also, was with a friend who grew up in this township so I went into a few of the little houses. It was kind of scary because all of the men where piss drunk and trying to touch me, I couldnt understand anything they were saying, there is a lot of crime in this area and I was carrying a backpack which automatically made me a target, there were animals running all around, and I of course I was the only non-african. So, it was definatley an experience but I can say I am happy that I did it. The trek home was very dangerous and I am so thankful that nothing happened to us. Believe it or not, I am goin to back tomorrow.... just because I care so much about everyone, including the underprivelaged, having access to theatre and the arts. I think it would be great for these kids to get the chance to put on their own show in a theatre festival.

Sorry this is so long , but Im trying to fit almost two weeks into one blog. So, yes , that was Satrday. Sunday I went to church, then Susie, Jamal, and I went to Muzinberg beach. It was a little chilly, but still vey nice. The beach is awesome. It was a windy day so there were lots of surfers. We took the train there. It was our first time on the train. It was actually pretty easy. It was a little hard to find the station, but once we found it we got there pretty smoothly. When we first got there the ticket lady started talking to me in Xhosa. Usually if people see me and I dont say anything so they cant here my accent they assume I am Xhosa and speak to me in Xhosa. This is because most blacks in Cape Town are Xhosa. This is like the land of the Xhosas. ANd even blacks thst come from other provinces can usuall speak enough Xhosa to do simple things like speak to a ticket lady. But, it was cool because Susie has been taking a Xhosa class so she could communicate with the lady!! The woman was so impressed that this white girl was speaking Xhosa lol!! But, then se started speaking to us in english and she was very nice and helpful. So we got to the beach, did some homework on the beach and just laid out for a while (in the middle of winter mind you) and then came home. We ate dinner ate home because the week before I spent R400 on groceries!!! Then around 7 we went to a little restaurant called Cafe Sophia because it was their jazz night. So we listen to a little South African jazz and had a couple drinks. Then we came home and went to bed!
So thats what ive been up to lately. I dont really feel like writing much more because this took me forever, but there just a couple other things I need to say. First off, I am being very careful not to just do really dangerous things without thinking about how my family would feel about it, but there are certain things that I just feel I have to do. At first I was just going to not tell my family so you woudnt worry but that is not smart in case somethin happens. I need you all to know that I am considering traveling to Zimbabwe with my church for a mission trip. I am very very aware of how dangerous it is, but I feel very strongly about the situation and really want to help. There is security going on the trip too, and I feel like I will be fine. I have not made a definate decision because I have to decide if I am prepared to face danger like that. But, I do know that I feel called to go on this trip as well as to do all that I can here in Cape Town to help the people of Zimbabwe. I am very open to hearing how you guys feel about me going, but in the end my decision will be based on the outcome of the conversations between God and I.
Secondly, my scholarship money came in, so I am fine financially now!!! My schol bill was once again lowered so I only ended up having to pay $2,000 for the semester!!
Thirdly, I never want to come. I'm kidding lol. I want to come home but not for a long time. Im supposed to go back on the 15th of November, but I think Im going to try to stay an extra 2 weeks if I dont run out of money before then.
Fourthly, LAURITA IS COMING TO VISIT ME HERE!! Im so excited. Her mom is sending her here to visit me as a graduation present. She'll be here in October.
And lastly, contact me people!!! either my email, or comments on here, or whatever!! im starting to feel neglected!!!
Love you all. bye :)