Carl's South Africa Blog

"Fear is temporary, regret is forever."

2008-05-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

I strongly recommend you watch this video before reading the rest of this post. Trust me.

How can I express in words the most thrilling experience of my life? Fear and adrenaline running through my veins as I sit in anticipation. I tried to psyche myself up for it, and the techno music helped a little. The nervousness was still there though, like a constant pressure. It took every effort to fight off the thought. Then the moment finally came: they called me forward, straped me up, and helped me to the edge. As I tiptoed forward, my brain was instantly flooded with thousands of thoughts: don't look down! keep your arms out! remember to bend your knees! jump up and outward! oh, and on your way down, remember to "take it all in" as the attendant told you.

Holy crap. What am I doing?! I’m about to jump off a bridge that is 216 meters (708 feet) off the ground, fall straight down at 120 kph (75 mph) with a freefall lasting 5.5 seconds, then get ripped back up to do it all again. And again, and again. Are you freakin serious??

But before I could even think twice, my toes were hanging off the edge, my feet bound together and tied to a giant rubber band, and all I heard was "5... 4... 3... 2... 1... BUNGEE!" Suddenly I was falling through the air, the wind was rushing past my face, I couldn’t even breathe enough to scream, and my stomach was clenched like in a vice. In fact, I was pretty sure I had left my stomach back on the platform, actually.

"You just jumped off of a frickin bridge…" was about the only thought I could muster. The entire world was nothing but a blur. My freefall, which felt like 5 minutes instead of 5 seconds, began to end as the cord caught me. I saw the rocks of the riverbed getting closer and closer as I suddenly slowed, stopped, and shot back upward again. For a brief moment as I reached the apex of the second fall, I was weightless as gravity fought to reclaim its hold over me. Then I was plummeting earthward all over again with the thrill continuing to surge through me.

Everything around me was swirling, swaying, spinning and upside-down. Despite all this, though, I noticed the world was completely silent. Not a sound reached my ears. From blaring techno pump-up music just second before, to the beautiful stillness that is nature. I looked around and saw trees, mountains, cliffs, a meandering river below me and a spanning concrete bridge above me. Off in the distance I could see the deep blue Indian Ocean framed by two sides of the ravine. I suddenly realized how beautifully picturesque the setting was, even under the current circumstances.

But as my head began to throb from the rush of blood to my brain, I asked myself, "where the heck is this guy who's supposed to come down and get me?!" With nothing else to do, I hung there limply and tried to take in the scenery. I couldn’t help but think how odd it was, though, to see everything upside-down as I bounced hundreds of feet off the ground. Finally, the guy came to secure me and brought me back up to the bridge. I was more than a little grateful to have my feet back on solid ground as I reached the platform. My adrenaline-induced high was still going strong, and I couldn’t do anything except smile and high-five everyone around me.

"How was it?" someone asked. "Incredible" was all I could think to respond.

Words can't do it justice, but I just tried. Never bungee jumped before in my life, and for the first one, I decide to do the highest in the world. Smart. Well, it seems like everything else now will be pretty weak. I mean, how do you top the highest in the world (off of the third highest bridge in the world)?? You pretty much can't. The only thing left to do now is to start jumping out of helicopters. Heck yes. This was still pretty awesome though. And as a bonus, here are some pictures from the experience.

(By the way, the title of this post comes from the T-shirts they were selling in the store at the bungee place. I thought it was apt, if also a bit cheesy.)

"So... where did everyone go?!"

2008-04-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last week I went on a field trip with my Service Learning class up the west coast to Saldanha Bay. We took a two hour bus ride north to the Military Academy. That's where we stayed the first night in huge tents. It kind of felt like summer camp, I'mnotgonnalie (yes, I am proposing that that oh-so popular and overused phrase be made into one simple, convenient and beautiful word). We aslo had a braai with some wine accompanying (naturally... I mean come on, would this still be South Africa if we didn't?).

The next day the fun started. And what sort of "fun" does one do on a Service Learning field trip, you may be asking? The garden-planting variety, of course. As a group of twenty-two students, we got to work digging up eight plots and filling them with "compost" (it was really just bagfuls and bagfuls of shredded-up paper, like someone had gone to town with the paper shredder for a couple weeks). We eventually finished up the garden, having planted eight neat little plots of carrots, cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, etc.

The reason we were planting the garden, we were told, is that the nearby AIDS clinic realized that people had been coming in to receive their anti-retroviral treatments on an empty stomach, which totally messes everything up. The problem is the community is too poor to afford food. So they decided they would start providing food to everyone who came in (a nice soup or something) so that they wouldn't be on an empty tank when they took their meds. Good idea. So in we stepped and plopped a lekker garden right on their doorstep. We just hope it actually grows stuff (not ink-contaminated from the sketchy "compost").

After that, we went to Middelpos to do some work in the township. For any of you who don't know, townships are South Africa's ghettos where, for centuries, the whites stuck everyone else into slum-like living conditions. Seeing inside of one, even for just a day, was definitely and educational experience, if nothing else.

So as we were dropped off outside the "safe park" in Middelpos where all the local kids came for after-school care and playtime, we looked around and didn't see much around us. Most townships I've seen are on the outskirts of towns, but this one seemed to be pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So as five of my classmates and I walked up and were instantly taken in by all the kids, we turned around and saw that our whole group had completely vanished. Poof. Driven off to some other place. No words of advice or instructions, just "hear ya go, play with the kids, see ya later!" Naturally, when we realized this we were a little offput and confused. But actually, we (as a group of six white American college students dropped off in the middle of a township in South Africa) took the situation surprisingly well. Even considering all the language barriers (everyone spoke isiXhosa) we seemed to manage pretty okay for the time we spent there.

Well anyways, when I said earlier that the kids took us in as one of their own (almost), I meant it. We noticed that they had one of those mini spinning "merry-go-rounds" that are so common on playgrounds. But on a piece of playground equipment that should actually only be supporting about ten kids, there were about twice that many jam-packed on there. So we decided it would be a good idea to help spin them around. Fast. Really really fast. Only we soon realized that kids were starting to fly off or fall down underneath the thing and have everyone's flailing legs in their face. Not a good situation. So we decided we'd cool it and not break some kid's neck.

But the kids were not too keen on the whole "playing it cool" idea and instantly starting shouting the Xhosa word for "faster! faster!" Add to that, they picked up chanting the phrase "one more time!" from Corey, and you got twenty kids on a spinny thing that just wanted to be spun. So, by the wingéd feet of Apollo, they were spun. Fast. Really really fast. And even though kids were flying off left and right, they were loving it. And they were having to hang on to every inch of me in order to stay on, but I was loving it too.

And then something that our instructor had told us earlier suddenly hit me. Sixty-percent of these kids have HIV. And most of their parents have AIDS. How's that for a mind blower? And the fact that it suddenly came back to me, after I had forgotten it for an hour and had been having so much fun with these kids made me realize something else: it doesn't matter. At least not in terms of how I'm gonna treat these kids, or how I'm gonna see them as beautiful children of God just the same as everyone else. I guess you could say I had a spiritual realization right then of what it really means to love others as Christ loves us, and what our calling as Christians in this world really is. Playing with those kids for the afternoon was about as close as I've come yet during my time here to seeing the Kingdom of God become real. A pretty gnarly experience.

(Left) Laura and I with the kids on the spinny thing. They loved it. Greg is behind us playing soccer, and behind him you can see why I say "middle of nowhere"

(Right) Me a little overwhelmed. Oh well. One More Time!

Two Middelpos boys with Laura. (Yes that's a boy on the right).

(Left) Jamie posing with the kids. They were also in love with having their picture taken.

(Right) They really wanted to braid the girls' hair.

The Middelpos Hair-Braiding Salon in full-swing.

After the "safe park" (which, ironically, was just about the least "safe" park I've ever been in, considering the play equipment was either broken or not fully installed, there was broken glass and rusty metal all over the place, and ticks were everywhere) we walked through the township to the main care center to serve the kids a meal. Adding to everything that had already happened, walking through the streets of the township with kids on our shoulders and holding our hands as they sung traditional Xhosa songs was doubly gnarly.

Then after serving them a little dinner, which proved to be pure chaos and mayhem (with about 100 kids, only 40 bowls, and 6 of us dishing it out), they sang us some songs of thankfulness and parting. It was mostly in Xhosa, except for one which included parts of the Lord's Prayer, but despite my lack of understanding, it definitely brought some tears to my big manly eyes.

Then we finally got picked up by our group, drove home, and I slept for about twelve hours. All worth it, though. And if I had been feeling somewhat encapsulated by the "Stellenbosch bubble" before, this experience definitely popped me out of that sentiment.

The Radio Story

2008-04-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I would now take the opportunity to devote a whole post to the sharing of what has come to be known as “The Radio Story.” It all started last week when I was visiting Réunion. It was Wednesday, and I had the whole day to go exploring with my friend who was hosting me, Béné. We left early in the morning to go see some beaches on the southern tip of the island. While driving, though, we realized that the last remnants of Cyclone Lola were making weather conditions less than ideal. It wasn’t anything big, just a little rain and clouds. So Béné decided it would be a good idea to turn on the Réunion Island radio station, Radio FreeDOM, to listen if they would be giving out information about where there was good weather on the island.

So as we drove around for a bit, we listened as the host answered phone calls about everything from people asking questions about politics, to people putting out requests for returning lost pets. As Béné told me, the station is very popular on the island and almost everyone listens to it. She once called in when she lost her car keys and someone called the same day saying they’d found them and wanted to give them back. It’s a very “small island” kind of thing.

We continued listening as we drove, and I noticed that Béné was on the phone with someone, but thought nothing of it. Suddenly, the radio host answered another call and, to my astonishment, I heard Béné’s voice on the radio. Completely shocked that my friend had just called in and was put directly on the air, I look at her and all I could say was “QUOI?!”

Quite naturally, she started telling the radio host how she had this American friend who was visiting the island for a week and wanted to go do something where there was good weather. But as soon as the host heard that I was American, she launched out a barrage of questions asking “Where is he from? … What, Los Angeles! The City of Angels? … What, he can speak French? Is he there now? Well put him on!!”

Suddenly having the phone thrust upon me, I had no other choice but to start talking to the radio host (in my badly-accented French) about how I came to be on the island and how much I was liking it so far. It would seem that finding a tourist who wasn’t French was such a rare and exciting event that it had thrown this lady into a complete state of hysteria. After asking me a second barrage of questions, we posed our question again (which had, in fact, been the purpose of the call) asking whether there was something we could do on the island where there was good weather.

Hanging up, we listened and waited to see if anyone would call in to respond to us. Sure enough, three minutes later someone called in to respond to “Carl l’Américain” telling about how it was gorgeous over on her side of the island and that if I came over I should go to such and such restaurant to eat a traditional Réunionais Créole dish. Three minutes after that, someone else called in saying that it was great weather in St. Pierre and that I should come over and they would take me around and cook me food. And for the next hour, honestly no joke, dozens and dozens of people were calling in excitedly proposing things for Carl l’Américain to do. Each time someone would come on saying “What? Is there really an American on the island? Fabulous! Well he should come over to my place and do so and so and eat such and such!” we would roll with laughter.

Eventually, we made our way up into the mountains and got out to have a little excursion. After having a lengthy walk around the village of Cilaos, and a nice lunch (of traditional Créole food in a restaurant), we got back into the car three hours later, turned on the radio and heard “Oui, ça c’est pour Carl l’Américain…” Not knowing how this whole business could still be going on THREE HOURS later, we just looked at each other and laughed our heads off. It seemed that the radio host had taken up our cause with great determination and for each caller that called in, regardless of what they were talking about, would ask if they at least had a few words of advice for Carl l’Américain.

Seeing that I was still a main topic of conversation on FreeDOM, we decided to call in again. This time, we got on even easier than last time, and all I had to say was “Bonjour, c’est Carl l’Américain” and the radio host was going crazy over me all over again. “What? How was Cilaos? What did you do? How did you like it? What did you have for lunch? Was it not too spicy?” For some reason, she was very keen on asking if radio stations in the US were like this one, to which I said “Of course not! Radio FreeDOM is the best radio station in the world!” which seemed to bring her great joy. But honestly, I could not imagine a station like this in the States that has tens of thousands of listeners being this easy to get on by calling in. Nor would people use it as a lost and found, or announcement board, which are cool uses for a local radio station.

With this second call in, we asked whether it was good weather in the south in order for us to go and see the waterfalls of Langevin. Again, it didn’t take long for someone from Langevin to call in saying that it was beautiful and that I should definitely come down and see the waterfalls. So we did, but sadly didn’t find anyone to take us in to their home to offer us more Créole food.

But it did seem that my “celebrity status” had spread at least a little, because even a few days later, an old woman was talking to Béné about how she had heard on the radio there was this Américain staying on the island. “Yeah, and he’s even staying at MY house!” she responded. At this, the woman insisted that she make me some traditional Créole soup and gave it to Béné to give to me.

So yeah, THAT is how I got to be on the radio and became famous.

Mid-semester Update

2008-03-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

So, let me just start off by saying sorry to all of you who have been looking forward to my posts, only to be disappointed by my lack of updates. But, worry no more, for I have finally decided to shape up and write a summative update of my semester so far.

Well, as I was reminiscing today about my arrival in South Africa, I realized that those blissful days seem like they were ages ago. It really is crazy how much can happen in two months. I’ve seen penguins, parades, presidential motorcades, private concerts of popular Afro-pop bands, and professional rugby matches played in Cape Town. I’ve been on top of mountains, seen sharks up close and personal, and been on more wine tours than I can count. These things have all been part of my experience here so far, but they are by no means all of it.

I’ve also had the chance to connect with South Africans, to serve them and hear what their needs are. My classes have really given me a unique perspective to see my time here. My core class, Service Learning in Community Development, is focused on both the service and the learning aspects of community development projects. It has allowed me to learn a great deal inside and outside the classroom, which in my opinion is the best way to learn. As part of the course, we are all assigned to volunteer six hours per week at a local social-welfare organization. This gives us the chance to apply in the field the theoretical concepts we learn in the classroom, and also take our field experience back to the classroom for reflection.

My site placement is at a place called Horizon House, which is a residential and therapeutic care center for the mentally-disabled. It is located in a suburb of Stellenbosch, and has 108 residents ages 19-68 with all different types of mental, physical and psychological disabilities. While I work with adults, the intellectual age of all the residents is between 6-10 years old.

I have been blessed with the chance to work most of my time one-on-one with one of the residents who suffers from bi-polar depression disorder. We have been assigned various jobs to do outdoors, with the ultimate goal of planting a vegetable garden and making a compost pile. Working with Rudi has taught me a lot about working with people different from myself, as I am confronted with language, cultural, and developmental obstacles, only to name a few. As we’ve started to become good friends, I can see that sometimes a community’s needs aren’t necessarily materially-based, but relational and represent abstract needs such as affection and dignity. And to break down the communication barrier, Rudi and I have made a sweet deal: he teaches me words in Afrikaans, and in exchange, I teach him how to woo women in both French and German.

This class has also given me a slightly different outlook on what my role is here as a student on study abroad. Being engaged in community service, and studying theories of community development, poverty alleviation, and transitional empowerment approaches has allowed me to learn, apply, and also observe the reality of the situation around me. It is my firm belief that South Africa, in a way, represents a microcosm of the world and all of the problems it is facing in a 21st century context. There is incredible cultural diversity, the clash between the developed and developing worlds, racism, violence, crime, corruption, environmental degradation, economic exploitation, massive inequality, and pandemic diseases all in one country. It certainly does not make life boring, being in the midst of it all.

Realizing that I’m also a little behind on telling stories about things I’ve been doing recently, I thought I’d now take the time to talk about my recent trip to the Karoo. The Karoo is South Africa’s dry, arid, deserty area with rolling mountains, almost no trees, and lots of ghost towns. It’s pretty much their version of Arizona, minus the golf courses and retirement communities. Well, we (as the CIEE group) had the opportunity to spend the weekend there two weeks ago on an old farm. We stayed in these very quaint, homey farm houses that had no electricity, but had oil lamps and antique raindrop shower heads. Needless to say, it was a very slow, relaxing and calm weekend away from the city. The farm we stayed on grew mostly figs, but had other fruits and some animals, too. It was a five hour drive from Stellenbosch, and was located in a beautiful valley with a river running through it. The nearest “town” was a 45-minute drive over a rough, unpaved, hilly road through the country. We ate HUGE farm-sized meals (all of which contained figs in some form), and lounged around all day. It was a much needed break from hectic student life, and even made me think that living on a farm wouldn’t be too bad. We went on a game tour and saw some antelope, zebras, and little deer-like creatures called “duikers.” Our last evening there we went on top of a hill and took in the (stormy) sunset while drinking our “sundowners.”

(Left) The CIEE dudes with a stormy Karoo sunset
(Right) A few antelope and zebras we found on our game tour

(Left) "Hey Carl!" *click*
(Below) The mid-westerners import Euchre to the Karoo

(Left) Here's the full CIEE Stellenbosch group, with Bradley, our most awesome director, on the far left (p.s. I don't know what I'm doing)
(Below) As part of our group bonding we all got fake tatoos. I got a pitbull on my wrist.

(Left) This pretty much sums up what we did the whole weekend.

Having complete isolation from civilization, lots of delicious food, beautiful scenery, rustic but homey living conditions, and game animals is pretty much my idea of a good vacation.

And as I finish describing my last vacation experience, I will now start telling you about my upcoming adventure for Fall Break (a.k.a. Spring Break for you northern-hemispherers). I will be going to Reunion Island for one week to stay with a family friend from France who now lives and works there. This is going to be a dream vacation, in every sense of the word: a beautiful French-speaking tropical island, with volcanoes, palm trees and coral beaches. And despite the airfare costing a price that only monopolies can charge, at least I’ll have a nice place to stay for free, and a local to show me around. My plans for the week are: 1) be a beach bum, 2) fit some time in to relax when I’m not beach-bumming , 3) take lots of hikes up the volcanoes (yes, more hikes!), 4) take lots of awesome pictures, and 5) more beach-bumming.

T-minus six hours until I depart on the trip of a lifetime… and don’t worry I’ll let you all know how it goes. Bye for now!

Doesn't Carl Do Anything Other Than Hike?

2008-02-25T09:50:00.000-08:00

The answer to the above question would obviously be no. After going on my third, and by far most enjoyable/exhausting hike, I thought it merited at least a brief post. So, this one will try to feature more wonderful pictures for you all to look at.

Well, on Sunday I decided to go back up Mt. Stellenbosch with three other friends; only this time, we would try to go up all the way to the top. So after gathering at Seven Eleven (yes, they have those here only it is more like a small grocery store) to pick up some food and water, we set out at 8:00 am from campus. We wandered around for a bit and eventually found the right trail head. It wasn't at all hot yet, so leaving early seemed to have worked out well for us.

Once on the actual trail up the mountain, the most grueling stretch of rocky incline lay before us, at the top of which was the ridge that we had decided to make our stopping point last time. It was obviously not "easy going," but I think the combination of the cool morning weather, and mental preparation made the climb up to "The Lion King Ridge" a little easier to handle.

"Look, Simba. Everything the light touches is our kingdom."

From that point, the trail transformed into a much more winding, and gently rising route through fynbos (shrubbery) and over large boulders. Although it was a long way up to the top, and it was getting quite hot as the day approached noon, this was by far some of the most enjoyable hike I’ve been on yet. We were jumping from boulder to boulder, leaping over crevices, skirting along cliffs, and generally feeling like hardcore mountain men (slash woman). Eventually the trail completely disappeared and you just have to keep going up any way you can. This allows for one to be creative and innovative in choosing how to surmount obstacles such as rock outcroppings, cliff faces and the like.

Here is a shot of a crevice that we jumped over. If our attempt had not been successful, we would have become quite intimate with the thorn bush thirty feet below us.

We got to the top, completely exhausted, and had nothing but spectacular views and thin air all around us. After eating lunch, which consisted of smashed sandwiches and granola energy bars, we took some pictures and then started the dreaded descent.

You see, what had been so enjoyable to go up, was not so much fun going down. It is much easier to scramble up rocks versus sliding down them. Also, as there was not much of a trail, we did wander a little too far off course and found ourselves in some especially thick and prickly fynbos. It was slow going through that, and not so much fun.

Anyways, long story short (only not really that short), we got down off the mountain and headed home, coming in at about 6:00 pm. So obviously, after a 10 hour endeavor, we were pretty much pooped. Dirty, sweaty, dehydrated, sunburned (despite four applications of sunscreen), cut up, and hungry, we settled down in Metanoia, ordered some pizza and put on some Arrested Development. It was a nice ending to a pretty tiring day. I also noticed that we got so high, my empty water bottles that I had closed when we were on top of the mountain had compressed and were being crushed by the change in air pressure once I was down. I don’t know about you, but I found that pretty cool. There is a lot of word play I could do right now with the phrase “getting high,” but I won’t. So let me just tell you that today, one day after this formidable undertaking, my legs are just about as dead/sore as can get. But it was SO worth it.

Ok, well that does it for my latest hiking adventure. I promise it will be the last hiking-related post for at least a month. I’ll try and find something else to write about that has equally fun pictures and stories.

Some Points About South Africa: Language Edition

2008-02-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

So for my language edition, I thought I'd include a few anecdotes from my time here so far. Although this country has eleven (yes 11) official languages, the ones most spoken around these parts are Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa. By the way, to say the last one you have to say it as "Kosa" but make a click sound with your tongue when pronouncing the "k." It is obviously not an easy language to speak. But it does sound incredibly cool. It's like tongue gymnastics every time I hear someone speaking it and it just leaves me blown away that someone could make all those sounds with their mouth.

Anyways, getting back to the matter at hand, I've had quite a few interesting experiences with the language barrier so far. Not only must we struggle with the obstacle Afrikaans poses for our daily lives, but South African English is not always completely intelligible either (the accent is very charming and I can see why girls dig South African guys).

To give an example, I went into town the other day to do some shopping and when I was at the till (checkout counter) and the attendant said something to me (presumably in Afrikaans). I told her I didn't understand, so she said it again, only this time it was equally impossible to understand. So I asked if she spoke English by any chance. "I AM SPEAKING ENGLISH!!" she responded. Wooooops. Sorry. So yeah, that just goes to show that even though it's all English, American and South African are sometimes two different languages.

Some of my favorite words I've learned so far in South African are "chunder" and "over share." Chundering is the process of blowing chunks, upchucking, or saying hi to your friend Ralph. It's pretty hilarious to hear South Africans describing their wild escapades around town and hearing things like, "Well, the night was going pretty well until I chundered all over the police car." Needless to say, the accent makes it way better, but the word itself is quite spectacular on it's own as well. OH, and this brings me to my next point. South Africans, almost universally, will say the phrase "as well" as more of an "AS well". The emphasis on the "as" not the "well." It might not make sense unless you hear it, but picking it up all the time in people's everyday parlance is a constant reminder that we're not in Kansas anymore, Todo. Another phrase that I've had fun with is "over share". I stumbled upon it one day talking with my South African friend, Joe, who was telling me a story. At one point, he shared a little more than I was interested in hearing, so I said "TMI dude!" Having been around enough Americans, he understood what that meant, but explained to me that in South Africa, they don't say TMI (for too much information), they say "over share." I don't know why but I thought that was hilarious. So yeah, over share = TMI.

Moving on to my experience with Afrikaans, which has been pretty limited since I've only been taking language classes for two weeks now, I just thought I'd share a funny story. The other day in class I was introduced to the longest word I've ever seen: "grondboontjiebottertoebroodjie." HA! Are you serious? Yes, I am. Well, unfortunately that is the word for "peanut butter sandwich," which is sad only for the fact that I eat so many I'm going to have learn that word down pat pretty quick. But apparently, I was already complimented on my pronunciation, so maybe it's the Dutch blood in me helping me out. Oh, and that also reminds me, even though my name is already as Dutch (or Afrikaans for that matter) as they come, I was given a new Afrikaans name for my language class: Gert Gerber. What is funny is that the "g" sound in Afrikaans is probably the most repulsive and guttural sound of any language, so my name having two of them is just ridiculous.

Alright well that's all I can remember for now. I'm sure there are more things I'm forgetting that will have to be worked in to future posts. I hope you all can forgive me for the lack of posts recently (and pictureless post this week). Thanks for reading, and until next time!

And for your YouTubing enjoyment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNJVMJH5OhI

“I didn’t know we were climbing up a f****** river!”

2008-02-10T14:10:00.000-08:00

Today I climbed up a river.

Up a mountain, on a trail that was hardly a trail at all. It was supposed to be a nice day-hike, but it turned out to be a sopping wet, hand over hand struggle up a trail that gushed water and mud. By the end, we were climbing much more so than hiking. As we scrambled over slippery wet rocks, we wondered how we had gotten ourselves into this. Well, let me tell you.

(For reference, here is a shot of Botmanskop, the leftmost peak of the Jonkershoek Range. I took this on my hike up Mt. Stellenbosch last week.)

It was a hike organized by the International Office of the University to go up Botmanskop. I had heard it was a good hike with great views, so I decided to go. Seeing that the weather was overcast today only further convinced me that it was a good day for a hike since the temperature was 15 degrees cooler than it had been recently. As I was packing my things this morning for the hike, the thought occurred to me, “Should I bring my rain jacket? Nah! It probably won’t even rain today. I can see some blue sky through the clouds anyways. And even if it does get rainy, I would rather get a little wet than get all sweaty in this humid weather with my jacket on.” Ohhhh how I would later regret that decision…

We set off this morning, and this time I thought I was well prepared. At least much more so than last time. I had lots of water, sunscreen, and food for lunch, so I was gonna be all set, right?

Even though it started to drizzle about an hour into our hike, right as we were reaching the base of the mountain, I didn’t think much of it since I don’t mind the rain. In fact, it was welcomed as it made for much cooler hiking up the steep slope. As the weather started to get a little more “moist” (I’m only throwing that word in because I know how much people love the way it sounds), I thought it would be smart to put my camera and cell phone in the plastic bag I had brought along in my backpack. See? All prepared like the Boy Scout-dropout I am.

We got a little higher, though, and started going through the clouds. It’s a pretty exhilarating experience to find oneself in the middle of a cloud that is passing through, around, and over you. At a little break point, we had some nice views of the area around Stellenbosch that the rain (which had started to let up) was nice enough to let me photograph.

Pressing onward and upward, at this point a couple hours into the hike, none of the fifty people with us wanted to turn back. Eventually though, as we passed through and exited the forest of eucalyptus trees, we found ourselves on a steep and narrow trail that looked totally engulfed in the “fynbos.” For those of you who don’t know what fynbos is, it means “fine bush” in Afrikaans, and is basically the low-lying shrubbery and bush that is common (and unique) to the Cape region. It is dry, prickly, thorn-covered, occasionally poisonous, and generally unpleasant to be in. And THAT is what we had to go through now.

It was also at this point that the leader of the hike informed us that there was this certain plant that we should be especially careful not to touch, as it had spines that if they got in your skin, would cause swelling and itchy irritation for a week. The only problem was that he was so vague explaining which plant it was (and I was so far back in the line of people) that I had no idea what he was talking about. Probably not a good thing to be confused about, but he just kept going, so I thought whatever.

So as we hiked up this steep, prickly trail, the rain continued to fall and increase in intensity. As we neared the summit, which was a huge outcropping of exposed rock, the venture quickly turned from a “hike” to more of a “climb.” And as I climbed hand over hand up the staircase of jagged, wet rocks, I thought, “Hmm, this is probably not safe. But that is what makes it fun, after all.” The last thirty minutes of our 3 ½ hour ascent to the top was pretty agonizing, but the thought of getting to the summit kept us going. The relief of finally getting there, though, was short-lived.

The summit of Botmanskop is pretty spectacular, or at least it would have been had it not been completely shrouded in fog and mist. Basically, we were all thinking “Boy, this view would be incredible if we could actually see anything.” The visibility was about nil (except for the five seconds during which I took the above photos). To add to that, the rain soon turned from a gentle mist to a torrential downpour. The heavens had opened up and were literally drenching us to our bones. The wind, rain, and fog made the experience less than enjoyable (especially after hiking up a mountain for hours), and our one-hour break at the summit had to be cut short because soon lightning and thunder entered the scene and increased the danger level even more. So as the group stood on this exposed rock, at the summit of a mountain, in the rain and fog, with the roll of thunder in the distance, someone still had the sense of humor to say, “Don’t stand next to the tall people.” Everyone immediately stepped back from me. Gee, that was a good feeling, to know that I am pretty much a human lightning rod at the top of this mountain. Wunderbar.

The decision to go down was quickly made, and we started our decent after only a short rest. The way down, however, did not lend us the same “ease” that we had had on the way up. The trail, which before had simply been wet, was now transformed into a gushing river of mud and rainwater that flowed down the mountain and over the rocks creating waterfalls and muddy slopes galore. “This probably wasn’t a good idea, in hindsight” said the hike leader, laughing to himself. And as miserable and tired as everyone was deep down, a sense of humor still was present, at least on the surface. Suddenly, someone shouted, “Sh*#, I didn’t know I’d be climbing up a f****** river!” To which everyone responded with uproarious laughter. Maybe it was because the exhaustion and sheer ridiculousness of the circumstances had made everyone delirious, but the whole way down, people were cracking jokes and at least trying to find amusement in what was, in all senses, a pretty awful situation.

BUT, I must say I did have a lot of fun. And it is definitely these kinds of experiences that one fondly remembers years later. So all in all, I wouldn’t say it was a bad day for anyone. Except maybe for the guy who, as we were hiking down the fynbos part of the trail, decided to just run because “it would be easier and quicker,” and to everyone’s enjoyment (except his own, most likely) could not stop his momentum and ended up flying head first into a huge pile of thorny, prickly, and painful-looking bushes. And as we found out as we helped him get out, it was this bush that our guide had previously warned us not to touch. So much for that. That dude is NOT gonna have a pleasant week ahead of him, that’s for sure.

Well, I hoped you enjoyed the story. It’s probably much more enjoyable to hear about than to experience firsthand, but even if I had been told beforehand what was going to happen (although I would have brought the rain jacket) I wouldn’t have opted out. That’s life, and you gotta live with what it throws at you. And that is my cliché moral for today.

Meet Stellenbosch

2008-02-05T09:38:00.001-08:00

I realize that up to this point, I haven't included much about where I am. Therefore, per my grandfather's request, this post will attempt to introduce you to the town of Stellenbosch, the University, and the general area.

First off, my impression of Stellenbosch is that it has somewhat of a "California" feel, with many differences of course. What I mean by this, is that while similarities might include the climate, the vegetation, the "beach" culture and general laid back attitude of the people, one cannot help but be reminded of the town's distinct South Africanness. South Africa is a very diverse nation (coined "the Rainbow Nation" by Archbishop Desmond Tutu) and Stellenbosch reflects that diversity quite vividly. One can walk down the oak-lined streets with their posh boutiques and upscale cafes and some might forget they are in Africa. This is not because Stellenbosch is "un-African," but because most people have a very narrow concept of what counts as African. Yes, this part of the Cape region does have lots of European influence, much more than other parts of the country and definitely more than other African countries, but that doesn't make it un-African.

Going back to the idea of diversity, Stellenbosch encapsulates many themes that are present throughout South Africa in just a small area. There are native Africans, or blacks as they are called, Coloureds (the South African term for people of mixed-race or other unclassifiable racial backgrounds), whites of European descent (both English and Afrikaner) and Indians (brought to South Africa as slave labor). While many think of Stellenbosch as a "white" area, it is in fact majority Coloured. Because Coloureds and most whites speak Afrikaans, this area is a very much influenced by that language and has been thought of as the center of Afrikaner culture. But even though I've only been here for two weeks, I can already sense that this place is in the midst of huge changes as the power dynamics slowly shift to empower the previously disadvantaged segments of the population.

Just as a note, however, I have NEVER been in or seen a place with such great disparity between rich and poor. South Africa holds the unfortunate claim of having the highest income disparity (along with Brazil). As a testament to this, one can walk 15 minutes from the afore-mentioned upscale oak-lined street and find oneself in the midst of the township of Kiyamandi. This "squatter community" is made up of tens of thousands of people living in sheer poverty. It is a virtual slum with houses made of scraps of metal, limited electricity and plumbing, and street children running around with no money, no parents, and very little to be happy about in life. While their situation may seem bleak to us Americans, though, it does not mean they are sad people, as I've met some truly joyful individuals who make me wonder what it really takes to be happy in life. I am excited for the lessons I will be learning as I engage with the people in these communities through my Service Learning in Community Development class.

Dang! I have to say that I did not envision this post being so much writing, but I guess there was a lot that I wanted to say. I hope I didn't bore you. It'll be getting better, I promise. I'll now talk about my room. I live in a residence hall called "Metanoia" with 500 other South Africans. This will indeed be a major part of my "immersion" experience while I am here as I have already made friends with a good number of South Africans who have been teaching me a lot about South African culture. The residential life system here is much different than in the States, and has a lot of fun traditions and a community vibe that I don't think a lot of other big schools in the US come close to matching. I have a single room with simple furnishings in a relatively quiet part of the dorm, which I like a lot, because it can get pretty hectic (they love using that word for just about everything that has a negative sense).

Here is a picture of my room with my dresser to the left, bed, desk, shelves, etc. It's pretty boring, really, but I'm sure there are many who have not seen it yet.

Next, I thought it would be nice and informative if I posted stuff about the hike up Stellenbosch Mountain that I took last week. First off, let me just inform everyone that it is NOT a good idea to go up a mountain in 100 degree heat, blazing midday sun, and with only a single water bottle. Yeah, there's one lesson I've definitely learned so far. So basically we set out to hike up the picturesque Mt. Stellenbosch completely unprepared in just about every way. Not only did we not bring enough 1) water, 2) sunscreen, 3) proper clothing, but we also had a lack of 4) directions (both how to get to the trail, and what trail to take to get up the mountain), and 5) general sense of how long the hike was. One might think such a hike would prove disastrous and likely end in the death of one or more of our group members. You would, however, be quite wrong, my friend.

Here is a shot of Mt. Stellenbosch with the trail we hiked up and the ridge we stopped at mid-way up. It looks a lot less impressive from this angle, but let me tell you it was brutal. But no matter how hectic it is, I still want do the hike to the top again sometime soon.

We eventually found our way, realized we were stupid for thinking we could go all the way up with so little water, and just hiked up to a nice ridge where we got a great view of Stellenbosch and the whole region. As you can see, the payoff we got was well worth the grueling hike in hectic conditions and scorching heat. Atop the ridge, we could see False Bay to the south along with the Cape Peninsula, the Cape Flats, and Table Mountain to the west. The rolling hills of Stellenbosch were laid out before us, and it was quite a sight to behold. The university, with its characteristic red-tiled roofs, was also easily distinguishable, along with my dorm Metanoia (which for those of you who are looking for it, is of an uncharacteristic white color and odd shape: it looks like a figure 8 with an arm jutting off the side).

Here is an attempt at a panoramic picture, but I have to split it up to fit. It goes from looking west towards Cape Town, to north with Stellenbosch in view, to east with the Simonsberg Mountains.

Here is my hiking companion Jeremy. He's also on CIEE with me and lives just down the hall in Metanoia. His hiking expertise is probably what saved us (if he'd listened to me we'd still be on the mountain).

Here is a shot of the Stellenbosch campus, with all the main buildings distinguishable by the red tile roofs. My res, Metanoia, is visible in the center. It's the bright white building that sticks out and is oddly shaped. If you can make it out, I live at the end of the arm that sticks out to the left.

Here's Jen perched up on a sweet cliff. I kind of wish I had scampered over there too, but whatever, it just means I'll have to go up again sometime soon (preferably when it's not hotter than the inside of the sun).

Here's a video I took from the ridge halfway up Mt. Stellenbosch. It's a little windy, but gives a good view of everything from the Cape mountains, to Stellenbosch, to the Simonsberg Mountains. Beautiful rolling wine country.

After a good rest on the ridge, we made our way back down in order to escape the heat and sun that had been cooking us like a sausage over a braai. We found a little river and decided to cool off for a bit before heading home. There was this sweet suspension bridge over it for people to walk without getting wet (although that was quite the opposite of what we wanted). After getting a lot of strange looks from passers by, who most likely were wondering what a bunch of sweaty Americans were doing in the disgusting sewage-like water that no body ever swims in, we finally headed home. Upon reentering civilization, I immediately downed a 1.5 litre bottle of water and crashed down on my bed from sheer exhaustion. All in all, though, it was a very good day, all potential catastrophes were successfully averted, and we got some great views.

Here are some pictures of the group. First we have Justin, the only hardcore hiker of the group who was moderately prepared to do the hike to the top. Then we have a shot of the group cooling off. All AIFS or CIEE students (Americans). Lindsay (on the far right) along with Jeremy are the two other CIEE kids. Then we have the flippin sweet bridge that I mentioned earlier.

Well, there we are for now. Hopefully you're all slightly more acquainted with the area (as was the hope in this post, although I'm not sure how successful I was). As classes are just getting under way, I'm thinking that the time I can devote to blogging will most definitely be going down, so if posts become less frequent, just be patient. Thanks everyone, and happy Super Tuesday! Go Barack!

**Edited for typos**

Penguins in Africa!! (and some Capes)

2008-02-01T14:22:00.000-08:00

First, yes, they do have penguins in Africa in case you were unaware. One of the benefits of living so far south in the Southern Hemisphere. That and the toilets flush the other way (but come to think of it, I've never thought to check when I flush, I just assume it's the wrong way...)

And secondly, no, not capes as in this. We're talking the capes of the geographical variety. Specifically, this one.

Okay, enough fancy hyperlink-studded preludes. Basically, this post is just to catch up on everything that I've done so far in South Africa starting with our trip a week ago to the Cape Peninsula. We drove into Cape Town and had beautiful views of the city bowl (downtown) as well as Table Mountain (the most famous natural landmark of the city).

After that we continued south towards the Cape, stopping through some very upscale suburbs of Cape Town that many relate to the "South African" Riviera both in their styllishness and snobiness. Our lunch stop in Hout Bay was truly stunning, however, and to give a sense of it I've included this video clip.

So yeah, if any of you had been wondering what I had meant by the incredible natural beauty of South Africa, it is this. Taking in a scenic view of the ocean with the wind on your face and the sun on your back. Can life get better? I submit that Brian Regan knows the answer.

Also, in case you were wondering, those people in the clip are all my program mates from CIEE Stellenbosch (there are 10 of us in total) with Joe, our South African social liason and "orientation advisor" sitting on the ground to the far right. Really that title is just a fancy way of saying he gets paid to take us around and show us a good time. Pretty sweet job if you ask me.

Moving on, we then proceeded to go see the penguins at Boulder Beach. For having never seen penguins "in the wild" it was quite a thrilling experience. Most of the thrill, however, didn't come from the penguins, which were simply fun to look at, but the grains of sand that continued to pelt us in the face at 100 miles per hour. Not fun. But still worth it for getting to see penguins in South freakin Africa!

After we got over the awesome penguins, we finally headed to the most southern point of the Cape Peninsula, and the most south-western point of the African Continitent, Cape Point. Along the way, we also stopped at the historically famous Cape of Good Hope. And to just drop in a history lesson for all of you, the Portuguese had orginially named the cape the Cape of Storms but since trying to enlist sailors to make the voyage to India by telling them they'd be sailing around the Cape of Storms was bad marketing, they decided to change the name. Pretty smart if you ask me. Right up there with Leif Eriksson naming Greenland "Greenland" and not "Forsaken Wasteland of Ice" like it probably should be called.

Anways, back to the Cape, it turned out that we had to take a nice little drive through the Table Mountain National Park to get to Cape Point. It was very interesting noting the completely windswept and treeless plains. In fact, it gets so windy there that no plants bigger than small shrubs and bushes can grow there. The vegetation is unique to the Western Cape region of South Africa, growing no where else in the world, and is named fynbos (fine bush).

If you can't already tell, I'm somewhat of a nerd for talking about the vegetation of South Africa. I would talk about the baboons, ostriches, and springbok that also live in the park, except we didn't see very many (other than a few baboons beside the road).

After the nice car ride, we finally made it to Cape Point where we had some of the most amazing views of the rugged coastline meeting the freezing Atlantic Ocean. Since words can't really describe it, and I've already written enough for a dissertation, I'll put in some more visuals.

Not only were the views incredible, but the winds created swirling clouds that flew just over our heads at intense speeds. If you weren't careful, the wind could swipe your sunglasses (or "sunnies" as Joe calls them) right off your face. I've also never been in a place were we could actually watch as clouds were created by the wind currents hitting the sheer cliff and lifting themselves over the edge high above the water. I'm no meteorologist, but it was pretty cool to see.

All in all, it was a great trip and really gave us a chance to see more of the beautiful landscape and seascape of South Africa. The geography nerd in me was also greatly satisfied with the trip to the Cape.

So yeah, I have now accomplished my goal of getting out all these pictures and videos for the world to see and can start making progress on getting over the backlog of things I need to post. Hope you enjoyed all the imagery! See you later!

Some Points About South Africa: Food Edition

2008-01-30T12:26:00.000-08:00

** First, a note of explanation to tell everyone who's been asking for new posts: I haven't had much internet for the last two weeks, but am now set up on my own laptop, so more frequent posts will be coming in the future. In fact, I'm a little backlogged right now, so there may even be several very shortly. Enjoy! **

I decided that I need to explain what has been a big part of my experience to this point: food. So here are a few tidbits that might explain a little more about what I've been eating (and drinking).

In one sentence: there is too much juice, meat, cheese, and this beast of a thing called “marmite”.

First, I am pretty sure I’ve drank about 18 gallons of various kinds of juice since I’ve been here. You may think that’s an exaggeration, and it most likely is, but still, being served juice with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at various points throughout the day has made my life resemble that of a 2nd grader.

Second, meat is the staple food in South Africa. Some societies eat bread, some eat rice, but South Africans are crazy about meat, specifically barbecue or “braai.” Here the saying would go, “have a braai, and the people will come.” The notion of “too much braai” is a foreign concept in these parts, as the fact that one can find braais going on every night demonstrates. Braai is such a cultural institution, that it is literally built INTO the structure of buildings. Most dorms on campus have built-in barbecues all around. And when I say barbecues, I'm not talking about those flimsy ones in parks, but full-on wood burning broilers that you could grill a whole cow on and still have room to throw on a few sausages. So yeah, it's been meat meat meat, usually in sausage form.

Thirdly, the problem with all the cheese isn’t so much the quantities or even the frequency of when it is served, instead I would say that South Africans see cheese as being able to go with anything, at any point in the day, even by itself. A croissant for breakfast? Sprinkle some cheddar on there. Want a sandwich for lunch? How about a baguette with cheddar. That’s it. Nothing else. That’s all we have. Cheddar. Grated or sliced. With anything. All the time. Not only would being vegetarian be completely impossible, but vegans would most likely get run out of town as people hurled sausages and blocks of cheese at them.

Lastly, the bit about marmite goes specifically to Mom, who taught me that it’s good to try new things. What follows is a cautionary tale. So a South African friend one day was raving about how he can eat marmite with anything. He was going on and on about how great it was, that I thought, well hey, why not? So I gave the jar a quick whiff. Being utterly disgusted with the result, I began to have second thoughts. Joe, however, insisted that it is simply heavenly on a piece of toast. So I spread the tar-like substance on some toast, and with great trepidation took a bite. It literally took ALL of my powers of self control not to immediately spew the foul concoction onto my plate.
“What the crap is this stuff, Joe?”
“Oh, it’s made from concentrated vegetable extract.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“Don’t worry, they love it in England.”
That’s reassuring.

So in a few words, that has been 5% of my experience so far in South Africa. More will definitely keep coming. Potentially very soon. As in I am now going to start writing my next post.

Quick update

2008-01-23T03:20:00.000-08:00

This isn't meant to be anything more than just a really quick word about my trip so far. I landed safely and am now settling in to my new home in Stellenbosch. To describe my first impression, all I can say is: I LOVE IT. The beauty, the weather, the landscape, the people, it's all pretty much the most awesome thing ever. I really like my program and the people on it. I ate springbok last night, which is kind of like an antelope (it tastes like beef). Anyways, I'll be updating this more next week as I get more settled in, but for now, all I can say is...

Stellenbosch freakin rocks.

Living the dream

2008-01-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

Well folks, for one week I will be living the dream that is the fleeting ideal of every college student: to be at college with absolutely NO work. You've got friends, all the free time in the world, and even all your meals cooked for you. I suppose that actually finding ways to get free meals in the dining hall when you have no meal plan is the hardest part, but that's no big deal really. I've simply been pulling either the "Aroop method" or what I will call the "fake guest meal method." Both work only in Paresky. The Aroop method simply entails waiting until the line is going out the door and the card swipers are too busy to notice you walking out with your tray of food, being screened by the line of people. The fake guest meal method entails finding someone who was abroad in the fall (or someone with no guest meals left) and having them guest you at the front. As soon as the card swiper sees you, you just walk out while they perform the card swipe. It takes them a minute to realize that this person actually has no guest meals, by which time you're long gone and have found yourself another free meal. I suppose you could just actually find someone to give you a real guest meal, but that's just no fun. And also, it's not like I haven't already paid for these meals (in a way). Whatever, Williams has plenty of $$$.

Anyways, back to the living of the dream that is my life currently.

So far, I've just been taking time to enjoy all the things that I never had time for during the semester: working out in the gym, watching Planet Earth, and hanging out with friends. It is a little strange sometimes feeling like I don't belong here or getting someone who says, "Hey Carl, what are you doing here, I thought you were going to South Africa?" The explanation of "Oh, you know, I'm just here for a while.... hanging out" seems to only bring on jealousy. Of all the times I could have been here with no work, January was definitely the best time to come. Everyone is nearly in the same boat as I am: on campus with (practically) no work to do and loads of free time to spend (or waste) on shenanigans. But in my opinion, what some might call "wasting time" is the best way to spend Winter "Study."

And thus I will enjoy passing my time on campus reveling in the leisure and relaxation of Williams during Winter Study. Though, the thought that I will be in Stellenbosch in just a few more days is pretty exciting on the one hand, but also a little inconceivable too. It doesn't really register in my mind quite yet, how drastic of a change the experience will be. I guess I'll just have to wait until I get there. Until Sunday...

Almost on my way

2008-01-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

Welcome to my blog of my semester studying in South Africa. Right now I'm still at home in Claremont enjoying Christmas Break, but two weeks from now I'll be surrounded by the Cape Dutch architecture of Stellenbosch. I have roughly four days left at home, then I'll be heading to Williamstown for the week of Jan 13-19. From there, my journey to South Africa will commence as I'll make my way back to New York where I'll be taking a non-stop flight from JFK to Johannesburg. One more short flight will get me to Cape Town, and from there it's just a short ride outside the city to Stellenbosch.

As you can probably guess, I am SO excited to go! I simply can't fathom the experiences I will soon be having and how profoundly they will affect me. I expect that in going to South Africa, I will be confronted with an array of challenging issues that will be hard to stomach at times. But in a way, that is the reason I am going. While South African society has many problems, it is also experiencing great changes. It is at a crossroads, and how it proceeds from here will have a drastic impact on its future. It will require the commitment and dedication of everyone in its multi-ethnic and multi-faceted society to move forward.

Over the last few weeks, I have been reading on the life of Desmond Tutu and his work on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the dismantlement of apartheid in 1994. For me, it has been difficult reading about the atrocities and gross human rights violations of the oppressive white Afrikaner regime. It makes me wonder how such ghastly acts could be committed by humans against one another. And what is more, that they would profess to be Christians and attempt to construct theological frameworks to uphold their injustices is sickening. In a way, it is into that environment that I will soon be going.

I go with tremendous hope, though. I have hope that through the reconciliation and amnesty process that has been ongoing for over a decade, South Africa will be able to move itself forward into a new era of peace, equality and prosperity. Living and learning in Stellenbosch will be a strange experience, I imagine, as the various forces of change and resistance to change will clash head on in this town that sits in the middle of "Afrikanerdom." The many contradictions and disparities will be unsettling, but one must realize that real change takes time and perseverance. Seeing the work done by men such as Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Steven Biko, and Bayers Naude (a white minister who graduated from Stellenbosch, famous for his anti-apartheid activism), has shown that South Africa's future will be brighter than its past.

As I said before, I am definitely excited for what my semester will bring. I know that I will probably become very busy with the various things I will be doing, but I will try my best to keep this blog updated with my latest thoughts and experiences. I am aiming for (roughly) weekly updates. I'll also try to add pictures and videos of whatever I can to give a glimpse of the beauty and richness that is South Africa. Thanks for reading my blog!

Until next time!

Much love,
Carl