Meet Stellenbosch

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)

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

** 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

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

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

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