I was supposed to have a 24 hour layover in Amsterdam on my return from Cape Town (as I did on the way there). However, I didn't see much point in bumming around and I missed my family, so I got on an earlier flight home and had only 3 hours layover instead. The downside of that is that my mom had to pick me up 1.5 hours from her house at nearly midnight. My sister and her drove out together - they were brave! They said I recovered faster the next day than they did from staying up late - and I had nearly 30 hours of travel plus jet lag to contend with! My sister was thoughtful and brought me snacks for the car ride. I had so much to gossip with them about - I hadn't spoken to anyone on the phone the whole time I was away. I was glad to be home a day early.
In the 3 days I was home I hung out with a friend I had made in North Carolina, got my hair dyed back to brown (in an effort to cut a cost out of my budget in Oregon - blond is expensive to maintain!), sent some of my stuff to Oregon in boxes to make more room in the car, and packed up my stuff. I also spent quality time with family, including playing with my nephew and swimming in the pool with mom. We found out that afternoon that my dog can't stand to see me go underwater - she valiantly jumped the fence barking her head off to try to rescue me. She can not go in the pool though - so mom had to spring into action to catch her before her claws could go near the pool liner! I missed my pookey-girl so much while I was in Africa... She wouldn't leave my side after I returned! I didn't want her to, either.
It was both stressful and exciting to get ready for the move. My heart was still in Cape Town, and I was tired from traveling. It was also surreal to know that I had a home of my own waiting for me in Oregon. My first home - MY first home! The long drive to the west coast was not something I was looking forward to - not with a dog and 3 cats in the car. I also had a mixed feeling of both leaving a place that had come to feel like home, and how great it was to be near family for the summer, but also a feeling that I didn't belong in Hickory and the whole town seemed foreign to me after getting acclimated with Cape Town. Nothing seemed right anymore - not the fixtures on public restroom stall doors, or the road signs, or all the little things that I had gotten used to abroad. Plus I kept trying to drive on the left hand side of the road - though I didn't drive in Cape Town I had become used to the feel of being on the left!
I love my family and am glad to have had the time to spend with them this summer. It was now time to start my new life in Oregon though, and I had to do it, no matter how overwhelming everything felt.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
My last weekend
Saturday my host took me on another
amazing hike - this one called "silver mine." My friend joined us, as did another young professor in the department. The four of us had a great time together - I am still waiting for them to send me the pics of the 4 of us at our picnic spot.
This hike was at times easy and at times
challenging. There were places where you had to pull yourself up a bit, and believe it or not, there is a trail in that pic on the right. Mom said it looked more like a drainage ditch! It was well worth it though... Overall we hiked 4 hours, and had an amazing picnic with a view that couldn't be beat. My host really knows how to pick a picnic spot!On Sunday I had a busy day. A prof from the center for higher education took me out to lunch at a nice fishing village. We walked out on the peer, saw a whale (which became a casual thing by the end of my trip) and ate with a view of the ocean.
Then my new friend invited me to his sister's house to meet his nephew who is 1.5 years old and very cute (though not as cute as my 2 year old nephew!) Then my host picked me up for another terrific game of scrabble at his cousin's house, and later that evening my friend had me over since it was my last night. I felt like I was being shuffled from here to there all day! It was good to feel I would be missed.The scrabble game was again fun - my host and his cousin were good fun. They made lots of jokes; both clever and silly ones. They also teased me a lot about my new "friend" and made lots of flirtatious words on the scrabble board in my honor. I managed to come in 2nd - not bad! I didn't have the luck this time of drawing the big scoring letters, but I managed to hold my own. I think my host is a little sore I beat him two times in a row! I wish I could join them weekly to play :)
Alas Monday it was time to go home. I spent as much time as I could with the students; conducting interviews and looking at their work. I also cleaned out my office, organized my papers, packed and did all that necessary stuff. When dinner time came both my host and my friend took me out to my favorite Thai place (nice I stayed long enough to know the restaurant scene!) then to the airport for my midnight flight. I was sad to say goodbye to both of them. I know they will miss me, and I miss them quite a bit.
More about safety in Cape Town
Friday evening and Saturday evening I ate dinner at my new friend's house. It was very nice because I was sick of eating out. We went to the grocery store and got bread, cheese, wine, soup, and salad. Other than making those evenings relaxing and enjoyable, it was interesting to see how someone else lives in this city. At this point I had been to the house of my host, and one of his cousin's. I got to see the house of my friend in more detail and talk with him about the security issues.
Each house I saw had a separate front gate in front of the front door. You keep that locked so if someone comes to your front door you can open it but they are stuck behind the gate. That way you can find out what they want but they can not come into your house unless you open the gate. The houses all also had security systems. Most of the nicer ones had walls around the property, with razor wire or electric wire above the walls to keep people from climbing over them. At my friend's house, he also had the security system set up such that when he goes to sleep any movement in his lower floor will set off alarms.
My friend told me accounts of break-ins to his row of townhouses before they put up the electric wires. He has a small round kitchen window; one time he heard noise, came downstairs and found footprints on the inside wall under the window. Kid-sized foot prints. Although it was so nice to be in a home and have a causal meal, I realized those two evenings how much I missed being free to just walk outside whenever I wanted to. I also missed seeing yards that bleed into each other and accessible open spaces inside neighborhoods. I don't think I could live like that - other than the amazing hikes, it felt like living in a cage.
Each house I saw had a separate front gate in front of the front door. You keep that locked so if someone comes to your front door you can open it but they are stuck behind the gate. That way you can find out what they want but they can not come into your house unless you open the gate. The houses all also had security systems. Most of the nicer ones had walls around the property, with razor wire or electric wire above the walls to keep people from climbing over them. At my friend's house, he also had the security system set up such that when he goes to sleep any movement in his lower floor will set off alarms.
My friend told me accounts of break-ins to his row of townhouses before they put up the electric wires. He has a small round kitchen window; one time he heard noise, came downstairs and found footprints on the inside wall under the window. Kid-sized foot prints. Although it was so nice to be in a home and have a causal meal, I realized those two evenings how much I missed being free to just walk outside whenever I wanted to. I also missed seeing yards that bleed into each other and accessible open spaces inside neighborhoods. I don't think I could live like that - other than the amazing hikes, it felt like living in a cage.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Where did I leave off??
I'm sorry to everyone for neglecting my blog! You can guess a man was involved - I started dating and suddenly was too busy to keep up with this... I'll try not to let that happen again :) I have so much to tell everyone about! Silly me for dating while in South Africa anyway - I should have been working in my spare time!!
So I left off with the day I went wine tasting. The next day; Tuesday the 21st of August I didn't do much of anything except prepare for Wednesday. On Wednesday I gave 2 seminars; one to the numeracy center and one to the physics department. The morning one was very casual and nice, the afternoon one in the department was well-attended and seemed to go well. People spoke well of it, at least. I felt like I had to fight for acceptance with some people in the department, and the seminar helped with that. I was rather exhausted by the end of Wednesday.
Thursday I don't recall doing much of note except going for lunch at the nice restaurant at the Rhodes Memorial with said person I dated. I wanted to walk up there again but it was raining so we ended up driving. It was a nice little hike up there; about 15 minutes up a steep hill - I did it a few more times before the end of my trip.
Friday I took the afternoon off and went to Robben Island - the location of the famous political prison. I went with the same guy which I thought would be really interesting because he grew up in Cape Town in an affluent white (British) family and was fairly sheltered from Apartheid until he reached high school age. All during my trip it was interesting to hear the stories from everyone about how things were when they were young and how different their childhoods were depending on their race, religion, and social status.Unfortunately Robben Island was a disappointment for both of us. I would not recommend it for tourists. The trip and museum is poorly run, and the tour was dumbed-down to the point of being ridiculous. At one point our tour guide said something about how they wanted to show a full picture of life on the Island and show every one's points of view fairly because the Island is now dedicated to unity; but the white guards wouldn't contribute their point of view "if they even have one." And after 15 minutes of asking everyone on our bus about their country of origin (where are you from, what time is it there, how are you enjoying your trip...) the tour guide took one sentence to thank all of our countries for helping to end Apartheid then asked for tips. I don't even feel like I learned anything, which is a real shame. Things were not explained - they would say "this was done just for the press" but not say how conditions were when press weren't visiting, or what was being hidden from the press.
My favorite part about Robben Island was that I saw wild bunnies and penguins in the same place - and the penguins were not hanging out with the bunnies, because the bunnies were busy making baby bunnies and the penguins seemed disturbed... It was pretty funny. I never thought I'd see penguins crossing a road to get away from happy bunnies! I was rather engrossed in watching this, but not too engrossed as I was still able to overhear someone from Michigan stating the time in their home was 12 hours behind Cape Town... um, people?? you were off by 5! American tourists get such a bad rap - sometimes well deserved...
The ferry ride to and from the island was also quite fun; the waves were huge! At one point I bounced right out of my seat. The view of Cape Town and Table Mountain from the ferry was amazing - you can easily see where it gets its name from these pics. I can't believe I hiked all the way up that in less than 2 hours...
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Wine Country
Monday I went to the wine country and saw both Franschoek and Stellenbosch. The first is a town that claims a strong French heritage due to relocation of many French Huguenots who took refuge there after being granted farms by the dutch government. I went to a museum about this, which was interesting for me since it is part of my heritage, though our ancestors went west instead of south. This museum also has a monument.
Then we went to the Boschendal Estate which has very typical architecture of the region (though I'm sure it was one of the nicest houses of its time). We had a nice lunch there, but my hosts do not drink alcohol, so I did not taste any wine.
After that we went to the Spier Estate, which has a training facility for dogs that will chase of cheetahs without harming them (since they are often killed by farmers in this region), a famous restaurant, a hotel, and beautiful grounds.
The wine region is most striking because not only does it have lush hills covered with pretty vineyards, but it has high mountains on either side of the valley. I didn't get a good picture to show the perspective - but it is quite beautiful. Mom, count your blessings that the university in Stellenbosch teaches in Afrikaans, so I can't teach there - because I would love to live in that town. A beautiful small town in this amazing valley only 45 minutes from the city and the beaches. Of course - I'm about to move to a beautiful small valley town near vineyards that is only an hour from the ocean and just over to a nice city - so I can't complain :)
Then we went to the Boschendal Estate which has very typical architecture of the region (though I'm sure it was one of the nicest houses of its time). We had a nice lunch there, but my hosts do not drink alcohol, so I did not taste any wine.
After that we went to the Spier Estate, which has a training facility for dogs that will chase of cheetahs without harming them (since they are often killed by farmers in this region), a famous restaurant, a hotel, and beautiful grounds.
The wine region is most striking because not only does it have lush hills covered with pretty vineyards, but it has high mountains on either side of the valley. I didn't get a good picture to show the perspective - but it is quite beautiful. Mom, count your blessings that the university in Stellenbosch teaches in Afrikaans, so I can't teach there - because I would love to live in that town. A beautiful small town in this amazing valley only 45 minutes from the city and the beaches. Of course - I'm about to move to a beautiful small valley town near vineyards that is only an hour from the ocean and just over to a nice city - so I can't complain :)
Some random things
First - I have just posted some pics to two old blog entries - one titled "Random Thoughts" from the first week I was here, and another called "The Weather and The Joys of Being Outside" from my 2nd week. You can see campus and the Rhodes Memorial on those posts now.
The crime here is a real problem, as I've mentioned before. There were 15 muggings on table mountain park this weekend alone. That's where I was hiking Saturday, though despite the difficulty of the trail we were on, there was a steady-stream of people on it though fewer near the top (perhaps due to the perfect weather that day?) We are going again this coming Saturday, in a group. This is another reason why one should hike this mountain with locals. They know the trails, where is safer, and that it's best to be in a group. And of course the ever-changing weather and unexpected rain makes it a dangerous mountain if someone is unaware.
Other big local news was a group of women mugged on a high-end golf course - apparently they ran screaming and the muggers didn't make off with anything except a few clubs... The local rock music radio station encourages people to report crime on a regular basis. Someone who was on bicycle was mugged on a trail not far from campus last week. That was just a bit higher up the mountain than the Rhodes memorial I went to both Friday and Monday.
It is understandable that there would be high crime here (especially muggings) with the huge discrepancy in incomes. Apparently 30% of the population here (which is better than much of the rest of South Africa) is un- or under-employed (like 1-2 days a week at most, not enough to live off). Only 30% of the people make enough money to pay taxes. The government wants to remove all non land-owned shacks by 2015 and have people living in "real" houses - it would be great if that happens. The low income housing places here are not what we would call houses - though they do have electricity and running water (which is major recent progress). These neighborhoods are surrounded by corrugated metal lean-tos as well. I'm told the neighborhoods are not as bad as the outskirts that can be seen from the highway. You can enter them on tours - I hear it is quite informative and people are friendly, and it's a good way to buy local crafts as well.
It is just amazing to hear what this country has gone through in the past 200 years, or the past 20 years - either way it is more than I could imagine. Today at afternoon tea a prof was speaking about how they used to boycott the government by refusing to go to class during college days, and the whole college would have to shut down for months at a time - and this was in the 80's. Apparently parts of the country had their own governance, too, and you needed a passport to travel within South Africa. My host spoke of a time in the late 80's when police came on campus, and in the fussing that was going on ended up putting a tear gas canister on top of the physics building. That day he was supposed to do a lab outside, and had to abandon it and take the students back inside when they saw the police presence. Apparently the police were not allowed on campus for a very long time.
Everyone here seems to have grown up in a very different situation too - from close-knit Muslim communities, to impoverished black communities, to privileged upper-class white communities. Some people speak of all the places they went as children, others speak of not being able to go places because they were "whites-only". Some lost their family homes due to re-settlement, while others were barely even aware of how the other-half were being treated.
Anyway - enough grim thoughts for the evening... Let's focus on the positive. People here LOVE their city, and are so proud of it. The mountain seems to tie everyone together, and once people come here they don't seem to want to leave.
The crime here is a real problem, as I've mentioned before. There were 15 muggings on table mountain park this weekend alone. That's where I was hiking Saturday, though despite the difficulty of the trail we were on, there was a steady-stream of people on it though fewer near the top (perhaps due to the perfect weather that day?) We are going again this coming Saturday, in a group. This is another reason why one should hike this mountain with locals. They know the trails, where is safer, and that it's best to be in a group. And of course the ever-changing weather and unexpected rain makes it a dangerous mountain if someone is unaware.
Other big local news was a group of women mugged on a high-end golf course - apparently they ran screaming and the muggers didn't make off with anything except a few clubs... The local rock music radio station encourages people to report crime on a regular basis. Someone who was on bicycle was mugged on a trail not far from campus last week. That was just a bit higher up the mountain than the Rhodes memorial I went to both Friday and Monday.
It is understandable that there would be high crime here (especially muggings) with the huge discrepancy in incomes. Apparently 30% of the population here (which is better than much of the rest of South Africa) is un- or under-employed (like 1-2 days a week at most, not enough to live off). Only 30% of the people make enough money to pay taxes. The government wants to remove all non land-owned shacks by 2015 and have people living in "real" houses - it would be great if that happens. The low income housing places here are not what we would call houses - though they do have electricity and running water (which is major recent progress). These neighborhoods are surrounded by corrugated metal lean-tos as well. I'm told the neighborhoods are not as bad as the outskirts that can be seen from the highway. You can enter them on tours - I hear it is quite informative and people are friendly, and it's a good way to buy local crafts as well.
It is just amazing to hear what this country has gone through in the past 200 years, or the past 20 years - either way it is more than I could imagine. Today at afternoon tea a prof was speaking about how they used to boycott the government by refusing to go to class during college days, and the whole college would have to shut down for months at a time - and this was in the 80's. Apparently parts of the country had their own governance, too, and you needed a passport to travel within South Africa. My host spoke of a time in the late 80's when police came on campus, and in the fussing that was going on ended up putting a tear gas canister on top of the physics building. That day he was supposed to do a lab outside, and had to abandon it and take the students back inside when they saw the police presence. Apparently the police were not allowed on campus for a very long time.
Everyone here seems to have grown up in a very different situation too - from close-knit Muslim communities, to impoverished black communities, to privileged upper-class white communities. Some people speak of all the places they went as children, others speak of not being able to go places because they were "whites-only". Some lost their family homes due to re-settlement, while others were barely even aware of how the other-half were being treated.
Anyway - enough grim thoughts for the evening... Let's focus on the positive. People here LOVE their city, and are so proud of it. The mountain seems to tie everyone together, and once people come here they don't seem to want to leave.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Lots and lots of flowers
Today I was picked up and taken up the west coast out of town to see the wildflowers. Another professor in the department took me around this time instead of my host. Tomorrow my host has worked out for me to go on a tour of the wine lands. Tuesday I'll have to get back to work! Today was very nice though. We went to a park on the coast that has some wildlife and lots of wild flowers. It also has a few beautiful beaches, and I played some on the sand and in the water. Among the animals I saw were ostriches and a zebra. I also saw some hoofed animals I didn't recognize. I'll have to ask the guy again what they were called. The flowers were absolutely terrific - so many vibrant colors, and the land was blanketed with them. I tried to get the perspective of the masses of them, and also up close to see their individual beauty. Some of the flowers had many colors even within a single flower or single clump of flowers, where others were vibrantly singular. After that we went to a small town called Darling where I bought some more gifts (at much better prices than in the city - and I got to meet the person who made the crafts) and we had a late lunch at a little cafe that was very Afrikaans. It was nice to experience something different from the city and the academic areas.. Here they are - and a pic of me playing in the water... proof there's more to staying here than my research!
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