Josh: South African Friends and Shark Cage Diving

Throughout the past week, Melissa, Drew, and I have forged friendships with South African students, experienced an extreme adventure, and attempted to stay afloat amid the rigors of our coursework. At Universiteit Stellenbosch, there are essentially two types of classes international students take: IPSU (International Program: Stellenbosch University) and mainstream. IPSU classes are taught fully in English and are available only to the 250+ international students. Mainstream courses, taught from the individual faculties and departments, feature either entirely Afrikaans or a combination of Afrikaans and English. Why am I mentioning this when our next post will be dedicated to classes and studies? Well, the most effective way to make South African friends at our university—Melissa and I’ve discovered—is through these mainstream courses. In my global governance module, I met a group of eight or so International Studies students who are incredibly hospitable and cool. Among these, the closest friends Drew, Melissa, and I have made are Stacey, her boyfriend Jacques, and Daniel.

On Wednesday, this trio, two Slovakian girls, a girl from Cape Town named Marian, and a few others from my global governance class took us out on the town. Whereas Thursday night is the social night at Missouri State University, Wednesday night houses all the Stellenbosch fun. It’s referred to as “Claander Saterdaag” (Halfway to Saturday). We went dancing for a little bit at Nu Bar, went to the Rhythm Lounge for a cocktail (my first and LAST cocktail: it was disgusting), ate some meat pies from the fast-food chain King Pie, and danced some more at [name to be given later…we were all too drunk to remember it. JUST KIDDING, enjoy a joke]. It was quite a fun night, but that was all the partying the three of us could handle; hence, we did not celebrate Claander Saterdaag this week.

We met up with Stacey, Jacques, Daniel, and Phil on Friday for the South African premiere of The Dark Knight. Going to the cinema in Stellenbosch is quite inexpensive. Each ticket costs R20 (about $2.85). Moreover, Drew and I split a large coke and large popcorn for only R26 (approximately $3.70). I personally loved the film, Melissa enjoyed the acting, and Drew found it too violent for a Batman film. Long gone are the days where Batman played up the cheese factor.

Rather than sleeping in late on Saturday, we all woke up and surprised Stacey by attending her res’s football game. Afterwards, we trekked towards the foot of Stellenbosch Mountain to our uni’s gimnasium. Situated about 15-20 minutes from our res, the gim is well worth the walk. It contains two circuits (You simply follow the proscribed, sequenced exercises in accordance with the timer!), many stationery bikes and rowing machines, free weights, aerobic and yoga classes at no additional expense, and an indoor swimming pool. Adopting the South African trend of staying fit, the three of us purchased gym memberships for the next four months. We live in a society with almost no overweight or obese citizens!

Alas, the most exciting part of the past week: On Sunday, we drove down the Western Coast (southern coast geographically) for two hours until we arrived at Gansbaai. We had scheduled a shark cage diving day through the Stellenbosch Adventure Center, and the moment had finally arrived. Melissa, Drew, Renee, and I all woke up at about 7:15 to get to our van by 8. Fortunately for us, the weather in Stellenbosch was pretty bleak, leaving many of the international students to believe the cage diving day would be cancelled. In Gansbaai, however, the weather was ideal for cage diving—our skipper told us at the end of the day that our shark viewing was unbelievable. Gansbaai, located near the southernmost point in Africa (where the Pacific and Indian Oceans meet), is world-reknowned for its great white shark populations. In fact, the area between Geyser Rock (a small island home to 50,000-60,000 Cape Fur seals), and Dyer Island (African penguins live here!) is called Shark Alley. During the winter months (April-August), a multitude of great white sharks gather between the islands to feed on cub Cape Fur seals learning how to swim.

After feeding us a large breakfast (which we kept down only long enough to get to Dyer Island…just ask Melissa for more details), our skipper briefed us about the shark population and general safety/guidelines. We boarded our boat and travelled out to Shark Alley, taking time to first view the seals. There, massive amounts of chum were poured into the ocean water, attracting a number of 3-3.5 meter great whites. In addition to Melissa, Drew, Renee, and I, three Holland tourists were cage diving. I first got into the cage with the three Holland visitors, and within three minutes great whites began swimming by the cage. Wow! Talk about an adrenaline rush. One time the shark’s left fin actually bumped into the cage. At that moment, one of the Holland girls became scared, so Drew entered the cage in her place. When the other two Holland divers emerged from the cage, Melissa and Renee joined us for the experience. While cage diving, you wear a wetsuit and snorkeling goggles; however, you don’t use scuba gear. Evidently the scuba breathing noise—unnatural to the sharks—scares them away. Moreover, because the sharks only swim by the cage for about 5-10 seconds at a time, you stay above water in the cage until a crewmember shouts “Down right” or “Down left” or “In front of you.” You then submerge to observe the sharks pass by. You only see great whites off the coast of Gansbaai because a) They are the only surface feeder sharks in the area and b) They eat all the other sharks. Yeah…In total, we saw seven sharks (two males, five females), each of which swam by our boat a number of times. The adventure was incredible, so much in fact that Melissa, Drew, and I purchased a 13 minute DVD of our day. We will definitely host a viewing party when we arrive back to the USA.

Well, we hope you enjoy these photographs from our great white shark cage diving day. For our next post, the three of us will address the challenges of Universiteit Stellenboch coursework.

Our departure point

Eating a hearty breakfast

The three amigos in search of Jaws

Geyser Rock is completely covered with Cape Fur seals

Yeah, we went inside that cage

A great white approaching the chum lure















Look at how close they get to the boat















South Africa is the only place in the world where Great White Sharks breach, or jump out of the water















Cue the theme from Jaws


Remember that our video contains much cooler footage of our day than these photos do. We will have a viewing party upon our arrival.

Chardonay, Cheetahs, Capetown, Camps Bay, Cooking

Melissa: Why I Didn't Look at the Scenery

At the top of Signal Hill, a lone painter sat behind his easel, surrounded by canvases depicting Table Mountain, winding roads and falling leaves. As a small group of students gathered to look at his artwork, he shared with us that he did not consider himself an artist. His name was Ishmail Achmat and he was a concerned denizen of South Africa.

And so he began his story. During P.W. Botha’s apartheid rule, Achmat (a colored man) grew increasingly frustrated with imposed segregation until he finally wrote a letter to Botha, detailing his personal vision of a South Africa undivided by race. When Botha responded, Achmat asked for a color photo of the NP leader. He then embarked on his first painting, a portrait of Botha in white, brown, and black; the painting was sent to Botha with another letter pointing out that the policy of color segregation was flawed because the painting needed all three colors. Over the next eight years, Achmat and Botha continued corresponding through letters. Ultimately, Botha became the first South African government leader to authorize contacts with imprisoned ANC leader Nelson Mandela.

Obviously proud of his part in history, Ishmail pulled out laminated copies of newspaper articles describing his story, as well as a booklet of photos of his work. Included was a photo of a portrait of Mandela, as well as a picture of him and Mandiba in front of the painting. Despite his interaction with government leaders, Achmat was also very humble, under no illusions that he alone had convinced Botha to talk to Mandela. After all, he wasn’t even a painter!

Today, Achmat is again trying to influence political leaders through letters. He lately began a series of letters to Mbeki, advocating funding for the arts. As is the case in the States, arts funding in South Africa is declining. From his stack of papers, Ishmail pulled out a photocopy of one of his recent letters and asked me to read a section aloud.

“Art, President Mbeki, … is the flower of civilization. Fame, Power, Reputation, Wealth are meaningless in a world devoid of joy and hope…. The origin of art is an unanswerable question. I believe it comes from the Divine, Muvumbi, Mulungu, God, Allah, or whatever.”

I attempted to commit the passage to memory, but it was extensive, a whole page of eloquent exposition on the importance of art in a community. It was the kind of language that flowed off the tongue, inspiring silence from everyone who stopped to listen. If it was in a film, there would be underscoring of strings, but we made do with the wind and birds.

Soon after I finished reading, most of the students drifted off. However, another international student, Caleb, and I stayed to talk to Achmat further. He elaborated on the need of society to have art, and was excited that I, as an artist, could readily identify with his position. He gave us his contact information, as well as recommendations of films and books. And he promised if I wrote to him, he would send me a copy of the passage I read. How interesting to initiate a correspondence with someone who writes to Botha and Mandela…

Drew: My Long Overdue Posting!

We've been so busy each and every day that I don't quite have the time to sit down and write a nice blog accurately detailing every experience we've been having. However, I have been making myself jot down a few notes at the end of each day, and as such, I've decided to post those here. They range from the day I left Mountain Home, AR, to today, which is 14 days. Remember, they are just notes, so please forgive any poor grammar and misspellings! I know that this post covers a lot of information covered in the previous one, so feel free to skip to the entry for Friday, July 18, to pick up where Melissa and Josh left off. So without further ado...

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 (2:00pm) – completed packing and departed for Kansas City.

We drove for 5 hours and eventually arrived in Overland Park at the Marriott Springhill Suites. I was dropped off at Melissa’s grandparents’ house for a fun little social gathering and tasted for the first of what would be many times the bitter, unpleasant taste of Stellenbosch wine.

The next day I ate an early supper with Jason Brewer at Chipotle (obviously!) and then headed to pick up my parents to meet the Snowden family and Fagan family (Josh and Melissa’s parents, respectively) at the Cheesecake Factory. If you ever go there, I definitely recommend the Spicy Chicken Chipotle Pasta!

Thursday, July 10, 2008 – we left for the KCI Airport.

Upon arrival, we retrieved our boarding passes, checked our luggage, and spent a little over an hour with our families taking pictures, filming videos, and saying our final “good-bye’s” to one another. The parents broke down and cried a little bit. I guess it shows that they love and miss me. They also gave me a lot of money, which adds more merit to the previous sentence.

Our first flight was to Cincinnati, where after a 2ish hour layover we caught our connecting flight to New York. JFK International Airport is pretty big, by the way. Not as big as Atlanta, but still quite large! We payed to store our bags overnight in a safe-storage room in the airport and then proceeded with backpacks to the metro (my first subway ride ever!) which took us into Manhattan. We spent the night at the edge of Soho in the Sohotel (haha, what a clever name) very near the border of Little Italy and China Town. After checking in to the hotel, we went into Chinatown and ate at a quaint little Chinese restaurant. Melissa ordered the Beef and Broccoli, I ordered Sesame Chicken, and Josh ordered snails. Yes, snails. Of course, we basically ended up sharing the two regular meals between the three of us, but not until after we each sampled a few of the ever-so-tasty morsels normally associated with slime and sluggishness. All in all, they weren’t too bad, but they were a little too salty for my tastes.

The next morning, we were up and out by 7:00am and off the metro near Central Park just before 8:00am. It’s a lovely place, really, and quite the oddity amongst an unnatural backdrop of skyscrapers. Following a delightful morning stroll through the park, we emerged on the southern side and went by Trump Tower (which we went inside of to get Starbucks…and all I have to say is WOW!) on our way to Times Square. A festive and lively place, to be sure, with lots of shops and advertisements and theatres and people. After about 45 minutes of gawking and going into different stores (like Hershey’s), we walked a few blocks into the Fashion district to the ever-so-popular fabric store Mood. Hmmm, I guess I missed the culture train on this one, but apparently it is world renowned for providing fabric to some of the top designers (and it also happened to be featured on a hit TV show called Project Runway…again, nothing). Following this, we walked by the Empire State Building on our way back to the hotel, making sure to walk down Grand Street (the main street through Chinatown). The most random thing happened here: we ran into someone that we knew from Missouri State University! We were shocked that someone we knew was walking down the same side of the same street at the same time in the same district of the largest city in the US. Crazy! We then ate at a little diner in Little Italy before checking out and taking the metro back to the airport. Being ourselves, we were running a bit late. I can safely say, however, that we made it through security and into the waiting room at the terminal with a solid 30 minutes to spare…

Friday, July 11, 2008 (3:55pm) – our plane was supposed to leave, but was delayed. It left at about 5:30. It flew for about 8 hours. We stopped in Dakar, Senegal (the western-most city in Africa) for 2 hours to refuel, and then flew for another 9 hours to Cape Town International Airport! We tried to take multiple pictures of Cape Town on our descent, but not many of them turned out well. It was very interesting to pass over areas of the town that are very nice, indicative of great wealth, followed almost immediately by so-called “informal settlements,” little shanty towns in complete contrast with the nicer areas of the city. And in many of the things we will see after this, there always seems to be this underlying tension, this immense intangible unease, this very real divide between the Haves and the Have Nots.

Saturday, July 12, 2008 – a student from the international office picked us up and drove us to Stellenbosch. Might I just say that drivers in South Africa are extremely crazy?! We almost didn’t care, however, because we arrived in Stellenbosch as the sun was setting over the mountains in order to make our entrance as grandiose as the time we’re going to have this semester!

After getting our stuff into the dorm rooms, we headed in the general direction of town. After looking totally confused in the student union, two local students gave us directions to the local mall, which ended up being only two or three blocks away. Everything was closed, of course, as it was so late, but we managed to find one pizza joint still open that late. And I must say, this was probably the best pizza I’ve had in a very, very long time. We were actually very surprised at the cost, though. The pizza place only served pizzas in pairs, and since we were hungry, we ordered two large BBQ chicken supreme pizzas. The price was a whopping 85 dollars! No, wait, I meant 85 rand (the South African Currency)… so what does that mean? Well, the conversion between the US dollar and the South African Rand (ZAR) is $1 ~ R7.5. So we got two large specialty pizzas for 85 rand, which is equal to $11.33 for both, which is less than $6 for each pizza! Yep, we were pleasantly surprised. As it turns out, all of their food is MUCH cheaper than what we pay in the states. Compare prices: here, a loaf of fresh-baked bread is R5 (70 cents), a half-gallon of milk is about R12 ($1.50), yogurt is R14 ($2) for a 2.2 pound bucket, and good steaks range from about $4-8 each. I also ordered two tortilla wraps with chicken, feta cheese, and avocado at a pretty snazzy internet café/bar and paid less than R40 ($6) for the entire meal (so much food I couldn’t eat it all).

Sunday, July 13, 2008 – Went into town with Josh for about 2 hours, came back and met Melissa and as we were leaving Concordia (the name of our dorm), we met Shelby, an Australian who grew up just South of London, and spent much of the day walking around town with her.

Monday, July 14, 2008 –climbed Stellenbosch Mountain after running into town to buy a few things. We went out to eat at an internet café called Java and it’s my new favorite restaurant EVER. It is also super-cheap for super-delicious food.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 – all day orientation; break at 10 and 14:30 for tea/coffee and for lunch ate at Peasant’s Corner in Neelsie (bacon banana toasted sandwich, R10. Also the Neelsie is the name of their student union). Received tour of campus and Stellenbosch.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 –Full day of orientation…need I say more? But they stop every 2 hours for tea/coffee break. How fun!
I attended my first BRAAI and it was awesome: lamb braai chops were successful and good covered in red wine and pepper (read about it in Josh and Melissa’s post below), they are basically the “party” scene in South Africa and it’s always ‘bring your own meat and drinks.’ I tried sips of two different beers/lagers, vodka with orange juice, and white wine, all GROSS though. Yes, I have every intention of keeping track of all alcohol that I try and I’ll keep you all posted of which drinks I discover I don’t like. If, for some strange twist of fate, I find an alcoholic drink that I like, I’ll also let you know.

Thursday, July 17, 2008 – boring registration stuff most of the morning… For lunch, though, I ate at a restaurant called Ngakos in the Neelsie and bought a meal for R23 that included chicken schnitzel on a bed of rice with choice of two veggies: cheap and good!

Friday, July 18, 2008 – In South Africa, you don’t register for classes a few months before they begin like we do in the States. Students arrive the evening before classes start, pick up a book that lists the starting times for each class, and then spend two weeks attending “first meetings” of all the classes in which they are interested and signing up/registering in class for that class. They discover which classes they want to take and which ones fit into their schedule, and they drop the rest. The way classes are scheduled here are quite different, too. A typical Political Science class might meet Monday at 10, Tuesday at 8, and then Thursday at 3, all in different rooms! It makes it quite difficult to arrange a class schedule! Everything is just so much more relaxed down here, I guess.

I also went to a meeting to learn more about the Service Learning Program and see how to apply. The application turned out to be a 25-point self-reflective essay that could easily be 10 pages long. Mine was 4 and a half, single spaced. Due by Monday morning, I worked all day to get it done because all classes here are on a first-come, first-serve basis. However, I’m pretty sure that I was the first person done but at least I didn’t have to worry about it over the weekend!

Saturday, July 19, 2008 – We hired a taxi to take Melissa, Renee, Josh, and I to Spier Wine estate. We began the day at the Cheetah Outreach area where we payed R5 to see cheetahs! They were really cute and fluffy! For an extra R80, you could actually go in and pet them and have your picture taken with them. The line was long, so we decided to come back later. We headed now to the Eagle Outreach/Encounters area where for R40 you could observe many birds of prey such as black and martial eagles, yellow-billed and black shouldered kites, various hawks and owls, unique African secretary birds, and yes, the one and only peregrine falcon! We all actually got to hold an eagle, too, and we have pictures of it! We decided to come back later in the day to watch some of the bird shows (falconry!). From here, we went to the information/wine testing center. For R10, you could sample 5 wines from their normal collection. For R20, you could sample 3 wines from their vintage/private collections. So of course, we collectively purchased 2 x5 tickets and 2 x3 tickets, not quite knowing how much wine we were about to get… and let me just say: we sampled a lot of wine! They give you a glass, and you take a card with 5 or 3 boxes on it and as they give you a sample of wine, they are supposed to mark off one of the boxes. So yea, we cheaply purchased 16 small glasses of wine, but they would often forget to mark our cards and we found two extra cards each good for 3 more samples! From their regular collection, they only had 11 to choose from. Needless to say, we got to try them all. We ended up getting to try 8 of their best wines, too. Things we learned:

1. Anything with the word “Sauvignon” is disgusting. Merlot is also gross.
2. White wine is definitely better than red wine.
3. With age comes a softer taste
4. Red wine should be served at room temp; white wine chilled.
5. My favorites were the year-old unwooded white wine, the two-year-old chenin blanc, and the year-old unwooded sweet white wine.
6. Josh will finish any cup of wine if everyone else thinks it’s unpleasant.
7. Drinking wine with a meal is actually very intriguing. It cleanses the palate, definitely, but cannot be used to quench thirst. Hmmm…
8. The worst type of milk or juice or tea is far better than the best white or red or rose or sweet wine. I gave it a chance. Well, 20 chances, actually. Alcohol just isn’t good. I’ll still drink wine while I’m here; it does compliment some meals well. But this further confirms my taste aversion to alcohol.

I ended up buying two bottles of wine: the 2006 Chenin Blanc (with hint of peach flavor) and the Discover 2007 Sweet (hint of honey and lots of fruits). However, I can’t actually taste the peach or honey or other fruit…but I can tell that they have extra sugar! Each bottle was R20, so under $3 each! Just FYI, alcohol and tobacco products, just like food and traveling, are MUCH cheaper here than we are used to in the States. Go dollar go (for food and traveling, that is)!

Halfway through the wine-tasting extravaganza, we took a break and made sandwiches at a little deli on the estate. For two dollars, I was able to fill two homemade rolls with deli meat. We ate at a picnic table right beside a gorgeous lake filled with many ducks and surrounded by numerous songbirds. Then we went back for more wine!

After sampling more wine and making our purchases, we went back to the Cheetah Outreach area and Josh payed R80 to pet Joseph, the most adorable animal I think I’ve ever seen! Following this, we went and watched a falconry exhibition for four different types of birds of prey: a kite, a screechy thing (owl maybe? I can’t remember, must be all the alcohol I had… just kidding Mom!), an eagle, and a peregrine falcon!

For supper, we went back to Java! I tried something else and it was the second-best food I’ve ever had in my life, second only to the first thing I had there. Later in life, I’ll probably return to Stellenbosch just for the food at this snazzy little internet café. Go figure, right?

Sunday, July 20, 2008 – We departed on two large tour buses to Cape Town. It is probably the most impressively stunning and remarkably contrasting city in the entire world. The nice parts are upscale, beautiful, well-kept, and have a sophisticated look, and all lie right beneath some of the most breathtaking mountains! The city is SO much nicer than Chicago or New York, hands down, and nowhere did we feel the least bit threatened. The edges of the city, however, are comprised of townships and informal settlements. Hundreds of thousands of people live right on top of each other in little wooden shacks and lean-tos made from any water resistant material available.

Our first stop was in the heart of Cape Town at the Company Gardens. Many Parliament building are housed in this area, as well as a botanical garden, courtyard, planetarium, and many monuments and statues. There was actually a WWII commemoration ceremony going on in the courtyard while we were passing through and we got to see the South African way of honoring and remembering its servicemen (with anthem and hymns and flag ceremony, etc). Very neat!

The second stop was at Signal Hill. Overlooking Cape Town are a few prominent mountains, the most famous of which is Table Mountain, followed next by Lion’s Head Mountain and then Signal Hill in terms of both popularity and location. The view from Signal Hill, however, gives a 360 degree view from the Atlantic Ocean (spinning left) around to the Lion’s Head and Table Mountain and on around to the city of Cape Town and housing areas and then business district and then piers and harbors and back to the Atlantic Ocean. Amazing!

The third stop was a bit south of Cape Town. We went to the beach at Camp’s Bay, an upscale community nestled just beneath the famed 12 Apostles (group of mountains). The water was cold because it’s winter here, but we nonetheless waded in a good ways and enjoyed lunch on the beach, too.

The fourth stop was at the Waterfront, which is easily the largest mall I’ve ever seen in my life! There were 3 levels in the main store which stretched for at least a half-mile long and was a solid quarter of a mile deep… Perhaps these dimensions might be a little off, but when South African prices meet the nicest, largest mall (probably on the lower half of Africa, if not the whole continent), you KNOW it’s good!

For supper, we cooked chicken nuggets with cream-style corn, peaches, roll, and some white wine. I haven’t mentioned our cooking experiences, and will try to start from now on. This was the third meal we’ve successfully cooked here for ourselves!

Monday, July 21, 2008 – I went to my first two classes today and I also found out today that I was accepted into the Service Learning Programme! This entails 5 hours per week of community service plus 4 hours of theory-based reflections for 9 credit hours. I’ll also take a 3 credit hours Political Science course on Economic and Developmental Problems in South Africa. One dilemma I face, though, is which language I should take. The choice is between Afrikaans, the dominant language at the university and in this province, or isiXhosa, the second most spoken language in South Africa and used primarily by many poorer black communities (it’s also the “click” language. Xhosa is pronounced “KA-hosa” with the KA being a palatal click, not to be confused with the dental click or the alveo-lateral click… Isn’t that SO cool!). Since one is more relevant, and the other is the coolest opportunity EVER, I think I’m going to take both and have 18 credit hours this semester!

***FOLLOWING UPDATE ADDED ON MONDAY, AUGUST 11, 2008***

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 – First SLCD (Service Learning in Community Development) class was very informative and interesting. The focus is on poverty and escaping the deprivation trap, as well as emphasizing an in-depth look at South African demographics, resource allocation, and availability and prevalence of amenities such as running water, bathrooms, electricity, source of heat, primary material of residence, Internet, refrigerators, etc.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 – Went out with Stacey, Jacques, Daniel, Ivie, Susie, and Marian (South African students from Josh’s International Relations classes) for cocktails at the Rhythm Lounge and dancing at All Stars club.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 – prepared for Friday’s class

Friday, July 25, 2008 – I gave a 5 minute presentation in my slcd class on infectious diseases in SA

Saturday, July 26, 2008 – don’t remember. Probably just a boring day.

Sunday, July 27, 2008 – Shark cage diving!!!

Monday, July 28, 2008 – boring day, but I love my Xhosa class!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 – boring day

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 – boring day, got a membership at the gym here at the university

Thursday, July 31, 2008 – lots of class…

Friday, August 1, 2008 – Failed to receive my placement at a SLCD site…

Saturday, August 2, 2008 – Stellenbosch Wine festival!!!

Sunday, August 3, 2008 – We had planned to go hiking but the weather was incompatible with this…

Monday, August 4, 2008 – Man’oushe restaurant – Lebanese food – very interesting and tasty!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 – got a placement site from Antoinette at an ARV clinic!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 – First day at ARV clinic: for more details read blog post entitled “SLCD Reflective Journal 1." Our dorm also hosted another braai!

Thursday, August 7, 2008 – ARV clinic and class… I also saw a South African student get slammed into by a speeding car. He ended up getting 20ish stitches in his face and had a shattered pelvis. Not to mention a lot of lost blood out of his head.

Friday, August 8, 2008 – went to ARV clinic for support group, then SLCD class, at a South African pub named Dros and then went to the cinema and saw Hancock

Saturday, August 9, 2008 – went to eKapa (Xhosa for Cape Town) on train with Marian. We were going to climb Table Mountain, but due to the cloudy weather decided instead to tour the city. We walked around to the African market, went into the slave lodge museum, ate Portuguese food, and enjoyed a nice relaxing day just chillin’ because it was Women’s Day, a public holiday in their country, and thus there were not many people, a great way to see the city and become familiar with the layout so that next time we go, we’ll have our bearings! Upon our return, we again went to the cinema and this time saw Wanted!

Sunday, August 10, 2008 – Day devoted to home-making…cleaning, washing, sweeping, dishes, organizing, shopping, and cooking. Wow. You know you’re impressed.

Monday, August 11, 2008 – Xhosa, followed by 2 hours of entering patient records into the computer at the ARV clinic, then by working out at the gym and Afrikaans.

We're Here!

And so it begins… “The adventure of a lifetime,” as Josh sings. Since our arrival in Stellenbosch we have lived without the technology we are accustomed to: no television, no cell phones, no laptops. The sleepy town of Stellenbosch begs for relaxation. Everyone is on South African time, unrushed and more lenient about time than we are used to. Breaks for coffee and tea are taken two to three times a day! The town will pick up this weekend as South African students arrive, but we’ve used the last week to familiarize ourselves with the area.

When we left Kansas City last Thursday, we headed to NYC, where we sampled snails, walked through Central Park, bought a present for Drew Rozell, and explored Mood Fabrics- where we missed filming for Project Runway by one day. After a day of sightseeing, it was off to a 17 hour flight. Josh and Drew spent 6 hours solving a 4X4 Sudoku, while I managed to sleep. (Thanks for the earplugs, Mom.) The plane landed in Dakar, Senegal, for a security search mid-way through the flight; after some passengers disembarked some guards came onto the plane and removed cushions to inspect every seat. Every piece of baggage had to be claimed by its owner and if a bag was not claimed, the officials would remove it. During this time, we enjoyed talking to an older couple a few rows behind us who were familiar with Springfield (and Branson—ha!) and had frequented Stellenbosch. Josh saw them on Wednesday within a Stellenbosch square! By the way, for those of you who didn’t know, Stellenbosch is 7 hours ahead of Missouri.

When we got to Stellenbosch on Saturday night, our exploring natures broke free. The student centre is 4 stories tall and contains shops, restaurants, bookstores, and more. We gained Matie pride (pronounced “mottie”) upon seeing stuffed squirrels wearing Matie gear. What a ferocious mascot we have, much more deadly than the hippo! We also discovered the local mall, Eikstad Mall, where we ordered two large, barbecue chicken specialty pizzas for R84. The restaurant is apparently known for its buy-one-get-one-free menu. This was our first experience with how cheap things are in Stellenbosch. The conversion is R7.5 to $1 and is most noticeably seen when eating or buying groceries. You can buy a loaf of bread for R8 (just over one dollar) and that is the expensive kind. Cheaper, fresh bakery bread is only R5! Josh and Drew bought decent wine for R10. Avocados are everywhere, appearing on almost any sandwich on any menu. Also note that a bacon and banana sandwich is quite common.

Everyone speaks Afrikaans here. People understand English, but primarily speak Afrikaans. Thus, our experience has been a true “immersion” one.

But don't worry, Mrs. Keaster, because Stellenbosch has a McDonalds and a KFC.

ASIDE – This post is much longer than the majority you’ll receive. We’ve not had Internet for a week!!

On Sunday we discovered that church is held in the evenings, so the city shuts down mid-afternoon. We went looking for tea bags with our new friend Shelby from Sydney, Australia, but couldn’t find an open store! We also met Annie from Virginia, Renee from Pennsylvania, and Jan (John) from Germany.

Josh and Drew are rooming together, while I have three roommates. The guys are really happy because maid service cleans the bathrooms, living rooms, and kitchens free of charge DAILY. My roommates are Karina, a Washington State-attendee who was born and raised in Mexico, Carrie (also Washington State), and Lauren, the Nebraskan. Each person has their own room and bathroom and some rooms have a view of the mountains. My window faces east so I can watch the sun rise over the mountain.

A group of eight international students conquered Stellenbosch Mountain on Monday. There was a path for the first part, but then we had to travel up a water path of steep rocks. Coming down was even more interesting than going up, but the view made it all worth it! Capetown, Table Mountain, the coast, Stellenbosch, the vineyards…awww! We love Africa!

On Tuesday we began orientation, where we learned survival isiXhosa (yes, the clicking language) and Afrikaans. The international office also covered HIV/AIDS safety and the university’s efforts to have no new infections by 2012. There are about 250 international students at Universiteit Stellenbosch, ranging from Germany to Bolivia to Argentina to Hong Kong. Members of the International Students Organization: Stellenbosch (ISOS) take trips and also volunteer at the local township of Kayamundi. We’ll post more about these townships, soon, because the need in Kayamundi is great, and you better believe we’ll do our part to help.

The two-day orientation ended on Wednesday with discussions on academics, culture shock, finances, and accommodation. Courses are taught in both English and Afrikaans—yes, we will soon be fluent. Following a lunch of meat pie (a South African staple), Josh, along with a few other international students, joined some locals in a game of football. We are, of course, talking about the real football. American football is unheard of in South Africa. Here, rugby and cricket are the most popular sports. When we get our Maties gear, we’re going to go cheer on the Mighty Squirrels!

Wednesday night also featured our first social events. We attended a braai, the first of many. A braai is an outdoor barbecue where everyone brings their own meat (BYOM), socializes, and drinks…a lot. I sampled my first beer, and the Germans laughed. We brought lamb steak, but since we forgot to defrost it, we reckoned it would taste horrible. To the contrary, we marinated it with the cheap red wine and drenched it with pepper. It was delicious. Braais are held once or twice a week; we’ve already been invited to two more. When the braai ended at 23:00, Josh and I went clubbing—my first time dancing! Dancing here (so Josh says) is 100% different from what happens in typical US clubs. They play very alternative rock from the 90s instead of hip-hop.

Our long narrative brings us to today. We toured our uni’s (Aussie lingo) underground library, but only saw the top level because a Bollywood film is being filmed on the lower levels. Yeah, Maties are that cool…

We miss you. We love you all. Enjoy the pictures! Also check out my page on Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/MelissaMFagan). We’d write more if there were not gorgeous mountains outside of our windows. They look a little nicer than this computer screen, and Shelby’s calling us for tea time.

“The adventure of a lifetime…lies beyond this plane ride.” (Can you tell Josh helped me write this?)