My last week in Cape Town was, in a word, hectic. Appropriate, considering Capetonians love that word. Spent a week and a half with a car, which was the best choice ever. My new little white Toyota treated me well. Let me tell you right now that car gets the best gas mileage. It’s absurd. I thought there was actually something wrong with the gas meter because it was at over full for the first 2 days. Even when I went on this long overnight, with over 4 hours of freeway driving I only used half a tank. So happy to have a break from the Jammie, though now that I’m home I wonder if I’ll ever ride the Jammie again…
I really enjoyed my last couple of weeks in Cape Town, finals couldn’t have dragged on longer. I was so happy to be done with UCT and the craziness of having to constantly go back to campus to try to pick up papers. Apart from that nonsense, I enjoyed my last days and nights with the great friends I made during my time abroad. We had a memorable final dinner at The Africa Café. Stellar food.
Leaving Liesbeek was stressful. Akim, my roommate from Zambia, was adorable and insisted on getting pictures of me, him, and Lily together.
On my way home from Cape Town I stopped in Edinburgh, Scotland to visit Miss Andrea Kretchmer and the rest of the Pomona gang. Intense culture shock and serious jetlag could not decrease my excitement to experience Pomona Scotland Style. As the plane landed in EDI I almost thought I was in Seattle. It looked so wet, green and cold. Edinburgh was a cute little city. I got a world tour from Andrea, Kristin, Chanda and Rose, and it was pretty adorable to see that they had all really mastered the place and knew all the trivia. Everything was super expensive; doubling prices is a lot less fun then dividing by 7. Hate it. One of the nights I went to St.Andrews because 2 of my friends from high school go there (for real) and another friend from high school is currently there studying abroad. It was great to see them and their world in St. Andrews. Merit gave me a whirlwind tour that included a really old cemetery. I mean any tour in Europe wouldn’t be complete without a creepy graveyard, right? It wasn’t as good as the one at UCT’s hospital, Groote Schuur, which is overgrown with palms and other plants and every tombstone is crooked. I digress. Scotland was great. It was just so nice to see all of these kids after 5 or so months.
My homecoming at SEA-TAC was one of the highlights of my life. I hadn’t seen my sister since July 10th. I saw shuffle into the baggage claim area with the biggest smile of anticipation on her face. It was adorable. I got a big hug from my mom too out by the car. It’s so nice when people are so excited to see you. Being on the wrong time zone was appropriate because I woke up at 6am in time to beat the crowds on Thanksgiving Day at the grocery store to pick up the odds and ends. There was no one there. It was unreal to walk back into the Metropolitan Market and roam the aisles of unpackaged produce that I did not have weigh and get a sticker for. I love grocery stores where the aisles are actually wide enough so that 2 carts can actually pass each other. Thanksgiving itself was ok. It was just the 4 of us and “uncle” Mason. In all honesty, it was probably better that way because I don’t know how well I would’ve handled a big reunion.
My mom and I started our Italian lessons this past week. I am incredibly rusty, and it really shows because I keep wanting to reply in French. It’s going to be fun. Otherwise the first week home was good. I am surprised how easy it has been to fall back into place and do the same things I always do in Seattle. It’s scary, but also comforting.
I just got home from my weekend trip to Pomona. I have been excited about this trip since August when we made the reservations. Jake picked me up from the airport, and we were so excited to see each other and catch up that we drove all the way to Fairplex. I saw Becky Fogel, Tigist, and RLT within an hour of being there at Kiwiberri (yummy). Rebecca threw a surprise party for me in my room that night, which was amazing. All my old sponsees showed up, plus all my junior and senior friends currently on campus. It reminded me that I have such wonderful friends, and I cannot wait to see the rest of them when they come back from abroad. The rest of the weekend I spent catching up with as many people as possible, and surprising people who I don’t really know on campus. Sunday night Helen and Tig helped me cook some amazing veggie lasagna at Kassahun-Grove, a.k.a. the lovely abode of Tigist and Helen. We had a good crowd and I showed off my Zulu dance moves! It was really wonderful to see everyone. I missed them.
Best off luck on finals and Happy Holidays. I suppose this might be my last post considering I’m done with this chapter of my life. Please let me know if you’re interested in purchasing a Wola Nani product!
Lots of love,
Katy
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Baby we were born to run!
I love driving. I love Africa. Africa + Driving = best life.
This week I rented a car. The freedom of driving has allowed me to:
1. go grocery shopping without having to schlep heavy bags 6 blocks uphill to the jammie stop
2. drive to greenpoint for dinner AND seapoint for dessert
3. further explore neighborhoods that i live near
4. Drive to the beach
5. drive to the Great White Shark capital of the world
6. Drive to Stellenbosch (wine country) and get lost on the way
7. drive to seapoint to get bagels at the only bagel shop in CT
8. Doing what i want when i want
9. NOT HAVING TO TAKE THE JAMMIE
Friday I had an interesting adventure into Khayelitcha and Nyanga. Those are two of the black townships. Nyanga was created during the 1950s as the Apartheid government forcibly removed more and more black people out of the city. Khayelitcha is the "newest" township. It is growing daily. Diana, a former CIEE study abroad student who has since moved back to CT to run this non-profit called Chosa, took us to Philani project in Khayelitcha. These women get paid a commission for whatever they sell. It is part of the "township tour". They make these beautiful bags out of leftover teeshirt scraps from factories. They also do bead and wire work, and make wall hangings, aprons, tablecloths, placemats, etc. It's a wonderful idea, and I hope I can take back that kind of spirit with me when I start my project.
I have less than a week left in Cape Town. I am dreading packing. I am ready to leave. Even though I feel at home here I also feel like I occupy some transient space still. I feel like I wont really relax until I get home. I'm excited to see all my friends in Scotland, but I am going to be very sad to leave South Africa. I feel very connected to this place. It has welcomed me with open arms and it makes me realize I will be homesick for Cape Town once my plane takes off.
Love, Katy
This week I rented a car. The freedom of driving has allowed me to:
1. go grocery shopping without having to schlep heavy bags 6 blocks uphill to the jammie stop
2. drive to greenpoint for dinner AND seapoint for dessert
3. further explore neighborhoods that i live near
4. Drive to the beach
5. drive to the Great White Shark capital of the world
6. Drive to Stellenbosch (wine country) and get lost on the way
7. drive to seapoint to get bagels at the only bagel shop in CT
8. Doing what i want when i want
9. NOT HAVING TO TAKE THE JAMMIE
Friday I had an interesting adventure into Khayelitcha and Nyanga. Those are two of the black townships. Nyanga was created during the 1950s as the Apartheid government forcibly removed more and more black people out of the city. Khayelitcha is the "newest" township. It is growing daily. Diana, a former CIEE study abroad student who has since moved back to CT to run this non-profit called Chosa, took us to Philani project in Khayelitcha. These women get paid a commission for whatever they sell. It is part of the "township tour". They make these beautiful bags out of leftover teeshirt scraps from factories. They also do bead and wire work, and make wall hangings, aprons, tablecloths, placemats, etc. It's a wonderful idea, and I hope I can take back that kind of spirit with me when I start my project.
I have less than a week left in Cape Town. I am dreading packing. I am ready to leave. Even though I feel at home here I also feel like I occupy some transient space still. I feel like I wont really relax until I get home. I'm excited to see all my friends in Scotland, but I am going to be very sad to leave South Africa. I feel very connected to this place. It has welcomed me with open arms and it makes me realize I will be homesick for Cape Town once my plane takes off.
Love, Katy
Monday, November 5, 2007
It's never too late...
It has been quite a while since my last post. I am not sure many people are reading this anyway, but for what it’s worth I have been busy doing serious schoolwork. UCT is no joke ya’ll. They trick you into thinking it’s not going to be much work at all because for the majority of the semester you don’t do much at all. Then, all of a sudden, they go crazy and assign you 3 papers and a presentation the week before final exams. Really considerate, don’t you think? At any rate, I finished exam #2 this morning at the crack of dawn and now I have only one to go and it’s not until the 13th. In a way I wish it were sooner. I just want to be done with UCT. I’m sick of doing work.
Ok speaking of doing exams….UCT has some sort of weird tradition of serving professors tea when they are proctoring exams. During my Diversity Studies exam my professor Melissa was sitting at the bottom of this gigantic lecture theater that was way to big for the 40 people in our class. She was sort of holding court down there, and you have to understand that all I’ve heard Melissa talk about during this semester is unequal power relations, centers and margins, and disabling discourses. Suddenly I see one of the black women that works as a cleaning lady is holding a tray with a teapot and cookies coming down the stairs one by one. It was the most bizarre sight. I felt like I was in a parallel universe for some reason just because Melissa is this tall imposing Afrikaner and her comes this small black woman bringing her tea. Colonial flashback perhaps. UCT pretty much has colonialism written all over it.
Last Friday I visited the offices of the second community arts project I am hoping to link up with. It’s called Wola Nani, and they make paper mache bowls out of recycled ads and do some beadwork (mostly AIDS ribbons). I am really excited to work with them. The other place had some really cool recycled rubber jewelry but they would only sell me these huge beaded figures wholesale. I just don’t think college students will buy foot tall beaded people and springbok!
Last week was sort of the end of my program. We had our final dinner at one of the “African” food places downtown on Long St called Nyoni’s Kraal. It was the last week of classes. I had to say goodbye to Quinton, the fearless leader of our program, today! I wanted to cry. Quinton is the best. Next to my dad, my grandfathers, and my uncles, he is probably one of the greatest men ever. I’m going to miss him. We threw a little going away dinner for Q and Felicity at the “Mexican” restaurant last Thursday. They really appreciated it.
Last week was also the end of my volunteering projects. I ended SHAWCO a little while ago, but Lawrence House (which is a Catholic run children’s home for refugees) ended this past week. I might try to go next week. I really enjoyed helping Michou with his times tables. I wish I had gotten time to know and help Sympathy more. She is such a sweet girl. She’s 14 now and she’s having a really hard time being away from her family. I don’t even know her story. Though I wasn’t entirely happy with the disjointedness of my volunteer projects, I don’t want to think how hard it would be to leave if I had been going to Lawrence house the whole semester.
I was sad to miss Halloween this year. Fall is probably my favorite time of the year. It doesn’t get much better than crisp weather, fall leaves, Halloween and Thanksgiving. At least I wont miss out on Turkey day. Though I had a final the next day, I didn’t completely miss out on Halloween! One warden’s (RA’s but actual adults) wife is from the U.S. and she made three jack o’lanterns and had fake cobwebs and everything. We went down there with two regular UCT students and when she held out the bowl of candy one said “What do I do?” Love teaching people how to trick or treat.
I went to Cape Aghulus this past weekend with Leah, Laura and Taylor (i.e. the AU girls). We had the quintessential old lady vacation. We drove there in an old Mercedes sedan, maybe even the kind my great-grandmother had. We spent one night at Cape Aghulus backpackers, which was the cutest little converted house with a movie room, a bar, and the cutest, most colourful outdoor breakfast room. (I just spelled coulourful with an ‘ou’ without even thinking about it…scary). We had a leisurely walk along the boardwalk and the beach, followed by a leisurely drink and appetizer hour, and a leisurely dinner. We then walked home and watched a movie, and went to bet at 11. I love being an old lady. It’s my favorite life. In the morning we drove to the most southern point in AFRICA! It’s also where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. How about that? It was fun. I found some great sea shells down there too! It was stellar.
As they would say, “shame man” I am going to miss this place. I am renting a car for a little over a week starting tomorrow and I am very excited. Before I know it I will be packing my suitcases!
See you soon!
Love, Katy
Ok speaking of doing exams….UCT has some sort of weird tradition of serving professors tea when they are proctoring exams. During my Diversity Studies exam my professor Melissa was sitting at the bottom of this gigantic lecture theater that was way to big for the 40 people in our class. She was sort of holding court down there, and you have to understand that all I’ve heard Melissa talk about during this semester is unequal power relations, centers and margins, and disabling discourses. Suddenly I see one of the black women that works as a cleaning lady is holding a tray with a teapot and cookies coming down the stairs one by one. It was the most bizarre sight. I felt like I was in a parallel universe for some reason just because Melissa is this tall imposing Afrikaner and her comes this small black woman bringing her tea. Colonial flashback perhaps. UCT pretty much has colonialism written all over it.
Last Friday I visited the offices of the second community arts project I am hoping to link up with. It’s called Wola Nani, and they make paper mache bowls out of recycled ads and do some beadwork (mostly AIDS ribbons). I am really excited to work with them. The other place had some really cool recycled rubber jewelry but they would only sell me these huge beaded figures wholesale. I just don’t think college students will buy foot tall beaded people and springbok!
Last week was sort of the end of my program. We had our final dinner at one of the “African” food places downtown on Long St called Nyoni’s Kraal. It was the last week of classes. I had to say goodbye to Quinton, the fearless leader of our program, today! I wanted to cry. Quinton is the best. Next to my dad, my grandfathers, and my uncles, he is probably one of the greatest men ever. I’m going to miss him. We threw a little going away dinner for Q and Felicity at the “Mexican” restaurant last Thursday. They really appreciated it.
Last week was also the end of my volunteering projects. I ended SHAWCO a little while ago, but Lawrence House (which is a Catholic run children’s home for refugees) ended this past week. I might try to go next week. I really enjoyed helping Michou with his times tables. I wish I had gotten time to know and help Sympathy more. She is such a sweet girl. She’s 14 now and she’s having a really hard time being away from her family. I don’t even know her story. Though I wasn’t entirely happy with the disjointedness of my volunteer projects, I don’t want to think how hard it would be to leave if I had been going to Lawrence house the whole semester.
I was sad to miss Halloween this year. Fall is probably my favorite time of the year. It doesn’t get much better than crisp weather, fall leaves, Halloween and Thanksgiving. At least I wont miss out on Turkey day. Though I had a final the next day, I didn’t completely miss out on Halloween! One warden’s (RA’s but actual adults) wife is from the U.S. and she made three jack o’lanterns and had fake cobwebs and everything. We went down there with two regular UCT students and when she held out the bowl of candy one said “What do I do?” Love teaching people how to trick or treat.
I went to Cape Aghulus this past weekend with Leah, Laura and Taylor (i.e. the AU girls). We had the quintessential old lady vacation. We drove there in an old Mercedes sedan, maybe even the kind my great-grandmother had. We spent one night at Cape Aghulus backpackers, which was the cutest little converted house with a movie room, a bar, and the cutest, most colourful outdoor breakfast room. (I just spelled coulourful with an ‘ou’ without even thinking about it…scary). We had a leisurely walk along the boardwalk and the beach, followed by a leisurely drink and appetizer hour, and a leisurely dinner. We then walked home and watched a movie, and went to bet at 11. I love being an old lady. It’s my favorite life. In the morning we drove to the most southern point in AFRICA! It’s also where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. How about that? It was fun. I found some great sea shells down there too! It was stellar.
As they would say, “shame man” I am going to miss this place. I am renting a car for a little over a week starting tomorrow and I am very excited. Before I know it I will be packing my suitcases!
See you soon!
Love, Katy
Sunday, October 21, 2007
SPRINGBOKS WIN!
Last night South Africa's rugby team beat England 15 to 6 in an outstanding game in St.Denis. I was at the Springbok pub for the game, and I must say I got pretty into it. I think I will have to buy a jersey now.
Reasons we won:
Better than England
More attractive than England
Smarter than England
Better teeth than England
Let me put it this way...
South African Flag: R50 ($7)
4 Ciders: R46 ($6.50)
Knowing that Africa is making a comeback and throwing history in England's face: Priceless.
Love, Katy
Last night South Africa's rugby team beat England 15 to 6 in an outstanding game in St.Denis. I was at the Springbok pub for the game, and I must say I got pretty into it. I think I will have to buy a jersey now.
Reasons we won:
Better than England
More attractive than England
Smarter than England
Better teeth than England
Let me put it this way...
South African Flag: R50 ($7)
4 Ciders: R46 ($6.50)
Knowing that Africa is making a comeback and throwing history in England's face: Priceless.
Love, Katy
Friday, October 19, 2007
spurned by the jammie
The title of my blog is, after all, "Ode to a Jammie". Well Jammie, now I loathe thee more than ever. Today I schlepped my lovely bag of health food up the equivalent of 6 flights of stairs in 27 degrees (mid-80s) to get to the upper Jammie stop. As I get to the top I see a shuttle that says "Liesbeek Gardens". I think "hallelujah". I'm hot and I'm tired and I have a headache; life couldn't be better. I get on and take a seat..... the bus goes to FORREST HILL. I hate Forrest Hill. Every damn shuttle goes to Forrest Hill and none of them go to my res. EVERYONE gets off at Forrest Hill. Everyone except for me. Apparently the sign on the front of the bus said Liesbeek, but the sign on the side said Forrest Hill. It gets worse. The guy takes me back to lower campus and we pass a Liesbeek shuttle that is leaving. The nice driver asks the other one to stop and let me on, and as I go to hop on he drives away becasue the COPS are behind him trying to get them to move. The Jammie drives away. Then I wait another 15 minutes for a Liesbeek shuttle amongst all the drunk people getting ready for the Springbock rugby finals tomorrow. I know...my life is so hard. It's a love-hate struggle for me and the Jammie. I depend on it, but it's not always good to me...
Speaking of rugby... TOMORROW = EPIC HISTORY. The Rugby FINALS. England vs. South Africa. Colonizer vs. Former Colony. This is important. I don't know anything about rugby except that it's violent, but I am going to the pub tomorrow and rooting for South Africa to cut England. We need this. This is UBUNTU (unity-- i am you and you are me--it's a complicated concept)! I've been told that last time when they won in 1995, people stormed Main Road and they had to shut it down for the night. I'm going to be there! I'm going to storm Main Road if we win! Oh I cannot wait.
On a more practical note, I had an epiphany this week. There is this wonderful gift shop in the National Gallery. This woman who sells baskets, jewelry, cards, etc all made by community projects all over Southern Africa. Here's my plan: buy from community art projects which directly benefit the artists (often women) who really deserve and need the money and sell them at home and at the 5Cs, and give the proceeds to charities in Africa!!! Bomb plan, right?! I've found my calling. I'll sell at the Scripps craft fair and at the WU maybe? Get ready people!
That's about it. I have a lot of work over the next two weeks. UCT is not joke man. It's hectic, as they would say. I just want to be done and rent a car! I can taste the freedom!
Also, everyone wish my mom a Happy 50th Birthday on Saturday. Her email is dianneloeb@hotmail.com Thanks!
Love, Katy
Speaking of rugby... TOMORROW = EPIC HISTORY. The Rugby FINALS. England vs. South Africa. Colonizer vs. Former Colony. This is important. I don't know anything about rugby except that it's violent, but I am going to the pub tomorrow and rooting for South Africa to cut England. We need this. This is UBUNTU (unity-- i am you and you are me--it's a complicated concept)! I've been told that last time when they won in 1995, people stormed Main Road and they had to shut it down for the night. I'm going to be there! I'm going to storm Main Road if we win! Oh I cannot wait.
On a more practical note, I had an epiphany this week. There is this wonderful gift shop in the National Gallery. This woman who sells baskets, jewelry, cards, etc all made by community projects all over Southern Africa. Here's my plan: buy from community art projects which directly benefit the artists (often women) who really deserve and need the money and sell them at home and at the 5Cs, and give the proceeds to charities in Africa!!! Bomb plan, right?! I've found my calling. I'll sell at the Scripps craft fair and at the WU maybe? Get ready people!
That's about it. I have a lot of work over the next two weeks. UCT is not joke man. It's hectic, as they would say. I just want to be done and rent a car! I can taste the freedom!
Also, everyone wish my mom a Happy 50th Birthday on Saturday. Her email is dianneloeb@hotmail.com Thanks!
Love, Katy
Sunday, October 14, 2007
sharks!
I have had another successfully fun-filled weekend. Never a dull moment in CT. On Friday I went to the Jewish Museum with my friend Leah. We have been trying for the last month to get there but inevitably there has been a holiday/holyday every single Friday. The museum was a bit kitchy. There was a reconstructed schtetel, along with strange videos of men with Lithuanian accents. It wasn’t as sophisticated as I would have wanted, but they got their point across.
Friday night Leah and I were back at Hiddingh for a play called Women Beware Women. One of the actors—the guy who plays the uncle who is having an affair with his niece—is sitting outside the window from me at Cocoa Wah Wah right now! CT is kind of small sometimes. The acting was great. I encourage you to google the play because it was quite confusing. It definitely has some feminist commentary to it, but I’m not quite sure how to explain.
Saturday I went SHARK CAGE DIVING! It was on my list of things that I didn’t need to do while here in CT, but I then I won two tickets…so I obviously had to. Some sort of gift from the gods I suppose, though it wasn’t as ethereal as I expected. 4 of us went. It was a seriously long journey. We got picked up at 9:30, drove two hours to Hermanus, and didn’t get back until 8pm. It was a beautiful drive. We got to had lunch and a snack served to us, though I could only eat the fruit due to this damn cleanse (more on that later). We saw a lot of sharks, and luckily the water was calm so NO ONE barfed. I did not get in the cage because they were throwing so much chum (fish guts) in the water that I was too grossed out. Plus we had a better view from the boat. It was cool. I don’t really know how to describe it. There was a lot of waiting, but the few moments when the sharks came out for the bait was cool. Check out the pictures on facebook!
This morning I went to NIA. I had almost enough energy to do it all. This cleanse is making me feel great now that I got over the two days of sugar and caffeine withdrawals. I didn’t realize how dependent on those things I was until I stated getting headaches and couldn’t focus without them. The amount of crap we eat sometimes is scary. I’m not saying I’m going to stop drinking coffee, but there are certain things I think I will really try not to eat, like processed sugar. No more candy bars. Goodbye Kit Kats.
I have 2 weeks left of classes. I have 3 papers and a project due within those weeks, and then I have finals. It’s going to be rough! In 5 weeks I leave for Scotland, and I will be home a month from Wednesday. Unbelievable, non?
I hope everyone is well.
Love, Katy
Friday night Leah and I were back at Hiddingh for a play called Women Beware Women. One of the actors—the guy who plays the uncle who is having an affair with his niece—is sitting outside the window from me at Cocoa Wah Wah right now! CT is kind of small sometimes. The acting was great. I encourage you to google the play because it was quite confusing. It definitely has some feminist commentary to it, but I’m not quite sure how to explain.
Saturday I went SHARK CAGE DIVING! It was on my list of things that I didn’t need to do while here in CT, but I then I won two tickets…so I obviously had to. Some sort of gift from the gods I suppose, though it wasn’t as ethereal as I expected. 4 of us went. It was a seriously long journey. We got picked up at 9:30, drove two hours to Hermanus, and didn’t get back until 8pm. It was a beautiful drive. We got to had lunch and a snack served to us, though I could only eat the fruit due to this damn cleanse (more on that later). We saw a lot of sharks, and luckily the water was calm so NO ONE barfed. I did not get in the cage because they were throwing so much chum (fish guts) in the water that I was too grossed out. Plus we had a better view from the boat. It was cool. I don’t really know how to describe it. There was a lot of waiting, but the few moments when the sharks came out for the bait was cool. Check out the pictures on facebook!
This morning I went to NIA. I had almost enough energy to do it all. This cleanse is making me feel great now that I got over the two days of sugar and caffeine withdrawals. I didn’t realize how dependent on those things I was until I stated getting headaches and couldn’t focus without them. The amount of crap we eat sometimes is scary. I’m not saying I’m going to stop drinking coffee, but there are certain things I think I will really try not to eat, like processed sugar. No more candy bars. Goodbye Kit Kats.
I have 2 weeks left of classes. I have 3 papers and a project due within those weeks, and then I have finals. It’s going to be rough! In 5 weeks I leave for Scotland, and I will be home a month from Wednesday. Unbelievable, non?
I hope everyone is well.
Love, Katy
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Yesterday was, as my friend Elena would say, BOMB. I got a stupendous grade on my Diversity Studies paper and the tutor told me that I really got at the issues. AND I bonded with my favorite professor here over Bruce Springsteen. Basically I got a ride home because 1.) it was on his way and 2.) we love Bruce. During the 12 minute ride we discussed Bruce, UCT, teaching (which he doesn't like, bummer) and how NJ is the armpit of America.
Today I am starting the 10 day cleanse I am doing with Leah and Elena. I'm eating only raw fruits, vegetable, nuts and seeds. I already feel out of it. It's going to be good though I think. Cleaning shop so to speak.
Today I am starting the 10 day cleanse I am doing with Leah and Elena. I'm eating only raw fruits, vegetable, nuts and seeds. I already feel out of it. It's going to be good though I think. Cleaning shop so to speak.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Mzoli's Part II
New life plan:
Go home to the U.S., open a braai place. Not barbeque...braai. Employ people from Guguletu (one of the major black townships). Cook the best meat with the best spice mix. Sell cider! Have a DJ! Play bomb South African House music. Make people bring their own meat or buy it there (I'm pretty sure that in itself would get us a B in LA County). When I say buy it there I mean walk into a place that looks like a butcher shop. Then send them to another station to buy alcohol, and have that station be in a converted train car with a decaying couch.
Yes. Mzoli's II.
Love, Katy
Go home to the U.S., open a braai place. Not barbeque...braai. Employ people from Guguletu (one of the major black townships). Cook the best meat with the best spice mix. Sell cider! Have a DJ! Play bomb South African House music. Make people bring their own meat or buy it there (I'm pretty sure that in itself would get us a B in LA County). When I say buy it there I mean walk into a place that looks like a butcher shop. Then send them to another station to buy alcohol, and have that station be in a converted train car with a decaying couch.
Yes. Mzoli's II.
Love, Katy
Saturday, October 6, 2007
First of all, check out that link! It's about time I'd say...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7031142.stm
Last night I went to Queen at the Ballet, which is essentially a ballet to Queen songs. Makes sense right? Here's what I learned, ballet dancers are incredibly disciplined. They can do anything, and i'm glad I'm not one of them. Some of the things they do look painful. At any rate it was fun to put on a dress and hit the town with Sam, Leah, Laura and Taylor, even though we had to wait for L'Archie for a very long time.
Yesterday Leah and took the Hiddingh Campus shuttle again. It's a friday ritual now. It's fantastic. We went to a place called the Afro Cafe. The entire motif is very ecclectic with a lot of bright colors and a cartoon face of a guy with sunglasses and an afro. T.I.A.
I started a new volunteering project (even though it's only for a month) at the Lawrence House, which is a childrens home for refugees. Basically I just help with homework for a couple of hours.
I will be flying to Scotland 6 weeks from today. I was going to say that I cannot really believe it, but that's a lie. I can. I feel like I've been here a long time. I think there will be a lot of things that I miss about south Africa, and I know this going to be the most exciting my life gets for awhile, but I think I will be ready to leave, especially after all the work I have to do in the next 3 weeks before classes end and BEFORE final exams. oy vey.
One thing that struck me this week was that I was on the Jammie driving through Mowbray bus station, I noticed a woman with a baby strapped to her back, holding onto the hand of a 3 year old on one side, and a holding grocery bags on the other arm. I cannot believe I complain about my bag being too heavy.
I was really happy to be able to talk to a lot of friends on Skype this weeks. thanks kids i love you!
Love, Katy
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7031142.stm
Last night I went to Queen at the Ballet, which is essentially a ballet to Queen songs. Makes sense right? Here's what I learned, ballet dancers are incredibly disciplined. They can do anything, and i'm glad I'm not one of them. Some of the things they do look painful. At any rate it was fun to put on a dress and hit the town with Sam, Leah, Laura and Taylor, even though we had to wait for L'Archie for a very long time.
Yesterday Leah and took the Hiddingh Campus shuttle again. It's a friday ritual now. It's fantastic. We went to a place called the Afro Cafe. The entire motif is very ecclectic with a lot of bright colors and a cartoon face of a guy with sunglasses and an afro. T.I.A.
I started a new volunteering project (even though it's only for a month) at the Lawrence House, which is a childrens home for refugees. Basically I just help with homework for a couple of hours.
I will be flying to Scotland 6 weeks from today. I was going to say that I cannot really believe it, but that's a lie. I can. I feel like I've been here a long time. I think there will be a lot of things that I miss about south Africa, and I know this going to be the most exciting my life gets for awhile, but I think I will be ready to leave, especially after all the work I have to do in the next 3 weeks before classes end and BEFORE final exams. oy vey.
One thing that struck me this week was that I was on the Jammie driving through Mowbray bus station, I noticed a woman with a baby strapped to her back, holding onto the hand of a 3 year old on one side, and a holding grocery bags on the other arm. I cannot believe I complain about my bag being too heavy.
I was really happy to be able to talk to a lot of friends on Skype this weeks. thanks kids i love you!
Love, Katy
Monday, October 1, 2007
WYYYYNBEEERGGG!
Unfortunately this post is going to have to be relatively short because I actually already wrote it until my internet crapped out again and I lost it all.
Today I had SHAWCO where I volunteer at St.Georges home for girls in Wynberg. Every week the bus driver takes our group on a different route. This week we went down Main Road through Claremont and into Wynberg. Suddenly I found myself in an unfamiliar and “dodge” neighborhood according to one of the girls in the van. Little did I know that it was the WYNBERG MINIBUS STATION! You may not fully appreciate this unless you are here in Cape Town with me, but it was like having a revelation. Wynnberg is the end of the line! My world does not exist past Wynberg. When we take mini bus taxis it’s for 5 or ten minutes to Obz or to Claremont, that’s IT! The place was definitely unkempt (which is why it earned the dodge comment), but something about it was very European. Small sidewalks, old deteriorating buildings. It was 6:20pm and the place was bumping. There was a lot of yelling, which is a taxi driver’s best asset obviously, hence what I’ve been trying to tell you all about “Claremont. Claremont. Wyyennnbbeeeeerg!” I wish I could have a sound clip of it to keep forever. I might even miss the mini bus taxi drivers yelling….
Also, I saw this girl on campus today for probably the fourth time. She strikes me because she must have some sort of skin condition, possibly albinism, but she’s definitely of African descent and hangs out with Black Students. So I’ll leave you with this question: Does she benefit from white privilege? Hmmmm
Love, Katy
Today I had SHAWCO where I volunteer at St.Georges home for girls in Wynberg. Every week the bus driver takes our group on a different route. This week we went down Main Road through Claremont and into Wynberg. Suddenly I found myself in an unfamiliar and “dodge” neighborhood according to one of the girls in the van. Little did I know that it was the WYNBERG MINIBUS STATION! You may not fully appreciate this unless you are here in Cape Town with me, but it was like having a revelation. Wynnberg is the end of the line! My world does not exist past Wynberg. When we take mini bus taxis it’s for 5 or ten minutes to Obz or to Claremont, that’s IT! The place was definitely unkempt (which is why it earned the dodge comment), but something about it was very European. Small sidewalks, old deteriorating buildings. It was 6:20pm and the place was bumping. There was a lot of yelling, which is a taxi driver’s best asset obviously, hence what I’ve been trying to tell you all about “Claremont. Claremont. Wyyennnbbeeeeerg!” I wish I could have a sound clip of it to keep forever. I might even miss the mini bus taxi drivers yelling….
Also, I saw this girl on campus today for probably the fourth time. She strikes me because she must have some sort of skin condition, possibly albinism, but she’s definitely of African descent and hangs out with Black Students. So I’ll leave you with this question: Does she benefit from white privilege? Hmmmm
Love, Katy
Sunday, September 30, 2007
This week was fantastic. We had monday off. Tuesday I went on an adventure which appears in the post below. Weds night I went to Ponchos with Leah, Elena, Taylor and Laura. Friday I went back downtown with Leah, Taylor, and Laura ( who all go to AU). We tried to go to the Jewish Museum, but it was CLOSED again for a Jewish Holiday. Rosh Hashana made sense...but what holiday did i miss? Now i just feel guilty! Instead we went to the National Gallery store. (Dad, your baskets are the on their way...the lady recognized me and talked to me). I bought a bracelet made out of ostirch egg shells and handcrafted by the San bushmen. I love her little gallery store because everything is pretty much the same stuff you could find all over markets like Greenpoint or Greenmarket square every day, but it all the stuff in her store goes to actual people and commmunity art projects all over Southern Africa. We then had lunch on the upper part of Kloof at a Mozambiquan Portugese restaurant and has some pretty spicy curries. I stopped to get the biggest latte they sold at Seattle Coffee Company (my caffine addiction is at full force now that instant coffee has been introduced into my diet.) Then we caught the Jammie back to Upper Campus and I went to class and watched an incredibly borring movie.
On Friday night the ladies and I went to The Nose, which is a wine bar in Greenpoint, conveniently located next to one of my favorite bars... Beulah. We wanted to go to the lipstick lounge but apparently it has been closed down (Tig I wish you'd been there). Basically it was the best night because they played all the great jams, and it was packed! No creepers. I wish every night were as spectacular.
Saturday I decided it would be a good idea to go to an outdoor concert in the middle of nowhere called Rock the Dasies b/c I wanted to do something different. I'm surprised we made it home. The music was bad. I froze because of the million mph winds. The Volkswagon van we were in could have been less creaky, especially when we were in the middle of nowhere driving on unlit roads. Whatever.
Today I went to NIA and was totally out of it because i woke up this morning to having my eyes crusted shut. Allergies. Gross.
I have 7 weeks left here. I can hardly believe it. I love it here because every day has the potential to be new and exciting, however, I still find myself fantacising about driving in Seattle or hanging out in the dining hall for those hour long dinners we like to have.
Remember I have Skype: loebsmobile.
Love,
Katy
On Friday night the ladies and I went to The Nose, which is a wine bar in Greenpoint, conveniently located next to one of my favorite bars... Beulah. We wanted to go to the lipstick lounge but apparently it has been closed down (Tig I wish you'd been there). Basically it was the best night because they played all the great jams, and it was packed! No creepers. I wish every night were as spectacular.
Saturday I decided it would be a good idea to go to an outdoor concert in the middle of nowhere called Rock the Dasies b/c I wanted to do something different. I'm surprised we made it home. The music was bad. I froze because of the million mph winds. The Volkswagon van we were in could have been less creaky, especially when we were in the middle of nowhere driving on unlit roads. Whatever.
Today I went to NIA and was totally out of it because i woke up this morning to having my eyes crusted shut. Allergies. Gross.
I have 7 weeks left here. I can hardly believe it. I love it here because every day has the potential to be new and exciting, however, I still find myself fantacising about driving in Seattle or hanging out in the dining hall for those hour long dinners we like to have.
Remember I have Skype: loebsmobile.
Love,
Katy
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
the trees look like broccoli
The trees really do look like broccoli. Long stems with branches only at the very top. They're great.
Today I got my ear pierced at a place called Wild Fire off Long Street with my friend Leah. It was the best outing. We drank Margaritas afterwards. We went to different shops. We found the best place on Kloof St called the Wellness Warehouse. I could live there. There is all sorts of healthy food, plus books, vitamins, Tempurpedic stuff. It was fabulous.
The great thing about good to the neighborhood around Kloof and Long St is not only that it's the best neighborhood for food and shopping, but the Jammie Shuttle goes there! Never a dull moment with the Jammie. We only had to wait for about 10 minutes, but as we were merging on the N2 a barrel of some sort got stuck on the Jammie. We stood for about 10 mintues (miraculous) with all the cool artsy and theater kids from Hiddingh Campus. It was pandemonium. I love the cool kids. They created a ficticious news cast about the Jammie Incident on the spot. It was an entertaining wait. I love free transportation, and UCT.
Today I rocked a presentation about how gender shapes and constructs histories. Thanks to my liberal education and numerous hours spent at the WU and with Advocates I blew them and patriarchy out of the water! Thanks, Pomona!
Love, Katy
p.s. I finally have forged the instant coffee frontier after 2 months of battling against it. I found that mixing in sweetened hot chocolate makes it all the better.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Friday Night was Kol Nidre, the evening service for Yom Kippur. I went with this girl Ellen, who sold me my cell phone and keeps coming into my life AND runs this really fabulous program out in Nyanga and Khayelitcha (spelling?--they're both townships). She lives in Seapoint and is 24 or 25. We went to the Claremont Wynberg Congregation, so all i could think about is the minibus taxi guys yelling Claremont Claremon Wyeeeennberggg! Man was I misinformed. I was told this was the temple all the UCT kids go to. Not only did I see any girls that looked my age, but man was this place Orthodox. According to Ellen, everyone is Orthodox here. There is a reform temple, but I was so busy this week I didn't really do my research. Let me put it this way, I was the only girl wearing pants (though there were some Questionable outfits being worn by some of the younger girls--i cannot believe i just wrote "younger girls"--does that make me old?). OH and the sexes were seperated. AND the women barely participated. They didn't sing along. Nothing. The one good thing about the service was the choir. They had this really intense cantor who got really into it and a harmonizing mens choir. Again, no women. Oy vey. I didn't even make it to Avinu Malkeinu (my favorite song of all time) or Kol Nidre. We lasted for 2 hours. There was very little direction given by the rabbi. I didn't know where we were 1/2 the time and was just waiting for the next song. At any rate, I got home and downloaded Avinu Malkeinu from iTunes and listened to it and sang along.
This weekend was good. Tomorrow is actually National Heritage Day and therefore a day off. It's also National Braai Day (basically National BBQ Day). I will be doing homework the whole time though and replying to all your emails. On Saturday morning we left for our "Wildflower Weekend" overnight. We drove North up into the Western Cape, past a town called Darling to a reserve called Buffelsfontein (Buffalo's Fountain i think?). It's a wild animal and nature reserve. We stayed in these adorable and classy little "cottages". 4 people per cottage. 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms. We went on a game drive. 8 of us had hot cocoa with Quinton. We had leather couches in our rooms. I miss couches. We had a nice girl talk session on the couches. We had a bonfire. We watched some bad 90s thriller with Tim Robbins called Arlington Road. SA TV plays the strangest obcure movies because that's probably the only ones they can afford to pay the rights to! We had a good breakfast.
I fasted for Yom Kippur. It was hard, but I was really proud of myself. I also really didn't want to eat crappy food the next day. A couple of girls and I are going to do a cleanse soon! Woo hoo. Also, I am planning on getting my ear pierced on Tuesday afternoon. This afternoon I had tea at the Mt.Nelson again. Bomb. Tonight I saw Hairspray at the Waterfront. It was really interesting to watch a movie whose original story is all about Civil Rights struggles in a place like South Africa. I wonder what it's like for South Africans to watch a movie with undertones of race struggles in the U.S. The waterfront always makes me forget I am here instead of at Home. I expected to walk out of that movie and be in Baltimore or somewhere else in the States. There aren't a lot of freestanding clothing shops in this town either. I think a lot of it is a safety issue. People prefer to go shopping in a mall because it's enclosed, etc. I must say that whenever there is live music at the Waterfront it always turns out well. Tonight there was a guy singing Mrs. Jones as we were leaving. Couldn't be better!
I'm exhausted. Back to my matress with the dip in it. Do you think it's better to have a dip or have a really HARD mattress? By better I mean which is going to hurt my back less?! I'm 80 years old.
Love, Katy
This weekend was good. Tomorrow is actually National Heritage Day and therefore a day off. It's also National Braai Day (basically National BBQ Day). I will be doing homework the whole time though and replying to all your emails. On Saturday morning we left for our "Wildflower Weekend" overnight. We drove North up into the Western Cape, past a town called Darling to a reserve called Buffelsfontein (Buffalo's Fountain i think?). It's a wild animal and nature reserve. We stayed in these adorable and classy little "cottages". 4 people per cottage. 2 bedrooms 2 bathrooms. We went on a game drive. 8 of us had hot cocoa with Quinton. We had leather couches in our rooms. I miss couches. We had a nice girl talk session on the couches. We had a bonfire. We watched some bad 90s thriller with Tim Robbins called Arlington Road. SA TV plays the strangest obcure movies because that's probably the only ones they can afford to pay the rights to! We had a good breakfast.
I fasted for Yom Kippur. It was hard, but I was really proud of myself. I also really didn't want to eat crappy food the next day. A couple of girls and I are going to do a cleanse soon! Woo hoo. Also, I am planning on getting my ear pierced on Tuesday afternoon. This afternoon I had tea at the Mt.Nelson again. Bomb. Tonight I saw Hairspray at the Waterfront. It was really interesting to watch a movie whose original story is all about Civil Rights struggles in a place like South Africa. I wonder what it's like for South Africans to watch a movie with undertones of race struggles in the U.S. The waterfront always makes me forget I am here instead of at Home. I expected to walk out of that movie and be in Baltimore or somewhere else in the States. There aren't a lot of freestanding clothing shops in this town either. I think a lot of it is a safety issue. People prefer to go shopping in a mall because it's enclosed, etc. I must say that whenever there is live music at the Waterfront it always turns out well. Tonight there was a guy singing Mrs. Jones as we were leaving. Couldn't be better!
I'm exhausted. Back to my matress with the dip in it. Do you think it's better to have a dip or have a really HARD mattress? By better I mean which is going to hurt my back less?! I'm 80 years old.
Love, Katy
Monday, September 17, 2007
Zim Refugees
My dad sent me an article this evening from the LA Times (sorry I don't have the link) entitled "Zimbabwe migrants flood South Africa". Every day this is becoming a bigger and bigger "problem" for South Africa. I have been lucky enough to have met a lot of people from Zim, and while I haven't asked them specifically when or why they left, it's kind of understood that Zimbabwe is not the safest or healthiest place to be at the moment. I feel like a third of the people I meet are from Zim at UCT. This makes sense considering it's not that far away and UCT is the best school on the continent. However, some have insinuated to me that going to varsity (college) came at an opportune time. A lot of people in Zim are scavenging for food. It seems like there is very little hope for those who cannot afford to buy food, clothing, and shelter.
This article really reminded me of where I am in the world. I am SO physically close to Zimbabwe (compared to Seattle and LA at least). This story would be so easy for me or anyone else to sort of brush off, but it's RIGHT HERE. Woah. I am in Africa, ya'll!
On another note, I went to voluteering tonight despite my severe case of the mondays. Sometimes I am amazed I learned to read and to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. It's so hard to try to explain to these kids. But they're still cute. Josie showed me everyone's picture in the rec room. Half the kids in the house are sisters. There's one group of four sisters, and a couple groups of three. Josie has a sister at St. Georges too. I am curious to know what happened/ why these girls are here, but I feel uncomfortable asking them. I think it's not fair to them somehow.
Jammie was perfect today. I didn't have to wait more that 5 minutes all three times I took it. Success!
Love,
Katy
This article really reminded me of where I am in the world. I am SO physically close to Zimbabwe (compared to Seattle and LA at least). This story would be so easy for me or anyone else to sort of brush off, but it's RIGHT HERE. Woah. I am in Africa, ya'll!
On another note, I went to voluteering tonight despite my severe case of the mondays. Sometimes I am amazed I learned to read and to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. It's so hard to try to explain to these kids. But they're still cute. Josie showed me everyone's picture in the rec room. Half the kids in the house are sisters. There's one group of four sisters, and a couple groups of three. Josie has a sister at St. Georges too. I am curious to know what happened/ why these girls are here, but I feel uncomfortable asking them. I think it's not fair to them somehow.
Jammie was perfect today. I didn't have to wait more that 5 minutes all three times I took it. Success!
Love,
Katy
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Gun Shots?
Nicole, a friend of mine who lives in Liesbeek and goes to Bates, and I were peacefully listening to Sufjan and working on our various essays, when suddenly we hear what I thought were gunshots. We went to my window to investigate only to find a "bakkie" (pick-up truck) that was really struggling to get by. I want to call Car Talk to figure out what this noise was, but it was essentially the cliche blasts that come out of the exhaust that one might see in the movies when the protagonists' car dies in the middle of the desert and you know it's just not his day.
At any rate, it drove toward the Mowbray bus station so we didn't think anything of it and went about our merry ways of writing essays. Approximately 10 minutes later we hear the same cliche blasts. As I am digging for ideas in the back of my brain, the blasts barely registered. Honestly I wouldn't have been surprised if another person with a dying car drove by (it happens rather frequently around here--in fact I believe I've seen at least 4 cars being repaired or having their tires fixed outside of Liesbeek). However, Nicole discovered that it was the same truck. It had finally stalled right in the median of Liesbeek Parkway (which is a major road that runs next to my dorm). After it rocked back and forth for a few minutes , a girl got out and pushed it. I had given the truck up for dead, and it was, BUT two minutes later it was attached to another truck and was being pulled away! Where did that other truck come from?
Love,
Katy
p.s. Boys who live in this dorm mumble a LOT here. A guy just knocked on my door asking for Ackim (my flatmate who left his base on while he went to the grocery store so loud that my door was rattling), and he had to ask me three times "How are you doing" until he had to say it really slowly and looked at me like I was an idiot with a dunce cap on. Oh man.
At any rate, it drove toward the Mowbray bus station so we didn't think anything of it and went about our merry ways of writing essays. Approximately 10 minutes later we hear the same cliche blasts. As I am digging for ideas in the back of my brain, the blasts barely registered. Honestly I wouldn't have been surprised if another person with a dying car drove by (it happens rather frequently around here--in fact I believe I've seen at least 4 cars being repaired or having their tires fixed outside of Liesbeek). However, Nicole discovered that it was the same truck. It had finally stalled right in the median of Liesbeek Parkway (which is a major road that runs next to my dorm). After it rocked back and forth for a few minutes , a girl got out and pushed it. I had given the truck up for dead, and it was, BUT two minutes later it was attached to another truck and was being pulled away! Where did that other truck come from?
Love,
Katy
p.s. Boys who live in this dorm mumble a LOT here. A guy just knocked on my door asking for Ackim (my flatmate who left his base on while he went to the grocery store so loud that my door was rattling), and he had to ask me three times "How are you doing" until he had to say it really slowly and looked at me like I was an idiot with a dunce cap on. Oh man.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Bye Dad!
Welcome to my blog.
This past week my dad visited me for spring break. I was fortuante enough to take him around Cape Town and share a bit of my life here with him. This will be great when I have to come home and suffer reverse culture shock (but at least there will be recycling!)
This blog is basically for me to remember and share my random thoughts because, lets face it, sometimes I'm just too tired to write in my journal.
Go to facebook to look at my pictures! Alternatively, if you're a family member/too old to have facebook just get Becky to send them to you. I'm sure she'll really enjoy doing that. Ha.
Right now I am making a promise to myself to get out of Rondebosch and Mowbray more often/ all the time. It needs to be done otherwise I may go insane.
Bedtime!
Love, Katy
This past week my dad visited me for spring break. I was fortuante enough to take him around Cape Town and share a bit of my life here with him. This will be great when I have to come home and suffer reverse culture shock (but at least there will be recycling!)
This blog is basically for me to remember and share my random thoughts because, lets face it, sometimes I'm just too tired to write in my journal.
Go to facebook to look at my pictures! Alternatively, if you're a family member/too old to have facebook just get Becky to send them to you. I'm sure she'll really enjoy doing that. Ha.
Right now I am making a promise to myself to get out of Rondebosch and Mowbray more often/ all the time. It needs to be done otherwise I may go insane.
Bedtime!
Love, Katy
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