some info about SA

here’s a random list of things i’ve learned and some of my impressions of South Africa so far:

Devil's Peak at sunset
(picture taken on the border between Mowbray and Observatory)

• proteas refers to a flower, not an enzyme. (shoutout to my pre-med compatriots.)

• SA still makes many of its own products (for example, what are “Cheetos” in the US are called “Knick-knacks” here) because so many countries had sanctions against SA during the Apartheid era.

• some slang i’ve heard being used: aircon (airconditioning), slops (flip flops), petrol (gas), bakkie (pick-up truck), braai (barbeque), howzit (yo), Jay Zed (Jay Z), fillet (pronounced “fill-it”), chips (french fries), boerewors (spicy sausage), bru (a term of affection, kind of equivalent to “bro”), a nap-over (a sleep-over, but when it’s a guy and a girl, rather than just friends sleeping over), ja (yeah), robot (traffic-light), tops (the best), biltong (jerky), Cape Doctor (the wind that blows around Table Mountain and clears out the smog that accumulates in Cape Town), “just now” (could refer to something either in the near future, or never) isit (combination of "is" and "it," bascially just a response when you have nothing to say), keen ("Are you keen for a swim in the pool this afternoon?").

• whites make up less than 10% of SA’s population, but i think Cape Town is about 13% white.  the other major races are blacks, coloureds (the term is starting to become outdates, but it means mixed-race), and indians.  there are a lot of Muslims in Cape Town, but i don’t know the percent of the population.  according to wikipedia, 0.5% of Cape Town is Jewish.  IsiZulu is the language most commonly spoken at home (about 24%), followed by IsiXhosa (about 17%), and then Afrikaans (about 13%).  only 8% of South Africans speak English at home.

• the Dutch were the first to colonize SA i think in the 17^th century.  the British then took over at the end of the 18^th century.  SA became an independent republic in 1948, when the “official” Apartheid regime was instated.  (in reality, Apartheid was definitely existent under British rule, as well.)  Apartheid ended in 1994, since which time the ANC (a black political party) has been in power.

• there are many, many imported plants that i think were mostly brought here by the Dutch and the British, including eucalyptus, pine, and oak (the one plant i’m allergic to…) trees.  the climate here in Cape Town is describe as Mediterranean/ arid, similar to the Bay Area, so a lot of the plants look relatively familiar to me.

• the two South Africans in my class, Brendon and Daena, are part of a genreation known as “Madiba’s children.”  this is because they started school in 1995, and were therefore the first class of students to go to school in the New South Africa, a.k.a. not under Apartheid.  Madiba is Nelson Mandela’s tribal/family name.

• SA, and Africa in general, seems more raw to me: fires are natural and perceived as more normal, the wind is always blowing (especially in CT), the sun is super intense, water is more valuable (it is referred to as liquid gold/ Africa’s most precious resource), and the earth/terrain is more rocky, raw, temperamental, and beautiful.  SA also produces many raw natural resources, such as gold, diamonds, coal, and platinum.

• every part of this country that i’ve seen so far is absolutely beautiful.  there are vineyards, beaches, pans (vast areas of completely flat and ridiculously dry ground), all kinds of mountains, all different colors of soil and sand, and an incredibly wide variety of plants and animals.  SA is extremely diverse in general, in terms of the land, the plants, the animals, and the people.

a panoramic view of some of the Cape vineyards, Table Mountain, the Cape Flats, and Table Bay in the far right background

• there is razor wire, electric fences, gates, and barred windows everywhere, because crime is normal and expected.  one difference i’ve noticed between SA and the US is that if you were to injure yourself in the US, such as by walking into an electric fence for example, you might sue the person whose home is surrounded by the electric fence.  however, if you get robbed or mugged in SA, it would be your fault either because you were walking alone/ in a bad area, were wearing too much flashy jewelry, had left your house unlocked, or had left anything at all on a seat in your parked car.

• people say “must” instead of “should” or “ought to.”  for example, someone might say “you must  go put your shoes on, because everyone is leaving,” rather than “you should go put your shoes on.”  it comes off as really bossy/controlling, but i’m starting to think that that’s not how it’s intended.

• the language and culture tends to be slightly more gendered here.  for example, on menus, there is sometime’s a “ladies portion” listed under a regular portion of food.  also, while on our field trip, we stayed at a place with a “Ladies Bar,” which refers to a normal/co-ed bar (because “normal” bars used to be for men only).  and while at the grocery store earlier this afternoon, i noticed some “Men’s cleenex”, which i think was just called that because it didn’t have flowers on the box.

• there are some strange expectations at clubs.  for example, many have a dress code for men that they must wear a collared shirt, pants, and dress shoes.  also, the age minimum on Tuesdays and Thursdays is 18 for girls and 20 for guys, on Fridays it’s 19 for girls and 21 for guys, and on Saturdays it’s 21 for girls and 23 for guys… one club we’ve already been to, which is supposedly one of the most popular in the area, is called Tiger Tiger, where these practices are well-established.

• poor blacks seem to be very skinny, whereas poor whites seem to be either overweight or obese.  people also tend to eat a lot of meat here, especially red meat.  people even eat springbok, which is the national animal.

• the “big five” refers to 5 relatively common animals in Africa: lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and buffalo.

OK, so it is time for me to go again.  we’re going out to an area called Long Street, which i think is near the World Cup soccer stadium.  i think our plan might be to check out the gay bars?  i’m not sure, but i’m excited! :-)  ttfn!

love, kelley

howzit, my bru?

so i know it's taken me a while, but i've finally started my blog!  today marks the last day of my 3rd week here in South Africa... time has been passing at the speed of light!  i also just got back to Cape Town after a week-long field trip through the Northern Cape and up to the Kgalagadi (Kalahari) desert.  i will describe more about that later.  for now, i will just start with a basic introduction and summary of my 1st two weeks here.  (i have collected some of the following information from emails i sent during the first few weeks, so i apologize to those of you who might have already read this.)

so my first class, called Globalization and the Environment: South Africa, started on January 3^rd, and we have been having class almost every day.  there are 9 other Americans in my group (and living in my house) – 4 from Pomona, 3 from Macalester, and 3 from Swarthmore.  a disproportionate number of us are either from California or live in California, so i’m starting to pick up California lingo again (as opposed to the Philly accent i have so proudly been sporting since last summer).

during the first week, we went on tours of the Cape peninsula, the city of Cape Town, and the UCT (University of Cape Town) campus.  we went on the Cape peninsula tour on the Tuesday of the first week, and by the end of the day i was already sunburned.  we saw penguins, baboons, ostriches, and these tiny little animals called dassie (a.­k.a. hyrax) that are apparently relatively closely related to elephants.  you should look them up, they're super cute and it's really funny to think of them as tiny elephants.  it was like over 90 degrees, but it's super windy all the time in Cape Town, so we didn’t really feel the heat, which creates the perfect conditions for sunburning.  when we got back i went in our pool though, which was amazing.  yes, we have a pool :-).

the house we’re living in apparently used to be a colonial mansion.  there are going to be 10 more students living in it with us during the semester (which officially starts Feb. 14^th, i think).  there are bars on all of the doors and windows, but that’s normal for all buildings everywhere in Cape Town, and i’ve kind of been getting used to them.  our house has a front gate that’s kept locked, and the front door has another locked gate outside the regular locked door.  we currently also have an armed guard (only until the start of the regular semester), but i think my program just hired one for us to help us feel better while we get used to the area and the other students move into the area.  apparently this area is called “little America” because all the Americans live around here.

Penrose House

things in general are still pretty new and a little overwhelming.  there's a lot that's similar to the US and a lot that's way different.  i'm workin' hard on picking up the accent.  we already have a ton of homework though :-(.  i didn't realize this before, but i think this first class i'm taking will be relatively intensive.  but after spending all day in the sun, relaxing in the pool this afternoon, and now i'm about to go drink some beer (yes, the drinking age is 18 here) and eat some dinner made for me by some of the other people on my program, i shouldn't really complain about anything. :-) 

everyone i've met so far seems super chill and very nice.  maybe it's the weather.  whites and blacks seem outrageously segregated, though, which is really strange.  there are 11 official languages in South Africa, and like 11 more unofficial ones, and each of those languages is attached to a separate and distinct culture.  so i know they're out there, but it seems like the only culture we might experience in any kind of depth is the rich white culture.  cricket and rugby are really popular among whites, and soccer is huge more so among blacks than whites.

on Wednesday of the first week, we all (all 10 American students, the 2 South African students in our class, the 3 professors, and 2 grad student helpers, Lynne and Kate) went to some suuuuuuuuper old (like hundreds of years) Dutch wine farm, and it was absolutely beautiful.  the name of it is Groot Constantia - you should try to look it up on google pictures or google maps or something.  the name of the restaurant on the farm is Jonkershius (don't ask me how to pronounce either of those names).  thinking about the white privilege we were taking advantage of is a little bit sickening.  we were all dressed up in kind of business casual, my main course alone cost about R130 (i think), and we went through about 14 bottles of this really expensive, really really classy wine.  meanwhile, only miles away, hundreds of thousands of people are still living in townships and barely making ends meet, if they can at all.  it's hard to tell whether white South Africans are aware of the full extent of their privilege.

Dinner at Groot Constantia
back row, left to right: Brendon, Katie, Rye, Harry, Josh, Diego, Daena, me
front row, left to right: Rebekah, Jessie (took the class last year), Jenya, Hannah, Gator

anywho, it's just about dinner time, so i will get going.  i have so much more to write about, and i will do so as soon as i get another free minute.  cheers!
love, kelley