It is a beautiful, warm day and I am sitting at my favorite little cafe restaurant in Rondebosch. They have the most delicious food here - the omelettes, sandwiches, salads, and their carrot cake is to die for. They also give out free internet vouchers for dining patrons! So that brings me to where I am now, full from carrot cake, sitting on the patio, blogging away for free.
Last Saturday I went to a professional rugby game, it was Cape Town against New Zealand. We lost horribly, but hey, it wasn't like we knew the rules of the game anyway. We went to a braai at
a friend's house before hand and he had a balcony that overlooked the city; you could see the mountains, downtown and the ocean from his backyard pool. Watching rugby was fun, I've definitely been missing my spectator sports. On Sunday five of us were extras in a music video being produced by UCT students. It was an experience to say the least...a long, long unorganized day but overall an entertaining way to spend a Sunday. This past week was rather uneventful, school work is dying down as we are all supposed to be preparing for finals. We did all go to see one of our friends play in the UCT symphony orchestra, she plays the trumpet and has been taking intensive lessons here at the music school. We all got dressed up for our night at Baxter Theater to support our friend and it was quite the enjoyable evening.
I am loving my internship here, I can't remember if I've mentioned it previously. I am interning at Global Development for Peace and Leadership (GDPL), an NGO in Cape Town . I go to their office twice a week and it has proved to be a really great job. I am doing research for some cool projects working with different schools and organizations; GDPL has some great networking connections and is well established in the Western Cape. I might even be able to spend a morning in church and then get breakfast with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (kind of like getting to meet MLK Jr. back in the day)! It is a small organization and they are located in an old, unrestored church that used to be home to a community arts program - there are old murals all over the walls in the courtyard depicting scenes from South Africa during the apartheid. I am learning a great deal about the organization, the workings of NGOs in South Africa, human rights efforts in South Africa, and the different initiatives working to reform a relatively broken social structure.
Last night my friends and I went to a concert that was a fund raiser for Africa Burns- the African version of Burning Man. It exceeded our expectations in every way, it was such a fun night! The first artist was a one-man show, creating his own background music and then singing and playing the harmonica over the track. He has never recorded and thus had no CDs to give us, a huge disappointment but refreshing at the same time; he was one of the more talented individuals I have seen in a while with a voice that rivaled many of the classic male singers in the States and was just all about playing live for people to dance to. The second was a band called the Rudimentals playing reggae and African dance music. Then a crazy DJ took the stage and everyone danced to the early hours of the morning...don't worry, we got tired eventually and went home. Seeing live music here is great, it reveals a part of South African culture that we do not get to see everyday.
Time is ticking away! I really can't imagine being back in the States in less
than 2 months, everything is so different here...I really think the culture shock is going to be much harder going back than it was coming. My friend was studying abroad in Mexico and had to evacuate because of the swine flu. Having to go home early, she said her feelings were bittersweet- she was excited to go home but leaving was rough. It really got me thinking about how much I have learned and how I have grown here- what I will leave behind and what I will bring back. The next few weeks are going to be interesting as we all come to terms with the fact that we will all be back in America soon and this whole term will become a fading memory. I just keep telling myself that I will make it back here sometime. And yes, I will be dragging all of you with me when it happens. Oh, and if you want a postcard, email me your address!
Last Saturday I went to a professional rugby game, it was Cape Town against New Zealand. We lost horribly, but hey, it wasn't like we knew the rules of the game anyway. We went to a braai at
a friend's house before hand and he had a balcony that overlooked the city; you could see the mountains, downtown and the ocean from his backyard pool. Watching rugby was fun, I've definitely been missing my spectator sports. On Sunday five of us were extras in a music video being produced by UCT students. It was an experience to say the least...a long, long unorganized day but overall an entertaining way to spend a Sunday. This past week was rather uneventful, school work is dying down as we are all supposed to be preparing for finals. We did all go to see one of our friends play in the UCT symphony orchestra, she plays the trumpet and has been taking intensive lessons here at the music school. We all got dressed up for our night at Baxter Theater to support our friend and it was quite the enjoyable evening.I am loving my internship here, I can't remember if I've mentioned it previously. I am interning at Global Development for Peace and Leadership (GDPL), an NGO in Cape Town . I go to their office twice a week and it has proved to be a really great job. I am doing research for some cool projects working with different schools and organizations; GDPL has some great networking connections and is well established in the Western Cape. I might even be able to spend a morning in church and then get breakfast with Archbishop Desmond Tutu (kind of like getting to meet MLK Jr. back in the day)! It is a small organization and they are located in an old, unrestored church that used to be home to a community arts program - there are old murals all over the walls in the courtyard depicting scenes from South Africa during the apartheid. I am learning a great deal about the organization, the workings of NGOs in South Africa, human rights efforts in South Africa, and the different initiatives working to reform a relatively broken social structure.
Last night my friends and I went to a concert that was a fund raiser for Africa Burns- the African version of Burning Man. It exceeded our expectations in every way, it was such a fun night! The first artist was a one-man show, creating his own background music and then singing and playing the harmonica over the track. He has never recorded and thus had no CDs to give us, a huge disappointment but refreshing at the same time; he was one of the more talented individuals I have seen in a while with a voice that rivaled many of the classic male singers in the States and was just all about playing live for people to dance to. The second was a band called the Rudimentals playing reggae and African dance music. Then a crazy DJ took the stage and everyone danced to the early hours of the morning...don't worry, we got tired eventually and went home. Seeing live music here is great, it reveals a part of South African culture that we do not get to see everyday.
Time is ticking away! I really can't imagine being back in the States in less
than 2 months, everything is so different here...I really think the culture shock is going to be much harder going back than it was coming. My friend was studying abroad in Mexico and had to evacuate because of the swine flu. Having to go home early, she said her feelings were bittersweet- she was excited to go home but leaving was rough. It really got me thinking about how much I have learned and how I have grown here- what I will leave behind and what I will bring back. The next few weeks are going to be interesting as we all come to terms with the fact that we will all be back in America soon and this whole term will become a fading memory. I just keep telling myself that I will make it back here sometime. And yes, I will be dragging all of you with me when it happens. Oh, and if you want a postcard, email me your address!
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