Preconceived Notions

(I also posted a new one below)
Today we are beginning our homestays in the township. Like I stated in my last post, I am really looking forward to this. This is one of the main reasons why the class is here. Before this trip even started, I heard many stories about what it was going to be like. What the people were going to be like, how the living situations were going to be, and even I was overall going to feel. I thought this was going to adaquately prepare me for what I'm about to experience. We were told the houses were on the upper end in comparison to the rest. We were going to be fed relatively well and we were going to be kept safe at all times.

Here are my initial preconceived notions going into the trip prior to arriving in South Africa:
1: I shouldn't worry, I will be safe and taken care of by all those leading the program.
2: The townships really couldn't be as bad as people are making them out to be if we're allowed to stay with families for consecutive nights.

Some of the group decided to go out Friday night. We ended up at a really cute Irish Pub where only about 6 middle-aged people were. A live band was playing and we immediately started singing and having a great time. The people there started talking with us and asked us where we were from and what we were doing in Cape Town. I began talking with a woman named Nicky. She was 39 and had a couple young children. She was a very nice woman and was very interested in our reason for being in South Africa. I was telling her about our itinerary for the week and when I got to what we were going to be doing this week, she was dumbfounded. She couldn't believe anyone would put a group of students into a township for a day much less five. She told me she wouldn't go into Gugs (the township we're going into) for more than a half an hour if someone paid her. There is crime and danger, she told me. "I would shit myself," she said. She compared Cape Town's townships to India's slums saying that the townships are Cape Town's slums and that I will be seeing a part of the real Africa. She went on to say "Let me prepare you..." and told me to bring tissues. I was going to be crying from the moment I walked into the township to the moment I left. The poverty there is heartbreaking. But I also need to be careful because someone could easily put a gun to my head. She said she was proud of us for doing it but that she was nervous for us at the same time.

To be honest, this doesn't scare me. She has never spent more than half an hour in that township. Who is she to judge? Has she ever tried to get to know any of those people or their culture or how they do the things they do? No. She has grown up to understand that that is just the way it is.

These are the preconceived notions I have after leaving the pub:
1: The townships are something to be afraid of.
2: The people are dangerous and I shouldn't trust anyone.

I did have the chance to talk to someone that night who made me proud to be here. His name was Eric. He is the father of two girls and he was also at the pub. We were also talking about my groups reason for being in South Africa. He told me, in the past year, he built 8 houses in the township I am going to. He said he was so appreciative to see people my age being willing to leave their country to learn about his and to bring it back to their own. We went on to talk and compare safety in our neighborhoods and how important it is for children and how many in the townships don't have that.

So far these conversations have had the most impact on me because they have put into perspective my initial preconceived notions. But all of these conversations I have been having began to take effect on me. I started to realize I cannot go into the situation I'm about to into with all of these thoughts in my head. If I do, I'm never going to be able to fully experience the situation nor will I allow anyone else to fully experience me. I read a book by Kevin Winge, who has traveled here to South Africa several times, and he talks about going into situations right. This is a perfect example of going into a situation right. I want to be able to create relationships and lasting memories and have the ability to grow and learn and I won't be able to do that if I hold onto the preconceived notions I held before.

This is the new notion I now hold going into the township:
1: ---------------------

As I said before, I am really looking forward to this. It is something I will probably never get a chance to experience again. I know I will learn a lot! I won't be able to keep you updated daily. I'll be back Friday so there will probably be either one long blog or several small ones. You'll hear from me then!

I will be the first to break my camera.

Thursday started out early with a boat cruise on the Glass Bottom Boat to the Seal Island. We all decided to stay inside the boat because it was raining pretty hard. The water was a little choppy and we all were a little unstable! I ended up falling over and pushing Emily S. onto another man’s lap! After that, we decided to move onto the deck so we didn’t end up falling on anymore people and we could get a better view of the mountains and the seals. The rain had let up a bit but the water was still quite choppy. The mountain was gorgeous, as usual, and the seals were resting quietly as we drove past on the boat. We all took dozens of pictures. It was really cool seeing all the seals lying together with the mountains in the background. For a group picture, I asked Christen’s husband, Mark to use my camera to get a shot. As we were doing a hand-off of the camera, because of the rain, and the camera slipped and hit the deck pretty hard. For those of you who know, I have a pretty long track record with digital cameras. This is number four in five years. Thankfully, Mark is a pretty good handyman. He pushed the part that zooms our back straight and I was good to go! I honestly don’t know what I would have done if it could not have been fixed! I have a feeling I will be the first and only to break my camera on the trip. It’s inevitable…

Then we stopped and saw some penguins and had some lunch before getting back on the bus again and taking a beautiful scenic route up to the Cape of Good Hope. This the southernmost tip of South Africa. While standing at the top of the cliff and looking over the Atlantic Ocean, you are looking towards Antarctica. It was so beautiful and SO STEEP! We all took about 10-15 minutes to walk up and then spent quite a while at the light house that was looking over the ocean and the mountains. The funniest thing happened: when the day started, it was raining and the day did not look good in regards to weather. As we were driving to The Cape of Good Hope, the skies started clearing and we were able to see the tops of the mountains. When it rains, fog covers the mountains. The entire time we were at Cape Hope, the sun was shining and the weather was beautiful. We were able to fully appreciate the beauty of the ocean and the surrounding area. When we were finished, the clouds started rolling in again and the rain began to fall. The timing was perfect. =)

We once again boarded the bus and headed towards the Kirstenbosch Botanical Society Conservatory. At first I was a bit worried. I thought, oh great – a great big garden. We walked into the green house thinking it would be warm. We were SO cold! It was SO COLD in the green house. Who would’ve thought? We walked around and it was really cool to see the plants that would grow in the summer and in the winter in South Africa. The plants were shaped so oddly. But then we got to the cool part. We walked outside and there were hundreds of acres of land filled with trees and streams and plants. We were free to roam around and look at whatever we wanted. At some points we felt like we could have been in the jungle! It was breathtaking.

While on the bus tour, we passed a township. In the townships, people live in houses that, for me are very hard to describe – so I’ll do my best. The amenities in these homes vary. The ones we saw while driving by looked as if they were large refrigerator boxes piled on top of each other with metal shingles on top. (Of course, this is only a perception.) I think it's going to be very emotionally difficult this coming week when staying in the township. As a group, we will be doing homestays with different families who live in a township called Gugeletu. This is the portion of the three weeks that I have been looking forward to the most but I have also been a little anxious about. This is the reason I'm here. Yes, sightseeing is great and wonderful - but I feel I will be able to learn so much more from these five days than I would in one year solely being a tourist. I definitely think there was a purpose for all of the tourism this past week. We weren't simply tourists, we were learning and experiencing the culture too. This experience will hopefully help us bond better with the families and children we will be spending time with this week.

I hope to have another blog up tomorrow before we leave for the township. But if not, I won't have internet access until Friday - so there won't be any new posts. Expect LOTS the week after that!

Now It's Hitting Me.

We got up early again this morning to head to UCT for a lecture by professor Zwelethu. We all got ready just like we had the day before with a few exceptions. Tanishe wasn't here this morning to escort us to the bus stop or to the African Studies building on campus. But we could totally do it on our own, right?? Yeeeeah. The girls were all ready and waiting outside the front door but the door was locked and the boys were inside because - of course - David had decided to shower about 10 minutes prior to that. Well, none of us had the motivation to drag out our keys so we yelled a few times but we didn't want to miss the bus and be late for the lecture so we headed for the bus stop without the boys. Let's just say they were not happy... They ended up making it to the lecture on time by running up campus. When I say up campus - I mean UP campus! There was some running - there was some sweating - you get the picture.

After the lecture ended, we drove into the city and went to the District Six museum. This museum honors the black people who were driven out of District Six in Cape Town during the 1960's. These people were forced to find housing in lower income districts where amenities were not as good. The museum was so small! It was tucked into downtown and it seemed as if words from hundreds of books were thrown onto the walls for us to read. I found it very difficult to wrap my head around all of the information. Maybe it was because it was about a history I didn't know or quite fully understand. Back home, I like going to museums and reading about the Civil War (well, at least can tolerate) because it is something I know and understand. I'm starting to get the feeling I don't know enough about the world. Maybe I would feel more comfortable here if I would have learned more before hand...? What I did learn while I was there shocked me. I was alive when this was happening. In the 80's, apartheid was still going strong and black South African's were still not getting the rights they deserved. My pre-collegiate education did close to nothing to teach me about what was going on in South Africa. People were being thrown out of their homes and forced to live somewhere new. Overall, I thought the museum was laid out poorly and the information was thrown at us in a ill-maner - BUT - with any museum, I feel information is great no matter what. If I can walk out of a museum and say I have learned something, the museum has achieved it's goal. I took away from District Six a piece of some of the people who were pushed from the area. A long tapestry hung from the ceiling where people had the opportunity to write a message. Each message made me think about what it would have been like to be that person. The handwritings were preserved by hand-stitching each letter. The messages conveyed feelings of sadness and how leaving District Six made lives of families worse.

We had some extra time after touring the museum so we all decided to walk into downtown Cape Town and shop around Green Market Square. The square holds a variety of venders who offer cultural merchandise for sale. I mentioned in my previous blog how I am becoming more vulnerable here in South Africa. Here is where it truly hit me. As we were walking into the market, my group was approached by a very young looking girl who was pregnant. She couldn't have been more than 12-15 years old. She was holding a styrofoam cup and was asking for money. She came towards me and stopped approximately one foot from where I was standing and began talking very softly as if she was in pain and asked me if I had any rand. I began to panic, not knowing what to do. I honestly didn't know what was right. I didn't want to start a scene but I also could not escape the situation by walking away because I had been cornered. This young girl obviously was in need of money. Who would put themselves in this situation if there wasn't some need for it? The part of me who wants to help people kept me from running away. Some of my group was in front of me and some were behind. A few of them noticed what was going on and a few did not. I knew I had some spare change in my wristlet so I opened it and tried to grab it to give it to her to escape the situation as soon as possible. The reason I was panicked was because we had previously been told that many muggings occur in South Africa and we really shouldn't trust people we don't know. My intuition told me the situation was not safe. As I was reaching into my purse and was struggling to reach the coins, a R20 (20 rand) could be seen by the young girl and out of the corner of my eye I saw another man walking towards us. At this point, I yanked the coins out of my purse and threw them into the cup and walked away. I guess this wasn't good enough for her. She followed me yelling that what I had given her wasn't enough. The man followed as well. My group and I booked it across the square until we were out of sight of the two people. After some discussion, we came to the conclusion the girl might have been a gypsy or something of the sort and the man quite possibly the person in charge of her. Many times in these situations, the girl lures someone like me into giving money and then the whoever the man is comes and either mugs or does something worse. I think my face may have been as white as a ghost for the remainder of the day. Sometimes I wonder why this situation bothered me so much and other times I completely understand why I get so freaked out. I almost cried a few times today when I thought back to what happened. I thank God I had my friends to talk to. This may not seem as upsetting in type as it was in person. Writing it out is actually shaking me up - I wasn't able to experience the square as fully as I had hoped. Throughout the rest of the day I had issues walking around when people weren't within a few yards of me.

We continued to walk through the vender's stations and each person who owned the tables would push for us to buy from them. I don't know if it was just me, but the pushier they were, the less I wanted to buy from them. I don't know if I would have felt more comfortable in the market if what had happened earlier had not happened. Each of the venders not only pushed their merchandise, they crowded each customer. But all in all, I really did enjoy this true cultural experience. Mykala and I learned how to barter and we kicked butt! The tables carried hundreds of different types of jewelry, masks, bowls, scarves, and different items all hand-crafted. These are the types of things I pictured myself bringing home.

I entered this country with a wall around me - sort of like a protective shield. It protected me from everything I was scared of in the beginning: culture differences, safety, and race. That wall has now fallen down. I don't know if I have felt this vulnerable before in regards to my culture, safety, or race. I am beginning to understand how culturally different the United States is from South Africa, how safe I actually am in "Murderapolis", and how when I walk down the streets in South Africa I tend to hold my purse a little bit closer. It's a generalization I feel I need to try to escape. I am here in South Africa to learn about contexts of culteral diversity - that's definitely being achieved. As a participant in the Leadership minor, I am challenged to look at the world through several sets of eyes. Prior to coming to South Africa, I had one set. I'm hoping now that my wall is down, I'll be able to welcome a few more.

I'm the foreigner??

I am writing this entry Tuesday night in a room with EVERYONE else. I am finding this quite difficult - but at the same time quite amusing. If I could figure out how to upload pictures I would think you would find this quite amusing as well. We are littered around the living room of the house. Ben in the corner under the stairs, Brittney on top of the stairs, Amanda in the corner next to the kitchen entry, Matt, Emily, and I squeezed onto the couch, Jessica on a lawn chair in another corner, Mykala in the far corner near the window, and Erika hiding in her bedroom somewhere. Imagine all of these people with laptops on their laps doing what I am right now: blogging (well, sort of). (There is an indie-pop soundtrack in the background - courtesy of Ben)

Okay, continuing...

It's Tuesday and we had our first FULL day in Cape Town! The boys had the great idea of waking up at 5:30am and running through the house making bird noises waking all of us up. Finally getting the motivation get ready for the day, I woke up at 7:30am and started to get ready. It was quite difficult to get up but due to the humidity the beds it was much easier than I thought it would be! We had an orientation with Ouma, Nj, and Christen at OCT first thing in the morning. Ouma and Nj are the Interstudy leaders who run the program which we are a part of. During the orientation we were given more detailed information about our housing and what we were going to be doing during our stay. Monday night we were given a set of keys for our house and were told about the ADT security system that was in place. I knew extra measures needed to be taken for our safety but it was surprising to me what extra steps were taken in order for us to be taken care of. Around our house is a tall wooden fence. On top of that fence is electric barbed wire and extra doors enforce safety within the fencing. It's hard to think my Minneapolis apartment can be dangerous when I am here in this third world country sleeping behind barbed wire and high fences.

Once the orientation was finished, we all got the chance to see the entire UCT campus once again. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It’s starting into winter here in South Africa, so it’s comparable to fall in Minnesota. The leaves are turning and the campus is gorgeous.This time we walked up to the higher part and got to see a great view of the city. As a group, we toured the campus and took a break in the student's food court. While we were sitting around talking, I took a moment to look around at the students in the courtyard. My group was laughing and making a scene, as usual, and it occurred to me for the first time since I arrived on the campus that we were the foreigners. We were the ones getting looked at. We were the ones who had the funny accents and who always brought out the cameras for the annoying pictures. On my campus in Minnesota, I see that all the time and I constantly am rolling my eyes and wondering what could be so intriguing. I’m definitely having that feeling of being out of my element here in South Africa.

We then headed over to V&A Waterfront for the afternoon. We spent our time walking along the beach and shopping. Well, we didn't exactly shop. The only stores in the mall were Louis Vitton, Chanel, Hugo Boss, etc. Not exactly my style - or my budget. In the late afternoon, Matt found a cruise ship we could ride on through the bay for only R80. That is only $10! It turned out to be a pirate ship. It was great! The show was a little gimmicky but the pirates were halarious and we all had a blast - maybe me more than most! We all enjoyed some beer and the ocean while getting a great view of Table Mountain and the coast during sunset.

This brings me to sitting and writing this blog. I began writing this Tuesday night. It is now Wednesday night. We are contemplating where to eat. I feel that is a daily challenge - there are so many choices! We are also contemplating shark diving. I think that is something I must do before I die (honestly, that might be that last thing I will do before I die - sorry Mom and Dad. When in Africa...) I'm also starting to feel vulnerable being in a foreign third world country...I'll describe that in more detail in my next blog. Thanks for checking in..much more to come!

It's Official...

Well, it's official - I have finally taken my first ride on an airplane! Actually, make that three rides. It took three planes and approximately 20+ hours to make it Cape Town, South Africa. I arrived Monday morning at 11am, SA time (4am US time). Surprisingly, the jetlag wasn't too bad. I think I'm still trying to adjust to the fact I'm in South Africa. Part of me doesn't think it's real...

We spent the first day (Monday) touring the lower part of the University of Cape Town. It was absolutely beautiful despite the clouds and sunless sky. The beautiful Table Mountain can be seen throughout Cape Town and UCT is seated at the base of it with the campus running down the hill. Our Interstudy mentors, Tanishe and Richard, are super cool and definitely are able to give us the low down on the city and college life at UCT.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing. I guess everyone was right when they said we'd have jetlag - I passed out for at least 2 hours and definitely could have slept more! We later met up with Christen, our teacher, and her husband Mark for dinner and then the rest of the group arrived. It was an early night for the girls - the boys are definite troopers going out to the bar after a flight like that!

Already, I can tell you this trip isn't going to be a typical vacation. As we traveled into the city from the airport, we drove past a township called Khayelitsha. Small shacks in rows packed tightly went on for miles. Over a million people occupy these homes, alone. As I walked into my 6-bedroom, 4-bathroom, fully furnished house I was going to be living in for the next 2 out of 3 weeks, I continued to flash back to the homes the people lived in in Khayelitsha. It's an eye opener which makes me hate myself for cringing when I think about the cockroach my roommate found in the bathroom as soon as we arrived. Sometimes we really have no idea how good we have it...