Okay, well it’s been a super long time since I’ve blogged and I don’t even know where to begin. Wow, it’s been over a month since I’ve blogged and I have less than a month left here. Time flies. I’ve been pretty busy, but right now I am home sick and watching EuroTrip for the fourth time in three days. Hmm, I guess I’ll just start out with a quick summery of the last month of my life…
I have been having some pretty spectacular times in South Africa lately. The final installment of the Harry Potter movies came out. It was released two days earlier here than in the US and it was magical. I’ve visited a couple of museums and we’ve also been going to the beach pretty frequently. One night there was a full moon, so a few of us went on the full moon hike up Lion’s Head. It was awesome. Brittany, Laura, my roommate Gina and I watched the sun set and the full moon rise over Cape Town. Hiking back down in the dark was somewhat of a struggle though. Especially considering that we had been drinking champagne the whole time. Totally safe. I’ve also been working a lot in the gardens and in the office.
Lately at work I have been going on trips to a bunch of the different gardens with one of the other volunteers to help her conduct interviews for the research project she is working on. Last week we were riding in the back of the Bakkie (or “truck” as it is known in America… and yes, I plan on being that douche who uses South African slang when I get back) on the way to a garden and we got caught in a riot. I love the experiences I’m having here. I still can’t believe I’m in South Africa sometimes.
Anyway, the project she is working on has to do with the Sustainability Index surveys of the gardens. The SI surveys are conducted at each garden in order to better understand why or why not the gardens are successfully maintaining their sustainability. They are a series of questions about techniques used in the gardens and about the record keeping. The goal is to figure out how educated the farmers are in various techniques and how that is impacting their garden’s success. We interview people to figure out if these SI surveys are impacting the farmers’ techniques or changing any of their processes in the fields or record keeping. We want to test the theory that there is a boundary between the people with knowledge and the farmers.
Work can be frustrating because the farmers do not like to change their ways or try new things. They won’t try mulching techniques and don’t report problems like when their water stops working. Some of the gardens are pretty neglected because the farmers just don’t care enough. And they blame other factors for their crop losses. It’s hard to help people who don’t want to help themselves. Many of the farmers are old women. Most of them are still supporting all of their children and grandchildren. They complain about their children being lazy and not wanting to work. I don’t know if they don’t want to work, or if their just aren’t many available jobs, but it makes me realize how messed up things are here. Between the race struggles and class struggles, there are a lot of social and economic issues.
Working in South Africa makes me feel like all of the problems back in the States aren’t that bad. There is an unemployment rate of over 50% in the area where I volunteer.
Okay, some last minute things I wanted to write down so I remember to put it in my final reflection paper: Cape Town is such a unique place. I mean this in that it is a pretty Westernized City, but there are still a lot of African influences, especially from the Xhosa people in the townships. Women carry things on their heads, but instead of like jugs of water or whatever like in The Jungle Book (I realize that took place in India, whateva) they are balancing, like, microwaves on their heads. There are also people here from all over America, Africa, and Europe. I have never been in a place with so many different languages and accents and cultural traditions. Everyday is like a Comparative Cultures and Politics class.
Uhh, sorry this is so scattered, but like I said, I am watching EuroTrip. And I just had to write some stuff down so I would have it for my 10 page reflection paper and possibly for my 25 page paper.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
"By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!"
Today I gave a power point presentation about the carbon footprint, environment, health, etc at a grade school in one of the nicer suburban areas of Cape Town. When I got to the school, I went into the “recital room” to set up. To my surprise, there was some sort of music or dance class going on. Did I mention that this was at an all boys school? Please just imagine walking in on a middle aged teacher directing about 14 nine years old boys who were dancing the grape vine to the song Hotel Room by Pitbull. Now add their uniforms into the mix… navy blue shorts, knee socks, blazers, and ties. It was difficult to keep a straight face, to say the least.
Since the school was celebrating Eco Week, there were other people giving presentations. I looked around at the other booths that were set up in the entrance hall. There was a guy there with water saving showerheads, some lady with organic skin care and make up (I don’t know why they thought that the boys would be interested in this), and a lady with these chemical free cleaning techniques. The lady from my internship that I was there with was talking to some kids about how they should buy vegetables that are in season and that are locally grown to avoid the negative effects of importing food. When she was done I asked her what she thought we should do in snowy areas like Michigan where we can’t grow crops in the winter. She didn’t realize that this was an issue. It’s interesting to me that this issue wouldn’t even cross the mind of someone who lives in a snow-free area.
I was happy to see that the boys were actually fairly interested in the presentation. None of them knew about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I hope that I inspired a few Marshall Eriksons (this is a how I met your mother reference, specifically the episode called “life among the gorillas”). Side note: There is an estimation that the size of Garbage Island is twice the size of Texas. One of the guys who was helping set up the projector and sound mentioned that it was “the size of one of the provinces in America, specifically, Rhode Island.” Not that I expect everyone to know the geography of the United States, but I thought this was amusing considering the size differences between these two states.
Anyway, after the presentation one of the teachers held up some of the vegetables we had brought and asked the boys to name them in Afrikaans. The teacher held up a potato and no one knew the correct word, so one of the boys asked me for help and when I told him I didn’t speak Afrikaans, he asked how to say it in French, but I don’t speak French either. He then proceeded to ask why Americans don’t learn other languages. I told him I knew Spanish and Swahili (quite an exaggeration) and told him how to say some of the vegetables names in these languages. He seemed impressed that I knew such exotic languages.
One boy came up after to ask questions. His teacher said that the previous week he had requested a meeting with the principal about how the school could build the new pavilion in an eco-friendly way. It’s incredible to see children caring about these things; I feel a little less cynical about the future.
Earlier this week, I spent some time at the schools in the flats (the poor areas). It was pretty depressing. I didn’t actually interact with the students here because I was there to check on the gardens. (Many of the gardens used by the members of Abalimi are set up on school grounds.) I really have never seen such poor people in real life. It was a sad sight. The most disturbing thing I was a group of children playing with dead rats and cinderblocks in the street outside the school. I don’t know why they weren’t in class.
My first reaction is to compare and contrast the schools in the suburbs and the schools in the flats. The schools in the flats consisted of 100% black children. They did not seem well cared for; the words that come to mind to describe them are words like shabby and ragged. The students at the school that I went to today were mostly white. There were a few colored students (this is the term for races other than black or white that is used here- I realize that this wouldn’t fly in the States) and even fewer black students. They looked a lot better off than the kids fro the flats. Another thing I noticed is that the schools here all get out around 1:00pm (or should I say 13:00?). However, while students in the nicer schools all have an hour two of after school activities like computer club, sports, or musical instrument lessons, students in the flats don’t have the luxury of participating in these activities, as there is no money to put into these programs. Thus, they are left to wander the streets for the rest of the day.
I wish I could describe the streets of the flats too you. The shacks are built shoulder to shoulder and are super close to the road. The other day I drove home next to a horse drawn carriage. There are goats eating the leaves off of trees in the middle of the parkway. There are women pouring buckets of dirty water from their homes down the sewers. Beat up looking stray dogs are running everywhere. There is an area where sheep are slaughtered right on the side of the road. Pedestrians cross anywhere they please. There are open fires where people cook food. And there are small children wandering these streets when they’re not in school. Talk about Social Inequality being linked to Racial Inequality, bro. Social inequality refers to a situation in which individual groups in a society do not have equal social status. Areas of potential social inequality include voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, the extent of property rights and ACCESS TO EDUCATION, health care, quality housing and other social goods. Social inequality is different from economic inequality, though the two are linked. Economic inequality refers to disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. While economic inequality is caused by the unequal accumulation of wealth, social inequality exists because the lack of wealth in certain areas prohibits these people from obtaining the same housing, health care, etc. as the wealthy, in societies where access to these social goods depends on wealth.
I’m going to back track a little to a lighter subject.
Last Thursday through Sunday, I went on a road trip with 8 other people. Road Trips… they can either way. They can be awesome or completely terrible. This one was INCREDIBLE. We traveled up the Garden Route. I made some CDs, we packed up the cars and rolled out.
The first stop on our road trip was to an ostrich farm. Ostriches are the freakiest looking animals I have ever seen. And their eyes are larger than their brain. This means that they are really dumb and if you put a bag over their head they think that you can’t see them because they can’t see you. This is how you calm them down to mount them and ride… yes, we rode ostriches. It was strange.
After we were done with the ostriches, we drove for a few more hours and it was dark by the time we reached the backpack hostel that we would be staying at for the next two nights. We drove up a long dirt road with menacing looking trees on each side. It looked scary. The hostel was called the Wild Spirit Lodge, and it actually turned out to be totally awesome and not creepy at all. It was such a great place to hang out. It was run by complete hippies who fire danced and played music like Mumford and Sons and Kings of Leon. There were also pet cats and dogs everywhere.
We woke up early the next morning to go BUNGEE JUMPING. I was surprisingly calm compared to everyone else. Well, I wasn’t calm; I was just really excited whereas mostly everyone else was super nervous. Now everyone makes jokes about me being emotionless. It’s so interesting how other people view you. It’s strange to think that other people can define how they see you without actually taking the way you identify yourself into account. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. So CCP. Identity is such a James Madison topic to think about, but I’ve never thought about it, or confronted it on this personal of a level before. It seems like we have studied identity a lot in relation to how a dominant group pushes an identity on another group, or how identities effect individuals on a racial or gender based level. But I haven't thought about how others identify me. I feel like I have a very different relationship with everyone I have met here than I have with anyone at home. And I believe that this has to do with the fact that I have never come into an entirely new group of people like this before. There were absolutely no prior social placements among us; there is no one here that was a part of my identity already. No one here knows how I identify myself. They took what they saw and placed an identity on me. I never saw myself the way that they do. I don’t know if any of this makes sense, but I over-think everything so that’s probably why it doesn’t.
Anyway, bungee jumping was nuts and it was such an adrenaline rush. I think I’m going to sky dive before the summer is over. After bungee jumping, we went on a zipline tour through the forest canopy. It was relatively calm after jumping off of a bridge.
We went back to the hostel. I ate the best meal I have ever consumed. Most of the other people I was travelling with stayed outside and played waterfall with some Germans, but I went back to the room and read The Fountainhead. I know it’s lame, but I was so tired (probably due to the snorers and sleep talkers in our group who prevented me from sleeping the previous night).
The next day we went to see some elephants! It was so cool. We got to walk with them and learned a lot about them. Did you know that elephants never stop growing? And they die of starvation because their teeth fall out around age 70? And their gestation period is 22 months but labor only lasts 30 seconds?
After visiting the elephants, we got back on the road. A couple hundred kilometers later we made an impromptu pit stop at a beach to watch the sun set. It was the first time I touched the Indian Ocean. It was awesome. I may be over using the adjective “awesome” but everything on this road trip was seriously so awesome. I touched the Indian Ocean for the first time. Contrary to popular belief, the water did not taste like Indian food. But we all still had a great time anyway. We splashed around in the water and played in the sand and then headed back to the car and changed clothes on the shoulder of the highway. We got sand all over the inside of my car; I loved it. It reminded me of summer.
A bit later, we arrived at the hostel, showered, and went out for dinner.
In the morning we woke up bright and early and watched Sunday morning cartons for a while. Captain Planet was on. It was the South African version so naturally it was about HIV/AIDS. It was interesting to see and to be honest I was really impressed. I’m happy that people are trying to get the information out there to the youth of South Africa. This episode featured a high school basketball star who contracted HIV and was upset because he wouldn’t be able to play in “the big game.” Eventually Captain Planet and the Planeteers defeated the villains, who were rat people dressed in trench coats who represented ignorance and prejudice. Pretty corny. But entertaining.
That afternoon, we went on a safari. We saw lions, cheetahs, rhinos, zebras, and various other animals. We were so close to the animals it was ridiculous. Even the tour guide was talking pictures, that’s how awesome it was. I really can’t describe it, so I’m not going to try. But if you get a chance to go on a safari in Africa, DO IT.
After the safari, we drove the rest of the way home. It was such a good weekend.
Since the school was celebrating Eco Week, there were other people giving presentations. I looked around at the other booths that were set up in the entrance hall. There was a guy there with water saving showerheads, some lady with organic skin care and make up (I don’t know why they thought that the boys would be interested in this), and a lady with these chemical free cleaning techniques. The lady from my internship that I was there with was talking to some kids about how they should buy vegetables that are in season and that are locally grown to avoid the negative effects of importing food. When she was done I asked her what she thought we should do in snowy areas like Michigan where we can’t grow crops in the winter. She didn’t realize that this was an issue. It’s interesting to me that this issue wouldn’t even cross the mind of someone who lives in a snow-free area.
I was happy to see that the boys were actually fairly interested in the presentation. None of them knew about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I hope that I inspired a few Marshall Eriksons (this is a how I met your mother reference, specifically the episode called “life among the gorillas”). Side note: There is an estimation that the size of Garbage Island is twice the size of Texas. One of the guys who was helping set up the projector and sound mentioned that it was “the size of one of the provinces in America, specifically, Rhode Island.” Not that I expect everyone to know the geography of the United States, but I thought this was amusing considering the size differences between these two states.
Anyway, after the presentation one of the teachers held up some of the vegetables we had brought and asked the boys to name them in Afrikaans. The teacher held up a potato and no one knew the correct word, so one of the boys asked me for help and when I told him I didn’t speak Afrikaans, he asked how to say it in French, but I don’t speak French either. He then proceeded to ask why Americans don’t learn other languages. I told him I knew Spanish and Swahili (quite an exaggeration) and told him how to say some of the vegetables names in these languages. He seemed impressed that I knew such exotic languages.
One boy came up after to ask questions. His teacher said that the previous week he had requested a meeting with the principal about how the school could build the new pavilion in an eco-friendly way. It’s incredible to see children caring about these things; I feel a little less cynical about the future.
Earlier this week, I spent some time at the schools in the flats (the poor areas). It was pretty depressing. I didn’t actually interact with the students here because I was there to check on the gardens. (Many of the gardens used by the members of Abalimi are set up on school grounds.) I really have never seen such poor people in real life. It was a sad sight. The most disturbing thing I was a group of children playing with dead rats and cinderblocks in the street outside the school. I don’t know why they weren’t in class.
My first reaction is to compare and contrast the schools in the suburbs and the schools in the flats. The schools in the flats consisted of 100% black children. They did not seem well cared for; the words that come to mind to describe them are words like shabby and ragged. The students at the school that I went to today were mostly white. There were a few colored students (this is the term for races other than black or white that is used here- I realize that this wouldn’t fly in the States) and even fewer black students. They looked a lot better off than the kids fro the flats. Another thing I noticed is that the schools here all get out around 1:00pm (or should I say 13:00?). However, while students in the nicer schools all have an hour two of after school activities like computer club, sports, or musical instrument lessons, students in the flats don’t have the luxury of participating in these activities, as there is no money to put into these programs. Thus, they are left to wander the streets for the rest of the day.
I wish I could describe the streets of the flats too you. The shacks are built shoulder to shoulder and are super close to the road. The other day I drove home next to a horse drawn carriage. There are goats eating the leaves off of trees in the middle of the parkway. There are women pouring buckets of dirty water from their homes down the sewers. Beat up looking stray dogs are running everywhere. There is an area where sheep are slaughtered right on the side of the road. Pedestrians cross anywhere they please. There are open fires where people cook food. And there are small children wandering these streets when they’re not in school. Talk about Social Inequality being linked to Racial Inequality, bro. Social inequality refers to a situation in which individual groups in a society do not have equal social status. Areas of potential social inequality include voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, the extent of property rights and ACCESS TO EDUCATION, health care, quality housing and other social goods. Social inequality is different from economic inequality, though the two are linked. Economic inequality refers to disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. While economic inequality is caused by the unequal accumulation of wealth, social inequality exists because the lack of wealth in certain areas prohibits these people from obtaining the same housing, health care, etc. as the wealthy, in societies where access to these social goods depends on wealth.
I’m going to back track a little to a lighter subject.
Last Thursday through Sunday, I went on a road trip with 8 other people. Road Trips… they can either way. They can be awesome or completely terrible. This one was INCREDIBLE. We traveled up the Garden Route. I made some CDs, we packed up the cars and rolled out.
The first stop on our road trip was to an ostrich farm. Ostriches are the freakiest looking animals I have ever seen. And their eyes are larger than their brain. This means that they are really dumb and if you put a bag over their head they think that you can’t see them because they can’t see you. This is how you calm them down to mount them and ride… yes, we rode ostriches. It was strange.
After we were done with the ostriches, we drove for a few more hours and it was dark by the time we reached the backpack hostel that we would be staying at for the next two nights. We drove up a long dirt road with menacing looking trees on each side. It looked scary. The hostel was called the Wild Spirit Lodge, and it actually turned out to be totally awesome and not creepy at all. It was such a great place to hang out. It was run by complete hippies who fire danced and played music like Mumford and Sons and Kings of Leon. There were also pet cats and dogs everywhere.
We woke up early the next morning to go BUNGEE JUMPING. I was surprisingly calm compared to everyone else. Well, I wasn’t calm; I was just really excited whereas mostly everyone else was super nervous. Now everyone makes jokes about me being emotionless. It’s so interesting how other people view you. It’s strange to think that other people can define how they see you without actually taking the way you identify yourself into account. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. So CCP. Identity is such a James Madison topic to think about, but I’ve never thought about it, or confronted it on this personal of a level before. It seems like we have studied identity a lot in relation to how a dominant group pushes an identity on another group, or how identities effect individuals on a racial or gender based level. But I haven't thought about how others identify me. I feel like I have a very different relationship with everyone I have met here than I have with anyone at home. And I believe that this has to do with the fact that I have never come into an entirely new group of people like this before. There were absolutely no prior social placements among us; there is no one here that was a part of my identity already. No one here knows how I identify myself. They took what they saw and placed an identity on me. I never saw myself the way that they do. I don’t know if any of this makes sense, but I over-think everything so that’s probably why it doesn’t.
Anyway, bungee jumping was nuts and it was such an adrenaline rush. I think I’m going to sky dive before the summer is over. After bungee jumping, we went on a zipline tour through the forest canopy. It was relatively calm after jumping off of a bridge.
We went back to the hostel. I ate the best meal I have ever consumed. Most of the other people I was travelling with stayed outside and played waterfall with some Germans, but I went back to the room and read The Fountainhead. I know it’s lame, but I was so tired (probably due to the snorers and sleep talkers in our group who prevented me from sleeping the previous night).
The next day we went to see some elephants! It was so cool. We got to walk with them and learned a lot about them. Did you know that elephants never stop growing? And they die of starvation because their teeth fall out around age 70? And their gestation period is 22 months but labor only lasts 30 seconds?
After visiting the elephants, we got back on the road. A couple hundred kilometers later we made an impromptu pit stop at a beach to watch the sun set. It was the first time I touched the Indian Ocean. It was awesome. I may be over using the adjective “awesome” but everything on this road trip was seriously so awesome. I touched the Indian Ocean for the first time. Contrary to popular belief, the water did not taste like Indian food. But we all still had a great time anyway. We splashed around in the water and played in the sand and then headed back to the car and changed clothes on the shoulder of the highway. We got sand all over the inside of my car; I loved it. It reminded me of summer.
A bit later, we arrived at the hostel, showered, and went out for dinner.
In the morning we woke up bright and early and watched Sunday morning cartons for a while. Captain Planet was on. It was the South African version so naturally it was about HIV/AIDS. It was interesting to see and to be honest I was really impressed. I’m happy that people are trying to get the information out there to the youth of South Africa. This episode featured a high school basketball star who contracted HIV and was upset because he wouldn’t be able to play in “the big game.” Eventually Captain Planet and the Planeteers defeated the villains, who were rat people dressed in trench coats who represented ignorance and prejudice. Pretty corny. But entertaining.
That afternoon, we went on a safari. We saw lions, cheetahs, rhinos, zebras, and various other animals. We were so close to the animals it was ridiculous. Even the tour guide was talking pictures, that’s how awesome it was. I really can’t describe it, so I’m not going to try. But if you get a chance to go on a safari in Africa, DO IT.
After the safari, we drove the rest of the way home. It was such a good weekend.
Monday, June 13, 2011
just your average weekend
This past weekend was super eventful. Saturday a bunch of us went to the Old Biscuit Mill market. There was a lot of organic food and boutique type shops and vendors. There were also an unbelievable amount of hipsters who must have put a lot of effort into find their ironic fedoras to venture out of their coffee shops in order to check out all of the vintagy clothes and organic food. Seriously, I don’t know where all of these hipsters came from (well, probably from the underground music scene), but I honestly had not seen a single South African hipster before this day. It was quite a cultural experience. There was SO MUCH food and it all looked and smelled amazing. It was like heaven on earth. My roommate and I got ostrich burgers with guacamole, soo good. And then I bought some organic dark chocolate. Delicious. Okay, I’ll calm it down on my food obsession now.
Also at this market, one of the vendors confronted us about being ignorant Americans who think that Cape Town is a proper representation of the larger continent of Africa. (Cape Town is really westernized.) He told us that there is “no culture” in Cape Town because there is only culture in the rural parts of the country where women don’t wear tops. Obviously, I thought of Comparative Cultures and Politics and how we read so many course pack articles about how everything is culture and there is different culture everywhere. And how can someone claim that something isn’t a culture? … but what is the real meaning of “culture” anyway? Just kidding, I’m not going there again.
Later, we went to a bar called Fireman’s Arms near the rugby stadium to watch the match. Apparently this match was a big deal in deciding the rankings, so everyone was really excited. It was such a great sports watching atmosphere. We sat near some middle-aged rugby fans and they explained the game to us. I decided that my favorite player is Doppies La Grange. This decision was based exclusively on his name, obviously. Rugby is awesome. I like it because there is fairly continuous play, unlike American football and most of the athletes are really attractive. And it’s just brutal. The scrummaging is really strange though…
Later that night we made our way to an Irish pub called the Dubliner. We were told not to go there because of pick-pocketers and frequent cocaine dealings, but I’ve been there twice with no issues. When we walked in the house band was playing American Pie by Don Mclean. One of my friends took this as the cue to begin chanting “USA! USA! USA!” Everyone loved us instantly… classic Americans. It was a good time. And that was my Saturday night.
On Sunday I went up to Table Mountain. A few groups decided to go because it was a beautiful, sunny day. The group I was with decided to ride the cable cars up and then back hike down.
Once we got up, we walked around and took some pictures. After a while, my roommate Gina and I decided to start hiking down. We were told that there were a bunch of trails that led down the mountain, so we just looked at the map and chose a path that led to the exit. We began climbing down the rocks and ladders. I’m not sure how appropriate of an activity mountain hiking is for someone as klutzy as me… I scraped my knee pretty bad and almost launched myself off of the side of the mountain a couple of times. No big, no big. After a couple of hours, we came out at the main road, but we didn’t really know what direction to take to get back to the touristy area we were looking for. We ran into a South African jogger. He gave us new directions, which may or may not have been correct. We followed his directions over a dam and then came to another set of trails; two led to the place that he told us to go. In retrospect we should have realized that we didn’t need to go down any more trails… we should have just followed that road around. Anyway, we chose to venture down Skeleton’s Gorge. It was really awesome at first and the scenery kept changing dramatically quickly. We trekked through stoney mountains with giant rocks, which actually looked like a scene out of Lord of the Rings. But I didn’t see Gandalf anywhere. Then we trudged over a white sand beach that had creepy looking white boulders on it. I don’t understand how there was a beach there, but it was sweet. And then we found ourselves wandering through Jurassic Park-esque forests. Seriously, there was this barbed wire fence and it looked like just like the one that electrocuted the boy in the movie. We hadn’t seen any people in a while. It was getting dark. We had no idea how much longer it would be until we got to an exit. At this point, I wouldn’t have been surprised if a pterodactyl flew by. We had no choice but to find the humor in the situation. A lot of Swiss family Robinson and Bear Grylls jokes ensued. Eventually, we ran into another South African. He was chubby and was wearing cargo shorts and sporting a bucket hat. Priceless. He told us to just keep going down. We didn’t realize that this literally meant scaling down a waterfall. As we tried to figure out the safest way to get down this waterfall, we realized there wasn’t one. I clung to the face of a boulder; my water bottle fell out of my pocket. We watched it ricochet off of a branch and bounce from rock to rock and it plummeted down the falls. I hoped that my fate would not be the same. We slowly made our way down the slippery slope, holding roots and trying to find footholds in the side of the rock. It was so ridiculous. Once we made it down safely, we continued to basically crab walk down the boulders because it was pretty necessary to use hand and feet to find safe grips so we wouldn’t fall. Crab walking… so kindergarten gym class (minus the mountain part). Definitely a step up from playing with the giant parachute. We climbed for another 45 minutes or so, and then came out to a path. Bloody, dirty, and wet we searched through the dusk for a person or signs of civilization. We finally saw a security guard who called us a cab. I felt like a little kid lost on a field trip. It turns out that we came down on the opposite side of the mountain, so the cab ride was kind of long. But it was the best 100 rand I’ve ever spent.
Once we got back, we both felt really weak from hours of hiking. I had some of the organic chocolate that I bought the day before. Turns out that mountain climbing and dementor attacks are not the same because the chocolate had pretty much no effect. Today we woke up sore. What a crazy adventure.
Also at this market, one of the vendors confronted us about being ignorant Americans who think that Cape Town is a proper representation of the larger continent of Africa. (Cape Town is really westernized.) He told us that there is “no culture” in Cape Town because there is only culture in the rural parts of the country where women don’t wear tops. Obviously, I thought of Comparative Cultures and Politics and how we read so many course pack articles about how everything is culture and there is different culture everywhere. And how can someone claim that something isn’t a culture? … but what is the real meaning of “culture” anyway? Just kidding, I’m not going there again.
Later, we went to a bar called Fireman’s Arms near the rugby stadium to watch the match. Apparently this match was a big deal in deciding the rankings, so everyone was really excited. It was such a great sports watching atmosphere. We sat near some middle-aged rugby fans and they explained the game to us. I decided that my favorite player is Doppies La Grange. This decision was based exclusively on his name, obviously. Rugby is awesome. I like it because there is fairly continuous play, unlike American football and most of the athletes are really attractive. And it’s just brutal. The scrummaging is really strange though…
Later that night we made our way to an Irish pub called the Dubliner. We were told not to go there because of pick-pocketers and frequent cocaine dealings, but I’ve been there twice with no issues. When we walked in the house band was playing American Pie by Don Mclean. One of my friends took this as the cue to begin chanting “USA! USA! USA!” Everyone loved us instantly… classic Americans. It was a good time. And that was my Saturday night.
On Sunday I went up to Table Mountain. A few groups decided to go because it was a beautiful, sunny day. The group I was with decided to ride the cable cars up and then back hike down.
Once we got up, we walked around and took some pictures. After a while, my roommate Gina and I decided to start hiking down. We were told that there were a bunch of trails that led down the mountain, so we just looked at the map and chose a path that led to the exit. We began climbing down the rocks and ladders. I’m not sure how appropriate of an activity mountain hiking is for someone as klutzy as me… I scraped my knee pretty bad and almost launched myself off of the side of the mountain a couple of times. No big, no big. After a couple of hours, we came out at the main road, but we didn’t really know what direction to take to get back to the touristy area we were looking for. We ran into a South African jogger. He gave us new directions, which may or may not have been correct. We followed his directions over a dam and then came to another set of trails; two led to the place that he told us to go. In retrospect we should have realized that we didn’t need to go down any more trails… we should have just followed that road around. Anyway, we chose to venture down Skeleton’s Gorge. It was really awesome at first and the scenery kept changing dramatically quickly. We trekked through stoney mountains with giant rocks, which actually looked like a scene out of Lord of the Rings. But I didn’t see Gandalf anywhere. Then we trudged over a white sand beach that had creepy looking white boulders on it. I don’t understand how there was a beach there, but it was sweet. And then we found ourselves wandering through Jurassic Park-esque forests. Seriously, there was this barbed wire fence and it looked like just like the one that electrocuted the boy in the movie. We hadn’t seen any people in a while. It was getting dark. We had no idea how much longer it would be until we got to an exit. At this point, I wouldn’t have been surprised if a pterodactyl flew by. We had no choice but to find the humor in the situation. A lot of Swiss family Robinson and Bear Grylls jokes ensued. Eventually, we ran into another South African. He was chubby and was wearing cargo shorts and sporting a bucket hat. Priceless. He told us to just keep going down. We didn’t realize that this literally meant scaling down a waterfall. As we tried to figure out the safest way to get down this waterfall, we realized there wasn’t one. I clung to the face of a boulder; my water bottle fell out of my pocket. We watched it ricochet off of a branch and bounce from rock to rock and it plummeted down the falls. I hoped that my fate would not be the same. We slowly made our way down the slippery slope, holding roots and trying to find footholds in the side of the rock. It was so ridiculous. Once we made it down safely, we continued to basically crab walk down the boulders because it was pretty necessary to use hand and feet to find safe grips so we wouldn’t fall. Crab walking… so kindergarten gym class (minus the mountain part). Definitely a step up from playing with the giant parachute. We climbed for another 45 minutes or so, and then came out to a path. Bloody, dirty, and wet we searched through the dusk for a person or signs of civilization. We finally saw a security guard who called us a cab. I felt like a little kid lost on a field trip. It turns out that we came down on the opposite side of the mountain, so the cab ride was kind of long. But it was the best 100 rand I’ve ever spent.
Once we got back, we both felt really weak from hours of hiking. I had some of the organic chocolate that I bought the day before. Turns out that mountain climbing and dementor attacks are not the same because the chocolate had pretty much no effect. Today we woke up sore. What a crazy adventure.
Friday, June 10, 2011
this is the story all about how my life got flipped- turned upside down
Alright, the past week has been awesome. I guess I’ll just start with last weekend. A bunch of us hopped on a bus and went to the Wacky Wine festival. I just have to say that South Africa goes crazy for wine. There were also many mulleted, short shorts wearing European men in attendance. Haha it’s kind of impossible to remain pc while drinking in that kind of environment. I also may or may not have ended up speaking in (or attempted to speak in?) a South African accent. During the day, we traveled to the different wine tasting destinations, which were a few kilometers (haha metric) apart from each other. We had the bus, but there were definitely drunk drivers going from location to location. I don’t know who planned this event, but I feel like maybe they should have thought this through a little bit more thoroughly. Anyway, the wine was amazing and the vineyards were beautiful. At one stop a couple other girls and I danced with some South Africans and learned an Afrikaans dance. It was sweet, even though I had no idea what I was doing. We got to our final destination later in the afternoon. It was a campsite where there was more wine and a live band (Goldfish- I’m obsessed, look them up) and djs and food tents. It was nuts.
The next day, our bus broke down on the way back. While we waited we watched some sort of pirated version of The Hangover part two. It was one of those ones where the guy is in the theater filming the movie and you can see people standing up and walking in front of the screen. Legit. Then I went to McDonalds with a couple of people. We wanted to see if there were any different kinds of foods on the menu than in the US. There really wasn't, except for corn. So I got a McFlurry.
I think probably the weirdest thing that I still have to get used to is driving here. Sometimes, if I’m on a side street or something that doesn’t have any traffic I find myself driving on the right side of the road again. And then another car comes down the street and I have to swerve over onto the left side again. I also get lost in the ghetto pretty much on a daily basis because I have to drive to different work sites and it turns out that it’s hard to read a map while driving. Yeah, I look like an idiot. But luckily I remain calm during these times because I found a radio station that plays a lot of Jack Johnson. And also talks a lot about cricket, which I knew absolutely nothing about until now.
This week at my internship I made a powerpoint about environmental sustainability to present to a group of 10 year old kids. Before the lady gave me the information that I had to put onto the slides, she told me not to take anything in the presentation personally. Some of the facts and quotes I had to put in it could be considered slightly offensive to Americans… but could potentially also be true. There was a quote from an environmentalist that said, “If we replaced every Hummer driving American with a vegetarian, the world would be a better place.” And also facts about how Americans are single-handedly driving the world into the ground because of there abuse of resources. So yeah, that's all I have to say about that. I also worked in the gardens. It kind of breaks my heart to see how poor these people are and realize how much more I have than them. Including an education. But aside from that I really enjoy working in the gardens. At first I just had to shovel manure into wheel barrows, but then I got promoted to planting onions because out of all the volunteers I looked the most “shy and gentle” but I had also “proven my strength.” That’s what’s up.
I’ve also gotten in a little bit of running. I don’t know if you saw the picture of the view out my window, but my running route is basically up the side of that mountain. I am going to have thighs the size of Captain America's by the end of the summer (well, winter here). Anyway, I run out of the down town area and into the suburbs. Where I noticed a strange fad. Apparently, people dye their dogs’ fur here. I am not joking. I’ve seen at least three or for of those little dogs that are supposed to have puffy white fur, but instead of being white it’s like pink or purple. Whaaaat?
I have about ten more weeks to explore South Africa. And I am so excited!
(The title of this blog is from the prince of bel air, but I am using it in reference to driving here. Seriously, messes with your mind so much more that you'd think at first. But after a week, I'm getting pretty used to it. But I still do not understand the rules for round-abouts here...)
The next day, our bus broke down on the way back. While we waited we watched some sort of pirated version of The Hangover part two. It was one of those ones where the guy is in the theater filming the movie and you can see people standing up and walking in front of the screen. Legit. Then I went to McDonalds with a couple of people. We wanted to see if there were any different kinds of foods on the menu than in the US. There really wasn't, except for corn. So I got a McFlurry.
I think probably the weirdest thing that I still have to get used to is driving here. Sometimes, if I’m on a side street or something that doesn’t have any traffic I find myself driving on the right side of the road again. And then another car comes down the street and I have to swerve over onto the left side again. I also get lost in the ghetto pretty much on a daily basis because I have to drive to different work sites and it turns out that it’s hard to read a map while driving. Yeah, I look like an idiot. But luckily I remain calm during these times because I found a radio station that plays a lot of Jack Johnson. And also talks a lot about cricket, which I knew absolutely nothing about until now.
This week at my internship I made a powerpoint about environmental sustainability to present to a group of 10 year old kids. Before the lady gave me the information that I had to put onto the slides, she told me not to take anything in the presentation personally. Some of the facts and quotes I had to put in it could be considered slightly offensive to Americans… but could potentially also be true. There was a quote from an environmentalist that said, “If we replaced every Hummer driving American with a vegetarian, the world would be a better place.” And also facts about how Americans are single-handedly driving the world into the ground because of there abuse of resources. So yeah, that's all I have to say about that. I also worked in the gardens. It kind of breaks my heart to see how poor these people are and realize how much more I have than them. Including an education. But aside from that I really enjoy working in the gardens. At first I just had to shovel manure into wheel barrows, but then I got promoted to planting onions because out of all the volunteers I looked the most “shy and gentle” but I had also “proven my strength.” That’s what’s up.
I’ve also gotten in a little bit of running. I don’t know if you saw the picture of the view out my window, but my running route is basically up the side of that mountain. I am going to have thighs the size of Captain America's by the end of the summer (well, winter here). Anyway, I run out of the down town area and into the suburbs. Where I noticed a strange fad. Apparently, people dye their dogs’ fur here. I am not joking. I’ve seen at least three or for of those little dogs that are supposed to have puffy white fur, but instead of being white it’s like pink or purple. Whaaaat?
I have about ten more weeks to explore South Africa. And I am so excited!
(The title of this blog is from the prince of bel air, but I am using it in reference to driving here. Seriously, messes with your mind so much more that you'd think at first. But after a week, I'm getting pretty used to it. But I still do not understand the rules for round-abouts here...)
Friday, June 3, 2011
elephants love peanuts, they hate chilis
The past couple of days have been awesome. Yesterday, I moved into my apartment flat that I will be staying in for the summer. This is the view from the main room:
And this is the view from my bedroom:
Jealous? That's Table Mountain. It's a pretty amazing view. I really can't get over the fact that I'm in South Africa and whenever I look at my window I have this blatant reminder that I am not in Michigan anymore.
This morning I went to my internship at Abalimi. As I said before, Abalimi is an NGO that is located in the Cape Flats and their goal is to empower the disadvantaged through urban agriculture and environmental programs and projects. This organization works to combat poverty by growing organic food sustainably within the disadvantaged communities in order to help members recognize the link between their survival, health and the active improvement of their environment.
As I drove (on the left side of the street- AHH!) to my destination, I passed through Nyanga, which is one of Abalimi's target areas in the Cape Flats. This township was established as a result of the migrant labor system. In the early 50s black migrants were forced to settle in Nyanga. It is now one of the poorest and most dangerous parts of Cape Town. In 2001 its unemployment was estimated around 56% and HIV/AIDS is a HUGE community issue. This is a picture I got from online to try and show you what it looked like:
The township is a lot larger than this picture shows, and there were a lot of stray dogs and children running around. I was told that there was some controversy over whether or not the 2010 Fifa World Cup should have been held in South Africa because certain groups believed that the effort and funds that were being put into building stadiums/other infrastructure that was built for the Cup should have been put into improving areas such as these. But I did notice that as I got a little closer to the building I was headed to, the homes became a little nicer. This is a result of organizations such as Habitat for Humanity who have done a tremendous amount of work in an effort to improve the standard of living in the Cape Flats.
Once I arrived at Abalimi, I met one of the ladies in charge of overseeing the nearby gardens. She gave me some tea and then told me to wait in the office building until the meeting that I was going to sit in on started. While I waited, I read some of the pamphlets and magazines, which had titles like Spore and the Western Cape Environmental Newsletter. I read one interesting article that explained pest issues that farmers in Uganda near the Murchison Falls National Park face. Elephants have a tendency to wander out of the park and destroy the farmers’ plantations. The animals began moving past the boundaries of the park at the height of the civil war when people were forced to move to refugee camps. With the return of peace, the government urged villagers to return and continue farming. However the elephants posed a major problem. Recently, the farmers discovered that elephants do not like bird’s eye chili. The farmers plant them as a fence around their crops and when the elephants bite into a pepper it ”itches them so badly that they run back to the park.” Random agricultural fact, I thought it was interesting.
Anyway, when I went to the meeting, the women spoke mostly in Xhosa and some in English. It was pretty crazy and I could only grasp the general ideas of the discussions. Next, I met the other volunteers. One is from Australia and the other is from Germany. Get this CCP class: we actually talked about globalization. What!? Yeah, the girl from Australia brought up the fact that even the word globalization is a result of globalization because when she was in school, Australians spelled it like “globalisation” but by the time she was nearly done with school everyone used “zed” (the letter z).
I still haven't taken a tour of the gardens, and it's going to take a while to settle in, but I'm already super pumped about working with this organization.
And this is the view from my bedroom:
Jealous? That's Table Mountain. It's a pretty amazing view. I really can't get over the fact that I'm in South Africa and whenever I look at my window I have this blatant reminder that I am not in Michigan anymore.
This morning I went to my internship at Abalimi. As I said before, Abalimi is an NGO that is located in the Cape Flats and their goal is to empower the disadvantaged through urban agriculture and environmental programs and projects. This organization works to combat poverty by growing organic food sustainably within the disadvantaged communities in order to help members recognize the link between their survival, health and the active improvement of their environment.
As I drove (on the left side of the street- AHH!) to my destination, I passed through Nyanga, which is one of Abalimi's target areas in the Cape Flats. This township was established as a result of the migrant labor system. In the early 50s black migrants were forced to settle in Nyanga. It is now one of the poorest and most dangerous parts of Cape Town. In 2001 its unemployment was estimated around 56% and HIV/AIDS is a HUGE community issue. This is a picture I got from online to try and show you what it looked like:
The township is a lot larger than this picture shows, and there were a lot of stray dogs and children running around. I was told that there was some controversy over whether or not the 2010 Fifa World Cup should have been held in South Africa because certain groups believed that the effort and funds that were being put into building stadiums/other infrastructure that was built for the Cup should have been put into improving areas such as these. But I did notice that as I got a little closer to the building I was headed to, the homes became a little nicer. This is a result of organizations such as Habitat for Humanity who have done a tremendous amount of work in an effort to improve the standard of living in the Cape Flats.
Once I arrived at Abalimi, I met one of the ladies in charge of overseeing the nearby gardens. She gave me some tea and then told me to wait in the office building until the meeting that I was going to sit in on started. While I waited, I read some of the pamphlets and magazines, which had titles like Spore and the Western Cape Environmental Newsletter. I read one interesting article that explained pest issues that farmers in Uganda near the Murchison Falls National Park face. Elephants have a tendency to wander out of the park and destroy the farmers’ plantations. The animals began moving past the boundaries of the park at the height of the civil war when people were forced to move to refugee camps. With the return of peace, the government urged villagers to return and continue farming. However the elephants posed a major problem. Recently, the farmers discovered that elephants do not like bird’s eye chili. The farmers plant them as a fence around their crops and when the elephants bite into a pepper it ”itches them so badly that they run back to the park.” Random agricultural fact, I thought it was interesting.
Anyway, when I went to the meeting, the women spoke mostly in Xhosa and some in English. It was pretty crazy and I could only grasp the general ideas of the discussions. Next, I met the other volunteers. One is from Australia and the other is from Germany. Get this CCP class: we actually talked about globalization. What!? Yeah, the girl from Australia brought up the fact that even the word globalization is a result of globalization because when she was in school, Australians spelled it like “globalisation” but by the time she was nearly done with school everyone used “zed” (the letter z).
I still haven't taken a tour of the gardens, and it's going to take a while to settle in, but I'm already super pumped about working with this organization.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
"we request that you do not sleep in the isle of the plane."
First of all, I made it to Cape Town! I move in to the perspectives apartment that I will be living in while I’m here tomorrow and I start my internship on Friday. Wooo!
The flight over was interesting. I have definitely never been on a flight as long as the one from JFK to Johannesburg and don’t feel a need to experience that again any time soon. At first it was cool. The plane was huge, and I ended up sitting near someone who was from South Africa and had lived in Eastern Africa for many years. So I got to have my first conversation in Swahili outside of class. It was a struggle, but pretty awesome too. I also met a lot of missionaries on my way over. Hmm. After talking with them about unequal education opportunities for a while and then watching The Departed and reading some of The Fountainhead, I was sad to discover that the flight was not even halfway over. Considering that The Departed is one of the longest movies ever, this was unexpected and not very welcomed news. However, we eventually landed, as was inevitable, and I had a little over an hour to get my luggage and recheck it before I had to board my plane for Cape Town. This is when I discovered that, unfortunately, my luggage was lost somewhere along the way. Ugh. I had to go to the baggage claim desk and file a report of my luggage. I was asked several times if I was traveling alone and couldn’t help thinking of my dearly loved CCP class and of the movie Taken and just hope that I wouldn’t get trafficked. Luckily, I didn’t.
Yesterday, after a little over 24 hours of travelling I arrived in Cape Town. YES. Finally! I was so excited and I met two other girls from MSU who will be interning this summer as well. Once I got to my room, I basically passed out immediately as I had not been able to sleep very well on the plane rides. It was about 6 pm Cape Town time, which is noon in Michigan.
Today, I woke up at 7 in the morning and went exploring in my yoga pants and oversized hoodie. I was on a mission to find a store where I could pick up a couple of things to hold me over until my bags get here. I couldn’t get over the fact that I was walking around and exploring a foreign country by myself. It was surreal. As I wondered up and down the cobblestone streets, I saw a lot of shops. Most of them were cafes or jewelry stores or athletic shops or banks, not exactly what I was looking for. Eventually, I walked into a clothing shop where Jenny from the Block by J-Lo was playing. This place seemed promising. As I walked around I tried to figure out what size I would be in South Africa and tried to convert the prices to American dollars in my head. 100 rand is about 15 dollars. It was very obvious that I am not from here and I looked like a total scrub. How American of me. It was fun to explore the city and I ended up getting a couple of things... but hopefully my luggage will arrive soon.
The flight over was interesting. I have definitely never been on a flight as long as the one from JFK to Johannesburg and don’t feel a need to experience that again any time soon. At first it was cool. The plane was huge, and I ended up sitting near someone who was from South Africa and had lived in Eastern Africa for many years. So I got to have my first conversation in Swahili outside of class. It was a struggle, but pretty awesome too. I also met a lot of missionaries on my way over. Hmm. After talking with them about unequal education opportunities for a while and then watching The Departed and reading some of The Fountainhead, I was sad to discover that the flight was not even halfway over. Considering that The Departed is one of the longest movies ever, this was unexpected and not very welcomed news. However, we eventually landed, as was inevitable, and I had a little over an hour to get my luggage and recheck it before I had to board my plane for Cape Town. This is when I discovered that, unfortunately, my luggage was lost somewhere along the way. Ugh. I had to go to the baggage claim desk and file a report of my luggage. I was asked several times if I was traveling alone and couldn’t help thinking of my dearly loved CCP class and of the movie Taken and just hope that I wouldn’t get trafficked. Luckily, I didn’t.
Yesterday, after a little over 24 hours of travelling I arrived in Cape Town. YES. Finally! I was so excited and I met two other girls from MSU who will be interning this summer as well. Once I got to my room, I basically passed out immediately as I had not been able to sleep very well on the plane rides. It was about 6 pm Cape Town time, which is noon in Michigan.
Today, I woke up at 7 in the morning and went exploring in my yoga pants and oversized hoodie. I was on a mission to find a store where I could pick up a couple of things to hold me over until my bags get here. I couldn’t get over the fact that I was walking around and exploring a foreign country by myself. It was surreal. As I wondered up and down the cobblestone streets, I saw a lot of shops. Most of them were cafes or jewelry stores or athletic shops or banks, not exactly what I was looking for. Eventually, I walked into a clothing shop where Jenny from the Block by J-Lo was playing. This place seemed promising. As I walked around I tried to figure out what size I would be in South Africa and tried to convert the prices to American dollars in my head. 100 rand is about 15 dollars. It was very obvious that I am not from here and I looked like a total scrub. How American of me. It was fun to explore the city and I ended up getting a couple of things... but hopefully my luggage will arrive soon.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
let's get this blogging started
In about a week I will be on my way to Cape Town, South Africa for a twelve-week internship. This internship, along with a 25-page paper, will fill my field experience requirement for James Madison College at MSU.
My internship is with an urban agriculture and environmental action association called Abalimi Bezekhaya. (Abalimi means "the Planters" in Xhosa) Abalimi operates in the socio-economically neglected townships like the surrounding areas on the Cape Flats near Cape Town. This association assists individuals, groups and community based organizations to initiate and maintain permanent organic food growing and nature conservation projects as the basis for sustainable lifestyles, self-help job creation, poverty alleviation and environmental renewal.
Anyway, I will be “blogging” while I am in South Africa, and the purpose is two-fold. Mainly, it is for school and to apply what I have learned from my two majors (keep reading if you want to hear more about those little gems) to my experience in Cape Town. Secondly, I would like to think that it could benefit you and (perhaps. hopefully?) me. I find it difficult to communicate to people what I am doing in school and why. Partially because I don’t know what I’m doing, and partially because I don’t know why I am doing it. Maybe this summer will help…
James Madison is the residential college of… well, I am not exactly sure to tell you the truth. I have heard rumors that it is a business college or a political science college, but students and professors generally scoff at these imposed definitions and then continue to talk about how superior JMC is compared to the rest of the university (no offense).*
The James Madison website states that it is a college of “sophisticated multidisciplinary programs in the social sciences founded on a model of liberal education.” This description is about as obscure as my majors, which are: 1) Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy and 2) Comparative Cultures and Politics. The first involves studying theories and works from the classic ole dead guys like Socrates, Plato, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Locke, etc. It is your typical political studies class, more or less. Adding my second major, CCP, was one of the most ridiculous life choices I have ever made. There are rumors that this major is easy. I honestly thought the classes were going to be a general consensus of, “Hey, let’s travel the world and having good times!” This was not the case. This major must have been created with the intention of abusing the sanity of future students. First of all, it is built on a series of made up words. But more importantly, the subject mater consists of mind-bottling concepts such as globalization, cultural relativism, nativism, hegemony, knowledge production/epistemology, and the general deconstruction of everything that you think you know… but it turns out that you don’t actually know anything.
As you may have guessed, my majors have a tendency to conflict with each other and leave me even more confused about government, America and globalization, and life in general. My first major favors the way of the Western World, the second criticizes it. I am using the word “criticizes” here because I can’t think of a stronger word and I don’t want to swear. Everywhere I look I see imperialism. Even in Disney movies. Why is everything so tainted now? Whyyyy??
So here I am, a typical 20-year-old kid with big ideas from having a couple years in college under my belt but with no real experience, ready to take on the world. This will be my first trip outside of the US (except for Canada) and I am realz excited to set out on this adventure. I don’t really have any expectations and I’m hoping that this will allow for the best possible experience while exploring the homeland.
Props if you made it through that whole post. I doubt my parents will even read this. And I apologize, my posts won’t usually be this longwinded/scattered!
*just to clarify, I do not think that I am better than you
My internship is with an urban agriculture and environmental action association called Abalimi Bezekhaya. (Abalimi means "the Planters" in Xhosa) Abalimi operates in the socio-economically neglected townships like the surrounding areas on the Cape Flats near Cape Town. This association assists individuals, groups and community based organizations to initiate and maintain permanent organic food growing and nature conservation projects as the basis for sustainable lifestyles, self-help job creation, poverty alleviation and environmental renewal.
Anyway, I will be “blogging” while I am in South Africa, and the purpose is two-fold. Mainly, it is for school and to apply what I have learned from my two majors (keep reading if you want to hear more about those little gems) to my experience in Cape Town. Secondly, I would like to think that it could benefit you and (perhaps. hopefully?) me. I find it difficult to communicate to people what I am doing in school and why. Partially because I don’t know what I’m doing, and partially because I don’t know why I am doing it. Maybe this summer will help…
James Madison is the residential college of… well, I am not exactly sure to tell you the truth. I have heard rumors that it is a business college or a political science college, but students and professors generally scoff at these imposed definitions and then continue to talk about how superior JMC is compared to the rest of the university (no offense).*
The James Madison website states that it is a college of “sophisticated multidisciplinary programs in the social sciences founded on a model of liberal education.” This description is about as obscure as my majors, which are: 1) Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy and 2) Comparative Cultures and Politics. The first involves studying theories and works from the classic ole dead guys like Socrates, Plato, Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Locke, etc. It is your typical political studies class, more or less. Adding my second major, CCP, was one of the most ridiculous life choices I have ever made. There are rumors that this major is easy. I honestly thought the classes were going to be a general consensus of, “Hey, let’s travel the world and having good times!” This was not the case. This major must have been created with the intention of abusing the sanity of future students. First of all, it is built on a series of made up words. But more importantly, the subject mater consists of mind-bottling concepts such as globalization, cultural relativism, nativism, hegemony, knowledge production/epistemology, and the general deconstruction of everything that you think you know… but it turns out that you don’t actually know anything.
As you may have guessed, my majors have a tendency to conflict with each other and leave me even more confused about government, America and globalization, and life in general. My first major favors the way of the Western World, the second criticizes it. I am using the word “criticizes” here because I can’t think of a stronger word and I don’t want to swear. Everywhere I look I see imperialism. Even in Disney movies. Why is everything so tainted now? Whyyyy??
So here I am, a typical 20-year-old kid with big ideas from having a couple years in college under my belt but with no real experience, ready to take on the world. This will be my first trip outside of the US (except for Canada) and I am realz excited to set out on this adventure. I don’t really have any expectations and I’m hoping that this will allow for the best possible experience while exploring the homeland.
Props if you made it through that whole post. I doubt my parents will even read this. And I apologize, my posts won’t usually be this longwinded/scattered!
*just to clarify, I do not think that I am better than you
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