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Published: February 27th 2008
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Piercing ray of sun
(that kind of sounds like the Sound of Music...hmmm) There’s so much to say! I’ve been pretty busy in the last week, to say the least. My classes have begun and I have a finalized schedule to remember (I still don’t have it memorized…) and some serious business to finally figure out. Such as, how to print pages from a computer at school. It’s a big adjustment, not having a printer in every computer lab. And in one area, the print station, we must elect to have the document printed from the computer, THEN wait in line for about 8 minutes to get to a separate station to swipe your ID card, enter a PIN, and then wait for it to be printed. Everyone else is just going along with it. Most don’t know any different. And the computers are really old school- literally, I might have used one like it when I was in middle school. In South Africa, there is a lot of waiting around in queues, not lines. It’s really cute how in some places, they refer to the queue as a Q, “The Q starts behind the door.” Oh, and speaking of middle school, I kind of feel like I’m back in middle school again in
one of my classes. It’s actually a third year (senior year equivalent) course (in environmental analysis) and everyone knows each other pretty well and I’m the odd one out. And we’re in a room that looks to be the same size of my middle school science class. It’s strange to think that I have to re-learn how be invited into someone’s clique (I’ve already tagged along with a couple of girls, but I feel weird about being a tag-along). It does make it difficult if you understand only two thirds of what they are saying (South African English is tricky at first to understand).
Sometimes, on the UCT campus, I feel like I’m a lost and confused first year: how do I get to the sci lab?...Or sky lab? (I wasn’t positive on what they were pronouncing). And right now I’m sitting on my bed eating rich, dark chocolate covered almonds all the way from Michigan to make me feel more at home with a delicious chocolate flavor. And now I’m drinking homemade chai that my housemate made. There’s been a lot of great things coming out of the kitchen here. I’ve even contributed to some of them. Most
of my housemates know how to cook phenomenal dishes, all from scratch and memory. At first, you could see a noticeable difference in how the Europeans and the Americans cooked. Well, you still can, but my new South African cookbook helps my friends and I cheat a little bit. We just pick something and go for it. I’m not used to going to the grocery store once every other day, but now it’s almost routine. I enjoy learning how to cook healthy meals, and hope that I keep it up, able to come back to the States and take care of myself a little better. Oh yeah, and 17 people share one stove at dinner time. Our kitchen is pretty hopping around then.
Speaking of hopping in the kitchen, a couple of my roommates and I are in the African Dance class and we’ve held a dance practice in the kitchen once before. The class is how I expected it to be: challenging, sweaty, funny, and with a lecture and reading component. It’s so different from how I’m used to dancing/moving. A lot of the dance moves do mimic day-to-day activities in an African setting. So instead of the
My new friends
We all ended up meeting up at Erika's party a few days later. Fun stuff... American version of the shopping cart (which I taught to a couple of South Africans at the club one night, and they loved it), there is holding water in a basin, etc. It’s a really great class, and I’m glad I’m taking it. My favorite class is my Environmental Analysis class, even though it sounds boring. Yes, we’re learning how to analyze information and suggest appropriate policy suggestions from a natural science and social science point of view…but I kind of like that. I am going to have to learn a different version of ArcGIS than I’m used to, but oh well- more experience : -) I’m now at the internet café to download the program and I’m here on a street next to bars, restaurants, clothing stores, and a laundry mat. Some guys just came in reeking of smoke and beer…it’s quite an interesting combo: boozing and interneting.
I’ve been getting to know some local students at UCT through classes and clubs that I’ve joined. There are some pretty friendly people in the mountain and ski club that I met on my first hike with them last week. We hiked up Lion’s Head, an easy hike for beginners.
Finnigan
He's made it up many hikes. This is his third time up Lion's Head, I think. I was ill prepared for the hike since I didn’t realize that I’d be on a class field trip up until the meeting time, so I walked up in flip flops…that was interesting. There’s one part where we had to use some chains to help scale up some large rocks and I ended up going barefoot because it was easier. It took a little bit less than an hour to hike up, and once we were up there, we sat, caught our breath, and chilled. Some people brought wine, beer, and snacks to enjoy waiting for the sunset. I brought leftover lunch, including goldfish crackers from Michigan. We stayed up there awhile after sunset looking at the full moon and then a group of us went down to Camps Bay to get some Sinful ice cream, which is delicious, before heading home. What a long day! But it was totally worth doing it all and meeting some fun people. And my friend Rudi was kind to let me keep some of the pictures he took while up there.
Life is different here, but I still like it. It's beautiful, and yet sad. Tomorrow is my first day of SHAWCO,
and I'm helping teach a geography class to eleventh graders in a neighboring township. I'm hoping for a great learning experience. I've been hearing stories from my roommates about how SHAWCO is totally disorganized and their buses were late...we shall see what it's like. I hope it all works out.
A thank you to all that have sent me emails and messages through this site. I'm starting to feel more homesick, going for so long without much contact with you all. I do have Skype, so if you search for my name under the Ann Arbor location, add me! And we can chat for free when I call you. Oh yeah, I wasn't thinking and didn't bring anyone's phone numbers. So, if you do send an email, please include your number in there.
Cheers!
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Claire
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dear jamie, i love you! love, claire