Is This Love?

Cape Town is truly wonderful so far.  It's a spectacular city, my house-mates are hilarious/ridiculous/awesome, and it makes me want to come back.  Perhaps we should schedule a 10 year reunion...

I haven't been too busy over the last few days because Christel House is on what I believe to be their spring break.  Last Thursday was Heritage Day, which was spent lounging around the manor for way too long, then going on an impromptu walk to the Gardens and the National Gallery (Art Museum).  We saw some live music, soaked up some heritage, and avoided Murder Alley (just kidding, parents and concerned citizens).

"Here I am."  Yes, this is my singing/hairstyling/dancing/acrobating(warning: not a word)/eyebrow-plucking roomie, ya'll!  Jealous?  Duhhhh.  She's a chonga 2!!  4 lyf.  She can also knot her hair and make it stick out at hilarious angles.  All you've ever wanted in a roommate?  You'd better believe it!

All of the museums were free, so some of us decided to see the exhibits at the National Gallery.  Here is Alexis checking out the photos and models.

 

The exhibit which was finished since I last visited the museum was on architecture.  It explained the tons of wood and loud noises emanating from the room last time. 

In another room on children, we saw this very creepy sculpture of a baby's head on a red velvet pillow.  Brenna is not feeling warm and fuzzy.

Then at some point the two "buds," Alexis and Josiah, decided to be really awkward (and by the two of them I mean just Josiah).  I think we were just feeling loco in the bronze room.

Here we see Anne Marie posing next to a Photoshopped piece of a woman-bull hybrid.  Check out the intense stares.  I think Anne Marie is more scared than scary, though.

Overall, the holiday was full of good times.  It made up for not having Labor Day or other Fall American holidays.

Hard Knock Life

Tuesday of this week I began my internship with Christel House SAfrica and I'm kinda sorta obsessed with my job(s).  I work mostly under the direction of the music teacher, who is very encouraging and joyful in the way only a performer can liven up a room, helping him to produce and cast their junior school (grades 4-7) musical.  Which musical exactly?

Annie.

Yes, I have been entrusted with the huge responsibility of finding the perfect Annie amongst all the students.  The pressure is intense.  I've already been told there is a young hopeful who I may or may not find is perfect for the part, but I have no idea what her name is or what grade she is in.  We start auditions in the new term, which begins the first week of October.  While preparing for auditions and trying to make a budget (in Rand), I have tried to perfect my use of the school/safrican dialect.  Here is what I have come to learn over the last few days (and weeks):

Morning! - From Day 1 at the school, I noticed that no one here really says "Good morning."  Just "morning."  It is said very cheerfully.

TO LET - Signs bearing these words are found across Cape Town, and they mean "for rent."  I definitely thought it was TOILET when I first saw it.

Hire - People don't say "rent a car" or "rent costumes" (as I had asked about for Annie).  They say "hire a ___."  Very good to know.

Rubbish - As in, garbage can rubbish bin.

Educator - The term used for "teacher."

Learner - The term for "student."  It's really interesting that they use these words.  I've heard it at both Christel House and the school we visited with Molo Songololo. 

Screens - Don't know if this is universal, or just with the Labia movie theatre, but cinemas will say "(Name) Screens 1 and 2." 

If I think of more I will update.  Today Caroline, Andrew, and I went to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, which is a 40 minute walk from the manor each way.  It was a great way to take advantage of our first sunny and (fairly) warm afternoon.  Spring is around the corner!  We saw a very cute performance involving two kid breakdancers, did tons of window shopping, admired the docked boats, and posed for funny pictures.

I'm very excited about the upcoming weeks because not only will the weather improve and Annie be underway, but another teacher at Christel House asked me to help start a Drama Society (or drama club, as we would say - add that to the vocab list) by giving the members lessons on play-writing, improvisation, actin, directing, costumes, props, etc.  I cannot wait!  It's exactly what I pictured myself doing, though I will need to channel my educational theatre skills (shout out to Gaby) for it.  I'll post photos once I get to know the students better!


In the meantime, here are some shots of the V & A Waterfront:

The kidz modeling on a sculpture of an upside-down ice cream cone. Bizarre?  Yes.

Some pretty flowers near a restaurant on the waterfront.  I thought they made for great subjects. Oui?

Our home!  (From afar.)  No, not Chapel Hill... Signal Hill.  Why must I always live on/near a hill?

Miami, that way!  Only 12,311Km from there.  Not TOO bad.

The famous clock tower on the waterfront.  Another similarity with Chapel Hill!  Ahh!

A water buffalo (?) made ENTIRELY of beads.  I'll take ten.

The mall.  Looked almost EXACTLY like South Point.  I really thought I was in North Carolina for a hot second.  But then all the prices were in ZAR (making the price of a shirt R450, for example).

Making our way around the mall, Caroline decided to take a break under a muscular armpit and Andrew tried to get this pretty lady's attention.  They were staring at me the WHOLE time.

We had an unexpected end to the day with a visit from Sarah Palin's bridge to nowhere!  Oh, the good ol' USA.

Internship Placement FINALIZED

Perhaps it went without notice, but I have been pretty hushed about discussing my internship placement.  I have now worked everything out with the coordinator and the new NGO, so I feel (more) free to disclose everything that has happened.

At the outset of my trip to Cape Town, I was under the impression that I would be working at this thuper creative-looking arts/culture center in Langa Township called Guga S'Thebe.  A Google search I did prior to the program got me way to excited about the prospects of working there - should have known something would go wrong...

When I arrived in the airport and our internship coordinator picked us up, I asked what Guga would be like.  He said that I would be working under an actor from the area.  This made me even more ridiculously excited.

I didn't really bring up the subject further until this past week on Tuesday, when we were to begin our tours of the various internships.  We visited the workplaces of all but my roomie's NGO (Molo Songololo - Xhosa for HELLO CATERPILLAR!  It's too cute, eh?).  The tour included visits to Black Sash, a Red Cross Hospital, Place of Hope (A Shelter for Battered Women), The Cape Argus (newspaper), Izikho Museums/South African Heritage Foundation, Olive Leaf Foundation, Cape Town Refugee Center, Christel House, and Tafelsig Community Health Clinic.  Basically at every single location, I was incredibly jealous of everyone's internships, though both health-related locations were tough, since at the first we went through the pediatric burn unit and at the second were taken through the emergency room and TB clinic.  I got the impression that everyone's work would be very challenging.

On Wednesday, I came to find out that my internship would actually be in a primary school outside of Kayelitsha, and that my supervisor with Guga S'Thebe was only loosely associated with the center.  After the entire group was awed by the performances (including poetry, dance, and singing) at the primary school, we were equally sketched-out by my supervisor.  I did not feel I could comfortably complete 3 months with that character.

After much discussion over the weekend, and the possibility being thrown out that my roomie would join me at my internship to ease my discomfort (which would have been ludicrous after we beheld the sight of awesome Molo Songololo on Thursday), the coordinator suggested the possibility of working with Christel House.

Today I stayed at home reading and hanging out with my TA and another student, when about mid-way through I got a call from the coordinator.  He said that the internship would work out, and that I would be helping coordinate a musical theatre production at Christel House!  It seems like an incredible school with real results, so I can't wait to start there tomorrow.  I was so excited that I had to post (again!).  Keep in touch and remember to send me your addresses!

Roar!

Although we have had a stressful week with drama (the bad kind) at the manor, internship tours, and studies, we managed to blow off some steam by... HIKING!  Again!  While my roommate, TA, and a friend climbed Table Mountain, me and some of the kidz decided to get to the top of Lion's Head in less than 1hr 15 min (the time set by the previous group).  It's not really a race, but one of our main forms of entertainment is having unnecessary and uncalled-for contests.  SO IT WAS ON.

We had been told that the hike up Lion's Head was a bit treacherous, and it began with edging along the side of the rock after hiking up the trail.  I tried to make it look really dramatic, but it was actually quite safe.  The more intense part, of which I have no pictures (curses!), was climbing vertically with the aid of a chain up to the top.

On the trail and at the top, we kept seeing these revolting interesting beetles.  I think I saw three total.  This one was being devoured by some flies.  Appetizing, yes?

After only 45 minutes, we arrived at the top of Lion's Head completely out of breath.  Then we realized we were IN a cloud.  I tried to include the photos that show some of the scenery, though most of the time it looked completely white all around.

The view of the city.  A cloud is about to consume us.  Clouds are actually quite cold when you pass through them.  It made for a bitter victory.

Anne Marie, Brenna, and I on a ledge (sorry Ma and Titi Sylvia) at the top of Lion's Head.  I think you can guess what is about to happen...

Great success!  Jumping photos are far too fun to pass up.  When I show people this I will lie and say I actually sky-dived from a plane and landed gracefully on the sandstone of Lion's Head.  Anne Marie looks like she actually did just that.

We then proceeded to continue jumping and taking photos of ourselves.  I was able to get some amazing shots of Anne Marie when it was completely clear, but then a cloud came to mist up mine.  Lame.

I promise I have a neck.  I was pretty giddy at this point - what's new?  Also, it was freezing, so don't be fooled by my clothing or jovial expression.

My clearest shot of Table Mountain.  The clouds would NOT let up!  Also, here you can see the stone steps we took to get to the top.  We may or may not be athletes now.

On the way down we passed this stone that I SWEAR says Diana.  It was awesome freaky.

Obviously the weather would become glorious ON OUR WAY DOWN.  What luck.  Here is a shot of one of the ladders we took to get to the top.

At the very least we had a great view of Signal Hill, which is also known as the rump of the lion (we climbed the head, and live on the rump, to the right).

There's the sun!  Where were you all afternoon?!

As you can tell, living in this city is spectacular.  The views cannot be beat.

The strain from climbing made us want to jump into the still-freezing ocean.  Check out the low clouds on the horizon.  How I despise them...

On the bright side, I was walking down with Anuja when we saw people wind gliding!  If I can, I would love to be able to wind glide over the city.  The sky became so beautiful after we left!

As the sun set, we said adios to Lion's Head, because we needed to get ready for Eboni's birthday party.  Eboni is the teaching assistant for our course with Mama Lee, and she is also our residence advisor for the trip (a TA/RA if you will).  She is intelligent, gorgeous, patient, kind, and we all love her dearly.  So much so that we got her a mucking afazing cake from Charly's.  See below (she is on the right):

The entire program was invited to her birthday bash by Mama Lee (our professor), who offered her apartment as the venue.  We had some DELICIOUS cheesecake, cheese and crackers, and concluded with a ridiculous game of charades.  One of the things we had to guess was "Caroline's bicycle" (she is 2nd from the left).  Without pointing, or spelling names.  Actually impossible.

Overall, the weekend alternated between relaxing and nail-biting, but overall it was great.  More to come this week when I start my internship!