January 16th
Today was once again an amazing day even though I slept all of two hours last night – still suffering from jet lag. We finally got our IDs and I bought a mocha espresso but man do Africans like their espressos strong! I needed to pour out half and fill the other half up with milk in order to actually drink it.
After that we went to the Slavery in Africa museum. It was really interesting and the owner of the museum gave us this large introduction that was pretty amazing. What was also interesting to learn was the fact that Afrikaans was not derived as a white language but a conglomeration of all of different dialects of the slaves. The conditions they had to live in were absolutely horrible but it was interesting to learn all of it.
After the museum, we were allowed to find lunch on our own and explore for several hours in Cape Town. Vernon recommended Mamai (I think that is a name) which is a place that cooks ethnic food of the region. There was Indian, African, some European. Almost everything had Indian spices in it – Amanda, you would have loved it because there were a lot of curry and samosas. I had a chicken pie which was absolutely amazing. Basically, my chicken pie and coke cost me the equivalent of a little of two dollars which is all of 19 ran. I love this place!
Lunch did not take long so Mia, Lara and I explore the mall. I wanted to find new sunglasses since I am going ghetto right now with broken sunglasses that are kept together with tape. We found the most amazing store (at least to me right now). I think it was Sheet Street or something. Basically, they had pillows. I have had the hardest time trying to find a pillow and I got a very nice pillow for 14.95 ran, about two dollars. It was a lot of fun and exciting – to be on our own, be able to wander around and explore Cape Town and have to actually worry about our security because we were not in a large group. I loved the diversity – there is so much diversity here and yes, everybody is quite cautious, at leas the tourists but the natives just look so comfortable. It also seems strange that this beautiful city turns into a place where you do not want to be at night. Little children, homeless people, meth users come out after 5 and everybody I have ever talked to warns me about making sure I am out of the city, especially the Parade.
We went to the District 6 museum which was amazing. This was probably the best speaker I have ever heard that talked about the importance of District 6 to us. He actually lived there and was relocated by the apartheid government. The museum was so moving – Chesney, hopefully you made it there when you were in Cape Town. I just cannot even begin to describe everything. After apartheid ended, they opened this District 6 exhibit and there was a map of the district on the floor. People who used to live in the district and were relocated to the townships came and requested a pen in order to write in where they had lived. What was supposed to be a weekend exhibit has lasted 14 years because of how popular it was and the funding that they were given. The people that were moved to the township were forced to commute hours to work so both parents had to work. Children were left alone after schools and violence ensued, gangs were created and that is what has resulted in places like Khayletisha which is still a very dangerous township right outside of Cape Town.
I have just returned from Manenberg at the waterfront which is this ritzy jazz café. RDP played and they were amazing! They played covers of some famous South African jazz songs, or so Vernon was telling me. The women singer had the most amazing voice and I just couldn’t believe the notes she was belting out! We had dinner there (I found out that I like sparkling wine or at least one sparkling wine) and I had the fish for dinner. The fish was really good but what was disappointing was that even though we arrived at 7:00, we did not receive our dinner until about 10 and did not leave until 12. I think that is the African way of doing things though. It seems that they are very lax about all of that and have long drawn out dinners but with small proportions compared to the sizes of American dishes. When the band played, at one point, Vernon got up and took me out onto the floor and we danced. From that point on we danced all night long and it was the most fun I have had in a long time. Unfortunately, RDP does not have a cd so I will not be able to show it to you. Also, I was afraid to bring my nice camera so I did not bring it and missed the amazing pictures of clouds rolling over Table Mountain on the way there. Tonight was amazing and tomorrow we go to Stellenbosch for wine tours!
Oh and I asked Vernon more about my internship and he said that I will actually be doing research on the AIDS virus pertaining particular to its’ methodology in children. I am so psyched!