Kogel Bay with Sneeko Nico! (October 25th)

My friend Nico (pronounced like nEEko, and we call him “Sneeko Nico” because he has a sneaky walk.. hahaha) invited me to go with him and a few friends to Kogel (Kogel is pronounced like “cool”) Bay for the weekend. Nico is an international student also studying here in Stellenbosch; he is from Germany. I really love him; he is my favorite international student. What I like about Nico is that he goes after any opportunity to learn about issues, especially in America. I’ve learned so much about Germany from him, and I hope that I have taught him things about America. He’s coming to America in January, so hopefully, I’ll get to see him!

Anyway, Nico and I don’t hang out with the same crowd. Most of the people I hang out with here are from America, while most of his friends are from Germany and other European countries. Because of this, I really didn’t plan on going. But, at the last minute, I said “Why not?” I have to seize every moment I can here in Africa. I cannot stick to one group and type of friend. So, I put my bathing suit, pants, and underwear in my purse and headed to the Hillbilly house to meet up with him. When I walked up, I could tell he was surprised that I had actually showed up. Standing with him were a few people I had seen, and talked to sparingly, but people I really didn’t know. I was also the only Black person, and that always makes me a little nervous. But, whatever… I sucked it up and went.

At this point in time, like most points in time, I was COMPLETELY BROKE, and the group was going to the grocery store to get snacks and food for the braii (which is a South African bar-b-q, but they don’t use SAUCE.. they just grill the meat. It’s okay, but I prefer good ol’ American bar-b-q). I didn’t want to have to rely on strangers for food and drink for the entire weekend, so I used my bank card, knowing that the money was probably not there. However, I told my Mama and David and both of them put a little money in my account so I didn’t overdraw. THANKS AGAIN!

After picking up some food, we headed to Kogel Bay. The ride to the beach was like an hour’s drive, but the drive was so scenic, that I really didn’t realize that it was kind of a long trip. The drive was right along the coast, so from the car, we could see the beautiful coastline and the mountains. Luckily, Lisa, who is also from Germany, decided that all the girl’s should ride together, so I got to ride with her and not in Nico’s crappy car. When we got to the location, we had to carry all of our things down this path and over these dangerous rocks to the beach. The beach was just as beautiful as Nico said it was. It was secluded and surrounded by mountains. It was the type of place that made you think, “Wow… What did I do to deserve to see this?”

After arriving, we laid on the beach and let the water rush over our feet a few times. I wasn’t really in the mood to get wet. Plus, the waves were dangerous looking. They were big and many of the experienced surfers on the trip had problems tackling them. Nico and this American guy named John got into an accident; the front of Nico’s board hit John in the face, slitting his eyelid and cutting his nose. There was blood rushing down his face. It was scary. The injury seemed minor though, but just to be safe, they took him to the hospital. I saw him a few days ago, and he looks fine now.

After talking and lounging about, we headed to another section of the beach, which was less windy because it was surrounded by caves. It was really nice. After the sunset, we set-up a fire and starting grilling our meats. Nico and Matthew pulled out their guitars and started singing around the campfire. It was really cool to just chill, sing, and watch the stars come out. There was a lighthouse across the bay too. It was the first time I had ever saw a lighthouse in action. We were around the fire, making s’mores (marshmallow, chocolate, between to tea cookies [they don’t have graham crackers in South Africa!]) and, all of a sudden, people starting screaming and jumping up from their seats. The tide had come in! I told Nico it would, but he wouldn’t listen… (men are ridiculous). The place where we were was surrounded by cliffs and a cave; if we would have stayed any longer, we would have gotten trapped, so we moved our stuff back to the spot where we were earlier, only to find that the tide would probably get us there too. So, we took our sleeping bags and stuff to the top of a hill of sand and fell asleep under the stars. It was a little scary sleeping on a hill; I made a ditch in the sand with my feet at the bottom my sleeping bag so that I wouldn’t slide down the hill in the middle of the night. Sand is not as comfortable to sleep on as I thought it would be either. It’s harder than sleeping on a floor, and I like sleeping on floors! Also, the waves, which had already seemed too treacherous to swim in, were crazy that night. They were crashing so loud that it scared me out of my sleep a few times. But, the weather was perfect, and I went to sleep with sand everywhere and a smile on my face.

In the morning, we ate snacks and most people surfed. I changed into my bathing suit, caught a little sun, and read a book. I don’t like when my skin gets too dark, because I start looking like a guy, so after a while, when I felt my skin toasting, I found some shade to chill in. After a few hours, I heard people gasping. I looked up the cliff, and there was baboon! He had stolen some food from someone and ran back up the cliff! After the sun slowly took away the shade I had found, I decided to go play in the water. The water was cold, but it was still pretty fun. I buried Nico’s foot in sand, then decided it was about time for me to go. Luckily, a group was leaving, so I squeezed in with them. This really sweet Afrikaner girl, who is in one of my classes, drove. We saw a group of baboons when we were waiting by the car; it was funny. It was really funny, because that’s South Africa. Wild animals… (I’ve seen a chameleon just walking across a sidewalk), beaches…. , and mountains! I really love it here.

Hiking up Table Mountain

I don't know why I always do stupid poses when I hike. But that's a great view from the top of the mountain.

Table Mountain is like the first thing you notice when you visit Capetown. I remember I snuck a peek of it through someone else’s window in my row on the airplane when we first arrived here back in July. From the air, it was easy to tell that it was Table Mountain because it was so flat on top. So, when the opportunity came to hike the famous mountain, I couldn’t say no.

I actually decided to do it at the last minute. Yall know how I am? I got the email, I wanted to do it, but I forgot about it until someone else reminded me about it. By the time I remembered, I didn’t think their would be any spots left. However, my friend Andrea decided not to go and gave me her spot.

It was a windy but sunny day out; the temperature was perfect for hiking. I didn’t want to be late, so I hurried over to the meeting spot, but of course, when I am finally on time, no one else is. So, we waited a good extra 15 minutes for people to arrive. I was a little worried about lunch. I had forgotten about breakfast (a very dumb mistake on my part) and had stolen my flatmate’s peanut butter to make 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but with all that hiking, I wasn't sure that it would be enough. My friend Cassie and her Asian-Canadian flatmate, ?Mugoobe?, also came to hike up Table Mountain. Cassie forgot to pack her lunch, so I offered one of my pb&js, even though I was already worried about it not being enough for myself.

Anyway, we hopped on the bus and headed to Capetown. There is an airlift that takes people to the top of the mountain. THE LINE FOR THE AIRLIFT WAS SO LONG! There were so many tourists there. The airlift looked scary to me though. You know how I am with heights and machinery (I refuse to ride roller coasters); I’d rather hike up! We were going to hike up Table Mountain via the “Platteklip Gorge” route, which was actually down the road from the lift, so we had a long walk before we even really began hiking up the mountain. The beginning of the hike was BRUTAL. I mean, straight up climbing up over huge step after step after step. This was seriously the worst part of the entire hike. Cassie and I were the first ones to have to take a break, but we weren't the only ones. I was like, “Dang.. I don’t want to be at the end of the line, holding up the group!,” but I had to. It was really hard. We didn’t hold up the group at all either; they just kept on going. It was nice. I got to set my own pace. Casey and I started getting on each others’ nerves [hey, it happens!], so we separated and started really concentrating on making it up the mountain.

That mountain was so intense. It was like being on a “stair master” for 2 or 3 hours straight. I caught up with the group and even passed a few folks though. As we got towards the top, the hike got easier. There were a few friendly people too. One couple was coming down and they were like, “You’re about 10 minutes away.” Once they said that, I practically ran up the rest of that mountain! I was so happy to be done.

At the top.. it is COMPLETELY FLAT! I couldn’t believe it because it was so hard to get up and steep. But the top is completely flat. The mountain is really like a table! And there was a beautiful view of all of Capetown and all of Cape Point (which I’ve been to before, but I’m still waiting on Jayden to give me the pictures before I talk about it.). It was beautiful. The best part was THERE WAS A RESTAURANT AT THE TOP! There was all kinds of food; I had the cheese pizza! I hadn’t brought any money, so instead of me giving Cassie my sandwich, Cassie ended up paying for my food! Funny how that worked out!

After eating and chatting with some African tourists, it was time to head back to the bus. I ran down the mountain by myself. I just hate walking down mountains; it takes too long, and my knees start hurting. Running down is better. Walking down is how you get hurt. When you run down, your feet barely touch a rock for longer than a split second, so you have no chance of spraining your ankle or slipping.

I ran down by myself, and, when I got to the bottom, I felt so accomplished. I felt like I had conquered Capetown!

Heritage Day - September 24th

September 24 is Heritage Day in South Africa, where people are supposed to remember their heritage. There was no school, because it's a national holiday, so a few friends and I decided to do something fun and cultural.
I looked on the internet and found a lot of ideas on capetownmagazine.com. The plan was to catch the train to Capetown, get a camera for Brittney, go to a photography exhibit at Joao Ferreira Gallery, shop a bit, go see some poetry at the African Center, and then be back on the train to Stellenbosch by 5:30p. WE DID NOT STICK TO THIS PLAN! hahaha.

We went to catch the train, but apparently the train schedule is different on holidays, and it had already left. So, we had to call a cab to take us to Capetown. While we waited, we stayed in Stellenbosch and ate a some KFC. The cab that came to pick us up was a nice, clean van driven by an Afrikaner, young woman. She was really nice, and we really made her laugh with our ridiculous conversations. She took us to the Waterfront Mall, in order for Brittney to buy a camera. For us to go to Capetown and back to Stellenbosch was 480Rand... that's about $70. Split 3-ways, that's not a lot of money, but when you're broke, like I am, it is. The CRAZIEST part is, she told us to wait until she picked us up later to pay her!!! I have never been trusted like that in my life! We could have easily not called her to pick us up, took another way back home, and saved 240Rand. We decided to do the right thing though, since she trusted us so much, and because we are trying to be good!

By the time we found Brittney a new camera (a really nice, hot pink, touch-screen camera), it was around 2 oclock. We didn't have enough time to go to the photography exhibit, because the poetry thing started at three. So, we made our way outside to catch a local cab. Cabs in South Africa are confusing! There are cabs like the ones I am used to seeing, then there are rusty, old vans, and then there are nice vans, and then there are really nice, expensive looking regular cabs. We decided to take an old, rusty van, because it would be cheaper. We got into the van, and we told them where we wanted to go. There were people already on there, so they dropped them off. And, then they proceeded to tell us that if we want to go directly to the poetry thing, we have to pay like 60Rand or something OR we could just pay 1 rand and they could drop us off as close as they were willing to get. We were just like "UM.. NO!" So, we only paid the 1Rand.

Me, Cassie, and Brittney sitting in the back of the taxi.

These fools drove to some business, took a cigarette break, and waited for the women who were getting off work to catch a ride. Meanwhile, we sitting around looking, thinking that were were about to be late for the poetry tour. It was ridiculous. After they had just about filled the van to full capacity, they told us to get out. Cassie and Brittney were put in the front seat, and I had to sit closer to the door so that they could drop us off first. They had packed the van up so much that while Cassie and Brittney got to be cozy with each other, I had to litterally share my seat with one of the guys who drove the van. He kept moving and hitting me with his elbows, because he was trying to collect money from the women behind us. Also, he smelled like cigarettes and pee pee. I felt a little confused and abused. Hahaha.


They took us to Long Street, and we walked the rest of the way to the African Center. We arrived just in time. The event we went to was called the Badilisha African Poetry X-Change. What they did was take us around to different rooms and perform different poetry that related to Heritage Day. It was really cool and so interesting. I am really happy we went. The poets were all different and had interesting things to say.

Winslow performing his poetry.

At first, I was a little niave. Heritage Day sounded like a good idea to me, but then after listening to a few poets, I realized that it's like Black History Month, except they only get ONE DAY to remember their heritage. What are they supposed to be remembering all the other days? Apartheid? Apparently, all the other days of the year, they are being told to forget their past and are being forcecd to fit into Western ideals of beauty, education, religion, etc. That's kind of messed up.

The poetry was really deep, and it was so good. Even when some of the words were in Xhosa or Afrikaans, we could still find meaning in the way they spoke and their actions. There was even a musician at the end who sung a few songs and had us singing along too. Afterwards, we networked. We met some interesting people. One girl was actually from America and working at a school outside of Capetown. It was nice to hear her New York accent. One older woman had a dignified look about her that let me know she was rich. She said she had visited America many times and that her son was about to marry an American girl. We also met Winslow, who invited us along to another poetry session and party at a near-by club. We didn't think we could go, but once the older lady found out that we were from Stellenbosch, she offered us not only her favorite driver's number but also she offered to let us STAY IN HER GUEST HOUSE IF WE GOT STUCK IN CAPETOWN! That's twice, we were trusted by strangers..! crazy.
We decided that we might as well stay in Capetown a little longer and go to the poetry session, called Verses. We called the taxi-girl from earlier, and she agreed to pick us up later.
The only thing that was standing in the way of us and more poetry was OUR CLOTHES! I looked a little too casual to be going to a bar/party, and the other girls wanted to get dolled-up too. So we decided to catch another cab back to the mall and buy outfits for the night. This time, we passed on the raggedy van and got a nicer cab. I tried to keep it cheap. I bought a shirt-dress at Woolworths (it's kind of like Target) and some black tights and black flats from Edgar's (which is like Goodys). I still ended up completely broke by the end of the night.

After changing clothes in the mall bathroom and eating at Subway (We found a Subway! It tasted just like it does at home.), we caught another nice cab to the Zula Bar to expierence Verses. Verses is like an open-mic poetry night; anyone that wants to come up and do some poetry can. Winslow was the host! This poetry was just as good as the poetry at the African Center. Even a few rappers and singers came on stage and performed. They were all so talented. I didn't get any pictures or video, because my camera had died. At the end, there was a live band that performed. The music was really good, but by that time, I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open. Every song that they did sounded like "rock-a-bye-baby" in my head. While other people were jamming, I had my head in my lap. I WAS THAT TIRED!!
After the band was done, the party started. They played some pretty good rap music. A lot of it was old, but some of it was new. I danced a little bit, but the party really wasn't "poppin'." I think Cassie and Brittney were tired too. So, we said "Goodbye" to Winslow, called our cab from Stellenbosch, and left Capetown around midnight. We paid her her money (except I didn't have any more cash so Brittney had to spot me.. .I KNOW I STILL OWE YOU THAT MONEY GIRL. I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN!!!! )

Althought we didn't stick to our schedule, I had a great day in Capetown. It was so much fun, and even when it's raining, the city is still beautiful.