Cape town is the first thing you see in any guide book. For good reason.

Wow. There is so much to say about Cape Town that I really don’t know where to start.
1) Cape Town is so much more beautiful than Jo’burg. Part of this is the fact that Cape Town has existed for 400 years where Jo'burg is barely more than 100 years old. It has all this beautiful Victorian architecture. Plus it has the Ocean and the GIANT mountain. It could possible win the prettiest city award.
2) Because it is a prettier city there are more tourists and there is a much greater tourist infrastructure for better or worse. It made me realize that I am lucky to experience Jo'burg the way I am, because otherwise it is actually quite difficult to get a feel for it.
3) Went to Robbin Island which is HUGE. The island itself, not the prison. Did you know that people live there? Yeah, they have a school, even. BIZARE. The prison itself was creepy as all prisons are and our guide was a former prisoner. Really powerfully weird to touch the bars of a cell and know that Nelsen Mandela touched those bars. Even more so than being in his house.
4) Climbed Table Mountain which was intense. I hope the pictures capture how huge that thing is. I also did it in Converses. Which amused me.
5) Saw the Cape Town penguins which are actually the Simons Town penguins. Like the geek I am, I got insanely excited.
6) Saw the southern most point of Africa where the Atlantic and the Indian oceans meet. Honestly underwhelmed. But then I saw Baboons in the parking lot and that was exciting.
7) Saw San rock painting. Which was cool. And then our guide said “this is estimated to be anywhere from 2000-8000 years old,” and my jaw just dropped. Sometimes I forget just how long human history is. And how little we know about it. I mean most history classes start about 500 years ago. Or maybe they go back to Rome and the Greeks. But humans have been around for SO LONG. And we have been making art for SO LONG.
8) We toured three of the townships which was really weird. When we went into Soweto in Jo’burg we were driven in cars by South Africans and it felt casual and not like a big deal, but here we were all crammed into a tour bus. It was a small tour bus, but still. Even though we saw more of three townships of Langa, Guguletu and Khayelitsha than we saw of Soweto, it felt very weird and disconnected. But much like Soweto I was struck how there are middleclass areas along side the shacks. All we ever hear about is DIRE POVERTY which is mostly true. But its also more complex than that.
9) At one point we all got food poisoning. Which was awful until it became hilarious. We were all on the bus trading pepto bismal and other medicines and we suddenly stopped being miserable and just started laughing.
10) Saw a really traumatizing horror movie in which something called Pinky-Pinky was killing girls in an all girls school in Pietermaritzburg. Really did not know what we were getting into. But we also learned that Pinky-Pinky is the South African version of the Boogy Man so I guess we got something out of it.
11) Bought a purse. The woman said 120 Rand. I was like “can you do 100 Rand?” And she just started laughing at me and said “of course.” I realize I could have gotten her down to 80 at least if I had just tried a little harder. Bother.
12) Disclaimer: PLEASE DON’T FREAK OUT. Cape Town is said to be a much safer city that Jo'burg. But in Jo'burg the only crime the Americans have experienced is the pick pocketing of a cell phone. In Cape Town three people got mugged each in individual incidents. Don’t worry no one was hurt and the only thing that was lost were some cellphones and some cash. The interesting thing was all three were boys. But all three were walking alone, which I guess they feel confident doing because they are boys. You will be happy to know that the girls always walk around in pairs.

Rock Art.

Can we just appriciate the detail? That has lasted for at least 2000 years?

My arts and culture lecturer examines the art.

Yes I got to art school. With art school kids. You gotta problem with that?

The Simonstown penguins.

Cape Point

Okay. We were warned.

Look everybody its the Southern most point of Africa. LOOK LOOK!!! Thats where the oceans meet! LOOK!

Babboons run amuck.

Hiking Table Mt.

So there were massive forest fires on Table Mt about two months ago. As you can see, some things managed to survive but it looked pretty stark.

This is Jenifer about halfway up. I want you all to appriciate how high up that is. And steep. Thank you very much.

When we finally made it to the top it was more than worth it.

Mom always used to lecture me about having proper hiking attire. Which obviously I didnt.

This is the veiw looking down at cape town from the top of Table Mt. You can see lions head peak and then beyond it, Robbin Island.

We only brought the nessesitys. Like water. And stuffed animals.

We are observed by a rock Dassie. Rock dassies jump incredibly fast as this one did heading right for me, just after this picture was taken. They are actually more closely related to elephants than rodents. And did I say they jump? At you?

Brandy befriends a Dassie. I am hiding behind Jennifer to take this picture. I dont know why they were so creepy. Really they are just hoppy guinnie pigs.

Chinatown.

Today I went with my Japanese friend Ayaka and Jennifer to Chinatown to go shopping and for lunch. Chinatown is essentially two blocks but it has everything my heart desires. Namely cheap rice noodles and Chinese food. YUM.
It was a nice lovely afternoon but there were two very strange and uniquely South African things we observed.
The first was that the shop owners had pooled their money together to hire a security firm to watch over the street. There were two armed guards, one in a watch tower, one wandering around, in bright orange shirts that read “Bad Boyz security” (I kid you not.) Not only that, but they had one machine gun that they passed between them. Since guns are illegal in Japan Ayaka was rather shocked.
The second was the arrival of Immigration while we were having lunch. At first I thought, ‘oh, random sweep,’ but then the restaurant owner told us that they come by once a week to get money from the shops. Jennifer and I were shocked but Ayaka shrugged her shoulders. She told us about how she had been pulled over once when driving and even though she is an exchange student and all her papers are in order, she had to pay off the police officer before he would let her go. Of course, the Immigration officers just ignored me and Jennifer.

Ramblings on the nature of humanity! FUN!

Had a vaguely epic argument with someone I just met yesterday. (hurray oxymorons). Essentially I argued about South African history and policy with a… wait for it… south African. Which is a first. And I'm kinda proud of myself for holding my own. But the guy was also kinda psycho and while not the brightest crayon in the box he was armed with statistics about places I had never heard of. AND he didn’t argue fair, he kept changing the subject every five minutes. And did I say he was kinda psycho?
It was when he said that Saudi Arabia has a low crime rate because they chop off peoples hands that I realized this. Though I should perhaps have picked up on it when he said that if someone commits a crime they should forfeit their humanity. Seriously. “if someone commits a crime, they are no longer human and should be denied all human rights.”
It took me another half hour at least of arguing our way through the UN, Iraq, US foreign policy before we finally came back to crime which is what we were really talking about in the first place. How do you solve South Africa’s crime problem?
And again this guy said “we should have a strict death penalty.” *
Finally he revealed that the reason he felt this way was because he had been violently mugged at gun point.
Oh.
I am often frustrated by the racism of white south Africans which they claim isn’t racism at all, which is the most frustrating part. “people in the townships are lazy” for example. So many people tout the story of how someone they know knew someone who offered a beggar a job and he said ‘no, I’m doing perfectly well on the streets. I drive a car, etc.’ It’s a sort of urban legend with out the gore.
But the catch is: there ARE people like that. And so many white South Africans have been robbed that their fear and frustration is at least understandable.
And I don’t know the answer. Sometimes I wonder if I am just innocent and naive and that we should cut off the hands of people who steal.
Its so easy to be horrified by the story of a man who shot a 16 year old hoodlum on the New York Subway in the 80s when I live in the New York of the 00’s. When that crime happened the man was held up as a hero, but looking back now people are disgusted. And I guess the true test of your humanity is not how you behave in a peaceful stable society, but how you would behave in Nazi Germany. Or apartheid South Africa.
What is humanity anyway?
And once again I end by saying I know nothing. Which becomes more apparent every day.
Also: I would love it if people commented. I have no idea who is reading this and it feels very much like I am writing into a void. Just a “hey, its ___.” Would be cool. Though I would also love peoples thoughts and reactions too. Do I sound like a pompous asshole? Do my thoughts have ANY relevancy/legitimacy? Do you think I am completely off the wall? Its totally easy. Just click the little thing that says 0 comments.

*note: I don’t support the death penalty in America more on logistic grounds than anything else. Due to the complicated appeals process a death row inmate receives it actually is more expensive to execute someone than to jail them for life. (seriously.) Also, too many people have been exonerated for my comfort. If we haven’t killed an innocent person yet, it feels like we will soon. And I also don’t understand why state sanctioned murder is okay, if other murder is not okay, though I do understand how victims families would want this. I do NOT believe people who support the death penalty are morally bankrupt. I think that there are reasonable people on both sides. But I do not think killing ever Tsotsi they get their hands on will solve anything for South Africa at all.

On walking, and other things.

(note: this is mostly for my parents, but enough other people got worried too, that I thought I would post this)
I realize that I have said some things here that have been misinterpreted. I guess that is the very nature of working without an editor. Perhaps even scarier that working without that infamous net.
First. I am not stupid. And I have a perfectly reactive gut that tells me when things are iffy. Now due to the social engineering of our country that gut is frankly more reactive to black people than white. I'm a racist. So is everyone. And as evidenced by Crash’s win at the academy awards, other people are beginning to grasp this.
But that is totally a digression. What I am trying to say is that I don’t do anything stupid. I realize that I made it sound that way, more out of poetic license than anything else. Yes I am often the only white person on the street. But not-white does not mean dangerous. Yes this country has problems. But so does New York. So does Missoula, MT. And the longer I am here the more I realize that these problems have been blown completely out of proportion by western media.
And unlike the US which has been in the same state in regards to poverty and race problems for the past 20-30 years, South Africa is getting better. At a shocking rate.
But the media doesn’t pay attention to Africa. God, I realize that has been said so many times but its so SO true.
For example.
CNN.com doesn’t even have an Africa section like Europe and Asia get (yes they also do this to the Americas, and the Middle East but that doesn’t make it okay). When you finally get to the Africa subsection the headlines are thus:
U.N. troops kill Congo rebels
U.N.: Million more Kenyans need food
Zuma raped me, woman tells court
Militants threaten new attacks on oil industry
Okay, yes, these are important major issues, but two out of four are headlines based on something a NEW YORK based organization said. Africa is so much more vibrant than AIDS and starvation and war.
Compare to the headlines taken from the South African Broad Casting website’s Africa section.
Kenya must stop media terrorism: editors
DRC commandos withdrawn after mutiny
Six Nigerian hostages freed
Nigeria suspects illegal imports brought bird flu
Libya names new prime minister, head of oil sector
Yes, they are still depressing. Yes it’s a troubled continent. But there is so much more than what CNN has to say.
And yes I am saying this from the richest country at the very bottom of Africa. And probably 75% of what I say about this country is wrong. Because the longer I am here the more I realize that I know nothing.
But what I have been trying to say this whole time is that the only way I could be 100% safe is if I never left wits campus. No that’s a lie, the only way I could be 100% safe is if I never left my basement room in Missoula, but there I would probably die of carbon monoxide poisoning.
I refuse to accept that.
There are white South Africans here that never go into Newtown which is where we go to perform poetry (I don’t perform but that’s another story about me being a wimp). Newtown has the best theater in Jo’burg. Its an awesome neighborhood, comparable to the east village in Manhattan. I walked there today with Jennifer and we had a grand (and safe) time at a lovely little cafe. But there are people who don’t go. They have never gone into Soweto. 90% of their country remains a mystery to them and I don’t understand why they think that’s okay.
I guess the best way to say it is: walking down a street here is as dangerous as walking down a street in New York. Yes, there are risks, but there are always risks. But if you keep your head about you, you will be okay. And every time you walk, you get better at looking for the risks, and knowing what to be wary of.
I'm sorry for the people I made nervous. But please don’t worry. I have a good head on my shoulders. And I love you all too much to be stupid.

Amandla! Tsotsi!

Remember when I told y’all to see Tsotsi because its really beautiful and cool and takes place in Jo’burg?
Well now you REALLY need to see it.
Last night South Africa won its first academy award. Technically for me it was this morning. In fact some people even saw the academy awards as they were getting ready for school.
But anyway. What’s really cool about it is how happy and excited everyone is. Everyone is just as proud as if they knew the people involved. I even heard someone say “we did it man!”
Which is strange because in some times it feels like South Africans have no national pride. It is shockingly difficult to find books written by J.M. Cotzee who won a noble prize.
But people are happy. It made the front page of the newspaper.
Also Dave Matthews = is South African but denies it = not beloved south African
Charlize Theron = Girl from Benoni = beloved South African, especially since she gave a shout out when she won the award.
Gavin Hood = director of Tsotsi = says things like “Nkosi sikelel 'iAfrika!" = most beloved South African yet.

Random stuff

Its been a lovely few weeks. I’ve fallen into a routine which is nice. I plan to ignore the fact that I have been here for five weeks as of today and that time is going waaaay to fast. I’m enjoying things.
A few things of note:
1) I saw a dance gala thing last night in which four short pieces were done. The first was a very funny but a bit too ironic piece about Zimbabwe that had a live chicken onstage. The second was possibly the most gorgeous man I have ever seen in my life pretending to be a bird (and really capturing it) and the fourth was two men doing physically impossible lifts and throws.
But the third one was my favorite.
When the piece first starts this Indian woman dances onstage dancing a traditional Indian temple dance. But then she suddenly joined by a tall African man dancing a Zulu dance. Then another Indian woman and another African man join until the stage is full of African Men and Indian Women. The choreographer blended and mixed the two traditions until you couldn’t tell them apart. It’s almost impossible to describe. But it was breath taking.
2) went with a friend to vote. He voted. I just hung around and marveled at how voting in the new south Africa is just as boring as voting in the old usa. BUT because this country takes voting seriously, it was a public holiday so I had the day off school. These weren’t even national elections either, just municipal. ANC won 90% of the vote in Jo’burg.
Also they mark peoples fingers with permanent ink. And the ballots have pictures.
3) Fall break is a week away. I still don’t know where I am going. 5 months is not enough time, I am quickly discovering.