Crime Hits Arnold Street... at my bedroom!

It was only a matter of time, really. I hadn't suspected, though, that of all 8 bedrooms and areas of our house, my bedroom would be the one that somebody tries to rob. My luck, I suppose.

So here's the story. I was sitting in my bedroom tonight, with the lights off, quietly watching a movie on my laptop. It was Poseidon (don't ask, I get bored, alright?). It was nearing the climax where the big wave is about to hit the ship when I heard the front gate open/clammer a bit, which is normal, since I live in the front bedroom. About 30 seconds later, though, I realized that I hadn't heard the gate on the front door, or the door itself. This piqued my interest a bit, so I turned down the movie. It should also be mentioned that I had one of my windows that faces the front yard open (Africa is hot), and I've started to keep blankets over them to keep the sun out (and bright). I then heard the grass rustle, and as I got up to investigate, heard my window move a bit. I quietly walked across the creaky hardwood floor to the locked side of the window, and pulled the curtains back. At first I didn't see anything, but upon looking further, saw a man about 3 feet from me, on the other side of the window I was peering through, crouching down with his hand inside my window.

I quickly yelled "Hey!" He calmly removed his hand, stood up, and began walking away. I moved to the open window he was at and yelled "Get the fuck outta here! And don't come back, we've got an alarm."

As he walked out, he kindly closed the gate behind him, and I still don't know how it got opened. I took a look at what he was wearing, and called the police. Remember, it's not 911, but 10111 here. I'm glad I remembered. To my contentment, the dispatcher struggled with my accent, but we worked through it. I gave them a description, and went to Kara to tell her. She's had her bedroom window closed every night for the last month, for fear of burglars. Ironically, about an hour earlier Mick and I convinced her that she had little to worry about, so she opened it for the first time. I told her about the incident, and upset, she closed it.

After a few minutes and no police, I figured I'd test my panic remote since the security company should probably be notified as well. It works! It took the police about 8 minutes to arrive, and our armed security response company about 4-5. The officer gave me the cell phone of the patrol vehicle in Observatory, since a direct call to them when there is a crime is much more effective (odd). Both parties said they'd look for the black male with a red knit cap and a green soccer shirt/jersey. Blog readers, please also be on the lookout. He wouldn't have gotten anything, though, since I don't keep anything near my window except a constantly locked closet. And we have bars to keep him out.

Then I finished watching Poseidon, which was a crime in itself. Just an excruciating and terrible movie. I'm more upset with Kurt Russell than the burglar tonight.

On a slightly unrelated topic, but related to the police, the following sign was posted on our fridge by the rental company:

I don't know much about the South African constitution, but that wouldn't fly in the US. I asked our landlord for more information, and apparently this happened in the next neighborhood down (Woodstock) last week.

The police come at like 3am and cordon off an entire city block, then proceed to search everyone's houses. And yes, they do have a warrant, apparently, to search the houses. I asked "for what?" The response: just to search. No mention of why.

They are looking for thieves and drug dealers, I hear, but that doesn't make me trust them any more. Or anybody else on Arnold Street for that matter. But hey, it was not a very big incident.

I'm getting SCUBA Certified!

Over the last week and a half or so, I've been working toward getting my Open Water SCUBA certification, so I can dive here in Cape Town, and maybe some other places as I figure out travel plans throughout the semester.

I first read a 250 page book to prepare for my written test. I guess I didn't realize how much is involved with diving. Like, I knew that there were pressure differences, and issues that could arise with air expansion in your lungs, something called the bends, and lots of equipment strapped to you. Well I'm proud to say that I know all that stuff now.

I took my test, passed, which put me today in line for my confined water dives (in a pool). I wish we could have done them in my backyard (which is where they used to happen, not anymore) so we drove somewhere.

Gearing up.

It is a very cool feeling to be underwater for an extended period of time while breathing without surfacing. I mean... it is an odd concept, that people somehow managed to invent enough safe equipment to put you underwater... rip roarin' to go at the bottom. (which is me below)

I'm happier than I look.
It is difficult to show emotion underwater with a regulator in your mouth.

We did tests from like 11am to 4pm, so we got a lot of pool time. You do tests like how to replace and clear your mask if comes off underwater, you're still able to breathe from the regulator (mouthpiece) for a minute, then replace the mask. Or if you lose your regulator and it becomes filled with water, you need to recover it from behind you and clear it of water. We also worked on out-of-air situations, breathing from the alternate regulator on a buddy's gear, removing and replacing a weight belt underwater (they're heavy), removing and replacing your tank and gear underwater, a controlled emergency swimming ascent in case of emergency, and also how to control your buoyancy with the inflatable vest that you're wearing. That was just some of it, but it was a ton of fun! I've heard of people saying that it was very weird at first, like you don't want to trust the air, but I didn't really have that happen. After all the reading I did, it felt very normal.

The pool we used.

Now that I finished all of those confined water tests, I will do four open water dives in the ocean over the next two weekends, and then I'll be officially certified. Other perks include that the certification lasts a lifetime, it's international, and I'll be cleared to go down to 60 ft. underwater, so I'm stoked. I also joined the Underwater Club at UCT, and they've got a full gear setup for cheap rentals, and they also organize local dives on most weekends. I hope to get involved there and stay busy.

My Obzside dive instructors.
From left: Sean (also my landlord), Richard, and John.

Thanks, all, for continuing to read my blog. I'm now a month into my stay, and I'm still loving this place. It was around 100 degrees today, so being in the pool all day was very refreshing. I'm trying to keep up with the blogging, hoping to share my experiences and stay in touch with you all. Miss you!

Note: No comment about how out of control my mustache is in the first photo. No comment.

6 x 7s - A Unique UCT Tradition

Last week, I was lucky enough to witness an old, annual UCT tradition. The six by sevens. Now, I suppose I'll just start from the beginning.

I was in a small group discussing something in my Traditional Religion course, when a girl asked "What are you doing today around 4-5pm?" I asked why. She explained that the six by sevens would be happening today. Here is the premise as it was described to me:

Lots of students get together on the cricket field, say 150 or so. They each bring a six pack of beer, and will start doing laps around the field. After each lap, you take a break and drink a can of beer. Thus... after seven laps, you've had six beers. I don't think many people actually get to the seventh lap. The other part of the event is that most people have also drank some color of food dye, and many are also dressed pretty random.

The result: around the fourth lap people start puking funny colors. And the point of the game is to puke on other people. So you end up getting very drunk people chasing one another puking everywhere. My mouth stood open when she finished telling me what would happen. "I have to see this," I thought. So I went home and got my camera.

When we arrived, I started seeing all the costumes, which were matching for some of the 'teams'. And what ensued was not very much more complicated than what was described to me, with a few exceptions. It was surprisingly well run, and college debauchery at its finest. Something that would certainly not be allowed on UW's campus.

Campus security was there, but only to make sure things went well. They said last year it was not allowed, and consisted of people running around the field, drinking, being chased and tackled by security (perhaps more fun). Also, remember that the word here is "chunder", spoken chun-dah. . As in: Bru! You just chundered all over my back! (which happened a lot). There were even cases of people spinning one another, or ganging up as a group and chundering on one person.

Lots of observers.

It must be a white student's tradition, because everyone was white (and blue, I guess). I'm still trying to figure out the race relations at the university, and in general I suppose, so it is one of the first things I notice. There was also a troop of 12 guys in diapers, although from speaking to some people I found out that they are called the dummies, and are some elite group that you have to be invited into. They had a full marching routine with chants and everything, it was impressive.

The dummies.

If you'd like to see the full scene, click on the title image up top. Otherwise, I feel like the rest of the story would be best told through photos:

On Music

One of the chief reasons I came to Africa is probably the music. Since the beginning of high school I have collected so much African music, mostly traditional and reggae, gospel inspired in some ways... but just remarkable songs. I love that music -- the feeling involved, the rhythm, the narratives, but warned myself about thinking about Africa in unreal terms. Romantic terms, maybe?

Who are the people that make this music? How do you really picture, or even relate to, or place yourself within a culture you don't know? That's what I was having a hard time with. I love this music, but I need to know the people.

And ironically, I find myself turning to it to feel connected to home. In the middle of the night, when the nostalgic heartstrings of familiarity are pulling, I can turn to music that feels like home. It is familiar, but feels here, too. It's neat.

And occasionally over the last week I've found myself thinking "I can't believe this is happening, that I'm here." I went to an Asian restaurant for dinner two nights ago, and since it was Sunday, not many people were there. There was a live band playing though, essentially just for us and another table. I closed my eyes and heard this beautiful song, in French, from the Congo. It sounded like one I have, Notre Devoir, an Africa reggae song. Just this incredible accent, voice, and music behind it. And I opened my eyes and there they were, singing for us.

Is this happening?

On Saturday night, I went to a music bar on Long Street. They had a Brazilian drumming band, two djembes and a singer, complete with psychedelic lights and a screaming, jumping crowd that moved the floor of the building several inches up and down (which for a moment instilled grave concerns of structural instability. but for just a moment). They began a sing along of the South African national anthem to drumming, Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, or God Bless Africa in Xhosa. I thought:

"I'm in Africa!"

University of Cape Town (UCT)

If you thought walking up Bascom Hill at UW was bad, try moving around the University of Cape Town. My campus was built into the side of a mountain! Not just any mountain, either, it is nestled on the side of Devil's Peak (which you could see in my Table Mountain panorama).

I just wanted to talk a bit about where I'm going to school, because as I've been going to class this past first week... I keep being surprised when I look over a building and see mountain peaks. Just walking along... switching classes, and to the left of me is a skyline. Not to mention that to the right of me is the whole city. That's right, since we're so high up, looking out some of the classrooms is in fact like stopping at a lookout point. I've still not gotten used to it, and hopefully I don't.

It was established about twenty years before UW, in 1829. The main campus is arranged into three different levels, easily named Lower Campus, Middle Campus, and Upper Campus. They run buses all day to the residence halls and around campus, similar to the Route 80 at UW, but with a few key differences. First, they are blue and called the Jammie Bus (much cooler name and color). Second, you board on the left side of the bus (remember, opposite side of the road? Don't worry, I keep forgetting, too... like when I slammed my taxi driver's door after getting out because I thought the passenger side was left open). Third, there are TONS of them! At any given time, UW is running three or four 80's, I think, and one or two 85's. There are 26 Jammie Shuttles, and they all seem to be running throughout the day. It isn't uncommon to see 6 stopped at one area at any given time. Although, I suppose when you need to transport students up and down a mountain for class... you need a lot of transport power. Lastly, the drivers are crazy. They don't really talk to the students, and can be spotted weaving through traffic down the main road at around 45-50mph sometimes. Kara described it as a terrible rollercoaster the other day (DOWNhill).



Upper Campus is marked with the prestigious Jameson Hall, pictured above. It is similar to Bascom. Upper is also where most of the instruction happens, and also where all my classes are. In terms of academic standing, UCT is widely accepted as the best university in South Africa, as well as on the continent. I've been very impressed with my courses so far, which I'll get to soon.

Perhaps one of the best views on campus is simply in front on Jameson Hall, on top of the stairs leading to it. Here is a panorama looking in 360º around a stationary point. The best way to view it is to enlarge it to fill the screen vertically, and scroll horizontally. You'll get a sense of what it feels to be standing there.

The view from Upper Campus

Here are the courses I'm taking:

AGI2000F - Understanding Gender (4 credits)
Offered through the African Gender Institute, the aims of this course include increasing student's awareness of the relevance of gender issues to their lives and developing a critical understanding of the multiple and contested meanings of gender in contemporary African and international contexts. It introduces key concepts such as sex, sexuality, gender, identity and culture and explores interconnections between gendered dynamics, 'race', class, generation and location. Topics offered may also include case studies on representations of gender in popular culture, gender based violence, HIV/AIDS and political issues in the South African context.

REL2044F - African Traditional Religion (4 credits)
This course explores the religious heritage and history of Africa through specific case studies in African tradition religion. Special attention is given to continuities and changes in the indigenous religions of Africa through studies of religious beliefs, ritual practices, ways of knowing, techniques of healing, and the social formations of the household, polity, and religious specialists.

CAS4005F - Race, Culture and Identity in Africa (6 credits)
A seminar offered by the Centre for African Studies, this course sets out to do two things. The first is to survey developments in post-apartheid society, with a particular emphasis on issues of culture and identity. The second is to provide some conceptual tools to make sense of these developments. It focuses on several case studies, including the making of contemporary space, anti-apartheid cinema, the politics of heritage and identity, and institutional self-fashioning and the reinvention of UCT.

All the Semester Study Abroad students on the first day of orientation.

In general, 40-50% of your final grade at UCT is dependent on a final exam, which is a lot more than in the US. The week before classes was also a bit hectic, since registration requires that you physically go to the course department, and get the department head to sign a form saying you are allowed in the course and have completed prerequisites. Once you have all pre-approvals (which can take a while with lines and walking, and also when people aren't there to sign, as I found out), you come back a different day for registration, which for me meant about 3 hours in lines before talking to someone that signs off on your course load and schedule. Then you get in another line to have them capture the information into their database. Since you are then registered, you are free to get your student ID... which took another hour. Then having the ID allowed me to activate my email address. So yes, some of the systems and procedures seem a bit outdated and inconvenient, but it was only a day or two of headaches, and I just reminded myself that this isn't home, more students have limited access to computers, and at least it is warm out.

Warm enough, actually, that each person has their own air conditioning vent in the Kramer Law lecture hall. I didn't notice until I was freezing, and couldn't figure out where the cold was coming from.

Chilling.

As I mentioned, South Africa loves to braai. The day before classes first met, we had a welcome braai for all first year and international students, right on the rugby fields. It was apparently sponsored by Coca-Cola, because the branding was everywhere. Look to the right in the following picture, and you'll see the city.

Setting up.

The food was actually pretty questionable, so we didn't stay long... but it was one of the first chances I had to see a lot of the student body together. I'd been trapped in orientations for several days, and was just struck by how diverse the campus feels. This is in contrast to UW, where the campus feels, unfortunately, white. I don't want to ramble on about how refreshing this change is, but certainly is interesting and refreshing to see so many different types of people walking around and talking on campus, dressed differently in some cases and speaking different languages. In fact, 20% of all students are from countries other than South Africa (with 38 African countries represented, and 104 countries worldwide).

At any rate, I love this campus. I may not be feeling the pride of being a Badger, or whatever the mascot is here (Tiger--apparently?), but the campus is beautiful, I'm really enjoying my classes, and I'm getting a workout from all the walking.

Anybody want to go to a party at Smuts Residence Hall? :-)

Top Ten Things I'm Struggling With

I've written lots of posts now about the amazing things that I've encountered and done over the last few weeks now, but everyone deserves a chance to rant a bit, as well. So here is my countdown of the top ten things that I've been struggling with recently. My shit list, so to speak...

10) Going up and down stairs after Table Mountain.

It has now been several days since my Table Mountain hike, but I'm still super sore. There are a lot of stairs on campus, and I've been doing a lot of walking back and forth from bus stations, and around the city. Either way, it's killing me, but will be over soon.

9) I go up and down stairs on the wrong side still.

No joke, I didn't realize how engrained road directions are in my head. When I get to a staircase (on campus, for example), I find myself walking up the right side, until a huge group starts walking down the same side. I'm doing it wrong! And I keep doing it wrong! Then I slowly try to get to the other side (see number 10).

8) Servers at Obz Café.

This is a smaller restaurant right in my neighborhood, and I'm so tired of the service there. I would stop going, but they have half price pizzas on Wednesdays. They bring you one water at the beginning of the meal, and never refill water until asked, and it can take 10 minutes for it to arrive. That's Africa time for you. We've also had many other bad experiences there, I don't want to get into it.

7) Howling dogs.

There are two dogs across the street from my bedroom window, and several others nearby. They regularly have wars in the morning, other times they sing to each other. Give me a tranquilizer gun, and I'll get back to sleep. Hell, a regular gun would also do fine.

6) Stuff molds so quickly in this country.

A loaf a bread molds within a few days, fruit within a few days, and a bag of potatoes that I bought was covered in mold in a week. And I've never had bananas mold... ever. They just get old. But three days after buying bananas the top of the bunch was moldy. I suppose the food is fresher and has less preservatives, but that doesn't do me very good after a few days.

5) I'm still without my debit card, and it probably won't come anytime soon.

After being pick-pocketed last week, I obviously have no debit card. Luckily, I took some money out the day before, and have been surviving on that since, but I'm now running low. They sent me a replacement, but it will likely take quite a while to arrive. I'm probably going to need to get a cash advance on my credit card soon.

4) Things are cheap and it makes me spend money much faster.

Yes, the exchange rate is very favorable. I mentioned how cheap it is to get food on campus, etc. I just bought two 40 oz. of beer for $2.00, and nice wine is only $3-$6 for a bottle. Groceries are also very cheap, and it makes it so easy to go out to dinner instead of cook at home. Or to pick up extra things at the store, or stop for ice cream and stuff like that. As a result, I'm probably burning through money faster than I would. See number five for why that is a problem.

3) Cockroaches.

They fumigated last week, they are back. I killed three last night, two were very small and had just hatched or something. They aren't nearly as bad, but they have returned.

2) There are no drinking fountains anywhere in this city.

I don't get it! If you know me well, you know how much water I drink in a day. At a restaurant, I usually go through four glasses of water (see gripe #8). I have only seen one drinking fountain in public since I arrived, and it was on the Table Mountain trail! They are nowhere on campus, how do people drink here?! I keep forgetting my water bottle, so I keep having to buy beverages on campus when I eat, which I normally don't do (see number 4).

And number one...

1) Everyone Smokes Everywhere.

This is driving me crazy, and I'll explain. I've never smoked, but cigarette smoke has become so rare on campus at UW that if I catch a whiff... I don't mind, and I almost like it for some reason. It's just something different. And no, not everyone smokes, but so many people do. Outside most buildings there are lots of students smoking, and every restaurant I go to the smoke is nearly inescapable. My religion class is two hours long (I'll talk more about my classes soon), and it typically has a 10 minute break halfway through. We were given the option of skipping the break to leave early yesterday, and after almost everyone opted to keep going and leave early, the professor asked how many smokers we had. There were two, so we took a 5 minutes break so people could smoke. Seriously!? I'm going to have the black lung by April.

Okay, I'm done complaining. I just had to vent a little. Below you will find one of the many things you, too, can waste your money on. It was only like $3.00 -- the fruit drink that is.  The water is what I 'bought' after asking the waitress for a water.  I suppose I should have said "bring me a free tap water that is in a cup and doesn't cost money."

I will have many exciting things to talk about in upcoming posts.

Table Mountain!

The city of Cape Town is unique for a couple of reasons. It is the oldest "city" in South Africa and maybe the continent, which has lended it the name "the Mother City". So, it has a very rich historical history of trading, colonization, and immigration. But geographically, the huge metropolis sits at the bottom of the continent, impressively nestled between a large plateau and two oceans. That plateau, of course, is Table Mountain, and it rises 3,500 feet above sea level. Well, I hiked it yesterday!

We started around 2:30pm. We took a cab to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. I got some nice photos of flowers, mostly for Lyndsey. Ling Ling... I got some proteas for you, as well as dead birds of paradise :-). We decided to take the route named Skeleton Gorge, which sounded ominous, challenging, and no doubt breathtaking at the same time.

The scenery on the way up felt a lot like the hikes that I did in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Well kept, challenging, and long, but with less snow. Until we got to the ladders, that was new. They were actually very sturdy, and very fun. The hikers were three of my roommates (Maria, Justin, and Kara), and Stefen from Germany. As we got higher, we began seeing glimpses of the city through the trees. Once we got past most of the trees, we found a very nice view of the area.

The above photo of me was taken about 2.5 hours into the hike. And by the way, all photos that have me in them should be credited to Kara. It is difficult to get photos of me when I'm taking so many throughout the day. Onward! We were headed toward Maclear's Beacon, the highest point of the whole mountain. Once beyond the tree line, we wound around the side of the mountain, still climbing. This all felt very much like the first Lord of the Rings. I started humming "Fellowship of the Ring", but Kara didn't understand. She thought it was Auld Lang Syne... whatever. We reached the top in just under 3 hours (5:30pm). The view was breathtaking (pictured at the top of the post as the panorama. Click it for an enlarged version).

While it was pretty hot and sunny on the bottom, it was about 50 degrees and windy as hell up top. I would estimate the wind at 45-60mph, which is rough, because I have no idea. But it was easy to lose your balance from the wind and also very easy to be knocked off your feet. I rather enjoyed this next photo. Maria was attempting to light her cigarette (nearly impossible, I imagine), while Kara can be seen in the background clinging to a stone structure for dear life.  

Now, this is where I have to admit I lapsed on what to bring, while insisting that I know better. I only brought a t-shirt. And I've hiked at a lot of places. At Rocky Mountain NP, for example, the temperate can be 85 at the bottom, but 40 degrees up top, with expanses of snow and little wind cover. I've done that, and brought pants, a hat, and a sweatshirt. Well, it slipped my mind, and over the next two hours or so, I got a little chilly. Not so bad, though, because of the sun. It was at this point that we planned to cross the mountain, to reach the upper station for the cable car. This would offer a 5 minute ride down, and hopefully some new pictures. This took about 40 minutes, and was also very cool. For the height and the climate up top, it is so cool to see all the vegetation and some of the wild flowers. Here is a panorama of the top, headed toward the other side.

As we reached the other side, the sun was getting lower in the sky and offered some more views. I was getting excited to see a sunset over the city, but wasn't sure if we'd be around long enough because of the wind and temperature. One of the coolest things of being on a mountain at the bottom of a continent is that in almost every direction that you look... there's tons of water. A bay, the ocean, it's just so cool.

We finally reached the other side, which offered the best view of the city. We were able to get right up to the edge, overlooking everything. The skyline, downtown, suburbs, Table Bay, Robben Island, Lion's Head Mountain, Devil's Peak, the ship yard, the touristy waterfront. It was breathtaking.

Here is a panorama. From left to right you can see: the cables to the bottom, Lion's Head Mountain (which I like to think of as Pride Rock from the Lion King), Signal Hill, Cape Town and Table Bay, and Devil's Head on the right. It is from my 9 o'clock to my 3 o'clock perspective. Click for the close-up.

Getting cold, it was at this time that we began walking to the cable station, a few minutes away to head down to the bottom. We arrived, and quickly noticed a lack of people. It was CLOSED. Not running on Sunday's maybe? I still don't really know. So we're on top of a mountain, near sunset, and we've only seen at most 5 people since we reached the top (which was a while ago)... and the plan to get down wasn't happening. Awesome.

So what do you do? You find a trail, and go down... now. We began down Plattekip Gorge, a direct, stone stairway descent to the bottom. With limited sunlight, and exactly 2,509 feet down to go (tired at this point remember, hiking all day and it's 6:50pm)... we hustled. The problem with descending a mountain like that is with the knees. Putting constant resistance of your knees and ankles to go downhill starts to make everything shake after about 45 minutes. After about an hour of descent, the sun began setting. While beautiful, we methodically continued going down at different paces. Looking backward:

And looking forward, both a single photo and a panorama.

It was shortly thereafter that it got dark, and we all pulled out our cellphones for the little light accessory. My little Nokia 1200 may suck in a lot of ways, but my iPhone at home certainly doesn't have a flashlight as effective as this one. We finished the last half hour or so in the dark, and then began walking along a pitch black road toward the lower cable station. I called a cab from my phone to meet us. The view from the trail toward the end...

If you have never descended a large mountain in the dark, you should try it.... whether by choice or not. It felt very wrong to be walking along the foot of table mountain with merely flashlights and expensive cameras in Cape Town after dark. But we managed, and our cabbie drove us home at literally 60mph through the city streets. I would have objected, but I was far too exhausted and hungry. We got home around 9:30pm, and our planned 2-3 hour hike had come to a close. I've been taking it easy today, since I'm very sore. Below is a collection of photos with captions and better resolution, if you so desire. I managed to whittle my photos from an original 350, to my current 150. Below are just the highlights.