Big Trees

These are huge trees on the main road that I know Steven will really like. 

Obama = Mandela?

This sort of graffiti is all over Cape Town, especially the more bohemian parts of town. Much like Chicago, portraits of Obama can be found under bridges, on public transit, and stone walls. I don't particularly agree with this one. While both great men have been introduced with the task of leading a divided country, the difference between them is their constitutions. Under the U.S. constitution, Barack Obama was allowed to become president of the country. Under the Apartheid constitution, Nelson Mandela wasn't even allowed to vote for the president of the country. Mandela underwent nearly a lifetime of political struggle including 27 years as a political prisoner to write a new South African constitution; now that's change we can believe in. 

one day at a time

I had my first course on Wednesday, "Public Culture in Africa". The good news is that I understood everything that was discussed during the class. The other good news is that there were a total of 8 people in the class, all of whom were female-including the course instructor. Come to find out, there aren't a lot of men in the Humanities, period. I find this to be odd because when I attended the African Studies conference in Chicago this fall, there were primarily older men in attendance, which leaves me to wonder if this is a generational issue. Either way, it won't matter who's in the class when I'm writing 2 giant research projects and the start of my dissertation this semester. 

My days of late have consisted of 8AM wake up calls from the neighbor's car alarm-or just very recently, birds have started to climb in through my window, perch on the interior sill, and sing. It's awful, and it scares me to death. I manage to get them out by "shooing". I spend the rest of the day going to different parts of town to check them out. I'm usually on a mission to buy school supplies or "wall art". I make sure to get back home by 5 or 6PM, this is when my flat-mates tend to get home from school. We all take turns making dinner for each other. They're teaching me how to cook with eggplant, the "me cooking" part is a small miracle in itself. This is the best part of the day. We eat dinner in the "lounge" and then end up talking until around 11PM when they go to bed. Although, there's been a couple of nights when we've had visitors, people our age that the girls know. I've met some good people and look forward to seeing more of them in the coming months. Nava's mother is still staying with us and I've taken marvelously to her Persian dishes. She's a wonderful cook. 

Mostly, I'm looking forward to getting some real work done. I feel like the vacation faze has passed, and for me to really believe that this is my new life, I've got to have some sort of purpose here. My only other course of the semester is tomorrow. It's called "Problematizing the study of Africa: Interrogating the Disciplines". I'm anticipating this to be the more difficult of the two courses, just from the sound of it. 

Muizenburg Beach

I get kind of eerked every time I hear a town name or road name, etc. that is reminiscent of the days when the Boers were conquering everything. For instance, "Muizenburg" isn't exactly an African name. 
The shore runs right up to the train tracks, I'm not sure how that works during high-tide periods.

these are pictures from Muizenburg Beach. It's about a 30 minute train ride from where I'm staying. The train costs R5,50 (approx. 60 cents). I've spent a lot of time alone, so I don't have anyone to take pictures of me at the beach (not as pathetic as it sounds). 

the new flat

This is the view of Devil's Peak from my bedroom window. 

this is my apartment complex on Nursery Rd. I'm up on the 3rd floor.

Dear internet, it's been too long.

hi all,
I've been working hard to gain consistent access to the internet, but it doesn't come easy when you don't have the hook-up at your new "flat" and you're reluctant to carry your new macbook around town to the internet cafe. So, I'm exploring some other options and hope to have more pics and priceless stories up soon.

The need-to-knows: my luggage finally appeared after I had been wearing the same gray T for 5 days. I must say though, I did break down and buy a pair of sandals, it was seriously hot here for a few days.

also, I got an apartment! It's pretty awesome. It sits just off the main road and within walking distance to UCT. I have corner windows that over-look Devil's peak and get lot's of sunlight. For a girl from the midwest, any kind of elevation is mesmerizing, so I spend a lot of time watching the clouds roll over the top of the mountain, it's pretty amazing. I have two roommates, one is a South African girl studying her 5th year of law, and the other is a Persian girl from Swaziland studying her masters in architecture. I've only met the South African girl, Tabitha, and she is really smart and fun. The MIA girl, Nava, is returning from a year of interning in India tomorrow, from what Tabitha tells me, she's pretty cool as well.
Here's food for thought, I got the apt. by responding to an ad that read "wanted: female vegetarian". take that meat eaters!

I apologize for any incoherancy that may occur during this post. The man next to me at the internet cafe is talking to himself and it's very distracting. From what I can tell, there have been unfavorable pictures of him posted on his facebook.com and he's verbally lashing the dubious tagger. For those of you who don't know facebook.com language, I'm going to leave you in the dark, you're better off. Trust me.

anywho, I'm going to spend the day at the beach tomorrow! jealous? (don't be, school starts next week and from what I can tell, it's going to be the most difficult thing I've ever done. help me!)

love you all!
AL

Trill

Does the rap duo "Clipse" know about this street? I would love to find an apartment on "Trill in Obz" (short for observatory-you're so not a local unless you add the "z").

little fish in a big pond

This is the University of Cape Town. It sits along the side of Devil's Peak and often times it feels like hiking when merely moving from building to building. There are 21,500 students enrolled at this school. Out of them, there are 2,000 graduate students such as myself. 50% percent of the student body are black South Africans, the other 50% make up the international students and white South Africans. One of the best things about the school is its Chancellor, Graca Machel. Graca is currently married to Nelson Mandela, but she is the widow of Samora Machel, the first president of Mozambique. In addition to being an awesome lady, she is Prexy Nesbitt's (my mentor) close friend-which is how I got into UCT-just kidding. 

my Jerry Seinfeld moment

My luggage has been lost now for two days. It isn't so bad. Except that I can't upload all the brilliant pictures that I'd like to share on my blogspot.com. However, I do have a thought that I'd like to share, some of you might find this a point of interest. 

What is it with foreign countries and weird wash jeans? I'm talking about everything from bleached seams with studded crosses to whiskers, giant, giant whiskers. These types of bottoms never fail to get a second-take from me. I accepted this poor judgement in fashion as part of  European culture, but South Africa? 

Come on now. 

If my luggage doesn't show up soon, I'm going to be shopping at the Mr. Price for a pair of these beauties. 

London Town ... Swank

So here's the deal: I forgot to take any pictures in London. Being such, let me paint a clear picture: gray and dreary. 

I spent three hours outside of Heathrow airport, two of which were spent on the Picadilly line going to and from the airport. It was well worth the layover if only to see my former boss, Marc. He is an absolute delight-one of the most warm-hearted men I know. 

Now I'm sitting in the same terminal at Heathrow that nearly four years earlier was the scene of a terrifying event.  A lonely teenage boy threatened to light me on fire as I unsuspectingly laid asleep on the floor at 4AM. Terminal 3 looks a lot different on a bustling Wednesday evening. 

London is the place where I've learned some tough facts about unfavorable societal behavior. Yet, for as long as I breath, I'll keep coming back for more. See you next time crazy city. 

p.s. I'm really effing delerious 

what is the name of this blog?

The title of this blog underwent debate for many weeks. I still wasn't entirely settled on "Cape Town Swank" until last night, when I opened a package with this little number in it. Lisa said it was "advertising for the blog". Since Lisa G. always knows what I need, I accepted that this would be the final title for the blog. 

Thank you Lisa G., thank you.