comments?

it's come to my attention that Steven Aguilar is the only user capable of commenting on my posts. Why this is the case, I cannot say. However, I do appreciate it when people send me private messages regarding my posts, it makes me feel that Cape Town Swank is not a completely useless operation. 

Keep them coming! 

p.s.

Thank you for your comments Steven Aguilar. I treasure them...

long distance

I just wanted to share this photo because I think it sums up the nature of my long-distance relationship. I watch Steve do stupid/funny things over Skype. The pink umbrellas are my desktop background...

on another note: 

I've had a sore throat for 4 days but could not get in to see the free nurse at school because they are swamped dispensing swine flu vaccinations. However, I woke up this morning with a serious earache to accompany the sore throat and hoarse voice - the kind that brings tears if you burp or swallow, etc. 

At 9am I called the pharmacy to see if they knew of a doctor that takes patients on Saturday. The pharmacy referred me to a doctor that is a 7 minute walk from my house. I immediately went to see these Saturday miracle doctors. When I got there, their waiting room was full but they took my name anyway and I sat down to wait. Literally 5 minutes later I was called into the doctors office. Dr. Nicholas checked me out, diagnosed me with tonsillitis and ear infection (neither contagious) and gave me an ample amount of prescriptions to take care of the whole thing. I went to the pharmacy -waited in another line with lots of sick people - and had my prescriptions filled in minutes. 

I wanted to relay this story because it draws such contrasts to the medical care experiences I've received in the states. I do not have insurance or deep pockets but in South Africa, they are accommodating to both. The doctor visit plus 5 prescriptions cost me out-of-pocket $49.30, and the whole thing was taken care of in less than an hour. 

This experience makes me really think about how messed up medical expenses in the United States are. I shudder when I think about going back and dealing with insurance companies once again... with all of their fine print, loop holes and massive amounts of paper work. 

I'm not saying South Africa's system is not flawed. For the poor, R380 is a lot of money, and there needs to be cheaper options. However, I am still thoroughly impressed. 

 

Hotel Rwanda... a short film review

I just watched the 2004 film, Hotel Rwanda for the first time tonight as part of my research weekend. I have been avoiding this film for years because as far as I was concerned, it would be yet another Hollywood film about an African conflict that is completely out of political context and littered with "senseless" torture and killings. 

To my disappointment, Hotel Rwanda lived up to my expectations. It falls in line with The Last King of Scotland and Blood Diamond as another "true life" African horror flick complete with a noble savage, white guilt and black demons. 

In his essay entitled, "Hotel Rwanda: too Much Heroism, too Little History - or Horror?" Mohamed Adhikari puts it in a nutshell for us:

"Hotel Rwanda's simplistic approach to the genocide is more likely to perpetuate rather than dispel stereotypes of Africa as a place of senseless violence and tribal animosities. The absence of a well-founded explanation of the genocide is bound to result in many viewers falling back on shop-worn, racist conventions of Western attitudes toward Africa. Indeed, the film inadvertently reinforces such mystification."  

My research weekend is shaping up already!

back from vacation

Here are some hi-lights from the trip:

From left to right: Steve, Susan (Prexy's traveling companion), Valeriano Ferrao (former ambassador of Mozambique to the United States), Prexy and me having dinner in Maputo, Mozambique. Maputo is the capitol city.
Steve and I with Nava and her parents at their home in Gaborone, Botswana. Nava is my roommate in Cape Town and she invited us to her home in Bots for some delicious homemade Persian delights cooked up by her talented mom! Gaborone is the capitol city of Bots. Albeit, there's no city center, a lot of people say that it is a city of highways. 
This is the zebra that tried to kill me in the front seat of the car (you can see my skirt in the bottom right corner of the frame, I had made a move for the backseat). This is at the Gaborone game reserve. 
This is my birthday celebration back in Cape Town. My roommates and I spent the whole morning at Cape Town's finest bakery. 

**I've posted most pics from the trip on facebook.com

Steve left South Africa on Tuesday and I went back to school for second semester on Wednesday. Perfect timing! 

This semester will be pretty busy. I'm taking two courses: African Politics and Political Journalism. I'm trying to beef up my understanding of how politics relate to civil society in Africa and perhaps gain perspective on why there are so many failed states on the continent. In addition, I'll also be looking at how African conflicts are portrayed in the United States media. Many say that there is a certain demeaning vocabulary used when relaying African conflicts in the news and in films. It's a vocab that is not used when describing events in Europe, Asia, or conflicts anywhere else on earth. A word like "tribal" would be used to replace the word "ideological" when covering an African story as opposed to a European story... more on that later. 

This semester I will also be tutoring for the African Studies department. Three times a week I will host a discussion group of 15 undergraduate students. The students have a lecture with the African Studies professor, then I will work with them on a more personal basis (I'll also get to grade papers!). I thought this would be a good way to expand on my education here, but also to earn some $$$$, or in the South African Rand it would be: RRRRRR. That's a little currency humor for you. 

Madiba's birthday

I forgot to post yesterday, but I did want to mention that yesterday, July 18th, was Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday. 

In South Africa, Mandela is called "Madiba" as a sign of respect. People in SA were asked to spend 67 minutes yesterday performing an act of service to others. 67 is the amount of years that Mandela has been committed to bettering the lives of others. 

Steve and I forgot about the 67 minutes, but we celebrated at a dinner last night with some of Prexy's close friends. His friends ranged in occupation from documentary filmmaker to union organizer, but they, like Prexy, have committed their lives to the greater good of disadvantaged people- I hope to follow their lead in my own life. 

a long time ago...

My sister in law Brenda posted these photos on facebook.com as a birthday surprise and I thought I'd share them. 

1989-Brenda would fix my hair and get me ready to go to kindergarten. 
This is me and my big brother Jeff. We were probably watching General Hospital

I was the flower girl at Jeff and Brenda's wedding. Clearly a looong time ago :)

Birthday at Kruger Park

I found a few minutes at an internet cafe to drop a quick blog.

It's my birthday! Steve and I are with Prexy and a friend of his in the Kruger Park area of northeast South Africa.

We spent the morning driving through the park viewing the following animals in their natural habitats: giraffes, elephants, lots of antelope, rhinocerous

we have not spotted a lion yet, but we are going on a night safari tonight that sounds promising.

pics to come....