I entertained myself with watching the movies The Lion king and Madagascar, and an hour long show about sea turtles…yes, I was psyching myself up even more for Africa. We touched down just as the sun was rising over the city, highlighting the most prominent feature of Cape Town, the mountains. After arriving in the airport we immediately heard an beautiful chorus of voices singing in a different language, although many of us thought it was coming from a radio.
We rounded the corner and the voices became louder as we realized they were not in fact coming from the radio, but from our CIEE trip leaders and RA’S. It was the most amazing welcome I have ever received because not only were they singing with so much joy but they were dancing for our arrival. We were immediately hugged, and greeted in every way possible. As Americans we tried to catch onto their funny hand shakes…similar to a “pound it” but actually way more complicated, and we laughed at each other in our attempts.
We boarded the bus to Cape Town, and as most of you know I am usually a pretty talkative person, pretty able to make conversation with any stranger, but no words came to me as I stared at the place I will be living for the next six months. Mountains overtook almost every angle of Cape Town taking my breath away. It was only 6 a.m Cape Town time but the city was bustling with life as many people were already off to start their day at work, and school children in their wool blue uniforms had begun their walk to school. Might I mention that although it was early in the morning, it was already so very hot….my hair got a little angry with me, but it’s ok..I managed to tie it up in a hair tie ☺
Some major differences I have noticed from being here include but aren’t limited to, adjusting to walking on the left side of the side walk, not the right. Watching as the cars drive on the opposite sides of the roads with the steering wheel on the right side of the car. Getting used to figuring out when we are actually allowed to cross the street. (In the states we have the white walking sign when we need to walk but here there is a red man who turns green.) Another drastic difference is realizing how much women are degraded in this place, as anywhere a woman is walking, cars full of men will slow down, stare, honk, yell things out the window, even full on stop. I have learned the absolute best way to handle this is ignore it, eyes down, and keep walking. Now, I have fully prepared myself for this, but it still surprised me that everywhere I go, the street is filled with noises of honking and shouts at all of the women walking around which definitely helps me to realize that in this place, modesty is something that I will strive to keep, even though the weather is about 85-90 degrees. The toilets have funny looking flusher buttons, people greet you with “howz it?, baboons walk around in some of the streets, there are no window screens in the dorm windows…no chance of getting fined 100 dollars here for the screen popping out ☺ And every single one of our doors is locked with a padlock that we have to keep on at all times and keep our keys with us, even when going to the bathroom so we don’t get locked out. And last difference I have noticed today is that there is an intercom throughout all of the dorms we are staying in, which the program takes full advantage of by making frequent announcements…if we are in our rooms though we can’t hear them so we always have to go in the hallway to hear the announcements.
Yesterday we were given the opportunity to go to lunch, explore Rondebosch, buy our cell phones, and sleep. Today we are going to explore the Western Cape, and we get to eat dinner atop Table Mountain as the sun goes down. We also find out our housing assignments and who our RA is, and we are receiving our many health and safety briefings as well. The Ra’s and trip leaders have been wonderful although I wish I could remember/pronounce their names…There have been so many people I’ve met names have become a challenge to remember. So far there is Quinton, Felicity, and Earl (who is awesome!!! Dad..I told him your name was Earl…and his expression was priceless) . Then there is Michael, Nahmle, Mumbi, Sihle, Rudo (Rue), and Reinhard. Oh and there is also Carol! Those are some of the RA’S here who have gone above and beyond to make us feel welcome. Pictures are coming as soon as I figure out how to get better internet access! Sorry this post is so long I want to make sure I remember everything! Love you all! -Mia
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