Saturday 25/2/12: Today was a fun and fairly cultural day. In the morning Chelsea and I met up with her friend Rachel from class, who drove us to the Old Biscuit Mill, which is a big food market (meals, not raw food for the most part) and has a lot of boutique shops. There was a ton of amazing food there and I wanted to try all of it. However, one of the most interesting parts was seeing a cookbook called African Salad in a tiny photography shop. For the book they knocked on people’s doors to get recipes. Then they photographed the recipe in its original form and also the person’s house. It was a little expensive but I think I’m going to go back and buy it because I love to cook and what better way to experience a culture than through its food. Later on that day was my first rugby game, which was definitely a cool experience, although I did not understand a lot of the game. It was interesting because we were in a section that has a lot of Hurricanes (New Zealand) fans. The Stormers (South Africa) ended up winning!
Sunday 26/2/12: Today was a pretty fun day. At 9 we all met up and went to the township of Guguletu, where there is a well known meat market/braai called Mzoli’s. We hung out for the first couple of hours and then got our meat. We had to go into a butcher shop, buy the raw meat and then bring it to a room where they did the braaing. It was soooo good. Later in the day there were people playing music and dancing. Also at one point Honah and I tried to order bread. The whole process ended up taking one and a half to two hours. We tried to ask the lady working there if they had bread and at first she didn’t understand or know what we were talking about. Then finally she understood and told us to come back in a half an hour. When we came back and found out we had to buy it first. So we paid and then the lady said it wasn’t ready yet. When the bread was finally ready it turned out to be steamed bread, which was not what we were expecting but it still tasted good.
Monday 27/2/12: Today was my first day of volunteering with a program called Shawco. With that program I go to a township once a week and help tutor kids after school for about two hours. I had three students to work with and we went over a math lesson and then started reading about the respiratory system. On the bus ride back I was talking to a Shawco volunteer from Zambia. We discussed how silly politics can be sometimes and also things as simple as How I Met Your Mother (I have found that a lot of people here watch that show!).
Tuesday 28/2/12: For dinner I went with Lindsey and Chelsea to their friend (South African) Rachel’s house for dinner. Every Tuesday she has people over. It was a lot of fun and cool because it was mostly South Africans there. Later in the night Lindsey was telling Rachel about breakfast we have in the U.S. She mentioned that we sometimes eat pancakes for breakfast and that she likes to eat Lucky Charms. Rachel was appalled that we eat such sugary foods in the morning. This view can even be seen in grocery stores here because most of the cereal selection consists of muesli.
Saturday 3/3/12: Today was not so much a reflection on South African culture but more of a fun outing. We went to Hermanus with Arcadia to go sea kayaking. It was a lot of fun and the water was really warm (at least in comparison to the beaches closer to Cape Town). We paddled along the coast for the most part. At one point when we stopped I jumped in (only later on did our guide tell us that there might be sharks around). Also our guide told us we could try the kelp straight from the sea and that it is nutritious. I tried some but it didn’t really taste like anything. We also saw a cute little penguin bobbing in the ocean. After sea kayaking we got to wander around the town, which is very cute and beachy. We went to a gelato place for a snack (it was really good but still not the same as gelato in Italy) and then they had a mini market. I bartered for a set of salad tongs, which have giraffe shaped handles and managed to pay only $4-$5.
Sunday 4/3/12: Today Honah and went downtown in hopes of finding fabric so we can make lettered sweatshirts and we also wanted to try a place called Charly’s Bakery. We took a minibus into downtown only to find it practically deserted. We noticed that the fabric market wasn’t there so we thought we’d try the bakery, except that was closed too (super sad). This leads me to conclude that not much is open on Sundays in Cape Town. After the disappointment of the closed bakery we headed to Green Market Square. There were still vendors there but not nearly as many as normal. Honah started bartering with one vender over a painting and got the price down from R250 to R140 and ended up buying it even though she wasn’t originally going to. Somehow I also got sucked into this and ended up with an elephant painting of my own. I think the guy sold us on that fact that it was cheaper because it’s Sunday and not many people shop on Sunday. After that we took a minibus back, which was semi-eventful. First we were packed into the van like sardines (I think there were at least 16 people including the guy who shouts out the window and collects the money). Then the exit we had to get off at was coned off and blocked by a construction truck. Did this stop the driver though? No way, we jumped the curb and went around the construction truck, for a second I was a little concerned that we might flip over, but made it past ok.
This weekend we are doing an overnight with families in a township called Gugulethu! I will be sure to fill you all in on that once I get back.
Cheers!
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