Who knew that after only a little over a month in Cape Town that it would feel like we were coming home to MedVilla after four days in Pietermaritzburg. But that’s how it’s felt! I guess in a way you almost have to establish a routine before you can be ready to break it, and that routine is all it takes to make you feel comfortable somewhere. That being said, it is unfortunate to say that the last three days have not been my favorite in Cape Town. Work has been horrendous. And not due to me having too much work or work that’s too hard, no. It’s because I have had NOTHING TO DO. Despite having internet access, I can’t even manage to entertain myself during the day. One of the other interns put it an interesting way, he said sometimes he “finishes the internet.” That’s such a good explanation. There are only so many times I can check my email or read cnn.com before I start to go crazy. The most excititng event of my past three work days didn’t even come from TAC but from the District 6 Museum where two other interns are working. The museum was giving a small presentation on the Civil Rights movement in the States versus in South Africa. A group of us left our individual work sites for a short bit during the day to go listen to our professor speak to some students. I only got to see the brief film that they showed and not the actual discussion segment, but the movie was, well, strangely inaccurate. They chose to show a movie about Rosa Parks and the bus boycott, and while the story seemed straight to me (for the most part) it very much made it seem as though Rose Parks was the primary reason that blacks finally began their quest for human rights in the US. They even made MLK seem like a minor player in the whole ordeal. It was kind of comical to me in a way, but really off-setting if someone isn’t even relatively familiar with the civil rights movement. You know what else is funny? Apparently (according to Julian) they teach this story in Germany! Clearly it’s not in a lot of detail, but I thought it was neat how widespread Rosa Parks’s story has spread.
The past three evenings have been pretty relaxing. I’ve been going the gym, no change. I’ve watched Will Ferrell SNL shows and rugby, which may be the most confusing game ever, nothing exciting. I’ve been emailing a lot, no difference.
Friday Evening
Definitely the highlight of my past three days, hence it’s own section. Bob drove us out to Camp’s Bay to watch the sunset and have dinner at one of the many charming restaurants near the water. The first group (that I was in) went out to spend some time walking around before the other group was ready. The waves were huuuuuuge. The weather was quite windy and the swells were crashing back on each other. It would have been amazing to swim in, but I probably would have drowned. So maybe not so amazing. The funniest things happened though. We were admiring the scenery all around us, the volatile ocean, the majestic mountains. All of it. I was also admiring all this with my back to the waves, which of course decided to take advantage of my obliviousness. Despite the fact that someone yelled “Surf!” I still wasn’t paying attention and found myself calf-deep in saltwater and sand. My feet were so effing cold. Luckily I was wearing waterproof shoes, but they were flats, so no socks. I
spent the rest of the evening with sand in my shoes and freezing feet until I had the chance to go back and change before going out that night.
As we all know, the world lost its King of Pop in the past week. Like there has been all over the world, one of the clubs here was having a Michael Jackson tribute party that we all decided to go out to. The night was pretty fun overall. We started out a bar called Neighbourhood, which looks like an old house. I’d been there once before and it had been straight filled with white people, but this time it was a better mix. When people were ready to head out after a brief stay there, we went to the MJ party. The venue was pretty sweet, but the music was kind of off. They didn’t start playing the good MJ songs until later in the evening. Sad story. They also had these really cool posters hanging on the wall that most of us decided we were going to take with us. I was a dummy and didn’t take one, but I think Victoria might give me one of the two she took.
You will be missed, Michael Jackson.
Ukuthula,
Lynn
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