The slower pace of life in South Africa is, generally speaking, quite nice. Minutes are never used to describe time here. South Africans use now, just now, or now-now to estimate how long something might take. I still haven’t figured out exactly how to interpret these phrases, but I know never to think “This will just take 5 minutes” anymore. It won’t.
But as the end of the school year approaches, this relaxed pace is no longer suitable. Many of my international friends are attempting to jam-pack their final weeks; I have a million things to do to prepare for the next two phases of my life here.
It has all been escalating since South Africa’s spectacular victory at the Rugby World Cup last Saturday night. Since that eruption of national pride and wild celebration, I’ve attended my last day of classes at UCT, aced my Afrikaans oral exam, and took up kickboxing. I’ve hiked up Lion’s Head by moonlight with my housemates, went on a daytrip to the winelands to get to know the interns that I will be living with downtown, and dressed up for an American Hallowe’en party as Angelina Jolie’s identity crisis.
Jenna as a cat; me with Maddox.
Most significantly, I’ve reversed the order of my post-graduation plans. I now expect to leave for Philippolis, the tiny town in the Karoo where I will be researching rural development, in about three weeks. I’ll return to Cape Town for the months of February and March to intern with the Treatment Action Campaign. In order to legally stay here longer, I’m applying for a visa extension. One requirement is showing intention to return to my native land – so I’m even in the process of booking a flight home for early April.
There are several reasons why this last-minute reversal makes more sense. For one, I’m ready to be shaken out of my Cape Town comfort zone, and change the scenery, the company. The beach would have been a nice place to spend Christmas, but they are swamped with tourists in the summer anyway, and the Karoo offers me Christmas with my professor’s family. Finally, I was offered a fantastic internship with the hugely successful Treatment Action Campaign, an HIV/AIDS NGO whose work I greatly admire, and they advised me that there would be more work for me in the New Year. I immediately agreed, and began the great switch.
Just as much is happening here, I’m becoming more and more aware of how life goes on without me at home. I don’t recognize any of the songs – not even some of the artists – on Billboard’s Top 100 Songs anymore. I try to keep abreast of political developments, like the Liberal landslide in the Ontario election, but most of the jokes and references are beyond me.
My dad even changed careers over the course of my Afrikaans oral exam. Unable to tell my professor that my father was the owner of a company which rents and sells construction equipment (How do you say that in Afrikaans? You don’t!) I turned him into ‘n dokter (a doctor), a vocabulary term that I did have.
As much as I’ve enjoyed my classes here, I won’t be heartbroken to leave UCT. I have mixed feelings about the school. I haven’t always been impressed with the student body. In my sociology class, the professor showed a video on the second-last day. It was a short documentary, made for TV, showing life in the townships through the eyes of an 11-year-old resident. It was a great piece, but the reaction of my classmates was slightly troubling. Very well-intentioned, I’m sure, they thanked the professor at the end for “opening our eyes as to what living conditions still persist in South Africa 13 years after democracy.” This astonished me. You can’t drive from the airport to downtown Cape Town without seeing what living conditions still persist in South Africa. There are ample opportunities to go into the townships, with school activities or for special events. They are not inherently dangerous places and residents are largely welcoming. Why don’t South Africans know what is going on in South Africa? I asked my professor about it after class, and he tried to explain that when you grow up in the midst of poverty, it is normalized, and disregarded as a fact of life. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.
To end on a more positive note: When I attended a church service in one of the townships last Sunday, I was encouraged by the presence of quite a few white people in the congregation. The church, between Mitchell’s Plain and Guguletu, would only be the local church for black and coloured people. The white people present undoubtedly drove out to the township from the city or a suburb in a conscious effort to cross the racial barrier. Christianity is so pervasive in South Africa; I think it could make for common ground between all South Africans.
The brand-new Khanysa Church Centre building, built between the black Guguletu area and the coloured Mitchell's Plain area to bridge the communities.
The victory parade for the Rugby World Cup is another place for common ground, which I’m going to head out to just now.
4 comments:
number one: it's crazy to think that your semester is winding down already. one week until your last final, right? crazy. all that time listening to the cape town u plans and look, you've gone and done it. kicked academic butt in your favourite country. i salute you.
thinking about the poverty thing...it makes me think about how we lived with racism in the uae. remember how much you noticed it? it is something that makes me so uncomfortable...and yet...jay and i could say was, yeah, it's really shitty. and we went to a school where we did service projects in our community etc etc and still...i don't know. it's just the way, you know? even if you are bothered by it, you live your everyday life as if you are isolated from that ugly thing (be it poverty or racism or what have you) when obviously you share the responsibility for things being the way they are. even more so when you are in your OWN country.
Am dying to see photos of you as angelina. i magicked up a black cat costume this morning (literally 6 am) which was all the inspiration i could muster after a late dinner with my teacher friends last night (i believe we ordered at 11:15 PM). but since people don't usually dress up here it is not hard to impress.
Will be thinking of you so much this weekend with julia in lisbon. might even get to meet up with shannon on sat night!
lovies
Hi Sonya: So glad you were able to use the "hat lights" on your climb to Lion's Head. Savannah and Destiny will be thrilled to know their product is being used in Africa. That is whom I purchased them from. They sold them at the Keady market this summer. Be careful and good luck in your next venture to Karoo.Love Aunt Rhonda
Sonya! Greetings from Cologne. I'm in a random internet cafe right now, and it's the first time I've gotten a chance to sit down and catch up on blogs since my vacation started.
Your blog is as always very entertaining and thought-provoking. This time, I especially liked that your transformed your dad into a doctor!
And I know what you mean about feeling out of the loop. With no tv, radio, or internet, it's hard to keep up with French pop culture, let alone Canada's. I practically devoured the economist last week to find out what's going on in the world!
I hope you'll send us your address in your new home as soon as you get it! Good luck with the move! xoxox
CNS: I emphatically agree with everything you said. The University of Cape Town portion of my trip has flown by. And even in my few months here I did find myself getting accustomed to the grandeous problems, if not comfortable.
Aunt Rhonda: That's really cute about Destiny and Savannah. You could also share with Savannah that she has a (hugely popular) namesake beverage here. But she might not enjoy it until she's older.
Julia: Lucky you, with Europe at your doorstep! I hope you update your blog soon so that I can read about your teaching adventures too.
Post a Comment