Taxi strike

This shall be a blog filled with randomness.

Passion gap: when the front four teeth are removed, particularly popular among the colored population. It’s like getting your ears pierced, or a tattoo, it’s a cool thing to do and apparently makes for more pleasurable kissing, so they say. Therefore the name “passion gap”

Now you have your fun fact, I will update you on my life in Cape Town! It has been a while since I last wrote, but things have finally settled down! This is my schedule:

Monday: Social Research Methods class 8:30-11:30am, volunteer at TB clinic 12:15-3pm (with school kids)

Tuesday: Volunteer at TB clinic 9-12:30 with the Audiology department or preschool/toddler group (I’m hoping to find the speech therapist soon) and then 1-3 with school kids. 6pm Reflection meeting with Angela.

Wednesday: Poverty and Development class 9-10:30, Social Research Methods class 10:30-11:30. Volunteer at TB clinic 12:15-4 with school kids. Afrikaans class 4:30-6. Life group through Jublilee church 7-9pm

Thursday: Volunteer at TB clinic 10-4, preschoolers in the morning, school age in afternoon. Afrikaans 4:30-6pm

Friday: Poverty and Development class 9-10:30am. And then it’s the WEEKEND!!!

My weekends have been filled with great things, I’ll just give a list of some of my weekend activities:

Nap, library opening complete with children singing SA national anthem, V&A waterfront with sushi, wine and ice cream, skype with family and friends, biking, Constantia wine tasting, picnics, ocean, mountains, more biking, beach, breakfast buffet on the beach, craft markets, Kirstenbosch botanical garden concert complete with picnic, wine, and good people/music, visit from great friend Kate Burchett!!!, hike up Table mountain, braai (bbq party), Bo-Kaap market, Green square market, Clifton beach, dinner and sunset at Camps Bay, Long St. clubs and pups, Jubilee church, homemade chips (fries), another concert at Kirstenbosch: Goldfish (South African Techno-jazz), Bike expo, swimming at a friends pool with wine, pasta evening with the UCT cycling club, morning hike up Lion’s Head with Habitat for Humanity UCT, another visit to the Bike expo, BIG braai with everyone from professors to volunteer supervisors to south African friends-about 50 people total, AAAANNNDDDD the Cape Argus Cycle Tour!!! 110K, lots of mountains and coast and ocean and bikes. Over 30,000 riders. World’s Largest individually timed bike race. It was absolutely incredible to be a part of. And nap again.

So that was three weekends of activities, I have an extremely blessed life. Next weekend our program has us scheduled to go to Stellenbosch (a town about 45 min away, well known for their vineyards) Wine Tasting on Saturday and to Robben Island on Sunday. Also the weather is always lovely and sunny. Starting in May, however,winter starts and it is supposed to become rainy and cold.

There is one bad thing about all the lovely things to do here in Cape Town, and that is it makes it so very hard to do any school work. I have a big paper due on Friday which I have not even started (that’s actually the real reason I’m writing this blog post, in order to procrastinate), in addition to making lesson plans for the kids I teach at the TB clinic and arts and crafts programs I put together for the kids as well.

I’m beginning to realize that the hardest part of leaving Cape Town won’t be the mountains, or the ocean, or the city or the great weather, or even the friends I am making (although they are phenomenal) but my children at the TB hospital. I walk into the preschool room and the faces of absolute joy and love and excitement to see me are overwhelming! My lap isn’t big enough to hold them all, and that is all they really need. Affection, love, attention. These children are at the TB hospital from 6 months to 2 years in order to receive treatment for their TB, most of them also have AIDS. Most of the children’s parents can’t afford the transportation to come visit often…can you imagine, leaving your sick child at a hospital without seeing them for months and months?!? Can you imagine, being a sick child without seeing your mother, father, siblings for months and months? The hospital is very understaffed and affection isn’t possible when there is one nurse for 20 children, one teacher for all grades. I have so much love to give, but I still feel like they always need more.

And don’t worry, once the children have begun treatment, they are no longer contagious to adults (for those of you concerned about my health)

A couple more facts/random things:

The first recorded Afrikaans was written in Arabic.

Walmart is coming to South Africa this month

There are many bitter feelings here about Green Point Stadium for the Fifa World cup this last summer, it cost about $600 million US dollars, which may have been used to create housing in the townships, provide books for the schools, etc etc. But the World Cup DID bring in a lot of tourism, but was the new stadium necessary??

South Africa doesn’t really have the “volunteer spirit” we are accustomed to in the US, not many South Africans volunteer. We were told this at the beginning of our time here, but now I’m actually seeing it.

Ok, that is all for now. I suppose I should work on my paper a little before going to the pool later today.

peace and love