Carl's ready to share what he's learned

This semester has been so much fun and has taught me more then I ever thought it would. After this semester I am so much more aware of my white privilege, sexist advertisements, the racism and sexism in Disney, the separation of people based on race and class in the world,etc.. Once I leave here I don’t want to stop learning about these social dynamics and issues. I have already decided that I am going to establish a human right minor when I return home. Even though I won’t have much time over the next two years to fit in extra human rights classes, I will still find time to take them, even if it means I will

have to take another summer or winter of classes.

I now also have to start thinking of how I will share what I have learned to others once I return to the USA, which won’t actually be until the end of July for me. As of now, all I am sure of is that it wont be easy. It is hard to describe the social dynamics of Cape Town with words. It is one of those things that you just have to come here to experience. So everyone reading this, come to Cape Town and spend a good amount of time here. Experience the townships and talk to the wonderful people of Cape Town. All I can share for now is that when I get home I must stand up for what I believe in by acting on my values and not giving into the racist and sexist culture or the USA just to fit in. Over the next three months Im sure I will have plenty of time to reflect on my experiences here and come up with other ways to share what I am learning.

Carl's ongoing adventures

The time between last January and now has probably been the best three three and a half months that I have ever had. That does not mean that I will never have a better three and a half months. You can’t live life believing that the best time you have ever had and will ever have was in high school or college, that is a very pessimistic and depressing way to live. From this point things can only get better.

Leaving South Africa does not end my adventures for this year. After I leave here I will be spending two weeks traveling around Europe with Patrick, Allie and Anna. Then, after they depart for home I will be going up to scotland to WWOOF (World Wide Organization of Organic Farmers) for a month. While there I get to live on the farm for free, I get fed, and in exchange I help them out on the farm with what ever work they need done. 

From Scotland I will then be heading to the Czech Republic for a month to orienteer and participate in the Junior World Orienteering Championships. Then I will be going to one more orienteering event in Slovakia. Then  after being away form home for six and a half months I will be returning to the USA.

Carl's not ready to leave

I have had such an amazing time the past few weeks. Traveling to Johannesburg, Kruger, Knysna, and Plettenberg were all great experiences. By traveling to all of these places though, I realized that Cape Town has become my new home. The environment, the people, and the entire area has become home. I enjoy waking up and having Table Mountain in my back yard, being able to hop on a minibus and know where it will take me, and having the freedom to travel to where ever I desire with ease. Every once in a while some one will ask me for directions in Cape Town and I can actually direct them to where they needed to go. For me, Cape Town is a place where I would like to stay for much longer then just two weeks that are remaining. I can’t believe that two weeks is all that we have left here. Time has flown by so quickly, and just as the people that came on the trip last year told us, we did not have nearly enough time to do everything that we wanted to do while we were here. I don’t think I am going to sleep with the remaining time we have here; I still need to go to Old Biscuit Mill, hike the trail on Table Mountain that has a warning sign at each end of it, master surfing, and tame a lion.

Carl: 3, 2, 1 . . . JUMP

This past weekend was truly a great one, and I would like to give a shout out to Melissa for putting in so much effort to organize this weekend of wonder. Our journey started on Thursday when we hopped on a bus after Vernon’s class to drive towards Plettenberg. Friday we got up early from our hostel and headed to our first destination, the Cango Caves. The majority of the group went into the caves and had a great time, but I sat out for multiple reasons of my own. Soon enough we were on our way to Knysna, where we would see elephants and be staying for the night.

The Elephant sanctuary in Knysna was awesome; we were driven out to see the elephants and then we were aloud to feed them and touch them. This was certainly the only time I have ever touched an elephant, or anything more exotic then a tortoise. That evening we went to this restaurant in Knysna, that was recommended to us by the owner of the hostel that we were staying . At the restaurant, called Mo’s, we were able to eat great food and listen/dance to wonderful live music; this was probably my favorite part of the weekend.

We woke up early again on Saturday morning to prepare for the main spectacle of the weekend. Some people went zip lining or skydiving, but the majority of us spent our day at Face Adrenaline's bungy jumping site. As we walked along the steel grate bridge to get to the bungy site you could tell that everyone was getting nervous as they looked down to see the river below. This bungy is the highest commercial bungy in the world, so the 216 meter fall is not to be taken lightly. When it was finally my turn to jump I tried to think of it as little as possible. I watched the workers to make sure I was clipped in and the carabiners were locked correctly, then I hopped to the edge of the bridge. As they counted down 3, 2, 1, BUNGY! I jumped. The whole thing was so surreal, my first thought was why did I just do that, but as I continued falling and as I hung there I just enjoyed how relaxing the whole experience was

Carl on animals and future plans

Carl & Avery on game drive at Kruger National Park

Our time in Joburg was a lot of fun and taught us a lot, but eventually it came time to move on to Kruger National Park. After a six hour drive with three pit stops we finally arrived at Kruger, and it was absolutely amazing; within five minutes of us driving through the front gates we had already seen water buffalo, a warthog, and a herd of elephants.

That evening we went for a game drive and added to our list; we saw more elephants, giraffes, rhinos, this very large bird that can peck through a tortoise shell, and lions!! Once it got dark we didn’t see much more, even with the search lights on the truck. Then, after a night full of cards we got up at 3:45 to go on a sunrise game drive. On this drive my group was able to add hyenas to our list of sighted animals, and the other group was able to complete the Big 5 (water buffalo, rhino, elephant, lion, and leopard) because they spotted three leopards on their drive.

 

After being in Kruger it made me think of doing UConn’s study abroad program where you spend three weeks in the wilderness learning how to track animals and exploring the wilderness. This would allow me to come back to South Africa in a little over a year.  Unfortunately, I don’t think I will have enough money to come back here in a years time after spending the semester here and this coming summer in Europe.

Carl on the group excursion to Jo'burg

After a spending three months in Cape Town, as much as I love it here, it was nice to go explore other areas on the country. During our time in Johannesburg we spent three days at museums and one day at the Boys and Girls Club in Soweto.

All of the museums that we went to were very interesting and taught us a lot about Apartheid, the events that occurred during Apartheid and what it was like to be there. The first museum that we went to was the Hector Pietersen Museum. Hector Pietersen was the first student to be killed during the protests that were against mandate that required classes to be taught in Afrikaans rather then the student’s primary language.

We went to several other museums, including the Apartheid Museum, the Mandela Family Home, and the Sharpeville Memorial. At Sharpeville we learned all about the Sharpeville Massacre: where, when, and how it happened. But when we were in the graveyard where the 69 people killed during the massacre were buried we were also given a lesson on traditional (non-european) South African memorial practices. When people went to visit their ancestors graves they would first slaughter an animal, then drink some South African beer (and bring their ancestors some) and then smoke some snuff (still not quite sure what this is, but from what I understand you smoke tobacco through your nose and it causes you to become very high). After doing all of this you can talk to your ancestors.

However, out of all the days we spent in Jo’burg, my favorite day was the day that we spend at the Soweto Boys and Girls Club. While there we all helped out with some sort of project to improve the location. My task proved to be quite difficult. A few others and myself had to turn a plot of land that had rock hard, glass filled soil that was layered with burnt trash into a flower garden. It took a few hours but we were eventually able to make a decent garden, and I wish I could see some pictures of it in a year or two to see how successful it becomes. After we were all done with our tasks we spent the time prior to lunch playing with the kids. I ended up having my sunglasses taken multiple times but the kids were adorable. I’m pretty sure when it was time to leave everyone from out program shed a tear.

Carl, Tekowa and Erica enjoy playing with the kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Soweto