Liz: Parting Tips

Parting Tips:

Liz stolling along in South Africa

For those who have never been to South Africa or never been on this program it is difficult to explain what the past three months have been like. You go from being herded around field-trip style to roaming around by yourself finding your own way. It took a while to find a routine with all the changes that were constantly being made but once you did things were awesome. You were able to feel like a local knowing how to get from train to train and town to town by yourself or with other people. That feeling of freedom and independence was beautiful and my advice to future participants is to make sure you find something to do on your own, whether it be yoga, or runs, or a club up at UCT find something to do on your own, as the semester continues you’ll appreciate the time a part from the group and learn to appreciate the network and support group you have around you more. Like I said there are a lot of things about this program that I can’t explain so for those coming on this trip next year here are my top tips and recommendations:

1.     Beaches! Enjoy the summer while it is here take every chance you get to go to the beach. The best beach, in my opinion, is Muizenburg. You could go here every day of the trip and still find something new, go for a walk to St. James’ Beach, take a trip to the market, take a walk down to see the kite surfers, try kite surfing (if you can afford it, $$$$$), try surfing, or my favorite activity lie on the beach and read (and by read I mean sleep). Other beaches are Camps Bay. This beach is more of a tourist beach feel rather than a beach town feel; more of a Miami feel than a Watch Hill feel. In my opinion, Muizenberg > Camps Bay.

2.     Obs! Observatory (one train stop away from Mowbray or a short walk away) has a great vibe, lower main road has lots of cafes and restaurants and bars to chill at. If you aren’t feeling the Long Street feel this is a great place to grab a drink (be it coffee or a cider) and be able to actually sit and talk to the people you’re with rather than grind up on someone. You can also find some great book stores and art stores if you need art supplies or a good book be is used, political, new, romantic, etc. you’ll be able to find it in obs.

3.     While we are talking about it- Long Street. Do it once, if you’re into it go back if not that’s cool (don’t worry you’re not the only one). Long Street isn’t really my scene but The Waiting Room has an open roof top and a cool balcony and great music for those who want to jam. Best place on the block, in my opinion.

4.     Restaurants! So many good place to eat out, and you can because going out here is not he same price as going out back home. Best places, in no particular order:

·      Mzoli’s (Gugulatu): Braai - $- Bring everything you want to eat besides the meat. Bring drinks, sides, and utensils/plates. You’ll be full on 30R worth of meat but can easily spend 50R and feel awesome. GET BREAD! You get amazing bread and if you don’t get the bread you’ll be sorry you didn’t.

·      Fat Cactus (Mowbray): Up the block from Malleson and delicious margaritas (strawberry and lime mix = the best), nachos, and the chicken burger! 

·      Golbi (Cape Town): Korean BBQ on Long Street. You pick your meat and grill it yourself on your own table and it is delicious! Be adventurous and try different types of meat, it’s the best price and style to do so.

·      Moma Africa (Cape Town): Food is good but nothing spectacular, you want to go here for the live music on Friday nights. You’ll have to pay a little extra to cover the band but it’ll be well worth your time and money. One of the best nights out as a group.

·      Coco Wah Wah/Coco Cha Chi (Rondebosch/Obs): Wifi café with delicious shakes and pasta dishes. Great to hit before class on Thursday or sit and do work at late at night.

·      Harbour House (Kalk Bay): Delicious food! A little on the pricy side but totally worth it, there are about three different restaurants owned by Harbour House and they are all amazing. The restaurant under Harbour House is has delicious tapas and a great lounge to sit in and enjoy mojito.

5.     Markets! I love me a good market. There are three markets in the area:

·      Old Biscuit Mill: Open on Saturdays only, 9-2. Expensive boutiques bring there clothes to the market and set up displays and then there is a HUGE food tent. Bring cash to buy food and prepare to do some fresh grocery shopping and then buy breakfast, lunch and late lunch. Advice: go on an empty stomach. (all food cash, all booths credit card)

·      Hout Bay: Open Friday 5-9, Sat. and Sun. 9:30 to 4. This market has much more variety of stuff to buy. Crafts, clothes, books, furniture, decorations, etc. all sorts of stuff. Oh yeah and food! There isn’t as much food here but it’ll still be really difficult to make a decision. You’ll also be able to actually sit down and enjoy the food while listening to live music. Great vibe and awesome stuff to buy. (food and some booth cash only)

·      Muizenburg: Saturdays, more of a flea market feel, not that cool but good for authentic cuisine. (cash only)

6.     Hike!

·      Lions head for sunset for the full moon, it can get crowded so go earlier rather than later to get a spot and miss the crowds. Bring drinks and a picnic. The hike down will take a while, bring a flashlight and you’ll be good!

·      Silvermine will give you a different view of the city than lion’s head or table mountain so that’ll be cool.

·      Table Mountain. Hike it or cable car it either way get to the top.

·      Chapman’s Peak: walk, bike, run, or drive around chapman’s peak. It’ll be worth it.

7.     Local Events:

·      Go to a Stormers’ Rugby Game

·      Go to a Bafana Bafana Soccer Game

·      Follow the Varsity Cup (the UCT rugby tournament)
8.  Yoga! At City Rock in Obs (short walk from Malleson, really good value for the full trip)
9.  The Book Lounge in Cape Town, awesome place to sit and chill out and get some alone time in a cozy and fun atmosphere, also there is a great coffee shop down the block.

10.     Road trip the Garden Route: Places to stop:

·      Stop in George and Hike

·      Stop and touch the Indian Ocean and just chill on the beach

·      Stop in Wilderness and see the “Map of Africa”

·      Stop in Plett Bay town – lots of cool stores and cute cafés

·      Bungee

·      Touch Elephants

Have an AWESOME time!

Liz recaps the last two weeks (and anticipates the next two)

30 March 2013:

Today we took off to Jo’brug for our excursion. We arrived in the early afternoon and then took some naps and unpacked and then headed out to dinner at a great steakhouse where many indulged in the some really great meat.

31 march 2013:

Today we start our Jo’burg adventure. We started off with Soweto and then headed to the Hector Pieterson Museum where we learned about the 1976 shooting. It was an intense museum, a lot to read and learn and find out more about the events of the 1976 shooting. Then we headed to Wandi’s Restaurant in Soweto to have some traditional African food, which of course was delicious. We headed to a market to do some shopping for souvenirs and then headed back to the hotel. Complete day, early to bed! 

1 April 2013:

This day was awesome. We spent the day in Soweto at the Boys and Girls Club where I was able to work with other students in the program and some learners from Soweto to make a mosaic checkers table for their clubhouse garden. It was absolutely amazing to get involved in the project and work side by side with the learners to create a gorgeous piece of artwork that will be usable for a very long time. We went to different places for dinner and I happened upon a delicious pasta dish at a Mediterranean restaurant.

2 April 2013:

Today we went to Sharpeville and saw the museum that was erected to commemorate the 69 people that were killed in 40 seconds on 21^st March 1960. This was a very moving day and everyone was very welcoming to us and fed us a delicious meal. For dinner we went to WangThai and then headed to Curl Up and Dye a fabulous play about the interactions between different people at the end of apartheid. It was amazing to hear what the actors that were a part of the play had to say after the play in regards to what their backgrounds were. Just another example about how the apartheid is still very recent.

3 April 2013:

The apartheid museum was absolutely awesome! It was a great museum with a great Nelson Mandela interactive exhibit with quotes, my favorite! We also made our way to Constitutional Hill where we learned a lot and raced the rain. This museum also had a great Gandhi exhibit. We ended off the Jo’burg trip with, yet another, jazz club where I had the most delicious grilled calamari that was awesome. It was a very long but good night.

4 April 2013:

We got up early today to get on a buss to head to Kruger. After a very long bus drive we got to Kruger and went on a sunset drive. We were fortunate to see a lot of animals including two male lions that were brothers. It was a very cold drive but we had a delicious warm dinner waiting for that and after dinner it was off to bed we went.

5 April 2013:

3:55am. I did crew. I know early. This is not early. This is late. Yuck. Up I got and on the truck I got where my head bobbed back and forth for the first 45 minutes or so until we saw a lion and lioness. This was cool. I had very low expectations for this drive and it became one of the best drives I have ever been on. I saw baboons, impala, vervet monkeys, hippos, elephants, an owl, and three THREE leopard sightings!  After the awesome drive we had breakfast and took a bit of a nap and then walked around camp a little bit, which was soon infested with vervet monkeys all over! My favorite was the one I called lefty; he was missing his front left paw. ;( Spent the day lounging about and then had a delicious braai for dinner and then off to bed for another early morning.

6 April 2013:

Saturday morning we were up and out very early and in Jo’Burg by 12, where the rest of the group headed back to Cape Town and I headed to Centurion for a week of work in Jo’Burg at the loveLife national office. It was and awesome week!

7 April 2013:

Today, I explored Pretoria with one of my very good friends, Jimmy, who is up in Pretoria doing an internship at the Danish Embassy. We talked for 8 hours straight! It was awesome to catch up in another country and talk about our two very different experiences here in South Africa for the past few months. 

8-10 April 2013:

These days are a blur. I was able to meet so many awesome people from loveLife throughout the Gauteng area including the national office staff and the Orange Farms Y-Centre staff and groundBreakers. It was great to meet the people behind the programs and see how another province is implementing these programs. 

10 April 2013:

Back in Cape Town for one night and then off again!

11 April 2013:

Off the Plett! Today we took off on our road trip to Plett Bay. Our first stop was George. We stayed in the most fabulous hostel I’ve ever stayed in. The beds were so extremely comfortable that I never wanted to move again. The owner was so nice and helpful too!

12 April 2013:

Up early we headed out to the Montagu Pass for a few hours and then headed towards Knysna. We were able to meander our way there. We stopped in Wilderness for lunch and stopped at the most gorgeous view spot, the map of Africa. The Map of Africa was a beautiful top view of the entire Garden Route and then on the other side there was a piece of land that that has two rivers that cut out a section of the forest that looks like the outline of Africa. It was beautiful. As we continued we also stopped to take a dip in the Indian Ocean, well our toes took a dip. Then we continued on our way to Knysna to our next hostel; another beautiful day.

13 April 2013:

Bungee Jump! I jumped off the tallest commercial bungee jump today after spending some quality time with some elephants and that was all before noon. After the bungee though we were pretty tired so we headed back towards Plett Bay and hung around the town for a little bit and ofund some food. Then we checked into our hostel and made our way to the beach. After the beach we went back to the hostel to shower and clean off the smell of elephant that was still lingering from the morning and then planned on watching a movie and going to bed until one of the guys that works at our hostel invited to go see a DJ at a township party who allegedly is the best DJ in South Africa. We couldn’t turn that down! We ended up meeting the mayor and having some really great conversations at the party. We couldn’t have been better protected if we had brought our own bodyguards since we kind of did since we showed up with the mayor. Pretty spontaneous and awesome night to round off the trip with a bang.

14 April 2013:

On our drive back we stopped at some cute places for food and then some lookout places for some quick pics and a good stretch of the legs. Made it all the way back to Cape Town in time for a dinner and then early to bed after a long two weeks.

 

Ainsley, Audrey, & Liz

The past two weeks were absolutely amazing and the next two weeks are going to be extremely stressful as I finish up all my work for my courses, internship, plan the end of my trip and start thinking about how I am going to be able to pack up all the things I’ve accumulated into my backpack… should be fun! 

Liz compares her time here to reading a good book

In a good book you hit what I like to call a point of no return. The point of the book where the rest of the word stops and you will not put the book down for anything, you deprive yourself of sleep, food, hygiene, social interactions for the sake of the book to get to the end to find out what happens and do a victory dance while saying “yes I’ve done it!” (the very feeling that made me want to jump into the Books for Nyanga project). I’ve hit that point with my trip to South Africa. The point of no return where I’m so close to finishing and yet so far and the amount of things that must be completed between now and then, like the daunting number of pages between the point you are at and the end of the book. I have become extremely excited to go home to graduate, to jump into the next books I’ve set up for myself, to see friends and family but I have so many things I still need to do, here, in South Africa. Thus I have found myself in the same predicament that many avid readers, especially Harry Potter fans, find themselves in. Readers begin to ask themselves do you put on your blinders and throw yourself into the pages of the book or do you torture yourself slowly by dragging the book out to prolong the joy of reading but prevent yourself from being able to return to a normal state?

The end of this trip will come whether I like it or not but I am determined to ensure I enjoy the next month and continue to take everything in while trying to conquer the treacherous amount of work placed in front of me. There will be times when I'll need to sit down and just throw myself into something, or read a good chunk of pages so to speak, but I don’t think this trip will be the end of the series so there will definitely be more victory than bereavement at the end of this amazing experience, much like there is at the end of a great book. 

Liz standing in South Africa while looking ahead.