Home Stays

This was the week of homestays! I stay with a lovely woman (who we call Auntie) and her great niece that spends most of the nights with us. I stay at a Cape Coloured home and community that was actually one of the cities that people were taken to after forcibly removed from the homes following the Group Areas Act of 1950. One thing that sticks out to me about the Coloured community is their sense of community. My Auntie’s whole family lives within walking distance of her and there are always people popping in to ask for a favor or to just visit. So different from America! They also continually feed us and tell us to eat more, more, more! I greatly enjoyed the time to relax, catch up on some sleep, and do homework (am I still in school?). My family is so sweet and hospitable and I am so thankful to have stayed with them!

This week we went on a peninsula tour where we went to Boulder’s Bay to see the penguins (new favorite animal) and to see the Cape of Good Hope. We took a lovely walk on the cliffs above the sea at the Cape of Good Hope and I was again taken aback at the imagination and artistry of our Lord.

It is coming to that point in the semester when everyone is ready to go back home. People are missing boyfriends, friends, and, especially with Thanksgiving this week, family. While I miss friends, family, Christmas season (it’s summer here – so strange) and am excited to go back, I don’t feel like I am “ready” to go back, if that makes any sense. I am still greatly enjoying my time here. On Thanksgiving day we went to Bo-Kaap in Cape Town which is the Malay community there. We toured a mosque, places of importance to that people group, saw all of the vibrantly colored houses, and had lunch in a home with traditional food. We visited the District 6 museum. District 6 was an area that was claimed a “Whites only” area under the Group Area Acts of 1950 and all of the inhabitants were relocated. It is sad to see how horrible people can be to one another.

I spent the weekend at my homestay house. We walked around the city, went to a farm (where I rode a camel!), went to the library and to the market, but spent most of the weekend at home. We walked around the city, went to the library and to the market, but spent most of the weekend at home. I greatly enjoyed the time to relax, catch up on some sleep, and do homework (am I still in school?). My family is so sweet and hospitable and I am so thankful to have stayed with them!

The New City

This week I spent most of my time in Cape Town. It is a beautiful city full of venders, goods, performers, restaurants, and people from all over the world. There is also a place called the V&A Waterfront which is a huge wharf with shops, a mall, performance areas, and tons of restaurants. Many people here have compared it to San Francisco. I could spend everyday there. 
There are boats, the sea, great food, and interesting people everywhere! Our first day of class here we did a walking tour of Cape Town where we got familiar with the area and found different historical places including The Company Gardens, the Slave Lodge, the Eastern Bazaar (fantastic Indian food for really cheap), the Waterfront, the Castle of Good Hope, City Hall (where Mandela made his first speech after being released from Robben Island), Green Market Square (a concentrated tourist trap), and St. George’s Cathedral (a beautiful church). This was to get us accustomed to this city and know where a few things are. We had our first day of class this week, which will be quite interesting. Our professor is amazing and I can not wait to here more about his personal story. 
We also met our homestay families (I don’t go until next week) which was so fun and I am excited to go. Saturday was a free day so my roommate and I took the train to Cape Town alone to explore. It was so nice to be able to make our own decisions and do whatever we wanted. We had a fantastic day. Sunday we went back to Cape Town with a bigger group. It was one of the girl’s birthday, so we stayed for a dinner in the city and took a taxi back. By now I know the lay of the land and feel comfortable walking around. One afternoon we went to this restaurant in a nearby bay (Kalk Bay) called Cape to Cuba and I was nearly in tears when I heard Spanish music and saw that they had nachos on the menu. It was fantastic. 
That is the really cool thing about being here. We can explore nearby areas just by walking or we can hop on the train (as long as it is before 5pm) and go basically anywhere we want. I love the independence! I know that I probably write this a lot, but I had one of my favorite nights this week. A group of maybe 15 of us got pizza and went down to the beach. We had handstand contests, talked, ate, I got thrown in the shark-ridden ocean, and it was just all around a good time. What more could a girl ask for than food, the beach, and people she loves? The last excursion we had this week was of Robben Island. I was not prepared for how this day was going to affect me. It was so much more than just sight seeing. 
When I was there I was overwhelmed at the injustice of the whole system and it made oppression and Apartheid real to me. I am so grateful for the time that we had there and I will remember the stories that were retold to me. It amazes me how far humanity has fallen from the perfection that we were born into.