Julia eager to learn more about South Africa (and about the US)

This week was exhausting, but nonetheless full of new experiences. I started my internship at the University of the Western Cape working for the Gender EquityUnit (GEU). Getting to my internship has been quite a struggle each morning seeing as the mini bus taxi for Belville is almost nonexistent, but, somehow, for Mitchells Plain there are two taxis every ten minutes. I need to be at the GEU at 9-9:30 each morning, but the taxi only comes around 9:00 and the ride is about 40 minutes. Glenton, my supervisor, has been very understanding about this, but I want to find a better, and more reliable mode of transportation like the bus. Other than the transportation, my internship is going well. Since it is the start of a brand new school year, there isn’t much for me to do yet. I’ve mainly been talking to students that either work in the GEU or new volunteers. The people I met have been so friendly and always hug me when they greet me, which is definitely different than in the U.S. At home people barely acknowledge you when you walk into a room, but here your presence is always noticed. It’s also very interesting to talk to everyone because they know so much about politics and the U.S.- more than I know. It’s actually quite intimidating to talk with them sometimes because I really don’t know anything about what’s going on in my own country or theirs. While they can name most of the 50 states, I could only name two of the nine South African provinces (now I know them all). They also express their hatred for the U.S., which I totally understand, but it is still a little awkward to hear. I just wish we learned so much more in our schooling about non-Western countries and their histories. They know so much about the U.S. and I never heard about apartheid until my freshman year of college and it was only from one sentence in a textbook. One of the readings we had for Marita’s class pointed out that every conflict between Western nations is always named after the group of people involved, but when it comes to non-Western countries, particularly in Africa, they are just “tribal wars.” I never noticed just how ignorant we are of non-Western history to the point that we can’t even use the exact names of the groups of people involved. I will certainly learn a lot just by listening to people at my internship, but I also want to start reading the newspaper more so that I can contribute to a conversation.

           

The other new experience I had was completing Lion’s Head. The hike was so much more rigorous than I ever imagined it would be. At certain points we were almost on all fours to climb the rocks. It was a major accomplishment once we got to the top and saw the gorgeous view of the city, ocean, and surrounding mountains. We really didn’t even have to get to the top to get a great view though, since at every point in the hike majestic mountains and the amazing landscape surrounded us. I can honestly say that was the most beautiful hike I’ve ever done- but Connecticut and Vermont mountains are really not that hard to beat when you’re in South Africa. Overall, I’m just so happy to be here. I absolutely hate thinking about leaving this place. We were just going over the coming weeks and realized how fast this is all going to go. I really don’t like thinking about it, so I don’t know why I chose to write about it. Time to think in the present and not worry about the future.

Julia on Lion's Head--her most beautiful hike ever!