The World Cup is here

Friday, I dressed in my Dutch orange shirt, German scarf, USA hat, and wore a vuvuzela with a South African flag hanging on it. These are the top teams that I’m rooting for (although Spain and Brazil are kinda up there too… but didn’t quite make the cut). The opening ceremony was beautiful – apparently Mandela was supposed to make a surprise appearance, but tragically, one of his granddaughters died the night before in a car crash. First game: South Africa vs. Mexico. Oh my goodness, did SA play well… for being ranked 189^th in the world, they ended up tying 1-1 with Mexico. Definitely boosted SA’s confidence and is good for the general vibe here. Everyone had tickets to the France-Uruguay game at night, so took the bus to the stadium with them and headed home and hung out with Helena and her friends. We made our way to The Shack – a complete awesome dive bar. Herman and I reigned supreme in all of the foosball challenges (Pete, I’m practicing… be careful), ate the most delicious fries in the world made by Nightingale, and met a guy from Austin who I then called “Austin” the rest of the night (I don’t think he appreciated it).

Saturday, Sean picked me up relatively early at 10 (hey, late night) and drove me all around for some amazing sightseeing. Drove past Houts Bay, made a pit stop in Monkey Valley where we drank some coffee and ate Malva cake in a tree house looking hotel/restaurant (really cool!), and then headed to Simon’s Town. I wanted to go here again because last time I went I didn’t realize this was where one of the PENGUIN colonies was!!! And penguins there were. I squealed pretty much every time I saw

one waddle (I even recorded them waddling).

After I got my penguin fix, we headed to the national reserve where Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point are located (the southwestern most point of South Africa). On our way, we encountered some baboons in the road so we pulled over. Next thing we know, one JUMPS on our car, presses his nose up against the window, then turns around and just chills on the hood. I was snapping away with my camera, but as fate has it, my generic rip off of a memory card gives out right when I need it most… all the pics were gone. Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope are of course more areas of absolute breathtaking views (of which, again, my stupid memory card didn’t save enough of the pictures from). What else did we see? More baboons and an ostrich!!! It was like an inexpensive safari day for me :).

We head over to Tim’s to watch the England-USA game… he wasn’t too happy with the outcome (dirty English supporter), but I was :P. I don’t think the US could have asked for more (well, I guess they could) – really sucks for the English goal keeper though… he must be having some rough nights these days.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. Slept in, watched the first 2 games, and eventually ended back up at Tim’s for the Germany-Australia game at night. He turned it into a drinking game (dangerous) and some more beer pong was played that night.

Today I told Karen at work that I’d like to help out in other areas whenever I have down time on my projects (since I’m not meeting with irrigation people ‘til the 22^nd). She hooked me up with Nicole, who’s working on getting the testimonials from the Mamas (the foster moms from Ikamva) and documenting them. I would love love love to hear their stories and so I will be transcribing their stories into documents. I get to meet them tomorrow at 2, so that’s pretty exciting. At 1ish, I headed out with Eric to meet Maika and some other folks to watch the NETHERLANDS-Denmark game at the Fan Zone. We won. 2-0. Obviously ;) (naw, but kidding aside… I feel like they weren’t playing as well as they could have. Also, one of those goals was an own goal from Denmark.) Ended up at a few other bars and eateries, watched the Cameroon-Japan game (0-1), then started heading home. The others were going to the fan mile to watch the Italy-Paraguay, which is here in Cape Town tonight, but I am absolutely pooped and will be calling it an early night… I need some beauty sleep.

The madness begins...

Where to start…

I finally bought my vuvuzela. Turns out there’s such a thing as a fake vuvuzela. When I came home after my proud purchase, Helena asked if I had mastered on how to blow it and I was like “uh… yeah… all you have to do is blow.” Apparently, it’s not that easy… mine’s only easy b/c it comes with a whistle inside of it. Not the real thing. Sigh.

Oh! I don’t feel so overwhelmed at work anymore! Turns out, I DON’T have to know anything and everything about drip irrigation systems (the hot houses is still another story). But I set up a meeting on the 22nd (that’s when we can get transportation) with a supplier of the drip system. All I have to do is show him the garden layouts and he can help determine what’s needed and get us a quote. Phew. Yay for experts. As for the hot house (er, green house), Monica and I are going to a plants nursery on the 18th that has a hot house for me to get inspiration. Maybe I can even ask them how
they built theirs or if they have any recommendations.

The opening ceremony and first World Cup match is tomorrow!!!! The city is so alive and filled with excitement it’s bursting out of every corner. Yesterday at noon was a vuvuzela ceremony in tribute to the World Cup and everyone and their vuvuzela spilled out onto the streets. Vuvuzelas were blowing, cars were honking, people were chanting and dancing. Of course, I only remembered to take a picture after the fact. Doy. We were going to go to the grand ceremony that started at 2 pm today, but we heard there was a stampede already with some injuries, so we decided to avoid that area.

Today I went to Table Mountain with Vijay (sorry, I realize my topics are kind of jumping around and not in chronological order… however my brain’s working). Oh. my. god. It was breathtaking. Today was a beautiful day, no cloud in the sky and it paid to go to the top of it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be, even with the big influx of tourists. Went up around 3 pm and stayed til after we watched the sunset at 6 pm. Walked around (it really IS pretty flat at the top!) and discovered these adorable furry animals called dassies! They kinda look like beavers, minus the big tail (in fact, I don’t recall them really having a tail), but APPARENTLY they’re the closest genetically related species to the ELEPHANT. How WEIRD is THAT? They’re adorable. I had a staring contest with one. But yeah, back to the views. No picture or words can really describe it. Mountain series all around, cliffs highlighted by the sunlight, the city down below (and the stadium!), peninsulas in the distance, all surrounded by vast blue oceans crashing onto the shorelines. The sunset was spectacular also… I might have gone a little blind from staring at it for too long.

Crime is definitely on the rise. Almost every tourist (that looks like an obvious tourist) has been mugged or near-mugged. I know, I know… I’m being careful, dear friends and family. So far, no problems here yet. Probably because I kind of fit in (yay) or just look… poor? Either way, I’ve got my pepper spray in hand (and my kickboxing skills somewhere in the back of my mind… ha).

Went on one of those touristy bus tours 2 days ago, you know, the one where the passengers wear the headphones and listen to recorded information. It was pretty neat – stopped off at the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens and I went a little snap happy. Really neat place though. For the rest of the ride, just enjoyed the scenery and the history facts from the recordings.

Tomorrow we’re watching the Opening Ceremony at Sean’s and the first game (I think). Then he and his friends have tickets to the first game in Cape Town that evening (at 8) so I think I’ll make my way to the fan zone in the city and see how that is. SUPER PUMPED! Can’t wait to go to my game on the 24th. Wondering if I should even try to get tickets to other games…

Tomorrow Ikamva is closed (is it because the World Cup starting is basically like a holiday? I think it might be.) But it’s been a long day, so I’m going to call it a night. G’night!

Week 1 of 9 in Cape Town

Even though I’m not officially “working”, I was just as excited when Friday arrived. Went into work for a few hours, researched some more on drip irrigation systems and hot houses (I spent like an HOUR on one article and at the end of it, it was like “but these conditions should only be used for climate in the U.S. It’s different elsewhere in the world.” Darn it.) Helen was busy so we didn’t get to talk to her about the planning, hopefully Monday before she leaves for a week.

Graham, a fellow couchsurfer from Cape Town, invited me to his friend’s birthday celebration at an Italian restaurant on Kloof st., called Nonna Lina. The food was nyummy and met a bunch of new people and saw some familiars. Every time I looked over at the bar, Graham and the birthday boy were taking shots – dangerous scene, ha. Headed over to Long st bars with the whole crew, went to The Waiting Room and one other bar. Fun night, lots of dancing, singing, and general merriment. Mom also called me and got to talk to her for the first time! Calls are expensive, so looks like we won’t be talking much unless there’s something urgent. Sad. Bars closed at 4 am and then we spent a while trying to figure out how the 17 (or so) of us were getting home. Since I didn’t live far, my British friend John walked me home and he took a cab. First, however, we hit up a hot-dog-type stand served by Mohammed, where I convinced a bunch of people I was South African. Delicious sausages - I tried out all the sauces. Passed out at 5 am…

…only to be woken up at 8 am by a man and a vuvuzela. Let me tell you about vuvuzelas: they’re plastic blow horns that everyone and their mother seem to have in South Africa. Apparently they’re popular at football (soccer) games and can easily blow off your ears with their loud honking sound. So yes. 8 am. I thought he’d stop. He didn’t stop til noon. He must be practicing for the World Cup, but a little early, dude. I actually need to get myself a vuvuzela. Revenge.

Sean picked me up at 1:30 for his braai (South African bbq) and beer pong tournament. I wanted to get him some sausages and beer so wandered over to the gas station around the corner. Realization #1: convenience stores in SA don’t sell beer. Realization #2: nor do grocery stores. You have to go to liquor stores for that. Weird. Realization #3: if you bring American-looking hot dogs to a braai, you will get made fun of. Apparently they don’t grill that… they grill REAL meat, like boereworst and chicken and steak pieces. For my sake, they grilled them anyway and freaked out when they began to “blister”. Before the braai, we went to the beach b/c some of Sean’s friends were skim boarding. BEACH, people. WINTER. Yes, it’s possible. I got my tan on and even took a quick dip… a little chilly. The braai (my first official one!) was delicious, the night was fun, beer pong got competitive.

Today I met up with another couchsurfer, Vijay, who just got to Cape Town from Buenos Aires, to take a train to Simon’s Town – about an hour away. The ride is gorgeous – it’s along the seafront and there are parts where you can potentially get wet in the train from a wave that crashes outside. Train stopped in Fish Hoek, a fisherman’s town, and everyone got off. Not til 5 min later did we investigate and realize we were supposed to get off too to take the last part of the trip by bus, which we missed. So we spent an hour on the bus waiting for it to take off. Hour later, we scope out Simon’s Town, which is where their Navy is located. Nice little town too, very chill. Perused through a sculpture garden, took some pictures, and headed to a recommended restaurant where we ate bobouti and peppered mackerel. Both very lekker (yummy in Dutch and Afrikaans). Bobouti is curried minced meat with all kinds of flavors in it (apricot, chutney, raisins, etc.), topped with an egg-milk mix. Helena and I had made it the other night for dinner and I fell in love with it. Headed back to the bus, then train. While we didn’t get to hop-on/hop-off at some of the stops as we had hoped to (it was the last train), we saw a gorgeous sunset…


Then we got ripped off by a cab going home. Ha.

P.s. I am hearing a vuvuzela again…

"Farmer Nadia" (written on 6/3 -- now saving entries onto flash drive and posting them online the next day at work…)

Got to Ikamva at 9 this morning to meet with Monica and a driver to scope out all the sites that needed drip irrigation systems and hot houses set in place. Last night was the first time it had stormed since I got here, and when I woke up it was cloudy. Umbrella? Nah…

I love the walk to Ikamva. Well, maybe love is too strong a word, but I readily enjoy the 30 minute walk there: go a little down Orange street where it turns to Mill street, left on Buitenkant st, take it all the way past the hipster internet café, house with a white dog that always seems to be waiting for me, the many textile shops, the discount clothes stores I still need to go to (pants for 35R! That’s like $5!), pass the “day time hospital” with beggars all sitting on the stoop, City Hall is on my left, and then take a right onto Darling st – pass the Cape Town Sewing Shop, cross the corner where I keep getting honked at or almost run over because I forget to look right before left, this turns it into Sir Lowry st., more stores that kind of remind me of dollar stores that are currently filled with South African memorabilia and international flags for the World Cup, a venue called “Liquid” which I’m pretty sure is a gentlemen’s club, past the Good Hope Centre that has an entrance called “Dromedaris” on it, under the bridge, and I get to the gate where Ikamva and some other businesses are behind (including a casting office, and a gallery that always has pretty people posing in front of it). Up one flight of stairs, and I get buzzed in.

Monica, Loza (the driver), and I head out – first make a couple of stops at the Rainbow Centre and one of the Senior Centres (can’t remember the name…). It’s cute, I think Monica’s taken quite a liking to me and holds me by the hand as she introduces me as “her engineer that will work her gardens” to the seniors. A few had met me already and hugged me when I re-introduced myself (I have a terrible, terrible memory… especially when it comes to meeting like 60 people in one day). I chit chat with Monica and Loza during the drives – they’re both from Eastern Cape. During their summer (December), they pack up their families and take the 24 hour drive back home. The infrastructure is apparently a lot better in Cape Town and a lot of Eastern Capers do this routine, hence them taking up a large presence in the townships. I honestly hadn’t really thought about it, but both (and I’m guessing many of the other workers at Ikamva) live in the townships themselves as well… in the shacks among the other people that they’re helping. It makes sense now to have the Ikamva workers be the township residents as well… provide them with a paying opportunity and a way to improve the lifestyle of those around them and their own.

Next stop: Health & Nutrition Centre which will need both a drip irrigation system and a hot house. I wanted to seem prepared, so I came with some white papers, a pen, and a measuring tape (borrowed from Helen… which I was not to lose b/c it was her husband’s). Honestly, I have no idea what I’m doing. I, uh, got out the car, “surveyed” the land, whipped out my paper and pen and made a drafty sketch of the layout of the garden in relation to the building and playground next door. I had read online yesterday that a hot house should be placed in an area with the most sun, so south or southeast of a building. I spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out which way was north… looking at my shadow and being like “ok… so that’ssss….wwwessst…?... yes. So thennn… THAT’S…north…. But wait… the building’s there…. Ugh. Let’s start over”. It was ridiculous. After the 10 minutes, I indicated to Monica and the gardener of the site that the hot house should be placed over THERE b/c that’s south… or at least southeast… maybe. To which the gardener said “no, the sun rises over THERE”. Bam. Credibility gone. Ha. I suck. I ended up feeling defeated and forgot to take measurements b/c of it.

On to the other 2 sites that would require drip irrigation systems. This time, I got my professional self in order (somewhat) and measured out the gardens, how far apart the paths were, and where the water source was. I later spent like an hour drawing up these sketches in Powerpoint (seemed like the best program to use…) to be able to present SOMEthing to Helen tomorrow…

At one point during our drives, Monica pointed out one area of a township called Mitchell’s Plains, and how this is the area where also white people live and it’s for those that have money and can afford nicer homes. I look over, and yes, the houses are nicer… they’re made of brick, and most are painted bright colors. However, many still have shacks extended off of them and no personal space, no private yards. Monica asks if this is what houses look like in America. I say “kind of, yes… but our houses are not as colorful as here in South Africa…” I think she’s satisfied with that answer. I don’t know if I am.

We drop Monica off, and Lazo asks if he can stop to get something to eat real quick – absolutely, no problem… it’s 1:30 and I haven’t had lunch yet either… can I get some too? We’re getting some “vetkoek”, which literally means “fat cake”, haha. It’s a ball of fried dough. Pretty delicious for not even being filled with anything. We get 7 of them for the people back in the office and 2 hard boiled eggs. While we’re waiting, Lazo teaches me some Xhosa:

Molo – hello

Gunjani -- how are you? (actually, Monica taught me these this morning)

Dilipi – good (I probably don’t have these words right at all… but this is what it sounded like at the time.)

Babye – bye (…apparently the same as in English)

We get back to the office and I make use of the internet to check my email whilst drawing up those ridiculous sketches. A bunch of couchsurfers responded to my request of doing touristy things in Cape Town soon, so that’s exciting. Hopefully I’ll meet up with them soon. Oh! Last night, went with Sean to the Waterfront and then met up with some couchsurfers in Long st. at Mr. Pickwick’s – which specializes in MILKSHAKES (*heaven*). Saturday Sean’s having a “beerpong party” with some of his friends, so that’ll be fun. They’re going down. Hopefully.

2 months of possibilities (written on 5/30/10 -- didn't have internet)

It’s my second night in Cape Town and you’d think it would have hit me by now… not sure what I’m thinking will “hit” me, but some sense of difference, confusion, overwhelment (what? That’s not a word?). Instead, I feel calm, at peace, and comfortable, with maybe a slight twinge of anxiousness. I think I blame this on 2 things: 1) my new friend, Sean, who picked me up from the airport, provided a familiar and welcoming face. There’s nothing better than being picked up by a friend in a foreign place. All the nervousness and fear I mentioned in my previous post disappeared because I had someone I could trust in a new place. 2) I feel at home here – there’s something familiar about the environment and the people. Don’t get me wrong – it’s completely different from anywhere I’ve ever been, but it’s also a combination of a lot of places I’ve been. Make sense? Probably not, ha.

Ok, enough babble. Now about Cape Town :).

Got in last night after a mad dash of connections in Detroit and Amsterdam. Man, 25 hours of travel… my butt certainly was not appreciative of that. Alas, as I had predicted, my luggage did not make it with me and was stuck in Amsterdam. What’s funny is that I HAD put spare clothes in my carry-on in case this happened, but last minute I had to check in my carry on as well since my suitcase was 16 lbs overweight (oops!). So I have my bare essentials, minus some, which are my laptop and some papers. Waiting for my luggage to get here tonight, which hopefully it will… b/c I don’t know how much longer my roommate would be able to bear my 2 day worn socks… poor girl.

Woke up this morning and walked outside. Wow. Now I saw it all: the blue skies, the endless blue ocean, the mountains in the not so distant distance. I can see how people easily fall in love with Cape Town. Went to a café by the beach for breakfast with Sean. He’s been educating me on the political and social situations here in South Africa – so many complications and heartbreak that I wasn’t completely aware of. It’s interesting being in the midst of it WHILE World Cup madness is starting up as well. Bought a toothbrush (yay!) and then went and toured around. All the lovely sights – drove to lookouts, learned the names of places (don’t ask me to repeat… terrible memory… I’ll learn them at some point), beautiful views. Oh by the way, THIS is Winter?? 60s and blue skies? Yeah, Cape Townians…. Consider yourself lucky :).

There have been a lot of changes and additions to Cape Town due to World Cup preparations. Besides the obvious (like the stadium), things like street signs, bridges, roundabouts have been erected everywhere. It’s definitely a good thing, but kind of disparaging that it takes something big like the World Cup to get governments to polish their cities. Either way, everywhere we went, I was in awe with the city.

Met up with Helena, my new roommate, in the afternoon. Her apartment is filled with ancient memorabilia and trinkets – I love it. Every little item has a story. She says she’s a sucker for antiquities. Walked around the City Centre (where she lives), got some lunch, and now am having a quiet evening. I finished reading The Alchemist… quite fitting. I can easily relate to the Shepherd Boy searching for his treasure in the world. ;) If anyone feels like they need a push to pursue their dreams, I highly recommend this book.

So tomorrow is Monday. I need to figure out my phone situation, hopefully I’ll have my luggage, need to find internet, and call Ikamva to let them know I’m settled in and ready to work!

Ikamva's many programs

Today I got the luxury of being driven around by Matthew, who's worked with Ikamva for over 30 years, to some of Ikamva's projects in the townships.

Started out by visiting some of the foster homes in Khayelitsha and Gugulethu. Ikamva has worked a program to get existing women who were already fostering children to be part of their program so they can provide them with food, projects, and shelter. That way they don't have to find new people who'd need to commit to becoming foster parents. Some of these "mamas" were housing 9 children, all age ranges. These kids are too adorable for words. At one house, they decided to play hide and seek with me and when I couldn't "find" them, they took my hand and would show me where they were hiding.

Next visited several senior centres in Khayelitsha and Philippi. It's amazing how these programs restore the dignity of the seniors who would otherwise have not much to do. Anything from senior exercises, arts & crafts, singing, praying, etc. They've even set up beading and sewing projects where their work gets sold and the money comes back to them. Best of all, they LOVE talking. Just being introduced to them, they wanted to know all about me and then would tell me all about their lives and their 17 grandchildren. Ha, I'd love to spend some time getting to know them better.

Finally, went to a couple of creches in Philippi. Happened to get there at nap time... 16 kids piled next to each other on a flat mattress on the floor. They were pretty much piled up on each other. I told them I'd be back to help out some time... I figure next time I'm there, it won't be as quiet :P

Again, a mixture of depressing sights of the way they live, but yet these programs bring such smiles to the most unfortunate people. I know it sounds like I'm preaching on how awesome Ikamva is, but it's true! It's great to see the seniors and little kids and helpers laughing and gossipping in Xhosa (which BY THE WAY, coolest language ever!! Lots of clicking and throat "tche" sounds and it sounds like they're singing the whole time... wish I knew what they were saying).

Tomorrow I'll be going back to the Health & Nutrition Centre with Monica (who's in charge of the gardens) to figure out how and where to build drip irrigation systems and greenhouses... should be interesting. Helen, the president, seems to think I know how to build these... soooo... hello internet. You and I are going to be good friends for this. Will let you know how things progress ;)

uh oh spaghettios

So alas I don't have internet where I'm living, so internet cafe it is... but that doesn't give me a lot of time to write on here.

I wrote an entry 2 nights ago (a long one), but yea.. it's on my laptop. So I'll post it once I find a wifi hotspot :)

Loving it here so far. It's both beautiful and heartwrenching. Such a mix of great nature (mountains, ocean, blue skies, vegetation, friendly people), while at the same time the stark contrast of the poor townships outside of the city.... that consist of all shacks plopped next to each other, pregnant children, mothers carrying 4 babies, their poor and unhealthy lifestyle.

Helen, the creator and president of Ikamva, took me there. She's an amazing woman in all that she and her organization have done. Will keep you guys updated.

Tomorrow, going back to the townships to see what programs Ikamva does with them.