Eating and Beaching

Last Thursday, two staff from VAC invited us to their house in Nyanga (a township not too far from where I work in Cross Roads).  We arrived with a greeting by a local music/dance group.  At first I was very unsure of my feelings towards this event.  I have spent little time in townships, but from what I understand, they are very poor areas that the blacks, coloureds, and Indians were forced to live in under the Apartheid, and although that is now ended, many still live in the townships and have been unable to rise from the poverty and suppression of previous decades.  However, many successful Africans will choose to remain in the townships even after they achieve "success" in our perhaps distorted mindset of wealth equals success and happiness.  Andrew, who works for VAC, is one of those that has remained in the township and lives in a modest, yet beautiful house in a vibrant area.  As I have witnessed the respect he has of both colleagues and of his community, I began to feel at ease at the idea of the Braai and local entertainment. The uneasy feeling of "White Tourist Comes to Poor Africa" lightened and in set a night of friends sharing cultural traditions and good food.  

True Cape Jazz -  this kid was exceptional

Traditional South African food is centered around a Braai, and this night, our plates were filled with ribs, chicken, and sausage along with a vegetable satay over "pap".  Pap is very similar to grits and a local staple.  Bland by itself, pap adds great depth and texture to the meal and attributed to my reaching food coma status by the end of the night.

Traditional South African Braai as prepared by VAC staff, Ivy

On Saturday morning, I awoke early to head to the Old Biscuit Mill which is  foodies dream come true.  Local artisans set up their organic food, crafts, and clothes for South Africans and tourists to file in throughout the day.  I am not an eloquent enough writer to describe the event (nor am I a great photographer, sorry), but simply put, it's Eastern Market on steroids.  Cheeses, meats, fruits, and veggies proudly serve as the base to the Mill but you can get burgers, pizza, falafel, flat breads, frozen yogurt and my favorite, Belgium Waffles.  Organic Heaven.  

This weekend I spent as much time at the beach as possible.  On Saturday, I went to Muizenberg and my friend Bryant taught me to surf.  I got up twice so I'm considering a life change and going pro.  But seriously, surfing is hard!  It looks so easy in the movies, you just swim out and catch a wave--in real life, the swimming out part took about 30 minutes and after each wave you had another 15 minute trek back out to where you started.  I still enjoyed the rush of adrenaline riding the wave and hope to surf more in the upcoming months here.

Muizenberg Beach, where I learned to surf

I also went down to Simons Town and Boulder Beach where penguins own the beaches.  It was very similar to my experience in Peninsula Valdez in Puerto Madryn, Argentina, penguins relaxing on the rocks and beach, just doing their own thing.  Overall, it's a beautiful experience to lie on the beach and share that experience with the penguins.  Who knew we were so alike?

Boulder Beach, Simons Town.  Can you spot the penguins?

In sum, the beaches here are beautiful so cheers to many more weekends at the beach.

First days in Cape Town

Molo, Unjani?

Last Saturday, after the 26 hour trip to get to Cape Town, I arrived safely in the hands of my friend Cydnee who was kind enough to be my chauffeur and guide for the weekend.  Refusing to allow myself to get jet lagged, we went to lunch with a group of her friends at a local chain cafe.  It was a nice ex-pat group travelling through Southern Africa and hearing their stories of work and travel only excited me more about the upcoming months of travelling and people-meeting.

Cydnee and I out my first night

The weekend included a braai (Afrikaaner's word for bbq) where I got to meet South Africans,  Zimbabweans, and other Americans, touring around Greenpoint (Cydnee's neighborhood), and an outdoor concert at Kirstenbosch Park to see Johnny Clegg perform.  Kirstenbosch might be one of the most scenic and lush places I've been--definitely the coolest outdoor concert venue I've been.

Johnny Clegg Concert

Kirstenbosch

It was great to see Johnny Clegg perform and watch the dancing woman and crowd.  Cydnee mentioned that South Africans are serious picnicers but it was nothing I imagined.  The food, drinks, and overall geniality of the experience was very inspiring.

Over the last few days, I've moved into my house in which I'm renting a room with mostly other volunteers and travellers from Oregon, Michigan, Germany, Australia, and then two local South Africans who have been a great source to turn to for the millions of questions I ask.  I've also gone through a Cape Town orientation and traveled around the city to get my bearings.  It's not a lie that this is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

View of Cape Town from Table Mountain Road

Camps Bay

Yesterday I started interning at Cross Roads Community Health Clinic, a primary/basic care health center that is overflowing with people, understaffed, and very hot, but the spirit of the sisters (nurses) and staff is exceptionally high and I've enjoyed meeting everyone.  In South Africa, most of the blacks speak Xhosa (the x is a click, so it kind of sounds like "Khosa" but with a click instead of a "K"), so the language barrier has proved to be a little frustrating but I do love listening to it and hearing all the clicks as it so strange to anything I've ever heard before.

Cross Roads Community Health Center

I spent the first day in the BANC (Basic AnteNatal Care) Center after I told them of my interest in obstetrics.  Basically, BANC is a WHO-initiative for women to receive antenatal care until they are 32-34 weeks pregnant (as long as they are healthy).  This relieves stress on the actual maternity clinics and labor wards as they only take charge of those with high risk pregnancies and those at the end of pregnancy.  Sister Siyo was the only nurse in the unit and her role was to listen to the heart beat (no Doppler, just a little wooden instrument that looks like a horn that she puts up to the stomach to hear), check vitals, and measure the women.  If something is abnormal, she refers the patient to the doctor, and I actually walked a patient and presented her case to the doctor yesterday.  She told me it was good practice for my future career, and overall, I am so thankful for all her guidance and encouragement throughout the day and hope to spend more time with her.

Today I spent the day in the pharmacy, where I never imagined going, but it was a very enlightening process.  The pharmacy was about what you might think, very similar to US pharmacies but slightly less efficient and about 100x more chaotic.  The great thing about being back there was talking to all the staff--it was a day spent learning and teaching about our respective cultures.  I learned that the inside of a cow is apparently the best meat, and they were SHOCKED that I've never had cow heart.  They were also shocked at how "plain and normal" (their words) I look as they assumed Americans all look like Beyonce--where was all my bling??  I'm glad I could set that straight for them.

Noluyolo and I in the pharmacy

Overall it's been a great time in Cape Town.  I'm going to another Braai tonight with my program out in the township of Nyunga where they'll be music, "street soccer" and tons of food.  This weekend, I will be hiking up Elephant's Eye and spending as much time on the beach as possible.  Next week, I'm looking forward to more work in the clinic, Xhosa classes, and as always, meeting new people!  Cheers :)

Headed to Cape Town!

Tomorrow I head to Cape Town.  As most of you know, I’m interested in public health and going to medical school in August.  Before I head to school, I have to get some traveling out of my system—I have a rather irrational fear that after med school I’m going to be so broke and indebted to banks and government and parents that I will never travel again.  So here’s to making the most of the next seven months!

For the first two months, I’ll be interning at Crossroads Community Health Center in the Crossroads township outside of Cape Town.  I am eager to gain exposure to South Africa’s health care system and its treatments for infectious disease and maternal health.  After the internship, I’ve got a blank slate.  I want to make the most out of my current freedom and be open and flexible, so if you have any suggestions, shoot them my way—I’m thinking Southeast Asia.

In the meantime, I’ll keep you up to date on what’s happening in Cape Town.  If you’ve made it this far and you’re not related to me, congrats, I’ll try not to bore you. 

Side note: I started (and stopped) this blog about a year and a half ago when I lived and worked in DC and thought I was interesting and novel.  I like to believe that I have greater self awareness and realize that I am not as witty and appreciated as I so naively assumed.   Feel free to read past entries—hope you get a good laugh.