Last Friday morning I woke up bright and early in order to keep up with my ritual of watching the sun-rise and arrival of the ship in our new temporary home. The past few ports, especially Ghana, have seemed almost anti-climactic as we looked out and saw where we were headed…they were absolutely beautiful in their own ways…especially as I got off the ship and explored, but not as flashy and exciting as we Americans are used to seeing. I got out of my bed at around 5:30 am and opened the shade of window. The gasp I let out as I saw what was outside my window literally woke my roommate up and scared the #@!* out of her. I saw lights everywhere surrounded by beautiful mountains and water. The excitement I felt hardly allowed me enough time to even brush my teeth, and within moments I was out of my room and running up to the observation deck. I highly encourage you, if you've never seen it, to google an image of Cape Town right now. It is the most amazing city built on the shores with a mountain called Table Mountain right in the middle and tons of other mountains surrounding. It was truly breathtaking.
The level of excitement on the observation deck would have made you think it was a Saturday night after everyone had had a couple of drinks…you never would have known it was actually 6 am. We all took pictures, sang the lion King intro song, the Shakira World Cup song, and acted like crazy children. This was the first port where we had to go through face-to-face immigrations so we all then had breakfast and alternated standing in line and having our passports stamped. Finally, we heard those beautiful words that we wait to hear every port—We've been cleared by immigrations and the gangway is now open. Myself and a friend literally ran off the ship with no plans for the day. We docked right next to a beautiful area called the V&A Waterfront which reminded me a bit of the inner harbor at home. A shuttle took us from the dock to the Waterfront and let us off right in front of a mall. A MALL! We couldn't believe our eyes. After over a month, we stood in front of what I like to call modernization (not civilization—civilization is a word I strongly dislike as a means of describing malls and restaurants). We stepped into the mall to use the ATMS and get some Rhand (the local currency in South Africa). I also was able to snag a quick cheap sim card that I put into my phone and used to call home and hear my parents and brother's voices a couple of times! Then, we ran into a group of SASers—or the new terms circulating the ship, SASholes. This group told us that they were trying to get more people to share a large cab with and go to a place called Boulders Beach. They'd heard that this beach is beautiful and has penguins running freely. Well, I love penguins and I love beaches so my friend Eshley and I said why not!?
We jumped into a cab with our new driver friend named Norman. Norman agreed to take us there (a 45 minute drive each way) and back for a cheap price. On the way there I sat right next to Norman and asked him all sorts of questions. I don't think he was used to these questions because he didn't seem to prepared to answer them, but he did his best and was certainly pleasant. He told me how to say a couple of phrases in Afrikaans. Then, he handed me a copy of the tabloids for the day and I laughed as I read stories like: "boy turns into snaked in front of everyone's eyes at school". The drive alone was absolutely beautiful. We passed beach after beach and saw mountains all around us. When we got there I was bummed that the awesome car ride was over but eagerly jumped out of the van. We made our way towards a boardwalk that takes you to the actual beach. As we walked along we saw the water in front of us and even a few penguins on the other sides of the fences.
We got to the beach entrance and entered one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, and certainly the most unique. The water was crystal clear and blue at the same time. It was surrounded by huge white stones that were filled with PENGUINS. I was kinda bummed that we couldn't touch the penguins…apparently they snap at you…sounds like my old dog Saffy! Still though, I got pretty close to them, admired their cuteness and snapped a few photos. I climbed up one of the rocks and looked out at the beautiful coast-line. After a little while, I decided to try out the water. It was absolutely freezing at first, but after a few moments turned out to be just the right amount of refreshing. It was also on the Indian Ocean side of Cape Town, so it was my first time in the Indian Ocean!!! AH!!!! I made friends with a young couple and their two year old daughter who were visiting from the even larger South African city of Johannesburg. They told me that they come to Cape Town once or twice a year to visit family. Their daughter, Emma, was absolutely adorable…it's funny how hearing a little kid speak English with an accent can just make your heart melt. She kept digging her hands in the sand and running up to me with globs of wet sand saying look, I found a treasure! She must have done this at least 10 times…each time I tried to respond with a different yet equally excited respones that made her thing I was in total disbelief that she could find something so awesome. Kids are so funny…the littlest things like wet sand can be a treasure to them ya know?
We walked around the beach for a while and would have totally stayed in the area for the night if it weren't for some FDP's (field directed programs—essentially field trips that you have to take with your professors) that we all needed to get back for that afternoon/evening. We left after a while to make our way back towards the city and Norman decided to drive us on a different, yet equally beautiful route back to the city.
When we got back I went into the city with friends Eshely and Bari. The two of them are both from Calorado and both couldn't believe how much downtown Cape Town reminded them of Denver with the mountains in the backgroun. I can't say the same for my home town, but I definitely appreciated the beauty. We were all super hungry and ran into the first restaurant we could find. In 4 ports, this was the first restaurant that reminded me of home. We had menus, cashiers, we were given numbers after we ordered and sat nicely and waited for out food. It's weird how Western this place was and how at home I felt. It also felt a bit unnatural coming from Ghana and the Amazon and learning all the lessons I had learned. Still, we got our food and enjoyed it thoroughly. Then, we simply explored and walked around. We stumbled on a flea-market ands lots of other SASers/SASholes (you choose). We shopped a bit. I ran into a friend from the ship…a man who goes by his last name which is Bagel who works on the ship. He looked frazzeled and told me that he had been staring at a piece of art of the last hour and a half and couldn't decide if he should buy it for his home or not. I agreed to come take a look at it. I also promised that I wouldn't react to strongly one way or the other so that I wouldn't sway him too much. He took me into this awesome little art gallery and I looked at all the amazing pieces. Then we stopped at one and I could see in his face that this was the one. Art is a funny thing, some people connect to it, some people not at all. For me, I connect to a certain type of art. Scenery and setting pieces are beautiful, but they don't touch me so much…I tend to be much more affected by pieces with people. My taste in art also reflects me as a person…as I've learned so far on SAS, I would choose hanging out with a local in the home all day any day over going to see some beautiful sight. That's what makes us all uniquely different, is our preferences. Well, the piece he has picked out literally took my breath away, it was a Black woman with her hair up just staring into the distance with such a pensive look on her face. I know it sounds simple, but it was really beautiful. I didn't want to sway him too much, as I'd promised, so I gave him some advice I've learned from my parents throughout the years. I told him to go on the 3 day trip he had planned with his wife, and if he was still thinking about it when he got back…then go get it! I asked him today on the ship and he told me he had gotten it!
After leaving the flea-market, we made our way towards a "Pan-African artist market". This place was similar to a flea-market, it was just more art-based. It was up in some building and we walked around inside of it for a while before stumbling on a super cool café on the balcony. We sat down for a refresher and looked out at the city. When we finished with our drinks it was about 6:00, so we headed back towards the V&A Waterfront in order to make it in time for our FDP's which started at 7:30. We got back to the ship with about 45 minutes to shower and change for the evening.
I was signed up to go on an FDP that night titled "Jazz Safari". I haven't had the best experiences with FDP's so far, just because I don't like having to travel in such large groups and appear to be such tourists as we all exit the bus at once and invade a location. This one though, was very different. Only about 10 of us got into a smaller van and made our way into a Township. The townships here are the areas where you see lots of poverty and lots of racial divide. When we got to the township we were told it wasn't safe to walk around and to go straight into the hosts house. We got into this house and a long table was set up for us. We were immediately welcomed by the mother of the home—Shiela. She welcomed us with open arms and told us all to sit down. Then we were introduced to a woman named Zami (Shiela's daughter) and Zami's uncle.
Zami explained to us that she is a Jazz musician. She is currently trying out for the South African version of American Idol and trying to do everything in her power to "make it". She started off by playing a song in her native language of (Xi)ousa…the Xi is actually a click sound you make with your tongue and then say ousa afterwards. Needless to say, it's not the easiest thing to speak for non-native speakers. The first song she sang was absolutely beautiful. She explained that it was a song about a friend you have growing up, and when it's time to reconnect you find you don't have much to actually connect with them over, and how sad that can be, but how it is reality…She wrote this song herself. When it was over we all clapped and cheered. One of the life-long learners said something that I really agreed with. He explained how we were in a small little living room with absolutely no acoustics whatsoever and yet she just not only filled the room with incredible music but demanded our attention at the same time. She sang a couple of other songs, one of them about apartheid, in her native language including, the "Click song". This song was SO insane, it had clicks every other word and at one point I'm pretty sure she went into a bit of a "click rap". She also handed up a few little side instruments like a tambourine, to us to help contribute and be a part of the music. Then, she sang the song that she used to audition for Idol. She sang a very beautiful, passionate and incredibly powerful version of Ain't no sunshine. Afterwards, she sang a few more songs, her uncle even joined in a couple of times and honestly sounded like he was straight off the streets of New Orleans just hanging out and doing his thing like he does every night. At one point, her mother, Sheila came out and started dancing and singing with all of us. The atmosphere was beautiful.
After a lot of awesome music we had some dinner that was so graciously prepared by Sheila. She made lots of yummy chicken, spinach, salad, vegetables, and other little dishes here and there. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal. I don't care whose home it is…whenever a meal is prepared on a stove in someone's kitchen that they use everyday, you can taste it. After dinner was over we did a little more "jamming out" and hanging out with the family. With my mother's voice in my head I helped gather the plates from the table and brought them into the kitchen. Sheila laughed at me and couldn't believe I was helping. I told her that she deserved to relax a bit and she was actually very grateful and allowed me to help a bit with the dishes. When I'm a guest in someone's house I hate being treated with that "guest attitude" where the guest can't even lift a finger. For me, it's a nice way to show appreciation, so I enjoyed getting to help her clean up and making the mess a little easier on her. She kept thanking me for coming into her home and coming to see her and her family and all I could say back was are you crazy!? Thank you so much for welcoming us into your home!
Towards the end we did a few last songs and wrapped up. Zami brought out her CD and every single person in the group wanted to buy it. I even had her sign it for me J! I had such an amazing time in their home that evening, but something struck me as we got back in the van and left the township. This woman, Zami, was probably one of the most talented people I have ever seen in person. Her voice was absolutely beautiful and very unique, she also played the African drums and guitar with such innate musicality. Zami is SO talented and deserves so much to be able to share her gift and love with the world, but due to the simple chance of being born into the location she was born into, her chance for opportunity is SO much lower than others. It's crazy to me to think that someone as talented as her is for all intensive purposes "stuck" in this tiny little township in South Africa…now imagine just how many more Beethovens, Einsteins, Shakespears, Arethra Franklins…etc…that there could have been/could be in the world that just haven't been given the opportunity. When we got back from South Africa I went to a reflection session that is optional after every port and a peer shared a story about an artist that he met that was a beautiful painter who was lucky enough to be discovered out of his township by a traveler years ago. My peer, Justin, explained how he felt so happy for the artist he'd met, and how lucky the artist had been…but how he (Justin) couldn't stop thinking about how many more artists there were in just that same township that hadn't been so lucky. It was like Justin took the words out of my head and only proved them more.
Stay tuned for Day 2!
Steph
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