I was relaxing WHERE?!

Hi!  I thought I would do a quick update blog!

One piece of news is that I will be switching my service site.  It had nothing to do with the site I was at, but I really wanted to be working with children and unfortunately that site was not the place for that to happen.  I will more than likely end up in a school, but I will have more news next week.

This weekend a few of us went for a hike at the Silvermine Nature Reserve.  It was very very beautiful.  It was rocky and then forest-y and just wow!  At the top there was a cave where we just sat and relaxed for a while and looked out at the amazing view.  Then back at the bottom there was a nice relaxing reservoir where we took a swim!  Here are some pictures!

Yesterday we went to the Cape Town Holocaust Museum.  At first I was a bit confused why there would even BE a Holocaust museum in Cape Town.  However, once I was there it all made sense.  It not only talked about the Holocaust, but it talked about how some survivors fled to Cape Town or even moved post-Holocaust.  It also made some connections between the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust to the treatment of the South African people during Apartheid which I found very interesting!  Any time I see or read about the Holocaust, I get extremely emotional.  The museum was just very powerful.  However, there was one paragraph on the wall that really stuck out to me and hit me hard. Here is a photo of it:  

This really just hit me like a blow to the chest for so many reasons.  First...that is me.  It made me sick to think that if I was alive during the Holocaust, myself and my family could have been persecuted against and possibly even killed.  Even though I identify as a Catholic and was baptized, confirmed, etc, I had Jewish blood and that was all that mattered to them.  The second reason this really hit hard for me was because I connected it to South Africa.  Just like people with Jewish blood, black and coloured South Africans did not CHOOSE their ancestry.  However, they were persecuted because of it.  It was beyond their control who they were born to and what blood they had flowing through their veins.  This one paragraph...something I probably already knew but did not really THINK about...really struck me.

I had some video that I took these last two weeks, but I decided I am going to hold off showing that until later on in the trip.  I'd like to record some more stuff and put it all together!

Anyway, I'm not really sure what is planned for this upcoming week and weekend.  Tomorrow I am going to visit my friend Carra at her school that she is teaching at to observe and see how she runs her classroom to get some ideas.  Other than that, I have no idea where this week will take me!

I do have ONE piece of VERY exciting news though!  Over Easter break while I am here, I will be going with our landlord and a group of students on the trip for a 5-day white water rafting and camping trip in Namibia!  And this is no longer a Cub Scout camping trip...this is the real deal!  (If you flash back to last week's blog, you can see where Namibia is on the map).

Anyway, if you have questions please keep asking them!  To see the rest of the pictures from the hiking trip as well as a bunch of other things, click HERE.  It's the same album as always of photos, but I am constantly adding new photos at the bottom.  TALK TO YOU ALL SOON!

PS- I am always happy to accept mail while I'm here!  Ask me for the address!

LET'S LEARN ABOUT AFRICA!

OK so I feel like there are some people (cough cough my family) who may need a little bit of education about South Africa.  This post is going to just be dedicated to hopefully teaching ya'll a little bit about WHERE I am and WHAT South Africa is like.

This is a map of the world:

There are 7 continents.
The top yellow is where America is.
The blue is Africa.

Here is Africa close up:

At the bottom you can see South Africa.  That is the COUNTRY I am in.  Africa is the continent, South Africa is the country.

Here is a map of South Africa:

It is broken into 9 provinces.  This would be like the states in America.  I am in Western Cape.  In Western Cape I live in Cape Town, which is a city.  Inside the city of Cape Town I am staying in Observatory, which is a suburb.

Ok let me break this down into a nice chart:

WORLD->AFRICA->SOUTH AFRICA->WESTERN CAPE->CAPE TOWN->OBSERVATORY.

Got it? Good.  Here's a little bit about South Africa, or at least some of the things I think you should know:

• South Africa has 11 official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu
• The census breaks South Africans into 4 main racial groups: Black, White, Coloured, and Indian/Asian.  Coloured is a term almost exclusively used as a race in South Africa.  To say "mixed race" would be too simplistic, but for the purposes of this basic blog I will leave it at that.
• The poverty rate is SAID to be around 25%.  However, it is definitely higher.  One statistic says that 70% of Black South Africans are unemployed. (US unemployment rate is about 7%)
• The currency is known as the Rand.  Typically, the conversion was about $1 in US dollars was equal to 10 Rands.  However, the Rand's value is declining and right now it is about $1 USD to 11 Rands.
• Only about 12.1% of the country has had some form of education past high school, and only about 26% have completed high school. (An average of 71% of Americans have graduated from high school)
• South Africans during a political election vote for the PARTY they want to rule.  The party then chooses the President.  Right now, the party in control is the African National Congress, the party that Nelson Mandela stood behind and chose him to be president from 1994-1999.  The current president is Jacob Zuma.  He currently has 6 wives.

Let's leave it at that for now.  HOWEVER, I challenge everyone that has actually read this post to this point to comment with a question they have and I will do my best to answer them all in my best blog!!

OK, now let's talk about Apartheid.

To put it very simply for those that may not know, Apartheid was a system of racial segregation throughout South Africa by the government from around 1948-1994.  This was during the National Party's government reign (that was the political party).  I cannot really explain in words how terrible this was.  People were forcibly removed from where they were living and relocated.  All the while, there was violence and uproar throughout the entire country.  Thousands of people were killed in shootings, beatings, etc.  It basically tore this country to shreds.  While Apartheid is technically over, its remnants are still visible throughout the country.  In fact, there are some areas where people are still living in groups with people of their own race because they never moved after Apartheid ended.  

I was not alive for the Civil War...I wasn't alive for the Civil Rights Movement...but what is CRAZY is that I WAS alive during Apartheid.  The "technical" date of the end of Apartheid is debatable, but may say it was on the day of the 1994 elections where ALL RACES were allowed to vote for the first time.  What was that date?  April 27, 1994.  The day of my 1st birthday.  Anyone born after April 27, 1994 is known as "The Born Free Generation" because they were not born during Apartheid.  I am living in a house with people and going to school with people that are part of this Born Free Generation, but I am not.  I lived during this time.  I may not remember it, but it is CRAZY to think how recent such a terrible event happened.  

OK, I think I've probably exhausted your brains for now.  I hope you learned a little bit.  Please post a question about something you want to know in the comments, or if you would like me to clarify anything further.  THANKS FOR READING!  I have a lot of exciting things coming up (including a video), so stay ready!

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN CRAZY!

Hey all!  Sorry it's been a while since I posted last.  It has been a busy week!  To sum it up:

-I finally began classes!  I am taking a Tourism Planning course, a Psychopathology course, a Visual History course, Theology of Forgiveness, and Leaders in Grassroots Organizations.  So far, the classes are going well!

-I started at my service site!  I am going to be at Saartjie Baartman, which is a center for women and children who are survivors of abuse.  While I am still getting adjusted, it looks like I will be doing some different activities with the children, as well as running different types of support groups and activities for the women.  Due to the nature of my site, I am bound by confidentiality and will not be able to post photos or stories.  I will, however, let you know what I personally am doing there!

-Last weekend I went to the V & A Waterfront, which is a VERY NICE area right on the bay!  There are stores, museums, food markets, arts and crafts exhibits, etc.  We went to the aquarium, took a tugboat ride, visited a Nelson Mandela art exhibit, and a few other things.  It was a really great day!

There have been a lot of emotions running through my head lately.  I have had some very interesting experiences, and have learned so much.  My next post will more than likely be a brief history/geography lesson for those of you that may not be so great at that (yes, I'm talking to you mom).  Keep your eye out for that!  In the meantime, here are a few photos from the last few weeks.  You can see more on my Facebook album here.

Hanging from a WHAT?!

Ok so this is not going to be a long post, but I just wanted to update you all on the CRAZY experience I had yesterday.  15 of us decided to go REPELLING DOWN WATERFALLS!  Now you see, in theory this sounds easy.  However, when you are carrying a backpack and trying to do it....your gravity gets a bit thrown off to say the least.  So the first waterfall I repelled down I ended up hanging upside down from a rope for a good while.  The woman kept telling me GET UP, STAND UP, but it was not that simple.  The backpack had my balance sooooo thrown off, I just basically rolled down the rest of the waterfall.  Good thing there were 4 other waterfalls that I DID NOT keep the backpack on for!  I got a little scraped up and such but it was totally worth it.

It really was an absolute blast.  This took place on private property, so we were the only ones there.  The water flowing was SO clean and amazing.  We drank right out of the river and waterfall, and it was cleaner and better tasting than even the tap at home.  The waterfalls were pristine and the views were incredible!  We also went cliff jumping.  I only did the one that was about 20 feet, but it was still surreal.  We started on the top of the mountain about 3000 feet up, and just worked our way down.  It was an unbelievable experience.  I have only a few pictures right now, but the action pictures will be posted on Facebook in the next few days once our tour guide sends us the pictures he took so KEEP AN EYE OUT!

This week I start all my classes as well as my service.  I will post another update in a few days!