Adventures With My Home Stay Dad

On Saturday, I went on an adventure all around the Southern and Western areas of Cape Town with my home stay Dad. We spent the whole day driving around the area, and it helped me to gain a better understanding of the layout of the city. Alan, my home stay Dad, also showed me where he grew up, where he worked, and where various members of the family lived. He was a great guide and it was a great bonding time. 

The first place Alan took me was a township. For those of you who don’t know, a township is a neighborhood of people whose families were removed from their homes during the forced removals under the apartheid government. Townships are only black or colored, and for the most part they are separated by race. The houses in townships lack plumbing and often electricity. There are communal outhouses, but sanitation there is poor. 

Typical houses in Langa, the first township Alan and I visited. 

Memorial to Amy Biehl, and American student who was killed when dropping a friend off in the township of Guguletu. 

A barbershop run out of an old shipping container, a very common building material for shops in townships. Barbershops are at the center of the communities: they are where people go for local gossip and news. You’ll see dozens of barbershops driving through the townships. Each neighborhood has its own. 

This is a billboard in one of the townships for the ANC, or the African National Congress, the current majority party in the South African Government.

A poor shot of a neighborhood in Guguletu, but it shows that these neighborhoods of shanties extend for as far as the eye can see. 

Fish and chips at a shop in the Northern suburbs-my first fish and chips in South Africa. The fish is called Snoek, an Afrikaans name, common in the southern hemisphere. Very yummy and one of the Cape’s primary exports.

The view of Muizenberg, the beach I spoke about a couple posts earlier, from above. It was a VERY windy day, so the waves were immense. The Cape Winds, also known as the Cape Doctor because they supposedly blow all the winter germs away in the spring, are well known for perennially keeping Cape Tonians cold. Without the wind it might be kind of warm here in the winter. 

This man’s job description: shark watcher. He sits in this hut all day watching the coast for sharks. If he sees one, he calls down to the beach and they evacuate everyone from the water. His job is really important because even on a freezing day like this one, the surfers are out taking advantage of the huge waves. 

Don’t worry, I’ll be Shark Smart. This sign is printed in three of the 11 official languages of South Africa: English, Afrikaans, and I believe Xhosa. Sharks are pretty common around here. In fact, diving with sharks is a common tourist attraction here… I don’t think I’ll be participating, more because the water is so cold right now than because of the sharkies. 

Me and Just Nuisance, a famous fisherman’s dog in Simon’s Town, a touristy coastal village from which many colored people were forcibly removed. Now its a largely white area. Just Nuisance apparently knew how to use the train on his own and would take advantage of that frequently. 

At Boulders Beach, penguins hang out by the water. I found this little guy hiding in a bush. There are tons of penguins everywhere… Which my brother Liam is fully aware of because he had an experience with one last time we were in Cape Town. 

…And now he has a beak shaped scar on his thumb to remember it by. They don’t joke about this stuff. Which is why I’m going to listen to the signs that warn me not to feed the baboons by the side of the road…

After Alan showed me around, I went with two other home stay kids, Zack and Dan, who live 3 doors down from me, to a Braai at their host parent’s brother’s house. A Braai is a South African barbeque and the food is GREAT. Above is some more Snoek, seasoned perfectly and grilled above a fire outside. At the Braai, there were 3 South African students, 2 Colombian students, and then the three of us Americans. It was so great hanging out with people from three different continents and hearing about their travels and life experience, and what its like to be a student in different places. I spent most of my time talking to the two Colombian students, Camila and Alejandro, and made plans to hang out with them when they’re in NYC for New Years. 

This is what they call a “pot”, pretty self-explanatory. It was cooked in the bottom half of a keg over coals, and served over rice and it tasted incredible. 

Yemmy. 

My internet is a lot more reliable now that I have access to the UCT system. I have a quota of 3Gs worth of internet service per month, so I can respond to emails now, at least in the beginning of each month before I run out…And the end of this month because I’ve only had internet access in July for a few days.