Cape Town!

So whoever happens to be reading this, wherever you may be, I STRONGLY encourage you to go to Cape Town. Seriously, guys. It’s awesome.

Let me tell you about some of the highlights of my week…

I’d have to say my favorite place to be in Cape Town, despite all the amazing and unique tourist spots, would have to be the beach. As was the case with Maputo, I pretty much freaked out when we got to the beach in Cape Town – and this was even better, because the water was clean enough to swim. We went to Camps Bay, a really gorgeous beach with views of all the mountains in Cape Town, palm trees, ice cream vendors, and oceanside restaurants (clearly, the essential ingredients for a nice beach…?) Really, it could have had none of these things, and I still would have been happy. Just being at the beach turns me into a little kid – there we striking resemblances to the toddlers stomping through the water at the shoreline, and me… stomping through the water at the shoreline.

When we first got to the beach we saw some guys surfing on the shoreline. Being the pushy guy that I am, I went up to them and asked them if I could try (despite the fact that I didn’t have a suit and was wearing jeans). I figured it couldn’t have been much different from skateboarding, which I was semi-decent at long ago. They let me have a go, and Sebastian got some good video of me… falling off the surfboard and faceplanting.

Hard.

Five times in a row.

So much for being like a skateboard.

In any case, it was funny and made for some good memories (and a few hip bruises).

Watching the sunset at the beach was also really awesome – I encourage all those who haven’t to watch the sunset at the beach at least once. Put it on your bucket list.

Among our other touristy activities, we also visited Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope (the southernmost tip of Africa). We made the bookings with a tour company called the Green Cab, an eco-friendly tour company that provided transport to the Capes with a knowledgeable and friendly driver who told us about Cape Town, Simon’s Town, Cape Point, and the Cape of Good Hope. We spent about an hour at Cape Point, pretty much just enjoying the view and the awesome weather that the day offered. It was beyond gorgeous at Cape Point, watching the waves crash against the cliffs and feeling a slight breeze. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but here are some shots of Cape Point:

The Cape of Good Hope was also really nice –

So yeah. I spent most of my time at Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope imagining a world map, and thinking about where I was. Crazy.

A few days later we took the ferry out of Robben Island – while once an island for societal exiles, the island has spent the last few centuries as a prison for the highest grade of criminals that society has to offer. This includes political prisoners, and Robben Island is most famous for being Nelson Mandela’s place of imprisonment for nearly two decades. We had a fantastic tour of Robben Island – half was spent in a bus touring around the main facilities of the once-operational prison, and half was spent inside one of the compounds, where we learned more about the life of the prisoners. Both of our tour guides were phenomenal – for the former, we had a very insightful guide who added many of his own personal comments and offered his own perceptions about the nature of apartheid. He spoke about apartheid being so effective because it didn’t set up physical boundaries, but rather, worked by manipulating people’s perceptions of one another. It’s like we always say in Arizona – if we build a bigger wall at the border, those coming over will just get bigger ladders. Physical boundaries will always be conquered by the innovation of those who want to get across. But apartheid utilized people’s weaknesses in character, their hastiness in forming prejudices about other people – this is why it was such an effective (and diabolical) system. Along with this, he added the warning that, while the political system of apartheid may be over, we still possess the same weaknesses in character – it’s what makes us human. We therefore need to check ourselves and make sure that we don’t repeat the same mistakes that led us down that horrible path.

In any case, I thought he was a brilliant guide and a generally insightful person.

Our second guide was a prisoner at Robben Island for seven years, and thus was able to provide some more intimate details about prison life, food, sleeping, work, and prison social classes. As he was also a political prisoner, he told us that political prisoners were considered the most dangerous class of criminals to come into Robben Island – more dangerous than murderers, child rapists, or anyone else. This is because political prisoners are considered the most influential of all the prisoners in Robben Island, and have not physical power, but power over the mind. He took us to see Mandela’s old cell – there was a huge crowd around trying to get pictures, so my snapshot isn’t that good, but take a look –

 

I’m not usually big on guided tours and stuff like that, but the Robben Island tour was excellent.

For you folks that are familiar with Cape Town, you’ll know that our last big tourist stop was Table Mountain. We saved it for Sunday morning because we heard that Long Street Backpackers (the backpackers we’re staying at) offered a free guided hike up the mountain. We woke up on Sunday, psyched to have a guided tour up the impressive mountain, and walked outside to see…

Overcast skies. The tour offered by the backpackers had been cancelled, and a hotline providing Table Mountain weather described visibility as “poor”, temperatures as “very cold”, and wind as “strong”. Yikes. We really didn’t want to miss out on the hike, so we decided to hop in a cab up to the mountain so we could see for ourselves how bad it really was. We got to the cablecar station, near to the trailhead, and we greeted by excessive fog, heavy wind, and on-and-off rain. Tempted to turn around and go curl up at our backpackers with a cup of hot chocolate, we pushed onward, and told ourselves that if the weather was still horrible by the time we reached the trailhead, we would turn around. And by some amazing stroke of luck, the weather improved. I’m not saying birds started chirping and the clouds all disappeared to reveal a hidden rainbow… but it got somewhat better. It was still cold but the rain stopped, clouds parted in some areas, and the fog receded to the very top of the mountain. Woo! So we got to do our hike in what I considered to be pretty great hiking weather, got some pictures, and got to check Table Mountain off the list of Cape Town activities. Unfortunately, fog towards the top forced us to turn around… but that leaves the completion of the hike for next year. The lack of sun made the pictures kind of meh, but here are some –
 

It was so great to hike again – the trail reminded me a lot of hiking in Tucson, although the weather was a stark contrast to what we’re used to at home.

Among all this, we’ve spent a lot of time in Cape Town just.. chilling. Watching movies, eating good food, catching up on sleep lost in term (one night I went to bed at seven… I’m such a party animal). It’s been really amazing, because that’s what I really wanted to get out of this break. Of course, I wanted to see parts of South Africa that I hadn’t seen before, but I also had the goal of chilling out max and relaxing all cool. And in this regard, my travel companions and I succeeded. It’s been a major highlight of the trip for me so far.

A final anecdote in my Cape Town adventures – one of the first nights we were here, we were out chilling on the balcony of our backpackers, and down about fifty yards from where we were, we saw orange cones, people with cameras and headsets, and people directing traffic and pedestrians. It looked like a movie was being shot (as the same group of extras kept walking by the same place), so we asked one of the camera guys what was going on. He shouts up to us, “It’s a movie being made. It’s starring Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington”. He says this and points to the place where they’re shooting the scene, where we see Ryan Reynolds chatting with a group of cameramen. So a few of us come down from the balcony and go across the street to watch the scene. Sure enough, they were shooting a scene (over and over) where Reynolds talks on the phone and walks along the street for a few yards. We saw nothing of Denzel (dang), but we were pretty certain that the guy was Ryan Reynolds. So if a movie comes out in the next two years with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington where they’re in Cape Town… yeah, I was there. I wanted to slip in with the extras but didn’t muster the stones (the lady directing them was scary) – maybe next time.

Tomorrow we set out for Mozambique – first to Maputo, and then to Tofo. I’ll be in touch when I can be – while I have no idea about internet access, I’m sure it’s not too hard to find.

Miss everyone lots, hope CDO kids had a wonderfully bawdy time at prom and are now having fun studying for AP exams – folks can laugh at me when I’m back in school and you all are on summer break. Stoked for graduation (almost) as much as you!

Stay well, wherever you may be. Live every moment to the fullest (and all that junk :)

Lots of love

Eli

The First in a Long Series of Ends

Hey guys –

So it’s my last day at Waterford for the term… tomorrow I embark on a month-long journey throughout South Africa and Mozambique with besties Jenny (Norway) and Sebastian (Germany). We’re going to be in Cape Town for ~two weeks and Tofo (Mozambique) for another two weeks. I’m totally stoked to see southern Africa, get a break from school, and chill for a little while. I’m still not sure if I’m bringing my computer, but I’ll try to come in with a few blog posts during the trip if I can.

These past few weeks have mostly been about wrapping up term, turning in final assignments, etc. We got our cycle grades (report cards, essentially) for the term – the marking here is very different than I’m used to, and IB allows students to get top marks with scores down to 85%; however, because of this, work is graded much less leniently. One of the aspects of WK that’s been difficult to get used to is consistently getting 72% on my essays… and having this considered a great score. Overall I’m very happy with my cycle grades, and hope I’m able to keep it up as I move through IB. Check it –

            HL Maths: 7+

            HL Biology: 6

            HL English A1: 6+

            SL Anthropology: 6

            SL SiSwati: 7

            SL Music: 6+

Last Saturday we had our first climbing commserve of the term – the climbing team at the school is affiliated with a group in Swaziland called “Climb Swaziland,” a group of WK alum who are trying to make climbing a more prominent sport in Swaziland. As part of this, the climbing team at Waterford uses climbing as an activity for community service in Swaziland. So on Saturday we had a group of teens from the Moya Centre in Swaziland come up the hill for a day of climbing. Lina, the woman who runs the organization, told us a few days before the commserve that the children are all classified as “vulnerable” due to past traumatic experiences in their lives – basically, this means that the children need the support of the center to avoid falling into poverty. Many of the teens were the principle breadwinners of their households, and some had to care for younger siblings as well. So the simple ability to come up to Waterford and have a day of climbing and activities was something really special for these kids. I had a great time (although I got a vicious sunburn on my forehead), and teaching the kids about climbing help me to see my own person growth in climbing ability since I arrived at Waterford.

And… these have mostly been the biggest things for me in the past week. The end of term has brought a lot of planning for future terms – already on the itinerary for next term is Bushfire (huge Swazi music festival), Grahamstown (huge South African music festival), and a possible backpacking trip in the Drackensburg Mountains with people from Climb Swaziland (gotta review these items with the ‘rents, though.) For now though, all sights are set on the twenty-four hour journey by bus to Cape Town that starts tomorrow morning at 6am. I’ve got to remember to charge my iPod…

Hope all is well at home, I’ll be counting down the days ‘till graduation with everyone else as I journey through SA and Moz. I’ve been slightly more homesick these past days, as most of my friends talk about going home, seeing old friends, eating good food… so yeah, just know that I miss you folks like crazy.

Love you lots, I’ll try to stay in touch in the coming weeks –

Eli

Full Weekends

[Standard delivery of apology for taking so long to update the blog]

Sorry, folks. Schoolwork combined with a horribly sluggish internet makes updating the blog one of the bigger chores of my stay here.

In the past few weeks we’ve been having some awesome weather. Pretty much every other day, we get a torrential thunderstorm. We had our first really legit Swazi thunderstorm last Tuesday. All day there was thunder, but at around 6:45 the rain started to come in. Soon after came the famous Swazi lightning – the sky was streaking with gorgeous bolts for hours (Seriously dad, if you ever want some good pictures of lightning, come back to Swaziland). The power cut out (of course), and people became but the lights of their cell phones that they had in front of their faces, trying to navigate through the pitch-black corridors. Most people gave up on their homework and simply took some time to watch the spectacle before going to bed. My friend Daniel counted thirty lightning flashes in one minute… it was magnificent. I popped in my iPod and sat at the window for a while – sure, I probably should have been doing homework, but these are the types of things you gotta watch.

These past two weekends have been extremely packed – it all begins two Fridays ago, when we had our first Anthropology field trip. We went out to Ngwenya Mines, a fairly popular tourist stop in Mbabane. However, we went with a guy named Bob Forrester (the old Anthropology teacher at WK), who was able to show us a totally new side to the tourist spot. We arrived and met up with Bob, who told us about the significance of the mines and the vast amount of iron deposits that still exist in the area. The huge quantity of iron in the area is significant because some of the first tribes in the area, thousands and thousands of years ago, used iron dust in the form of ochre to become spiritually connected to another realm. It is believed by anthropologists that this was done largely through the use of cave paintings. And while we weren’t able to see any cave paintings (at this location), Bob took us a little off the beaten track to show us a mine that anthropologists believe is the first in the world.

Lemme repeat that: The oldest mine in the world. Bob told us that only about 30 people have seen it in the past 40 years.

It was really spectacular – we went to the mine and just sat in silence for a while, and then talked about methods of digging and spiritual processes that are believed to have taken place in the mine. I’m not much of a Romantic… but I dunno, I found the mine really amazing. When I was sitting there, I felt like I was sitting at the center of the Earth… I also thought about the fact that, thousands and thousands of years ago, some of the first beings that we would recognize as people were sitting in the exact same spot.

So anyways… it was a really fantastic educational (and even spiritual) experience.

As a huge contrast, we got back from the mine at around six, I went to my cubie to change, and turned back around to perform in the Form 5 V-Show (“Vanity Show” – Basically, a talent show… on steroids). Every year, the lower forms organize a talent show where people can show off talents in whatever area they see fit. There was dancing, singing, and even a display of nunchuck skills. Practically the whole school was there, and people were going NUTS. I decided on a whim that I wanted to perform in the show with my friend Basti, just a few days earlier.

So with Basti as my drummer, I got up on stage and performed “A Thousand Miles” on the piano, accompanied by the voices of pretty much everyone in the audience. We had a tremendous amount of fun. I got video footage… It’s really funny. You can’t even hear me over the singing of the audience. If anybody from choir is reading this, it made me miss you all bunches, and reminded me of when we used to sing this before class.

March 26^th (Two Saturdays ago) was the date for Earth Hour. A couple awesome kids at WK, along with a club on campus called “Green Revolutionaries”, got most of the lights in the school turned out and organized a miniature acoustic performance in the amphitheatre. It was very UWC – green, sustainable, organic, etc. People played guitar, read poetry, and gave inspirational quotes. One of my co-years from the states (I’m sure I’ve mentioned Anne Caroline before) wrote a poem that is nothing short of phenomenal. Seriously, sitting a candlelit amphitheatre and hearing this poem just… blew me away. I’m going to put it here so it can live out immortally in the Internet:

Bubble 

I was looking at a bubble when I noticed

that rainbows appeared on its skin. 

The bubble rose up in the air 

I saw the world seen by those who walk on their heads 

A world where leaves sink deep into the sky-

growing trees with blossoming roots

Water flows up making canals,

Laugh lines in the sky 

Books read from Right to Left and

jump ropes make slapping noises as they brush the skies 

Mountains are stalactites that hang from the Heavens  

Tears fall up and everyone seems to be smiling 

This was a world where all women wear miniskirts and no one accuses them of “asking for attention”

Where the word “rape” is rearranged to spell “pear” and eaten with cottage cheese and raisins 

“Racism” almost makes “charisma” if you add a few letters 

A world where W.A.R is an acronym for We Are Reunited

there is no need for Peace marches so instead, knitting circles are held 

Katrina is only a name- and the Lower 9^th Ward is, of course, Upper 6^th Avenue 

In this world the only drugs are Endorphins and

people shoot up on Confidence 

There is no disrespect, disregard, or disinfectant.

Diseases are treated with plants and bark and meditation 

Humans have transparent skin and Obama STILL won the election 

I saw the Haitian buildings crumble up in defiance

Dusty-faced children scrambling from rubble into comfortable homes 

Afghani women wear what they want: Burka, Prada, or Nada 

Corporations are a silly name for relationships and

All the CO2 and Methane in the air turns to snowflakes which taste like tick tacks

Animals are not served for dinner but at dinner

The Oceans are as clear as the sky below and the rainbow fish is seen everyday 

Storks still fly belly up to deliver babies

So sex is purely for pleasure and abortion is unheard of 

The people live for sound of silence, right after laughter 

Cancer can be massaged out and

The only types of AIDS are lemonade and limeade 

Corn is eaten in tortillas and cornbread, and is not used for everything from soda, to building materials to vegetable sheen! 

Rivers flow upstream and Salmon are confused 

Every person is born with 2 eyes, a nose, 2 ears, and Health Care 

Adults and children alike hang by their knees on monkey bars to catch stardust on their tongues 

I wondered if this could be a dream or just the world which lives behind our closed Eyelids

I tried to swallow as much as I could but before my thirst was quenched 

The bubble flipped me right side up again… or was it wrong side down?

Much respect, AC.

Moving along, this past weekend was also extremely packed. This starts with Friday, directly after school, when I finally got the guts to shave my head. As something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, I was motivated by my friend Ane (IB2) (who did the honors). It looks good… although a LOT of people have told me that I look like I’m going to the military. Which I suppose is actually true. Think of how Simon Pegg looks in Hot Fuzz (for those awesome people who have seen Hot Fuzz), and you have a rough idea of how it looks on me. Ish. I’m still brushing my hand though my hair a lot and junk. But hey – if I ever find I don’t like it, I can take solace in the fact that hair grows… and I can just revert back to wearing a beanie all the time.

Directly after, I went camping with a few friends this weekend out in the middle of nowhere in Swaziland. Seriously, this place was crazy isolated. It’s owned by the parents of one of the girls who went, though, so its not like we were doing anything dangerous or outrageous (mom). I didn’t even stay up that late, because the next day…

I had St. Joseph’s Commserve! For anybody who recalls me writing about Mpaka, St. Joseph’s is kind of like a Mpaka equivalent, but with kids that are more disabled. Many were in wheelchairs, some had facial deformities, and all were extremely pleasant and fun to be with. We went out to Mlilwane Game Reserve so we had a pool we could take them in, and I spent most of my time swimming and playing volleyball with the kids. Out of all the commserve I’ve done here so far, Mpaka and St. Joseph’s have definitely been some of my favorites. Y’all know I adore playing with kids, and these projects are all about that – showing a group of underprivileged kids a good time. Plus, I got to practice my SiSwati a little more with the kids (Uyatsandza yini kubhukusha?), an added plus. Many said I was pretty good at it! They must have been trying to flatter me because I was holding a box full of potato salad…

After getting back from St. Joseph’s, I hopped straight into rehearsal for the school wide music concert, which happened that very night. I sang a few songs with the choir and played jazz drums with a small jazz combo I’m now a part of, “The Showcase”. We had fun (despite it not being our best performance), and many people came up to me afterwards to tell me that they didn’t recognize at first the young army sergeant that walked up on stage to play drums (me). 

As if this all would not comprise a full enough weekend, on Sunday I got up before seven and hopped in a combi with my Anthro class to check out some cave paintings in northern Swaziland. We met up with Forrester (again), who described the significance of cave paintings in connecting with another realm, and how Bushmen would frequently go into trance to solve problems by communicating with higher beings. We looked at a lot of paintings in depth and learned a lot about modern day Swaziland from the things Bob told us about the paintings. The paintings were really cool, although having my carsick and exhausted body travel another three hours in a car over the weekend may not have been the best thing for my health. Eish.

I promised you all a UWC day photo last time I posted – Here’s a nifty shot of me, Sofia (Germany), and Anne Caroline:

This coming week, it’s cycle grades (report cards), climbing community service, and planning for my South Africa trip (I leave really soon?). I wanted to apologize to all my frans and family who are reading this about my lack of correspondence – I promised I wouldn’t lose touch, but I fear that I’m doing just that. It’s difficult… I’m on the internet once every couple of days and its insanely slow (I recorded the other day, fifteen minutes to log in to FB). I plan on sending out postcards soon, if not from SD then from South Africa or Mozambique during term break. I’m also super stoked for CDO Class of 2011 – I can’t believe how close you all are! Didn’t we just start freshman year a few weeks ago? Sending my best for an awesome last month and a half… its going to amazing!

I’ll try to update more regularly from now on… but if I can’t, know that I love you guys and am still thinking of you everyday.

Sala khale,

Eli