First Week of Classes!

NOTE: Sorry that I have not posted for a while, we have been very busy with school and they have been taking us all around a lot. Also my Internet at my home is currently down, so the only time I have online is the brief moments I have at school. I also am only able to get on Facebook at home, so since the Internet has been down I have been on in awhile. If you want to contact me the best way is through email (allysakay@gmail.com) and please realize that I will respond when I can but it probably won’t be very prompt. I am in Africa and have begun to live on African time, which is a much slower pace of life and when you say you will be there soon that could mean up to an hour or so you will be there. Soo I will try my best to post and respond when I can J

First week of classes

On Monday I began a course on the History of SA, which has been interesting but very long. It is a compacted course so we have lecture from 9:00 to about 1:00 for the next two weeks. It is really interesting to hear how this country has a very similar history in some ways but also a very different one as well. We also have learned about how the African worldview is very different than the Western worldview. I believe that there is a lot that westerners could learn from their worldview and approach to life.

Wednesday we also went to the Slave Lodge Museum, which is on the site of one of the slave lodges that existed back in the 1700 and 1800s. It was interesting to hear about how slavery was here in Africa. There was some law that those who settled here in SA were not allowed to enslave the local people, so they brought in slaves from different areas of Africa and also from southern Asia. It is sad to hear how similar our history of slavery is to theirs.

We also went to Bo Kaap, which is the Muslim area in Cape Town. We toured the museum there and also walked around the town. In the museum we learned about the history of the Muslim people in Bo Kaap and the interesting things about their neighborhood is that they paint their houses very bright colors. So looking down their streets you see a wide array of colors, which really beautiful. We also went into one of the oldest mosques in South Africa in which our tour guide told as a bit about its history and about Islam and her life as a Muslim living in Bo Kaap. I believe that Americans have a very skewed picture of what Muslims are like due to our history with the Middle East. Our tour guide really opened my eyes up to how beautiful these people are and how caring they are as well. Though as westerns we look at their very restrictive clothing that women wear as oppressive, it is interesting to actually hear an older Muslim woman explain why and how important dressing that way is to her. Lastly in Bo Kaap we tired some Cape Malay food, which is traditional Muslim food in Cape Town. When they first migrated here, mostly brought as slaves, their food was too spicy for the Europeans that they were cooking for, so the Cape Malay food is their food that has been adjusted by European influence and much milder in flavor. I personally love it and hope to eat more while I am here.

Friday we had a free day and a couple of the Cornerstone students took us to the Eastern Bazaar, which is downtown, for lunch. I believe what I ate was called Chicken Guyani. It was was really good but I had enough food for probably 4 people. That is one thing that I have noticed here, yes Americans can eat a lot, but so can South Africans. And they don’t waste food, so if it is on your plate you better eat it. I have learned that at home I should serve myself at home otherwise I am in trouble.

Saturday we hiked Table Mountain, it has recently becoming one of the natural wonders of the world and is believed to be 6 times older than the Himalayans. We started around sea level and the top is around 1,100 meters (so about 3,400 ft: I am learning very quickly how to convert things to something I understand it has been fun ha). Lets just say it was an amazing hike but a super challenging one and I have never sweated so much in my life. It was around 80 degrees outside and humid. I still can’t believe that I did it but the views were absolutely amazing. The path was also crazy. The steep parts were these rock/wood steps and at some points it was so steep that there were ladders, yes people LADDERS, haha, it was an adventure and an experience I will never forget.