Shona will not say goodbye to Cape Town but rather "see you next time"

One of the most confusing times is now. The last week has been a daze of events and things happening, and here we are, the night before we have to leave. I am so deeply upset that this is my last night in Cape Town. South Africa has become another home to me, and I will love it eternally. I would not have changed this experience for anything, it all happened for a reason, those reasons maybe unbeknownst to me right now, but everything happens without question for a reason. This experience has taught me the love and values of another country as well as the love waiting for me at home in the U.S. They each hold a specific need in my heart, and I know that this is not the last time I will be coming to Cape Town. I learned that I have a lot more to learn about patience. I learned that I have the great ability to be independent and buy my own groceries, and that I'm going to miss being in my own house and space this summer. I learned that I am stronger than I think I am, especially when it comes to plunging into the ocean with sharks or climbing through new landscapes. I've just learned this and so much more and I can't believe I have to go home now. But it's never goodbye to Cape Town. It's see you next time. 

Shona can't believe they're in the home stretch

I can't believe that we are in the home stretch! It's time that we're taking to finish all those last minute things we have to do here. We are going to Bo-Kaap to finally see all the colorful houses, we're going into town to get those last minute thrift shopping trips in and eating as much food as we can. What is breaking my bank currently is souvenirs, and I have found many new ones to take up space in my suitcase that doesn't exist. This time is the time I didn't actually think would come. Everything after Jo'burg when we were talking about our 15 weeks was a time in No Man's Land, somewhere I wasn't going. But now we are here and trying to get our way through it. I look around at our house and these girls, and I can't believe we won't be living together in a few weeks. Our movie nights and pizza adventures are some of my fondest memories here in Cape Town. Things are just happening really fast and I'm just trying to take it all in!

Shona & Erica posing against a brightly colored house in Bo-Kaap

Shona found many valuable moments that made her happy she had this opportunity

Being able to travel to Johannesburg and Kruger for a week was a nice change of pace from the Cape Town life, though there is no comparison. Cape Town is still my favorite, and by the last day of the excursion, I was feeling home sick for Cape Town's breeze and Table Mountain out of our front door. But the trip held many valuable moments for me and I am very happy we went. Kruger was incredible and I am very happy I did all of the game drives that were offered, but this post is going to focus on Johannesburg. 

Johannesburg was a different kind of scene than Cape Town. I felt much the same entering the city as I had felt entering into Cape Town, and that is that they are not that different from cities you see in the U.S. or in other parts of the world. I expect something that feels like I am far away from that, but it never seems to be the case. In comparison to Cape Town though, it was very different. The vibe was different, but I can't quite say how. The poor areas of town looked different, and because of the flat geographical situation, it all seemed smaller somehow, maybe even shorter in a weird way, than Cape Town. But it was still a metropolitan area, and the skyline gave that away. It was a mostly "a plain old" city. 

Hector Pieterson Memorial

I think that the activities planned for us were really valuable in coming full circle with our studies in Vincent's class. Seeing the Apartheid Museum, the Johannesburg Prison, and the Hector Pieterson Museum were what I found the most enjoyable. The Apartheid Museum really provided a huge amount of information and real life examples, pictures, artifacts, and so on to allow the Apartheid to come alive at your fingertips. Seeing the "Free Mandela" propaganda was my favorite, because it really showed the amount of support and anti-Apartheid sentiments there were in the country. I found the Johannesburg Prison really powerful because of the famous historical figures who were kept there, and because of the hierarchical dynamic that existed between prisoners and gang members. I didn't realize that there were so many unspoken rules in prisons and among prisoners. I especially thought the Hector Pieterson museum was powerful because of the visuals that made up the entire museum. I am personally a visual learner and found it most important seeing the pictures of the uprisings and even Hector's body being taken from the scene. I felt like I learned the most from this museum because we were allowed to tour it on our own and gave us the opportunity to read everything and explore at our own pace. 

Something that struck me the entire time we were there though was how unassuming all of these museums looked. It was history in plain sight, and if you weren't looking, you probably wouldn't have seen any of it. I think that it relates back to what the women were saying on our Slave lodge tour, is that you can pass some really important places in history, and not even know it. And that is what I took away most from Johannesburg, is that the most obvious things can be what you're staring at, but if you aren't really looking with intention, you'll never see anything. 

Shona on another eventful weekend

Another eventful weekend has passed as I try to fit as much into my time left as possible. Friday we did not attend our internships because of the taxi protests in Khayelitsha and decided to take on another adventure: climbing Table Mountain. Now I have always thought of myself as someone who can muscle through a good hike, but this would also mean I had to have a semblance of muscles, which I do not. So 10 minutes into the hike up the rocky slope of the Platteklip trail I have to stop because I am having what I can only assume is an asthma attack. So this continues with me throughout the hike, and poor Laura T and Ashley have to keep stopping because I just cant keep up. It took us a little over two hours to get to the top of the mountain. It was incredibly cold and windy at the top, which we did not expect. We kept ducking behind rocks and hiding in outcrops of rock to avoid some of the heavy gales. We did not stay at the top for long, unfortunately all the shops and cable car was closed, so we made our way down. On the way down I began to play music, and I guess it was decent music, because other groups of hikers purposefully began hiking close to us to hear my music. I felt a weird unity with the people around me on those rocks, and by the time I was at the bottom and could not longer stand straight, it felt good to know other people were around me. I still can't walk like an upright human, but my soreness goes away a little more every day. 

Saturday was something as daunting as Friday: shark cage diving. I thought I was going to be okay, but I was mostly wrong. I am not afraid of sharks and I am not afraid of cages or small spaces, but I am terrified of the open ocean and the tall waves that look like they could swallow you. I was okay in the bay area, but the minute we pulled into the ocean, I was clutching onto the metal rails for dear life. I probably looked like a dear in six headlights, but I couldn't back out now. The rest of the trip consisted of me clutching onto the handrails for dear life and moving as little as possible. And if I wasn't grasping something, I was shaking uncontrollably. So putting on my wet suit required the help of a crew member, and jumping into the cage was like entering hell. I looked at Ethan and started essentially hyperventilating, but everyone told me it was okay, I was okay, just breathe. I eventually did, and eventually could stick my head under the ocean to look for sharks. The ocean is very green and foggy once underneath, so seeing sharks above the water was much easier than under, but it was still very cool. And while it took everything I had in me to hold it together until we got back to land, I am really glad I did it. I'm glad my fears didn't stop me from doing something I had really wanted to do coming here. That's the lesson I'm trying to teach myself the most from being here, don't let fear stop you from having these once in a lifetime experiences. I'll be so upset if I don't just do some of these things. So it was an eventful weekend.

Shona thinking about her place in the world and what she needs to make herself feel fulfilled

Coming into our final stretch of time, I'm amazed looking back. Recounting the times I've had here to other people, I realize how much I've done. I have explored and done so many things since I've been here, and I know I'm different for it. It probably won't really hit me until I get home and people ask me what I've done, and I'll probably surprise myself with all of the things I did and remember. This trip has made me think so much about my place in the world and what I need to do to make myself feel fulfilled. I hope I continue to find it when I go home. 

This past weekends have been fantastic days, full of fun and different adventures. On Friday we went to our activist project, where we continue to help out in the creche. The language barrier makes it really difficult to interact with the kids sometimes. They will saying something in Xhosa so intently, clearly they want something from us, but we just stare at them and wish they would start speaking English. We have to look to the very few adults who speak English to translate, but often that does nothing to help the situation. They will ultimately say a new word and a new command and we're grasping at straws again. We try to teach them songs or little dances, and they can't pick up on it because they don't know any basic English. So even the way we play beyond holding stuffed animals is difficult. Language barriers always cause these frustrations, but we continue to work our best.

This weekend and past few days in particular have been very relaxing. We ventured to the beach three times, where we learned all about different beach vibes. We went to Muizenberg, where the vibe was young and adventurous, with little shops and the fun colored shower shacks, windsurfing and regular surfing. There was always something happening. And then we went to Clifton's 4th another day, which was a small beach, almost private even, where people crowded in around a small shoreline. The water was freezing, and even in cooling down the ocean was a chilling surprise every time. Finally, we went to Bloubergstrand. This was a very long shoreline, where you could walk up and down the sand for a long time. It was more quiet because much of the area was residential, but it was beautiful. Table Mountain was across the bay and we watched the sunset over the ocean. It was amazing. I'm glad that we got these adventures. What was difficult was going back to school on Wednesday, where we were let out early because of taxi protests and the violence that followed in Khayelitsha. A reminder that the world can't come to the beach with me. 

We also went paragliding over Signal Hill. This was not as relaxing as the beach trips because my pilot was of the "that funny guy" nature, and it made the experience, well, not remembered for the right reasons. While I love the sensation of mid air suspension above Seapoint, the smoothest ride I have ever been on, the landing was quite scary. But it is another experience to add to my time here.