- April is coming to an end and it scares me that May will go by just as fast
- Only 10% of me misses home. Does that make me insensitive and immune to homesick feelings?
- I had one of the best weekends ever. (Such a redundant comment on this blog...)
- What did I do? dance at TigerTiger, S. Africa Cheese Festival on a farm, rugby game, Goldfish concert at The Assembly, dance at Zula for 4 hours straight, good food in good company, church, and then attempted to catch up on sleep.
- This week consists of 3 "holiday" days...aka I only need to go in to work tomorrow and Wednesday!
- Catalog deadline is coming up!
- I love the bookstore. I can spend hours alone just browsing through cookbooks, travel guides, photography books, & etc.
- Music is my soul. Love it.
- Autumn in Cape Town. In April! Who would've thought.
- SO many friends are leaving this week.... It breaks my heart :(
- I really, really hope Agnes can come visit me from Lyon. That would be....amazing.
- Raspberry soda is so yummy.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thought Bubbles
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Cold in Cape Town
Weird. I don't like it being cold in Cape Town. It's really throwing me off and making me start to believe I am back in Boston. And by that time actually comes around, Boston will be hot and summery. So yeah, it's weird how seasons work oppositely here. The rainy season is supposed to hit pretty soon, but I can count on one hand how many experiences with rain I have had.
Coincidentally or not, a lot of my friends have been asking me lately how I can compare my experience in France with the one I have here. It's a question I get baffled with every time. I feel as if my words to describe Lyon and the amazing experience I had will not do it justice. It was sincerely the greatest time of my life. I owe a lot of it to the people I was with - living with 20 Americans from different schools and getting to attend an American-based French university together were opportunities for me to broaden my horizons and tolerate all sorts of people. Somehow without my knowing, my mind was opened. I just let it break free out of the bubble I have been stuck in for the past however many years and I just let it see the world. I learned a lot. A lot about the culture, the people, myself. Probably the most growth I have experienced in such a short span of time. And maybe that is why I have had the same high expectations for myself here. Not to say that I have not been growing and learning. I definitely have. But my experience in Cape Town is set up a lot differently from the one in Lyon. Although I live with many interns my age from the states and other countries around the world, we all have different schedules, different jobs, different goals, different personalities. I love getting to meet everyone and hear about what brought them to Cape Town and what they are doing here, but I still sense the lack of community/family-ness that I had in Lyon. That is the one big thing I miss about it. But I mean, apart from my living and social situation, I love Cape Town. It's a city I can see myself in later on in life. I admit though, it is straining to be immersed in some of the worst epidemics and challenges of the world. Life isn't made to be easy here. You really have to work hard for what you want.
I am planning on doing a personal township tour this weekend. I feel myself getting too caught up in the westernized life. I would really like to start breaking out more into the true South African ways and culture. I still have a month and a half left, and I really hope to see more of it before I leave.
Coincidentally or not, a lot of my friends have been asking me lately how I can compare my experience in France with the one I have here. It's a question I get baffled with every time. I feel as if my words to describe Lyon and the amazing experience I had will not do it justice. It was sincerely the greatest time of my life. I owe a lot of it to the people I was with - living with 20 Americans from different schools and getting to attend an American-based French university together were opportunities for me to broaden my horizons and tolerate all sorts of people. Somehow without my knowing, my mind was opened. I just let it break free out of the bubble I have been stuck in for the past however many years and I just let it see the world. I learned a lot. A lot about the culture, the people, myself. Probably the most growth I have experienced in such a short span of time. And maybe that is why I have had the same high expectations for myself here. Not to say that I have not been growing and learning. I definitely have. But my experience in Cape Town is set up a lot differently from the one in Lyon. Although I live with many interns my age from the states and other countries around the world, we all have different schedules, different jobs, different goals, different personalities. I love getting to meet everyone and hear about what brought them to Cape Town and what they are doing here, but I still sense the lack of community/family-ness that I had in Lyon. That is the one big thing I miss about it. But I mean, apart from my living and social situation, I love Cape Town. It's a city I can see myself in later on in life. I admit though, it is straining to be immersed in some of the worst epidemics and challenges of the world. Life isn't made to be easy here. You really have to work hard for what you want.
I am planning on doing a personal township tour this weekend. I feel myself getting too caught up in the westernized life. I would really like to start breaking out more into the true South African ways and culture. I still have a month and a half left, and I really hope to see more of it before I leave.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Back on my feet again .. (literally)
The freak accident that was aforementioned in the last entry led to a series of battles for me - both physically and mentally. The situation started off being really funny to me, but then it just started to get uncomfortable not being able to walk normally, run outside, hike, dance, or do any other normal thing that I would do. And two days after, I got a throat infection and had to go into hermit/gimp status for a week. During that week, I battled with myself because I felt like I was finally going through my breaking point homesick period. It was necessary though. I thought a lot of my family and friends back at home, thought a lot about my time here and what I would still like to do and accomplish, and other thoughts about life. So now that I am pretty much all better, things have been starting to turn around. Maybe it's the fact that I moved upstairs into a single, or maybe it's the fact that we turned our manual car in and got an automatic, but all these little things have been starting to have a happy influence on me. And ultimately in the end, I just have to say that life is good. Always. Despite all the bumps in the road, there are signs that show how beautiful life can be.
So I know this post is long overdue since my last one, but like I said...I was in hermit mode and abandoned all my usual duties, including blogging. To recap, here a few of the things I've done since the Garden Route.
-Robben Island tour (very interesting & powerful to see Nelson Mandela's cell in person)
-Skydiving (one of the most incredible things I've ever done in my life)
-Taste of Cape Town (amazing venue with Cape Town's most highly acclaimed restaurants. loved it)
-Llandundo Beach (to chill - beautiful beach)
-Velvet Thursdays (dance dance dance the night away)
-Franschhoek (quaint, French vineyard city - did the Huguenot Chocolate Experience & bought lots of chocolate)
-Fattened up a bit more with sushi and such (mmm-mm good)
-Quality time with friends (sleepover, movies, guitar hero, cooking, eating, chatting, etc.)
-Caught up on some reading (re-read The Alchemist and part of A Long Walk to Freedom)
I am really happy with the way my friendships are developing here. Although there are apparent cliques and circles, I try not to fall into just one. All of the interns here are so interesting. They are all here for different reasons and for different time frames, and from all over the world. From Canada to the states to Sweden. It's amazing being able to connect with these people from all over. And especially being able to develop relationships with my work family. I call them family now because that's what they feel like. We share problems and advice, we concern and care for each other, we share food, we help each other. I am going to miss them most. They are teaching me something from South African culture that I have not obtained from anyone else. Their love for life is so strong that you can't help but get caught up in it. And not to mention that work is going well too. I missed my last deadline for the product catalog, but it was honestly an unreasonable amount of time admitted by both my supervisor and I. To take individual photos of 300+ products, editing them, pricing them, and putting them into a brand new catalog format... it was overwhelming for me. But after a meeting last week, we extended to two more weeks. I just want to get the website design and the catalog done before I leave. That is essentially my deadline. And in between, I still visit our program sites in the townships. Driving through the townships never gets old for me. It puts life into perspective for me.
Life in Cape Town.
It's still surreal sometimes.
Something surprises me everyday about this place.
Something beautiful. Something shocking. Something real.
So I know this post is long overdue since my last one, but like I said...I was in hermit mode and abandoned all my usual duties, including blogging. To recap, here a few of the things I've done since the Garden Route.
-Robben Island tour (very interesting & powerful to see Nelson Mandela's cell in person)
-Skydiving (one of the most incredible things I've ever done in my life)
-Taste of Cape Town (amazing venue with Cape Town's most highly acclaimed restaurants. loved it)
-Llandundo Beach (to chill - beautiful beach)
-Velvet Thursdays (dance dance dance the night away)
-Franschhoek (quaint, French vineyard city - did the Huguenot Chocolate Experience & bought lots of chocolate)
-Fattened up a bit more with sushi and such (mmm-mm good)
-Quality time with friends (sleepover, movies, guitar hero, cooking, eating, chatting, etc.)
-Caught up on some reading (re-read The Alchemist and part of A Long Walk to Freedom)
I am really happy with the way my friendships are developing here. Although there are apparent cliques and circles, I try not to fall into just one. All of the interns here are so interesting. They are all here for different reasons and for different time frames, and from all over the world. From Canada to the states to Sweden. It's amazing being able to connect with these people from all over. And especially being able to develop relationships with my work family. I call them family now because that's what they feel like. We share problems and advice, we concern and care for each other, we share food, we help each other. I am going to miss them most. They are teaching me something from South African culture that I have not obtained from anyone else. Their love for life is so strong that you can't help but get caught up in it. And not to mention that work is going well too. I missed my last deadline for the product catalog, but it was honestly an unreasonable amount of time admitted by both my supervisor and I. To take individual photos of 300+ products, editing them, pricing them, and putting them into a brand new catalog format... it was overwhelming for me. But after a meeting last week, we extended to two more weeks. I just want to get the website design and the catalog done before I leave. That is essentially my deadline. And in between, I still visit our program sites in the townships. Driving through the townships never gets old for me. It puts life into perspective for me.
Life in Cape Town.
It's still surreal sometimes.
Something surprises me everyday about this place.
Something beautiful. Something shocking. Something real.
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