It was rainy and cold all day—all I wanted to do was curl into my blankets and sleep. Orientation has been incredibly tiring and somewhat demanding, leaving us with very little time to relax and actually conclude we are in a different country. In the morning my flatmates and I hiked up to UCT and had a lecture about how to set up your PC and things… pretty boring. Although, after that we were informed about some of to clubs/societies/organizations we want to join. We get a max of 3 to join for free and then you have to pay for extra ones for the term. The cost is only around $3 but after you join 3 it becomes a salsa dance with time and scheduling. No bueno.

They showed us one called Ubunyu- an organization that helps to teach school from kindergarten to senior year and you can pick what concentration out of the three they offer. They have a Media School that assigns you a small group of children and you teach them how to become journalists so much so that you get to develop a newspaper with them and by the end of the term your finished product is an actual paper. That got me so excited.

Journalism and news is one of my only genuine passions in life, to record and capture what many in certain societies would never see I believe to be one of the more important aspects of living. While consequently always taking time to record life prevents you from living, finding the balance of story telling and living is where the challenge comes in and that what I hope to instill as an American journalist in an area that has little media freedom. Aside from Ubunyu, the orientation group took us to a SHAWCO area. SHAWCO is one of the oldest organizations in the area that helps not only children but everyone in the community. They have various centers throughout Cape Town that preschool small children, make a music centre from young teens and have an elderly centre.

It was breathtaking to see the levels of poverty that outside of where I am staying is only a 20-minute drive and is like night and day. I live in a very rich area opposed to where these people live, in shacks and in really dangerous end of things. We arrived and you could hear the children dancing and laughing, a sound that cascaded light into such a dark area. Their playground would be considered boring in America, no bright plastic monstrosities, simple wooden contraptions that allow kids to imagine reaching the sky and feeling like nothing can hurt them anymore—as I did when I was little on top of the school castle. The simple swing set blew and danced in the wind, almost inviting you to enjoy the groovy path it took you, an up and down, back and forth ideal that replicates the repetition of life. Unbeknownst to young children playgrounds represent so much, which they will only begin to understand so much later in life and the sad part, some never realize it.
As one of my new African friends told me, “It seems as you get older, you forget the essentials—you laugh less, you cry less and you become more immune.”

And when people continually ask me “Why Africa?” I’m going to give then Frans number.

We got a tour of the centre where we first went into the childrens’ hall. Twenty or so were fast asleep in little rows on the floor, rolling in blankets like hot dogs. The next room was the snack room where a group of about the same size was eating rice and something orange? They wore smocks and were interacting with each other by stealing grains of rice and throwing it at their neighbor, giggling and then looking to see if the conveyor saw them. And if they weren’t caught they gave each other a high five. Some kids waved to us when we entered, others were shyer. I can imagine the scary situation they must have felt when 30 foreigners walk in and just stare at them. One little boy was so animated, he thought he was Spiderman and posed when I asked them if they want to see what their picture looks like. They loved the attention we gave them and whined when we had to leave and move on to the music area. It was sad to leave the room full of their artwork and the beginning memories of their life that when they look back on someday they will envy the simplicity of it all.

The music room was neat. Young adults were discovering they had talent. The group performed their songs for us that they wrote and that they plan on going to a local club on Long St. to expose themselves a bit more. The life experiences they share and incorporate into their music was evident along with their admiration towards making music art.
We also visited the elderly section where they were busy with making beaded necklaces. They were confused to why their were so many people around them but once they understood they gave us advice, “Once you finish you studies at UCT, carry your youth with you wherever you go—even if your body ditches it, your mind never does.”

The rest of the day made me think a lot about how I want to spend my time and my brain was tired from all the possibilities. After a delicious lunch at Kaui, I took a nap for about 3 hours, my body was telling me sleep was necessary.

My friends and I wanted to go out downtown because today we had our first day off since we’ve been here. We heard of this great bar called Roots, it’s an inside beach and a techno dance club. Sounds crazy but it’s really a laid back place. The entire night only cost me $10 and it was one of best nights here. There are these chicks that walk around in leather jump suits with whips and offer you shooters or shots for only R9 about $1.15 a shot. The shots here are tiny but the alcohol in them is 40% by volume. Black widow vodka is awesome. I met a lot of locals that were very nice and loved to talk to me about my tattoos. I was watching the soccer game that was playing at the bar and some guy asked me what team I like and the only soccer team I know of is Manchester United, so that’s what I said and ironically they were playing against Malaysia and he laughed said, “you must be from the States?” haha, I love how people can call out an American with a 10 foot pool. The atmosphere was to die for, very lax and very low key but at the same time an upbeat alliance that was built between you and everyone that you encountered. That is going to be one of my favorite bars here.

Today I plan on just chilling. Which apparently in South Africa is a new term and people think it’s sooo cool to say, let’s chill. I love studying different dialects and slang I find it so interesting. Most locals don’t respond to “What’s up?” Their equivalent is, “Howzit bru?” Which means, what’s up, dude.

Class starts Monday morning! I’m excited and nervous. Most international students have no idea to study journalism so my classmates are going to be local students, which I’m excited because you tend to find internationals hanging out with only internationals, but I’m not afraid of making friends at all. It’s why I came here.
Ciao for now,
*Mel