1 thousand words > 1 picture

I admit that attempting to depict this place is overwhelming at times. It goes beyond photos and any caption I might put on them. Cape Town is a huge mash-up of all of these great places I know combined with, well, Africa. Especially because many of you reading this most likely grew up behind The Orange Curtain with me, the ideas that were ingrained in us about what Africa looks/sounds/feels like will never be truly changed until you see it for yourself. Because you feel it all. You feel the entire city, everything - not just things you can see or read about. It's the things that just aren't quite tangible, the things that aren't written in the guidebook or even talked about at all. Small nuances. Funny quirks. A person’s life is a collection of a trillion intricate variables, countless details and moments and images. And my life here is so completely different than my life at home. It's difficult to swallow all of this up and put it into words that anyone who hasn't been here would understand.

But, for those of you back home that I know enjoy reading what I'm up to (Moms), I will continue onward and do the best that I can with just giving some insight as to what I'm doing and maybe not all of the complexities of what I'm feeling... that's where things get hazy.

School is fully in session. True, it has technically been going on for a few weeks now, but I wasn't quite convinced, I suppose. Until last week or so... then, something inside of me snapped. Vacation mode has turned off in fear of causing self-destruction, because now it's time to really put work into this whole "study abroad" thing. Darn. Papers galore and reading for days. Luckily, one of my classes is just teaching me how to play a PVC pipe for a flute. If anyone had John Yeiser, this guy is his missing French twin. To the tee.

These last few weeks, any time that I am not spending with my eyes glued to a class reader, I have been volunteering at PASSOP by hanging out with some weird, old German men. They're sweet guys that just need some friends... N0, I'm teasing, hanging out with the Germans is not a part of my efforts at PASSOP - David is actually the person responsible for getting me involved there. They are simply two crazy brothers I met at a braai and have spent heaps of time with lately at their beautiful home in Noordhoek. It was David's 25th birthday on Friday so I made a Gaines family favorite, and the most appropriate dessert I could think of: German chocolate cake. German friends visiting them also made amazing side dishes and cakes that filled me up before I actually got any meat. Then we braai'd and had a really fun time partying at their house with a crazy mix of people.

However, the next day was the day we had been waiting for: PASSOP's fundraiser for the Somalian famine victims. We had organized speakers, musical acts and spoken word artists to come out and put together an event that could help the starving Somalis. Although the program was a bit unpolished and at times, someone could have come out with one of those old-fashioned hook canes to drag off an act or two, it was all for a good cause and we raised 8,000 rand I believe... which is a little over a thousand dollars. Every penny counts.

So, life's been busy and it's been indescribably euphoric, but it has been undocumented as my camera has been stolen. David was kind enough to buy me a disposable, so I will have some documentation of all of our adventures that are sure to come. Until then...

Live passionately,

KG

Level Up

It was a picture I had stared at a thousand times. But this time, the glow wasn’t from my computer screen, but from the millions of lights twinkling in the atmosphere. We had hiked to the top of Lion’s Head just in time to watch the sun fall behind the horizon and head on over to my neck of the woods. On one side of the mountain lay the vastness of a foreign ocean. Countless miles of water just teeming with life and energy. And on the other, civilization. Swooping freeways and outstretched docks that looked like the fingers of a greed driven species attempting to exploit all of the natural beauty possible. The idea arose that all of that land used to be miles and miles of beaches and my heart sank a bit. But there are two different beautifuls, and it’s funny how they are on the opposite sides of such an extreme spectrum. Man made things can be breathtaking and awe-inspiring and I could stare at a view like that all night. But on the other hand, there exists these huge mountains to the right of us, and a completely wonderful wet world below us that envelopes you in its unknown mass, forcing you to realize your size in this world (personally, I would take the ocean and the unaffected night sky any day, but that’s neither here nor there) . Anyway, although the full moon was supposed to light our way down, it decided to hang low and let us fend for ourselves. As most of you know, I am pretty damn scared of heights, but fear is temporary and regret is forever, right? So, although some of the conversation was drowned out by the rapid heartbeats in my ear, I found my footing and was reassured that we weren’t on a suicide mission. Then it was back to homework and a cold house and the refrigerator of a broke college kid. Being on top of the world was nice while it lasted.

Every day, it dawns on me a little more. After a lifetime of anticipation and a year of planning, I am in Cape Town. Every single day. I wake up here and fall asleep here, do my laundry and (regrettably) my grocery shopping and yet, it still feels like a very lucid dream. I am waking up little by little, but part of me wants to stay in dreamland because when you’re in a dream, you can do anything and I don’t want to lose that mentality. Even though school and volunteering are keeping me busy, I am blessed to be able to carry out life in such a place as this. Even the monotonous daily activities are wonderful. In a way, I want to erase anything I’ve ever said about Cape Town. Anything I have told anyone, anything I’ve written in this blog or in e-mails - anything. Because my opinion of it is changing every day. Every day I feel a little safer, a little more at home and I fall deeper and deeper in love with it every single minute. The crime you’re all so worried about has not effected me. Granted, I stay out of trouble and follow the basic rules of being a female in a foreign country, but I haven’t even witnessed anything of the sort, either. The majority of crime happens in the townships and it’s a shame that Cape Town gets such a bad reputation because of it. It really is a city that is so alive, so full of passionate and vibrant people, I hope you all get the chance to come here some day.

I saw The Tree of Life the other night and although I didn’t get it for a while (I actually still don't understand a lot of it), some ideas really dug their way into me and haven’t quite let go. Life is going to happen with or without your input so you better choose for yourself what you want to do with your short time on this planet. The only thing that should weigh on you is your own heart, your own conscience. If you know you are living a just and true life, then live on. I am finding out beautiful things about myself here. Things I think I could only have found here. The idea of that, that every different pocket of the world has something new to offer, some new puzzle piece to add to the collection of who you are, has been running in my mind lately. Think of it as a video game and the only way you can move to the next level is to collect all the coins from the different boxes. I want to make it to the next level. I want to see every horizon, every coast and desert and forest and instead of thinking how impossible it all seems, I’m thinking of what I need to do in order to make it all happen. That’s what you do to make it to the next level, isn’t it?

Live naturally,

KG

One down

Today marks my first month living in Cape Town. Easily the best month of my entire life. Unquestionably. School is proving to be challenging but so rewarding and even though there was a hitch in the initial plan, it’s all turned out for the best. My classes are relevant, intriguing and stretch my perception of normality more and more with each lecture about various cultures and societies within South Africa. It’s safe to say that one of my most interesting and lovely lectures I’ve sat in was my Growing up in Africa class this past Monday in which we went around the room telling everyone what our names were and what they meant not only as words but to our families. Half of our class is comprised of kids who speak mother tongue languages (native South African languages like Xhosa, Zulu and Sotho to name a few) and they have beautiful names with radical and deep meanings. In these languages, names mean more than just what you want the child to be called. Names are often a message to the community or the family, an expectation or aspiration the parents have, or they could even represent events or feelings that occur before or during pregnancy. So we had an Avive (meaning “They have been heard” because her parents had been trying to have a child for a long time and they got the whole community to pray for them), Tshegofatso (meaning “Blessing” and her second name that I didn’t manage to write down means “Left Behind” because a lot of her family passed away before she was born, so they blessed the family by leaving her behind to carry on their legacy) and Zanethemba (meaning “Bring Hope” because he was the first born and his parents wanted him to help the family get out of poverty - which he has!) and many other touching stories behind really crazy awesome names. And to my surprise, when English names came through the line up, the native speakers were thoughtful and impressed with our meanings and stories, as well. But the best part is that the class got to decide what our African names would be, and I was dubbed Thabisa which means “To make people happy" in Zulu... I can dig it.

And the sights... the sights are other-worldly. It’s like my eyes are set to a color intensifying mode. Everything is brighter, crisper, and more vivid. We spent some time hiking around a botanical garden called Kirstenbosh on our day off (National holiday for WOMEN’S DAY - HOLLA!) and it was all so rich. Truthfully, we intended on hiking to the top of Table Mountain, but we were tired and unmotivated so we ended up playing in some waterfalls and climbing trees. In true Gaines fashion, I broke a branch and ended up sliding backwards.Not good for the cheekies, but a good time was had by the rest of us. And the flowers in these gardens were like nothing I had ever seen! Crazy shapes and ridges and patterns and colors, like little mini aliens or something. I love them and want to spend my entire life frolicking in the gardens.

Later in the week we went beach hunting and ended up in a little slice of paradise called Lagoon beach. Delicious fish and chips, killer view of Table Mountain and sun for days. I even got my bronze on. I sat with Lieke (my Dutch princess), Sonja (from Germany) and Tony (from France) and talked politics and cultural misconceptions and watched the sunset and it was just absolutely peaceful and eye opening and I loved every second of it.

But on top of all of these experiences, I have to say that something else struck me with much more force. Although today was my first day, I am going to begin work with an NGO called PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty) that helps refugees and immigrants in South Africa. PASSOP helps people get jobs, get back on their feet and basically reclaim the dignity that xenophobic South Africans have stripped from them. We’re planning a benefit concert to help support victims of the Somalian famine and I will personally be working with filming events and interviews and creating media for the organization. Although I’m sure I’ll have a myriad of things to do as it seems like it’s the kind of place where there is literally always something to do. I can already tell that this is something that’s going to grab me and shake me. The people working there have such compassion and such great intentions,I felt guilty for not helping sooner, and ignorant for not knowing a lot about the causes they are fighting for. But it was truly sad in the sense that they are so outnumbered in

this world by people who frankly don’t give a shit. But by looking at them and listening to them, it’s like they have no idea. They just fight on. Because they really are making changes. So, I plan on joining them, no matter how outnumbered we are.

Me and the cheekies gettin worked

My favorite little aliens

My Dutch princess basking in the sunset.

This might be my first great adventure, but it is definitely not my last. Now that I've gotten a taste of what's out there, I don't really see a complacent, self centered life driven by consumerism and greed in my future. But that's just me.

Live bravely,

KG