My weekend was amazing, to say the absolute least…I’ll start with Friday.

Friday morning, my RA woke me up around 8 am. She knows a woman that lives in one of the townships who does hair. I was able to get my hair twisted for R 140, which translates to about 20 US Dollars and she did a phenomenal job. In addition, I had a great conversation with her about what it’s like to live in the US and how it was growing up in a township on the Eastern Cape.

After she was done, I lounged around for a while: did some laundry, cleaned my room, drank  some tea and started reading Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (I don’t have classes on Friday in case you’re wondering).

Around 4PM Saturday afternoon, I started to get ready, as our teacher for the seminar was taking the students in the class to see a play called Banyana Republic. The play was a political satire on all things apartheid. It was a one woman show, consisting of a series of monologues from the points of view of different voices including, but not limited to, Miss South Africa, a drunken rugby player’s wife, a white woman, a colored woman, a black woman, an Afrikaner, a lesbian soccer player, and a few political figures. The woman in the play did an excellent job and when the show was over, we got a chance to talk to the playwright, who I stood in awe of. If you know me, you know that I love all things politically/artistically sarcastic and I needed to hear more from this man that thought to write this play. He said that men have done it before as well and that all of his work is very political in nature. The more he talked, the more I began to realize how similar apartheid and the things that followed were much like the Civil Rights movement and the concurrent events, like the Black Arts movement of the 60s.

After the play, the entire seminar went to dinner at the Eastern Food Bazaar downtown Cape Town. Since I’ve gotten here, I must admit I’ve become a bit of a foodie, so here is my critique: OUT OF THIS WORLD! I had a falafel with chips (fries) and garlic Nan. It was quite possibly one of the best things I’ve ever tasted and I can’t wait to go back! The restaurant is a bit hectic downstairs, as it runs differently from anything I’ve ever seen and there are loads of people lined up to get food. Upstairs, though, is a little quieter and allows for a nice place to sit and talk with friends while you eat.

Saturday morning,  I woke up at the crack of dawn to go winetasting at Stellenbosch Gardens in Stellenbosch. I didn’t taste any wine (by choice), but I  got some beautiful pictures. The entire winery is gorgeous and although the fields weren’t in full bloom because it’s winter, there were some truly breath-taking scenes. I saw greens, hills, and valleys, which I’ve only seen in movies like The Sound of Music. It was absolutely incredible. After the tour of the winery, we went to a market close by. It was incredibly busy, but not exactly what I had expected to see (although I’m never really sure what to expect anymore). There was tons of food at really cheap prices, wine, and all types of jewelry. I brought the prettiest cupcake that I meant to take a picture of, but it was gone before I had the chance.

When I got back to the house, I realized I was locked out of my room because I had given my key to my RA for maintenance to come in and fix my blinds (that I didn’t even know were broken), so I went to hang out with a few friends in the dorms while I waited. The bus ride there was an adventure (as it always is here). Later that night, one of my friends called to see if I wanted to go to Canal Walk (a megamall closer to Cape Town) with one of her South African friends in the dorm, Logan. Besides the restaurants, it was pretty much closed when we got there, but the sight of it at night was absolutely breathtaking. That mall is bigger than anything I’ve ever seen in the U.S. and the d�cor/arhitecture is something like a mix between a mosque and the Sistine Chapel…no lie! It’s so pretty, especially at night when it’s all lit up. We ate dinner at the mall and then went around the corner and Logan showed us a hotel with a floating swimming pool…literally! It was so cool. After that, I headed home for bed to prepare for what would be another long day (to my surprise).

Sunday morning, I woke up, showered, and went downstairs to make myself some tea and catch up on some studying. About 15 minutes into my studying, though, I got a call from one of the RAs that I’ve befriended (we call him Vongz for short), telling me he had gotten me a ticket for Robben Island and if I wanted to come I needed to be to the dorms (which take about 30/40 minutes to get to on a regular day) in 15 minutes. I  know I’ve already been to Robben Island, but I don’t think I got the experience I wanted, so I sprinted upstairs and called a cab and by the time I was done getting dressed the cab was outside. The trip this time was phenomenal. I learned so much more and even saw some parts of the island our previous tour guide had neglected to show us. I saw a wrecked ship, a key that was made by a prisoner to escape his cell, a canon the British military had built and placed on the island, the courtyards where messages were sent between prisoners and so much more. I am truly grateful that I got that call and went back to the island. I feel like I can officially tick that off my list of things to see.

When we got back to the waterfront from the island, another one of the RAs, Sihle, and I headed over to the Hillsong church by Canal Walk to see Israel Houghton and New Breed, an international gospel group. We met my RA (Moyo) when we got there and just had an awesome time in the Lord. I even got to see the roommate of a friend of mine who also sings with them. When I got home, I started to settle down and get ready for another week of classes.

Like I said, this weekend was hectic, but it was wonderful! I don’t have classes today because it’s Women’s Day (a holiday we should seriously think about instituting in the US), which is a national holiday here in South Africa. My plans for today are to go to Kirstenbosch Gardens.

Because I think this blog entry is getting a little long, my next entry will be about the gardens, and the hole-in-the-wall poetry lounge I went to last night (that was soooooo cool!) and possibly my trip to Mzoli’s and Old Biscuit Mill that are planned for this weekend.

Talk to you soon!

Location: Cape Town, South Africa