A Real Cape Town experience: On [accidently] ordering a Giant Gaspy and being Surrounded by Street People

My Icelandic friend that I met in Turkish class in Istanbul arrived today to be my travel buddy for the next two weeks (yes, Icelandic friend….we met in Istanbul…I have an eclectic set of people in my life…haha) and though she got no sleep on her overnight flight from Dubai, we decided the best plan of action was to just go go GO and do a tour of Waterfront and Downtown to see a bit of the city since she will only have 3 days in Cape Town. We had a nice meander down to the fancy and beautiful Waterfront neighborhood stopping along the way at a classy coffee joint I’ve been meaning to try called Origin Coffee where they ask you to pick your own coffee bean (we had Rwandan because I’ve never had coffee from Rwanda before) and they serve you their version of a cappuccino called a Flat White. 

We spent a little bit of time taking in the beauty of Waterfront before taking a minibus back to downtown and wandering over to check out the parliament buildings. 

Before setting out on our walk up Long St. (the main street in town…) we decided to get a snack from a shady little food stand near the train station. The snack we chose was something that neither I, nor my classmate that was spending the afternoon with us had tried: the Gatsby. Various South Africans that live here in Cape Town had told me that I simply MUST try a Gatsby before leaving Cape Town, so I had high hopes for this sandwich. So my Icelandic friend and I ordered a Gatsby made of Boerwores (the South African beef sausage) in a “large” size since we’d all 3 be sharing 1 sandwich. The guy then asked us “how many pieces do you want it cut into?” and we should have realized our mistake there. That would be mistake #1.

A long 15 minute wait later, we receive a GIANT white paper covered roll from the laughing men behind the counter. This was our sandwich. We started laughing uncontrollably. There was no way we could eat this thing! It was only the then that we saw on the menu that there was an option to get a ¼ version. Mistake #2.

So after realizing we can’t eat this ginormous thing walking around, we proceeded to wander around the area for 10 minutes trying to find a place to seat ourselves that wasn’t next to a bunch of homeless beggers, we finally settled on a bench next to the food stand. We began to rip open the white paper and the mess of a sandwich (soaked bread, soggy French fries, pieces of sausage) came pouring out every which way. And as we were trying to figure out how to separate this gastronomic mess into pieces for each of us to attack, we began to attract the attention of a handful of local crazy homeless beggers, a common resident of many a Cape Town street. Before we knew it, as we’re taking messy bites of a less-than-delicious Cape Town street food classic (the Gatsby sandwich I mean), there’s a crazy woman standing next to us staring us down as we look at her. We tell her kindly that we’ll give her leftovers after we’re done and then awkwardly go back to our messy business as she silently continues to stand over our shoulders watching our every move. I really thought she’d stand there staring at us until we finished and gave her the rest of our mess. Finally she gets the idea that we aren’t ready to give her food yet and she wanders away to sit 5 feet from us waving her feet around and rocking back and forth, still staring at us as we eat. Another man sits on a bench nearby and shouts at us “can I have your leftovers??”
We respond yes, after we finish if there is any left, he can have it. He gets all happy and proceeds to laugh and smile and tell us to enjoy every bite. After 15 minutes of trying to somehow get this mess of a lackluster sandwich into our mouths, we all give up and as another woman approaches us asking for a piece, without consulting each other, start giving pieces to various homeless people that have congregated around us as we 3 white girls were trying to eat this very messy food item. After we give away the rest of our 3 pieces, the man at the bench next to us comes over and, since we’re too lazy to try and portion out the remaining half of the sandwich, we just give it to him and tell him “just make sure you share!” to which he says “Yes of course!” takes the sandwich and starts to walk away. [that was Mistake #3…] Another women comes over and starts yelling “NO BUT YOU MUST SHARE YOU MUST SHAREEEEE!!!” at which point we all look at each other and quietly start to walk away very very quickly because we fear we might have started a very nasty fight (think pigeons at a park going after that same little piece of bread you threw out on the pavement for them…)

We walked away laughing and commenting what a ridiculous experience we just lived through and wishing we could have taken pictures with the colorful group of beggers that we’d just given sandwiches to, but since they erupted into conflict over the leftover sandwich, we feared they wouldn’t have obliged us.

And that was my experience with the Gatsby. 

Penguins and Whales and Guinea Fowl...OH MY!

What is one of the first things that comes to mind when you think of Africa? ANIMALS!! I'm sure I'll have more to say about the "Big 5" (Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard, and Rhino) along with the other wildlife of South Africa after my trip to Kruger National Park and beyond later this month, but I thought I'd start local.

Over these past few months living in Cape Town, one fun thing I've experienced is all the wildlife that call this interesting environment home. Despite the surprising similarities between this ecosystem and that of California, the array of wildlife is quite different. Though I haven't had the luck (or lack thereof I guess you could say since they're notoriously mean) of running into one of the baboons that roam campus and Table Mountain park, or come across any wild ostriches yet (though I've eaten their meat a few times...), I have been able to experience a few other animal species that call this part of the world home.

A particular bird with fantastic feathers has caught my attention here. The polka dotted blue headed Guinea Fowl has a super obnoxious birdcall and their funny run will have you giggling. The first time I spotted this creature was at the beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens under the shadow of the mountains of Table Mountain National Park. My South African friends laughed at me when I was running around trying to take a good picture of them because they are regarded as a silly annoying bird. Since then I've noticed them all over the UCT campus grounds and randomly around the city.

Next up we have the endangered Southern Right Whales that I saw off the coast of the town Hermanus, which is a bit outside of Cape Town and just so happens to be one of the best whale-watching locations in the world. Back in September, during prime whale watching season (due to the fact that the whales come to this spot every year for 2-3 months to mate), a few classmates and I went out to Hermanus for the day to take a whale watching boat tour. For 2 hours we got up close and personal with the whales, at one point even being surrounded by about 20 of the giant creatures. They're curious and playful, coming right up to the boat as it was lurching up and down in the waves. It's awe inspiring to be so close to such huge living things who call the deep mysterious ocean their home. Female Southern Right Whales can be up to 15 m long (49ft) weigh up to 47 tonnes. I've seen Humpback Whales in the waters of Alaska and off the coast of northern California, but being this up close and personal with some of their southern cousins was really quite an experience.

The third animal I've had the pleasure of encountering here in Cape Town is by far my favorite: The African Penguin! Also known as the "jackass" penguin for the donkey-like sound that it makes, they aren't as brightly colored as some of their Arctic relatives and are pretty smelly little guys, but they are just so darn adorable. Just down the coast from the harbor of Simon's Town in the southern peninsula region of Cape Town, there's a beach called Boulders that these cute creatures call home. On a rainy afternoon back in August, a few friends and I went to check them out. We took a walk behind the beach through their nesting area and saw plenty of them waddling around and napping. I just think they are the cutest things and I wish I could stuff one in my suitcase to have as a pet back home. 

And there you go, a little taste of the wildlife of Cape Town. 

I leave you with a whale tale wave...

On how having too much on your mind can induce writers block...

My uncle ordered popovers

from the restaurant's bill of fare.

And, when they were served,

he regarded them with a penetrating stare.

Then he spoke great words of wisdom

as he sat there on that chair:

"To eat these things," said my uncle,

"You must exercise great care.

You may swallow down what's solid,

but you must spit out the air!"

And as you partake of the world's bill of fare,

that's darned good advice to follow.

Do a lot of spitting out the hot air.

And be careful what you swallow.

~Theodore Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

So I know I’ve been bad at keeping up this blog the past few months, but it isn’t that I haven’t been thinking and reflecting on my experiences here in South Africa, but more that I have far too much to say and none of it is very easily shared. I’m almost done with my time at the University of Cape Town (last paper due this week! yay!) and time is flying by. The city is beautiful and I was quick to settle into a routine. Not being able to move around at night on my own due to the danger has been hard to get used to, but in the end I’m only here for 4 months so I can handle it. And luckily I love my home, like the neighborhood I live in, and have great South African roommates, so I don't mind not spending every night out. I started out feeling very isolated in my school bubble, and though I still very much am, I at least feel I can get out a bit from time to time now. So overall, yes, life is good in Cape Town.

But the dilemma I’ve been having here is experiencing the sharp contrast between rich and poor, black and white, the haves and the have-nots which has been rattling me to the core of my life vision. In all my travels, even some travels in lesser-developed countries, I have never experienced this extreme blatant contrast before. Beggars who expect you to give them 50 rand everyday and get mad at you if you don’t. Informal settlements built right up next to high-income housing complexes, even right next to the international airport. What’s worse is the postcards of the informal settlements (because you know what you want to send home is a postcard of the homes of people who can’t afford homes…) and the highly publicized tours of townships (so you can go take pictures of these poor people who were relocated during Apartheid to badly located and still inadequately-serviced-by-public-transport-housing-settlements). The city street poverty at every corner is hard to bear when its something you've never really had to face before. And the add in of the racial factor (which as an American, I'm aware of but never speak of...) is extremely uncomfortable. It's one thing to talk about the poor and a very different thing to realize that the "poor" are real people living their lives anyway they can. It's humbling and terrifying and you can't help but feel conflicted about the entire state of the world.

Along with this everyday lived experience, I took a course on Development Theory and Practice in which I learned about how development projects rarely succeed in achieving what they aim to and how many even spread negative results in these communities that so desperately need help. One of the big themes we’ve been debating is what the role we play in all this. What right do I have to go into an “underdeveloped” community and tell them they need education reform? Or even clean water? So we study theorists that promote Freedom as Development (Sen) or emphasize the role of communication and democratic discussion in development (Habermas) and try and get some answers. So should I conduct a democratic forum and we decide together as a community what needs to be done? But what if they just want a handout of food every week or a new TV for the community center? What if they don’t want development? What if they feel entitled to be given all they need by the government just because they happen to be born on South African soil?

What do we do? What role do I play? Where do I fit in this fight? Do I even fit into this fight at all, or am I just an unwanted fool from the world of the suppressers? 

This is just some of the stuff that has been racing through my head. Just thought I’d attempt to share a bit of insight into a deeper part of my time in South Africa. So now you see why I haven’t been the best at keeping up on my blogging here, my brain is exploding with private debates. But now that my time in South Africa is wrapping up and I've had some good talks with people and interesting experiences, I feel I'm definitely understanding where I fit in. And I'm excited for life and excited to do my best to live my life well, contributing what I can to this world to make it a better place.

My last paper is due this week and then I have some interesting travels planned (Krugar National Park, Mozambique, and the Wild Coast) so more to come... J

The train races on...

Yesterday on the train to my internship in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town, a kind of scary looking crazy-seeming older woman turned to me and said "life moves so fast, doesn't it?" I said yes it does and turned my head to look out the window to see the city racing past me outside.

...

Can't believe I've already been in Cape Town over a month! Feels like I just got here, but yet I'm settled in and living life. I've got my routine again. Funny how easy "settling in" gets. I've done it so many times that I feel like a an old pro. Perhaps I should write a book on it? "How to move a million times all around the world and somehow manage to make it work..." or something along those lines. I must blog more, but I'm so busy reading, writing, and holing myself up in the library here at the University of Cape Town that I just haven't found the time to properly put my words on here. I wrote a piece on "entitlement" (a popular concept and topic of discussion here in South Africa...) but not sure if I'll post.

Hoping to have a chance to blog soon. Stay tuned. A photo of the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on a sunny winter day to tide you over some more...