Well that was. . .interesting

 For any Americans who decide they want to venture to South Africa (I highly recommend it) you have a 90 day visa upon arrival to the South African borders. Once those 90 days are up, you are an illegal immigrant, and they will give you a hassle at the port of exit. You will also be fined 1000 ZAR and if the officers are feeling up to it (very very small chance though) they can threaten you with prison. I being the check-in/check out sort of person I am, decided that I wanted to avoid all of that nonsense so I decided to spend a few rand and get an extension visa.

That was definitely an episode.

To do this, one must go to the Department of Home Affairs. The Department of Home Affairs is located  Downtown, in a building in desperate need of a paint job. When walking into home affairs, you first approach a counter with a saucy DHA woman who gives you a ticket number and instructs you to go to a particular level of the building to wait for your number to be called. When I went into the building, the whole place was super busy with an outstanding number of asians and Zimbabweans. I got my number and went up to the third floor, designated for visa extensions.

Sitting down, I was happy to see that I only had four people in front of me. So I chilled and read a bit, but not without doing some people watching. If you are ever in need of good people watching in Cape Town, besides the wharf area, the DHA is the best place to do so. You'll find all manner of people in the place and Wednesday was my lucky day. In front of me seated was a pimp. I kid you not. He was wearing a very brightly colored orange silk shirt, and snakeskin shoes. He also had an odd assortment of gold jewelry on, and the guy next to him looked like a bodyguard of some sort. Perhaps he was famous or something. Next to me on my far left was a middle aged woman (clearly cougar) trying the Mary J. Blige look (over 40 and feeling foxy as comedian Jeff Foxworthy would say) who was kind of flirting with the guy next to her who looked around my age. It was disturbing. On my right was a quiet but attractive American guy (California surfer type) who was also around my age. The reason I knew he was American was because of the American passport he held in his hand.

After going to the counter to hand in my documents, I was directed to another counter where an extremely ancient looking woman was doing accounting and signing off on paperwork. As I was standing in line, a woman wearing  a fuschia colored ball gown and clear plastic heels waltzed past me. Everyone seemed confused by her appearance, especially me. She looked a bit lost, but I wasn't sure what she was doing in DHA in formal wear. Perhaps she wanted some attention, but I think the type she was aiming for, she certainly wasn't getting.

After the woman who probably knew Caesar personally gave me my paperwork back I bolted out of the DHA. I can only take so much oddness in at once and that was a bit much. After going outside, I called  a very reliable taxi company I use all the time to scoop me up. Oddly enough, they were late and while I was talking to the driver, I found out why. Apparently, the South African Police (SAPS) was out trying to catch people with outstanding warrants or ticket fees. How they do this is simply by setting up computer booths on the public roads and stop everyone. After doing a fingerprint scan and a computer lookup, if you happen to owe money they will ask for it on the spot, and if you owe A LOT of money they will arrest you on the spot. Pretty effective system, except for the fact that it made all the drivers in CT super paranoid and everyone was driving as if they were drunk. It was hilarious but the morning exhausted me and it wasn't even 11:00 am.

After a nap ( I stress sleep) I got up and did work. Vacation in less than a month. Super excited.

All is well,

Carolyn

Kids, kids, kids

My friends,

I apologize for the delay. It has been far too long since I have spoken to you all, and it is shameful on my part.

The reason is that I have been SO busy with work I honestly haven't had time to sit down and blog. I have even been missing meals (and more importantly sleep) because of it.

Thankfully today, I am able to catch up a bit. I have no new pictures (since I just recharged my camera) and unfortunately can't take pictures of the kids I have been working with. I have been visiting secondary schools as part of my internship here, and it has taken me to the extremes in terms of socioeconomic status. I have visited the ultra posh private schools with waxed floors, and the schools in the townships, where children fight with each other for a desk. It's not uncommon for the children to sit two or three to a desk.

I can say this much about my visits. The children in these schools are much more disciplined than I feel they are back in the states. I don't know why, but I intend on asking around when I start interviewing school personnel. When I know I will let you all know and report back.

In the meantime, I hope that you all are enjoying your summer. I have been hearing about the heat  wave in the States, and to those in the midwest and east coast, I really do sympathize. I guess I got lucky when I decided to leave the country for the summer. Cape Town has been in the 70's lately and sunny.

Take Care,
Carolyn

Simplicity

I didn't do anything exciting this weekend except grocery shop, clean, and do work. Therefore you aren't missing out on anything. This weekend however, I have been invited to do something lovely--something that is considered a right of passage in Cape Town.

I'll share once I've done it.

Tah Tah

Carolyn

Will report tomorrow

Perhaps I will have an exciting event to report to you all tomorrow. I'd rather share my experiences of doing interesting things then not. . . .

I'll try to take some photos. My batteries are currently recharging.

Bon soir,

Carolyn

Somewhere over the rainbow

way up high. .

I'm busy as ever. More pictures of my evening adventures below. Dominic felt it necessary to show off to his buddies Travolta and Tinoshe how good he was at pool. (Epic eye rolling)

Dominic and Tinoshe. 

Tinoshe and Travolta

We did this a very peculiar bar which had very dirty names for their vodka drinks which I am not going to repeat here. The bar was called "Bob's" and it is located on Long street.

Good food and good people. What more could you ask for on a Tuesday evening?

Carolyn

The Cape of Good Hope, Simon's Town, and Stellenbosch

My newest Saturday adventure began way to early in the morning. At 8:30. You have to understand that this is painful for me on the weekends, as Saturdays are the only days in which I usually can catch up on my sleep. However, it is worth waking up early here in this mountainous paradise because it is so scenic.

 This mountain range you see here is along Camp's Bay-the equivalent of Beverly Hills, California. It is very expensive here but very scenic and pretty. It's on the backside of Table Mountain. The Mountain range was named the 12 apostles, because some Dutch guy named it so, after this place was established. The town has grown drastically and none of the buildings you see here were there 100 years ago. This town also had a resident donkey and horse (named Donkey and Philly respectively) who used to roam around the town begging for food. They became so well known, local wives started baking them carrot cakes daily.

 If you keep driving along the coast you will eventually reach Simon's Town-where the penguins live. The one's in the photo above are baby penguins who haven't developed their proper tuxedo like attire. They are called "baby blues" because they look bluish in the light. South African penguins are on the endangered list unfortunately because there are less than 10,000 of them left due to predators and people.

Cute and cuddly. They are about to go fishing for the young.

Isn't he cute trying to cool off a bit? 

The coast nearing the nature reserve at the Cape of Good Hope. The nature reserve is home to all sorts of wild animals, shrubs, and educational centers.

The Nature reserve-at the edge of the coast.

Ice plant! (Technical name is sour fig)

I got excited when I saw this because these are also located in California!! I used to play with this as a young girl when I was living in California. Proof that pangea existed!!

African Ostriches. Very dumb. The size of their brain is so small you can fit their brains on a tea spoon.

Baboon (female who also happens to be pregnant)

They're mischievous. Be aware.

Cape of Good Hope Peninsula (at the top of the lighthouse tower) walking up was so exhausting.

Stellenbosch!

A large university is here where they only speak Afrikaans. Afrikaans for those of you who don't know is a language that is a form of Dutch. Dutch of course was brought here by the Dutch sailors who forced the people to speak Dutch, however, over time the people modified the language a bit (similarly to how French is different in different francophone countries around the world) and it became known as Afrikaans. It's a very interesting language to hear. This is a shop along a quaint little street in Stellenbosch.

Anura Vineyards. Excellent wine here. Better than Groot Constantia, and much younger too. Anura is a latin derivative meaning "Frog" so naturally their mascot is the frog.

Natural Cheese from the local cows.

Anura Interior.

For those of you who asked-some photos of me. More to come from my friends who also took some (my camera died in the middle of the day :( )

Me at the penguin colony

Me at the nature preserve

Me at the vineyard. It was such a beautiful day out we opted to sit out in the sun and drink. Perfection in my opinion :-) 

A dinner meeting with an old friend

So it's Friday and another beginning to my adventures.

For those of you who didn't know, I was a bit sick yesterday and this morning. I really was a hot mess, but I am getting better and decided I should have some fresh air. As a result, I decided a meeting with an old friend for dinner was in order, as I felt that sometimes a good remedy is seeing a familiar face.

For those of you who don't know this is my friend Dominic. Dominic hails from Zimbabwe. He goes to Brown, however has decided very recently to take time off from Brown to take part in an internship as well as explore some of Southern Africa. He had just arrived into Cape Town from Providence about two days before. I decided to meet Dominic and an old school friend of his named Tinashe for dinner for a bit for dinner and drinks to talk about anything.

I took the boys to a nice restaurant on Kloof Street called DaVinci's which serves excellent pizzas. They also have fabulous cocktails there. We opted to sit outside since the weather was quite decent and like many restaurants in Cape Town, in outdoor settings they have heaters on the lamp posts. We talked for about 3 hours about all sorts of great and terrible things. Politics, religion, and most importantly my experience with South Africa.

It was a good dinner and it was good to see Dominic again and to meet someone new (Tinashe). I am disappointed that he won't be at Brown this fall, but it's for the best. I understand that sometimes getting away from Brown is good for some people. I can completely relate. Although I do miss Brown at times, I think that leaving Brown (and the States for that matter) was the best decision I could've made for myself in the transition from my junior year to my senior year.

I will reflect more on this in the days to come. For now I will just leave this be.

Tomorrow I have another adventure on the way. I'll post about it soon :-) In the meantime keep checkin on me ;-)

Carolyn

Package deal

I am visiting the Department of home affairs tomorrow because my visa expires before I leave and I don't wish to be illegal for various purposes, the main one being I don't wish to get put into a South African Prison.

I'll write about that as well as any other things I have going on.

For now, nothing is new. I am the victim of my own power, in that my colleagues have placed more work on me.

Carolyn

It's still all good

Nothing new.

C

It's all good

Today was a beautiful day.

I went to work this morning for a meeting. The meeting was long and draining, but afterward I got to go on break for lunch and have some coffee so it was well worth it.

After work I went to the grocery store and the pharmacy to pick up some things. Interestingly enough, the pharmacist who was ringing up my order asked me where I got my Aum pendant from. He was a man in his early sixties with very kind eyes.

"I got it from an old friend of mine as a gift"

"Do you know what it means?"

"I have heard different versions of things in regards to it's meaning-I never actually thought to ask what it's real meaning is though. I really liked the design and my favorite metal is silver, so when I saw it in a shop once, the person I was with decided to give it to me as a gift. Is it some form of good luck?"

He chuckled. "Well yes and no. It is a blessing, such as Bless you. It is also the symbol representing the essence of the universe. Whoever gave it to you gave you a very precious gift." With that he smiled and told me to come back again.

That definitely gives me something to think about. Why are all the older men I meet around here always saying mystical or spiritual comments to me?

Actually that's not true. Apparently some do say other less pleasant things to people. A taxi driver my friends once had was depressed and launched into a sad story about how he loved his ex-girlfriend, but she was cheating on him with his best friend so she left him (kind of backwards if you ask me) and then he got a new girlfriend but apparently she has a severe drinking problem, and while he was telling them all of this he decided to put a particular song called "Fantasy" on repeat which is a song about a guy who's girlfriend is cheating on him and how is reminiscing about the days when things between them were at their glory.

Honestly, I'd rather have the taxi guy's story because at least it gives me insight into other people's minds. Everything I got is completely abstract and thought provoking. I don't mind being intellectually stimulated, but at the end of the day after a long day's work I just want to not think and relax. . .sigh. . . .

After I went to the pharmacy, I bought electricity. As some of you may not know, in South Africa you have to buy your electricity in the same manner as you would prepaid minutes on a phone. So I bought quite a bit of electricity at the grocery store which should last us about three weeks.

I'm not sure what I am going to do tomorrow. I'll take pictures if I do something interesting. It's supposed to be raining so I might stay home and do something productive like clean the house :-)

Tah tah for now,
Carolyn