Coming From Reality

I'm back, and with pictures this time!  I hope you all had a lovely weekend in your respective homes. 

Saturday we woke up early to take a visit to the District 6 museum.  We got a nice tour from a docent who had lived in District 6 and was relocated with his family.  He had some really interesting things to say about the ways in which relocation effects the health of a whole community.  Specifically he talked about how families were relocated to areas far away from the city, which were more expensive to live in, so then families who would previously only have one parent working would have to have two parents away from the house, working and commuting long hours, which left children to get into gangs and drugs.  This point reiterated for me how often having a stay-at-home parent is an economic luxury rather than a political statement about the "right way" to raise children.  All parts of the museum were donated by former residents, and although there have been plans made to resettle the area, much of it remains open fields.    

Mural in the Museum

Jason muggin (as usual)

I'm listening to the Sixto Rodriguez album, Coming From Reality.  If you haven't watched it yet, find "Searching for Sugarman" the documentary about this guy. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say, it's such an incredible story!

driving 

mountains!

driving

Anna climbing out of the back of the car.  It was safe. 

After the museum, we loaded into the car and headed to the Old Biscuit Mill, which has recently been converted from a cluster of industrial brick buildings to a collection of hip stores.  On Saturday the area is home to a delightful market.  When we arrived I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  It was very North West, but maybe I was getting that vibe from the rainy weather.  

First I got an Americano and a lemon Meringue tart, which was basically the best dessert I have ever eaten.  It was SO GOOD.  We wandered around, looking at all the food, and met up with some of the UCT kids.  I got a little shirt (that was on sale) and then I purchased the BEST SANDWICH EVER.  It was arugula (rocket), tomato, avocado, black pepper, parmesan shavings, coppa (basically prosciutto), and a balsamic glaze on a big roll. I ate it all.  Here's the evidence: 

Photo credit Emma Turner

The coolest thing I found at the market was art and products made by the artist featured on my blog's back ground art!  SO COOL.  She's the bomb dot com. 

Then Saturday night Anna and I went to The Barn, which is the campus bar.  There was a local soccer game on, which was cool to watch.  Overall i think the demographics of the bar were 95% male.  We stayed until the end of the game and then when home.  No body talked to us.  We have till the end of the year to make friends.  Maybe that was not the place!  

This morning we slept in a bit and then went to Egoli, where the IES students will be doing the first 20 of their community service hours.  After talking to community leaders, it was decided that the most helpful things would be help establishing a garden, help reflooring homes so they won't flood, and english tutoring for the school aged children.  I spent all day hanging out with 6 month old Donna Lee, and talking to the women about their lives.  I really really really really want to conduct interviews and write an ethnography oral history of the community.  But we'll see how it goes.  One thing at a time.  As we were arriving, the church service was ending.  It was very cool to see how they hold services there.  The sermon was in Afrikaans, so all I was understanding was Baie Dankie (thank you).  There was a birthday, so we sang, and then we sang during what seemed to be a confession, and then a woman finished the service with along, presumably improvised prayer.  I was amazed by how welcoming people were to us coming to their service, giving us seats and helping us learn the words of their songs.  

This is the best breakfast I have had in a long time.  Instant oatmeal (the slightest bit salty) with sunflower and pumpkin seeds, raisins, apples and a little bit of coconut milk! 

After Egoli we went to the store were I found a ripe avocado! It made my day! 

The avocado

Tomorrow I start class again, this time for real, since we are done with the syllabus talks.  Tonight Anna and I ate Chakalaka, which is a spicy vegetable relish from Joburg.  We had it over rice, and it was pretty good, but from the can.  Secrets….  

The moon today!

After dinner I talked with a girl on my floor who loves Justin Bieber.  She is definitely his number one fan.  But yeah, she had some funny (interesting?) things to say about her future husband.  She said she wanted to marry a white guy because she doesn't know how to cook, and white guys cook more often. Then she qualified that she could like him even if he wasn't good at cooking, because if he was white he would probably be rich, so they could eat out.  The only problem is that white guys only go for slender black girls, and while they might make an exception and go for a fat white girl, but never a fat black girl.  So now we all know.  All the more motivation to learn how to cook?  I think so.  

I finished Black Diamond yesterday.  It turned out the way I thought it would, (SPOILER ALERT) with the black guy dumping his girlfriend from the township for the (white) lady magistrate.   So maybe my floor-mate knows what she's talking about!   In any case, I don't recommend the book.  

I have been CRAVING some knitting.  It's going to happen soon. I need to get my hands on some yarn!  I think I am going to try a sweater.  because, why not!