South Africa Part 2

Now here is where the fun really begins. Friday morning we got up early to go to Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a beautiful mountain in Cape Town with a flat top (hence the “table”). We had a great view of Table Mountain from the ship also. Anyways, Casey, Leslie and I took the cable car up (yeah, we chickened out on the whole hiking thing). We went on such a perfect day – it was clear for miles and the sky was as blue as can be. I have to say the highlight of my trip on Table Mountain was calling my sister from the top of it on the payphone. I called my sister from the top of a mountain in Africa!! How cool is that??
While we were on the mountain we met a couple guys from Semester at Sea who were really cool. We also saw this lizard that looked like he was doing push ups. I am seriously entertained by the strangest things!
After Table Mountain, Leslie headed back to the ship and Casey and I went to Robbin Island. This island used to be a prison, basically like Alcatraz in Northern California. The island is most famous for having imprisoned Nelson Mandela for many years. If you don’t know who Nelson Mandela is, go look him up – I don’t have time to explain any more history! Haha. I am so happy though, I feel that I learned so much about South Africa from my classes on ship and while I was there. Well, Robbin Island was beautiful and my favorite part (besides the history) was seeing the penguins. I have them as the background on my computer now.
The rest of the day Casey and I bummed around, went to the mall, checked email etc. Then I rushed off to get ready for synagogue! Wheee!
Friday night a group of ten of us went to Seapoint Synagogue in Cape Town. The synagogue was old and beautiful. It was a more traditional synagogue, so the girls were separated from the boys. After the service we went downstairs and spoke to some of the members. My friend Eric started talking to this one elderly man.

(At this point, I am pasting part of my essay for class about my synagogue experience. If the tone of my voice changes to be more formal, that’s why!)

After a few minutes of talking, the man asked if we had anywhere to go for our Shabbat dinner. We told him we did not know anyone in the area, and he immediately suggested that we go to his son’s house. We happily agreed.
As six of us piled into the man’s small car we realized that his son had no idea we were coming. The elderly man insisted that it was not a problem to just show up, even though his wife reminded him of the other guests already invited.
It was nice enough for the elderly man to suggest eating with his son’s family, but he went out of his way to drive us there and then he left. The son (named Steve) seemed annoyed at his father’s actions, but he warmly invited us into his home. Steve’s house was the nicest house I have ever seen in my life, and the table was set for many people. Now, when I say his house was nice, I mean it was UNBELIEVABLE. Nicer than any hotel or mansion I have ever seen. We all stood and gasped when we saw the inside of their house. Did I mention that there were six security cameras also?
We were introduced to their guests – a couple with two kids, a rabbi, and the rabbi’s female friend. Adam and his wife had two lovely children of their own. Everyone present began to entertain us, asking questions and showing us the house. Here we were, six strangers being welcomed into a house with such warmth.
The food was amazing, and we sat around the dinner table and talked for hours. I think the adults were very impressed with us as we had wonderful discussions and learned about each other’s culture. We asked the rabbi questions about Judaism and debated topics for hours. I personally sat next to their daughter and talked to her about school, life in South Africa, and other topics.
It amazed me how much we had in common with these people. We prayed the same prayers in the same tune after dinner. It was unbelievable that Jewish people half way around the world sang the same songs as me! Unfortunately the night had to end, and we exchanged contact information and gave big hugs goodbye.
The very next day we were in contact with them and they came to visit us on the waterfront. Steve and his wife brought beautiful gifts for each of us. One day before we were complete strangers, and the next day we were already old friends. Welcome to South Africa.
Alright, up to this point, the dinner with the Jewish family was definitely the highlight of my trip this semester. Until the next day. Drum roll please!!!
The next morning I went to yet another synagogue (Garden Synagogue) with my friend Adam. A wonderful woman greeted us and was so excited to hear about our voyage around the world. A boy was becoming a bar mitzvah that day – and the service was beautiful. They had a choir of men instead of one person singing the prayers. Usually I do not like this, but these people were amazing! I truly enjoyed it.
After the service there was a pot luck meal in honor of the bar mitzvah. Adam and I were treated like celebrities. Everyone came up to talk to us and hear about our trip. We were even announced along with the bar mitzvah boy’s relatives!
One woman I was introduced to told me that her daughter and (23 year old) son were looking at our ship in port the day before. When I heard she had a 23 year old son I got really excited! (It was my secret mission to meet a cute South African Jewish boy…shhhhh). I ended up talking to the woman and her lovely daughter for some time. The two of them kept insisting that I call the son because he would want to take us out. Was I going to object to this offer?
A nice man drove Adam and I home from the synagogue. He even gave us his card at the end and told us to keep in touch and he might visit us in the states! Can you believe how nice these people are??? When we got back to the ship I went to lunch with some friends and then walked around the craft market by myself. I bought a bunch of South African tea – yum! And I got a lot extra, so come get some from me when I get home!
Later I went to the mall with some friends and my roommate. We shopped around for nice pants (because I forgot to bring mine). I then called Mr. Cute South African Jewish Boy. Haha. I was an idiot and didn’t know how much change to put in the phone, so I kept hanging up on him. What an accent! We made plans to meet up that night…whoo!
And the fun begins! Alon (that’s his name) met me at the ship around 7:30. I made the poor guy wait for about another hour while I tried to gather a group of people to go to dinner. At one point he decided that if we went to a certain club he would have to dress nicer, so we started walking back to his car to go to his house and change. Or so I thought. We were walking and talking and after a while we hadn’t reached his car so I said, “I’m following you.” And he said, “No, I’m following you!” Oops. He thought we had just gone for a nice walk. Ok I know it’s not funny – you had to be there!!!!!!!!!! Man…….
Well then. I finally get some people together and we head off. The group consisted of myself, Todd, Megan, Julie, Tyler, and Alon. My favorite people! We hit it off soooooooo well all of us. Alon drove us to a restaurant called Marco’s Place. It was fantastic! Live music and great food. I got a mixture of funky animals again like the other night. This stuff is amazing! Oh yeah my new “nice” shoes were at this point starting to create quite a blister on my foot, so I was in a lot of pain.
Oh yeah! Guess what? (This is a shout out to my old USY friends reading this!) At dinner the band started playing the Patta Patta! I know! You’re thinking, no freakin’ way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m serious! I couldn’t believe it so I jumped out of my seat and starting dancing like a nutso next to our table. (I don’t think Alon saw – and that’s probably a good thing!) Haha. It was a very exciting moment in my life.
After our dinner and lots of wonderful conversations we headed out on the town. The first place we went to we could not get in because we were not dressed nice enough. Boo. So we got back in the car and headed elsewhere. We drove to Long Street and walked up and down looking for a place to go. Nothing good. So we drove to this club called Opium. The music inside was kinda weird, but we stayed and danced. A while later we headed back to the car – and this is when the fun really started.
You see, our friend Tyler had a very interesting experience in Brazil involving breast milk. (Don’t ask). Ok fine, you asked. Basically this peddler woman in Brazil was harassing him to give her change. She told him that she was three months pregnant. For some reason she must have thought that he didn’t believe her because she kept saying, “Me no pinnochio, me three months pregnant!” The culmination of the story is when she pinched her breast and squirted milk onto Tyler’s shoe to prove that she was pregnant. Wow, this is weird to write on paper.
Anyways, we asked Tyler to tell Alon the story. Now you have to understand, each time that Tyler tells this story it gets longer and more elaborate. This time it took him about 15 minutes to tell the whole story with new added details. We were in hysterics. I think Alon thought it was one of the funniest things he had ever heard. We were cracking up about it all night – imitating the voice, “Me no pinnochio, me pregnant!” Etc. etc. etc. Really for this one you had to be there, but I have to say it was one of the best nights of my entire life.
On the way home we stopped at a gas station because Alon told us that this gas station had the best hot chocolate EVER. When we got there, guess what. The only thing they were out of was hot chocolate! Blah! It was pretty funny though – at this point it was about 4 am and we were delirious from laughter.
So, Alon drives us home, we laugh some more, and say our sweet goodbyes. Until the next day that is!
My last day in South Africa I was going to go to some museums with Todd, but he was too tired from the night before, so I joined Casey, Leslie, Sarah and Ryan on their journey to an AIDS orphanage in one of the townships. Best idea EVER. What an incredible day. First of all, our taxi driver was amazingly nice. We hadn’t realized how far the orphanage was, and by the time we were halfway there the price for the taxi was already so expensive that we would have enough money with us to pay him. He told us that what we were doing was so special he would not charge us for most of the ride, and the ride back would be free. Throughout the day he would tell us how we were inspiring him to do good things for others. Just awesome.
When we got to the township we could not find the orphanage. So we stopped at a police station (I think) to ask for help. All I remember is sitting in this taxi staring at the two cows that were right next to us. We were definitely in another world. The taxi driver came out with some man who took us to the orphanage. The orphanage was locked, but our taxi driver was so determined to help us help others – so he screamed and yelled and honked for people to come out. Eventually when no one came we stopped by a church to see if someone else could help us.
This particular day happened to be a festival. There were tons of people at church, dressed in beautiful clothes. The food they were making smelled sooooooooo good! A young man jumped in the back of the car to help us find another place. I can’t remember his name, because it was in Xhosa (one of the many South African languages). As a side note, how cool is it that I watched video after video in my anthropology classes at UCLA of these people who speak with a click and here I was sitting next to one of them talking face to face! AHH! Unreal I tell you.
This young man was so nice! We asked him tons of questions about his village, culture, religion, and life in South Africa before and after the apartheid. Well, he helped us find an AIDS orphanage that was actually open.
When we got to the orphanage, we all pitched in money and Ryan went with the driver to get groceries for the kids. Leslie, Casey, Sarah and I entered the orphanage. The owner (woman) of the orphanage showed us around. It was a small place with a kitchen, living room and three bedrooms for six kids. One cool thing was that Elton John had signed their wall! He had just visited earlier this year!
Soon the kids came back. Oh boy! They were soooo cute! It was so strange when they first ran to us because one boy started coughing and soon all the others started coughing also. It seemed that all of them were pretty sick, with snot coming out everywhere. I was a little worried about germs but got over it in about thirty seconds when they starting jumping all over us!
They attacked the four of us love. Some were hanging on our necks, some were hanging on our legs, some we were carrying in our arms. After a few minutes of chaotic jumping – they settled down and sang us some songs. This was probably the highlight for me. They sang so many songs! I could not believe that these tiny kids (probably age 4-6) knew so many songs! I know I would not have been able to do that – even now. My favorite was when they sang the South African National Anthem. Have I mentioned how much I love that song? It is one of the prettiest songs I have ever heard, and definitely the best national anthem out there. When these little kids put their hands over their hearts and started singing I had to try really hard to keep the tears in my eyes and not all over my face. I just kept thinking about how they had been abandoned by their parents due to a horrible, horrible disease that is also developing in their own bodies. So not only did they suffer trauma from seeing their parents die, but they will continue to suffer in their life because of HIV/AIDS.
After their song session, the four of us tried frantically to think of some songs to sing back to them. I think we came up with Twinkle Twinkle and You are My Sunshine. Then I taught them one of my favorite camp games/cheers. It was hysterical seeing these kids imitate me. Ah, great moments in life.
After this we went outside to play. We played on their “playground” which consisted of a broken swing set and twirly thing. Most of the kids were barefoot and there was broken glass all over the ground. Some older girl from the township sat down next to me and started asking me questions. When I told her I wanted to teach Spanish (when I grow up!) she started spitting out Spanish history! I could not believe it. I can’t even tell you Spanish history and here is this 12 year old girl from a remote township in South Africa knowing more than me. I was just in awe. When I told her I meant I wanted to teach Spanish language and not history she laughed – but it was still really cool.
I was starting to get worried about Ryan at this point because it had been over an hour and he had not returned with the food. The owner of the orphanage decided to take us on another tour – this time to the adult AIDS hospice center across the “street.” This was heartbreaking. When we walked in we saw two men sitting at a table trying to eat. They were so skinny and could barely move. Everyone in this place was dying. I don’t think I’ve ever seen people in a situation like this. I just remember the lady behind the counter making the food was wearing a t-shirt that said, “I’m HIV POSITIVE.” For some reason that really stuck out in my mind. I heard that people in South Africa (and hopefully everywhere!) are trying to put AIDS more in the open. I feel that it is such a hush hush situation, but it needs to be in your face. So many people in every part of the globe are dying from this disease – it is absolutely horrifying.
We walked around from room to room and visited the patients. Most could not even smile or say hello. Their eyes were very big and their faces thin. We did not really know what to do, so we just waved and gave big smiles. If that even created a spark of joy in their day, I will be happy.
Thankfully Ryan arrived with bags and bags of food! We gave the food to the owner who was very glad and handed out chips to all the kids. Then we basically played with them for the next hour or so. I remember it being so neat – us four white Americans from the United States, the little kids with HIV in the township, our Indian taxi driver, and the young Xhosa speaking man from the church all brought together by this common situation and playing.
I know I’ve gone into so much detail already, but this is serving as my own journal – so bear with me!
The only other thing that stuck out in my mind was how much the kids loved to play on the taxi. I don’t know how it happened, but one of the kids figured out how to turn the radio on, and soon these hip hop songs were blasting from the car and the kids starting dancing. It was so funny. There was one little girl that I particularly liked, and one older boy who was the owner’s grandson. I’ll never forget their faces.
Saying goodbye was hard. On the drive back the taxi driver told us that we had opened his eyes to the situation of AIDS in the townships, and he is going to go back every few weeks and visit the kids. He was truly touched by that morning. I was the so moved by the fact that our taxi driver was so inspired by us. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way before.
When we got back to the waterfront, I ate sushi with Sarah and called Alon to have him meet us for dinner. The same group of us from the night before with Alon all met and we went for pizza in the mall. We had a great time once again.
Saying goodbye was very difficult, and I cried a little. My group of friends and I went up to the top deck to watch us pull away from South Africa. I will never forget the feeling of pain in my heart as we saw the mountain fade into the background and returned to the ocean. Goodbye South Africa!