Sorry for the delay in this blog post- in between Durban and Cape Town I had a fair amount of homework and then I traveled the last weekend before Cape Town and have basically been travelling ever since. Here’s what I got up between Durban and my weekend travelling. I’ll try and post the weekend traveling and Cape Town early next week (my spring break has yet to come as well . . .).

A bunch of my classes have had field trips or interesting speakers come in to talk to us recently. The Wednesday morning after Durban the group traveled to Bethelsdorp to meet with Bradley (the man who guided our tour of Addo & Schotia) and learn about what living in PE in the 1980s was like. It was really cool to hear about his experiences as a colored man working in the anti-apartheid struggle in a township in 1980s. For a few years he worked as a teacher in a school, where he tried to tell his students some of the history of South Africa even though it wasn’t on the official syllabus he was supposed to be teaching (under the Bantu Education Act, the apartheid governmetn had strict laws about what could be taught black students- basically they were to learn what was necessary for a menial domestic worker or laborer, but nothing more). He also told us about the beginnings of racial discrimination in the 1800s with the arrival of the first whtie settlers. The first pass laws restricting movement of non-whites were instituted in 1809. The white settlers also quickly began seizing land from the native people. This land seizure only continued and intensified as more and more settlers came and reached its peak during the apartheid government’s creation of black homelands (“traditional” ethnic areas created by the government where all the black population was eventually suppoed to live- about 70% of the people in South African on 13% of the land). While the National Party can in no way be condoned in their actions towards the black South Africans, it’s interesting to note that they didn’t start from scratch. It was interesting to learn about some 19th century South African history since most of what we have done in class is 20th century stuff.

In Biology we took a field trip to a local sandy beach to do a lab. Our actual co-ordinator, a professor who’s specialty is Sandy Beach Ecology, sat down with us for the first time (she was off at a sea turtle conference when we first arrived) on the beach and basically said “welcomed to my office”. I’m not sure if I would want it as my office all the time (rain and wind might get old), but for the day we were there it was pretty nice. We pulled out cores from the sand, washed away all the sand, and examined & saved all the small critters we found (we added some formaldyhyde to the containers to kill them so that we could have accuarte amounts of critters- otherwise they’re apt to eat each other).

Friday morning we boarded a bus bright and early to head to Grahamstown, a town about an hour away from PE. Bradley came with us once again since he’d organized the trip for us. At every site we had someone from that site give us their talk on the importance of the site, but Bradley would add in his bit as well. At the site of an apartheid government monument to some of the first settlers, we learned about the 1819 battle between the Xhosas and the British under Col. Graham (hence the name of the town). In the years prior to the battle, the British had pushed the Xhosa off the land to claim it for the British settlers. The Xhosa had amassed a large army to try and take it back. Even though the Xhosas had more people, they were forced to retreat by the more military-savvy British. In the retreat, the Xhosa leader Makana surrendered, hoping that this would stop the British from slaughtering all his people. He was brought to Robben Island and imprisoned with other uprisers. Some of the prisoners came up with an escape plan and tried to carry it out, but Makana ended up drowning in the process. His name lived on as hero and his people waited for him to come back for over 50 years. Although word eventually reached them about what happened, they didn’t want to accept that he died. After that we went on to the Egazweni Art centre, an outreach project by the local university. The centre used to be a police station under the apartheid government, but now it has been transformed into a place for local artisits to work and sell their work. We looked at lots of prints done by the artists. It was interesting to read some of the artists’ statements about what they were trying to convey with their work- several of the works were based on the story of Makana and the battle. In the gift shop work by the artists was for sale- bags, cards, and prints. Lots of people bought souvenirs and I think it’s really cool that we were able to help support these local artists.

We next headed to Peddie, a town in a very rural part of South Africa. We met with the mayor of the town, an ANC guy, and asked him and the staff he brought with him about land reform in the area. Like any politician, he passed off questions to people in charge of various projects and didn’t always give straight answers. I also thought that everyone talked a lot about the past and the problems they are up against because of how the apartheid laws messed with how land and resources have been distributed. Bradley also works as a consultant and he’s works with these people on prioritizing how to use their government money. He said it was good for them to see that outsiders are interested in the work they are doing.
After a delicious catered lunch (I even ate the meat they served us since it seemd rude to refuse it), we hopped back on the bus to Kingwilliamstown. The drive was pretty long, but eventually we ended up at Steve Biko’s house. Biko founded the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa which aimed to raise black’s pride in themselves. He was imprisoned in Port Elizabeth in the 80s and while he was in prison suffered some serious injuries (no one’s completely sure what exactly happened- the police books say that he imflicted his wounds on himself, but many people believe the police beat him). He eventually was brought naked on the back of a pick-up truck to Pretoria (a city a couple hours north of Johannesberg- I’m not sure how far it is from PE to Joberg, but its enough that you usually fly, not drive). He ended up dying in hospital in Pretoria from a variety of factors- his wounds, dehydration, etc. We got to look around his house in the township he grew up in which has now been turned in to a small museum. In one of the rooms there was a proclamation by the mayor of Minneapolis (I forget her name, but she was the first black female mayor of a major city) declaring a week for Black Consciousness.

That evening I was supposed to go to my first orchestra practice, but the ride back to PE took a little longer than Bradley had originally anticipated, so I ended up not being able to get to it on time. Gary offered to drive me to NMMU for the practice since by our original schedule we would have been able to make it back in time for me to arrange my own transportation to the practice. I got to NMMU about an hour and a half late for the practice only to figure out (after wandering about for a bit) that the orchestra was not practicing at NMMU (I’d assumed the rehearsal room referred to in the e-mail was at NMMU, but it wasn't). I ran into the choir that had been practicing all night, borrowed someone’s cell phone to call the bass player who’s number I had (he couldn’t make it to practice that night) to ask where practice was, and learned they were practicing at their normal rehearsal location in downtown PE. I decided I couldn’t make it to the practice (by this point it was 9pm and they’d started at 7:30pm, and I didn’t know how I could get to practice besides calling a taxi and that would be rather expensive), but that still meant I had to get home. Thankfully the choir was finishing up their practice for the night, so I asked the guy whose cell phone I borrowed if he knew of anyone heading towards Humewood (the area of PE the flats are in) that I could get a ride home from. He asked the choir director’s husband (who is actually a reasonably famous composer, I learned later from Andrew, the SJU guy in the choir) and he said he could drop me off on his way home. The guy was really nice. I’m not sure if I just haven’t been in need of this much help from other people in the states (I usually know what I’m doing and have a cell phone on me, for one thing), but I feel like people here are more friendly and willing to go out of their way to help you.

Most of Saturday I spent in orchestra practice. I got picked up by the bass player friend of Simon’s . The practice lasted from 10am until 5:30pm, with a 1.5 hour break for lunch. I went out to eat with some members to try and get to know some people. Most of the members are college students at NMMU or other universities in nearby towns studying music, but there’s a few people who have graduated and are now working (mostly working on something related to music- teaching lessons, working in South African’s equivalent of All State Orchestra, etc.) and a few older adults. The conert is all Mozart- the Magic Flute Opera Overture, Symphony No. 39, and a flute concerto (which I’m not playing on). I did some reading for class while they practiced the concerto and the movement of the symphony I didn’t play on. Molly, one of the orchestra members, is a girl from Chicago who just graduated froom the Univeristy of Chicago with biology and gender studies majors. She plans to go on to medical school eventually, but she is in PE doing Fulbright on the ‘Feminisation of the Medical Clinic’- basically studying why it is that only women go to free clinics in SA. She lives really near me so I got a ride home from her.

The rest of the week was pretty normal- we went grocery shopping, to student mass on Sunday, had classes, and volunteered.
We had an interesting guest speaker in Senior Seminar come talk about the Truth & Reconciliation Committee (TRC) in South Africa. The TRC was started soon after Mandela came to power to find out the truth about the human rights violations committed by both the apartheid government and the liberation struggle. People who committed gross human rights violations between 1960 (the Sharpeville massacre- after it the liberation struggle got much more violent in South Africa since the state stepped up repression and a couple key anti-apartheid organizations added military wings) and 1994 could come forward and ask for amnesty. Victims or families of victims could come forward to tell their stories. She actually served on one of the boards, so it was interesting to hear her take on the proceedings. It was also more interesting to hear about the TRC from someone who also participated in it than reading about it.

On Tuesday my apartment hosted our potluck- Mexican theme. While they have soft tortillas and taco seasoning here, Mexican food isn’t really a big thing yet, so they’re a bit expensive. We decided to do tacos in a bag (crushed up Doritos, meat, rice, tomato, lettuce, guacamole, salsa, and cheese). Originally we wanted to flavor the rice with cilantro and lime, but that proved to be a bit of a problem since they don’t really sell either of those ingredients here (at least by those names). While they have small green citrus fruits that look a bit like limes inside, they’re just sold as lemons. They have nothing called cilantro as well. I had a half recollection that coriander is the same as cilantro (I tried to make a carrot and coriander soup that I’d eaten in England last winter- recipes online said they were the same), so we bought some powder form of that instead (although the Spar occasionally has fresh cilantro, none came in this week. Grocery stores in South Africa definitely aren’t as consistent as they are in the states- sometimes they will have an item, sometimes not. It happens a lot with produce. I’m not sure if they’re just really bad at re-stocking stuff or the supply lines get messed up sometimes or they just don’t stock out of season fruits & veggies, but it’s a bit annoying). It didn’t taste like cilantro, but we put it on the rice with the lemon juice anyways.

After we got back from class the day of the potluck we had a minor freak out about not having bought enough meat to feed all 30 students (it didn’t help that all the guys kept telling us make sure you have enough meat- we love Mexican food!) I ended up taking a last minute walk to the Spar grocery store to get more meat and taco seasoning, but at the end of the night we ended up with tons of left overs. We didn’t realize that it was going to be on St. Patrick’s Day when we picked the theme, so people ended up mixing cultures- drinking Guinness with tacos in a bag, but it worked. To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day I bought a can of Guinness and tried it. It wasn’t acually as bad as I thought it would be, considering I don’t really like regular beer. By no means did I love it, but it wasn’t horrible. My flatmates all tried some of it and they didn’t like it at all. Overall the potluck went really well. People tried admirably to make some Mexican side dishes- we had a pretty good attempt at refried beans and some delicious home made guacamole.

Right after political science on Thursday afternoon we headed off to Jeffrey’s Bay. For only 40 rand one way we’d hired out a kombi driver and kombi to take us there. We had just enough of us to fill every spot on the kombi, in addition to all our stuff, so it was a pretty cramped vehicle, to say the least! I didn’t make much progress on my reading during the hour or so ride, but I chatted with other people and enjoyed the beautiful sunset over the mountains we could see out the windows. We arrived just in time to sign up for dinner at the backpackers- a huge steak, baked potato, and salad for only 80 rand.
Friday morning I woke up pretty early and tried the breakfast at the hostel- fruit pancakes. Of course, in South Africa, pancakes mean something a lot more similar to crepes than American pancakes. They were filled with apple and banana chunks and drizzled with some syrup. After that a few of us headed into town to the Billabong outlet mall to do some shopping. I bought a surf shirt for just over 40 rand ($4!) on sale and a cute dress, which I’m pretty excited about since I didn't bring any dresses to South Africa (mostly since I don’t really own any sun dresses in the states) and it’ll be nice to wear to some dressier event while we’re in South Africa. We got back to our backpackers in the mid-morning, just in time for Nikki and me to catch the morning surf lesson. We got on our swim suits, put a wet suit over our suit, and then a large pink surf shirt over the wetsuit (I think the purpose of the surf shirt was so that the instructor could see where all of us were in the water, but maybe it had some other purpose). We also had to put sun screen on our faces, hands, and feet. While it was a bit sunny out, I didn’t think it was all that bad, but because you’re on the water, you’re much more likely to get burned, so it’s really important to remember sunscreen. We got our boards next- they were huge and made of pretty light weight material so that they’re more stable in the water and thus easier to stand on.

We had to carry our boards down to the correct place on the beach (we couldn’t just surf anywhere- the part of the beach closer to us was reserved for boat launches). My arms weren’t quite long enough to carry the board under my arm like most people do, so I carried mine on my head instead. This didn’t really cause any problems, but by the end of the walk my neck was sore! We had a brief lesson on the sand to begin with about some basic theory and then we got in the water to practice catching a wave. I found it quite a bit of work just to get out to the part of the ocean where you’re supposed to come in from- there was a bit of a trough before the sand bank where I couldn’t really touch, so I had to swim with my board a bit. I’d just managed to catch one wave when he called us in to do some more land theory stuff. This time we learned how to stand up on the board- how to paddle before the wave comes, push up with your arms, bring your back foot forward, and then the last foot and stand. At first it was a bit hard to remember, but we soon got the order and how to do it (at least without the water) down. The hard part was applying this in the water. I was just starting to get a hang of just catching a wave and remembering the various steps when our instructor called us in one more time to give us some last minute pointers. Most of the group had already stood up a few times by this point, so he helped them work on staying up for longer. By the end of the lesson I had gotten through about half the steps to stand up a couple times, but I never got the full way. Nikki managed to get up a couple times, though, which was cool. At least I can say that I’ve tried surfing. We had to bring our boards back afterwards and they were even heavier to carry back. I never realized how tiring surfing is! It looks so easy when other people do it. I think our large beginner boards were a lot heavier to carry as well. After the exhausting morning I went out to lunch at a Mexican restaurant (or at least a South African version of Mexican food- some of the ingredients just aren’t the same here). I spent the afternoon on the beach relaxing and chilling with some of the rest of the group.

Our kombi and driver showed up right on time to bring us back to PE. We were running a bit late by the time we got to PE, so we asked the driver to go to NMMU to drop me off at practice first- at first he was quite confused why he wasn’t going back to Langerry, but we got him to understand. We were almost to NMMU, where the practice definitely was supposed to be occurring (I’d double checked this time!) when Zach, one of the guys in the group, got a call from Simon- the other SJU student in the orchestra. Molly and he had shown up at NMMU with the rest of the orchestra only to find another group had taken over the stage. Practice had to be relocated to the rehearsal room in downtown PE. Got all the way to NMMU- Simon & Molly no longer there. Kombi driver very confused. Managed to meet up with Molly & Simon got to practice. Practice ended up starting late because of the whole deal, so I wasn’t even late. Orchestra practice went fine once we finally got everyone settled

Saturday morning we had our last orchestra practice. One of the old Afrikaaner guys in the orchestra had invited Molly and another member out to lunch, but when Molly told him that she had to bring me home first, he invited me to come along as well. We went to this pretty nice place on the Boardwalk and got fish since it was supposed to be good there. We talked a bunch about why Molly and I are in South Africa (no one here has really heard of a Fulbright and they think she’s doing research for her doctorate, but this guy had actually heard of it) and music and musicians in South Africa. We got talking politics with him a bit, which was interesting. He’s related to Malan, the first president under the apartheid government in 1948. He definitely was a bit racist and he barely tried to hide it (unlike people in the US). When he tried to ask him who he voted for he avoided the question and said he never told anyone that information and that if we wanted to get him talking more about politics we’d have to get him some wine one night. He wanted us to try milk tartes, a traditional Afrikaner desert, but the restaurant was all out so we had different deserts instead. By the time the lunch was over it was almost time for our concert. Our first show went off pretty well- I flubbed the opening bar of my timp solo in the symphony and got a bit of a glare from the conductor, but I don’t think the audience really noticed. I went out with a few of the orchestra people after show, which was fun. A couple of the people in the orchestra are from Bloemfontein, a mostly Afrikaner town to the west of Lesotho, and they told Molly & I to come visit them some time.

Sunday morning I went grocery shopping and in the afternoon I had my last orchestra show. A few members of the CSB/SJU group came and watched my concert and it was nice to see people I knew in the crowd. The audience was much better- just more receptive and you could tell they enjoyed it more. I managed to pull off my timpani solos too. During the intermission the orchestra co-ordinator approached me with an enveople of money. I got paid for the orchestra! My first paid gig ever! It wasn’t a ton of money or anything (800 rand), but I wasn't expecting it at all, so I was really surprised.