Homework: My Lifelong battle

So we have to turn in our 40 page paper on whatever we did for our ISP's over the past month this afternoon at 6pm. It is just a draft but still lets get this shit done. I have been the most unmotivated person ever and am just starting now. T-4 hours to complete it. No problem- the words are flowing right now, actually I am just using my journal entries from the past 4 weeks and typing up my favorite bits and copy and pasting it all together and hoping for the best. I loved my project and learned some awesome shit about live music in Cape Town, I just don't feel like writing this stupidly structured paper they want with their stupid sections and bullshit. So I am just doing a classic "free write", which is just writing! God- why must we seperate writing into categories, its all the same if you have a brain and care about the words you're putting into the universe- fine, fine, another time, another battle.
Ok so I'm taking a break to eat my delicious egg sandwich I just whipped up (fluffy scrambled with shredded white cheddar and a perfectly ripe avocado sliced thinly, that I stole from the fridge- oops) and have decided to write to you cadets about whats up.
Here is my intro, I found it in my journal from a few weeks back. Brilliant words Brenna, really great.
Enjoy!

Its been 4 weeks of concerts almost every night, observing crowds and meeting some of the coolest people I have every encountered. My beliefs as music as a way to send a message have stayed true, however my belief of music as a bridge has not yet reached the minds and hearts of all Capetonians. In society art is somehow considered a less legitimate, responsible and productive career and lifestyle choice as compared to banking, law and politics. I am not stating this fact because I believe it, but because it is the belief of many motivational, wealthy people in this world and is a part of the world I was raised in. I do not understand why this is a thing because I would love to see one lawyer change the mindsets and inspire people to change the world as effectively as the lyrics of Bob Dylan, images by Andy Warhol and stories of J.D. Salinger. Art is a gateway to sending a message and a path much more approachable and understandable to many minds than anything written on a document for old men to sign in a government office. 

Must have slipped my mind....

I TOTALLY FORGOT TO TELL YOU GUYS!
I'M GOING TO KENYA!!!!
THAT'S RIGHT! NAIROBI, KENYA! DECEMBER 13TH FOR A WEEK!
wooo. feels good to get that off my chest, it must have slipped my mind somehow, but I just picked up my plane tickets (that I was 99% sure the student travel agency were planning on stealing, i mean they could still be fake but here's hoping they let me on the plane anyway!)
So that's whats up with me. Let me tell you I know NOTHING, absolutely nothing about Kenya. Picked it straight out of my ass. Didn't really even know how far it was from South Africa till I checked the ol' map and realized that the city of Nairobi LIES ON THE EQUATOR! THE MOTHER FUCKING EQUATOR!

WHOSE GONNA BE THE TANNEST IN ALL THE LAND???? THATS MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

So while all of you are doing finals, traveling home for winter break and wrapping up Christmas and Hannukah gifts, I will be taking hot air balloon rides above the desert and feeding giraffes and elephants at an orphanage.

Vijay will be my companion on the journey/ adventure. Please see the fantastic of the first of many photos of us. (This is night #1 Halloween and it was extraordinarily warm in this house party we essentially crashed...and then took over their stage). We are both in agreement that we will hike if we must. markets are our #1 priority and relaxing is not an option but a must.
If anyone knows anything about Kenya let me know, I'm open to suggestions but make no promises.


Live. Love. Kenya.

Is this school?

So any good follower of this lovely blog, a.k.a my parents, would notice that November has been lighter on the posts than the previous 2 months of this crazy trip. WEIRD that November is almost over!!! AHHHHH!! where/what/how is time???
At the start of this month I  ____ ____the _______ ____with some friends and did____ ______ ____ _______ ____which was insane and so fun!! Everyone should put this on the top of their bucket list! (to be filled in on Dec 13th, when I get off this weirdly strict program). Since then I have actually been living "the" life. The one everyone talks about and dreams of, I really think i'm currently doing it. I have complete freedom, am in a fascinating foreign country with possibilities all around me and an incredible group of friends to spend everyday with. My ISP is on live music, which pretty much only occurs at night so my days are completely free. So you're probably thinking if you're so insanely free then why not blog more? Well pretty much every second of my day is spent doing something fun, I know what is this universe, like I kid you not I really cannot remember the last time I wasn't loving what I was doing. Even when it's not my personal favorite thing, I am still happy to be doing and experiencing it so that I can see it firsthand- prime ex. this hoidy-toidy, super exclusive club we went to on Friday night that was filled with the most pretentious people, chock full of men in blazers and jeans and girls without any sense of personal style, but I still loved hating it and laughing at it with my equally underdressed best friends. I have just basically been on a vacation it seems like, getting to choose from a great lunch at a fabulous restaurant with this friend or the beach or a shopping afternoon in a new neighborhood or watching a movie with a friend and the list goes on. There is too much fun to be had and I can't get enough of it all. Even last night I decided for the first time in weeks to stay in for the night and it was excellent! I roasted broccoli, watch Entourage with the boys and talked about high school superlatives with all 12 of us at the end of the night. What a life!
I'll keep living the dream, just wanted to let you know why I've been a bit out of the reg postings. But today was a boatload of reading and pics to keep you happy.

Also yesterday I went to this place called Mzoli's, which is a braai restaurant in Gugguletu, a township and a number one tourist attraction in Cape Town. It is a genius business plan where you buy raw meat from the butchery in the front room, go down a hallway to the braai room where you drop your tray off and wait for it to cook, on a Sunday up to an hour, and go find a table, some drinks and snacks- everything besides the meat is bring your own- in the room of tables and music next door. It is a block party with meat...lots of meat. It was an awesome place that is almost as smart as Chirpin Chicken, man do I miss that place, and I get why its a must see.

Here's how things go at Mzoli's Place

Step 1: 

Buy your meat, a selection of steak, pork, chicken and sausage awaits you after the 1 hour line outside

I went with chicken and steak with some friends
(oh hey tattoo!)

 

Step 2: Meat goes in the line. So organized, so brilliant, so good. 

cooking the meat!

Step 3: the meat gets cooked- how they throw it all on there alltgoether and remember who ordered what I HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT! GENIUSES!

STEP 5: WHO CAN GUESS IT?!?!?!?!?

EATTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!! 

also Crystal and I snuck in the room of dead, hanging pigs. freezing, smelly and hilarious.

The Sugarman

I know I say it everyday, but on Friday I had my best day in Cape Town thus far. Who out there has seen the new, hot documentary Searching for Sugarman??? Option 1: You have! YEAHHH! How good? OMG I know unbelievable! Literally mind-boggliing. Option 2: You haven’t! STOP READING THIS BLOG AND GO SEE IT NOW! NOW! MOVE FASTER! GO!

Ok so because I am oddly bold and have no shame and a deep rooted infactuation with music, which of course I knew about before this trip but I really didn’t know just how deep it was, ANYWAY back on topic! Ok so I decided after seeing the movie and being full of inspiration, confusion, and overwhelmed by the insane story, but mostly full of admiration for Stephen “Sugar” Segerman, the record shop owner who found him and introduced him to the America and myself, to pull a classic Brenna and just go for it. So I sent the following email to Stephen:

Hi Sugar-

I am sure I am not the first to get in touch with you after seeing Searching for Sugarman and be moved by the incredible and unbelievable story about Rodriguez and your dedicated search for him. My name is Brenna Goldstein and I am here in Cape Town for a few months studying on an American exchange program and have decided to do an independent study on Music in Cape Town. I am so inspired by your passion for Rodriguez, because that is so how I can see myself reacting if I was in your situation of being in love with an artist and not knowing his life story. Music is my biggest passion and although I do not play an instrument or know anything besides listening to the combination of lyrics put to music, I am determined to learn all I can about the music scene here. I would love to hear some of your thoughts on music in Cape Town and personal story about your love for music. I am around for the next month everyday so please feel free to contact me if you have any time to talk. I can come down to the shop later this week or next.

Thanks so much for your time and for not giving up on your search, you have forever enlightened thousands on a brilliant artist and man.

Brenna Goldstein

this is the room of all rooms.
(I spy...all the best albums of all time)

He responded within 24 hours with his phone number and home address inviting me to come over and chat whenever was convienient. On Thursday I called him and made a plan for Gaby and I to come by the next day. Off we went, freaking out with nervousness over what to ask him and how to make sure we every second of his life story in the hour or so we had at his house.

Well we had nothing to be nervous about, he is incredible. So humble, so causal, so inspirational. He sat us down in the room. Basically a haven of music and comfort that I though only existed in dreams and hippies music, smoke rooms of 1975. Not knowing where to start we just began chatting about ourselves and he was fascinated by us! Like had sooooo many questions about our program, what kind of music we liked and lots of jewish talk. Within the first 10 minutes I asked my most burning question about my most memorable line in the movie that in the 70’s in South Africa the most popular albums were, in order, 1. Abbey Road- The Beatles (don’t read my blog if you didn’t know that), 2. Bridge over Troubled Waters (Simon and Garf) and 3. Cold Facts (Sixto Rodriguez). How could Rodriguez been above everyone else of that era?!?!? The who? The stones? Dylan? Floyd? CSN? I just don’t get it!!!!! He responded with the most perfect line, “It’s the best album in the world. My favorite. I listen to it everyday”. His love for his favorite singer resonates so deeply with me I cannot put words to it. This movie and story stuck out to me so much because I just cannot imagine loving a CD and artist, especially one with as good a voice as Rod (as Stephen calls him), and not being able to know anything about him. Hometown, college, age, family, upbringing, whereabouts, etc. I imagine it would kill me and I would have no choice but to do what Stephen did and devote my life to learning all I could about him/ her/ them.

We talked with Stephen for the next 2 hours, having incredible conversations, drinking coffee, listening to his favorite jazz piece and admiring this room covered in the best albums of all time and most beautifully unorganized array of pictures, books and cds. I honeslty wish the entire thing was video taped so I could rewatch and relive it everyday. Some of his best lines include his comparison of Rodriguez and Nelson Mandela, as two men who only want peace and love and suffered for exactly 27 years, in different ways of course but still same amount of years, and came out of their “prisonment”, Mandela’s literally and Rod’s more financially based, still only wanting peace and love and being unphased by the recognition and continuing to strive for and feel passionate about what they originally intended to achieve. I asked him about people comparing Dylan, as he is a huge fan and has a massive collage of him in the hall, and Rodriguez and he said it’s a honor of course, one clearly has a better voice, but there is no way to compare them because Rod wrote 23 songs and Dylan has endless albums of lyrically genious songs. They are both political lyricists and he says that best album for best album, Cold Facts vs. Blood on the Tracks in his opinion, there is no way to choose.

Stephen was full of stories and passion for music that is eternally admirable. After our talk he took us to the record shop, which he described as the room we were sitting in on steroids and he was right. It is the perfect, messy, unorganized, Hendrix poster filled record shop with everything from the Best of Loggins and Messina to N*Sync music video DVDs- just a few of the purchases I made. 

It was a remarkable day and one I will NEVER forget. Rodriguez plans to tour in NY in the spring and I plan to see Stephen there. There are rumours of them getting an Oscar, which they rightfully deserve, so if anyone reading this blog has any pull in that please do that because it would just be one more recognition of how insane and incredible Stephen’s life story is. But I honestly doubt it would phase him, being that Carlos Santana recently emailed him to record with Rod, Neil Young sat in the theater at Sundance- where the movie was first shown as the opener- and he heard through the grapevine that Dylan saw and loved the movie. He is in such awe of the reception of this movie and its recognition and just so humbly grateful that people are interested in hearing the story. 

Gaby and I with the man himself. Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman. 

all photos courtesy of Gaby Gignoux-Wolfsohn

Friends-giving

You will all be happy to know that Thanksgiving went off without a glich. It was an absolutely perfect day, full of incredible food- people actually cooked some good shit. It was definetly very different from home- my sweet potatoes (although white) did taste very similar to home- but just having no adult leadership, funding or organization was a new experience. You never realize just how much work a 30 person dinner takes until you agree to be in charge of it. Our director came with his wife and adorable baby and a few other teachers from our program were very impressed with the amount and quality of the food. I never quite realized how American Thanskgiving is. Besides July 4^th, it is really the only holiday that almost everyone celebrates regardless of religion, and as quite clear that we all needed each other to get through it. Everyone missed home, but honestly celebrating holidays with friends and no rules is super fun! Alright the clean- up wasn’t, but I didn’t really get involved in that being as I was passed out by that point. 
Whether it was the infamous “triptophine” that knocked everyone out or the copious amount of wine, we ran out of glasses pretty early on, so it was just a bottle situation which is always hard to measure, is unclear but people were sleeping in every creves of the house they could find. We have 2 people per armchair, a pile on the couch, a few on the floor and I found two asleep in my twin bed. All plans to go out that night were quickly slept through and the leftovers are still being enjoyed. 

All in all a successful Thanksgiving and a cool chance to make new traditions with new friends. (insert cliché phrase) Where there are friends, there is family.

thanksgiving style- sorry for any offense to anyone

The Thanksgiving Nazi

So had I written this post in my state of insanity yesterday, you would have heard about my mid-afternoon sweet potato breakdown and furiousness over the 15 casseroles (whatever the hell those are) I will have to see other's eat at my  Thanksgiving dinner tonight!
 But today I am in a much calmer state, with a handle on this feast and a relaxed and hopeful state of mind about this whole shing-ding.
Today is Turkey Day, probably the most American holiday after July 4th and I will be attempting to recreate it here in Rondebosch, a lovely suburb of Cape Town, South Africa.
Somehow I got deemed in charge of this 30 person dinner at my house. Somehow I signed up for 3 dishes and was assumed to be everyone's assistant on attmepitng to recreate their mother's classic dishes with completely different brands of ingredients and substitutes on substitutes.
Classic Thanksgiving foods they do not have here in SA:
- Turkey- perhaps the most important part (we have 2 5-kilo turkey that is really just a plump chicken- each person will enjoy a sliver)
- Yams or orange sweet potatoes- so here's to the green, merky color the white variety I purchased and cooked turned out like.
- mini-marshmellows- only coconut covered or strawberry pink ones. yuM!
- Fresh cranberries, I found 3 boxes of frozen so I will enjoy serving everyone 1/2 teaspoon of my delicious orange and cinnamon scented sauce
- Pumpkin for the pies
- just a shocking amount of on hand ingredients you wouldn't think twice about at home but here do not exist- also we live in a frat house, therefore no mixers, trays
Also another thing I have had to keep close to my mind is that everyone's Thanksgiving is different. A few years back I made a Thanksgiving dinner for my mom's birthday with a crowd I do not eat my annual Thanksgiving with and learned just how different people's traditional dishes can get. Well I have relearned that this week. Some weird ones- jello salad? (Apparently it includes both carrots and whipped cream) Again I ask- what the fuck is a casserole? We are having 4 varieites at this meal. I'm just perplexed by the concept and purpose of covered perfectly good ingredients in canned shit and baking it in the all mighty casserole dish.
So I have been deemed Thanksgiving Nazi, only letting the boys out for 2 hours to go hike this morning and demanding their help this afternoon- even though I know they will serve no purpose and should probably just stay out all day. Also keep in mind that everyone is homesick on steroids right now, wishing they were with their families and friends. I certainly wasn't thrilled to miss my friends coming to chill with my fam the other night or not see the Upper West side experience its annual mayhem last night or eat MY traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but I'm doing the best I can here people!
At 4 o clock this whole thing will go down and I will either be a happy camper, enjoy everyone's dishes or alone in the corner hoarding my own delicious sweet potatoes watching the rest of em fight like our ancestors did so many years ago on this very holiday!

peace, love and turkey. enjoy the parade for those of us without cable TV.

Racism 101

2 nights ago I went with a whole crew to a comedy show in Obz, Gaby is doing her ISP on comedy in Cape Town so I have been to a few shows and had a ton of fun. As we are all packed into this small bar, I standing in the back with the latecomers, one guy who was just laughing with everyone else makes some casual, comment back to the comedian, as many others had been doing and is common of comedy shows. Immediately after the non-offensive, controversial or anything comment, the owner walked over and demanded 10Rand from him to see the show. I had come with 10 people and had been there for nearly an hour and none of us had been asked to pay once. The man, upset and refusing to pay turned around and left. His friend was then asked to pay and refused and was thrown out physically by the owner. Of course being in South Africa and living in the home stays I have lived in I have seen how some people can be racist and use race to inform decisions and judgments, but never as blatant as this. The owner was a colored man and the two men he kicked out were both black and a bit older than most of the students in the bar that night. However the fact that he asked them to pay, and did not request it of anyone else is absurd. And the fact that he threw one of them out for no apparent reason, besides their race i'm assuming, is even more absurd. The owner was not ashamed or thought twice about this decisions he made. And although I was livid, confused and shocked at this entire situation that happened a half a foot from me, I did not say anything, which I feel awful about. Its shocking that it happened, and that there are still people who unfortunately feel such a way towards people based on their race, but it is even sadder that it was acceptable behavior and no one stopped him and that the black men felt that they had to comply with his ridiculous orders. 

I would not say this is superrr common here, but there is definitely times when things like this happen and it just shocks you. South Africa is of course racist, because the government trained and forced people to be racist, but the fact that people are still believing and implementing racism 18 years after apartheid is disgusting and unfortuently acceptable here. Just a look into some daily things I see here on the other side of the universe. 

All for now.

Catch ya kids lata

Send off the search mission..as Celine Dion would say "I'm alive"

I know I know I know I AM SO SORRY I HAVE DISAPPEARED

But let me assure you I have been collecting stories and tales to share with you all and living the life I thought only possible in dreams.

A week ago I regained full control back over my life after having given it to the big, bad SIT for the 2 previous months.

Thus far I cannot say enough how much I love having independence and planning abilities back in my life.

So what have I been doing with my time? Well I moved into my house, fraternity, last week and am loving having my own room, own closet, semi full length mirror and window with a view of Table Mountain to lock myself and watch tv in by myself, like real college again!

As for the 4 boys occupying my kitchen constantly, it hasn’t been what I would call neat, but it is definetly tolerable and a small sacrifice for such great housemates.

This past weekend we had a braai, barbeque, and all hung on the couches in our expansive courtyard/ parking area, outside the steps to each house.

Some personal highlights of the past weeks events:

Watched American History X- a movie on my to watch list for the past 5 years, finally got around to. Some fucked up shit if I do say so myself, but honestly so fascinating I had to watch it all- yes all, even that scene, yes, horrific.

Back to cooking which has been fantastic.

Starting watching United States of Tara- loving it thus far, unbelievable that such a disease exists and Toni Collette just kills it.

Shower all the time- we have absurdly incredible water pressure in this house and I just want to shower every second of every day now, which has not been something I have EVER wanted to do!

Also summer is officially here! So beach days will soon become a thing...I know- what is my life? sorry i'm not sorry.

So that pretty much sums up my daily life these days- shower, cook and watch movies all day and then for the nighttimes….

Well now that you ask! I will finally tell you what my independent study is on.

So if you don’t know the way this program works is that after the past 2 months of having every second of every day planned for us, we now have a whole month on our own to study a topic of our choice and fill our days as we please and see best fit for our ISP. I have chosen to study music in Cape Town by going to concerts all around the city and suburbs and seeing how the genre of music correlates with the demographic of the crowd by looking at their race, gender, age, etc. So I began this that excellent night I had in Stellenbosch at Bohemia, remember that post?, and since then just going to as much live music as I can find out about. Last night I went to an open mic night in Obz, as Gaby says “as close as you’ll get to a liberal arts community in Cape Town” and my favorite neighborhood by a far. Some good acts, some not so good but still very interesting to see who was there and what people were singing about. I also saw Searching for Sugarman yesterday and if you haven’t seen it yet, GO SEE IT! An unbelievable, like actually unable to be believed story about a singer named Rodriguez. And yes if you have already seen it, I plan to visit the record shop immediately and have already emailed Sugar to set up an interview/ life talk. So that’s basically what I get to spend this month doing, apparently we need some academic support, but ill probably not do that part knowing myself. It has been a bit challenging to motivate myself to do this project and not just go to karaoke as a form of live music on some nights (last night I did a performance of Macy Gray’s famous I Try that had the crowd clapping along, a beautiful moment for me). But now I’m really into and just excited to see as much music as possible in my last 5 weeks, I know I cant believe it either, here.

I really feel like I live here these days also. Like to get to wake up and just transport yourself to a lunch spot of your choice, with one person is such an underrated reality and something I have not been able to do for so long. I also think I just appreciate and need my independence much more than others on my program and thrive on using public transportation to a small event, that I found out about through word of mouth.

i'll put some pics up of my frat house soon as soon as I take them. go play in the snow for me northeast friends!

Working Girl

Had a lovely, semi-uneventful, crazy weekend.
Saturday was spent at the Biscuit Mill, obviously, then at my first event for my new internship. Sunday was spent sleeping until 12, avoiding homework and drinking with dinner, pretty average.
Back to the internship! http://showme.co.za/cape-town/interactive/fun-things-to-do-in-cape-town-expo/
Thats the link to see what I did, if you click on the pictures you will see that my name is on the pics. Prettyy cool!!! My next assignment is on Saturday when I will attend the Cape Town World music festival where I will be that girl taking pictures of all the drugged out hipsters and handing out flyers to "check out your pic online tomorrow! rock on!"

all for now blog readers...happy monday!

p.s the election is tomorrow ahhhhhh! please just don't vote for romney

ubuntu

Today we had the lecture that made this whole semester of semi-mediocre classes and general unorganized studies worth it. Sonja Kruse (theubuntugirl.co.za) came to speak and share her story with us today. Sonja is an Afrikanner, 40 year old women who has lived her dream. Her dream was to travel the country of South Africa with a backpack, camera and 100Rand (equilivant to $12.00) in search of “ubuntuli”. She hitchhiked, walked, and slept in stranger’s homes for just under a year. She did 114 home stays. Side note: I am on my fourth and exhausted and overwhelmed by the variety of culture. I cannot imagine more than 10. Anyway she traveled around, met people, shared her mission and story and changed her life. The entire three-hour speech was so inspiring I literally professed my love for her during the q and a. I had like 10,000 questions so picking one was hard, but I asked what was in her backpack. She said she left with one change of clothes, toiletries and a notebook. She collected gifts along the way, but literally had no possessions with her and told me I would be surprised with how little you need to live. Amongst many, one of the things that stuck out to me about her story was her emphasis on the lack of value in a monetary system. She made no income, spent virtually no money for a year and survived. Yes she was lucky to find a home to welcome her and feed her every night, but that’s possible. She explained how so many people would try to give her money and that she wouldn’t take it because she didn’t need it, she would rather gave a gift that matters- like a piece of art, music or meal. Something you will remember because of who gave it to you, not something you will spend and never see again.

The next big thing that stuck with me, and will forever was ubuntu. Ubuntu is a zulu word that has many definitions and no real English translation. It is a word that represents what Sonje found on her “African” journey- I say African in this case because she saw the incalculable amount of African cultures. South Africa has 11 official languages, but an immeasurable amount of cultures. Ubuntu means hospitality, plus love, plus open-mindness, plus sharing, plus caring, plus hosting, plus welcoming, plus learning. It is the concept that people cannot exist without other people so why not learn and accept the other people that exist because we do all coexist. This concept is so representative of how I believe I was raised in many aspects. I don’t know how many of you readers have met my parents, but they are notorious for opening our home to friends, family members, tour guides in Botswana, taxi drivers in France, people in a bar who share a sports team support, the list goes on and on. I grew up in an unofficial hostel and with the concept that taxi drivers know the best restaurants in foreign cities and that you can never have enough friends. Ubuntu. A word to what I believed was a wordless concept.

Ubuntu, I can’t stop saying it and loving it and being shocked by its existence.

So today was inspirational in that I boggled my mind with wondering whether I could live out of a backpack and go without the possessions and money I have depended on for the past 20 years and just fuel and fund myself from human interaction….still not sure.

Ubuntu is my past in that I believe I have seen it in some small way before, it is my present in that I am currently practicing opening myself to a new family each week and it is my future in that I strive to achieve it to the maximum level in my lifetime and world travels.

Also! After this great lecture I met with a lady and got an internship! Basically I will a photographer and journalist for ShowMe Cape Town (showme.co.za), similar to our Time Out NY. I will be going to events of my choice and taking pics and handing out flyers for people to check their picture online. I will also be doing write ups of the awesome events I attend, which can be anything from markets to concerts to beach days full of tourists. I am basically spreading the word about some of the things to do in this wonderful city and how you can be a part of that and who was at that today with me! I have my first events tomorrow and I’ll attach links to my website that they are setting me up with asap.

Party on cadets. i am bloated with inspiration

some of Sonja's most epic quotes:

"I am because you are because we are"

"Ubuntu = Exist, Extend, Expand"

"A person is a person through other people"

"My life is irrevocably tied up with yours"

Halloween in the Bo Kaap

What a great 24 hours it has been. Starting with getting out of class at 1 Wednesday, doesn’t sound like much but when every hour of every day is planned for you, it was a dream. After searching the corners of the city for a costume shop, I finalized my outfit and headed home to attempt to consume a meal. It was a pasta, chicken, cheese baked situation that was stomachable which was good, and I got to hang with my wonderful fam. We discussed how they believed my family to be sinking in NYC, as well as my Halloween plans. My mom had invited my friend to come over and get ready with me as she and her husband were going out for the evening. Before I knew it 15 kids were over and I was freaking out, didn’t wanna have another Langa yelling. They came up thrilled..yes thrilled! to see all my classmates in costumes and found it hilarious. We all took pics here before going out and it was all so wonderful. What a dream family- loves to host! Haven’t felt so at home yet. As we were getting ready my mom told me I am not going to school tomorrow because I have to sleep and go to the beach. She said she would call SIT and tell them I was sick….im sorry. Were we meant to be or were we meant to be? Does she know about my years of fake fevers, stomach aches and 6thgradehookies? I wasn’t gonna fight her, and although it is not a thing to skip class here, I went with it. We went out in all of our ridiculous outfits, had a ball- 2 for 1 at Stones, costume party for a little while and ended the night with Kareoke. Yes that’s right. Kareoke! On Halloween! Started with a little RIhanna “Hate that I Love You”, then a stellar rendition of “Barbie Girl”, leading into Tori and I’s crossroads esque duet of “I Love Rock N Roll” and closed the night with Adele’s “Someone Like You”- a bit sad, but when the whole bar sings together, anything is fun. Made my way back up the hill to the Bo Kaap and did NOT wake up at 8 am like the rest of my group. Slept til 12, was given a nutella sandwich and coffee upon waking up, and sat on the porch talking about life with my host mom. She really wanted me to go to the beach, but all my friends were at school and we agreed it wouldn’t be fun alone. She has such an appreciation for relaxing and enjoying life, its so wonderful and refreshing. She is the classic Cape Townian in that she is laid back and carefree and loves the beauties of life, but then is also the classic naggy mom always forcing people to eat when they say their not hungry and making sure their happy at all times. Not a bad morning. After a much needed shower, I hit the town and had the perfect Brenna day meeting up with friends at coffee shops on Long St and planning with trip for next week! (Grace, Tori, Lizaby and I are skipping town to do the famous Garden Route, basically a 3 night road trip where I will partake in as much adventure as financially possible). A great day. A great family. A great life here in the Bo Kaap.

Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster

Oh what was I for Halloween! Well now that you ask! I was Elmo! I mean it may not be the most obvious without Big Bird and Cookie Monster along side of me, but I really did have a great costume, a little more vixen-like than the kid-loving, comfy Elmo. Enjoy the shots of the night.