Weekend Update

Shockingly enough I do not have a crazy omg story with a billion exclamation points and over-exaggeration to share with you fools today. I had quite an average, albeit epic, weekend. Felt very similar to college life.
Started off Friday with dinner with Grace and Vicky, my skidgirls, took a break from my "real world" trip and went to a Halloween party at a American study abroad house, really mansion/ frat. Have myself a grand ol time- Gaby and I dressed up as Lucille 2 and Buster from Arrested Development. Why do you even ask! Of course I played Liza Minnelli! After that explored Long St til the early hours of Saturday morning and treated myself to the Biscuit Mill Saturday with Vicky. Ran into ol' Uncle Matt and Aunt Marie all the way from Philadelphia there, my moms family who is visiting South Africa and I was planning on seeing that night for din, but got an early hello! Ate my way through the world's most incredible market one more time and spent the rest of the day pretending to do homework with friends downtown. Went to din with Matt and Marie and their friends Saturday night at RoundHouse, one of Cape Town's most fabulous dining establishments, really a wedding venue, and enjoyed at 4 courses and accompanying wine.
So you're probably thinking at this point, when are you at this new homestay you've just moved into.....yea so about that. I literally just cannot eat Indian/ Malay food, so I do avoid all meal times. I come home for dessert and enjoy the corn flakes for breakfast. But I feel like vomiting at the table is probably more offensive than just skipping the meal altogether. I really wish I could eat and enjoy it, cause I find food an incredible way to bond with a new family, but I just cannot consume it. Sunday afternoon I popped in for a few hours after eating lunch downtown and enjoyed some fruit salad with whipped cream. I also ate one donut that she made me 8 of- it was like brown and covered in syrup and coconut so I thought ooh yea! Something I may be able to eat! wrong. tasted like straight up curry (or whatever all those rust colored spices are, I just call them all curry).
Also! The hair straightening event that I ran into Friday afternoon is a huge deal! They are obsessed with straightening their hair. Like half the girls on my program have their hair done by their moms and sisters everyday! In my one hour at home yesterday, 45 minutes of it was spent doing my hair as if I was headed to prom! Crazy- but honestly I don't hate it.
At school today- apartment hunting this afternoon. Options are 2 bedroom in Obz (hippie, student, west-village esque neighborhood) or 8 bedroom house with Tori and all 6 boys (a.k.a The Real World: Cape Town). I'll let you know!

Stay dry NYC! Freaking out for you/ jealous cause I never got school cancelled Halloween week for a Hurricane. HOUSE PARTY TONIGHT AT THE GOLDSTEINS!

a perfect moment i just had to share

my mom just straightened my hair and got me ready for my Halloween party....she is 80...she is entertaining her entire family tonight and has cooked a feast...she is invincible and perfect. oh. my. god.




just had to let y'all know that. happy halloween weekend party people

Bo Kaap- 4 hours in....

Here I am using my last megabites of my internet stick on you readers. I guess I feel bad I have been so out of touch lately. The amount of things to be accomplished in the next week is unfathomable.
1. find an apartment and housemates- drama central! its times like these I wish I had friends
2. pick classes that are not just homestays and field trips and random miscellaneous lectures at Skid next semester
3. write a proposal for my ISP- I still have to update you on that, maybe I'll kill two birds with one stone (I turn in these blog posts for assignments all the time anyway)
4. Survive one last home stay....speaking of:
So I arrived after being humiliated once again on the absurd amount of luggage I brought on this trip at my home for the next 12 nights.
Wait I need to back up- I have been FREAKING out about this homestay more than all of the others because Bo Kaap is the muslim community of Cape Town, they are called "Cape Malay" and eat indian-like food. Don't know if I have made this clear over my past 20 years but I HATE INDIAN FOOD! Cannot. Will not. Won't even attempt to consume it. keep that in mind...
So at our family meet and greet at the local elementry school, which we do before each homestay, I attempted to try some of the foods I knew I would have to taste at the table, before I downed the apples, peanut butter and cookies I have packed in my suitcase. Somosas aren't my thing and do not make me jump and squeel as they do to others of this program, but they are swallowable. As we a few other items I tried. As soon as we got home dinner was served- the moment of truth- and it was a success! Meat and potatoes with rice. I went heavy on the rice and low on the sauce, but I cleaned my plate, politely refused seconds and felt no nausea! WOOOO!!!! Conflict avoided! Now as for the two, size of my arm, Ox tounges on the stove for the party tomorrow......eeeekkk.
Oh so tomorrow is their Christmas and my mom told me we are having the entire family over and eating all day and then going to see the 40 sheep across the street be slaughtered and then eat them for dinner. Just your average Friday here in Bo Kaap. I unfortunately have school, even though she said she would tell him I was "sick" if I wanted to stay- does this woman know me or what?!?- but I will be back in time for the sheep slaughter ceremony. I'm like weirdly excited about it. Dont know why- never really seen an animal slaughtering and after I missed my opportunity to kill a chicken in the rural village, I feel that I cannot miss this! Its not like you have the options everyday!
I'm sorry I promised myself this post would be shorter!
So fam is great- just me and the mom and dad in the house. Small, but not too small- I have my own room with a tv above my bed (currently watching Meet the Fockers). Balcony with a view of the entire city bowl, downtown Cape Town, water on one side, full view of Table Mountain on the other. Honestly the best view I have seen yet of that monstrous mountain. I live on the street we meet on for the bus and Bo Kaap is hillier than San Francisco so I could not be happier with my location. During dinner the grandkids came over- twin 12 year old girls. Just hilarious, so typical pre-teen, they want everything they can't/ don't have including my nail polish, curly hair and beer (they do not drink alcohol and nail polish is banned). She also already gave me the key and was like pushing me to go to Long St cause it is so close- something I was very nervous about because we heard some parents can be very strict and anti-partying. Also! Another cool thing is that this family always gets the Skidmore kids! How cool is that! There are just random pics of graduated seniors and vaguely familiar faces around the house! Go Skid! This is just a perfect situation- she is so open to cultures, loves learning about other people, knows more about Judaism that I do and is famous for baking all the time. She also always takes her students to the waterfront and to the movies and feels that the 12 days go too fast.
Let the good times roll! (and the sheeps slaughter silently)

Oh also- my mom just brought me a mug of the best hot chocolate I have ever had and is making me a nutella sandwich for lunch tomrorow. never. leaving. bo kaap.

view from my Balcony at night. (look close and you can see table mountain)

Glamping. SA style

Although distraught about leaving my new home away from home, Stellenbosch, Tuesday morning I packed my backpack and hit the bush (South African term for woods, forest, place you would become one with earth). I enjoyed and ignored the overflowing amount of jokes that surface whenever we do something remotely unremote, such as the rural village, hiking, camping, enjoying nature, about me- Tristen gets shit too, but its just not on the same level that they save for me. We began our 2 night excursion with a sunset tractor ride for sundowners (happy hour if you will). One delicious savanna cider and a the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen and camping didn’t seem too bad. After a bagillion pictures and reaching the point of starvation, we ate some din and loaded up the van to see the camp site.

As we started on what seemed like a dirt path leading to absolutely, I began to wonder if there even were tents, or if this was a test of our survival skills. I could not have been more. This was straight up glamping. Tents equipped with thatched coverings, twin mattresses, a lamp, a delicious comforter and pillows. Life aint too bad at Khwattu (Khwattu by the way is the same of the lodge/ camp site/ educational center- it is a beauitful place where they teach visitors about the San cultural tribe, sort of like our version of a Native American place). After a night of camp fire songs and scary stories, I headed back to the tent for a good nights rest. No such thing lay ahead for me. We all tucked in to watch Almost Famous (I know- unreal. A magical moment, but I could not be friends with Tristen and Patrick until they had seen it) and somehow everyone fell asleep. So here we are 5, yes that’s 5 approaching or just under 6 feet tall human beings, packed into a two person, two twin bed filled tent with one comforter. I layed awake shivering watching Gaby snore, Tristen curl up in a ball, Tori not move a muscle and Patrick and I fight for the blanket. I don’t know if I have ever made it clear how I feel about sleep, and how important it is for my happiness, your ears, and survival- needless to say I was not thrilled about seeing the sunrise inch by inch. After a brief “beating” from Simba about how we missed “class” at 8 am around the camp fire- like sorry I didn’t sleep and thought a scorpion was gonna give me a fatal illness. We exchanged a few fighting words and began the school day. My problem with yesterday was that we were in a beautiful, remote place and they just jam packed our day with walks, talks, movies and presentations. Free time doesn’t kill people! We could have done half the amount of activities and had a great day, but no, we had to discuss every plant, and be talked at until we were all miserable on yet another beautiful tractor ride. After dinner, we finished class up on the swing set- classic SIT and went back to the camp site for another night of fireside bonding. Had an incredible moment with the group singing come together while roasting marshmellows and just loving each other- an image I will never forget.

Shot the shit with the friends and tucked in for a night of actual sleep. Still a bit cold, but incomparably better to the previous night. Now it is off to our last home stay in Bo Kaap. We have just gotten the map and pre-move in speech. Apparently tomorrow is Christmas so our mothers will be up baking all night, they love jews and we live on the top of Long St (where all the bars are). So I’m pissed and don’t even wanna go to the Santa cookie factory, saying shalom and steps from parties. Fuck my life.

see....glamping.

7 nights in Stellen (....get it like 7 minutes in heaven- ok bad joke, fine!)

I honestly don't know where to begin with the greatness that has occured in the past week. 

Stellenbosch was a dream. A reality I have been so far from, for so long. A comfortable, home-like family and home, in an ideal city. Basically my three days was spent with the perfect ratio of family time to freedom. 

Friday, after having "class" at a winery and thoroughly tasting every option- shipping a case home, they trick you into buying shit i tell you!- we were picked up by Louis, our host dad, and napped, were fed leftovers and chatted with the fam until we sobered up enough to go back out. Friday night is when we discovered Bohemia. To understand Bohemia and the greatness it represents, jump inside my brain, picture my ideal bar- favorite crowd pleasing songs, best dressed effortless hipsters, cheap drinks, standing and sitting room, fooseball, great people- and your there. Add a dash of South African accents, Hunters Dry (my go to cider) and perfection has presented itself. So that was a great find- and we proceeded to spend Saturday and Sunday there until last call all 3 nights. Basically a regular its no big deal. Saturday during the day we hit up the market at the bottom of our neighborhood. As we walked there through the park, an older women approached us, dressed all in blue free (shoes included), with a plastic bag. While I am all for meeting locals, food was the only thing on my mind this fateful Saturday morning. She approached us and proceeded to talk to us for the following 45 minutes about her travels to the US, and really everything and anything on her mind. About half way through her rant, the plastic bag in her hand began to move...yep! you guessed it! A LIVE SNAKE! fucking insane. legit certifiably crazy woman. Anyway finally escaped her, hit the phenomenal market and chilled with Michael at home watching Chasing Liberty in the afternoon- really you should rewatch this classic early 00's hit and see how awful Mandy's haircut is. Just dreadful. 

Ahhh! there rushing me off the internet. Ok Sunday night was basically the best night of my entire life. Tori and I decided (after braaing with our fam all day and looking a pictures from home) to have one last hoorah at Bohemia. We just wanted one last time to people watch, shoot the shit, ya know GIRLS NIGHT OUT!!! Little did we know...

Here is my journal entry (yes I also have a hand written journal) Sunday night when I returned home:

"If tonight wasn’t- yet another- perfect example of why music is the greatest thing on earth I don’t know what is. Tori and I ventured out to Bohemia around 8, after hanging with the fam all day, I was still hungover and noticeably less chatty and peppy than usual and Tori was ready to rock. We arrived at Bohemia in time for 2 for 1 drinks and noticed a stage with a band when we walked in. not thinking too much of it we sat down for a drink and chatted it up. Soon enough rock stars joined the stage and we moved up to second row seats. I admitted that I hoped it was a cover band, just more fun when you can sing along, and analyzed each artist on stage with Tori. Next thing I know we become dead silent as the intro to Piano Man by Billy Joel begins to play. Right then I knew something was up and my life had somehow become flawless, perfect and a dream since arriving in Stellenbosch. As Tori and I, along with all the bar residents, from rugby players to sorority girls, passionately sang each and every lyric to the crowd pleasing ballad, I floated onto a new level of happiness I never imagined possible. I could not have picked a better construction of lyrics to accurately represent what I believe music can achieve and what I intend to learn over the next month. A song that brings people of all walks of life together is a successful song. Music is a bridge and a bond, and watching the lyrics fall out 50 mouths to Piano Man, at 9 o’ clock on a Sunday (oops) in Bohemia bar in Stellenbosch, South Africa, proved that. I thought that was the peak. I truly believed that that was as good as it was gonna get and I was ecstatic about it. I was satisfied beyond words and prepared to listen to more great, but not better, songs. Well man was I wrong. Top songs of the night- the throwbacks of Girls and Boys by Good Charlotte, some classic Police hits, a little REM never hurt anyone, the always appropriate Wonderwall and Tenacious D were fun. Singing Sweet Caroline is always a nice reminder of home, Adele’s Someone Like You is always beautiful. But its when they play you’re favorite, most essential songs your night goes from good to great to unspeakable and not real. Its when you decide to go pee and hear, as the flushing stops, the beginning to your #1 favorite song and slogan for life. Its when you walk down the old staircase, in an awesome outfit, in a bar with one friend for a chill, casual, no big deal night and walk to your seat singing “mother Mary comes to me” by the best men on earth. Its when you are convulsing to the lyrics of Let it Be in your seat in Stellenbosch, South Africa, on a random Sunday night with musicians, students and some of the hottest people I have ever been in the presence of in my life. Those are the moments when you know life just cannot get any better.

I met people tonight who solidified by belief in music. It is something you can talk to with anyone in the world, from any background, because music knows no class, race, religion or age. Music is in some way, shape or form, a part of every human beings life. I learned about music in South Africa and the limited opportunities for talented artists. I learned about the opinions on drug use by musicians, and the positive/ negative aspects. I learned about religion and how Christianity is a rule book, and although illegal in the US, has the power to control a government system and that Judaism is a set of beliefs and a culture with some rules, but more just a storyline to believe in. I learned which random ass songs South African’s die for and apparently know every word to. I learned that if you speak up about what you love, people who share that love with you will speak up too and bond with you.

Why don’t I take it more seriously that I FUCKING LOVE MUSIC MORE THAN ANYTHING. It is not just a hobby, it is a major part of my happiness. It is a subject I happen to know a lot about, and that is because I am so genuinely interested in gathering more information and having all the answers. I may not play an instrument, know anything about how to sing on key or be able to read a row of music- but I know that my ears hold the gateway to my mood maker. Music controls me in a sense. It has the power to bring me out of a dark place, as well as put me in one."

So obviously that was a ramble. But it was just my dream evening. Classic rock cover band. Great musicians. Nice people. All around my ideal night and that will not be the last I have here considering I could move to Stellenbosch tomorrow.
Rock on world.

Some Stelly Shots:

Classic classroom

Oh what? You don't have an avocado tree in your backyard

BRAAI TIME!!!! (that sausage thing is this liver situation that brought up severe flashbacks from Langa- as well as straight up vomit in the back of my mouth.

"enjoying" a morning walk in the park

Liezel and I enjoying some braai. Such a trophy wife/ soccer mom

free houseee!!!!!

Last night Tori and I had the house to ourselves with the kids- Liezel and Louis were at a parenting class at their church which they were asked to teach because they literally are the Joneses (that David Duchovny/ Demi Moore movie that was so bad you didn’t even admit you saw, but I know you loved it just as much as I secretly did). So we decided to do cooking/ movie/ nail painting/ blasting Christian rap KIDS NIGHT! Although I 

Michael in his onion cutting outfit

was nervous about sharing with another friend on this trip what a controlling bitch I can be in the kitchen, Tori was so the same way so we meshed well together. I made my risotto with fresh peas and Tori roasted some chicken in the oven with baby zucchini (or marrow as their called here). Of course we made a craisin, goat cheese salad with my dressing and all was a total success. Michael was more hilarious, and kind of annoying, as ever and both him and Jana wanted to help with everyone which was great. 

The Fab Four enjoying the feast...thanks self-timer

We had a delicious meal and talked about Jana’s boyfriend- that she is not allowed to have until next year says the parents- and just how perfect she is in general. I know I praised her last time, but justice has not been done to how phenomenal she is. Not only can she play the acoustic guitar and piano brilliantly, she can sing (of course) as well and knows a few Nickleback songs (their Christian rock so totally approved in the house-which I have no problemo with). She is also a incredible artist, and although I thought I would blow her away with my nail art skills (attempted to do some designs with a toothpick), she took my idea and ran with it until she had a Van Gogh spread across her 10 fingers. Of course my seam foam green and silver look beautiful when blended together with a slight ombre effect. Why the fuck didn’t I think of that?!?!?! After finishing watching Letters To Juliet, thank you Amanda Seyfried for making a stupider movie than I thought possible and making it so predictable I didn’t even need to watch, we baked cookies. Although we were gonna do the whole from scratch thing for our ice cream sandwiches, yesterday afternoon we went to Melissa’s and……!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh sweet Melissa. Imagine if Dean and Deluca and Le Pain Quotidien had a baby and began serving Lady M cakes. Every imported item I could have dreamed of picking up at Fairway for my risotto was there. Their signature food item is carrot cake, which they were sold out of but I am going back today and stuck with red velvet yesterday which was divine.  The packaging is better than Traders Joes- wow haven’t thought about TJ’s in a while, kind of miss that place. And they have an entire 4 tier shelf for olive oil. It was heaven and although it is raining today I will make the 15 minute walk (lets be real taxi ride) there just to sit at the communal table read Bon Appetit and enjoy another treat.

Got a bit off track there, what a surprise- back to the cookies! While at Melissa’s we found “cut and bake” cookies made by a local company, with no preservatives in the cutest packaging and decided to go that route instead of Smitten Kitchen’s perfect choco chip. They were delicious, and just as they came out, slightly undercooked- because we all agree cookie dough is far superior to actually cookies- we hit em with some homemade vanilla gelato. Bam! bAm! BAM! Fan-freaking-tastic dessert. Hit the sack, Tori and I listening to another Music from the OC cd, our nightly routine, and attempted to write something for the assignment due today- I will probably turn in this blog post.

It is a cold, rainy, day here in Stelly but on the agenda remains:

Class til 1

Lunch and “class” at a Winery this afternoon- is this real life?

Downtown for dinner tonight on our own- choosing between the famed “Dimi’s”, greek restaurant or the culinary institutes dining room called “Apprentice”

Following which Tristen is performing his slam poetry at the open mic night on campus. After which I will rush to get to the Dorp Theatre by 8 where I am beginning my ISP (oooh I have to tell you all about that- stay tuned!) by attending a Louise Carver concert, #1 female folk singer in SA.

Then hit the college bars, finalllyyyyyy! And take a trip back to high school trying to be home by curfew and get into the house without waking mom and dad.

Oh and also tomorrow morning, luck would have it that there is a Saturday critically acclaimed market in our neighborhood, that we can walk to.

Goat cheese, cranberry and candied cashew salad. Very predictable Brenna I know

Chatting and cooking. Tori and Michael

Our feast: Fresh pea risotto, broiled baby zucchini and roasted chicken. All divine

slap some ice cream in between two of these babies and you've got a mighty fine dessert.

Don’t mind me- I’ll just keep living the dream. Peace, Love and Wine!

Being posh in Stellenbosch

I’m so happy here. Really could spend a month, semester or college experience in this town. I’ve been trying to analyze this place as best I can, but it is so close to my defintion of normal I feel too close to it to find a plethora of things I hate, want to change or complain about. Can you believe it? Me! not complaining! Stellenbosch is a very easy place to live and an easy environment to feel comfortable in for me. the cultural gap is just so much smaller than Langa and Tshabo that is more like we are just sharing and comparing lives, than leanring one anothers cultures.

So my family is definitely part of this reason. They are very similar to my fam, love to travel, eat dinner together every night (we don’t say grace, but whatevs) and are always laughing and joking. They treat Tori and I just like I know my parents would host a student. They wanna show us their favorites things in Stellenbosch- this weekend we are going to the Saturday market, this adventure, tree house, magical sounding restaurant and Sunday night half price sushi. Liezel, our mom, drove us around downtown to give us the lay of the land last night and the town is perfect. Basically is Saratoga/ Scarsdale main st. with a few thousand more people. There is a mix of students, tourists and residents occupying the shops and amazing looking restaraunts. I wanna go into every store and just shop it out (but I wont parents).

We do have class all day on campus and being back on a college campus, even though it is incomparably preppier than Skid and 10 times the size, it just so comforting and awesome. Just seeing the way kids dress here has been fascinating me since we arrived. Having time to sit and talk to students has been amazing. And the amenities of this school have been a gift in itself (amazing food court and shops in the student center where our class is). Also no shoe kid, if you’re out there reading my blog, even though I don’t know your name, you would fit in great here- they have been having a shoe fundraiser everyday so kids are just barefoot all day.

In class we have been learning about Afrikaans culture, language and history which has been really cool. I knew nothing besides the awful stuff about this group, which is the largest in South Africa language wise, and gaining new perspectives and information has been great. Afrikaans people did not create or all enforce apartheid, however they did comply with it and are therefore given a lot of shit for it. Mostly what I am hearing is that they are anti-apartheid and anti-segregation and are completely fine with black and colored people living and being treated equally, they just don’t need or want to integrate with them.  They want to keep Afrikaans language around, even though it adds a barrier to mixing with foreigners or other South Africans. Many feel that the fact that University of Stellenbosch is bilingual adds something UCT and UWC cant offer.

            South Africa, due to its history of apartheid, has racial issues up the wazoo. Race is discussed everyday, more blatenly than anyone in the US would ever dream of. Words like black, colored and white are not whispered or put in quotations, they are said equally to other words in the middle of sentences in every conversation with anyone. Of course what they are saying depends on the participants, but the emphasis on discussing reality is prevalent. In Stellenbosch, the racial seperation is so apparent, it is impossible to not recognize. Over the past 3 days the situation between black, whites and coloreds has sky rocketed and is a constant theme in every hour we spend here. It feels like I am living through the civil rights movement in the US, before anyone started listening to Martin Luther King.  Maybe it is just because we watched The Help yesterday and if you change a few accents, characters names and outfits it could be South Africa. In every lecture we have the classic SA quote of “What really has changed?” comes up. Laws have changed. Nelson Mandela is free. But socially, what has changed? Colored kids sit with colored kids in the food court, the school is majority white and Afrikaans, and although white people are working in many shops in restaurants- apparently an accomplishment for Stellenbosch- all labor jobs, such as parking attendants, sanitation and taxi drivers, are occupied by black or colored people.

            The thing is, especially as a white person- who is often mistaken for an Afrikaner, they always speak it to me at shops before I get em with the ol’ American accent- it is so incredibly easy to keep living in this dream world and float on without addressing reality. I am trying to do a balance of noticing the controversial moments, and enjoying the privilege as a white person in Stellenbosch.

Some pics of the casa:

Typical Pottery Barn of SA photo collage or their international trips (there are also two for travel within SA)

the Kitchen. Directly off our room/ wing. I am taking the pic from our room

Welcome to the christian home! Do they know were jews? Debatable.

Our marvelous room/ wing. It is no longer this neat- yes full bathroom in the back
and a door to the right of the right (Tori's) bed that leads to the parking area - aka easy sneaking out ;)