Week 10 - Cultural Blog

Before leaving home I was warned not to fall into the trap of ‘living like it’s home’; when living in a country for a number of months it is very easy to put off doing the ‘touristy things’, as you felt like you could do them ‘later’. With our friends coming to visit, Glenn and I intended on making up for this by squeezing in as many attractions and sights we possibly could within the next two weeks.

 With it being Easter break, it seemed that almost all international students had the same idea – to head to the melting pot of South Africa – Cape Town. Glenn and I began our journey by travelling to Cape Town on an overnight Greyhound bus – a first experience for us both.  Typically, the bus lived up to our expectations of South African transport by arriving almost two hours late, which makes me think of our Northern Ireland public transport system with a strange fondness! We have now adapted to this slow-moving culture, and we weren’t even surprised by the announcement and we were quite content to simply sit on the kerb and wait; an attitude you would not have seen had it been 3 months earlier. Speaking to some South Africans on the bus, and locals I know from Port Elizabeth, I was surprised by the obvious split of whites and blacks in such a trivial matter like travel. The bus mostly consisted of black people and tourists, and many white South Africans spoke very lowly of the long distance buses. It has surprised and saddened me to see several examples of this during my stay here so far, including noticing that I have never seen white South Africans walking into university, or using the public transport Kombis as they drive, yet the streets are lined with black students walking and the Kombi’s are full of black people. It has made this still very obvious divide between races much more real to me. Although it initially made me nervous taking the Kombis, if we are travelling in groups I now feel comfortable riding in them, and it is always an interesting ride. Having endured our long trip, after trying to understand maps and making confused calls to find out where we would meet our friends, we were finally delighted to be reunited with 3 friends from home. We stayed in a SIM missionary guest house for the five nights that we were in Cape Town, and met some amazing people there. A South African lady named Marie was staying with us, and she volunteers within prisons working as a missionary. Speaking to her and the two owners of the house was very refreshing as, despite the thousands of miles apart, we shared the same beliefs and faith; despite loving meeting such a variety of different beliefs here in South Africa, it was nice to find someone who shared similar opinions. They had many questions about Ireland, and it was sad to hear that many people associate Belfast with bombs and as a dangerous place. Having now lived in South Africa, a country I initially associated with crime, for three months I have now come to realise that visiting other countries is so important as it can correct a stereotypes that may exist about them. Had I not been here for this time I would have missed out on one of the most beautiful and culturally diverse countries, seeing it only as a country of crime.

South Africa has a very musical culture, and so Emily and I were delighted to find small groups of singers working their way around the outdoor restaurants at the Waterfront in Cape Town, singing South African songs including Sho sholoza, a song that members of the Stranmillis choir sang at their summer concert last year. This is something that unfortunately is not a common thing in Ireland.

Every South African we met this week was very proud of their city, constantly asking us what we thought of it and being very pleased when we told them how much we loved it. I found it interesting to find that South Africans took great pride in Cape Town, yet when it came to places like Bulungula and other remote places, they couldn’t understand why we would want to visit those areas, when in fact they were some of the most beautiful places I have seen, and would much prefer than the city. I feel like it is the same worldwide; people can’t see the beauty of where they live until other people come and visit it and I look forward to returning to Ireland with my new appreciation for the coastlines and scenery. Unfortunately, Cape Town is like every other area I have seen in South Africa – alongside the beautiful areas with nice shops and impressive buildings, exists one of the largest townships in South Africa. We had the opportunity to visit a children’s home in one of the townships, and it was humbling to meet the lady behind it all.

 This lady has given up her life to run three separate homes for orphans and gets very little thanks for it. It is people like this lady who make a life changing difference for these children, yet very few people even know about it, which seems like an injustice to her.  This week we went to the top of Tabletop-mountain, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, at sunset giving us breath taking views, and plenty of photo opportunities. We also spent a day driving one of the most scenic routes in Cape Town, starting at Hout bay and driving along Chapman’s peak, and were rewarded with beautiful views, a visit to South Africa’s smallest Pub, almost losing Glenn off the edge of a cliff, and visiting a penguin colony at Boulder’s beach, which was a highlight for me as I hadn’t realised that penguins existed in hot countries! On Sunday we took a trip to Robben Island, which was where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison before becoming president. To hear of such an important part of the country’s history was so interesting, however I was surprised to hear that many of the ex-convicts and prison attendants now live together on the island.

 When climbing Table Top Mountain we couldn’t have got a more beautiful day as the sky was perfectly clear and it was HOT! Unfortunately we started the climb too late and after climbing for an hour we met some other tourists on their way down who said that we would never make the top before the cable car closed for the night, and so as I we didn’t fancy hiking down in the dark we decided to take a detour via the cable car. The view from the top will never be done justice by photos, as it was honestly so beautiful. That night it was really nice to introduce our friends from home to our crazy American friends, and we had a great night together with everyone.

Saturday was Shannon’s birthday, and so we combined groups and all of us went on the Wine Tour near Stellenbosch. As someone who is not particularly fond of wine, I was not overly excited for this. However, I surprised myself by actually enjoying a number of the wines, passing the glasses I didn’t like to Ryan and Glenn. It was a really nice day and I enjoyed getting to see how much of the culture making wine is in South Africa. 

On Sunday Ian had booked us tickets for a visit to Robben Island , the island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years. Of course, living up to our last minute standards, we were running late as we had visited Hillsong, Cape Town that morning and then got held up ordering our (very first!) subway.  If anyone from home had seen us they would have thought we were crazy! We, of course, didn’t even know where we were to board the boat, and so the five of us were sprinting through the waterfront in Cape Town, screaming directions at each other as we went. Meanwhile locals are shouting to us that it is too late and that we have missed the ferry. As tempted as I was to simply give up, Ian and Glenn’s determination saw us get onto the boat just as it was pulling away from the harbour, with every passenger turning around to see what the commotion was about. Embarrassing. Sadly for Ian the boat journey was not what he has hoped for, and as it violently lurched from side to side, Ian sat quietly with his head between his legs, turning a strange shade of green. The trip was interesting and I was particularly fond of reading some of Nelson Mandela’s many inspiring quotes in the gift shop.   

We had such a fantastic time in Cape Town, I loved the buzz on the streets at night time which reminded me somewhat of Dublin, and I enjoyed the more open minded attitude that was so evident in Cape Town in comparison to that of Port Elizabeth which sometimes seems relatively closed minded. The coastlines and views were some of the best I have seen in South Africa so far and I loved that this City had it all – busy streets, shops, businesses yet also had beaches, mountainous drives and beautiful coastlines. We are now very excited for our trip along the Garden Route next week on our way back to Port Elizabeth.