Too Many Adventures to Count

I think it's about time I uploaded some more pictures! I've been slacking on this front, so just a warning, the following pictures are going to be a compilation of the many things I've done the past month


1. Sports!

Here in South Africa, the two big sports are soccer and rugby. I've gone to one game each so far, and both games were so much fun. It's great how passionate the fans are, and the whole stadium starts singing their chants and it's so exciting! It's basically impossible not to have fun at these games because the company is so great. We went to a rugby game one of the first weeks I was here. I think it was the amateur team, the Stormers, playing, and we won! To the right, you can see a picture of everyone cheering and waving their flags after a goal (called a try), which is worth 5 points.

Two weekends ago, we went to see the South African national football (soccer) team, called Bafana Bafana, or "the Boys," play a friendly match against Angola. They played in the beautiful Cape Town Stadium where they played the 2010 World Cup. It was supposed to be a downpour that day with lightening, but it turned out to be an extremely nice day with very few clouds. Perfect day for a football game! Since it was a friendly match, the stadium wasn't too full, but like the rugby game, we all got really into it and had a blast. It also doesn't hurt that we won 2-1!!


2. Hiking 

I've done a couple of hikes while I've been here, but this one is still my favorite to date. We hiked Lion's Head for sunrise one morning, and the view was gorgeous. I think this is the prettiest time of the day, and we got to the summit just in time to capture this gorgeous picture.

Once the sun came up a little bit more, we could see the ocean and all of Cape Town beneath us. In the distance, you can see Robbens Island, where Nelson Mandela remained while he was in jail. Definitely will be visiting that soon!

(Note: the picture on the top of the blog is also of the sunrise from Lion's Head summit. It really doesn't get any more beautiful than that!)

3. Food and Wine

Of course, no trip is complete without good food and drinks! Last week, we visited three wineries in the second oldest city in South Africa, Stellenbosch, which is considered to be the Napa Valley of South Africa. This is a group of us enjoying our first of three wine tastings of the day!


Believe it or not, Indian food is a staple of South African cuisine. This gigantic meal on the left is from the Eastern Food Bazaar in downtown Cape Town. It was possibly the best Indian food I've ever had, but the my favorite was the Garlic Naan, which was made from scratch and baked in a tandoor right in front of my eyes! The best part? All of this for $5.













4. Befriending Animals

One of the coolest things about South Africa is that there are so many opportunities to get up and close to a huge variety of animals. Not only are there the famous African safaris (which I will be doing in August), but there are elephant walks, and cheetah sanctuaries all over the region. I haven't gotten to these yet, but I've been hanging out with some smaller animals. Several weekends ago, we went to Boulders Beach to see some wild African Penguins. In the summer, we can go into the water and swim with them, but it's a little too cold to do that without a wetsuit, so we hung out with them on the beach! I guess they must be pretty used to people coming up to them, because they were pretty bold sneaking up behind me.

Last week, we went to the World of Birds Wildlife Sanctuary and Monkey Park. As the largest bird park in Africa, it's home to over 3000 birds. But the cutest attraction were the Squirrel Monkeys. There's a guy that works at the park who throws food on you so that the monkeys climb all over you to find it. I especially loved the one that stayed on my head...his feet were so ticklish!! 











This has been one whirlwind of a month... I can't wait for the rest! If they're anything like the past four weeks, I'll be the happiest and luckiest girl in the world. 

As always, thanks for reading! Will post again soon. Cheers! :)

Learning to Walk on the...Left?

I can't believe it, but it's almost been a month since I arrived in Cape Town. And boy, have I learned a lot. The biggest thing I learned is that culture shock is real and that it's the little things - not big ones that you might anticipate beforehand - that get you. I guess it was a little silly of me to not believe that culture shock was going to happen to me - after all, I've been warned many, many times. I just figured that it wouldn't have much of an effect on me because I felt prepared. But the trick was that I was only prepared for the big, general things like languages and customs. Before coming here, I had done a lot of research on South Africa. I asked previous students that had gone to Cape Town about their experiences, and what they found most surprising.

From this, I guessed that the hardest part would be the language. English is one of the official languages in South Africa, but I've heard that the local dialects can make it nearly impossible to understand. One girl that interned in Cape Town a couple summers ago told me that her boss would tell her to do something but she would speak so fast that it'd be nearly incomprehensible. I was worried that this would happen to me, but thankfully, it wasn't a problem at all. In general, I can understand most everyone here just fine. The hardest people to understand are not South Africans, but rather immigrants from other parts of Africa, like Zimbabwe, who did not learn English until they came to South Africa. Otherwise, most people have a slight British accent. Sometimes, like when I'm at work where everyone sounds like they're from the UK, I find myself slipping into a British accent as well. When they leave work, instead of saying "Good night," they say "Cheers." Recently, I've started doing it too, combined with the accent and everything. Maybe I'll come back to the States with a flawless British accent?

While language hasn't posed a difficult challenge, there are other things - small things - that you wouldn't normally think of when going to another country.

1. Walking
Call me crazy, but walking the right way has been a challenge. In the States, we walk on the right side, and if you're on an escalator, stand on the right so that people can pass you on the left. Here, it's the opposite because you drive on the other side of the road. I keep bumping into people because I'm so used to walking on the right side - I'm pretty sure I've gotten a few dirty looks from it...oops.


2. "Africa Time"
I had already experienced "Africa time" before I arrived, when I was trying to get my visa to come here. The most prevalent example of it here, though, is in restaurants. I don't think I've gotten out of a restaurant faster than an hour and a half, even for a quick lunch. The food doesn't come out for at least 30 minutes. A group of us went out for sushi once and it took so long to get our egg rolls and sushi. Unlike the States, the waiter doesn't come around to your table asking if you need anything else - a process that can be inconvenient when you want to ask for the check and can't find them for 30 more minutes. I still haven't figured out if it's a sign of respect: maybe they're trying to let you eat your food in peace and allowing you to take your time?


3. Public Transportation
Public transportation is very....interesting here, to say the least. There is a train that runs throughout the entire Cape Town area. The great thing about it is that the tickets are very cheap: three stops to downtown costs 9.50 Rand, or 78 cents; taking the train an hour all the way to the bottom of the cape is 31 Rand, or $2.55. In comparison, riding the New York metro 20 blocks costs $2.75. Unfortunately, the cheap price comes at the cost of safety. After dark, even the locals avoid taking the train because there's a 100% chance you'll get mugged if you do. Several other interns in my program had a close encounter taking the train at 5 PM. Good thing Ubers are so cheap here!!

When not having to worry about whether you're going to get mugged, the trains themselves are very entertaining. There's graffiti on most cars, both inside and out. I actually really like the ones on the outside. They add a nice pop of color to the otherwise grungy cars.

(credit: randomrailwayimages.blogspot.com)

And of course, I can't not share my favorite thing about these trains: many of the cars are covered with hilariously explicit (but actually legitimate) stickers advertising a variety of "services."

(credit: eveandersson.com)  

(credit: sangomasrus.blogspot.com/)

I hope you got as much amusement/shock/disbelief out of that as I originally did. I did a double-take the first time I saw these, but believe it or not, I've seen so many of these since then that it doesn't even phase me anymore. I guess that's a testament to how accustomed I have become to the African lifestyle. Here's to 2 more months in this beautiful (and somewhat strange) place!

Cheers!

Experiencing the Real World: Interning at Urban-Econ

I know in my last post I said that I would write the next day about unique challenges about living in South Africa, but sorry - I lied. Instead, I'm going to tell you about my internship. I will write about the other challenges later (maybe).

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Tomorrow marks one week since I started my internship at Urban-Econ, a developmental economics consulting firm in Cape Town, South Africa. It has only been 5 days, but I am so far loving my research assistant job here.

I have been assigned to work on a project concerning the economic development of the Central Karoo district in South Africa. Central Karoo is one of the poorer, less-developed regions of the country, due to its desert landscape and its long distance from major tourist destinations and city centers (i.e. Cape Town is 5 hours away, Johannesburg is 8). So far, I have been researching possible opportunities in the manufacturing, transportation, tourism, and mining sectors that the district could exploit in order to promote economic growth in the area.

Before coming to South Africa, I laid out several goals that I wanted to achieve during my internship. My main goal was to be unafraid of asking questions or asking for help when I needed it. This is a problem that I have in school. In lectures, even smaller 20-person ones, I am very reluctant to raise my hand to ask a question or ask for clarification. In a workplace environment, the possible consequences of this action (or rather, inaction) are much worse. Thankfully, my coworkers and supervisors have been very welcoming and always willing to lend a hand. On my first day of work, my boss told me, "In our office, there is no such thing as a stupid question. So ask lots of questions." She even added half-jokingly, "If you don't ask any questions, I would think that you are stupid." I am proud to report that in the past week, I have not been stupid. I hope that overcoming this challenge now will help me back in school, too.

Another challenge in my internship is being responsible with the fair amount of independence I've been given and staying focused on my work. The office has a flexible hours policy in that we can come in and leave at any time (within reason, of course) as long as we stay for 8 hours, with one hour for lunch. There are some coworkers that come in at 9 or 9:30, but my goal is to come in between 8 and 8:30 every day. It wouldn't look right for the only intern in the office to be the last one in every day! The hardest part is getting up - the sun rises just before 8 every day (it's winter here in the southern hemisphere), so when my alarm starts blaring at 7 AM, it is completely dark out. In addition, even though "winter" in Cape Town means it only gets down to the 50s or so, it feels colder because the rooms in South Africa are not insulated. And we all know how hard it is to pry yourself away from your warm and cozy bed. I am cringing just thinking about having to do it tomorrow morning, but my internship is worth it. My research is helping us make recommendations about what the Central Karoo district should and should not invest in to promote economic growth, and it's really cool to think that my work could influence policy. I'm extremely thankful that VAC found this opportunity for me, and I cannot wait to spend the next couple months learning more and more every day.

"Toto, We're Not in Kansas Any More"

Living in a different city, never mind in an African country, definitely takes you out of your comfort zone. I've been living in Cape Town for 8 days, and even though I've grown accustomed to a lot, there are still some things that feel so foreign - and sometimes even ridiculous - to me.

Speaking of ridiculous, the electricity in our house just ran out. That's right - electricity actually runs out here. There's a meter in every house that shows you how many watts you have left, and if it hits 0, your electricity just cuts off. No warning, no obnoxious beeping noises telling you there's 5 minutes of electricity left, just light one moment and then....darkness. It's like the beginning of the apocalypse.  

The sad part is that I didn't even realize that our electricity had run out. I thought that I was finally experiencing load-shedding, which is a planned brown-out that lasts for a couple of hours in certain regions of the country at assigned times of the day to prevent country-wide black-outs that could take days to fix. Thankfully, it doesn't happen too often - at least, it hasn't in the 8 days I've been here... **knock on wood**

Anyways, when I realized that our power ran out, I had to run to the store to buy electricity. If I had to run to the store every so often back home to recharge my electricity, I would definitely be more conscious of the amount of power I use. I understand why the lights in my room here are so dim now! Living in the US has definitely spoiled me, and it's little things like this that make me realize that.

On the other hand, one of the things that I will miss when I leave Cape Town is the extremely favorable exchange rate. 1 US Dollar is equal to about 12 South African Rands here, so everything seems so cheap. A dinner out might cost R60, which is less than $5. Although I can do the math in my head quickly now, I still haven't gotten fully used to seeing the big numbers. Going to the grocery store and seeing R300 on the screen gives me a mini heart attack before I realize that it's only about $25. Hopefully I won't go back to the States used to the South African way, though. That would be much, much worse.

There are a couple of other things that I wanted to talk about, but it's 10:30 and I'm already tired. Normally, I'd be crazy to go to bed at this time, but the sun sets so early here (sometime between 6 and 7) since we're in the southern hemisphere and it's the middle of winter. Also, like I mentioned before, the lights in my room are really dim. It's like it always wants me to be tired - perfect for when I have to wake up before sunrise for my internship!

Hopefully I'll get around to writing more tomorrow. As always, thanks for reading. Love you and miss you all!

- Juyeon