Two Weeks Later, One Final Post

I've been back in the States for two weeks(!!) now, and now that I've had the time to relax and do nothing for those two weeks, I will finally write my last blog post about what has undoubtedly been the most exciting, adventurous, and enriching summer of my life.

As I look back on the last 10 weeks, I'll try to put into words some of the many, many lessons I've learned this summer:

1. Keeping a blog is HARD...

Itt really takes a lot of discipline and creativity to think of interesting ways to present your thoughts. My goal originally was to write one post a week. Clearly, that didn't really work.

2. ...But it's so worth it.

If keeping a blog wasn't a requirement for my school, I probably wouldn't have kept one. But I would've been missing out. I know I'm not the best writer, but it was nice to have an outlet where I could express my thoughts and share my experiences with friends and family. It made my experiences more rewarding because writing a blog forced me to organize my thoughts and feelings into coherent sentences instead of remaining as vague concepts. Instead of just telling people all the things that I did in South Africa, I can now easily tell them what I learned in the process as well.

3. Say hi to people on the street.

One of the first things I noticed when I arrived in South Africa was that people are really friendly here. Part of that was probably due to the fact that I was obviously a tourist and they were curious about where I was from, but that question would more often than not be combined by a huge, almost goofy, welcoming smile. It was as if they were personally welcoming me into their country. As it's said, a little bit of hospitality goes a long way.

4. It's a cliche, but always try new things.

Especially new foods. The best food I had was warthog steak in Zimbabwe. I was a little weirded out by it at first, because I kept thinking that I was eating Pumbaa from the Lion King, but it was honestly the best steak I have ever had in my life. Also in that same day, I ate a worm. I even got a certificate to prove it. 

Don't worry - it was toasted, so it wasn't slimy or anything.

5. It's okay to not plan ahead sometimes.

A lot of our weekend activities were planned the night before, or even the morning of. As a very Type-A person, this was frustrating at times. But in the end, everything worked out, and no disasters happened. In fact, I feel like more things went wrong when I did plan. I booked tickets to go to Robben Island one day, planning all these other activities around it, and it ended up being canceled because the weather was too bad. I wanted to hike the India Venster Trail on Table Mountain the day after my mom got to Cape Town, but we ended up not being able to because Air France lost my mom's luggage, which had her sneakers in it.

6. Take lots of pictures.Time goes by so fast, and the experiences that I've had are truly once in a lifetime experiences. Never again will I be with the same people, in the same moment, with the same thoughts or conversations. While even the greatest of memories fade, pictures never do (at least not the ones you put on your computer). If you're anything like me, you'll find yourself looking through all the pictures on Facebook week after week, smiling and laughing at all the great memories you now have.
If you'd like to take a look at some of the pictures I've taken, feel free to go on my Facebook photos or use this link to look at all my pictures on OneDrive.

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I will be forever grateful for this summer. Living in Cape Town has been a dream. I've always wanted to study abroad, but decided that I loved UMich's campus so much (yes, even during the winter!), and with only 4 years to enjoy it, I didn't want to spend an entire semester abroad. Instead, I chose to do an internship abroad, where I could get the chance to live in a different country for a couple months all while gaining professional career experience. I feel so lucky to have found Volunteer Adventure Corps and be presented with this amazing opportunity. Thank you for all the support - I could not have done this without you!

And finally, I want to thank you, the readers. I sincerely enjoyed sharing my Cape Town adventures with you, and I hope you enjoyed reading them too. I hope that if you haven't yet, you get a chance to visit South Africa. If you do, feel free to reach out to me for recommendations on where to go, what to eat, where to stay, etc. I would be more than happy to help! 

Now, onto the next adventure, whatever that may be. 

Cheers!

From Excel Spreadsheets to Waving at Whales: More About My Internship Experience!

It has recently come to my attention that I need to write more about my internship experience in my blog. It's true: out of the 7 posts I've written so far, only one has been about my work. Despite the lack of balance in my writing content, I promise I am dedicating a lot of time and effort on my work! The last time I wrote, I was working on a project concerning the economic development of the barren Central Karoo district. Since then, I've moved on to a project about the marine manufacturing industry in South Africa, with special focus on the national boat building industry.

South Africa is the second largest catamaran-producer in the world after France with Cape Town being responsible for 85% of all boat production in the country. It's clear to see the impact this one industry can have the nation's economy, and as I have researched more and more about it, I've become overwhelmed by how large the industry really is. My most recent task regarding the marine industry was to create a database of all the companies and organizations that contribute to the production of boats in South Africa. When I first started, I thought it would be a 3-day thing, but this has been an ongoing project in our office for the last three weeks. Day after day, I find myself sitting in front of my screen typing away endless amounts of information from the names of companies and their contact numbers, to a brief description of them and what roles they play in the marine manufacturing industry. Just the other day, I was handed a three-inch folder completely filled with information on boat building companies, and I managed to work through its entire contents in half a day. It's mindless and never-ending work, but I can't complain because I wasn't given this job just because I'm the intern; three other people in the office, including one of my bosses, are working on it as well. 

Luckily for me (and unfortunately for my coworkers who had to pick up the slack), I got to skip data entry for a week and explore other towns in the Western Cape while learning research skills. My company, Urban-Econ, has several branches around South Africa. I work for the Cape Town office, but the office in Port Elizabeth needed some people from the Western Cape to help them conduct primary research in the area. My bosses and coworkers suggested that I go and gain experience taking surveys while also getting to other parts of the country, and I was more than happy to oblige. Cherry on top: they paid for all my expenses on the trip (which is more than I can say for my actual internship), including travel, food, and accommodation in really nice B&Bs.

The people generously footing this bill for me and three other surveyors were clients of the Port Elizabeth office. They have been interested in investing in wind energy in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, but first, they wanted to gauge public opinion on wind turbines. Specifically, the focus of my surveys was to find out out tourist opinion on wind energy facilities in order to determine if having a wind farm in an area would affect tourism in or around that area. Our trip was broken up into two parts. The first week, we surveyed tourists in the beautiful town of Hermanus, which lies along the southern coast.

I got to enjoy this view while working, day in and day out.

Hermanus has been recognized by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as one of 12 best places in the world to go whale watching. Unlike many other parts of South Africa where there aren't nearly as many tourists as in the summer, this is peak tourist season for Hermanus because of the Southern Right Whales. During the Southern Hemisphere summer, the whales live near Antarctica, but during the winter, they swim up to Hermanus to mate and give birth. Hermanus' coastline is unique in that the depth of the water drops very quickly off of the coast. This allows the whales to be seen as close as five meters from shore. In addition, there is a beautiful 12km Cliff Path that runs along the entirety of the Hermanus coast, creating many ideal whale watching spots.

The best part about my job was that I basically got to spend my entire week on the Cliff Path taking surveys while also enjoying the view (and the sun!). We were fortunate that the weather was so nice, and I found a lot of people on the benches simply relaxing and looking out at the ocean. Since they weren't busy with anything else, many of them were more than willing to spare 5-10 minutes for the survey. Of course, I encountered some unpleasant or even straight-up rude people that just did not like to be bothered, but overall, tourists and locals alike were so friendly and genuinely curious about the work I

This one even waved!

was doing. One man was so intrigued by our surveys that he insisted on taking it - even though he was a local and we didn't need his opinion. Turned out, he was the owner of a whale watching boat cruise, and after he finished, he offered all four of us a free whale watching boat cruise the next day! The whales were so friendly and came up within 50 feet of the boat.

Another fun part of taking surveys was listening to South Africans constantly bash the national utility company, Eskom. Even if the individuals themselves did not like wind power, they conceded the fact that there is a major energy shortage crisis (and growing!) in South Africa. Since Eskom was so horrible, everyone thought that someone should step in and do something about it. If that meant adding in wind energy, they would support it. On the other hand, most international tourists I surveyed were visiting from countries where they were used to seeing a lot of wind turbines, such as the Netherlands and the UK. I really enjoyed talking to these tourists because they were able to give an insider's perspective on wind energy. Generally speaking though, I found that the people I surveyed were open to the idea of incorporating wind-powered energy into the South African grid.

On several occasions, I found myself sitting on a bench for over half an hour just talking to people about all the different types of renewable energy sources. Never have I been happier I took a course on renewable energy last semester. I felt so proud for being able to carry on an intelligent conversation with so many people about it. Multiple times, the people I was surveying would ask me questions about renewable energy regarding the technical aspects of it, and I was able to provide great answers, all due to Physics 210...thanks Professor Greg! :)

As of last Wednesday, I've been back at the office mindlessly typing away, adding to our marine industry database one Excel line at a time. I am hoping that one day in the near future, I will hear about a company in South Africa setting up a wind farm in the Eastern Cape so that I can say that I was a part of that process, as small as that part was!

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

Cape Town Bus Tour

Today was my third day in Cape Town, South Africa and my second day of orientation with Volunteer Adventure Corps. I was joined by three other students, Nicole, Mary, and Sara, all of whom arrived on Monday like me. Our orientation consisted of going on a bus tour of Cape Town where we could hop-on and hop-off at various points of interest throughout the city. It was definitely a touristy thing to do, but it gave us the introduction we needed to our new home.

On the top deck of the Sightseeing Red Bus Tour. We are excited to see all that Cape Town has to offer!

A small glimpse of the famous Table Mountain. Some days, the low clouds cover up much of the mountain, including Devil's Peak. Today's no exception, although later in the day, the clouds will end up clearing up. 

Our first stop on the bus tour was the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. Nestled against Table Mountain, this 89-acre garden was established in 1913 to preserve and showcase the many unique, indigenous flora of South Africa.

Even with an hour spent walking through the beautiful garden, we only managed to see half of it. We are looking forward to coming back soon to see the rest!

Walking along the Boomslang Tree Canopy Walkway, we were able to appreciate the vastness of Table Mountain and the 1300-acre Kirstenbosch Estate.

With the clouds cleared up, we can finally see the top of Table Mountain!

Our second stop on the Red Bus Tour of Cape Town was Groot Constantia Wine Estate. Founded in 1685, it is the oldest wine estate in South Africa. Past famous customers include Napolean Bonaparte, who ordered 30 bottles a month while in exile in St. Helena until his death.

Of course, we didn't come here just to listen to Groot Constantia's great history. We had to try the amazing wine ourselves! Sara, Mary, and Nicole tried wine & cheese pairings while I decided to go for the wine & chocolate coupling. 

Each wine was paired with a specific chocolate imported from Belgium and infused with distinct flavors right here in Cape Town. There were a total of five pairings (only four shown here because I was too excited for my first-ever wine tasting). While I know next to nothing about what constitutes a "good" wine/wine pairing, my favorite was Groot Sauvignon Blanc with Tropical Guava White Chocolate.

After the delicious wine tasting, we hopped back on the bus, which took us on a drive around the coast of Cape Town. Our timing couldn't have been better - we got to see the sun set over the ocean as we drove along the beautiful coastline.

On the other side of the sunset is Table Mountain again. One of my goals during my time here is to hike up the many trails around this mountain, including to Devil's Peak and Lion's Head.

One of our next trips will definitely be to one of these sandy beaches along the coast! Surfing, anyone?

This picture shows just how much Cape Town has to offer. From the breathtaking views to the abundance of activities, such as hiking, swimming, snorkeling, or surfing, there is no limit on the number of things you could do here. I am so excited and blessed to call this gorgeous city my home for the next 11 weeks. 

I had the time of my life exploring Cape Town with Nicole, Mary, and Sara today, and I can't wait to go on many more adventures with them and everyone else I meet in the months to come.

Stay tuned for more!