First few days back in South Africa

Well, it’s been almost 3 years exactly since I last took up residence in Cape Town, and it’s good to be back! After arriving late last Thursday night and enduring a somewhat worrisome lost luggage mishap (unfortunately I don’t have a huge amount of confidence in the return of lost items in South Africa) everything worked out fine and I had the chance to wear clean clothes while enjoying the weekend before starting my fellowship on Monday.

Byron and Wenli (also Princeton in Africa Fellows working at mothers2mothers) and I share an apartment in Rondebosch, sort of the University neighborhood of Cape Town. Though it’s a commute from city center, it’s at least a very safe place to live with lots of shops and restaurants and people out and about. We live right next to the train station, which is of course nice for the commute into work but also a bit loud (or at least louder than Little Willow Creek…).

My previous Cape Town knowledge is coming back to me pretty well, which is a pleasant surprise. Even if I can’t remember the names of places I can usually remember how to get there, and everything seems very familiar so I definitely feel very comfortable here. However, one thing that will always take my breath away no matter how many times I see it are the mountain views this city offers. (For someone raised in the Bitterroot Valley, it means a lot when I say the mountains here are like none other!)

The one bad news upon my arrival was discovering that the lovely car the three of us invested in (1993 Toyota Conquest anyone?) does not want to start for some reason. The previous m2m PiAf fellows swore this was a good car, but I’m obviously having my doubts. (Of course none of us know how to drive stick and Cape Town drivers are an extremely intimidating force to reckon with, but we’ll worry about that later…) Hopefully we can get this taken care of soon because having a car will be essential to exploring the city and surrounds on the weekends. Without it you’re essentially limited to crazy minibuses or expensive taxis. The trains are only safe to take during commuter hours on weekdays and minibuses are off-limits after dark. Cape Town can really seem like a European city until you step onto a minibus (essentially a large van fit for 12 people but often stuffed with more like 18 people) and are suddenly crammed next to strangers, watching the change-counter (minibuses are usually operated in a team with a driver and a “cashier” of sorts) hanging out the window calling to passengers as the driver crazily manipulates the roads. All this with rap music usually blaring so loud you can barely hear. All in all a very cheap and acceptable mode of occasional transport but not my first choice for the long term.

This past weekend unfortunately brought endless rain, which made it a little bit difficult to take advantage of the usual Cape Town attractions. (And when I say rain, I mean RAIN – like the kind that literally creates rushing rivers in the streets.) On Saturday, Byron, Wenli, and I spent the day downtown at the V & A Waterfront, which is essentially a very touristy mall filled with extremely high-end shops and good restaurants, with a beautiful location right on the water’s edge overlooking Table Mountain. It was so cloudy, it was a little difficult to tell that Table Mountain even existed, but it was still a very pretty area. Of course it’s not that fun to spend the day in a mall that looks exactly like anything you could find in the U.S. or Europe, and frankly, it’s sort of the epitome of the sickening reminder of how sharp the class divide is here. But anyway, on a rainy day, I suppose it’s not a bad place to at least check out. Saturday night we had dinner on Long Street (perhaps akin to New Orleans’ Bourbon Street?) but didn’t stay out long as jet lag was still getting to us all.

Sunday brought even heavier rain and a trip to another mall just one suburb away from us. (No I don’t have a love for malls, but yes, I needed to buy some essential living supplies!) Byron and I had a heavy debate about whether to join the Virgin Active gym (same company as the airline, and definitely the fanciest gym I have EVER seen) which was more expensive and would require a short minibus commute, or whether to join the local Rondebosch gym which was incredibly cheap but also pretty poorly equipped. In the end, convenience and price beat out the dreams of a luxury workout.

So, now I’m officially past jet lag, have settled into my new apartment and returned to my old Rondebosch routines, and am looking forward to the year ahead! Yesterday was the first day of work, which I’ll describe soon enough, but enough for tonight!