Arriving in Cape Town

After an 11 hour plane ride from Hewthrow, London to Cape Town International, I found myself hardly rested and clearly jet lagged from the extremely long plane ride. But, upon arrival in this unfamiliar country, I found myself rejuvenated and ready to explore this breathtaking country.

I was met in the airport by the program instructor, Christen Christopherson, and the assistant director of the CapeTown Interstudy Program, NJ. It was great to see at least one familiar face, Christen, as I had spent the past 22 hours alone traveling. (So thanks Christen for picking me up! It meant a lot to me)

I drove with NJ, and Christen drove with her husband Mark (who will be with us for about a week and is a very fascinating individual). It was 11 am in the morning, it was a comfortable 65' in Cape Town with a light cloud cover over the city. The first thing that caught my attention was when NJ made a comment about the Table Cloth (Which is the Cape of Good Hope, a mountain that the first explorers used as a land mark to identify a supply replenishment point for sailors attempting travel to the Indies). After asking what the Table Cloth was, NJ pointed out how the clouds rolled over the Mountain, making the mountain appear as if there was a table cloth upon it. The biggest take away from this interesting ride to the home I would be staying, was when we traveled past a township that was right off the side of the highway. It was here that I observed people walking barefoot through a muddy road, living in small shacks, and going about their morning as if the highway was non-existent and perhaps some of the locals in CapeTown not living in the townships go through their day without noticing the townships, as if the townships were a world apart from their own (This is an assumption). NJ turned to me and said, "Matty (We got to be friends pretty quickly), one thing you always have to remember is that Cape Town is a part of a third world country, but it has the aspects and features of a first world country." This is a quote that I will be referring to throughout my future blogs. I can not comment yet about this statement, as I have not experienced how the living in the townships differs from that of Southern Suburb CapeTown living.

After 33 hours of travel, 6 hours of sleep, and four decently good airplane movies later; I finally arrived to my home in Mowbry, CapeTown (Just 5 blocks away from CapeTown University) where myself and 9 other males and females would spend most of our nights over the course of the next three weeks.

My initial reaction of the house was that it was much nicer then what I had expected. There are 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms that have indoor plumbing, heaters next to most of the beds in the house, a kitchen with all appliances, showers that can run enough heat for 10 people every morning at 7 AM and a fireplace just in case we needed to warm up the house during the 40-50' South African nights. I will admit that I had some negative preconceived notions about what our living situation would be like. I knew, from the previous South African group from last year that we would have running water, but in no way did I think that we would have a home that could be compared to a cabin found in Northern Minnesota.

One thing that shocked me the most about our home in Mowbry was the security measures that the CapeTown University takes for its students. To put it into perspective for everyone, we live in a gated community, we have electric fencing above the white picket fence that surrounds the home, we have a lock on the white picket fence gate that allows us access to the front yard, we have a metal gate that is locked by a standard key pad lock, and we have a front door that has a dead bolt along with a handle lock. What did I get myself in to, I could not help but think to myself? Why do they need so much security? Is this trip truly safe?

It should be noted that this was my initial reaction upon arrival in Cape Town, that I felt before I received the explanation as to why the security measures are they way they are from NJ and the Interstudy Director Ouma. They said that all homes that are in the suburbs of Cape Town are protected by some form of secruity (ours just happened to be ADT Emergency Response) due to the established social norms in the culture. It is not because Whites are less safe than blacks are or vice versa, but rather that we do live in a city area, and like many areas that have a dense population; safety precautions are necessary to ensure that these citizens are safe. The level of security around and in our home was at first shocking and left me feeling more unsafe then if their was nothing. I almost would have felt safer if there was not the security measures taken. But after three days of exploration and observation, I see now that it is a social norm in Cape Town's society. So, I do feel much safer and through my excursions through the city, this has proven to be a safe location thus far.