Spashy, Homestay, and Stellenbosh.

Wow,

it’s been a while. I don't really know where to start. I am currently in Cape Town but i have to catch you up with what I have been doing before I arrived.

After i left the homestay family, we headed off for Spashy Fen. We arrived just before the sun went down and started to make our way down to the festival. We were walking down the mud path and a nice couple threw a us on the bed of their truck which was a common way to get around at the festival. What we quickly learned was that we needed gum boots because some areas were inches deep in mud. The mud aside, the concert was in the beautiful Southern Drakensburg, and we had 6 hour shifts collecting money for tickets( the reason why we were there for free). Nights were spent listening to South African rock music and the days were spent swimming or hiking. We went on an amazing hike. At the top I met a guy who knew running, and my group was astonished as we talked about the greats like Salazar and Shorter and great runs around Durban.

Here are some picks of the concert and hike.

The rest of the weekend was great and tiring with a lack of sleep. On Monday morning, we headed back to Durban muddy and tired. We went back to SIT for only a short time before we headed out to Newlands for our Indian homestay.

Me and my friend Etan arrived at the homestay in Newlands and were greeted by our homestay sister Trish and her granny. They had a very nice house and we were given amazing food the whole time. One morning granny woke up and fed us pancakes. It was a great three days spent with Trish, her brother Bradley, and their two loving parents. Our final day we went out to an Italian restaurant, headed to the mom’s food shop on the beach, and then went off to a club where we danced until 3 in the morning with our homestay brother and sister.

We then headed for Stellenbosh. It is a wine drinking town which has alot of money and beautiful architecture. You get a very odd feeling walking around in this city which is astonishingly beautiful when shacks were on the side of the road the entire ride up. It is also home to the University of Stellenboch which was home to a couple great runs of mine. We heard a very good art history lecturer talk about how images created an Afrikaner racist identity. I noticed some of their architecture resembled Mussolini’s static fascist architecture.

Later, we went to a farm involved in land reform after '94. They talked about how much trouble they were having in keeping up their farm. They were growing organic food and sending it overseas. Competing with the subsidized American and European markets was driving their prices down to a level where profit was minimal. They also were not receiving help from neighboring white farmers who wanted them to fail. A couple things connect this to the US: Neighboring farmers can really help each other and give one another advice which I learned touring Illinois farms. Sadly, racism is standing in the way in Stellenbosh. The other connection i saw was the movie about a Beloit grad, "the real dirt on farmer john." The documentary depicts a farmer who almost loses his farm before he recovers using community farming and is helped by the rising demand of local organic produce. I wondered if organic farming could become popular in the Stellenbosh area and if the farm could someday provide organic local food to the numerous restaurants in Stellenbosh and Cape Town.

After the farm, headed off for some true "experiential learning" which consisted on going wine tasting. I would say it was great wine if I knew anything about wine. Went to the bar afterwards and grabbed a beer. For dinner, we went to a Cuban restaurant that denied my request to play Latin music instead of techno. Stayed out too late and woke up early for a run and Cape Town.

I am having a great time being in this amazing city and our directors are providing great classes. I will write in more detail later.