Last week was great. On Thursday morning my whole class drove to the airport at 6:45 am and jumped onto a plane to head to the Eastern Cape. There is another University of Washington program in Port Elizabeth. They stay in one big apartment complex, with 2 bedrooms (2 people to a room), a kitchen, bathroom, living space with a TV and a porch. The first day we were there we had a BBQ with the two groups. Each apartment group paired up with students from Cape Town and we all cooked specific dishes. My group made appetizers. We ate and sat around and got to know one another until late into the night. The next day we went to the Steve Biko Foundation. It was a long drive there, we got lost on the way and were pretty late to our meeting. We went to the foundation, Steve Biko's grave and then went to his house. We ate dinner at his house and talked about memorialization and how to pay respect and give acknowledgment to important figures in history. That night we all went out to the clubs around Port Elizabeth in a huge group and around 5 in the morning went swimming in the Indian Ocean. On Saturday, the third, we had a session with Erwin (our traveling artist on the program). We talked about going to the Steve Biko Foundation, did creative exercises and acted out different areas like the Ave, war, prison, a hero's grave and some others. Then we talked about freedom and what freedom tastes, smells and feels like. It was a good way to get to know the other group. We flew out on Sunday afternoon and it was sad to leave because it was so much fun and nice to get to see students from the UW again.
The weather was pretty miserable in Port Elizabeth. It was raining for the first two days, sort of sunny on the third day and then rainy again. We were excited to come back to Cape Town to get back to the sun and when we landed it was pouring rain and it's still pouring. It's funny because we're all so used to Seattle, but have gotten so accustomed to the sun that the rain is horrible.
We're all recuperating today and trying to get back the hours of sleep that we lost while we were away. This week at school we're focusing on museums and looking at how the space constructs the history of South Africa.
Right now there is a group of high school students from Isilimela (a school in Langa in the townships) who are here to bake cookies for a bake sale for the Hands for a Bridge program. The students are sining Justin Timberlake right now, it's pretty amazing. The Hands for a Bridge program brings students from Roosevelt High School in Seattle to Cape Town to meet students from Isilimela and Belleville for two weeks. The students from Roosevelt will be coming on the 16th of this month.
Hope all is well in the states and lots of love from Cape Town.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
Hi Ema,
Just reading this post has really worn me out. That was quite a trip. I don't think you will forget the trip to Port Elizabeth anytime soon.
I'm happy that all of you made it back safe without any mishaps.
Love,
Grandma
Hi Ema
Wow it sounds like you had quite a trip. I feel for you i'm had the feeling were i have been traveling and the weather has been like home not plesant. you will have many more sunny days left on your trip. I hope the trip was a great experice for you. I hope that you all enjoyed yourselfs. I hope you have a great week.
Andy
Hi Ema
I'm glad that you enjoyed your trip and you got to see your uw friends. I'm sure that was really fun. I hope that your projects continue to go well in Cape Towne.. I hope that you have a great week and i hope you bring back lots of great experices from the trip.
Andy
Hi Ema
I'm so glad that you had a great time on your trip to Port Elizebath, it sounds like it was a great experince for you. I'm glad to her thinks are going well down their. I hope you have good rest of the week. I hope that the weather stays nice and sunny for you. Have a great week.
Andy
Hi Ema
I hope that your day went well for you today. I hope that you are having nice sunny weather down there. I hope that you are having good experinces with your program. I hope that you have a great rest of the week.
Andy
Hi Ema
I wanted to wish you a happy valentines day from Seattle Washington. I hope that you have been having a great week this week. I hope that the weather has been nice and sunny for you down there. I hope that you have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend
Andy
Hi Ema,
Did you get to visit any museums this week? Did your class explore museums as places to help victims heal as well as places to memorialize people or events?
Happy Valentine's Day,
Janice
PS Who was Steve Biko?
Hi Ema
I hope that you week has gone well for you this week i hope that you have been able to see some cool stuff. I hope that the program is going well for you and that you are getting good experices from that. I hope you have a great weekend
Andy
Hi Ema
I hope you had a wonderful week this week. I hope you are emjoying the sunny weather down there i'm sure it's lovely. I hope that your experices are going well with the program. I hope that you have a great weekend and a great week next week.
Andy
Hi Ema
I hope your weekend has gone well for you in Cape town this weekend. I hope that your experinces are going well with the program to. I hope that you are enjoying the nice sunny weather down there. I hope you have a wonderful week next week.
Andy
Post a Comment