Sika | April 22, 2009
I am exhausted. I will update later, when I am more awake. The one thing that I’ve been considering a lot in my sleep-addled state is that I am simultaneously sad to have left home and glad to be home. Especially once I finally got to Zomba yesterday afternoon (around 2 pm). I’m not sure [...]
Sika | March 11, 2009
We went to Simon’s Town on the way back from Gansbaai since we still had a car. We realized on the way it would have been more pleasant to take the train down to Simon’s Town and not just because we would’ve been able to see the painted beach houses of Muizenberg without the train [...]
Sika | March 11, 2009
The people at Long Street Backpackers recommended Knysna next, but after talking to the proprietors of the hostel in Franschhoek we decided that with only 3 days left before we were due to be back in Cape Town again, we didn’t want to make the 6 hour drive each way. We tried to settle on [...]
Sika | March 11, 2009
We were advised to go up Table Mountain well before leaving because the weather on the mountain can change in a heartbeat and that’s what determines whether the cable cars are running. This was a very good advice. After being rushed through the end of the Robben island tour and barely catching the ferry back, [...]
Sika | March 11, 2009
There are these movie theatres in Cape Town called the Labia Theatres. They are named after an ambassador from somewhere or other. The name is pronounced Lah-bee-ah and they show more indy-type movies, although there is some overlap with the downstairs movie theatre at V&A Waterfront. The downstairs theatre at V&A is where we say [...]
Sika | March 11, 2009
In the evening after Bo-Kaap, we did a tour of Langa and Khayelitsha—two townships just outside Cape Town. Gareth’s sister had wondered why we felt the need to do a township tour, seeing as how we know what poor Africa looks like and all that. But in Malawi things are a bit more balanced—the whole [...]
Sika | March 11, 2009
Our last day in South Africa we went to the Bo-Kaap—the area where the Cape Malays* lived and that was later declared a “Coloured-only” area. The houses are beautifully painted. We went to the Bo-Kaap museum as well, which was somewhat informative, but we really could’ve used a tour guide to explain things a bit [...]
Sika | March 11, 2009
In Franschhoek we stayed at the Franschhoek Group Accomodation. We were a bit nervous when we got there because the place looks like an institution. As in, the type of place to which one can be involuntarily committed. But the rooms are sweet and neat, with duvets and comfortable twin beds. The couple running the [...]
Sika | February 23, 2009
We were meant to go to Robben Island our second day in South Africa. We had also booked it by phone, since the website tells you how to make online bookings but then refuses to actually accept them. We were told that Robben Island is worth going to and books up early. So we did [...]
Sika | February 23, 2009
There was Ari’s Souvlaki, of course. There was also sushi that first morning. We ate it at the earliest hour we could find a place serving it. I had been talking about eating sushi for a good three months before we went to Cape town. Actually, to be fair, many of us in my group [...]
Sika | February 20, 2009
Our first full day in SAfrica*, I woke on Malawi time (read: way too early). I was very excited because I knew we were going to see Johnny Clegg that afternoon. Gareth had told us about the summer concerts at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, and that we had to make sure to go to one. I [...]
Sika | February 4, 2009
Overnight on Friday, my water went out. Thanks to the weird functioning of my geyser, I was able to use the water stored there to bathe and flush my toilet and wash up my dishes and all that kind of thing. I was a little concerned that it was a billing problem or something, but [...]
Sika | August 17, 2007
< Not so’s most of you would notice though, since by back I mean still in Africa but back in Malawi. I’m going to be in Lilongwe for a week or two, which I guess is ok since it gives me time to take my LPI (Cedric is coming to talk to me and maybe [...]
Sika | August 9, 2007
Today is Women’s Day in South Africa. It’s a federal holiday and everything. To quote my mama, it commemorates a march by the Federation of South African Women in 1956 against extension of the pass laws. Their chant then and throughout the anti-apartheid movement was Wathint’abafazi, wathint’imbokodo (“you have struck the women, you have struck [...]
Sika | August 3, 2007
Pearl pointed out that I should probably update so y’all know that I’m not dead. Which obviously if something as important as my death had occurred I would have blogged about it, duh. Anyway, surgery was Tuesday, I left the hospital Wednesday morning. I’m seeing the Peace Corps docs every other day to check on [...]
