Catchin’ Up Time Posted on April 10th, 2006 by Landon Zinda

It has been a while since I’ve posted. I left Europe and arrived safely in Africa, but haven’t been able to post anything. Part of the problem was the program I am on. In my SIT course (South Africa: Multiculturalism and Social Change) we are exposed to many different lifestyles in South Africa. We stay with four different families while we’re here: a black family, a rural family, a white (or Afrikans) family, and a “coloured” family. Our biggest homestay was in a low-income township of Cape Town. Homes are very small there and usually only the basics are provided. This made internet use minimal, and my only access to internet during that time was through internet cafes that were stationed near our classroom.

I am so glad I finally decided to study abroad. It’s so impossible to explain my experiences during this trip because there are so many and they’re all very contextual, but I will try. For the first two weeks we were oriented to the program and to South Africa, and went on a safari in South Africa’s biggest reserve park. Already having been in Europe for a month, I felt really tired during this time and actually developed a cold. It was different having a want to go home while everyone else has just arrived. But it wasn’t a homesickness or anything, I was fully ready to spend the next four months here. After two weeks we moved into Langa. I had a homestay mother, and a 24 year old sister. Both were extremely nice and helpful, and I had a great time there. The nervousness about accommodations was quickly removed when I saw my own room and a small bathroom.

The schedule here is much more strenuous than college. Our typical day begins at 6:30, when we catch the bus at 7. It takes about an hour to get to class in the same city, due to all the traffic, and class starts at 8:30. Xhosa, the local and one of the most popular languages in South Africa, takes up the first two hours of class. After a half hour break, one or two lecturers would come in to teach on various aspects of South African history and politics. After another break, another two hours would be spent on Xhosa. I spent so much time learning Xhosa it must have been equivalent to two or three semesters of Spanish. After class we would be bussed back to our Langa homestays, where most days we would have to stay inside because it was dangerous to go outside at night. Actually, one weekend while I was gone, a relative of my mother was beaten and killed one block from my house. Alcohol was absolutely involved, but it was a scary realization when I found out.

Anyway it was a great experience and I would have loved to stay there longer. In between the month spent in Langa we spent two weeks on the east coast of South Africa, in Durban and in a rural homestay. Rural life was purported to be much tougher than our actual experience. The house was small, but we still had electricity and running water nearby. It actually reminded me a lot of my vacations to visit my grandmother in North Dakota: the livestock and vastly open areas.

Now we are on our third homestay that began just yesterday, with white Afrikaans speaking people. They have internet and a much more privileged lifestyle, which is why I’m able to finally post. The class politics and race divisions are still intense here, even after 12 years of the new government. Class inequality breeds an ignorance among the white population, and many of them are unwittingly ignorant of the situations and large problems in their country.

After this week we will spend a week with “coloured” (or inter-racial) families closer to Cape Town. After that week, the independent study project begins. This is a time where we figure out our own housing, have no formal classes, and are assigned to write a 40-50 page paper about an intricate topic. I will definitely enjoy the routine involved in staying in one place for that long. I can’t even count how many hotels, backpackers, hostels I’ve stayed in. I don’t know how many times I have crushed my stuff back into my suitcase to move out.

So that’s it for now, it’s time for another lecture. Enjoy the snow, I’ve got a mean sun tan.