Week 13: Spring Break…or is it Fall break? Either way I have a few days off!

April 3- I flew into Cape Town, rented my car, and drove to Stellenbosch (wine country). My first night there I was still recovering from the University of Johannesbrug student excursion, the whirlwind trip to Drakensberg for Easter, and my last few months of working. After getting situated in my room, I decided to go for a walk around town. Stellenbosch is famous for wine and the university (a very good university by the way). I wandered around town, walked by the mall (of course there is a mall), made my way to a music store to get some South African music, and then had a glass of wine and some dinner at Brampton. The staff welcomed the lone American at the bar. I was on my postcard writing kick (that didn’t last long) so I had something to do while I enjoyed my tasting and some dinner.

The Bruschetta

April 4- This morning I did my best to catch up on some of my writing and organizing for the next week in Cape Town. I woke up at 6am and worked until noon when I headed off to Franschhoek, a famous wine and culinary town about 40 minutes from Stellenbosch. Now because I was alone my options for tasting wine were limited. I first headed into town and had lunch at a place called Café des Art. They had very good reviews online and I was hungry after thinking and typing all morning. I had a delicious plate of seared tuna and pasta with a glass of white. Next, I went to Dieu Donne winery and enjoyed a partial tasting (I had to drive). I had plans to meet up with two Couchsurfing.org (CS) people so I headed back to Stellenbosch. The local CS girl, Leonie, decided we should meet at Brampton, the one place in town I had already been. I agreed. Marcia (I met her via CS and a San Francisco friend, Lailani during my last trip to Cape Town) also agreed to drive out and meet up for dinner. That night we had an awesome time with the locals, Leonie, introduced me to a crew of her friends and we closed the wine bar down and headed to dinner (the wine bar closed at 7:30pm- to put it in perspective).

Asara Winery

April 5- The next morning I picked Jacinta up at airport. Jacinta and I met in 2009 at the Carnival Street Fair in the Mission district of San Francisco and have been friends ever since. She decided to fly out and join me for the Cape Town International Jazz Festival for her birthday. We left the airport and found a winery called Asara, to enjoy a quick tasting before heading to Stellenbosch so she could try the bruschetta that I had eaten the other night at Brampton (I posted the picture on FB and she wanted to have some too).

Of course she got a ticket!

Next, we checked into our hotel in CT, rested, and changed for the concert. The thing about Jacinta is she has a special power over people and can get things others can’t. Although she didn’t have a ticket, I figured one would somehow appear.  We walked down the line asking if anyone had an extra ticket, some guy said yes, then sold her a ticket for less than I paid for mine.

We watched Pu2ma, Zonke, Trenton and the Free Radicals, Buena Vista Social Club, and the Brand New Heavies. We visited 3 of the sections of the venue- Trenton and the Free Radicals played in an outdoor tent- they were a punk-jazz-reggae-revolutionist band. Pu2ma played on the outdoor stage in back. She has a powerful voice for African-influence jazz. Zonke, Buena Vista, and BNH all rocked the main stage- although I was pretty tired by the time the BNH came on, the festival was an unexpected treat with Jacinta there.

April 6- Camps Bay- The next morning I woke up pretty tired, but we were able to drive down to Camp’s Bay for lunch. With the sun shining on our Thai food, life was good.

Robben Island Church

April 7- Robben Island- When I came to Cape Town in February I wasn’t able to see many of the touristic sights because I was working so much, so this time I planned the trip around the universities “spring break” so I would be able to see some of the sights as well as working. Robben Island was first on my list.

Robben Island was a military fort, prison, and a hospital for those with leprosy, chronic illness, blindness, and mental illness. Interestingly, even the hospital patients were segregated by race and gender. The people with leprosy built a church and the village infrastructure on the island. People still live there today, although the school closed for low enrollment (I don’t think that is on my list of places to live). Fun facts: At least 1,400 patients died on the island. It is 6.9 kilometers from Cape Town. The Dutch started using the island in the mid-1600. There is a very strong stench of sea lions when you enter the harbor. Now, onto the tour:

The two most famous prisoners/leaders/lawyers were Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (ANC leader and first democratic president of South Africa) and Robert Sobukwe (Pan Africanist Congress leader). Prisoners were given numbers based on which prisoner they were that year and the year they arrived on the island. Mandela’s prison number was 46664 (he was prisoner #466 in 1964). These two (and other high profile “terrorists”) were often kept in isolation versus the “medium threat” prisoners, like rapists and murderers, who were kept in lower security areas.

There was a quarry on the island and the prisoners cut the rocks from the quarry for the buildings on the island and mainland. As portrayed in the Athol Fugard play, The Island, many of the prisoners were actually forced to dig holes and then fill up the hole all day in the sun/rain/cold as punishment. The tour guides explained many of the guards were around 16 years old and the prisoners were much older and more educated. He talked about the brainwashing of the “children” with power. It reminded me of the theory out of Stanford University called “power poisoning” (Sutton, 2010). This is where people who are given power take it to extremes. Another example in history where I have heard of this type of brainwashing was with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia- most of the soldiers were young kids (age 12-24) and they came up with incredibly creative and horrific ways to torture “prisoners.”  Mandela was known for being respectful towards the guards, which made him respected as well. The prison portion of the tour is done by a past prisoner- he took us to the area he was kept, talked about the conditions, and showed up Mandela’s cell.

Mandela's cell is the 4th window from the left

After finishing the tour we went to for dinner and then home- I had a lot of work to catch up on after my spring/fall break. I spent the next day in front of the computer…so on Tuesday I decided to take a trip up to Table Mountain with Jacinta and our new best friend, Jessica (an English girl who had been volunteering in Kenya). We took the cable car to the top of Table Mountain and burrrrr, it was cold, so we headed into the café for some hot cocoa. After finishing our drinks, Jessica and I went outside to take some quick pictures, I guess Jacinta didn’t see us and went the opposite directions. About an hour later, she popped up and we headed to get some food and away from the bitter wind.

Me, Jacinta, and NBF Jessica

In case I need to know which direction California is...

The Cable Car...notice the clear skies

Table Mountain when we got to the top

and then a little later...

Marcia met us for dinner and drinks at a gastro-pub called Orphanage. We had cozy warm drinks and yummy food.

My last day in Cape Town didn’t work out the way I had hoped, but I was still able to get the materials to the university and schools in Khayelitsha. Because the books finally arrived from USA, I was able to share the textbooks and support materials I developed for the schools. The first book, Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners The SIOP Model (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2013) is a book on strategies for working with diverse learners. Although it was written for English Language Learners, my colleagues and I have been using the SIOP model strategies to address the needs of our students with mild/moderate disabilities for quite some time. The second book, Creating Writers (Spandel, 2013) describes helpful hints for enhancing the writing of students.

Brampton Family Friends (thanks Leonie!!)

After working that morning, I picked Jacinta up and took her to Franschhoek to try some wine. Next, we went to Brampton’s for Leonie’s birthday party. She has a wonderful set of friends, one is even an academic at the local university- so we were able to talk about issues in education. Cris, my Brazilian friend, flew in so we could begin our road trip to Durban the next day. I picked her up at the airport at 11pm and headed to crash at the hotel for one more night.