Day 13: Rainbow Nation

No one talks the same here. I think that the existence of a “South African” accent is a myth. It is all at once fascinating and confusing. The accents are all mangled British/misc European + misc African + Afrikaner/Norwegian, oh and some Indian just to make it interesting. I’m so conscious of my accent because once you leave the apartment building, there are no Americans anywhere. I try not to sound obnoxiously American and so I’ll slip in words that British and Australian I’ve picked up from my British and Aussie friends, but then I just seem weirder because I’m an apparently Dutch looking girl (I got asked if I was from Holland today), saying British things in my American accent. For example, I told a lady in my office the other day, “I’ll try phoning him on his mobile.” And she was like, “Mobile? You don’t say cell?” And I was kind of like, “Um, well I do usually….. I don’t know.” While thinking “I just wanted to talk like how I thought you spoke!” Hello Rainbow Nation!

Anyway, work has been hectic and excellent this week. Its only been a week and a half and I already have learned so much from these ladies at my office. They are geniuses, efficient, leaders in their field, have families, and I just generally want to be them.

Tuesday is a particularly eventful day for me. I roll into the office and immediately roll back out with one of the consultants, Dena, to an evaluation planning meeting at a nearby office. We are going to evaluate a documentary series aimed at raising awareness, but more so moving people to action, called Why Poverty. We go to this cool neighborhood to this cool office where we are greeted by a man with a very impressive eyebrow. Then we meet all the cool people that work there and sit around the meeting room table which has snacks on it, including an bowl of very amazing jelly beans. After eating several and deciding I really like the purple ones, I pass the bowl off to get it away from me, but it quickly gets passed around the table and right back in front of me. I go to pour myself a glass of water and accidently pour myself sparkling water, which I hate, but make myself drink it and decide I can handle it in conjunction with these great jelly beans. I also toss back a croissant or two while a stimulating presentation and discussion are taking place.

Anyway, enough of the minute details, let me tell you about the Why Poverty evaluation because I am thrilled to be working on it (if it doesn’t kill me)! So Why Poverty is a huge global thing, broadcast all over the world. In the US, for example, PBS picked it up and the NY Times did some pieces on it, etc. Two of the most well endowed foundations in the world out of the US are funding this evaluation. So our job is to figure out what the actual impact of the Why Poverty is – through data collected from broadcasters, social media, emails, case studies, interviews, and so on. What was the reach? Did people’s beliefs and behaviors change as a result? Have there been any policy changes as a result? Things like that. So huge project, huge scope. Here we go!

Upon arriving back at the office after the WP meeting, we have a team meeting. It is a lot of fast talking in the various office accents and a lot of things go on that I’m pretty sure neither I nor the other intern understood. And anyway, long story short, I am juggling a lot of pieces of projects right now. And I am learning a LOT. Perfect way to spend a final field internship, right? Man, what a great opportunity. I’m very thankful.

A bunch of friends are going up Lion’s Head after work. I work late so I miss the group, but Cailey and Sivert catch a cab with me and we head up the mountain. It is much easier the second time around, and as pleasant as ever. The sunset isn’t as dramatic this time so we stay on top for the whole thing. I meet some South African dudes and as the sun dips below the horizon, I tell them I better get going. They’re like, “Nah, look,” and point at the moon. Its pretty big but I don’t want to scramble down the sheer rock face parts by moonlight and we take off. Luckily we clear the hairy parts before the light is totally gone and the moonlit walk is quite pleasant. The city is beautiful all lit up at night.

Tonight, after working late again, I made a pot of cabbage. Everyone is like, “Why did you make a pot of cabbage?” Well, its because I hate cooking and its easy… and I just can’t cook. I have like a cooking block. I need my George Foreman grill. If it wasn’t for Cailey feeding me vegetable soup she made and assorted free food at work meetings, I probably would’ve starved to death earlier in the week. But so after having some cabbage and peanut butter (I need protein), I went with Alison and Sivert to the bar on the corner: Characters. I love Characters. Its pretty nice looking, but totally casual. There’s a lot of pink neon light going on. The best part is the drink prices. They have a HUGE cocktail menu, its like a binder, and everything is like R 20. Alison and I have been enjoying the peach martinis for R 20, made fresh from the peaches in season. As I’m perusing the menu tonight, I notice a certain “mystery teapot cocktail” or “secret recipe teapot cocktail” or something, for R 25. I’m curious and buy one. Everybody gets a little teacup and the waitress pours our the mystery cocktail into the teacups. We toast and try it out (well Sivert jumped the gun and tried it before the toast, but anyway..). It tastes like straight Jolly Rancher juice with a horrific aftertaste; sugar, sugar, sugar. Later, I ask the waitress what this (nasty) mystery juice is, and of course she replies, “I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.” Ok fine, curiosity satisfied.

Day 9: Magical Muizenberg

On Friday, I seem to hit a bit of a crash. I find myself sitting at my desk, crazy drowsy, counting down the minutes until I get off work. No one in my office really works past 3, so that’s the mark I’m trying to make. I line up some more interviews, and kind of half read a report I need to make a powerpoint for, half play on facebook and read online newspapers. There was some crash in Jo-berg involving a police officer and a guy driving an Audi that’s big news. Apparently cops try to bribe people who drive “supercars” to take them on joy rides. This one ended up killing both of them and there’s all sorts of fishiness afoot, with the cops potentially planting drugs in the car at the scene of the accident. Who knows. Anyway it’s the most interesting thing going on until I get off work. I go straight home and crash; nap for three whole hours.

Friday night, we hang out for awhile and go to a house party. Cailey and I come home early, around 11, because we have to get up bright and early the next morning for a big adventure! I roll out of bed around 7 on Saturday and stumble into the kitchen for a bowl of museli. I’m greeted by our new roommate, Justine, who is on the couch looking and sounding wide-awake. I’m impressed with her enthusiasm as I go back to my bed to eat. Cailey gets up by that point and we struggle as a team to get everything together for our trip. Man I hate mornings! But finally we all go downstairs and meet up with the rest of the group to walk to the train station.

We’re going to Muizenberg! The point of the trip is to take surfing lessons, but I figured I couldn’t learn much about surfing in 2 hours and would rather just hang out on the beach and keep my money (which has been flying out of my wallet rather quickly). At the train station we buy first class, return tickets to Muizenberg. When we walk to the train, I look into one of the cars and say to one of the girls, “Wow, I’m sure glad we got first class passes. That is dingy looking!” She then points out to me that these are the first class cars. Yikes. Pretty basic, graffiti everywhere. A small parade of people come through the cars to beg for money. Some of them blind, and they sing. I think of Slumdog Millionaire… somebody probably blinded them as children to make more money begging and they don’t get to keep any of it anyway. It makes me feel angry and sick at the same time. The parade ends and the doors close and we are on our way, chugging along through the suburbs.

A bit later we arrive and step out of the train. I’m talking about international development issues with a friend as we round a wall at the station and I stop midsentence when I see it – the ocean and the mountains! The train station is right on the water and the beach is right there, and its stunningly gorgeous!! Most of the group heads to the surf shop, but Cailey and another friend of ours who has also opted to not surf head to a café. We get coffee and huge cheesy omelettes and oogle at the scenery. Then we go lay out on the beach, after lathering on huge amounts of SPF 50 sunscreen. I am scared of the sun here after last weekend and terrified of getting burned again. After laying out for awhile I decide to try going for a swim because supposedly the water is warmed down here then it is at the beaches in Cape Town. It is warmer, it takes me a little getting used to, but soon I’m out up to my waist. Some kids swimming near me yell, “Look! A seal!” I think they’re probably crazy, but then I see just in front of me a seal pop up out of the waves! I watch it play around and can’t stop smiling. It swims out of my view for a minute and then pops up even closer to me on my left side. It startles me and I shriek! And then laugh as I watch him swim away. Then it occurs to me that was shark food swimming right next to me, hmm. A shark would probably eat those kids who saw the seal first anyway. Cailey comes out and swims with me. This beach is fantastic! Its so nice to have water warm enough to swim in.

The rest of the day is spent relaxing. At some point I go get some ice cream from a nearby shop. Its so good, tastes more like frozen custard than ice cream. And because I got a kiddie “flake” (aka waffle) cone, the guy stuck a long, skinny chocolate biscuit in the middle of it. Heaven. I walk back to the beach and notice the red shark flag is now up, meaning there was a shark sited within the last 2 hours. There are shark spotters and a flag system to warn swimmers about any shark danger in the area. Supposedly they even have sirens that go off if there’s a shark in the area. I wonder if a shark came to eat my little seal buddy. I hope not, I really liked that guy.

Later we catch the train home and I take another short nap. Then my friend Alison and I go to Kloof Street for dinner. Mary, who came to Cape Town from UT Social Work School last year, typed up a list of places to go for me. I pick Arnold’s on Kloof St. because Mary reports that they have good game. Alison and I order the chef’s game platter to split. So for the first time in my life, I am served a plate of ostrich, kudu, crocodile, and warthog ribs. It is SO much fun trying the meat, and delicious! The ostrich and kudu taste like beef, crocodile somewhat like chicken, and warthog like pork (hm, that makes so much sense now that I think about it…).

After dinner we meet up with friends for drinks and we make our way towards good ol’ Long Street again. I am skeptical of my ability to have a good time there. We head towards this place called Marvel. Its almost completely coloured and black people in there (not many of the bars/restaurants have mixed crowds), but they’re playing American music and the entrance fee includes a drink at the bar, so we head on in. Its really hot in there and kinda smells funny, but a song I like comes on and so Alison and I hit the dance floor. This place ends up being a real blast. One of the guys with us keeps making hilarious requests at the DJ booth and the whole place is dancing. At the end of the night, we head out to the street for hot dogs and to catch a cab. One of our friends almost gets a ticket for urinating in public (ha), he clearly just wants a bribe, that’s annoying. But things get resolved… and soon enough I am happily in bed.

The next day I sleep late then head to Pick n Pay to restock the kitchen. Fruit and Veg is closed on Sundays, how sad. Businesses here keep the weirdest hours. Everything closes at like 6 on weekdays and even earlier on weekends if they even open up on Sunday. We talked about doing some hiking the day before, but I feel pretty set on sitting on the couch all day. But then Liliya calls and before I know it I’m heading up Table Mountain. I just can’t say no to things like that, one should not say never say no to doing cool things in other countries when given the chance. I’ve found myself saying “YOLO” a lot. I know that’s awful, sorry. But its so true. Maybe I should change it to “YOISAO,” – you’re only in South Africa once. Besides, as I learned today, Table Mountain is one of the oldest mountains in the world and a “new 7 world wonders of nature” or something like that. Who knows what that even means, but it really is magnificent. So we climb straight up stairs and switchbacks for about two hours before reaching the top through Platteklip Gorge. Wow, being on top of Table Mountain is truly amazing!  And, you can take the cable car down. It’s a bit expensive for my taste but I’m freezing at this point and it’s the quickest way down so we all pile on and head down. The floor of the cable car rotates so you spin around and see everything while riding down. As we near the bottom I notice a man on one knee, he’s proposing to (who I assume is) his girlfriend! Getting proposed to at Table Mountain, what a dream. Good job, mister!

Day 6: In A Good Space

I’m sitting in the office yesterday, and I think I hear my phone vibrate. Let me take a short detour to explain that I am no longer sitting in the hot cube at the front of the office, but rather this excellent desk out in the open space, smack under the air conditioner. And the my computer screen is now flat and doesn’t do that horrid bouncey/flashey thing that hurts my eyes. Success! Anyway, so I check my phone and see that I have a missed call from some number I don’t know, and a text. The text says something along the lines of – “hey kathryn, there’s been a mistake. you have to move out of your apartment. pack up all your stuff tonight and we’ll help you move it in the morning. sorry.” I also see an email in my inbox with more details on the matter sent to me and my roommate. A new roommate was moving in and so I was getting booted or something. Anyway, I’m like, WHAT?!?! I text Cailey and she’s real mad too. We have to fight this because its totally unreasonable.

At some point during the day, before all this, I decided that I wanted to climb Lion’s Head (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion's_Head_(Cape_Town), because I have really been craving another nice mountain hike. So when I go home from work I just decide to start packing all my stuff so I can hike and not have that much to do when I come home later and am very tired. Cailey walks in halfway through my packing ordeal and is very angry. You see, Cailey is a very sweet, generally meek and mild-mannered person; total angel. To see her angry is at once disconcerting and, I find, quite amusing. As she stomps around the apartment, the dear apartment that I love very much and do not want to leave, we work together to build and argument for me to stay. We just spent a heap of money together outfitting the place with toilet paper, trash bags, certain cooking necessities, etc. I would be scheduled to move back down to this apartment anyway in Feb, just 15 days away. There are enough beds for the two of us to just split a room and the new person can have the other bedroom. Sheesh! I try to call and argue, but no one answers the phone. So we stick with the plan of going up Lion’s Head. It’ll be a great way to blow off steam.

It’s about a $5 cab ride to the trail head, and cars are parked all around. Its quite a popular place to go to watch the sunset. We start the climb and follow the trail as it spirals along the base of the mountain, gaining elevation. Its beautiful, even before you get up very high. There are amazing views of the beaches – the Cliftons and Camp’s Bay – the waterfront, Table Mountain, the city. And its all extra gorgeous in the evening light. I’m feeling a bit winded however when we get to the straight-up part. And then we start going just straight up. At some points there are metal hand/foot holds drilled into the rocks that you have to scale up, Spiderman-up-a-building style. Ha, we just thought this would be a nice after work hike. Its totally kicking my butt. Blarrrgh. Cailey helps me overcome my out-of-shapedness and probably too empty stomach to reach the top. And after I recover for about 10 minutes, I can finally enjoy the amazing view from the top as the sun is reaching the horizon. I’m really hoping that I can make after work hikes up Lion’s Head a weekly occurrence. Its incredible and much cheaper than a gym membership.

We come back down feeling much less angry, but then realize we still have this moving issue unresolved. Cailey and I head to a corner store next to our apartment to get her more cell minutes when my phone rings. It’s the apartment lady… she tells me all about the situation and how and I have to move and all that, but then I launch into our well planned argument. I can tell she feels bad about this whole thing and doesn’t take a ton of convincing for her to just let Cailey and I stay in the same apartment but share one of the rooms! VICTORY! Cailey buys ice cream and I buy a Cadbury bar to celebrate.

We go home and move all of Cailey’s stuff into my room because it’s a little bigger, and now we’re just snug as two bugs in a rug! We also discovered this weird two degrees separation between us: her husband was friends with my ex-boyfriend when he was up in Alaska! Small world, right?

Next day, our new roommate still hasn’t arrived by the time I’m off to work. I spend the day at the office trying to chat up government officials and academics and various South African universities to try and schedule interviews with them for the evaluations review project. Its difficult, much wild goose chasing. But I made a discovery, or a re-discovery; as much as people don’t like Americans, I think they really like talking to us because of our accent. Maybe it isn’t entirely true, but that’s been my experience. I’m quite self-conscious of my accent, but it tends to work out in my favor. But anyway, lunch is definitely the best part of the day. The other intern, Tiffany, takes me to a market that’s set up downtown called Fair Earth Market or something like that. There is ridiculously cheap and delicious produce and lunch food for sale. I LOVE it! Tiffany said to me several times, “This has you such in a good space.” I like that saying, yes, I am quite in a good space indeed. Mentally and literally now that I get to stay in the apartment I like.

When I get home from work, Cailey and I meet our new roommate, Justine. The three of us walk down to the V&A Waterfront, which I have been wanting to check out. Its pretty touristy and we eat mediocre Thai food for dinner, at least mine was mediocre. So I think I’ve had my fill of the Waterfront. The wind picked up quickly in the evening and now its blowing so hard as I write this it literally sounds like a hurricane outside; its so incredibly loud. At least that keeps out apartment cooler even if it sounds/feels like the building may fall down at any moment. I’m about to crash, TGIF tomorrow!

Day 4: First Day of Work!!

IT’S THE FIRST DAY OF MY INTERNSHIP!! The whole reason I’m here in the first place! I am a bit nervous. Will it be a bust? Nah, it seemed pretty incredible online. I’m really excited! I’m nervous! I try to look pretty for my first day of work and walk around taking a few deep breaths. I say some prayers and head out the door towards Southern Hemisphere’s offices.

Instead of spending 20 pages trying to describe what they do, I will invite you to check out their website (www.southernhemisphere.co.za). And since probably only my dad and grandma will feel like doing that – here’s the vision statement:

“SHC is a leading, dynamic, socio-economic development consultancy which contributes to creating a better world through strengthening transformative processes for social justice.”

I’m super fortunate that my placement is about 15 minutes walking distance from where I live through the heart of the city. It’s a very interesting walk to say the least. The city is beautiful and I pass many nice hotels and restaurants as well as some very shady characters and smelly puddles of mystery soup. My building is just beyond Green Market Square on Loop Street. I go into the unassuming lobby and take the elevator up to the 8^th floor. I quite like this elevator, it’s a very normal looking elevator and not at all weird/rickety like the ones in my apartment building. When I walk in, I am greeted by Loretta the sweet office manager, and Tiffany, the other intern who is from Kenya (but has lived in CT for about 6 years). I am a head taller than both of them, typical. Loretta shows us around the office - its several desks all in an open space with a wall of windows overlooking the city. There’s a conference room in the back and a little glass cube in the front. And there’s even air conditioning! I have the great fortune of getting the computer in the glass part… where the air conditioner doesn’t reach. But who cares, this place is awesome!!

The consultants are out at a meeting so the morning is a bit slow. I read through some of their information packets. You HAVE to check out profile of work on the website, its pretty incredible – doing evaluations, trainings, program design for the government, the UN, Save the Children, GIZ (this org I’ve seen do stuff in Haiti), some project LEGOs did in the townships, you name it.  I am drooling; completely geeking out everywhere. All their materials are about the types of evaluations they conduct, logic models, trainings for program monitoring and participatory group facilitation, writing proposals, developing research/eval instruments, basically EVERYTHING CAL that I learned last semester in my courses. I’ll even have the chance to learn different administrative/management skills from the consultants who each take on an admin role in the organization – e.g. marketing, HR, finance – since there are only 5 of them in the office most of the time. From the way it looks now, there couldn’t be a more perfect placement for me. It’s a CAL social worker’s dream come true!

We interns have our afternoon meeting with one of the consultants to talk about projects and work expectations. She talks about how everyone works really hard and things get chaotic, this is just up my alley! And then we talk about the first project: it’s a review of evaluations that the South African government has had done on various social projects across departments between 2006-2011. We’re basically evaluating evaluations and will be setting up key informant interviews to find out things like (if/)how the results have been used, get feedback, etc. After explaining a good bit of it, she asks me if I will take the lead and be the project coordinator on this. I want to shout YES, I WOULD LOVE TO, I JUST TOOK A PROGRAM EVALUATION COURSE, OMG THIS IS GREAT. But instead I just tell her that I would be happy to. Yo, I am a project coordinator!! I also get handed a 100 page (heavy duty) evaluation report on a program that seeks to employ and educate disadvantaged people to make them more employable by clearing alien plants that are harmful to the water supply (yes its complicated) that I must read and create a powerpoint for very soon. I’m very excited about this as well, as I will be getting some more serious program eval knowledge and be a big part of helping present the findings back to the government and help them use results.

I want to write an email to everyone back at the field office in the school of social work to tell them this is amazing and they should send every CAL student here ever.

After work, I walk home and meet my friends for pizza. I worked a bit late because of my over-enthusiasm and am the last one there, oops. Afterword, Alison and I spot a sign at a cute bar on the corner across from our apartments advertising peach martinis for R 20. Oh yes, first day of work celebration! I really hope this internships turns out to be as amazing as it seems. Thankful, thankful, thankful.