Although I haven't been to Robben Island yet (the prison where Mandela was held), I have come across a quote of his that I want to share. Cheers from South Africa!
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves: Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are born to manifest the Glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us - it is in everyone - and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-Nelson Mandela
Tuesday, June 30
Gordon's Bay & Two Oceans Aquarium
I have been uber blessed with fabulous weekend weather to explore the Cape :)
Saturday, June 27
Week 1
I did it...I made it through a full work week here in South Africa, and I only got lost while driving approximately 3 times (many thanks to my new South African friends who gave me better directions after I told them my stories, and also for making sure that I always got home safe). I also only lost one hubcap (thanks a lot, giant pothole! at least it was the hubcap that I kinda scratched up against a curb, I guess).So far I've been blessed to take a few beautiful, scenic night drives with a new friend to Camps Bay and Sea Point. Some of the houses on these cliff sides are amazing, by the way.
Went to Greenpoint last night with friends, and after a random run in with a sweet but crazy lady on the street who told us that she was from New York and was flying Delta to get back there in a few weeks (I know, random right?), we had 1kilo of prawns (each) by the bay at sunset. I think that pretty much anywhere you go in South Africa for prawns, you will always get deliciousness. I'm getting used to eating prawns with my hands.
It's a beautiful day today in Cape Town...more adventures to come this weekend :)
Sunday, June 21
Driving in South Africa
Today I was supposed to learn how to drive a manual car. After picking up the car this morning, we went to an empty parking lot so that I could practice. Matt taught me how to start and stop, and first and second gears. I think I was doing pretty well until we got to starting and stopping on a hillside. Then I started to freak out. I realized that even if I got all the basics down today, I wouldn’t have anyone to tell me what to do next if I was stalling or if the car was smelling funny (like it did this morning) with me on my way to and from work. I work several kilometers away from the city center, so I have to go up and down hillsides as well as drive on the freeways. And did I mention I’m still trying to remember which side of the road is the correct one to drive on? The driver is on the right side of the car, and you drive down the left side of the road.
Okay, I overwhelmed myself a little bit, but for the sake of my sanity and safety (not to mention Matt’s sanity [click for his version] and the safety of Cape Town residents), I opted to go back to the rental company and ask for an automatic. Where they totally laughed at me. (Why didn’t I just get an automatic in the first place? Well it’s much cheaper to rent manual cars here because only nicer cars come as automatics. But I’m going to suck it up.)
Still though, I need your prayers…right turns out. Left turns in.
Okay, I overwhelmed myself a little bit, but for the sake of my sanity and safety (not to mention Matt’s sanity [click for his version] and the safety of Cape Town residents), I opted to go back to the rental company and ask for an automatic. Where they totally laughed at me. (Why didn’t I just get an automatic in the first place? Well it’s much cheaper to rent manual cars here because only nicer cars come as automatics. But I’m going to suck it up.)
Still though, I need your prayers…right turns out. Left turns in.
Hiking the Mountain
Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day in Cape Town. It was supposed to rain, but the blue sky held up throughout the morning, so Matt and I decided to take advantage of the weather and hike Table Mountain.
(Sidenote: for those of you who are wondering,”Who is this Matt fellow who you will keep mentioning throughout South Africa blog posts?” – he is my good friend from NYU, also in Public Health, taking the South Africa study abroad course & internship program too. You’ll see him in later Dubai & Italy adventures as well. Yes, that's right, he's traveling around the world and taking awesome photos and doing health research and applying to PhD programs and planning his wedding next year, all while on a "diet." More blog posts to come about food...)
Table Mountain has several different hiking and walking trails, but the only real recommended one is Platteklip Gorge, and the tourism website says that it isn’t for the faint of heart. Because I haven’t been able to workout in weeks, I was skeptical about the trail…but Matt told me that by my climbing Table Mountain, I would be metaphorically climbing an arduous journey in life [this is when I rolled my eyes]. So I sucked it up and climbed.
It was pretty tough at first, but then somehow got better along the way.
We even made friends with two Cape Town boys – Marno and Ben, both around 12 years old, who became our mini tour guides on the way up. The views were amazing and the reward, still pretty surreal.
We lunched at the café on the top of the mountain with Freddy [the gnome]. Until we rode the revolving cable car down the mountain.
Saturday afternoon we went to the VA Waterfront. It’s a cool marina filled with restaurants and shops, including a mall with coutour boutiques. We met up with a friend there, and went to a really nice dinner at Emily’s. They had some pretty neat South African cuisine, which made the long day and long climb totally worth it.
I still can’t believe I’m in Africa…
(Sidenote: for those of you who are wondering,”Who is this Matt fellow who you will keep mentioning throughout South Africa blog posts?” – he is my good friend from NYU, also in Public Health, taking the South Africa study abroad course & internship program too. You’ll see him in later Dubai & Italy adventures as well. Yes, that's right, he's traveling around the world and taking awesome photos and doing health research and applying to PhD programs and planning his wedding next year, all while on a "diet." More blog posts to come about food...)
Table Mountain has several different hiking and walking trails, but the only real recommended one is Platteklip Gorge, and the tourism website says that it isn’t for the faint of heart. Because I haven’t been able to workout in weeks, I was skeptical about the trail…but Matt told me that by my climbing Table Mountain, I would be metaphorically climbing an arduous journey in life [this is when I rolled my eyes]. So I sucked it up and climbed.
It was pretty tough at first, but then somehow got better along the way.
We even made friends with two Cape Town boys – Marno and Ben, both around 12 years old, who became our mini tour guides on the way up. The views were amazing and the reward, still pretty surreal.
We lunched at the café on the top of the mountain with Freddy [the gnome]. Until we rode the revolving cable car down the mountain.
Saturday afternoon we went to the VA Waterfront. It’s a cool marina filled with restaurants and shops, including a mall with coutour boutiques. We met up with a friend there, and went to a really nice dinner at Emily’s. They had some pretty neat South African cuisine, which made the long day and long climb totally worth it.
I still can’t believe I’m in Africa…
Saturday, June 20
South Africa - Days 1 & 2
My first 2.5 days in Cape Town have been anything but dull. Hold on for a moment though, I have to backtrack for a second and tell you that it was actually very difficult to leave Manila. This past trip back “home” has felt more like home than ever before. I’m not completely sure why I got this sentiment over the 3 weeks I visited vs. 3 years I lived there, but it has been great. Thank you everyone in the PI ☺ Also, my Dubai flight and layover was absolutely great. Again, I had no one else in my row during the flight, so I got to lie down and take a much needed nap…until I got a good night’s sleep at the Dubai Intercontinental Festival City. A big thank you to you-know-who-you-are for hooking me up with a sweet hotel pad for the night. ;) Even the gorgeous bathroom had blinds controlled by buttons…it was the best extended layover ever (including the pink taxis for ladies driven by ladies) haha…
(Intercontinental Festival City Dubai)
Okay getting back to Cape Town…I have been so very blessed. I landed early and in good weather. It’s the rainy season right now but I have had sunshine and about 50-60 degree Farenheit weather during the daytime. However, central heating is not normally used in average businesses or homes here, so you remain layered for most of the day, and then it’s flannel pj’s at night. I’m sleeping under 10 lbs of down feathers (ok I’m exaggerating…I’m lucky enough to have a hotel with heat for now! Yay!)
It is absolutely beautiful here! I’m staying at a pretty cool suite on the mountainside – Table Mountain, that is, which is absolutely stunning (the mountain). This morning, on my way to work I watched the sun come up over the coast and hit the mountain. The Lion King theme played over and over in my head (I was thinking about you, KTG, miss ya!)…It’s still kind of surreal to think, “I’m in AFRICA!” Once I either hike up the mountain or take the cable car, I will post pictures ☺
So far, my first two days here have been uniquely memorable. I started off my grad internship on my first full day here, at an organization called Mosaic (Women’s training, service, and healing center). It is a pretty phenomenal org – please read about it here if you get the chance. My first two days have been spent in one of their ongoing Male Counsellor training programs (mainly for domestic violence, sexual assault). The topics are pretty complex and the issues are very diverse, especially here in South Africa where there are so many different cultures (see- 11 official languages!). With the many cultural barriers, race and gender issues, economic hardships, and political-legal system challenges, the work that they do is filled with obstacles and potential frustrations…yet they are still such fabulously bright, warm, caring, and generous people. They have open minds and hearts, and truly recognize the importance of compassion as well as reflection in today’s whirlwind world. They are amazing and inspiring; they have made me feel like part of their family already, in my first two days with them, helping me realize that I am also another step closer in my journey to finding a true “connection to a cause”…
I commuted today. I’ve been exploring my different transportation options here in CT because there are a myriad: buses, taxis, trains, private hire drivers, mini-buses, mini-bus-taxis, you name it basically. Some of my colleagues said that I would be able to do it (and keep safe despite my obvious tourist appearance), so after work today, I hopped on a mini-taxi. These are hi-ace 16-passenger vans that operate like jeepneys (for those of you in the Philippines), and take surface streets that look like Harlem (for those of you in NY). So my mini-taxi stopped 70 bajillion times to drop off and pick up passengers on my 15 or so kilometer route, until I got to Grand Central Station (more than an hour later on what could have easily been a 30 minute trip) where I wandered around for 20 minutes until I could find a metered taxi to take me back to my hotel. Note – most taxi drivers here don’t know all streets or destinations! Of the 4 taxis I’ve taken so far, my drivers didn’t really know where they were going. They aren’t like NY cabbies who can get you to any address. Here, they ask you for directions. This last one I took to try to get from the station to my hotel was the worst. He quoted me 30 Rand for the trip (reasonable) but got lost and then tried to charge me more money to go further than the area we were lost in. By that time, I was so exhausted that I just had him drop me off on a familiar street and then I walked up the mountain the rest of the way to my hotel.
I’m going to learn how to drive a manual car on Sunday. Please pray for me (and my patient, patient friend Matt).
Pictures to come soon… :)
(Intercontinental Festival City Dubai)
Okay getting back to Cape Town…I have been so very blessed. I landed early and in good weather. It’s the rainy season right now but I have had sunshine and about 50-60 degree Farenheit weather during the daytime. However, central heating is not normally used in average businesses or homes here, so you remain layered for most of the day, and then it’s flannel pj’s at night. I’m sleeping under 10 lbs of down feathers (ok I’m exaggerating…I’m lucky enough to have a hotel with heat for now! Yay!)
It is absolutely beautiful here! I’m staying at a pretty cool suite on the mountainside – Table Mountain, that is, which is absolutely stunning (the mountain). This morning, on my way to work I watched the sun come up over the coast and hit the mountain. The Lion King theme played over and over in my head (I was thinking about you, KTG, miss ya!)…It’s still kind of surreal to think, “I’m in AFRICA!” Once I either hike up the mountain or take the cable car, I will post pictures ☺
So far, my first two days here have been uniquely memorable. I started off my grad internship on my first full day here, at an organization called Mosaic (Women’s training, service, and healing center). It is a pretty phenomenal org – please read about it here if you get the chance. My first two days have been spent in one of their ongoing Male Counsellor training programs (mainly for domestic violence, sexual assault). The topics are pretty complex and the issues are very diverse, especially here in South Africa where there are so many different cultures (see- 11 official languages!). With the many cultural barriers, race and gender issues, economic hardships, and political-legal system challenges, the work that they do is filled with obstacles and potential frustrations…yet they are still such fabulously bright, warm, caring, and generous people. They have open minds and hearts, and truly recognize the importance of compassion as well as reflection in today’s whirlwind world. They are amazing and inspiring; they have made me feel like part of their family already, in my first two days with them, helping me realize that I am also another step closer in my journey to finding a true “connection to a cause”…
I commuted today. I’ve been exploring my different transportation options here in CT because there are a myriad: buses, taxis, trains, private hire drivers, mini-buses, mini-bus-taxis, you name it basically. Some of my colleagues said that I would be able to do it (and keep safe despite my obvious tourist appearance), so after work today, I hopped on a mini-taxi. These are hi-ace 16-passenger vans that operate like jeepneys (for those of you in the Philippines), and take surface streets that look like Harlem (for those of you in NY). So my mini-taxi stopped 70 bajillion times to drop off and pick up passengers on my 15 or so kilometer route, until I got to Grand Central Station (more than an hour later on what could have easily been a 30 minute trip) where I wandered around for 20 minutes until I could find a metered taxi to take me back to my hotel. Note – most taxi drivers here don’t know all streets or destinations! Of the 4 taxis I’ve taken so far, my drivers didn’t really know where they were going. They aren’t like NY cabbies who can get you to any address. Here, they ask you for directions. This last one I took to try to get from the station to my hotel was the worst. He quoted me 30 Rand for the trip (reasonable) but got lost and then tried to charge me more money to go further than the area we were lost in. By that time, I was so exhausted that I just had him drop me off on a familiar street and then I walked up the mountain the rest of the way to my hotel.
I’m going to learn how to drive a manual car on Sunday. Please pray for me (and my patient, patient friend Matt).
Pictures to come soon… :)
Friday, June 12
Wednesday, June 10
Reminiscing (random)
There's nothing like seeing old friends and family who you haven't seen in years to get your memory jumpstarted into a time machine. Memoirs that were kept locked up in cortex vaults suddenly reappear, but the most nostalgic feeling that I've had crept up on me today. I went back to my old high school. [Although the Philippine school year should have started this past week, many delayed their classes due to the H1N1 buzz; so the classrooms and halls were nicely empty for me to wander around.] There's nothing like walking the halls of buildings where you really grew up that gives you a nostalgic feeling in your twenties -- going back to Woodrose, seeing old teachers still there, and remembering some of the great ups and downs of high school transported me to seemingly different dimension.
I've decided that this entire first leg of my trip, from the beginning in New York to San Francisco, to Phoenix, to LA, to Manila, has been a somewhat spiritual and nostalgic journey to get back to my roots. It's kind of funny that most people move to New York to "find themselves" - and here I am, leaving New York to "find" myself.
To be continued...
I've decided that this entire first leg of my trip, from the beginning in New York to San Francisco, to Phoenix, to LA, to Manila, has been a somewhat spiritual and nostalgic journey to get back to my roots. It's kind of funny that most people move to New York to "find themselves" - and here I am, leaving New York to "find" myself.
To be continued...
Sunday, June 7
More Manila
It's been raining, a LOT in Manila over this past week. It even rained for practically 3 days straight at one point, Forrest Gump style. So I have been relegated to reading, shopping, sleeping, shopping, eating (I feel like I'm packing on pounds for hibernation by the way), shopping, watching movies, visiting family, and shopping.
One of the things that Manila is actually known for is shopping. Malls abound in the National Capital Region - from SM Megamall to the Mall of Asia to Festival Supermall to Greenhills Shopping Center. You can find pretty much anything you can imagine here. Everything from designer boutiques to bazaar-style centers can fulfill your every devilish Prada desire. There are real, original brands (with sky high prices, of course) and then tons of fake stuff (from purses to DVD's to clothes and shoes)...it's a funny tourist haven.
Shopping images (mostly from Greenhills, bazaar-style bargains):
Seeing old friends and family after at least five years has been fun. I've been able to catch up with several interesting people. So far, one of my favorites has been my paternal Lolo (grandfather) who is approximately 94 years old. I say approximately because no one really knows if that's his exact age - not even my Lolo himself. His birth certificate perished in one of the early wars. Anyway, at 94, he's still very sharp and can tell stories about his childhood, his college days, and beyond. He's recently decided to write a book on philosophy that challenges some of the current, common philosophies out there (by men like Galileo, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, etc.). Yes, I know what you're thinking - seriously!? So I am really interested in seeing how he weaves his thoughts on the philosophy of common sense into the ancient threads of wisdom. This story is to be continued.
Background for the next mini-story: I am currently getting my Master's in Public Health (International Community health track).
So one of my good friends recently gave me a tour of Philippine General Hospital (PGH). PGH is the country's largest, and best equipped public hospital, relatively speaking. As an academic and service hospital in a developing nation, it is actually very nice. It has over 13 wards that service everything from obstetrics/gyn to ear/nose/throat, with a complete cardiology OR, a teaching auditorium, and even a sleep lab. However, having worked with several first-rate hospitals in the US in the past, it still seems appalling to see some of the differences: an approximately 800 square foot emergency room with beds pushed side-by-side; different procedures such as prescriptions handed to patients to go buy their own medicines while admitted; hoards of people roaming the halls (1st floor at least) who include thieves pretending to be patients; interns and residents having to provide their own scrubs, masks, and caps; and a plastic picnic table in the middle of the emergency room entrance that serves as triage.
Refocusing my perspective, PGH seems to have done well managing the little funds they receive [properly] from the government and [somewhat improperly] by government officials as personal grants. You start to recognize that when resources are minimal, creativity can be stretched -- but only to so far. A total healthcare overhaul still needs to happen here, within the intricately woven fabric of culture and politics in the Philippines of course.
Street images (around PGH, in Manila):
One of the things that Manila is actually known for is shopping. Malls abound in the National Capital Region - from SM Megamall to the Mall of Asia to Festival Supermall to Greenhills Shopping Center. You can find pretty much anything you can imagine here. Everything from designer boutiques to bazaar-style centers can fulfill your every devilish Prada desire. There are real, original brands (with sky high prices, of course) and then tons of fake stuff (from purses to DVD's to clothes and shoes)...it's a funny tourist haven.
Shopping images (mostly from Greenhills, bazaar-style bargains):
Seeing old friends and family after at least five years has been fun. I've been able to catch up with several interesting people. So far, one of my favorites has been my paternal Lolo (grandfather) who is approximately 94 years old. I say approximately because no one really knows if that's his exact age - not even my Lolo himself. His birth certificate perished in one of the early wars. Anyway, at 94, he's still very sharp and can tell stories about his childhood, his college days, and beyond. He's recently decided to write a book on philosophy that challenges some of the current, common philosophies out there (by men like Galileo, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, etc.). Yes, I know what you're thinking - seriously!? So I am really interested in seeing how he weaves his thoughts on the philosophy of common sense into the ancient threads of wisdom. This story is to be continued.
Background for the next mini-story: I am currently getting my Master's in Public Health (International Community health track).
So one of my good friends recently gave me a tour of Philippine General Hospital (PGH). PGH is the country's largest, and best equipped public hospital, relatively speaking. As an academic and service hospital in a developing nation, it is actually very nice. It has over 13 wards that service everything from obstetrics/gyn to ear/nose/throat, with a complete cardiology OR, a teaching auditorium, and even a sleep lab. However, having worked with several first-rate hospitals in the US in the past, it still seems appalling to see some of the differences: an approximately 800 square foot emergency room with beds pushed side-by-side; different procedures such as prescriptions handed to patients to go buy their own medicines while admitted; hoards of people roaming the halls (1st floor at least) who include thieves pretending to be patients; interns and residents having to provide their own scrubs, masks, and caps; and a plastic picnic table in the middle of the emergency room entrance that serves as triage.
Refocusing my perspective, PGH seems to have done well managing the little funds they receive [properly] from the government and [somewhat improperly] by government officials as personal grants. You start to recognize that when resources are minimal, creativity can be stretched -- but only to so far. A total healthcare overhaul still needs to happen here, within the intricately woven fabric of culture and politics in the Philippines of course.
Street images (around PGH, in Manila):
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