Some REAL Adventures!

Hello all,

I would like to let you all know first and foremost that it is currently the month of January and two days ago I spent the day on a beach and currently have a nice tan. But its ok because there are certainly good things to focus on in other cold parts of the world like umm… you know, health, family and friends. Sorry for rubbing it in like that sunscreen I’ve had to put on everyday. Oh sorry am I doing it again?

Well anyway the past few days have been action-packed, idea-packed, just packed in general. This past weekend I spent Shabbat with a family who opens their house every week to anyone who wants to come and spend a spirited, wonderful Shabbat together. They have a shul on their property, the tastiest food I have had since being here (which I guess is not hard when living off rice crispies and salad) and people, mostly teenagers, from a variety of communities within Cape Town. I gathered that the objective of this family is to sustain a dying community that is scattered all around the city making it hard to develop a strong camaraderie among the Jewish youth.

I admit the experience was overwhelming; everyone knew each other and was South African, so naturally I felt a little out of the loop. But once Shabbat started, I truly felt rooted (reference to previous post). Regardless of the circumstances, once Kabbalat Shabbat started, something felt so right, so comfortable. After a week of unknown and acclimation, I felt connected: to people, to my surroundings, to God. While I know these feelings are developing within all facets of this experience, these positive forces were effortlessly present throughout Shabbat; the day took on a whole new meaning. Besides for acting as a break from craziness, I felt a holiness, an elevation that I recognized as vacant from the rest of the week, not in a negative way, but in a way that made me so conscious of how necessary this time is.

After getting a taste of actual South Africans (not literally, unless you count the chicken) who I will hopefully continue to build relationships with, and initiating what could potentially be a significant part of my experience, I returned to Rosebank (that’s where I live, yea it’s a suburb… in Cape Town, South Africa). A few new friends had a get together at there apartment and we all spent the night talking about so many interesting topics. It was amazing to have such great conversation sparked by so many opinions and to be around people who wanted to be a part of them. I sincerely felt the holiness of Shabbat spill over into the rest of the week.

Sunday was amazing. I went to a beach called Camps Bay and was completely stunned by its beauty. I don’t think I could ever go to Atlantic City after this and enjoy it. The water was clean and rich, mountains filled in the space between the chique shops and the pale blue sky, the entire view was complex and vivid…the polar opposite of New Jersey, no offense. It was so strange to be in Africa sitting by the Atlantic Ocean. On the other side of the world I was again warmed by the surprising consistency (though I must say, Africa wins).

We then walked through a beautiful neighborhood to get to the famous botanical gardens that hosts free concerts on Sunday nights during the summer. We sat down with a few thousand natives listening to soothing sounds of an 80’s cover band. Once again the world felt smaller as we Americans listened to bad versions of Billy Joel and Cat Stevens songs. But this time there were mountains and flowers all around us. You may discover a theme in these stories and pictures; mountains. There everywhere, and its amazing.

So keeping with that theme, yesterday, we walked to an area called Bo-Kaap, a Muslim community famous for its vibrant, multi-colored houses. On a whim, we decided to climb the steep hill that the area was a part of. Hiking in jeans and sandals, we made our way up a huge mountain. The ever-changing view was the most incredible, panoramic fusion of houses, sky, skyscrapers, water, more mountains (obviously) with clouds sitting atop them and sailboats. It combined so many aspects of the world, but standing above it, the image simply works. I felt as though even for just this view, the world needs all these different things to work together, to cooperate, to be something more than individual. The world is seen through so many different hierarchies. But if each thing, building, person, is given a greater purpose, then relationships become horizontal, not vertical, not unequal.. I hope this can somehow make sense by looking at the pictures and truly understanding what I interpreted to be the mix of heaven and earth (Intro to Women’s and Gender Studies shout out).

Wow, so I know I am rambling about ridiculous, theoretical ideas that might not make sense, but I felt that this view brought together so many emotions that I have been feeling about people, religion, the history of South Africa and so many other things and I really want to share them with you.

I intended to write a poem called “Chasing the Sun” on my blog tonight because when we were running up the mountain, we tried to watch the sunset by walking quickly around the mountain to find it and failed and I thought this would be an amazing concept for a poem; while we constantly chase the pinnacle of light, enlightenment and so many other cliché metaphors, the journey that gets us there exposes us to so many more valuable ideas and images. Yup, once again, it is about the process. But I think I may have packed this enough. So maybe I will include it in my next post since I definitely still want to write it. But the general point is that I have been having so many amazing experiences, so many amazing conversations and I am thirsty for so much more.

(Oh and by the way I don’t start school until mid February which you nay be wondering since that aspect has not been mentioned.)

Mazel Tov! You earned another South African term of the day:

How are you going? – question - pronounced: how are you going – definition: a common greeting used by the native folk of South Africa similar to “what is up?” or “How are you?”

Example sentence:

When Jane saw Timmy for the first time in a week she inquired “how are you going?”

Yea, still need to work on those.

Miss you all.. I promise!