On flying high and climbing mountains...

I started wondering the other day about the fact that during my year in South Africa I, of course, want to do and experience as much as possible. A typical exchange student, busy trying to see and do everything because time is limited. South Africa certainly offers enough things to keep you busy with some of the most amazing things you can do from bungee jumps, national parks, hikes and road trips to skydiving, which seems to be a hit this year...

We have been climbing mountains. We have done road trips, some have done bungee jumps, skydiving and what else...
Local students often wonder where the international students find their time and money to do this, maybe it irritates them, at least the different lifestyles can separate the international students even more from the local students...

We just had our Easter break. While local students spend the holiday visiting home and studying for exams at the end of the semester, international students have been traveling in Namibia, Mozambique, some "just" did the Garden Route in South Africa.

Most of the exchange students I know are leaving in a couple of months time. Time is running. We need the memories to prove that this time of our lives was important, worthwhile, different and fun. That we did the kind of stuff we normally would not do at home. At home we would study, work, have the normal cycle of our daily routine keeping us occupied and safe.

Even though I went to Mozambique for Easter holidays and am planning to go to Namibia during the winter holidays, something has changed in me. When I left Finland I had a list in my mind of the things I want to do and experience during my stay here. Now instead of running around I feel like settling down and trying to live a normal life here the local way. I feel like I am at home, I feel like I am happy just doing the normal day to day things. Somehow skydiving does not seem that necessary to keep me satisfied. I guess there are many ways of spending the year as an exchange student. Some go for climbing mountains, some rather plunge into the local life and try to forget the fact that they are from somewhere else.

I guess I don't see myself "only" as a international student because I've lived here before and part of me has already decided to never leave this country. The thought of living here is so tempting that it scares me.

It is a fantastic feeling that you get when you realise that you actually understand this country more little by little. Things are not new and exciting, things are familiar and understandable.
You start knowing your way around and adapt to the South African way of getting things done. You even learn not to lose your mind when things are not getting done.

Your basic instinct tells you to be aware of things around you when you walk alone at dark, your inner voice actually blames you for even doing so. You don't even wake up to the extremely loud singing of the birds in the morning. And soon it doesn't even matter whether you are a South African or not. You forget being an outsider. Someone presumes you being a South African and you don't even bother to correct them. After all, even Jacob Zuma struggles in defining a true South African. There should be no outsiders in South Africa.
I'm in South Africa now. Yebo, and it's flippin' nice.

Another great music festival

Last weekend I went to another music festival, this time Ramfest, in Worcester, just one hour's drive north from Cape Town. It was quite a bit bigger than Raka festival, it had two stages even and a nice concert area with bars and food stalls. Not to forget the 'must' for all festivals, a stall to get a tattoo or your nose pierced, and the usual stall for the cheap wooden hippie jewellery. What a feeling of globalisation! I loved it though, somehow the feeling at these South African festivals is very different from the ones in Finland. In Finland, the festivals I have been to, I have sort of felt a bit distracted or hectic at least, people are so drunk and everywhere is a mess. I have not had that feeling here, people are very easy going, friendly and just relaxed. And wow these people camp nicely! I went with my Afrikaans friends and we had a bakkie, which had everything you can ever imagine needing in the wild. It even had a tent ON it, that you just fold open nicely. How convenient. People have chairs around a braai fire, play music, sing, listen to rugby, chat and chill.
The bands were surprisingly good too, all were mainly Afrikaans. I am starting to like Afrikaans bands, especially when my friend has been kind enough to translate the lyrics to me, and the lyrics have such great meaning in them. It is a lot about how people are feeling here, what is your identity. One song described how they felt they were a tourist in their own country. I guess that is how most Afrikaners feel. It is very comforting to realise how music can unite people and make you realise that those thoughts and feelings inside of you can be shared.

I also realised that Afrikaner people can be a bit shy at first, they keep their distance, they want to get to know you before talking to you openly. This happened to me. I wish I had understood that. Only later some of the friends we went with came to me and said that he did not know how to approach me because I felt so confident and sure about myself... Basically he said he is envious because my identity as a Finn is so certain and whole. I don't remember anyone even complimenting me on my confidence! And that someone actually pays attention to that. I guess it shows that it is an issue for them, and I do understand that. It is very easy for me to have an identity as a Finn. I know I take it for granted too often, sometimes don't even appreciate having it. It is just a part of you and you never question it.
For Afrikaners it is not so simple, other people question it all the time. They say you don't belong here, this is not your home. Where is it then? If you don't even know your ancestors who arrived here to be farmers and to form a new nation, how could you just go back to Europe, you don't even have a European passport. But people still say that they are not African. In the present day South Africa they are all Africans, equally just as much as any other native. I can see myself getting frustrated as well, because I can imagine how empty it can make you feel not having an identity or feeling that you don't belong here.

Later that night we got into quite a deep conversation about the situation, how Afrikaners are treated with a lot of prejudism overseas, and how things are still too black and white here. We have the good and the bad. Try to be on the side of the 'bad' and you are immediately turned into a racist. I know it is so tense and sensitive still, and for sure I do think that past cannot and should not be forgotten too easily, things do take time to balance out and I guess you cannot balance things without first giving more to the previously disadvantaged people. But I do understand how the new generation, without any participation or role in the history, can feel very frustrated about being the ones to blame and not really having a freedom of speech in the fear of being condemned. And yes there are serious problems in this country, on how to educate the majority of the people, how to get jobs for people, how to cure diseases, reduce crime, the list goes on. But the fact that there are other more important things to worry about doesn't mean other issues should not be discussed.

Sometimes it is just so difficult to understand other people. Yet so easy to judge them and trust your first impression based on nothing but presumptions and generalisations. But it is so cool to realise that your ideas and thoughts about some people can change completely, for better. And to feel like you understand them, that you can identify with them.

Who said that do not judge a man until you have walked two moons in their shoes. It means you need a lot of patience, time, ability to adapt and be flexible, will to understand, and I guess it helps to have a heart too.

Port Elizabeth

I don't like time going this fast. I realise that I enjoy my life here so much, that I do not want to see this year end. I have never been so motivated to do things as I am here, and never felt such strong feelings, both positive and negative, towards a country. I was afraid of the fact that in South Africa you tend to lose the freedom you are so used to having in Finland, as crime is an unfortunate fact of everyday life here. I guess I don't have that sort of freedom that I am used to having, but it has not bothered me so far. I cannot walk alone at night, and with some things you just need to be extra careful. And you cannot leave all the news about crime happening around you unnoticed.
Today I walked at the campus and saw ADT security guards take one man in handcuffs away. Didn't really think of it much, but something like that happening at our campus in Finland would definitely be a big thing. So yes, life here, especially as a white woman, is not so free and easy all the time, but when you know how to do things you will be most likely fine. I am sometimes worried of the international students, because some of them don't seem to worry about the crime at all. They leave their doors open and walk alone. I just don't want bad news. I guess the fact that it has never happened to you is enough to make you feel safe. Not the fact that it is happening around you all the time. I just try to remember that, but yet do the things I want to do and not be overwhelmed about the sad statistics.

I went to Port Elizabeth for a few days. It felt like going home. Port Elizabeth is not as fascinating and unique as Cape Town is, but Port Elizabeth has a different feeling to it. It is more natural, more down to earth and has many beautiful places, you just need to find them. The old centre is full of beautiful houses and buildings that are just waiting to be rediscovered and renovated to look as pretty as they used to. The centre of the town has buildings that resemble a beautiful past, at night the centre looks ghostly empty and the isolated and abandoned flats with broken windows are a lonely sight. I would love to see this centre become alive again. Like it does during the day, when the streets are full of people busy with their daily duties. I hope the centre of Port Elizabeth will become more open to everyone and become a centre where it is safe enough for anyone to walk about. One thing that frustrates me in PE is the shopping centres, which have become the new safe place for people to shop and to do their daily businesses. It is nice and convenient, but it gives you a hollow feeling that it is not a public space as a city centre can be, it is private property. They can get rid of unwanted people if necessary. It is still nice and convenient, but it does make things even more segregated and it is a way of escaping the fact that you cannot run away from the unpleasant difficulties of a city so broken and from people sometimes worlds apart from each other.

On a more positive note, Port Elizabeth and surroundings are one of the most beautiful places I have even been to. The beaches are so natural and wild, and they just go on and on. Places like that don't really exist in Europe anymore. And South Africa does quite a fantastic job in keeping the beaches natural and preserved.






I had a fantastic time in Port Elizabeth. I stayed with Denise and Roy and had a lovely welcoming face wash from Emma. She is a miniature dachshund. I got her when she was the size of my hand, and watched her grow during the first time I was living in South Africa. She still remembers me, which is amazing. She still comes to sleep next to me and follows me everywhere. I guess dogs never forget.

I also went to have a look at the projects of the NGO I used to volunteer for during my year in Port Elizabeth. The student union of the university of Helsinki is funding one of their projects and it was fantastic to go and see the project actually working. It is a self empowerment project which educates previously unemployed women to run a small business of their own and learn how to be able to sustain themselves in the end. A Great Great project.

I had a look at the project I used to volunteer for myself. It was a relief to see it still going but quite disappointing to see that progress was not happening and the project is struggling to sustain itself. I guess when conditions are poor, life is uncertain and everyday survival is a challenge, you cannot expect things to always run smootly. It is something that you need to get used to. It is not a point to lose hope or give up, but to be flexible, look into the problems and always try to make a solution for them.
I attended this workshop for the ladies who are working in the self empowerment project, and when a problem occurred and we were trying to find a solution to it, I asked what if somethings are not possible to solve? She said that in South Africa there is always a solution to a problem. If the plan A does not work, we go for plan B, all the way to X, Y, Z and then start all over again. I have a lot to learn from this.

We had a great time over the weekend. We took Emma to Sardinia Bay and did a small hike there. We found beautiful big sea shells in the rock pools. After that we went shopping with Denise and found a beautiful Afghanistan carpet for me. Roy cooked us delicious South African food from curries to bobotjie and of course, a real braai in the African bush. We went to Addo National Elephant Park on sunday and we saw the most incredible thing, a lion killing a baby kudu. I have never seen anything like that. Nature is simply amazing, everything has their place in it and it shows you how fragile yet adapting and self-sustaining life can be...

I flew back to Cape Town overlooking the coastline of South Africa. I was able to spot the different places I have been to, and the different memories connected to them. I guess I am feeling at home.