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January 03, 2007
Heading back.
2:02 AM, Cleveland time. 8:02, Amsterdam time. 9:02, Cape Town time.
3 January 2007
I am sitting here in the Amsterdam airport, waiting for my connecting flight into Cape Town, South Africa. It has been slightly over six months since I was last in Cape Town, and on my flight from Detroit to Amsterdam, I decided I should bring my blog up-to-date. Well, I don’t know that I can truly do that, but I do want to recount, recall, and anticipate a little before setting foot back in Cape Town.
I wrote that I was going to update about my trip to Namibia and that I was going to do some wrap-up on my whole experience. I never got around to that, though I think my neglect was a little bit intentional. When I left Cape Town, I was afraid that I’d never get back there, to a place I’d grown to love and in which I had discovered so much more about myself. Cape Town is an amazingly wonderful city, and anyone who has spoken with me since my return should know that I feel that way. The place is just beautiful and full of good people and has a great vibe, and art and music and excitement and … the list goes on, I really cannot say enough about that place. I found it inspirational and gained hope from it, and I was lent so much perspective on my life and my goals through living in the city. I think that I was keeping the Cape Town chapter of my life open by not writing my conclusion to the experience. I can write it now because I know that I’ll be there again in a mere 12 or 13 hours and I am bound and determined to find a way back for a much longer period of time following my graduation from Case in May.
Where to begin… I know that I have so much to say about Cape Town and so little time to type it in, before my laptop’s battery dies.
I love Cape Town. That love is certainly based in all of the attributes of the city, but it’s also based in what I experienced while I was there. I learned so much about everything under the sun, personally, politically, socially, historically. The world was clearer, sharper, made more sense after having spent some time in that place, and especially after going back home and re-examining my local surroundings. I grew up a lot, even though I’d always fancied myself an extremely mature person relative to my peer group, and I grew to know myself so much better. I figured out a lot more about who I am, or at least saw it more clearly, I was able to examine and understand the place and effects of a serious relationship, causing me to end it but also to appreciate it immensely for its impact upon my life. I understood my own insecurities and doubts and also was able to find my dreams and aspirations as they emerged from the muddled mess of questions and concerns which left Cleveland with me at the end of January in 2006.
I also learned more academically in that one semester than I had in any other semester previous, and the courses were so well-taught and the readings so interesting. Class was rewarding every time I went and the issues seemed so much more relevant to real life and to my interests. I do love many things about Case, but this academic experience at the University of Cape Town was incredible and I am so thankful that I was able to have it. My professors were great and it was so fascinating to learn from a non-US perspective, particularly one which had gone through so much recent political turmoil. I could talk about how rewarding this academic experience was for quite a while, but I’ll limit myself and stop here.
There is so much to reflect on and I don’t think I can do it all now, and even if I tried, I don’t think I could do it well enough to do justice to all of the experiences I had. I’ll move on.
I am excited and very nervous about this return trip. I am going back with funds from the Experiential Learning Fellowship I was awarded in the fall of 2005. I will be working on interviews for my senior project, which deals with a comparative study of the evolution of reproductive rights legislation in both Cleveland and Cape Town (US/Ohio and South Africa), as it was affected by the feminist movement, and how that evolution plays out on the ground in terms of what services are offered for women and how women experience those services. I am targeting poor, urban women because they are a demographic that has historically often been notably excluded from the concerns and causes of the feminist movement, and I am interested in seeing how reproductive rights, which are a championed cause of the feminist movement, affect women’s lives and how these particular women feel they are served by the movement. I’m doing the Cape Town half of the interviews with legislators, clinic administrators, and women, and I’m nervous about getting it all done and doing it well in the time I have in Cape Town, and also how I’ll fit it all into the final paper and if it will be good. I have loose ends to tie up with the Case IRB and all of this is a bit nerve-wracking because I’m on a very tight schedule.
I’m also nervous for my return because Cape Town is going to be very different than the last time I was there; all of my friends with whom I lived are back at home in the US and Canada, and many of my UCT friends have graduated and are no longer in Cape Town. I’ll be moving about the city by myself with a much smaller social network than the last time I was there, and staying by myself, etc. I am excited for all of this, but I’m also nervous for my safety, and also how the experience will compare to my previous one. I’m sure it’s going to be amazing, but that can’t stop me from being a bit uneasy right now.
Only one hour till my plane takes off for Cape Town. I’m much less nervous than I was yesterday, and much more filled with anticipation. I am looking forward to the 80 degree weather and the beach and the blue skies, several food items, a few hot social hang outs, and many friends. I am also excited about the interesting experiences that my research will inevitably provide.
On a side note, I wish I could explore Amsterdam. I’m here for a short while now, but have a five hour layover on the way back. Too short to go an explore but too long to not feel confined by the walls of this 60s-style (ugly!) airport.
Onward and upward.
More notes to come.
Posted by jcg24 at January 3, 2007 08:02 AM
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