Posts

Week 4: Lots to do before the week is out

Image
This was our final week in Cape Town and a little gloom over us as we loved Cape Town and its energy and beauty. But, at the same time personally there is both excitement and apprehension about Marrakesh and Morocco, because it will be so different from what we have experienced before. All in all Cape Town and South Africa has been a fantastic place to live the last month and look forward to being back there again soon. Week 4 at a glance: Cross-continent Behavioral Grooves: One of the areas that I am a big fan of is behavioral science. Before traveling I had met with Tim Houlihan and Kurt Nelson who founded the Behavioral Grooves MeetUp and we talked about doing a joint event between Cape Town and Twin Cities. One of the big reasons for doing this was for Kurt and Tim's Behavioral Grooves podcast their third most downloaded episodes came from South Africa. Well we ended up pulling a cross-continent Behavioral Grooves MeetUp off this week with about 15 people in Minnea...
Read more

Week 3: Time is going too fast

Image
This week was invigorating but also reminds me how little time I have left in Cape Town this trip. At the same time I know I will return to Cape Town and that makes me happy.  Week 3 at a glance: Parliament almost in session: We had a special behind the scenes visit to Parliament of South Africa by MP Steve Swart . MP stands for Member of Parliament and this is similar to our U.S. Senator or Representative. Certainly experiencing Parliament itself was amazing but the most interesting part were the stories and history provided by MP Swart who is not only a 20 year MP but also was involved with creating the South African Constitution in the 1990’s prior to being asked to run for Parliament. MP Swart is a member of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) party which is one of the roughly 14 parties in Parliament. Despite the ACDP being a party with only ~1% of the vote, MP Swart has been heavily involved with shining light and resolving government corruption in conjun...
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Read more

Week 2: When surreal fades but also grows

Image
Getting to know Khayelitsha. Photo credit Dave Mathias. Writing this after an action packed week 2. It still is surreal that I am here in Cape Town but at same time it is becoming normal which is surreal in itself. Getting around gets easier. Looking right before crossing the streets is becoming second nature. Getting more balanced with getting work done and enjoying experiences. All in all becoming home away from home. Recap of some of week 2's events: Learning the language: Ok, learning the language is way overstating it but this week we had a Xhosa session with Ayanda and Buntu. Xhosa is one of the 11 official South African languages and is spoken by about 8.3M people or 16% of population in South Africa . We learned phrases like “molo bhuti” (hello brother) and “molo sisi” (hello sister) and more. Then, we did a poor rendition of the Click Song by Miriam Makeba . Xhosa definitely forces your tongue to work but also is interesting to observe. Bo-Kaap and lunch ...
Read more

Week 1: In the Mother City

Image
Kuungana Crew   Photo credit Jason Piersialla. Writing this a week from taking off from Twin Cities, Minnesota. After a 36+ hour travel experience, I arrived to beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. It has been a great first week that is somewhat surreal as I write this looking out onto beautiful Table Mountain with clouds creeping over it. Table Mountain from my Cape Town flat. Photo credit Dave Mathias. Before getting more into the first week though a little background is in order. For those that I haven’t talked with about this or even met, I am on a travel experience with a program called Remote Year . It is an opportunity to live in four different countries (South Africa, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain) for a month each with 53 other amazing people. Our Remote Year group name is Kuungana which means connect in Swahili . Most of the people are from the United States with a handful of others joining us from countries including Singapore, Canada, China...
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Read more

About to embark on a journey

Two weeks from tomorrow I embark on a journey across the world. Super excited to start the journey but at the same time I will miss a lot of people in Minnesota. After a short stop in Zurich, I am on my way to Cape Town. I have never been to Africa and in my two months there I anticipate only touching a small fraction of experiences. Have you been to Africa? If so, let me know what you found most compelling by commenting below or sending via contact form.
Read more