Week 2: When surreal fades but also grows

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 with Shaamiella: We visited the Bo-Kaap neighborhood which is a delightful place that is best known for its colorful homes and multicultural neighborhood. It is also predominantly Muslim and is home to the oldest mosque in South Africa. At the end of the insightful and eye-catching tour, we went into Shaamiella's home and made and ate lunch. Shaamiella is a former teacher and principal that is now retired and occasionally has guests in her home where she teaches them to cook some delicious South African food. The smells were wonderful and Shaamiella was great at getting everyone involved. When our time was done with Shaamiella we were all happily stuffed. 
Colorful Bo-Kaap neighborhood. Photo credit Dave Mathias.
  • Wine and braai anyone: Wine is huge in South Africa and when you talk to many South Africans they rave about their wines and wine regions. About 10 of us visited a couple vineyards in the Constantia Valley and more than had our fill of wine. I tend to enjoy sweet wines and even though most of the wines were dry I did enjoy them more than I suspected. One of the highlights of this trip was simply the journey to and from Cape Town going through the mountains looking down at the ocean below. We finished off the night with our first braai with more wine of course. A braai is similar to our barbecue or grill. Thanks Josh, Nate, and Tyler for having us as guests for the braai.
  • Table Mountain at sunset: A group of us went up to Table Mountain taking the tram up to watch a beautiful sunset. We started out walking around and doing the standard pics. Some of my fellow remotes were getting a little risky to get the right shot - speaking to you Hallie. ;) In the end we caught a fantastic sunset on Table Mountain and caught the last tram back.
 
Beautiful sunset from Table Mountain. Video credit Dan Stepner.

Enjoying the view prior to sunset on Table Mountain. Photo credit unknown.
  • Biking through Khayelitsha: Khayelitsha is the largest informal settlement in South Africa with some estimating as many as one million people living in it. Informal settlement is a nice way of saying that there is land but no formal zoning and planning. It is what we might term a shanty town. During the trip we had opportunity to even go into one of the houses and one of the churches and talk with a couple of the residents. We did this going through on bikes with a spirited local named Skeezo who is a similar age to me. Skeezo is not only an avid biker but he also uses biking to help empower the next generation of youth in Khayelitsha. He had engaging stories throughout the day that sometimes made us cringe and sometimes made us laugh. Certainly his life has been hard but he has a fantastic attitude on changing the future and being a person in his community to act. 
Visiting a place of worship in Khayelitsha. Photo credit Dave Mathias.
  • Breakfast with OpenUp: A highlight of my week was visiting OpenUp and the awesome people there. I had reached out to the Cape Town Data Viz MeetUp and one of the groups organizers, Lailah Rykleif, followed up. Lailah works at OpenUp which hosts the Cape Town Data MeetUp. OpenUp is a non-profit that uses data and open source to empower citizens to improve their lives and communities. Lailah invited me to attend their weekly OpenUp team breakfast. It was a friendly environment to attend where we made and ate breakfast together before starting the day. It was good to engage with all the OpenUp folks and even nerd out on conversations around data generally and even graph technology. Plus despite my poor avocado and pepper slicing skills they invited me back as much as I wanted when I am in town and even to work from space.  
Preparing breakfast at OpenUp with OpenUp. Photo credit Dave Mathias.
  • It's a small world: After posting my upcoming talk in the remote year Cape Town Slack channel, Jeff Sloan had responded and then he also was was at Shaamiella's kitchen. Jeff is a data product manager (and a remote year citizen) and I thought he would appreciate the OpenUp breakfast and Lailah was up for another guest for breakfast. Jeff and I were talking in the Uber about another RY person who is doing a little soul searching. He had recommended a Design Your Life book and I had recommended April Seifert's Life Design Lab to her. Jeff responded April who worked at Healthcare.com. Anyway Jeff and April worked together years ago so of course I had to take this selfie and send to April. It is indeed a small world.
Jeff Sloan and I laughing about small world. Photo credit Dave Mathias.
  • Engaging with citizens: In Remote Year once you finish a program you are what is termed a citizen and sometimes citizens will be coming to program cities and participate in events, workspace or even same living quarters. This week had the chance to engage with a number of citizens but a few shouts outs to Aimee, Dee, Jeff, Kat, Katri, and Signe. Hoping to interview some of the RY citizens as part of blog or podcast so look out for those.
Biking through Khayelitsha with Signe. Photo credit Dave Mathias.
  • All the choices: A number of us went to Old Biscuit Mill which is basically a massive open market on a Saturday. Wow so many choices for goods and foods. One of the flower vendors showed me the king protea which is the national flower of South Africa. And, if you are in Cape Town and looking for some waffles or dozens of other fantastic dishes this is the place to go on a Saturday.
South Africa's national flower is King Protea. Photo credit Dave Mathias.
  • Tennis with a view: This week Em (another RY Kuungana) and I played tennis. It had been awhile since I played but got into a groove. As someone that had an Achilles injury that is still on my mend it was good to get out and move and enjoy. Great way to start a Sunday and look forward to playing again. Thanks Em for patience.
Playing tennis in such a beautiful location with Em. Photo credit Dave Mathias.
Next week will be another fantastic week I am sure and excited to see what things are in store.

Have a fantastic week and enjoy your journey!

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