Another week in Cape Town has passed and even though it's only been a short while, I already feel like my Cross-Cultural Solutions house in Rondabosch is my second home.
After returning from the Garden Route I was very gratified to sleep in my bed and excited to talk with the other volunteers about their weekend experiences. All of us agreed that returning to the homebase felt like coming home. The meals that were being prepared for us at the homebase were already feeling like the comfort food that we all desired...well maybe with an exception to the squash soup...haha..
This short week began with an interesting twist at my volunteer placement. I came into the JL Zwane Center on Tuesday with the expectation that maybe I would finish cleaning up the choral piece that I worked on with the SIYAYA group last week, but instead the director, Bongani wanted me to teach everyone an individual voice lessons. So I was going from the first time teaching a whole group of kids to sing to teaching individual voice lessons for the first time.
Even though there were some benefits to teaching individuals, like the comfort of dealing with one person at time rather than a whole group there were also some obstacles. When you are a voice major in college and you really only know how to sing a bass/baritone part it's really difficult to try and teach female students who sing alto or soprano parts. Although it took some time to get used to the changes overall I think the individual lessons worked out. I worked on a lot of breathing and vocal exercises with each student to establish some basic technique that they might not already know. These exercises were all part of my memory of what my college voice teacher Benjamin Smolder taught me. Towards the end of each voice lesson I worked on teaching each student an Italian aria from a book that I brought with me. The aria was called "Caro Mio Ben" a very well known aria that many voice majors from America might know. It was a song that I sang back in school and it was something that I felt at least somewhat comfortable with teaching. The kids seemed very enthused because a lot of them didn't know anything about the realm of classical music. They all put a lot of effort into learning the words, rhythms, and notes. Some learned the tune faster than others, but overall I was really proud of them for each of their individual vocal prowess.
In cultural news there was a lot of tension coming around regarding the taxi and bus systems and a worker's strike was imminent. A warning was sent to all of the volunteers around my placement saying that our placements might be delayed or cancelled due the possible safety concerns with the strike. According to resources sometimes people that protest in these strikes will throw rocks at other bus or taxis that are still in service. The next day our volunteer placements were cancelled due to the fact that our driver couldn't even make it to our house to pick us up, because of the immense traffic caused by the strike.
We were warned that strikes could last up to 3 or 4 days, but for some reason the strike didn't even last 24 hours. Just like that things were resolved and we were at our placements again Thursday morning. Although I made it to my placement I found that only 3 students in the SIYAYA group made it to rehearsal due to unknown circumstances, but I'm guessing that a good deal of them thought the strike was still on. The day was still productive as I took the 3 students on individually to work on vocal training and the Italian aria.
After that we went on a tour of the Cape Malay area, which is an Islamic area of Cape Town with many mosques and interesting pastel colored apartments. It was almost like something out of "Edward Scissor Hands", except they were apartments instead of houses. After touring the town and eating at a very cozy middle eastern restaurant that had a incredible view of the city, we headed over to a museum that focused on slavery in South Africa called the Slave Lodge. The museum was very interesting and presented a lot of information on not only the history of racial oppression, but also had exhibits that dealt with more recent Apartheid issues and celebrated the lives of movement leaders like Nelson Mandela, Desmund Tutu, and Steven Biko. Steven Biko had one of the more memorable exhibits. He was a leader of what was the BCM (Black Conscious Movement), which focused on racial oppression in it's psychological aspects rather than the politics. It worked to encourage black Africans to be self sufficient and not rely on the help of white powers. Being a music fan I immediately turned to a featured music video in the exhibit that was a Peter Gabriel song called "Biko". I'm still not sure why of all people that Peter Gabriel would write a song about him, but I guess I need to look into it more.
The weekend was a mix of a lot of fun, exciting adventures, and a really sore neck. I started with some friends by going to Long Street on Friday and hitting up the African markets, which if you have ever experienced going to a car dealership or any other store where the employees hassle you until you buy something, this is about 10 times worse. I got pretty used to it quickly telling every market I passed by either no thank you or that I would come back later. I repeated that until I found exactly what I was looking for and then worked on my haggling skills, which seemed to go well.
Saturday we went to probably the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen in my life. The landscapes of the Cape Point and The Cape of Good Hope hike are something out of a fantasy world. This area is the most southwest point of South Africa and encompasses cliffs that overlook endless waters. There is a beach that lies between a canyon that you can sit on and watch some of the most beautiful blue and green waves come in crashing. It is very secluded, but a gorgeous memory. The only problem with the whole trip was that I developed a terribly sore neck that I've been trying to work out every since. Thankfully one of the volunteers, Cody is a massage therapist and has been life saver and also just a good sport. Thanks man!!!
That night we decided to go to a soccer game with the Cape Town Ajax and the Johannesburg Kaiser Chiefs. It was a bit of craziness as I thought I was apart of a mass protest as the people trying to get into the game were literally bowling over the guards to get into the stadium. It was a massive mosh pit and even more crazy than a lot of concerts that I've been to, but I'm happy to say I'm alive and the game was a lot of fun.
That's all for now, but I should have a good deal more next week and will post up pictures as soon as possible. Just to warn everyone if you want the true experience of seeing the Cape of Good Hope and Cape point you really just need to pick yourself up and get down to Cape Town, South Africa. But I guess if you can't do that then I'll just have to make it my duty to keep you informed with Kevin Tackles South Africa. Thanks everyone!!!
For questions or comments feel free to e-mail at kevin.gschwend@gmail.com
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Caro Mio Ben was the first aria I ever learned!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are still having a blast - I can't wait to hear more!