I can’t believe the the end of the
semester is getting closer and closer, I still feel like we just got here!
While trying to focus on writing all of the essays we need to write for the end
of classes, I have found myself distracted and looking up programs and grad
schools in Cape Town that would allow me to come back here. It’s is amazing the
effect this city has on people; my mom has been back in the US for only about a
week and when I talked to her yesterday, she was already discussing her next
trip to Cape Town and what she’d show my dad. If I didn’t have family and
responsibilities at home, like another year of college, I’d definitely skip the
flight home and stay forever. I know I’ve probably said this before, but it’s
so difficult to think about how an amazing semester will transition into a
summer back in the States, and how we will be able to handle that.
We have been doing things non-stop
since it’s finally setting in that we don’t have a lot of time left in the
city. We have been seeing things we had put off earlier in the semester,
catching up on all the journaling we fell behind on, and filling out
applications for summer jobs, which just sets in the reality that we will be
home soon. People have been skydving, shark cage diving, paragliding and more
in the past week or two, and revisiting places we loved from earlier in the
semester. It’s interesting because my mom was telling me about how it was a
strange transition when she got home, even though she was only here for 10
days. She said she couldn’t even imagine what the transition home process would
be like for us since we’ve been here so long. It really got me thinking about
all the things that will be different and how there is no possible way for me
to describe my semester and make people understand what an amazing experience
it was. How do you summarize an entire semester when someone says, “how was
your semester in South Africa?” I genuinely do not know how to answer that
question because there is such a mixture of things to describe. Do I talk about
the amazing views? The terrible inequalities? The classes we take? My
internship? Those asking won’t even realize that they’re starting a conversation
that would take hours and hours and a trip to Cape Town to understand.
On a different note, since I’d like
to stop thinking about leaving Cape Town, we have gotten so much more
accomplished with our activist project! We got all of the plants from
Kirstenbosch planted, and had even more space so we went back to the garden
center and picked out more plants! The gardens accidently delivered the wrong
plants today but we were able to correct the problem; the people at
Kirstenbosch are so incredibly helpful and kind. They brought the correct
plants shortly after, along with 8 huge (heavy) bags of gravel and 2 bags of
compost soil. Meg and I spent the morning up until now doing more manual labor
than we expected when we started the project. Our backs hurt and we got very
dirty, but the garden looks amazing! This past week, we bought over R1,000
worth of beaded flowers from the incredibly nice men who work hard on
Rondebosch Commons every day making beaded animals, flowers and more. It was
great because we were able to help them in their small business work while also
adding lots of color to the garden, so it was colorful at all times of the
year, not just when the plants are blooming. We spread out the beaded flowers
among the real plants today and I think the kids are going to LOVE it when they
finally see it. We put down all the new gravel on the walkways and planted some
more of the new group of plants. It seems like the weeding will never end…every
time we return to Maitland, it seems like we find more weeds than the previous
time. Some of the staff members have gotten just as into the project as we
have, and today we arrived at the garden to find plants that someone brought to
contribute to the garden in their own way. It’s really great to see how people
really care about what this garden could be for the kids to enjoy. While we
were there, some of the kids were outside in the courtyard and it made me
realize how excited I am for when they get to be out in the new garden! Even
with another 4 hours of gardening today, there is still even more to do.
There’s a stubborn bush that we still haven’t been able to remove, but once we
do we will plant a new, healthy one in it’s place. We have to spread fresh
compost over the garden to give the plants a burst of nutrients to help them
grow. We still need to stake the tomato plants and decorate the pots of the
potted plants with the children, as well as make more wind chimes with the
kids.
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| Meg & Lily working in the garden at Maitland Cottage Hospital |
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