Friday

Friday morning came all too soon as Thursday evening was spent sitting around the bed and breakfast’s living room, a good 12 of us playing music far too loudly way too late. Despite how tired we were, Steve’s lecture discussing South Africa’s current events was certainly thought provoking. This man has lived all over the world and calls home many different places because he grew up in exile. His father was a political activist and raised his family all over the African continent.

After his enlightening lecture, we went out for lunch at the water front again. My chicken marsala crepe wasn’t very good, and the general consensus of this hallel restaurant wasn’t very much in it’s favor. As luck would have it, the beautiful South African sky turned grey and our boat ride to Robben Island left a number of passengers nearly the same color. Once we hit the island, however, our experience turned to be more positive. Robben Island was the prison at which Nelson Mandella spent numerous years. Our tour was lead by an ex-prisoner of this penal complex, so we really were given an accurate account of this historical site. We saw Mandella’s jail cell and heard his story. Additionally, we went on a tour of the entire island and saw the view of Cape Town from the ocean. Amazing.

That evening a couple of us went out to a concert and met up with Steve. This is when I felt a real sense of South African culture. Prior to this, our interactions with the people were fairly limited. At the concert, I engaged in a couple conversations with people. One girl I met told me how she’d only been in Cape Town for a few years, but already calls it home. I can see why—everyone is so friendly. Never had I been to a concert where people willingly allow you to move closer to the stage. They all seem so friendly. It was really interesting when Steven introduced me to one of his friends and the two of us struck up a conversation revolving around my being Canadian and his plans of moving there. He says that South Africa is not as free as he would like it to be, and would like to move somewhere where there is less discrimination. I was a little unsure of how to take this comment. I understand that apartheid is over, but I was under the impression that things were progressing. Still, I’m far too naive and not knowledgeable enough to fully understand.