Wo, Oh, What I Want To Know-oh-oh, Where Does The Time Go?

But it's just a box of rain,
Or a ribbon for your hair.
Such a long, long time to be gone,
And a short time to be there.

-Robert Hunter


Shiiiiiit. In 7 days I'll be on a plane coming back to America, a land that only exists in distant memories right now and seems like an entirely different sphere of reality. I've been in South Africa for almost 5 months now, and though it seems like I've been here forever, it also seems like I just got here. The thought that Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away right now is a joke to me. But, at some point, all good things must come to an end, and I guess I'm ready to come home.

This three week finals period creates a really strange transition period. By having nothing to do except study and take finals, it's almost as if you spend your time waiting to go home. It's hard not to quantify statements with time - why can't it all be one developing story? - and having a definitive end to an experience forces you to think of everything relative to that end. It's kind of a shitty feeling, but being able to see the light that is the land of the free is some solace. However, an end also makes you reflect on how and from where you got to that end, and in what ways your perceptions of events have altered forever. I'm not going to be able to fully comprehend just how differently I'll process things back home until I've been there for a bit, but I can say with full authority that the way I view life here in South Africa is drastically different from when I arrived in Joburg all those eons ago. A full on retro/intro-spective post is in order, but it's not coming until I've had some time to really think and have some time to write.

For now, I'll leave you with a very brief list of my two best decisions and my two biggest regrets while I was here.

It's The Best Decision You'll Ever Make, Bru
1. Living in the dorm, Liesbeeck Gardens, in a flat with one other American and two other UCT students, rather than living in the CIEE houses with 11 or 12 other Americans. Instead of living in an episode of The Real World, I instead got to live as a part of the real world. Living in the dorms forced me to learn how to cook (and I definitely learned how to cook, trust me, I feel pretty damn confident in the kitchen now, just as long as I have my peri-peri), better my cross-cultural communication skills (one of my flat mates is from Langa, a township outside Cape Town, the other is from Zimbabwe), and be a lot more independent in general. Students living in the houses share a fridge, steal each other's food, and are constantly watched over by an RA. Living the dorms, I've eaten better than I normally do at home, had no problems with anyone interrupting my privacy, and learned to function as part of an international community. I cannot stress how great a decision living in the dorms was, it shaped the scope of my semester only slightly less than...

2. Dropping my graduate level Economics class and picking up my African Instruments and African Music Ensemble classes. I would have been killing myself taking this Development Economics class, especially given that there was an introductory Development Economics class for 2nd year students that I never took. Instead of spending probably 10 - 12 hours a week doing work for this class, I wised up, gave it the "Fuck, I'm only in Africa once" treatment, and decided to take these music classes. I learned how to play the djembe and am pretty confident in my djembe skills (all of Pomona College will hate me for bringing my djembe to school, the sound waves literally travel for 4 kilometers), and dicked around on a few other African instruments. Plus, I got to know an African music legend - Dizu Plaatjies - and learned how to re-skin a drum. By getting half of my semester's credit for playing drums for an hour and a half every single week (there was no outside work, either, and I didn't really consider going to class much of a chore, more like a privilege), I totally changed the feel of my semester. Never was I overloaded with work, never was I stressed about not being able to complete an assignment (and if I was I could've just banged on some drums). I had so much free time (which I used to cook, read, or pool together and take a vacation) which I would not have had had I stuck with the econ class. Gator - I know you have limited class flexibility next semester, but if you can only choose one class of your own it has to be African Instruments. And Elan, next fall when you're in Cape Town, you better take it as well. And pass it along to those going in the spring. And so on. I want Dizu to have a constant supply of Pomona students until he decides to retire.

Well, Maybe I Should Have...
1. Volunteered. This has got to be my single biggest regret about my time in Cape Town - how volunteering never worked out for me. I wasn't about to change up my class schedule to volunteer - classes obviously take precedence - and the people in the CIEE Volunteer Office were not helpful or accommodating in the slightest. I tried to go to PASSOP, but wound up feeling like I was being used as a tool for socialist propaganda, and wasn't at all into it. The one time I did successfully volunteer (teaching baseball to kids in one of the townships with Laura) it was a really great experience. I wish CIEE had been more accommodating in trying to find me volunteer opportunities that fit with my schedule. Or I wish I had skipped one of my classes once a week to go volunteer. Or something. But my flatmate Zach said that volunteering may have been his best decision here.

2. Attended the meetings of the clubs I joined. I never really got in touch with people at the Golf Society or the SCUBA Society, despite joining both clubs, and as a result didn't get to meet as many non-American UCT students as I could have. I wish I had been able to play golf more (I gotta say, it might not have been worth it to lug my golf clubs all across South Africa just to go golfing four times), I wish I could have gone to events with the SCUBA people, since they seemed pretty cool, but it just never panned out. That said, it isn't the end of the world, because I feel like I got the chance to meet and get to know quite a few UCT students by living in Liesbeeck. According to our program director, most people cite not meeting enough international students as their biggest regret, and this certainly was not the case for me. I feel lucky for that.

Well, it's back to studying for my last final. As of 11 am Cape Town Time (that's 1 am in California, if any of you feel like celebrating in spirit with me) on Wednesday, November 17th, I'm FREEEEEEEE! Make sure to watch the USA vs. South Africa soccer game on ESPN on November 17th - kickoff is at 9:30 pm here, so that's 2:30 pm on the East Coast and 11:30 am out in Cali. I have a ridiculous costume, a ridiculous beard, will be ridiculously drunk, and am a ridiculous human being - look out for me on the TV!