My Triumphant Return to Cape Town

African Air Travel

best travel buds

Cape Town is my favorite city in the whole world, so when I found out that I would be going back to Africa, I knew that a trip to South Africa was a must. The perfect opportunity came about when my good friend and travel partner, Jenny, went there for a conference in May. I hopped on a plane and shot down there to meet her for a long weekend. Actually, it wasn't quite that simple....We are in Africa, after all. 

I booked a flight online with Air Namibia with one stop in Windhoek, the capital of Nambia. However, when I arrived at the Luanda airport (aka the worst place in the world), I was told to check in with TAAG. TAAG is the Angolan airline that is not FAA approved, so is generally avoided. For whatever reason, I was about to fly on a TAAG plane for the first leg of the trip. Fine, so I go up to the counter and give the agent my passport and confirmation number. This conversation followed:

Agent: Did you confirm?

Me: I don't know. What do you mean?

Agent: (typing furiously) No, you didn't confirm. You're not on the flight list. 

Me: I don't understand.

Agent: You need to call the airline 72 hours before your flight and confirm.

Me: Well, I paid for the ticket. Isn't that confirmation?

Agent: I have your ticket here but you are not on this flight. 

Me: Ok, so you have my ticket but I can't go on the flght because I didn't call you and let you know that I was coming. Is that correct?

Agent: Yes, ma'am. 

Me: I have never heard of this in my life. 

Agent: We can put you on standby but the flight is full. Please stand over there and I will call you if a seat becomes available. 

Me: Ummmm OK. Are there any other flights to Cape Town? 

Agent. No. 

Me: Perfect. 

The agent relayed this information so matter-of-factly that I started doutbting myself. "Is this a thing? No. This is crazy, right? RSPV for a flight?" Finally, just as the flight was about to board, the agent waved me over and gave me my ticket, which he had all along. 

Now comes the really fun part. After going through security, men and women are separated and lined up in front of a small office to be questioned and strip searched. Luckily, I had been warned of this process. Apparently, if you have any kwanza, which is Angola's currency, it is taken from you, especially if you don't speak Portuguese. I'm not sure if this is an official policy, but to be on the safe side, I didn't bring any with me. The security agent in the office asked me how much money I had and then searched me. After finding nothing, she disappointedly waved me through. Sucker!

I settle into my seat around 7am and quickly fall asleep. That was a lot of activity for one morning! I awake a few hours later as the plane lands. Assuming we are in Windhoek for my layover, I gather my belongings and get ready to disembark. "You can leave your stuff on the plane," the flight attendant says. I look at her quizzically as I notice that none of the passengers are getting their suitcases from the overhead compartments.  The flight attendant recognizes my confusion and remarks, "We are in Lubango." Lubango is another city in Angola! How silly of me to think that we would only be making scheduled stops. 

After one of the most confusing days of my life, I eventually made it to Cape Town. I walked out of the airport and inhaled the crisp, clean air. Ahhhhh....this trip would literally be a breath of fresh air.

Table Mountain

We ate delicious, reasonably priced food, spoke English to everyone, and walked all around the city without getting mugged. Freedom! We even sang along to "Sweet Caroline" at a cheesy sports bar. Cape Town is pretty much America - with cooler accents and slightly more black people.

The Waterfront

Shark Attack!

Anyone who knows me can tell you that animals are not exactly my thing. How Jenny convinced me to go diving with great white sharks, I'll never know. I am assuming there was alcohol involved. Although it appears that I am excited to enter a cage surrounded by man-eating predators, this is actually the face of sheer terror. 

The first time I went underwater, I stared directly into the eye of a great white shark, which was about 1 foot away from me. I completely forgot how to hold my breath, swallowed a mouthful of seawater, and immediately popped my head to the surface and yelled, "Can I get out now?" Money well spent.

Look at that thing, clearly plotting my demise. Good thing thing I got out of there in time.

1 Down, 1 to Go

Well, I survived one semester and all in all I feel pretty good about it. This has been, by far, the most challenging teaching environment that I have been thrown into. No curriculum, no materials, 30-40 students per class (I am used to 15 max). And, in case you were wondering, I never did receive an attendance list. Still wingin’ it on that one.  

One of my major obstacles at the start of the semester was the incessant tardiness of the students. I can’t say I have completely solved the problem, but it has definitely improved and I have gained quite the reputation around school for being “very strict and very punctual.” I’m OK with that. Occasionally, a student will attempt to stroll into class an hour late, which causes me to promptly give a long-winded lecture about the importance of punctuality – not only for them as individuals, but for society as a whole.  Apparently sometimes I think that my job here is to change the mindset of an entire country. That is why they pay me the big bucks, after all.

During the last week of the semester, I asked my students to provide some feedback about the course. They were asked to write down what they liked, didn’t like, and give a suggestion for next semester. This was the best idea I’ve ever had. Sure, this will provide valuable insight on my performance and help me to develop professionally, but more importantly, their responses made me laugh out loud…and that’s really what it’s all about. Here are some of my favorites:

·         Truly speaking you are intelligent.

·         You are always on time. Keep it. My congratulations.

·         I don’t find a pessimistic angle on this course because it is my favorite.

·         I didn’t like the schedule, 4 times the same subject, although teacher motivated us, sometimes it was annoying. God bless you and your family!

·         I learned to come on time.

·         She could make us use our 6 senses because her lessons were very good.

·         I could realize that beside being beautiful she is also a very good professor.

·         I would like to say to God protect you today and forever.

·         You are the one.

·         I would like to have for next semester tough exercises and not babies exercises.

·         The system you use is good. The American system.

·         I’d like to study with a tape and songs of the most American singers like Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, etc.

·         What I just found out on you is that you are just too liberal. Sometimes my classmates make such kind of horrible noises when they are making conversation.

·         I have learned many things about your lesson but I wanna receive more about you…

 

Kaposoka

I had the pleasure of attending a performace by the Kaposoka Children's Orchestra last week. They were incredible! The kids attend a music school funded by the government and recently competed in an international competition in Argentina.

Can you imagine how many little geniuses there are in this world who never get the chance to showcase their talents?

Holy Garbage!

I am appaled on a daily basis by the pollution in this city - and I don't even really care about the environment. People literally live in mountains of garbage, there is a constant layer of smog, and open sewage is a common sight.  Occassionally, I get stuck behind a garbage truck and I think "Really? What's the point?" I have come to the conclusion that being a garbage collector in Luanda must be the worst job on the planet. It seems like an insumountable task. Last week, a large pothole emerged outside my house, and it was immediately filled with trash by the following morning. There were bicylcles, boxes, small creatures, you name it. I mean, where did all that stuff even come from?

I have to assume that part of the problem is that this city was built to accomodate 1 million people but is now home to 8. The other problem is the human factor. In general, people here have very little respect for their environment. Littering is rampant and so is excess use of electrcity and gas (if you have it). Eventhough is't about 90 degrees here, I am constanrly shivering because anyone who has an air conditioner feels the need to have it on full blast all the time - just because they can. I suggested to my co-workers that we turn the AC off when we leave at night, which did not go over well. This one might be a losing battle.

Culture Clashes

Whether teaching abroad or in the States, I have always enjoyed picking up tidbits of cultural knowledge through conversations with my students. It’s one of the best parts of my job and keeps me endlessly entertained.  

Last week, we were studying physical descriptions of people. One category was age, so we were using the adjectives young, old, and middle-aged. One student asked the meaning of middle-aged and I told him about 45-65. Then another student asked, “Well, in Angola, is middle-aged different? Because people here usually die before 65.” Awkward!

In another class, we were studying food. In groups, students had to think of a food for each letter of the alphabet. I noticed that the groups were engaging in heated debates and began asking me questions in order to put the argument to rest. “Are tomatoes food?” Yes. “Is a banana food?” Yes. “Are carrots food?” Yes.

Okay, this was getting weird so I stopped the game and asked the class, “Is lettuce food?”

Everyone replied, “No.”

“Ummmmm, then what is it?”

“A vegetable”

Apples are NOT food!

After much discussion and confusion on my part, I discovered that Angolans only consider something food if it is cooked or prepared; therefore, a banana is not food, it’s a fruit. I explained to them that for the purpose of this class, we will consider food all the things that we eat, to which someone responded, “but you can eat anything.” Ugh.

I also learned that if an Angolan doesn’t eat the typical food for a meal, he will say, “I didn’t eat” even if he did. For example, everyone eats tea and bread for breakfast, so if someone eats cereal and is asked, “What did you eat for breakfast?” He will respond, “Nothing. I just had cereal.” Same for lunch. If he doesn’t eat funje (the gray blobby stuff), but instead has a sandwich, he will claim that he didn’t eat. This really threw a wrench into my lesson.

*Upon learning that we don’t have funje in the US, some of them are reconsidering their dream of studying there, because they “can’t even survive one day without funje.” 

I am teaching two courses in academic writing, and one of the major obstacles is the stylistic difference between Portuguese and English. Written Portuguese tends to be flowery and indirect, while written English is considered more effective when it's clear and concise. I always tell my students, "don't use 10 words if you can use 5." Here is a prime example. This is an e-mail I received from a student last week. 

Professor Nee, 

Receive my regards at any time you are going to read this email, and I wish  this to find you in a good health. I came through this message to know how is your health, as we you told us that you would travel and we would not have class on Monday, so We missed you that is why it encouraged to write you and know your disposition and how is your maintenance in South Africa up to now. 

Professor It was only this that troubled me to know how you are, knowing that you have been very kind with us every time, and we have also lived in a very good brotherhood so we can't stay like this without know at least your disposition and you to our as well. That's why wherever you are my best wishes will trace you the steps.

I finish here.

Your Student,

XXXXXX