Capetown Proper
Friday, July 28 |
| Capetown has so much colonial architecture it reminds me of bits of Hong Kong, but the bright crisp sunshine is more like Bermuda. You have fantastic views of table mountain from just about everywhere, and when you get up on any hill you can also see the harbor. It's hard to imagine why any enterprising European wouldn't have wanted to colonize here. |
| Yesterday morning I set off on foot, enjoying the local street vendors who are so laid back, you almost don't know who is doing the selling. What a difference from China! I was tempted by a few water colors, but am trying to hold off until after I have been to Kruger park. I tried to go to the supreme court but it was not in session. I will try again when I return from the park. |
| In the afternoon I wandered through the central park and spent some time looking at old photos in the Capetown public library. It was a surprisingly small library for a city of this size, but I am guessing there are others. In the late afternoon I got a call from Lindiwe, the director of the school I am going to next week. We met up and went out to dinner. She wanted to have a chance to get together quietly before the bustle of the school day, and I was eager to know more of what was expected of me. I am still not completely sure, but she is going to give me the phone number of the teachers, sot hat will help. She also wants me to go to more than one school, which ill be interesting for me, but make it more difficult for me to demonstrate how a lesson plan is developed over multiple days. The new SA curriculum is all based on student-centered learning, group work, etc., all of which is very new here. I hope that based on this visit I will be able to make arrangements to come another time and be involved for a longer stretch. |
| Lindiwe herself has been moved out of her school and become a school inspector. She is struggling with many issues including the way the faculty work together. She says for example, that several schools (all black) have requested Indian principals because they think it is easier when the boss is not one of their own. How long will that kind of thinking take to change? |
| This morning I went on a tour of the Muslim area of capetown known as Bo Kaap. There was a time after the group areas act was passed when a famous colored section of Capetown known as District 6 was bull dozed and the inhabitants moved to the notorious townships. They tried something similar with the Muslim community, but they held their ground and have kept the hillside which has stunning views of the city. Our guide took us to her mothers house at the top of the hill where, in the sixties, secret meetings were held in the basement to plan resistance to the removal. Ironically, the street from that house, looks right straight down the hill (Lion street) and ends literally in the door of the Supreme Court. |
| During the tour we saw a variety of mosques and many brightly colored houses with a definite Caribbean flair. There was one other person taking the tour, a native of India who finished his education in England and Scotland, and is now thinking about coming to SA for six months. Over tea he described his views of SA in pretty negative terms -- blacks getting everything at the expense of the Indians and other coloreds, but I couldn't quite understand why under those circumstances he would want to come here to work. |
| Coming down the hill I reached heritage square, an old commercial block dating to the earliest days of capetown which is now being restored. There is a blacksmith (German) in the basement, various artsy shops and a cafe on the ground floor a hotel in the top of what were originally five distinct houses. It reminded me of Leffert's Alley in Philadelphia, where my sister Morn lives in three tiny houses that have been joined together. I had a fascinating tour of the hotel, where I think I will stay for my last nights in Capetown, partly to be closer to the action, and partly to support their efforts at restoration. My guide was very black, but I sensed immediately not South African. Indeed he was from Cameroon, and after a while we conducted the tour in French -- a good challenge for me. |
| Tonight I am moving to Pinelands and the home of parents of my friend Alan Roux. I'll write again when I get the chance. |
