Last week I put a deposit on
what is called a studio “cottage”. it is a little separate structure
behind the main house of the person who owns it. It is basically a large
room with a bed at one end, a bathroom, and at the other end is a kitchenette,
table & chairs, small couch. it is a little funky but the owner is
motivated to make some updates and improvements based on my suggestions.
He has 3 kids that live with him part-time and he has a little black dog
named, Milo. the property has a good privacy fence and so I will feel
pretty secure besides that the owner is there. the guy seems pretty
progressive and interesting. He is likely about 10 years younger
than i am, maybe more. Currently, I am about 20 min walk from the office
I am using at UCT and this will add 10 more minutes to my commute it is great
to be able to walk so much actually. I am so lucky that I am not having
any obstacles to walking. I would love to have a bicycle to get around,
but I have to say, it does not feel safe at this point given how narrow some of
the streets are, the volume of traffic at times, and some of the crazy driving
etiquette I have seen. So, for now, I will likely not be bicycling
for the foreseeable future. Up to this point, I have only seen a few
people riding a bike for transportation. I know there are bike clubs
that go out together, but if I do that, it will have to be sometime down the
road. I am still getting used to knowing which direction oncoming
traffic is coming from when I am crossing the street.
It is toward the end of winter here, but pretty mild conditions by experiences in the northern hemisphere, naturally. It hover in the mid-40s at night then from 50s to high 60s during the day. I am told this is unseasonably warm for this time of year. We have had a couple of good days of drenching rain, but overall the rainfall has been low and the area has been in a drought for about a year. I heard on the radio recently that the water supply reservoir is at about 30% capacity. Despite that, I am anticipating a beautiful spring with lots of wildflowers and whale watching, too.
I am rapidly getting integrated into the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine at University of Cape Town (UCT). I didn't quite know to anticipate being an actual part of the department but having the Fulbright is certainly a door-opener and i am grateful on a daily basis. It is a wonderful thing to be embraces do readily, although I have history there and some of the same people I worked with before are still around, which is great to reconnect them. The actual scope of my activities is a work in progress at the moment as i get to know people and their projects. And I am having the opportunity to learn about so many other areas of public health that I haven't been involved in much, like HIV and TB which both are whole orders of magnitude from anything experienced in the US. This week I am doing my first lecture and it is on Child Labor (Labour here), my labor of love for most of my career. I will be talking to Master’s in Public Health students in their course on Children’s Environmental Health. I didn’t expect to do this for another month so am working fast to pull the pieces together. This coming week I will be talking with the faculty at Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape Provice, to see what type of assistance they anticipate from me and when I may go there to visit.
My one little hiccup since I arrived is that I developed cellulitis in my index finger the week before last as a result of a paronychia (took me a long time to say this word – and leave it to readers to look it up). it was so dang painful I still can’t believe it - even kept me awake for two nights. Finally when an abscess began to appear i found a nice MD, about my age, based on the recommendation of a good friend here; he took care of it and started me on antibiotics. I about flew off the table when he started poking to drain it - he told me I could cry if I wanted (you know it’s going to hurt when someone tells you that). He later told me that he was “alarmed” by how far it had progressed by the time he saw me. I don’t know what i was thinking, but somehow it did not register what was happening until a few days into it. It’s all resolved now and it was a good drill for me to figure out how to find medical care and use the health benefits I have from the Fulbright program.
Yesterday I went exploring on my own into the city center. My destination was to the community Bo-Kaap, the first Muslim community in Cape Town settled sometime in the mid-1800s after slavery was ended in 1838. The area was originally a township known as the Malay Quarter and the heart of the Cape Malay culture. Many of the slaves brought to the Western Cape were from Malaysia and East Africa. It essentially became one of the several workingclass communities in Cape Town. It has been revitalized in recent history to recognize its unique cultural roots, which continue today. Along the way I saw lots of tourists and tourist markets. It takes a certain amount of grit to navigate a new area and the transportation that most tourists don’t bother with. But since I am without a car, I have to use all options. Much of my orientation from my earlier time here is definitely coming back, which is nice. I have some sense of how things work.
Photos include: Poster from the rally to call for the Parliament to pass a vote of No Confidence in President Jacob Zuma (the vote failed); workers hanging off a building along the march route; they were sandblasting with little or no respiratory protection and, of course the dust circulated into the downtown environment; photos from Bo-Kaap; A type of Proteus flower (called pincushion) native to the region.
It is toward the end of winter here, but pretty mild conditions by experiences in the northern hemisphere, naturally. It hover in the mid-40s at night then from 50s to high 60s during the day. I am told this is unseasonably warm for this time of year. We have had a couple of good days of drenching rain, but overall the rainfall has been low and the area has been in a drought for about a year. I heard on the radio recently that the water supply reservoir is at about 30% capacity. Despite that, I am anticipating a beautiful spring with lots of wildflowers and whale watching, too.
I am rapidly getting integrated into the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine at University of Cape Town (UCT). I didn't quite know to anticipate being an actual part of the department but having the Fulbright is certainly a door-opener and i am grateful on a daily basis. It is a wonderful thing to be embraces do readily, although I have history there and some of the same people I worked with before are still around, which is great to reconnect them. The actual scope of my activities is a work in progress at the moment as i get to know people and their projects. And I am having the opportunity to learn about so many other areas of public health that I haven't been involved in much, like HIV and TB which both are whole orders of magnitude from anything experienced in the US. This week I am doing my first lecture and it is on Child Labor (Labour here), my labor of love for most of my career. I will be talking to Master’s in Public Health students in their course on Children’s Environmental Health. I didn’t expect to do this for another month so am working fast to pull the pieces together. This coming week I will be talking with the faculty at Walter Sisulu University in Mthatha, in the Eastern Cape Provice, to see what type of assistance they anticipate from me and when I may go there to visit.
My one little hiccup since I arrived is that I developed cellulitis in my index finger the week before last as a result of a paronychia (took me a long time to say this word – and leave it to readers to look it up). it was so dang painful I still can’t believe it - even kept me awake for two nights. Finally when an abscess began to appear i found a nice MD, about my age, based on the recommendation of a good friend here; he took care of it and started me on antibiotics. I about flew off the table when he started poking to drain it - he told me I could cry if I wanted (you know it’s going to hurt when someone tells you that). He later told me that he was “alarmed” by how far it had progressed by the time he saw me. I don’t know what i was thinking, but somehow it did not register what was happening until a few days into it. It’s all resolved now and it was a good drill for me to figure out how to find medical care and use the health benefits I have from the Fulbright program.
Yesterday I went exploring on my own into the city center. My destination was to the community Bo-Kaap, the first Muslim community in Cape Town settled sometime in the mid-1800s after slavery was ended in 1838. The area was originally a township known as the Malay Quarter and the heart of the Cape Malay culture. Many of the slaves brought to the Western Cape were from Malaysia and East Africa. It essentially became one of the several workingclass communities in Cape Town. It has been revitalized in recent history to recognize its unique cultural roots, which continue today. Along the way I saw lots of tourists and tourist markets. It takes a certain amount of grit to navigate a new area and the transportation that most tourists don’t bother with. But since I am without a car, I have to use all options. Much of my orientation from my earlier time here is definitely coming back, which is nice. I have some sense of how things work.
Photos include: Poster from the rally to call for the Parliament to pass a vote of No Confidence in President Jacob Zuma (the vote failed); workers hanging off a building along the march route; they were sandblasting with little or no respiratory protection and, of course the dust circulated into the downtown environment; photos from Bo-Kaap; A type of Proteus flower (called pincushion) native to the region.
Congrats on the abode - show us some pictures when you can! It's hard to get a sense of how big or small Capetown is, but sounds like walking is pleasant? Not pleasant? Keep the pix coming.... K
ReplyDeletei meant to add something about that. since i have to rely on walking for many if not most things, i am acutely aware that i don’t want to twist an ankle that would interfere with my mobility. the sidewalks are in pretty bad shape in many places that are on my pathway and i am constantly vigilant. then there is the ever-present vigilance to be aware of personal safety. when i was here before i never walked alone at night. but then, i was in a location not near any restaurants or shops to walk easily at night. Where I am now, with lots more activity in the area (restaurants, shops, etc), at this point, i am telling myself it is OK to walk alone at night until about 8 pm. but then, today on my walk, i wandered into a restaurant i learned about some live Irish music that happens in the evenings that starts at 7:30pm. but i also know there is an escort service i can use that meets nearby at 9:15 pm. so i would use that. Cape Town and the suburbs (i am considered to be in suburb although what they call a suburb feels more like a big neighborhood), is at least 500,000. that is likely an undercount. it probably doesn’t include the townships that are located along the outskirts.
DeleteReally enjoying your writing and photos Mary. I wish we would have made it to Cape Town when we were there. Nice to hear you're reconnecting with folks from your earler time there. Stay safe. And healthy! I know so many will benefit from your presence and expertise.
ReplyDeleteNice to get some news of your settling in process! The studio sounds like a good, safe option. It's great they're getting right into the grove with work at the University too.
ReplyDeleteLove seeing the pics!
Leenda