Belhaven's Best

Two, three months? Irresponsible blogging.

Yeah, school became overwhelming and honestly, I've been really boring and overworked during that time. Papers and reading until the beginning of April, then it was vacation for a week when I went to go visit my uncle Peter in the bush near Johannesburg.

Sadly, around my birthday (honestly, I was passed out on the couch from the celebration the night before) I got a call that my grandpa Sam had died in Plettenberg Bay. We had the funeral shortly after, a Jewish orthodox service. My mom and sister came and we managed to see each other for a day or so thankfully.

Returning to UCT was mostly trying to catch on work and papers and get my dissertation sorted out. I went back to Gender studies. Thankfully, a master's now in gender studies. I'll be studying sexual and reproductive rights and the experiences of those who come to study at UCT from other countries in the Southern African region. Sounds super convoluted.

School finished right at the end of May and I raced off to Plett again. Spent two weeks in Cape Town climbing and relaxing. I'm now visiting my pop in Aberdeen, Scotland. I arrived and we toured Edinburgh, the Lake District of England, the Western coast of Scotland and now we're just chilling here, watching Wimbeldon and hanging tight. Tuesday I head to London to hand out with Molly Tait, a buddy from my Australian study abroad who just coincidentally is in London then. Afterwards, a few days with the fam, a day in Cape Town, then to Pretoria for a rock climbing competition.

Then, back to Seoul. Six weeks hanging out, teaching for four weeks. I'm amazingly excited to be back in Korea. I miss it and can't wait to return. I need to be working on my thesis the whole time but .... fun times ahead.

updatin'

It's 830 am and I'm preparing for the class I'm a tutor for. I actually wake up everyday around this hour. I go to bed before midnight. Such a switch from Korea.

So I'm getting a bit of a handle on all this work. Last week I was deleriously stressed, had a minor cry fit, then decided to go out of town for a climbing weekend.



Made me feel a million times better. Getting outside, camping, not showering for two days, climbing up mountains. Exactly what I needed to chill out. Then I got some grades back this week - the first grades I've gotten in over two years! So I was nervous about the results, but I did well.

But I think I'm going to keep up this mountain climbing. The club I joined goes out at least once ever two weeks to areas close to Cape Town and has all the gear and such to borrow. Also, when Leah, Carrie and I move to Thailand for a few months, it'd be good to have some experience.

The only thing missing so far in Cape Town is a good 80s dance club. They have some great Afro-funk, hip-hop places, which is fun, but I want some dancy tunes. Though, to be honest, I've been such a nerdy-hermit lately that it wouldn't matter. I'm almost always in on the weekends working.

Saturday, I'm joining my buds Laura and Kelsey to head to this township, help dig up a community garden, paint a mural, and help out with a soccer tournament. There's too much to do in this town.

A few weeks I'm visiting my uncle! Out to Jo-burg, we're going to visit some game reserves, bum around on his farm. I can't wait.

Back to work.....

busybusybusybusybusybee

I switched into the Media department.

I'm getting a master's in Media Theory and Practice.

My dissertation topic is due Thursday (!!!!)

I'm most likely going to write a 60 page paper on the use of media education to elicit the voices of marginalised people, specifically looking at women in this NGO program near Limpopo.

Maybe.

I'm a tutor (ie. teaching assistant) for a first-year course on Media & Society.

I have 20 students, consultation hours, and an office.

Life is speeding up.

Welcome to the Cape of Good Hope

I've been horrible at keeping up with this thing. And now I have the added excuse as I don't have internet at my flat (a situation which will likely not change for another month... but that's a whole story for later in this entry).

So I made it to Cape Town! And yes, its gorgeous, and no I don't have photos. Two reasons: 1. I'm superdooper busy right now. I'm having immigration issues. The South African embassy in Seoul told me that I was a South African, as my parents are and I have an SA birth certificate (thx mom!) and an SA identity number. They said, 'Just go as a visitor, go to Home Affairs, tell them you are South African, and all will be well.' Riiiight.
Instead, the school won't register me because I don't have a South African identity book because it will take Home Affairs between 2 and 12 months to figure out my status. So, UCT says 'Apply for a study permit.' As I had originally intended. I go to Home Affairs again today (which is a pinaccle of hysteria and chaos) and apply. I also have to fork out R11,500 (about $1,150) as a deposit for a airplane ticket, which won't be refunded until I leave the country or become a citizen.
So I take my receipt the school. They still won't register me. I have to apply for a late registration waiver, which means until I get my study permit, I won't get a student card. A student card gets me the internet, and also a bank account. I'm hoping I can talk the bank into giving me an account anyways. We'll see. But this has been so damn frustrating.
Reason 2 for no photos: All through orientation, they keep hammering home the safety concern. Cape Town is no Jo-berg, but it isn't safe. To avoid making myself a target, and having my expensive camera ganked from me, no photos yet. I'll probably be carrying around the Canon film one later, but I'll have to keep the digital at home for now until I get out of the city.

So other than all that nonsense, I can't get over how gorgeous this place is. I have a cute student res flat with two roommates. I met one briefly, Carol, and the other is Sivu, who I went and grabbed breakfast with a while back. He's pretty cool, but also only 22. I'm feeling a bit old for doing honours, but I also don't feel ready for a full master's program yet.

I have a cell phone - 27 (SA country code) 079-915-3283.

Intensives have begun. It's the unfortunate time of the year when the kids get off from regular school for vacation... and have to take more school. That means, I'm at work at 9 am and don't quite leave until 10 pm tonight. Blegh.

Fun weekend. Good bands, dancing, shabu shabu dinners and giggling picture taking with Carrie.

T-minus - 19 days. Duuuuuude.

Rubber Seoul

Four venues throughout Hongdae and we raised over 11.5 million won for Little Travellers, Grassroots Uganda and the Hillcrest AIDS Centre.

that she says the dreamer just make-believe

I'm sick. It really isn't anything more than a bad cold, but I hate being sick. Not like anyone truly enjoys it, but I just become such a baby. Instead of running around this beautiful Sunday, I spent it curled up, hugging green tea, and trying to breathe out of my right nostril. Attractive, huh?

But rally as I do on Saturday nights, we went to Jens Lekman. Of course the crowd, even in Seoul, was full of Western hipster kids. I managed to sneak in during their sound check in this tiny venue (those from Austin, it was probably the size of TC's). Afterward, I gave him the giddy "Great show!" hello.



New term at school started. I really loved the last one. I had some great classes and students. This one I think will turn out well, but all new kids. And I'm teaching Mega again, which I've taught already four times before with the same books. It just gets boring is all. Also my Wednesday class only has two students in it, both from last term who I adore, so I think that'll be a nice highlight to the fact that I actually have to come in for three hours on Wednesday. Only for 5 more weeks now, then Carrie and Jon are taking over those classes. Hell, I really only have 2 more months in Seoul. I arrive in Cape Town Feb. 1, ready for UCT orientation on Feb. 2. And I have to head to the embassy tomorrow to make sure this happens as planned at least. Visa still needs approval.

Rubber Seoul in next Saturday.

These are some shots I did for a Korean English magazine called 10 for their write-up about the event


For World AIDS Day (tomorrow, Dec. 1) Little Travellers and another group Grassroots Uganda are putting on a five-venue concert throughout Hongdae. I am the official photographer, which makes me elated and a bit nervous. I want to do really well of course, but I need to get some things in order. 1. Clean my camera. 2. Get the lenses ready. 3. Get the correct bandage for the fill flash / maybe see if that other flash works.

I was reading my friend Joey's blog. You can find him on my list under Joey the Guru. He's one of the most endlessly inspired people I know. Constantly in the process of creating. I can't wait to get back to school to feel that again. Korea has been wonderful, as was working for a year in the past. But there is something addictive about being on a campus that provides so much inspiration for me. At school I constantly felt challenged, inspired, urged to create - feelings I've been lacking in recent months.

It's so cold, my floor mat I was airing on the roof froze to the ground.

It got so cold in Korea in a matter of a week. Winter just blew in. Same happened with fall, but it dropped about 20 degrees all of a sudden.

My kids say it's going to snow soon.

Speaking of my student, my upper level class had to write about... me. Awkward to say the least. My favorite:

"It had been just a 3 month that she taught me. But I think that she was a wonderful teacher. Her name is Tessa Moll.
She has short hair, and always her skin turns red when she is yelling or laughing.
She always biting her nails when we're summaring the essay.
Tessa migrated to breeding grounds in U.S.A.
I still do not know much about her, but I like her very much."

I ran a 10K race Sunday.... in 54 minutes!! I was stoked about my time, but the best part was on the subway ride home, and older man who I think I was running with most of the time, came up to me to congratulate me on my time. I didn't understand a word he was saying but Carrie translated what she could. It was just a kind move.

And there we have it....

Woke up at 7:30 am after five hours of sleep. Fell asleep thinking about the election, woke up immediately and turned on CNN.

Seven hours later, and many tears later, I ended up skipping a bit through Bongcheon-dong.

I can't describe how elated and happy and hopeful I feel. As cheesy and cliched as it is, I don't care. Watching the Obama family, the new First Family, I started losing it.

Thank you.

[X-posted]

La Fête

We have two songs this week...
Beirut - "Elephant Gun"
Etta James - "I Would Rather Go Blind"

I love Halloween. It's perhaps the best holiday. I was Luigi, a la Mario and Luigi. Carrie was my Mario. Most of the night though I had to correct those that said, "Oh, hi, Mario!." I'm wearing green, my friend. I'm not Mario. Get it right.

Carrie's older brother is in town, so he and Jihyun and Seo-Yung came with us to Hongdae, for one of those typical 5am nights. Thankfully, we were able to score some late night torsal bibimbop at the Pomato as we came home. So clutch.

Otherwise, it's been a terrifically lazy weekend. The election is obviously Tuesday (Wednesday night here) and folks are gathering at my place that morning to watch the results come in. There's a palpable excitement among myself and my friends, and I'd imagine back home as well. After eight horrific years, perhaps, maybe, just maybe, things will get better and I'm placing that home directly on Barack Obama. It may be too much for one man, but there's not other option at this point.

My finger nails are about to get wrecked. Today is my last day of smoking. I've said that too many times, I know. Far too many times. But I need to quit. I do need to, I've never denied that. Carrie and I are doing that 10K soon, and although that's not a terribly long distance, it's enough that I can't do it well while still smoking five or six cigarettes a day. It's ridiculous to leave the gym after an hour or more of working out only to light up outside. That and I'm somewhat sick of being gawked at for being a girl smoking. Women aren't supposed to smoke in Korea, and I did get absolutely yelled at a few weeks ago by an ajumma on the street.

Work is going well. I adore some of my kids. They really are so precious. Now that I've been there long enough, I have some favorites, the kids that come up to me, grab my waste and won't let go. I need to take some pictures of them soon. Maybe tomorrow. We just finished our big test of the term - the third time I've given that test - and I realized that I will only do it once more before I leave here for South Africa. It's starting to near and I'm starting to see why people stay in Korea for longer than their initial year. It's wonderful here. I have great friends, a good job, an opportunity to travel twice a year to amazing places, a good life all in all. But, as usual for me, it's time to move on. A vagabond.

I have too much on my plate to be reading, but it's currently David Sedaris and Michele Foucoult right now. Find me on GoodReads if you're on there.

Fall has come to Korea. Leaves actually change color. The boots and hats and scarves are in full swing. This is how it felt when I arrived... weird.

My brother is going to Afghanistan, he informs me. He came back from Iraq safe and sound back in September, hung out with my mom and his friends in Houston for a bit, then headed back to Hawaii. He caught me on facebook chat the other day and told me. I'm bummed, hoping that situations may change before then, but otherwise always crossing my fingers for Bubba. He gets out in January 2010, and I told him we should go traveling together, as I'll be done with school back then. He said maybe, and we'll see with that. He says he may want to start school right away. But I'm hoping he can take a few months with his military cash and we can go round traveling for a bit. It's been four years since I've seen him on the regular, maybe 4 1/2.

In other news, people seem to be getting engaged these days. My friends were never quite the get married right out of college type, but I'm seeing now quite a few talking about getting engaged within the next year or so. I'm thrilled for them. I always think of my friends Audra and Kellen. They met while we were all studying abroad in Perth, Australia about four years ago. She lived in Wisconsin and he in Miami. Sure enough they did long distance, he came to Madison to spend the summer and work, she went there for graduate school and now they just got engaged, to be married in February 2010. Amazing.