I’ve realized that I was awfully distracted a couple of weeks ago when I wasn’t feeling well. Time to take a step back and talk a little bit about living in Cape Town, specifically, Vredehoek. One of these days, I’ll hopefully find a way to upload pictures, but until then, I’ll do my best to describe what I see. I've also talked about some of this before but figured I'd go into more detail.
I wake up pretty early for my block courses—not a problem, since it’s about the same time I used to get up for work. Also, the sun helps wake me up when I sleep with the blinds open. We have a very large window looking down on the city center, or “town,” as I’ve come to call it. In our living room there are glass doors that lead out to a small balcony with a similar view to our bedroom. It’s neat to look out at the city in the morning and know that’s where I’m headed.
There are many neighborhoods in Cape Town (Gardens, Observatory, Mowbray, Green Point, just to name a few) that comprise the city as a whole. Vredehoek is ours, and it is lovely. We live in a residential area with a suburban feel; when I walk outside I don’t feel like I’m in a “city.” However, only a few blocks away is a Spar (convenience store/supermarket), a bottle store (liquor store), several restaurants, and of course, Natalie the hairdresser. When traveling, the Spar is an extremely helpful landmark—all taxi and cab drivers seem to know it. Pointing out my new home to friends is also easy. When you look up at Table Mountain from town you can see three towers in front of it. We live across the street from the middle tower.
It’s not difficult to catch a taxi in the morning, probably because we live along the route to Spar. I usually wait no more than five minutes for one to come. If you catch a taxi in Vredehoek, they are all headed into town eventually. Their last stop is Grand Parade, which is where I get off, so it’s a stress free ride. Occasionally I’m lucky and we head right into town, but far more often we take a zigzag route looking for more riders. Even with the circuitous route, it typically is no more than a ten minute ride to Grand Parade. GP is an open square in town with some stands selling various wares across the street from City Hall. Across the square is the bus station and another block up is the train station. There are several buses that will get me to Groote Schuur Hospital from where I have about a seven minute walk to the Health Sciences Campus of UCT, where all of my classes are held. The ride from town to UCT (which is in Observatory aka Obs or Obz) on Main Rd reminds me a little bit of my brief experience in the Bronx—lots and lots of shops along main road, all with loud, slightly dirty signs, but none looking terribly inviting.
The Health Sciences Campus is small with only a few buildings. It felt confusing at first, but I find my way easily now. We have our own library with computer labs, including a special room for grad students with wireless internet (haven’t tried that yet!). At lunch, there is a cafeteria which is so-so and a little stand selling Indian food. I tried today and it was quite delicious, although I’m disappointed with the portion size in comparison to what the wonderful woman at UKZN would sell. Anyway, most of the time I bring peanut butter and jelly.
I’ve pretty much decided on taking taxis all the way home. I usually have someone to ride with and if not, at least it’s bright and sunny out. Main Rd is busy territory for taxis—it seems they pass constantly! I can catch a taxi from school to what I like to personally call Taxi Land. It’s only a few blocks walk from Grand Parade and it is an enormous lot FULL of taxis, parked, coming and going. I could probably also take a taxi from there in the morning, but for only a rand more I can take a bus which is calmer and I can read. These days it’s getting dark late, around 8 or 8:30 and I finish school at 4, so I still have a few hours of daylight when I get home. In a week, my commuting habits will further adjust since block classes will be over and I’ll only have class a few hours per week.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Thomas and I are doing swell. He’s not working this week so we’ve had lots of time together and have been cooking dinner together every night. Cooking is a lot more fun when you’re with someone and not eating alone! I look forward to that when I’m done school.
Tomorrow is my final block day of biostatistics. It’s going well, but by the end of today, my brain felt to full to absorb anymore! I’ll be glad when the sessions are shorter.
Hope everything is well back home!
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