Food, tree-killing and trains

Seven of us Stellenbosch students--6 AIFS and 1 South African--are sitting around the dinner table. My roommate and I have borrowed our neighbor's table to enlarge our own and across the brown-and-red patterned cloth covering both tables is spread the remains of the stir-fry dinner we've just shared between us. We're conversing easily, bantering such light subjects as the African National Congress(SA's ruling gov't party since 1994) president's denial of the fact that HIV leads to AIDS and whether or not men should be allowed to (let alone be responsible to) look after their children in order to let their wives work. Peter, our saucy and often pessimistic neighbor from upstairs, leads the opposition on any newly broached topic. As the only South African in the crowd and a veteran of the changing American students in his building (AIFS consistently uses the same rooms for students, semester after semester) he enjoys playing devil's advocate and testing the waters of conversation. Despite the gentle arguments that ensue in his presence, however, he has proved the most friendly of our block-mates, and the most willing by far to give us advice about everything and anything South African: where to go out(and where NOT to go out, under any circumstances), where to get the best deals on a Tuesday night without getting mugged, what the general view of the current economic situation is (at least, among the sons of white Afrikaans farmers, that is), how hard white South African engineers have it, whether or not Cape Town is going to be ready for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and, most importantly, where we can possibly find tortilla chips in this backwards little town.

To say the least, our conversations with Peter are both entertaining and enlightening. :-)

Dinner has become a weekly ritual, trading locations in the block every Thursday. This week was Andrea's and my turn--next week we move to the first-floor apartment of our AIFS compatriots Frances and Jace. Last week we dined next door to my apartment on the second floor, sharing the home of Katie and Karen, also here with AIFS.

Food, in our short month here, has been transformed from a treat to a bane to a necessarily communal experience. After two weeks of alternately eating yoghurt with granola and PB&J, the four of us second floor girls (Karen, Katie, Andrea and I) gathered together in search of something more....substantial. Lo and behold, in a dinner party we found the excuse to make such delicacies as chicken tacos (of a sort) and sweet-and-sour chicken stir-fry over rice, balancing this fine cuisine with some of the new wines we were introduced to at the recent Stellenbosch Wine Festival. All four of us girls (the boys conceded to liking it as well) have become partial to a sweet sparkling rose wine made by the House of JC Le Roux, which not only tastes amazing but makes us feel sophisticated as well....and it's only about $4 a bottle! Good deal all around.

People aside, the thing I miss most being here is access to a full kitchen. In order to save our money for adventures later in the semester, it's imperative that we buy our own food and cook at home. But it's simply not practical to purchase all the spices and baking supplies I'm used to having at hand to use for cooking. Simplicity is the name of the game, when it comes to food. Peppered chicken breasts, potatoes, and feta cheese have become staples, along with the aforementioned yoghurt with granola and, of course, peanut butter and jelly. Last week (yes, it took me three weeks) I gave in to a craving and rediscovered how absolutely amazing green salad is. Somehow it had slipped my mind all this time, though I don't quite know how (I doubt I will forget again, at least not this trip). Nothing very exciting in our diet, to be sure. The only real "South African" food we've had was purchased or prepared on our prepaid AIFS excursions. Hopefully we'll be introduced to some more authentic South African foods or meals before too long.

While I've not been eating (which has been a majority of the time, incidentally) I've dutifully attended classes and read boatloads. I've printed enough articles and stories between my three English classes to re-compose at least one small tree, which is slightly frustrating as one, who, on the whole, appreciates trees in tree-form. My homework this weekend is to read the original fairy tale Bluebeard (written down by Charles Perrault) and two re-visioned versions of it (Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg" and Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber"). Interesting tales, at least, if I have to kill trees to read them.

Saturday a group of us spent the day in Cape Town--riding the train to and from and visiting the Castle of Good Hope (a former military fort and the oldest building in South Africa) and a museum known as the Slave Lodge (so-called because the museum is housed in the building where the cape slaves, chiefly imported from other African countries, were kept during the colonization of the province). It was a sunny, relaxing and informative day, and we all found it freeing to be exploring at our own pace and not following the watch of an impatient tho' well-meaning tour guide.

I sign off, happier (and warmer!) than I've been yet. I hope this blog finds you the same!!
Sala kakuhle!