Life in South AfriKa: April 2011

Howzit!

It's been a while since I've last been on this thing, so to those of you who are often refreshing the page in hopes of another update, sorry for the delay. And apologies for the lengthiness of this. Bear with me.

I just got back from the Cape Institute for Architects in downtown Cape Town. I attended one night of a 4 part series of speakers who are distinguished architects, involved with a project entitled 'Frontiers of Integration'. It deals largely with architecture reengaging human needs. Enlightened I was. A bit on the presentation I attended:

Italian born architect Fabrizio Carola, born in Naples Italy (1931), and graduate of University of Naples in Architecture (1961), presented his work mainly of his Hospital Kaedi in Mauritania, which is near Algeria. (In Africa). He spent much of his career focusing on bio-climatic architecture. [I should mention that Carolas, who spoke a variety of languages including French, Italian, Spanish, and not very good English, used a translator to present his work this evening.]

His philosophy was developing a more humane, people focused architecure that was environmentally friendly, focusing on the African People who lived in the area.

Carola designed a series of domes, or vaults, out of materials readily available and plentiful. This eliminated several material possibilities, such as concrete and wood. He used Earth as his material choice, in which he fired in a kiln he designed- using rice husks as fuel. (Wood was not readily available, nor a sustainable approach, while the rice husks were a natural, inedible waste.)

The hospital itself consisted of a series of vaults, interlocking, and erected from a tool called a compass. Congestion was an issue with visitors coming in and out of the previous facility. Carola incorporated a design strategy in which patients rooms were accessible from both inside and outside, so that families could at will from the outside, allowing visitation. Space outside was also designed for these families to camp or dwell while their loved ones were ill.

These elliptical cupolas were designed with a double skin feature (air gap between outside/inside wall) that allowed for a natural system in controlling temperature. - This technique is often applied in today's architecture. I was lucky to hear him speak, he's a guy with good insight. I thoroughly enjoyed an after reception of wine and higher class hour`derves afterwards.

I also had some architecture fix earlier in the day, as I listened to a former UCT architecture student give a presentation on 'What kind of City Does a Street Make?'. Living in London for 8 years, she studied socio patterns of of ethnical and cultural diversity in relations to capital globalization and small scale economies. Her talk had lots of relevance as to what I am studying in my Environmental Science class.

Reading an educational summary of today's activities may not be highly appealing to all of you, but I though I would share a thing or two on an area of interest important to me.

In other news: Things I've been up to these last several days:

1. Hiking. A nice 40K hike, called 'The Roof', stretching a sunrise and sunset, unbearable heat, little wind, but glorious views of Cape Town.
2. Exploring. Company Gardens (a shady green oasis full of flora/fauna species, pigeons, squirrels, and other critters in the heart of Cape Town.), South African National Gallery, and Robben Island (where Mandela was imprisoned for 16 of his 27 years.)
3.Wine Society. A great way to start of the weekend by drinking, or flavoring, lots of wine on campus, for almost FREE! Unlike NDSU, UCT is not a dry campus.
4. Working. Lots of readings, research, and more readings and research. And then writing. I actually do give a damn about my academics here. The material I am learning is quite interesting.
5. Not writing in this. Have you ever tried blogging? Yea, its time consuming.

Happy Easter or Passover to everybody. (Or whatever other holiday you celebrate at this time, if any.)

Before Sunrise on 'The Roof' hike.

Sunrise on 'The Roof' hike.

Hiking.

Robben Island. Can't really see Table Mountain in the distance because of fire smoke.

Fabrizio Carola- Architect.


Side View of Nelson Mandela's Cell on Robben Island.

Hospital in Maritania (Africa)- Architect Fabrizio Carola.

Architect Fabrizio Carola.

Sala Kahle! (Stay Well) [A much less knowledge learning blog to come.]

Hey guys (and girls),

'9 days, 3 countries, 4 currencies, 2 backpacks filled with more than was necessary, 1 trip of a lifetime.

I had an absolutely incredible, 'epic' adventure (I need another word as a descriptive synonym to describe events in my life - but in reality, that's what my week was. Epic.) exploring a small portion of the heart of Africa (not everyone may consider this the heart of Africa, but it felt like it.). These countries are beyond surreal in beauty, culture, climate, wildlife, and natural landscape. A friend of mine, Sydney, from New York, and myself decided it would just be the two of us. We thought that the more people one adds to the type of adventure we were looking for, the more difficult it was going to be to meet people. Because of circumstances of this trip, and what lay ahead of us, we decided not to travel with a bunch of our friends here (although we did run into them on several occasions), and rent a car- as it would make it harder for us to step outside of our bubble and interact with other travelers. 9 days.

We flew into Livingstone, Zambia, where we then headed to Botswana via taxi, bus, and hitchhiking (in which one has to pay a small fee in Botswana). After a few days in the Okavango Delta and a game drive in Chobe National Park, we made our way to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We ended our trip back in Livingstone. We had the opportunity to see Victoria Falls from both sides. Sydney was a great traveling companion- a very easy going and laid back person, which made for a successful trip. Arriving back in Cape Town, I really noticed a difference in cooler weather. The leaves here are starting to change on campus. It's April, and autumn is just about here. Weird!

Instead of going into detail about everything, I'm going to jot down a few quotations from my personal journal entries that I find more beneficial in sharing my experience.

"Jollyboys Backpackers Lodge is a paradise from paradise. The atmosphere is very 'chill', with lots of sprawl out space filled with large ornate cushions that offers one flexibility to create his/her own relaxation pad."

"In reality, there really is no way to describe the place I'm in right now, this city, this backpackers lodge, this country. I'm minutes away from one of the 7 natural wonders of the world (Victoria Falls) ."

"Fireflies- haven't seen those in a long time. The intense chatter of the frogs reminds me of home, and summer. And really good nights rests. A massive thunder storm and lightning show made its way over our camp tonight. The view was spectacular. I feel like I'm living the Nat Geo or Discovery channel right now. Life out here is so surreal. It's so surreal. I must come back- I will come back."

"On our hike this evening, we could hear grunts. Deep, thundering grunts and other unfamiliar noises to my ears. Hippos."

"I feel as though I've returned to my element, except this is nothing like what I've experienced in my element before. Africa. Exotic bug species I never knew existed- crawling all over me as I write this, my and hand this journal foreign objects paving the way for exploration."

"It's currently 5:30 AM in the Delta. Lions can be heard in the distance (claiming their territory), hippos grunting meters from us. Epic. We're about to leave for one hell of a morning walking safari. Holy S*$% these hippos are noisy! Whatever explanation for the noise they're making, its so (insert swear word here) awesome. I think our plan is to mokoro to the main island, where we're going to do some walking, serious walking, to spot beasts of nature."

"I managed to flag down a guy last last minute headed for Maun- all the while haulting the massive passenger bus departing, to remove my bag from the under carriage compartments."

"It was roughly a 3 hour bus ride. We ended up stopping roughly half way for a checkpoint. 'Everyone off the bus'. We were instructed to dip our feet into a sanitation pit (more or less a bunch of muddy water), and get our bags searched.The whole purpose of this fiasco was to prevent foot and mouth disease."

"We ended up getting heavily stuck in the mud along the driveway to a Backpacker's Lodge. The entire scene was beyond comical. Charles (our driver) was beyond words, panic stricken. I thought the entire thing made the long day quite humourous."

"I suppose I better put a shirt on, not sure how many mosquito bites my malaria pills can endure."`

"I've been giving myself time to reflect on stuff thus far- my experiences here in Africa, my family back at home, architecture, school, Morgan, LIFE. A cleansing moment in time."

"Adventure: with adventure comes the idea that one needs to let all preconceived notions go and slip away. That anything can happen. Prepare for the unexpected. Don't be startled or shaken by the unexpected. With adventure comes obstacles or challenges. Challenges don't go away on vacation. Instead, vacation provides opportunity for one to look at these challenges differently, as adventures in themselves, as realizations, as life experiences. Experiences that provides opportunity to grow and learn."

"Both visits (to Vic Falls) provided complementary showers with admission- which did wonders for me, and the environment- as I haven't showered [intentionally] once this entire trip. Nor have I hardly changed my clothes since last Saturday."

"The experience in itself was mystifying....to be standing in its presence. To witness its grandeur."

"I could see nothing as I made my way across the bridge. Heavy rainfall and gravity defying spray that created a white cloud engulfed me.."

"Walking next to baboons, monkeys, and warthogs is a norm in this part of the world. For me, however, these experiences, these 'foreign' animals to America, will never get old."

"Upon departure from Livingstone, I had a good chat with some 'older' British travelers. 2 couples, who 'like to keep it kinky- even at our age!'".

"I'm starting to lose it, my brain is now in sleep mode, its last generators have failed in any last attempts to jot down a few more ideas or thoughts. Tomorrow---"