Strawberry Wine

Prior to my arrival in Cape Town I spent a significant amount of time diving into travel books about the city and the country of South Africa. It was during that time of self-education that I discovered the importance of wine in the region. Now, as has already been mentioned, I am not a big drinker, but I love the idea of being a wine connoisseur. It seems so classy to sit around with girlfriends drinking a bottle of wine discussing the fruitiness or oak-i-ness of a particular kind of wine. Unfortunately, I know absolutely nothing about wine. People in my family aren’t particularly big drinkers either, so I have had absolutely no education regarding what makes a wine good or bad.

Well what do ya know- there is a wine club at the University of Cape Town (UCT). The organization that administers my program here, CIEE, pays for each student to join 3 clubs or students groups on campus. Most of the Americans are planning on joining the wine club. Each Friday representatives from a local vineyard will bring 8-10 wines for us all to try and discuss. How amazing does that sound? I’m pretty excited. Just so you know I’m also planning on joining one of the yoga clubs.

So what some of you might not know is that my friend Diane has been having leg troubles since being here. While at home in Ithaca, New York, she injured her leg in a sledding accident. Those damn pine trees are always in the way… Anyway, all she had was a bruise, but upon arriving here she played soccer and it exploded into a huge lump. Long story short she’s been to the hospital a couple of times getting the hematoma drained and yesterday Elsha and I took her to the hospital again. After leaving there we were all a bit melancholy and sad for Diane. So we asked our driver to take us some place where we could have a nice lunch together.

Hilton (the driver) took us to Groot Constantia- the oldest wine estate in South Africa. Founded in 1685, the estate has who knows how many acres of land which includes a museum, a cellar, and two restaurants. The food Jonkershuis was absolutely incredible- by far the best I’ve had since being here. I had a breaded chicken and the girls had Hake (a very popular, relatively inexpensive type of fish here). We each had a glass of wine, an entrée, and we shared a dessert- all for a combined total of 330 rand or about $50. That’s what is so amazing about South Africa. It really seems to be a lot cheaper to eat out than to eat at home. This day ended up being one of my favorite and most amazingly the day I sweat the least. I’m still having trouble with all the sweating… Groot Constantia is definitely a place I will be going back to. I also wish I could share it with my family. Even though they don’t particularly like wine, the estate is spectacularly beautiful.

Wednesday was a day of ups and downs. First we went to the hospital (a down), then we went to the vineyard (an up), and then we met a stranger in the elevator at LBG (our Residence- a definite down). Diane, Elsha, and I were on the elevator and a girl got in with us. She said to us, “I don’t know you guys so I wanted to ask you something. How do you know when someone is ‘the one’?” We all thought her boyfriend must have proposed and she wasn’t sure if she said yes or maybe she got a job offer and wasn’t sure if she should take it and leave her boyfriend… things like that. It turns out that this girl is in an incredibly abusive relationship- physical and emotional. We were struck by how desperate she must be to confront three total strangers about the situation. We told her all the things you would say to anyone who was in such a circumstance- everyone deserves better than that, it’s never ok for anyone to lay a hand on you or take advantage of you, no one should be able to continually break you down as a person and shatter your heart, etc. She told us that she thought she needed help because she knew it wasn’t ok but she was addicted to him. We said to her that she should come hang out with us instead and get some distance from the boyfriend. We gave her information so that she can find us again if she needs help. It was the strangest situation. I can’t even imagine how horrible the situation must be if she was telling 3 American women about it. I’m praying that she gets out of the relationship.

Despite the ups and downs of Wednesday, Cape Town is still spectacular. Every time someone asks me how it is I always say that it is beautiful. And it is. I cannot get enough of the landscape here.

There is a running joke in our group that things here never seem to go as we plan. And they really don’t. We make all these plans (the Super Bowl, for instance) and things always seem to go awry. But that’s ok. TIA, right? I think I’m becoming a more patient person. The trains are always late, the shuttles are always late, and the shuttle drivers drive like 3 rapists fleeing from the police after a bank robbery. We’ll see how this patient thing goes. But I swear- if one more person who learns my name says to me, “Like the singer? Britney Spears? Are you just like her?” I will sock them in the crotch.

Be safe, enjoy each day, and remember that each of you deserves the very best.

Love,

B.