So, as you have probably noticed, I have
been awol for some time now.. it has not been for nought. It has been because
the work load is exactly that a load. All the fun days that I wrote about in
the early months.. I keep wondering whether it is the same person that went
through all that and where did she get the time!? Sigh… and exams are in one
week exactly.
I feel like a child who has been given a
shot and the same doctor has given me a sweet to make me forget the pain I am
feeling. Just found out that there will be free hot chocolate/coffee at campus
for the next two weeks courtesy of and as an incentive to join ens Africa (who
btw are my fav law firm.. who does that!) and this ‘service’ will be there till
11:30 pm every weekday night and during weekends, from 8-5pm. I am so happy… I
think this has touched me than probably an expensive piece of jewellery would J it is an apt gift for this time.
So, lemme not bore you with explanations
about my trials and tribulations of school, in between the test by fire, there
have been islands of icecream..
So, today I went to have lunch with some of
my class mates who are doing Refugee Law. We went to Knead. Now for all of you
who have been to SA you will agree with me that knead is just a great place…
the chocolate chip cookies!! Mmmmmhhhh… and everything else… yours truly got a
burger.. I know it sounds so common place but I was hankering for one and some
fries… but the burger was amazing… im sure I will need to work out for like a
week to cut down all that bacon, beef and cheese but eh.. it was worth it while
it lasted.
treats from all over Africa.. |
after the food bazaar came the performances, songs, poems, fashion parades etc |
Africa Day at UCT… well its actually Africa
Month at UCT but none the less what im
talking about is just a couple of hours on the 15th. So as you know
I am part of the post graduate law student council, well, we were tasked to
come up with something that represented ‘Law in Poetry’. So we came up with a
‘native attire’ parade, two poems and a meal of Jellof Rice. You can be assured
they were a knock-out. The poems were original and moving, the parade was in my
unbiased opinion the ‘crème de la crème’ of the Africa Day. Not only was it
colourful, it was also entertaining. Our ‘models’ were post graduate students
and some even danced when they reached center stage.. how amazing is that? So I
appreciated it a lot. After the parade, we held up a banner echoing our
brothers and sisters around the world in #BringBackOurGirls. Meaningful and
entertaining. A great mix. The Jellof Rice, prepared by some of the Nigerian Council
members sold like hot cake.. I should know.. I was dishing it up for people…
and the feedback I got… people loved it.
Cape Town now is a mix of cold and biting
and random sunny days. It is honestly much better than Arusha where if the sun
decides to hide, it goes into hibernation and does not come out for ages. So I
have adjusted… always with a hoodie but it does the job. At the beginning I
thought I would never get warm and my heater (oh btw you have to have a heater
if ever you are to survive the nights) was constantly on. But now, I can sleep
quite comfortably with two blankets on and no heater. That for me is bliss.
Apart from missing home terribly and
throwing my own pity party on face book (bless the hearts of those wonderful
people who consoled me), I am excited that one of my friends is coming to Cape
Town. That is definitely something I am looking forward to and it gives me the
rare opportunity to be the host in a foreign country… fun eh?
Oh I also met an old friend who I hadn’t
seen in ages but seems they were in UCT… its very interesting I must say. And
with my natural love for hosting… we had Sunday lunch together and I hope more
will come. Truly you do not appreciate familiar faces until you live in a
foreign country with no hope of going home soon. It’s a slice of heaven and you
hang on to them for dear life (of course if they are cactuses then hanging on
to them won’t make any sense)
I’m still baking.. muffins, brownies, cakes
etc… don’t get me wrong, I am bust as busy can be but cooking and baking is an
excellent way to de-stress and have excellent outcomes after it all.. so y’all
can have some optical nutrition on my recent babies.
vanilla flavoured muffins.. yes they tasted as good as they look |
Friday i went to Cape Peninsula University of Technology and this view just blew me away
the mountain peak all covered in clouds was just a feast for my eyes. |
Other interesting things include the
grading at UCT. It is a mix of extremely strict and ridiculously shallow. You
will get penalized heavily is you do not put a full stop at the end of your
footnotes or if your grammar is less than perfect.. now that is a cross that
not only I bear but many of my colleagues who do not have English as their
first language. I was talking to one of my flat mates who is Rwandese and he
was down in the dumps as to his work saying that it is terribly difficult for
him to translate from his mother tongue-Kinyarwanda to French and then to
English and then put it on paper. And be graded with the system that UCT uses!
Yhor.. unimaginably difficult. Im not whining it is just a fact and not a very
good one. Extra classes should be given to people who have a language issue and
an entire course on citations should be offered. I mean all the money we dish
out to UCT really should be put to good use. The university has a ‘writing
center’ who are supposed to help with all the language issues that students
face when writing. However, you meet up with them when you have a writing and
its like a post mortem in my opinion. A class at the beginning of the semester
would go a long way to make school more bearable for many of my friends and
others to come.
As all academic institutions, UCT overflows
when its nearly exam time… students it seems are the same wherever you go.
Oh and you meet the most insufferable
people at UCT and also some of the kindest. What prompted this was a scenario I
met in the course of last week. UCT, my friends, is not a water bed. No it can
be a watery grave. A lecturer I know told one of my friends he didn’t think she
could make it or pass his course, that she was incapable and incompetent and
that he had seen the ‘likes of her’ and he knew exactly what she would get or
rather not get. This my dears was all said because this gentle soul of a
student missed a couple of classes because she was sick. She had not done any
single assignment to warrant that harsh assessment, had not handed in any work
and he had not had any proper opportunity to grade her. I mean! The audacity of
some people amazes me! My first reaction was that perhaps its racism but no
way.. the lecturer is as dark as hot chocolate but with such a mean spirit, an
uncouth mouth and an uncensored mind. I was so disappointed by that conduct… so
ofcourse me being me, followed him and talked to him…. Yhor! The man feels soo
justified there is no way you can ever tell him he is wrong. Now what just
leaves my mouth hanging is that this isn’t the first time he has done this..
and he is not the only one who is known to treat students in such a
disrespectful manner. Honestly… I am waiting for an opportune time and should
that continue happening, I will not only lodge a formal complaint (which had
the student above decided, she would have) but also actively de-campaign UCT to
everyone I know, see and write to. Now this is one heck of a dark side I never
expected to find. But all these subtle racist comments, snide remarks and
snarky retorts are couched in thin smiles and fancy language… what a shame!
Now, lemme try and rinse out that bad taste
off my mouth and yours and move on to happier topics. On Thursday there is huge
concert that is to take place celebrating 20 Years of democracy of South
Africa. It is expected to be grand. I truly want to go... I even bought a
ticket for r90 however I also have a presentation to do in class at the time
the gates open and close.. hmmm.. we’ll see if I can present and run off
(highly unlikely) but let’s hope… or I can give it a person who doesn’t have.
The voting day in SA was uneventful with an
expected result of ANC winning. And that is all that I am going to say on
elections.
the tent being set up for tomorrow |
Now lemme get back to work.
Did I tell you I have a 7 day exam!?? I’ve
never had one of those and I’m awaiting to see what’s going to happen. Say a
prayer for me would you?
xoxo