Road trippin’, Part 1

Last week I went on a road trip with some buddies along the South African coast towards Port Elizabeth. Lekker times were had. The fun was so intense that it can’t be contained in one post.

Me with the guys who helped me bungee!

Friday: We headed eastbound on the 7+ hour/360 mile journey from Cape Town to Stormsrivier, where the backpackers we booked was located. The route we drove is commonly referred to as the Garden Route because of all the diverse vegetation that grows along it. It has the second mildest climate in the world (Hawaii is first). Since it was my car and I was the only one allowed to drive it under the contract, I had the pleasure of driving all 7+ hours… It wasn’t too bad, and we made it through the night and rainy weather.

Our journey east on the N2, one of 2 major highways out of Cape Town

Sunset on the Garden Route

Saturday: I went BUNGEE JUMPING with some guys I met at the backpackers. It was hectic! The Bloukran Bridge is the world’s tallest bungee jump at 216 meters above the Bloukran River, not too bad for my first bungee ever (go big or go home, right?). I was terrified and made the mistake of looking down before I jumped. They had to pry my hands off the guys helping to the ledge. The free fall lasted about 7 seconds, but I really don’t remember much immediately after I jumped. I do, however, remember the 2-3 minutes of hanging upside down, which felt like eternity. As I was hanging there I was praying for the knot around my feet to hold. I probably had nothing to worry about, but when I was hanging by a thread off a bridge hundred of meters up in the air all I could think about was the worst possible scenarios at the time. Once I got back onto the bridge, I could feel the adrenalin coursing through my body. Would I do it again? I'm not sure, but I probably could be convinced if with the right company….

Jumper #37

The harness and straps that kept me from plunging to my death.

"I believe I can fly."

I'd like to go back to solid ground, please. ASAP.

Back on the bridge. I know I'm back on ground, but that doesn't keep me from clinging onto the grate just as an extra precaution.

Later that day we went on a beautiful hike in Tsitsikamma National Park, right on the Indian Ocean:

Looks like a scene from Lost

Start of the path.

Bridge over troubled water.

Coastline.

On the rocks. 

Paradise found.

The waves were pretty rough.

I’ll post Part 2 soon with pics of me trying to surf and lion cubs. You won’t want to miss it.

Thank you to everyone who donated to Grassroot Soccer this past week: Jason H. and the Roselles! I am less than $40 to $1000! Help me reach my goal!

Until next time,

John

Workin’ for the weekend

I know, I know…I’m really bad at updating. OK, I promise to do more than 1 update this week. And I’ll tell you more about the awesome road trip I recently took. But first…

Thank you! Together we’ve raised $883 so far, almost a third of the way to my goal of $3000. I want to get to $1000 by Sunday night, so please consider throwing a few bucks my way :) . I want to give a big shout out to everyone who has made donations to Grassroot Soccer so far: TVT, Debbie S., Allison K., Tory C., Becca F., Jackie K., Badrul R., my cousin Nickie, Sayrebrook Veterinary Hospital (thanks, mom and dad!), uncle Tony, and Michelle V. If you want to be in the company of these upstanding people, donate today!

Kids playing soccer in the street.

Why am I in Cape Town in the first place? All of this has been made possible through the wonderful people at the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, who have been generous enough to support my research project in South Africa. I am primarily based out of the Emavundlani HIV Prevention Centre located in Crossroads, a neighborhood in Cape Town:

Map of Cape Town.

Emavundleni Prevention Centre

One of the dogs that hangs out outside the center.

For my project, I am conducting a survey in the townships around Cape Town. Specifically, I go around to various taverns (known locally as shebeens) and ask customers about HIV, vaccines, and clinical trials. It’s been really great talking to the people in the community and they have been pretty welcoming. The taverns range from a small 10’x20’ shack with no electricity to larger places with pool tables and flat screen TVs.

Inside one of the shebeens.

The shebeens are where people in the community come together, drink, and socialize, which is why we think it is a good place to educate the community about HIV as well as recruit for clinical trials. And hopefully my project well shed some light on the issue. Pretty cool that I get to go to bars all day, huh? Except there’s no drinking on my part…

Castle: the official beer of everything in South Africa.

Next post:

-I’ll tell you about the most epic road trip ever. Bungee jumping, surfing, lion cubs, and a 16 hours on the road down the beautiful Garden Route along South Africa’s coast.

Future posts:

-I moved to the coast and it’s beautiful

-Shark cage diving and I do not agree on much, mainly on if I should keep my lunch.

-Bastille Day in SA!
-And much, much more...

Until next time,
John

Howzit?

Chillin' at the Waterfront. Haggled for those sunglasses.

Best 60 Rand spent.

I finally have some time to update you guys on what I’ve been doing! A lot has been going on over the last few weeks and instead of doing one long post, I’ll break it up into a few short ones. Work has been really busy, and I have seen so many interesting things while working and driving (!) around the townships . That’s right, I am DRIVING in South Africa – where they drive on the left side of the road. It actually hasn’t been that bad since the traffic here is not nearly as crazy as the tri-state area. Though I did get a flat tire within 30 minutes of getting behind the wheel for the first time (funny, it was my first flat ever). And the townships…well that’s for a whole other blog post. OK, onto the fun stuff:

There may be a major heatwave in the US, but it's a cool 60 degrees here.

Table Mountain! I hiked up Table Mountain a few weeks ago and it was AWESOME. First of all, there is not a bad view in Cape Town with this gorgeous mountain overlooking the city. It is so cool that a city as big as Cape Town has such a great place to hike literally at its feet.

Table Mountain from the Waterfront

It was a tough (but rewarding) 2.5-hour trip up on what felt like a giant Stairmaster most of the time. But I was in good company: Gowri (a UMass Med student who is staying at the Green Elephant as well), Jocelyn (a Canadian student who used to stay at the Green Elephant), Robin (our native Cape Tonian friend), and Ray (a friend of Robin who was our trusty guide. This guy is seriously ridiculous. He has walked/cycled to and from Zimbabwe and is now planning to circumnavigate the globe using only a bike and paddleboat).

Our trusty guide, Ray

Making our way along the trail.

The view of the city and the Atlantic Ocean were amazing as well. Take a look at my Flickr account for more pics!

On top of Table Mountain, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. 

A dassie basking in the sun. The closest relative is the elephant.

TIA (This Is Africa.)

After the hike we headed to Camp’s Bay, which is a really nice suburb on the coast, to watch the sunset. What other city could you hike a mountain and 10 minutes later be at the beach?

Jocelyn rockin' out to the awesome sunset.

Camp's Bay, both a mountain and beach town.

Beach at sunset.

Grassroot Soccer! Last week I took a very special trip to the South African headquarters of GRS, which is located in Cape Town. The people there are all really cool and showed me around the office.

GRS is doing great work all over Africa.

The GRS office.

The GRS staff working hard to prevent the spread of HIV in children.

It’s not a very large office, which makes it even more impressive that they’ve already educated over 400,000 kids about HIV! They want to reach 1 million kids by 2014, in time for the next World Cup taking place in Brazil. So help them out!

Michelle Obama supports Grassroot Soccer. Won't you?

Things to look forward to in future posts:

-Bastille Day is South Africa?!?!

-I’ll tell you a little more about my work (since they are the ones who are funding me… because I actually do some work around here).

-Some stories from the townships.

Until next time!

John

Skål!

Now you know how to say “cheers” in Norwegian (pronounced “skawl”)! So I’ve been picking up some new terms from my Norwegian buddies here in Cape Town.

Vidar (a Norwegian medical student) and I

I’m really amazed with how many languages people know around here. It shouldn’t be surprising though since South Africa has 11 official languages! And to think people in the United States grumble when someone speaks a language other than English (not you guys though :) ). I’m trying my best to learn some of the basics in Afrikaans and Xhosa (which is the language primarily spoken in the township I am working in). Xhosa is such an entirely different language from English and Spanish, which are the only two languages I know. It has a lot of different clicking sounds that require you to use your tongue (“Xh” is one click sound). I started work this week and attempted to pronounce people’s names in Xhosa and was promptly laughed at.

The clinic I am primarily working at is located in the township of Crossroads, which is located close to the airport. The township is a world of its own. There isn’t much public transportation from the main part of Cape Town, so people do not really leave the area. Plus the township extends for miles. Just imagine rows of makeshift aluminum houses beyond the eye can see. It reminds me a lot of some of the poorer communities I saw in the Dominican Republic 4 years ago. (I didn’t bring my camera this time, but I’ll put up some pictures next time.)

I did see a little boy playing soccer outside the clinic, and it made me think of the awesome work that Grassroot Soccer is doing in communities like Crossroads to educate kids about HIV. Actually, Michelle Obama was recently in Cape Town and met with the organization, so check that out! And please feel free to donate to the cause!

I was even more shocked when my coworker took me just 20 minutes outside the township and showed me the Atlantic Seaboard, which have the most beautiful houses (more like mansions) on hills overlooking the ocean. It is an entirely different place. Even though apartheid ended 2 decades ago in South Africa (at least from a governmental perspective), deep divisions and disparities among different races remain.

I’ve been exploring the city more and went to the Waterfront recently to check it out. It is pretty much this really nice/touristy area of town with a large shopping mall on the water. It does have some cool things around it, like a square dedicated to the 4 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates from South Africa (Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, FW de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela):

Nobel Laureates of South Africa

They also have some interesting artwork:

This guy is made out of crates.

Since this is such a touristy place, the stores here are pretty much European- or American- influenced. I thought this store was pretty interesting:

No comment.

And lastly, happy belated Fourth of July! It made me sad to miss the fireworks in NYC or the Boston Pops on the Esplanade. However, the Green Elephant had their own celebration for the homesick Americans:

"Patriotic Shot" = Sambuca, Vodka, and Grenadine

"All America Cocktail" = Jim Beam, Southern Comfort, and Coke

Neither sounded particularly American nor appetizing.

Until next time!

John

Touchdown in the Mother City

Greetings from Cape Town!

It is Day 2 in the city - I wanted to post and update yesterday, but it took some time to set up everything. So I finally made it after a 16+ hour from JFK to Johannesburg, which ended up not being so bad when I ran into Temi and Star at the gate, who happened to be on the same flight for their trip to Mozambique. And here you can see they are very happy to be getting off the plane:

Mount Sinai representin'

From Johannesburg it was a 2-hour flight to Cape Town and a 20-minute drive to the place I’m staying in Observatory, which is a neighborhood in Cape Town. The cab driver was explaining to me how divided the country still is even after the end of apartheid, which you can definitely see in where people live in the city. The townships right next to the airport are where mainly Blacks live. WARNING: YOU WILL LEARN SOMETHING HERE, PROCEED WITH CAUTION. There is an interesting distinction between Blacks and Coloureds in South Africa stemming from how people were racially classified during the apartheid era. Blacks (or Africans) are people whose ancestors are from the native African population of the area before the European settlers arrived (eg, Xhosa, Zulu). Coloured refers to people whose ancestors were not native to the area, and were probably brought to South Africa as slaves from some other place, including other parts of Africa. (If you are interested in learning more about South Africa, I highly recommend A History of South Africa by Leonard Thompson.)

World Cup Stadium - if only I was here last year...

This reminds me: PLEASE DONATE TO GRASSROOT SOCCER!

Observatory is a pretty young area filled with students (including many international ones), and it is where the University of Cape Town is located. There are a good amount of cafés and bars in the area that cater to students, but I still need to be careful about being robbed, which unfortunately is not uncommon (hasn’t happened to me, knock on wood). I’m staying at The Green Elephant, which I would describe as an environmentally conscious hostel. I thought it was cool that they use the used water from the washer for the toilets (and I’m grateful it’s not the other way). There’s a lounge and a nice bar/patio outside too. My room is pretty modest, but the view of Table Mountain is nice.

My room = alright...

 The view from my room = SWEET!

The people I’ve met here are all really nice. The staff is extremely helpful and friendly, and the other people staying here have been great. I’ve met a group of 12 Norwegian medical students who are here for 3 weeks volunteering at a clinic and 2 British medical students who are on what I guess we would call a rotation, but from the sound of it it’s just a vacation). These guys are all pretty entertaining (and check out my video blog for more once I can figure out the Internet here):

 Norwegians and Brits, all medical students

OK, I don’t want to make this too long. You can check out more of my pics on Flickr. I’m already homesick and miss you all!

Take care,

John

Take-Off

I'm at the JFK airport waiting to board my flight to South Africa. Just 18 more hours until I arrive in Cape Town!

Thank you to all who have donated to Grassroot Soccer. We've already made $200! And if you haven't donated yet, you have 2 days to enter the June raffle and win some awesome prizes such as PIZZA PARTY! Visit my donations page for more details.

Sorry that this is so brief. I'll post more when I get a more stable Internet connection.

Take care,
John

Africa-Bound

I’m embarking on two exciting projects this summer and invite you to follow me on my brand new blog, 3000 for Africa! First, I am heading to Cape Town, South Africa this summer for a research project on HIV vaccines. This will be my first time to Africa and I will be going by myself (but feel free to come visit!). So this blog is in part to keep you all updated on what I’m doing as well as to make sure that I am alive and well. I’ll be updating the blog at least once a week. And keep a look out for awesome pics, videos, and prize giveaways from South Africa!

Second, I am excited to be raising money this year for an incredible organization, Grassroot Soccer, while training for my FIRST ever marathon, the ING NYC Marathon on November 6^th, 2011! Over the years I have worked towards eradicating HIV both here in the US and around the world, and Grassroots Soccer’s mission to use the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV meshes perfectly with the work I have been doing.

We all remember the amazing World Cup last year in South Africa, but you may not have known that an estimated 330,000 kids are living with HIV in South Africa alone – that’s about the population of Honolulu, Hawaii or Tampa, Florida. Grassroots Soccer wants to educate 1 million youth about HIV by 2014, in time for the World Cup in Brazil, and they’ve reached 400,000 kids to date. However, 7,000 people become infected with HIV each day, and 45% of those infections occur among young people between the ages of 15-24. We need to educate these youths to combat the spread of HIV, and your donations will help in this fight.

Did you know it only costs $25 to educate 1 youth? You can’t even buy 2 movie tickets in NYC for that much! My goal is to raise at least $3,000 this year for Grassroots Soccer so that they can continue to educate children about HIV – enough support for 120 kids. Your contributions will help me reach that goal and help me cross that finish line in Central Park on November 6^th (hope to see you there if you can make it!). Please consider donating as much as you can, whether it is $10, $25, $100, or more (fingers crossed!). And as extra incentives to donate, I'll detail some cool prizes in a later post that you can get for your donations!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or words of support you may have as I explore Cape Town and train for the NYC marathon.

Thanks!
John