Expatria

It's been a while since I posted about travel and over a year since I left for South Africa. I do miss it. But while I used to believe that I loved traveling, I now realize that I miss something different. It isn't just going abroad that I enjoy, but the permanence of living abroad. Traveling can be eye-opening and wonderful, but it can easily become a tireless trek from attraction to attraction. There's nothing wrong with that, of course -  many of my trips abroad have been just that, but after a while it can be stressful and exhausting. And often at the end, I don't feel like I ever really knew the place. I think what I most enjoy about going abroad is immersing myself in something different. When living abroad, every mundane task becomes an adventure.

My first attempt at buying a trash bag in Seoul. Instead of buying a ten liter bag, I bought a one hundred liter bag.

Take opening a bank account. I opened an account in Bordeaux when I studied abroad and in Seoul when I taught there. They produced two very different experiences that I believe taught me more about those countries than visits to a vineyard or noraebang. In France, as with just about everything there, it was a bureaucratic hassle. Armed with an EU citizenship, a French residence, registration as a student at a local university, and decent French language skills, it still took over a week and mounds of paperwork just to set up an appointment to meet with the bank manager. When I finally had my appointment, she asked me a number of questions, had me sign a lot of contracts I didn't understand, and finally granted me an account. From start to finish, it took two weeks. In Seoul, on the other hand, it was swift and efficient. I showed up just before closing, asked if they had anyone who spoke English (they did), handed over my passport, and within a matter of minutes had a fully functioning bank account.

My kitchen in Bordeaux. It wasn't long before I learned the words for "mouse droppings" - "crotte de souris."

Closing my bank accounts produced just as different, and just as telling, experiences. In Bordeaux, the bank teller, who had come to know me well from my visits to the ATM, was shocked when I told him I wanted to close my account. "Why not leave it open for when you come back?" he said. "I don't know when I'll be back," I answered. His face fell. "But you just moved here." I told him that I'd been studying abroad and had to return to my college back home. He shook my hand, wished me well in life, and encouraged me to return. It was an oddly sentimental ending to what I'd considered only a business relationship. In Seoul, closing the account was as easy as opening it. No one knew me or cared that I was leaving after almost a year in the country. Fifteen minutes and a few quick entries into a system and my account was dissolved as if it had never existed.

In Korea, prescriptions come in daily portions, so that you don't have to worry about what to take when. Unfortunately, it also means that if one of the drugs upsets your stomach you have no way of knowing which one to stop taking.

When I was in France, this experience and others taught me that the French eschew shallow relationships. Sometimes appearing unfriendly, they rarely chat with the person next to them in line or welcome the new foreign student. But once a relationship is established, it runs deep. In Seoul, on the other hand, people are warm and welcoming to visitors and it is easy to strike up a conversation with someone at the park or on the street. But at the end of the day, Seoul is a mega-city in which millions of people engage in millions of transactions every day. A foreigner closing a bank account does not elicit much interest.

Scotsmen really do wear kilts!

What I like about living abroad is the reduced pressure to rush around taking pictures of iconic attractions in a span of a few days or weeks. I like that living abroad creates unexpected hiccups and surprise friends. To that end, I think I'd rather live in a few places than visit many.

Cape Town and other Beautiful Things

I'd been told by a few South Africans that Cape Town was the most beautiful city in the world. It was a superlative I'd heard before from people in various countries talking about various cities. My co-interns and I were skeptical. Between the three of us, we'd traveled to six of the seven continents and seen quite a number of beautiful cities. And yet, as I'd found a number of times during my trip to South Africa, the place rarely underwhelms.

Cape Town couldn't be more different from Johannesburg. Where Jozy is urban, gated, and fast-paced, Cape Town is beachy, open, and slow.* It has beautiful geography, including the famous Table Mountain.  Unfortunately, while we were there, the cable car that goes to the top of the mountain was under repair, so we had to hike up it.  We were warned that it was quite a tough 4-hour climb, but our 20-something selves said "psh." Climbing to the top of Table Mountain was sort of like doing 2000 lunges up boulders of seemingly increasing size. Fortunately, the hike was worth it.

You can see one of the World Cup stadiums to the left.

Interestingly, climbing down Table Mountain was also like doing 2000 lunges, except instead of putting all my weight on my quads, I put it on my knees. I'd recommend taking the cable car.

Cape Town also has fascinating history. District Six, a township in Cape Town, was the inspiration for the movie District 9. In addition, Nelson Mandela was famously imprisoned on Robben Island, about 30 minutes off the coast of Cape Town, for 18 years before being transferred to a mainland prison for another 10 years.

All of the tour guides are former political prisoners.

Recreational area for prisoners

The view wasn't so bad from outside the prison. Table Mountain in the distance.

Nelson Mandela's cell.

They also have a wharf that is arguably much better than Fisherman's Wharf.** No, there aren't any smelly sea lions, but they do have nifty sculptures.

Made entirely out of Coca-Cola crates.

While many cities can claim to be near the ocean, Cape Town can claim two: the Indian and Atlantic meet a few miles south of the city at Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. To get down the cape, there's a highway that winds its way along the coast, much like the Pacific Coast Highway in the US.

I felt like the area practically photographed itself.

Just like me!

Wild ostriches

The area is also known for its fauna. About halfway between Cape Town and Cape Point is Simon's Town. The city used to be an important naval site and is now known for its penguin and great white shark populations. Since I was forbidden from swimming the sharks (lame!) I hung out with the penguins instead.

Also, if you're a sandwich fan, I have to say that I had pretty much the best sandwich I've ever had in Cape Town.*** Called the Gatsby, it was apparently created by the residents of the nearby township, the Cape Flats, who used to put any food they could find between two slices of bread. Today, the Gatsby is usually meat, salad, and french fries on a large subway roll and with a delicious sauce on top. I ordered a "half Gatsby" and the woman behind the counter asked me how many pieces I wanted it cut into. I didn't really understand what she meant until I saw the thing. A half Gatsby is probably the largest sandwich I've ever ordered, half or whole. I got about two-thirds into it before collapsing into a stuffed heap.

In case you couldn't tell, Cape Town is awesome. The most beautiful city in the world? Maybe.

Other-non-Cape-Town-but-still-beautiful-things

At the end of our safari in Kruger, our safari guide took us to the Blyde River Canyon, one of the largest canyons in the world. Yet another feature of the wonderful Drakensberg, the Blyde River Canyon also contains the Three Rondavels, Lucky's Potholes, and a view from the top of the canyon known as God's Window.

We went on a walk and stumbled across some kudu.

Someone let me captain the boat cruise??!

Hippo

Waterfall that sorta looks like a crying monkey.

We stayed in the canyon.

Crossing an old bridge.

We drove by the Three Rondavels.

Lucky's potholes

The inside of a pothole.

We also paid a visit to God's Window.

The view from God's window.

*Someone told us that things don't get started until around 2PM there. Sounds like my kind of place.
**There were actually a lot of similarities between Cape Town and San Francisco - laid-back, beautiful scenery, infamous island prison.
***That's right, better than a kebab.****
****OK, I take it back, maybe not better than a kebab. But it's definitely up there.