The Road Less Traveled...: September 2009

Patience is a virtue…Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

So since I have been here I have definitely learned to be a more patient person and learned so much about life beyond my own….A few days ago I had a really life changing experience when I was walking home from the gym…two men asked me for money and I just kept walking but then they started speaking !Xhosa and one grabbed my bookbag…so I just ran back to the house and thankfully they left me alone but for the grace of God…and just when I was winding down from that incident I had the infamous ROOMMATE DRAMA….My roommate and I are very different and had very little in common, but I honestly made a concentrated effort to get along with her. She was a morning person and everyone knows that I’m a nightowl but I tried to be accommodating and would spend much of my time outside of the room with Eboni. I would take my shoes off before entering the room because our house was really old and you could hear a lot of noise, I would get dressed in the dark, and use the bathroom light instead of turning on my own personal light. It came clear quickly that we just were not compatible people and there was little effort on her part to get to know me and when I tried to make conversation with her she was very short and awkward about it so I just decided we would only leave together. This arrangement was fine by me because I’ve made other friends in the house and I was not rude to her so I was living happily…Well on Friday we decided as a group to cook spaghetti and I took the lead…(yeah I COOKED spaghetti with my own homemade sauce)…I do have skills sometimes….but anyway we invited the entire house and was a really big meal when my roommate overheard she said she wanted Mexican so we shrugged it off…Later she told people that she was not invited and that the group choose to exclude her…After dinner I went upstairs to chat with some people and my buddy Thomas texted me and was like my roommate was thinking about moving but did not want to hurt my feelings because I was really loud, I didn’t make an effort to be her friend, that I turned the TV on really late @ night, I turned the lights on @ night, and just was generally rude and disrespectful to her…Well apparently she went on this campaign because by Friday night at the house party a few more individuals expressed this belief to me…I didn’t say anything to her immediately because I do have a temper, so I prayed for a clear head and guidance for the right words to say…On Saturday most of the group went to the whale festival but I did not go because I really hate underwater creatures…so Diana and I went out with a co-worker from our intern…great time by the way, found a great mall, with great heels, and nice designers clothes made by young, upcoming, designers for really cheap…I’m in love…but back to the story so Sunday I decided to talk to my roommate and address the issues at hand, I first talked to three other people in the group about what I was going to say to make sure it wasn’t rude or confrontational…once I felt comfortable I asked my roommate to talk…I did not close the door and was preparing for the gym while talking to her…so I expressed to her that it was disrespectful for her to address issues she has with me with other housemates, and that I have tried to make a concentrated effort to accommodate her, and not to use me as a reason/excuse for her own personal want to move…she was really defensive, said that I should take everything that people in the house said with a grain of salt…that she did not want to move but that she felt we had different sleep schedules and this is all she told other people…(a complete lie and everyone knows I HATE LIARS)…but I told her she didn’t owe me explanations, I was not there when the conversations went down and that to alleviate this from happening she should have just come directly to me…she was still on the defensive even after I had spoken my piece….now frame of reference for how nice I am the first night here she got so drunk she threw up all over herself and our bathroom, I cleaned her and the bathroom up without a word or judgment. On top of dealing with her stomping around in the morning, brushing her teeth near my head, and other random things that annoyed me. So while I was at the gym happy and relaxing in the hot tub because I felt the situation was over and relieved she was on yet another campaign…I get back to the house and Eboni says she needs to talk…my roommate basically said she was scared to stay with me, uncomfortable with me in the room and could not live there for the rest of the semester, that I belittled her and basically attacked her. All lies in her quest to make me seem like the angry black person as I am on the only black student on the program. I WAS BEYOND ANGRY WHEN I FOUND THIS OUT and decided immediately that she no longer existed to me, so then after I walk around to decompress and get over what I had just been told she tries to talk to me but I ignored her because like I said before she no longer exists to me…but at this end of this situation I have learned to be more patient and continual love the person that I am…My roommate is racist that have been off handed remarks about local South Africans, her change of internship, and finally this final incident that affirms for me her true attitudes but I love the person I am, I love being black, and will not change for anyone…I’m glad I chose to take the high road and address the situation instead of living in a shroud of lies and deceit…Cape Town has taught me so much about life and myself and although the situation and the stereotype sucked I am now a better person for having experience it…Well have another post tomorrow because I’m going to hike TABLE MOUNTAIN…pray for me ya’ll…..

Alright, so I know I'm doing really bad about blogging but this has been a very interesting week here in South Africa to say the least. There has been some upheaval in trials with the programs but in the process I've had a really good time. I've seen penguins and to be honest they're not really that interesting, darn you Morgan Freeman. Cute though really cute. Was almost blown off a lighthouse tower which def would've meant certain death. I def need to get my weight up, although I've been eating more here. I swear the food here is so delicious and really cheap no wonder everyone here isn't obese. My internship @ Christal House is amazing though the children and staff or sooooo friendly and very polite. The children are really interested in American popular culture which is a little disconcerting because much of what they know about or ask me about America has to do with celebs like Chris Brown, Beyonce, Rihanna, America's Next Top Model(ugh), 50 Cent, and TI just to name a few. Some things you just can't escape. But I am excited that John Legend is coming to Cape Town the only drawback is his opening act Keri Hilson but ugh it could be worst. Anyhoot I'm really missing FB season but GO SAINTS and surprisingly UNC is doing really well so GO HEELS!!!

But anyway these pics are from my entire week here and I'm preparing more meaningful blog posts sometime in the near future...but until then enjoy the pics.