Internship Week 4 – The setting of the sun.

I’m just going to go straight to the point and say that the sunsets here have been the most beautiful I have seen in my life. It has been truly an honor to run in the afternoons with the warm glow as my lighting guiding my runs.

The way the pink haziness kisses the rocks on the side of Lion’s Head, the coolness felt as soon as the sun hides behind the horizon, and the visualization of time passing in those fast minutes the sun completely disappears, it reminds me I am alive. The landscapes and the earth here have made me respect and appreciate the perfect balance of nature in a new way. A way they have helped me adjust how I view life is to not be scared of time. Intimidated of time might be more accurate, I have experienced day and night in ways that make me at peace with time. From taking a bus ride to the Camp’s Bay with just enough time to get off the bus, walk to a cafe with a view of the sun and order a drink before Happy Hour ends, but just timed well enough that it arrives minutes before the sun starts to put on the grand finale. A schedule to the minute could have not accomplished how well timed all of that was.

People say things are late when they are not when they are scheduled to happen, but what if they are perfectly timed for your life in that moment? Sometimes you just have to throw the schedule out the window because the sun waits for no one, but everyone waits for the sun. To tell you when to rise and shine an when to rest. The eclipse was also another reminder of the need to be at peace with time, because I wanted it to stop so I could take a nap but not miss the show, but there was no pause button. I took a nap outside during the eclipse, but just because my eyes were not open to see it happened, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t experience it. Time is always a mystery.

On a less intense note, I climbed up Lions Head on Sunday, the time that was the most breathtaking was not going up or down, but at the top.

As I was running to go home, I got on one of the main roads and I suddenly hear my name being yelled, I panic and run faster. Panicked but with curiosity, I glance back to see that it was some of my new friends I have made during my time here. They were on their way to have a picnic on the side of the hill to see the sunset, they had called my phone but I didn’t answer because I was hiking and by pure coincidence we ran into each other. It was meant to be, I got in the car and we ate pizza and watched the sunset, they were going back to Angola for a month and that was actually their last day there.

If I would have climbed down too early or too late I would have missed them completely. The timing was perfect.

Internship Week 3 – The Secret Garden

As soon as I got off the plane in Johannesburg I was greeted with a lush array of my favorite flowers, Birds of Paradise, and instantly I knew my time here was going to be lovely. This week earth, nature and gardens have made their appearances in various ways and it was very nurturing.

This week there was an art conservation workshop at the National Gallery, and one thing that stood out to me was when the instructor mentioned that one of the reasons Terra-cotta has survived time so well is that it has been conserved by dirt because it is dirt. The ancient art of the past is primarily made of mediums that are of the earth and they are still here today.

Later that week we went to Fossil Creek park to see fossils and the new exhibition space there and it really re-iterated that science and art are not two different fields but two different lenses to view life through, and to understand the other sometimes we need the magnifying glass of science and vice versa. A way to step back from the canvas and understand the big picture of the work being done.

The week was finished by going to the Botanical Gardens, and in my attempt to get a step back and see the big picture of the garden, I accidentally started going on a trail up a mountain that was taking me out of the garden and into some hiking trails. The walkways were sometimes lined in Birds of Paradise. I kept getting lost and going off trail but I never opened the map because I was just where I needed to be, and as handy as a map can be, it only tells you about where you could be, not where you should. That’s why you just fly up and look for the prettiest blob and fly there, from the trail on the side of the mountain, the whole garden looked enticing so I unknowingly explored it all by getting lost over and over. I wore the wrong outfit that day.

Penguins at Simons Town

I don’t really like enjoying nature in a crowd or with a group. Not because I do not want to be around them, but because it interferes with how I connect to nature personally. When I am in a new physical environment I want to connect with it as soon as I set my eyes on it, and sometimes people distract that trance. I enjoy connecting so much that it is a much diluted version of the feelings experienced when you fall in love. I want to know the landscape as intimately as possible so I can learn to exist in it in a way that helps it grow and not harm. I love that relationship, because nature does nothing back give life back to you. Whether it is simply the air you breathe, the water you drink, or the joy you get when you see penguins coming out of the water unto the shore. Why must a relationship like that be harmed? In order to find a connection, I jumped the fence. I looked for signs saying I could not do that and all I saw was to not hurt the animals or the environment. So I jumped to where I can remove myself from the crowd, I did not harm the environment I simply stood a couple of feet away from the fence for less than 5 minutes. When else was I going to get another chance to connect to this beautiful environment in a land so far and unique that I might not ever see. I realize rules are there for a reason, and sometimes all it takes is one person to hurt the environment for there to be a need to enforce rules to prevent the possibility of another person hurting it. I hope I didn’t hurt the environment by my standing feet away and I hope I didn’t traumatize the penguins, my intention was kind. I will always keep that moment with me and I had never been so close to such happy penguins. This is an apology to them and their home if my presence caused them harm. I am aware that plastic straws are detrimental to the oceans, so as a way to show my appreciation to having received from them, I will make an honest effort to use less plastic straws.

Cape Town’s Garden

This Friday marked the end of the first week of my South African internship at the Social History Centre. It’s been a great week — I’ve already gotten my hands dirty (well, figuratively speaking since wearing protective gloves is usually required) moving artifacts in an exhibit, assessing the condition of recently acquired objects, and recording the climate conditions in various storerooms.

Despite my enjoyment of the work so far, there’s still something about getting back to that 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (or 4 p.m. in my case) grind. It’s exhausting! And even if you enjoy your work, it’s easy to dread the sight of the same office building for so many hours so many days each week.

That’s why I’m glad my walk home from work takes me through Cape Town’s Company’s Garden. Some of my fellow students have their internships at Iziko spaces in the Company’s Garden, including the South African National Gallery and the South African Museum, so after work we usually meet in the Garden to walk home together.

There’s something so calming about walking through the Garden as the sun is getting lower and lower in the sky and the light is turning amber. It’s a sigh of relief at the end of a long day — a time to empty thoughts from your head and just enjoy this bit of nature amid the bustling city. The garden has cobblestone paths, fountains, animals, and a myriad of different plants, from bamboo to rose bushes to palm trees. It’s filled with other people commuting home, families out for an evening walk, and children enjoying a game of cricket or soccer (football!) before they’re summoned to dinner. I love it. The walk usually doesn’t last more than 10 minutes, but I could spend hours in the Company’s Garden.