Adjusting to Africa, Brian Moore reports from Cape Town

Noted on January 23, 2009 by Natanya in Life Sciences/Resource Management,Africa,English,Biology,Culture Shock,First Day of Work,Settling In,

Brian Moore received an IE3 scholarship to intern in South Africa with Table Mountain Marine Team. He reports in on the highlights, and challenges, of adjusting on his first trip to Africa.

So I’m done with the first week and it has been a hard one. The long flight was brutal. I have never flown in a plane for such a long time, but when we finally got to Cape Town I was so excited. There were some things that sort of scared me on my first few days here. One is that every building has bars in the windows and barbwire around their fences. The other is that when you walk at night you need to walk in groups and stay in lighted areas because if you don’t you will be mugged. It was a shock to me coming from the land of privilege to come to this, but it is one thing that I have grown more comfortable with as the week has gone on. Traveling through 9 time zones in a day does come with complications and I have been suffering through that wonderful phenomena known as jet lag, and have had a few very long nights this past week.

I have also grown a little home sick, it really is funny that you don’t really miss a place until you leave it. But there is a quote by Mark Twain that has helped me, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

There has also been a bit of culture shock, life just happens here differently. One of the main things I have noted so far is that South Africans are a sarcastic bunch. They also flip each other a lot of stuff all the time. But I have found the hardest thing is Africa Time. Coming from a very time centered society, it is hard to deal with people showing up 30 minutes late to work, or all the random downtime that we have.

However, I do not want to make it seem like it has been a bad experience, the complete opposite is true, I have been having a great time. I have meet great people and have made new life-long friends. I have learned and seen things that I would have never experienced living in the States. I have learned about South Africa, about its wildlife, and how to best adjust to new environments. I have seen stuff that we don’t have in Oregon, like townships and squatter camps; my first few days I pitied these people but as I got to meet them, I soon found out that they seemed much happier than people much better off than they are. I think that it can only get better from now on to the end and I am starting to adjust to this new place.