The Ithacan

Afrikaburn

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • May 4, 2012

With the semester coming to a close (though i go until mid-June) it was time for one last big trip before finals. We decided to go to Afrikaburn, the South African equivalent of Burning Man. So at 8 AM we loaded into a huge bus, drove six hours in the Karoo Desert and found our…

Giving Back

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • April 17, 2012

One of the most important things that I have learned while in South Africa, is how meaningful it is to give back, to volunteer, to help others. This sounds really cliché, american student going abroad to help poor african children, but at the same time there are people in dire need of services and who…

Drinking beer with the Zulu

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • April 11, 2012

There are many different types of beer. Go to any Wegmans and you'll see a plethora of options. What you won't see on their shelves however is traditional beer made from maize. I got to try some when i visited Soweto (one of the largest townships, located outside of Johannesburg). Xhosa beer is typically made…

Kruger National Park

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • April 8, 2012

Spring break. It finally came. No classes for a week, no tests, no papers. A full week of relaxation. Unfortunately waking up at 5 A.M. the first day of spring break is not what you'd think of as relaxing. But it was worth it because we were going on a safari in Kruger National Park.…

I ate this (and did not throw up)

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • March 28, 2012

There comes a time while traveling when you are confronted with food that you are not used to. The vast majority of the time, the food looks normal, is actually very common and you have just never come across it before. That was not the case with smiley. Smiley is one of those food that…

Shawco

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • March 26, 2012

This semester i have become very involved with an organization named Shawco. Through this organization, i go to Manenberg Township and teach fourth graders english twice a week at Manenberg Primér School. Here are some portraits of some of the kids i work with:

District 6 Museum

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • March 22, 2012

District 6 was a pre-apartheid area in Cape Town. It was an area where people were forcibly removed from their homes and resettled into townships based on race. District 6 is different from many of the other districts, because it was a place where whites, blacks, indians, malaysians, and khoesan lived together peacefully, therefore going…

Smells like school spirit

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • March 19, 2012

I've never been to a school that has school spirit. That's pretty pathetic especially considering that's what american schools are known for. Going to the rugby games here is completely different. You have to arrive extremely early to get a seat, people dress in school colours, paint themselves, lead cheers, etc. There is even not…

Hospital

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • March 9, 2012

I always have a sense of foreboding when I enter hospitals. Knowing that there are a plethora of needles inside and many who are sick unnerves me. For obvious reasons I only go to the doctor’s when it is absolutely necessary. The township hospital gave me that same sense of foreboding except when you entered…

Football

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • March 5, 2012

“We need more paper,” Sango said as he was balling up wads of old newspapers around some small rocks. “Here, HERE! I have some,” yelled Sipho. Making a soccer ball takes a lot of work. Finding the old newspapers and rocks were easy, the ground outside was littered with both. Compacting the paper around the…

Township Series: Part Three

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • March 2, 2012

I have pointed out many of the differences between townships and the United States but there are still similarities. The children sing songs by Nicki Minaj or Drake and if you get the antenna just right, a fairly clear picture on the TV emerges and an American sitcom comes on. Mama Nosintho acted like my…

Township Series: Part Two

By Michelle Boulé, Blogger • February 29, 2012

Mama Nosintho and I walked from the mini bus stop to her house. Along the way she stopped and talked to everyone we met along the way. I soon became lost trying to distinguish who was a cousin, who was a neighbor, or who was a kid she used to babysit. We passed several…