A Day in the Life: Cape Town Edition

I’ve been so into the research here that I sometimes forget how unique and action-packed my typical Cape Town day is. Last Thursday is a pretty good example for what an average day has been like.

7:30 AM: Get out of bed and take an outdoor shower (though in an enclosed, private space) while catching a view of the top of Table Mountain. Taking a hot outdoor shower under rainy conditions in 40 degree weather is actually pretty awesome.

8:00 AM: Head to the University of Cape Town. On the way, I pass wildebeest and the occasional zebra in their natural habitat.

8:30 AM – noon: Dig into the data set and do some serious programming. I have a desk in UCT’s Leslie Commerce Hall. I spend some time chatting up UCT grad students and professors and talk travel with an interesting and very sharp American anthropology student. (Has anyone else realized that anthropologists use the word “context” a lot? Political scientists like to talk about “salience.” I still use words like “dude” and “cool.”)

Noon – 1 PM: Grab some lunch with UCT undergrads.

1 PM – 2:30 PM: Head out to one of Cape Town’s poorer townships and help my colleague/co-author Brendan Maughan-Brown deliver blankets to kids as part of his blanket drive. These areas are characterized by lots of small shacks, paved, but crumbling roads, and high unemployment. However, the spirits are warm, the people friendly, and the kids are really cute.

3:00 – 6:00 PM: Do some more work. Get in some serious “ground-truthing” action by asking those in the know about some sociological and economics hunches we have.

6:00 – 7:30 PM: Watch Sonia Gandhi, the most powerful woman – or, depending on your point of view, person - in India, deliver a lecture at UCT on Gandhianism in the 21^st century.

8:00 PM – sleepy time: Enjoy a goose-egg omelet for dinner, spend a couple hours doing programming, read some Harry Potter, and practice singing “Sleepy Fish.”

Finally, here are some pictures I took this weekend on a trip to the Cape Wine Country. Enjoy!