Tina believes we are all not so different as it may appear

When announced that we would be spending the weekend in Ocean View, I had no idea what to expect and promised myself I would make no presumptions. Although we were told not to have an “American expectation” when visiting the homes, it did not even cross my mind that I would have one going into this experience. I do not even think I know what an American experience would look like, due to the subjective nature of that phrase; I’m inferring it meant a very exorbitant lifestyle and the opposite of humble means. Nonetheless, I was surprised by what I experienced in Ocean View, and the normalcy of it all—the people, the homes and the conversation.

While in Cape Town, I have done my best to appreciate everything for what it is and have tried not to taint my experiences by juxtaposing everything I do and see to what I am used to. I think at times it is helpful or interesting to see comparisons or distinctions between my home and Cape Town, but I try not to look through an American lens, but rather a global one, attempting to gain a better understanding of others to further enrich myself and see how I fit as an actor on the world stage. I think this weekend provided me with the perfect opportunity to use my global lens to experience an utterly different life.

My host family was amazing, and I can't picture spending my weekend any other way. My Auntie Bernie and Uncle Ivan were some of the kindest, warmest, most sincere, hardworking, funny people I have had the pleasure of meeting in South Africa. They have an incredibly smart and sassy nine-year-old daughter named Aimee and a fourteen-year-old son named Robin. This weekend was all about expanding my comfort zone and global gaze, which is exactly what I did. I talked to and lived amongst a family I probably would have never met, I ate mayonnaise, talked about my Americanness in ways I never had to before, and grew to appreciate my life at home even more so.

Jessica & Tina with their host family

Beforehand, I was nervous my family and I would have little to talk about or that I would be grilled the entire weekend and seen as this foreign figure, but I was happily surprised by the naturalness of it all and the amount of connections we had. I was shocked by how at home I felt and the wontedness of a stranger’s house. My family had a beautiful remodeled kitchen, in which my Auntie whipped up three-course meals with effortless ease; they had a lovely living room where my Uncle and Robin watched soccer games, and a tablet in which Aimee streamed Bruno Mars videos on YouTube. We exchanged Facebook names, went to a birthday party and to the beach, watched “Chopped” and discussed the ways in which Apartheid, matric, and Ocean View impacted my host family’s life. Everything seemed very customary to what would happen in my family—we were truly living amongst this family’s typical conduct.

I feel like throughout a lot of the experiences I have had thus far, I have been informed to not expect similarities, but rather extreme distinctions. I find that the more time I spend in Cape Town, the more I do and the more people that I talk to, that I realize this place is not really so much different from home. Sure, the weather is balmy and there is no New England charm anywhere, but I find myself acting and engaging as I would back in the States. This weekend reaffirmed for me that on a fundamental level, we are all people, just trying to be the best we can be. Although we may have Facebook, food, or One Direction as a starting point for a connection or conversation, it is the little things that are the tipping point in terms of our interconnectivity. We are all not so different as it may appear.