Saying goodbye...

As my time here in Cape Town comes to an end, there are millions of emotions and thoughts running through my head. A week from today I will be boarding a plane back to the US and I don't know if I'm ready yet. I know it has to happen and it will because trust me, if I didn't get on that plane, my mother would KILL me!!! :) So now that my time is dwendling down to single numbers, i have to start thinking about and actually saying goodbye to people and places I have been surrounded with for these past four months. All my life I have never been good at good-byes and especially with quick change. High school graduation, moving to college, going home for summer break, and leaving for South Africa have been the hardest goodbyes I have ever had to do. Moving on to the next chapter of your life is exciting but scary and sad. Saying goodbye to the people you love the most in life is not easy at all. Living here in Cape Town for 4 months has allowed me to meet some amazing people and make life long friendships that i will never forget. Now that the time has come to move on and come home, i dont want to say goodbye to these people but i know i have to. Saying goodbye means that we are leaving each other, leaving this place, and going back to a place that is completely different from the one we are living in now. We have been through so much here and most of the stuff will never be understood by anyone besides the people on my program. The friends I have made here will be my friends forever and it is going to be so hard to say goodbye and let go to an experience that has changed my life in so many different ways. They have been there for me through some crazy times and i really dont want to leave the memories we have had behind. But we know its what we have to do and our friendship is only being moved to a different country. these goodbyes are going to be hard but something we have to do. just like the goodbyes i had to say leaving for South Africa, the goodbyes i have to say leaving South Africa are going to be so hard but necessary. I think this time here has been amazing and life changing. it has helped us grow and mature into strong individuals we never thought we could be. these goodbyes are not forever, they are more like a "see you later" but goodbye to south africa, until we come back again!!!

Studying, finals and some fun

The past two week has been full of loads of studying and time in the library, taking 2 hour finals that were all essay based, and some fun to keep me sane. On thursday October 30th, my friends Lauren and Ravi and I took a cab to the botanical gardens in Kirstenbosch. Now let me tell you, this place is absolutely beautiful!!! There are so many different gardens and places to sit and enjoy the gorgeous scenery of flowers, mountains and these really annoying geese like things. Ravi, Lauren and I took a picnic up and sat on the grass in one of the numerous gardens looking at the mountains and just enjoying each others company. The scenery was beautiful and i hope to go back again soon

these are just google images, ill put more of mine up later!!

Unfortunatly the rest of the week was full of studying with various meals as breaks. Although we did go to watch the sunset on saturday night was absolutely beautiful!! The sunsets here are amazing and every night it looks different. I am really going to miss them!! So studying and exams went well for the most part. Exams are worth at least 50% of your final grade here which is quite a lot but they were managable. All four of mine were essay format and 2 hours long so i wrote 2 or 3 essays for each exam. My hand definitly started to feel it after awhile but I made it. Its so weird to think that I am half way through my junior year but I am!!! In the end classes at UCT werent as bad as I thought but definitly a lot different from any classes or exams at Merrimack. I have liked studying here but I can't wait to get back to the small, familiar classes at Merrimack next semester!!

South African fact: Last week I wrote 4 exams instead of "taking" them like in the states.

Habitat for Humanity...Africa style

Today my friend Lauren and I volunteered to help with a Habitat for Humanity group here in Cape Town. We from town around 8:45am and drove to a far away township which was our worksite for the day. There were a bunch of guys from the township already working there and then we showed up as two white girls ready to work. There was also a UCT graduate, Ian, with us. All morning we mixed cement and moved cinderblocks around until a group of addicts came to volunteer for the day. The first thing they told us was that they were in rehab. Some were drug addicts, some were alcoholics, one was anorexic and then they said there was even sex addicts living in the rehab house! Lauren and I found it quite interesting to hear all their stories all day. The most interesting part for me was the fact that this one rehab center of 25 people treated all these kinds of addicts and druggies. I feel like they are all very different problems and should be dealt with differently instead of all together under one house. So anyways, some of them helped out at the sight but others were too small or just really didn’t want to work. One lady worked really hard and one guy walked around all day with his shirt off getting a tan instead of helping! Halfway through the day we had a tea break and found out that one of the girls was a police officer in England for 6 years, was a rehab counselor but is now in rehab herself! It was a very interesting day but they left early before lunch. Throughout the day Lauren and I talked with the neighbors who were helping and learned a lot about the Zulu culture. When the wife gets married, the ceremony is held at the husband’s house. She wears a black head scarf and black clothing as a sign of respect during the ceremony. This respect is towards her husbands ancestors. Everything is done to protect the husband’s ancestors and never the wife’s. For the first week after the marriage, the wife must sleep with the husbands elders and then go back to her husband the second week to get pregnant. Once the women are married, they must always wear a head scarf and something around their waste to show respect. After the rehab people left, we had chicken curry made by the neighbors which was fabulous! So we ate lunch and then left right after because we were tired and sun burned! Overall it was a really fun day because hey, we built a house!!!

South African Fact: respect is a big part of Xhosa culture. Must respect husband's ancestors, yours don’t matter. Even if it’s a cross-cultural marriage, you have to obey and respect the ancestors of the husbands’ side and no one else.

Trip to Durban, South Africa

So this week is study week so my friends and i thought it would be nice to get out of cape town for a little bit so me Aya and Poetry went to go visit poetrys friends in Durban which is a 2 hour flight from Cape Town. now Durban is known for its beautiful beaches and warm water but of course when we went it was raining but we still touched the Indian Ocean and did lots of shopping instead!
Overall the trip was a lot of fun but the weather sucked. we left tuesday and came back today so it was short and sweet lol. everything went fine except a little hiccup in the beginning when we went to check in and found out that poetry had booked her ticket for the 20th instead of the 21st so she had to pay like 400R which is less than $40 to change her flight. but then everything was smooth rolling from there on out. we arrived in durban and got a cab to a nearby mall where poetry's friend Zoe picked us up and brought us to his apartment. we then put our stuff down and then went to walk by the beach near his house and get lunch. the weather was rainy but aya and i still dipped our feet in the indian ocean!!! at night we just hung out at their apartment which was such a bachelors pad with two red couchs where we slept and white walls. we cooked dinner and then just hung out, you know my limited cooking skills so i helped where i could lol. then on saturday we went to this huge mall, did some shopping cause the exchange rate was at $11 for 1Rand. then we went to the indian district and the market and did more shopping. the Indian District and market was a lot like the ones in cape town but they were Indian people selling African things which was werid to me. like the lady would say "o i cant drop the price too much because i have to make a profit but then if you think about it, the Black Africans make everything and the Indians sell it so who should really get the profit?? also in the Indian District we went into a music store which had tons of african club music blasting and the black guys working there were all dancing. since i was the only white person in the store, they wanted me to dance for them so i did and made a complete fool out of myself but the guys enjoyed it and i had fun so thats all that matters! just another crazy south african experience to add to the list!!
After the market, aya and i went to the aquarium right by zoes appartment and say nemo and dory fish!!! then at night we went out to dinner with our girlfriends from CIEE and then out to a dance club. it was a lot of fun and really relaxing which is what we needed cause these next two weeks are going to be full of studying!
Durban is a pretty cool city but definitly a lot different from Cape Town. It is more diverse and cuturally mixed. The only time I saw a large number of white people was when we went to the dance club called 80s on wednesday night. I think that if i went to Durban at the beginning of my trip i would have been really uncomfortable but i have grown so much and realized that race really doesnt matter so i felt completely comfortable the whole time i was there.

South African fact: the music played in all the clubs here is called House music and apparently there is a certain way to dance to it but im not sure exactly how it is. i just dance like i do at home and probably get looked at funny but yet again half the time we are in clubs, no one even acknowledges us because we are American!!

I know mom, i havent updated my blog in a while!!! well, here you go :)

So I know I haven’t written on this blog for a while but I have been really busy. Anyways lets start with after spring break which was like a month ago lol. It rained a lot in September including one day of me getting completely soaked and having to buy sweatpants at the UCT campus store so I could have dry pants, well sort of dry, for the rest of the day. I have been writing a lot of papers and doing lots of work but having fun too. The second weekend in September we went to a beach called Muizenberg where we hung out all day in the beautiful sun. Since i’m that dangerous type, my friend Mike and I jumped into the freezing cold ocean of South Africa just to get wet but then was dry in a matter of 10 mins after I got out of the water!! But then it was nice so me, Mike and my friend Lindsay from the service learning program made a sandcastle J but it wasn’t very good because we didn’t have any buckets so us girls decorated it with pretty shells instead!! Then we spent all day sitting back and watching the little kids walk past our masterpiece to make sure that they didn’t step on it!!! Luckily no one did but a dog did pee on it lol.

Seminar Experience
I am taking a seminar through CIEE on Wednesday afternoons called Living and Learning in Cape Town. It’s a group of 20 American students and we talk about a lot of issues in South Africa and things that come up here and in classes like race, the presidency of South Africa and general differences. Some of the conversations get pretty intense but most of the time they are very good. In the beginning of October we drove to the University of Western Cape to listen to a lecturer speak about South African politics. Most of the information was over my head but still interesting to hear about.

African Dance
Another exciting part of my semester has been African Dance Class. It’s a really fun class and I enjoy the workout twice a week. So even though i’m not registered for the actual class, I can still go and take the class for free. Anyways, on Friday September 19th, all the international students/semester abroad students performed at the school of dance during lunch time. We were all really nervous but thought it would be fun to do. Now some of you may know that I don’t like performing in front of my peers especially if I can see their faces when I perform. So we figured no one what come but sure enough the bleachers in the studio were filled with at least 150-200 people most of them which I knew. It was a really fun show and everyone liked it but it was still embarrassing at times.

South African experiences/adventures
Other exciting things we have done on the weekend was going to Hermanus to see the whales and go sea kayaking to the whales!!! We actually saw more whales standing on the rocks outside of the water but it was still fun to go in the kayaks. We also had a great sushi lunch before we went kayaking which was amazing. One weekend I went out to dinner with some of my girlfriends and their friends from the Semester at Sea program that had docked in Cape Town for a couple days. Sounds like a pretty cool program but couldn’t get into the culture as much because you are only in one place for a week at the most. Then a couple of weekends ago we went to the West Coast to the see the flowers which really weren’t that pretty but the scenery of the ocean was beautiful. Then we went to a seafood braai on the beach and ate a 10 course seafood meal with all kinds of fish, mussels, veggies, and crayfish (aka smaller lobster). After the seminar people plus a couple others went to this small town called Darling where we had dinner and watched a satire performance of South African presidency.

Church
I have been going to Jubilee Community Church every week which has been interesting and I have been trying to bring my friends each week. Sometimes I really like the sermon but other times I don’t agree with it at all. But it really has let me think more about my life and my Christian faith. I also went to a township church a couple weeks ago which was similar to Jubilee but more family orientated. There were lots of kids who stood on the side and sang and danced to the music…so cute!!! Glad that I have found this church and really happy that I can go every week.

Recent News
So now that I have updated you with all the past events I can tell you about this weekend. Since my work is coming to an end, well sort of, before finals, this weekend was definitely more fun then work. On Friday I went with my friends Poetry, Ravi, and Lauren to Long Street to go shopping and get our cameras fixed. But of course i'm a space cadet and forgot my camera so ill go back later this week. So we got lunch at this really good burger place called Royale and then Poetry and I went shopping since the exchange rate was $9.50!! Then we came home, changed, and went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant with a bunch of our friends. Saturday we spent the day at that Old Mill Market which has a bunch of cute little shops and an open air food market (dad you would love this!). it was basically a huge market where you could taste and try as much food as you want for free. We did end up buying some food for lunch but it was better to just taste! Then at night we went to our friend Ravi’s house to watch a movie but half way through their water mane broke which caused a slight delay. Then today 5 of my friends were running the half marathon in town (ya I know they’re crazy!!) so me and two of my friends went down to the finish to say congrats on running like 15 miles!!! After me, Sarah and Ravi went to the market to buy gifts and other fun things. The market is such a cool place but also bad cause I just want one of everything lol. Overall, it was a great weekend!!

South African fact: Even though the economy in America is doing poorly, us study abroad students in south africa are loving it. as i said before, last weekend the exchange rate was $9.50 but get this on wednesday night it was $10.50!!! i think its time to go shopping again :)

Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe: Spring Break in Africa!!

So I know its been more than a week since ive been back from spring break but this is the first free time i have had to sit down and write this entry. My trip was absolutely incredible and i will include as many details as I can in this entry.
Day 1: 6:45 flight from Joberg to Cape Town. Arrived in Joberg and loaded up the trucks that we would be traveling in for the week. Now these trucks were pretty massive! definitly offroading trucks that fit a lot of people and fly over potholes. The rides were pretty bumpy but still quite the adventure. Day one was a travel day on the road into Botswana but the time went by pretty fast. arrived at campground number 1 too late to set up tents so just ate dinner and slept in one of the function rooms.
Day 2: got in the truck again and drove to northern Botswana. long ride but spent time getting to know the other students on the truck. it was funny because for both breakfast and lunch we would just pull over on the side of the road and have our meal and then pack up and continue on with maybe one or 2 cars passing us total. then when we were near the first town, i think it was Papala(?) we saw 2 giraffe near the trees in the distance. of course we all screamed cause we were so excited, i bit my tongue and couldnt get my camera out in time. but one of my friends did get a picture so we definitly have proof!
Day 3: packed up camp and got in open air trucks to ride to the delta. got to ride through the small villages and towns on the way to the water which was really cool to see. lots of the houses were grass huts or small shacks. lots of cute children that we waved too. after about an hours of driving we got to the Okavango Delta where we each put our stuff into a Makoro (African dug out canoe) and met our polers. Christina and I werent in a real Makoro made out of an african tree but that was ok because some of them looked like they were going to sink!! Craig was our 2o year old poler who lived on one of the villages on the delta. So while we sat back, enjoyed the view, and took a little snooze, poor Craig had to pole/pull us through the delta for an hour!! the ride was so beautiful and relaxing!! we then got to our bush camp where we stayed for 2 nights in tents and had to, get this, go to the bathroom in a hole in the ground that was our toilet for our stay. it was quite interesting to say the least! At night we went on a short game walk and saw not animals but giraffe and elephant poop and hippo and elephant prints. got to watch the sunset and then came back to camp, ate dinner and made smores!

Day 4: got up early for a game walk with our makuro polers/delta guys. went and small groups for a long walk. we saw a ton of zebra and wildebeest in groups and then running. the zebra were really cool and arent as white as you would think they would be, more tanish than white. walked through huge elephant prints in the bush and my friend christina ended up falling into one on accident! the rest of the day was spent hanging out at the camp and swimming at the water hole. at night we went out in the makuros with our polers to the hippo pool. we all sat there and waited for the hippos to come up. amelia and i wanted to get close to the hippos so we told Craig to go closer but when we did, one came out of the water proceeded to stare at amelia and then go back under. Craig and i were a little scared they were going to attack so we moved back!!! after dinner, all the polers sang and danced for us in Swatswana (the language of botswana). they were all great singers and really cool to watch. then we had to get up and sing for them which was not so good. we sang the national anthem, ain't no mountain, baby got back, the Macarana, Build me up buttercup and then Rudolph the red nosed reindeer because they wanted something original!
Day 5: packed up camp and got in the makuros to go back through the delta. as i sat in the makuro, i was surrounded by the sights, sounds, and the people of botswana. it was great to sit and just take it all in. my days in the delta really allowed me to become more aware of the African culture. i realized that the polers from Botswana do that as their job. this is there life and it was amazing to be a part of it. went back to camp from the delta and drove to the town of Maun. stopped there for a little and continued on our journey to our next campsite.
Day 6: packed up camp again and continued traveling through Botswana. this time there was an elephant right on the side of our truck literally about a foot away from our truck! i had to blink just to make sure it was real but it was and it was amazing!!! arrived at our next camp and went on a 3 hour sunset cruise ride. here we saw elephants, buffalo, crocodiles, lizards, birds, impala, springbok, and baboons. the best part about this was when we got to watch an elephant walk through the river to get to the otherside (dont worry i have it on video so ill show it to everyone when i come back!).

Day 7: woke up early and went on a game drive through Chobe National Park. We saw birds, buffalo, crocs, impala, warthogs, a mongoose, hippos and a male lion!!! the best part was the baby hippo with the mom that was said to be only 2-3 hours old!!! the guide told us that after spending 2 days in the shallow water, they venture into deeper water where the mom teaches the baby to swim for 6 months. after the drive we packed up came and drove to the botswana border. border crossings were pretty interesting but nothing too terrible. then got on a ferry to cross the zambzi river into zambia. eventually got our visas and everything in zambia and then drove to our campsite near vic falls. set up camp and then went to see vic falls on the zambia side. gorgeous view and scenery. on the way back to camp we saw a family of elephants with their baby!!

Day 8: got up early and went extreme white water rafting with dianna, ali, christina, amelia and lindsey. pretty crazy and scary day. went over 25 rapids over the course of the day. paddled through most of them but then had a command "get down" which was when you tucked into the raft and held onto the rope on the side of the boat. unfortunatly our raft flipped on the number 5 rapid (named highway to hell or stairway to heaven, we obviously took the first choice!) which was a grade 5 rapid which apparently youre not allowed to go over in the us without insurance but this is africa so we did and we flipped!! pretty scary and first but when i finally found the surface it was ok. then we took a truck back and got to drive through the villages again which was cool. and we drank coke-cola out of a glass bottle which was pretty cool!!! the driver of our truck was crazy and flew through these villages and over any of the potholes he could find!
Day 9: this was my adventure day!! so me, amelia, dianna, joy and ali went on what was called an "abseil combo" so first we abseilled down the side of the mountain which is basically like rock-climbing but backwards. it was pretty cool but i wasnt very good at it so the guys pulled me down halfway through. then we hiked up the gorge to our next activity which was called the flying fox. its basically like a zip line over a gorge but you are attached by your back. so i ran and jumped off the cliff and literally flew across the gorge like superman!! it was pretty amazing let me add!! then you just hang there over the gorge until the guys real you back in. then the last one was the gorge swing which was the scariest. basically you are attached with a bunch of harnesses and you step of the gorge, freefall for 3.5 seconds and then when you catch at the bottom, you swing back and forth in the gorge for awhile. needless to say when i hit the bottom, my mind and head were not connecting so i realized my chin and got major whiplash. it was really fun but scary also. of course i screamed the entire way down and you can hear this all on the videos!!! then after those crazy adventures, ali, dianna and i went into zimbabwe. border control was fine getting our visas but then we had to walk across no mans land to get into zimbabwe which was a really long and hot walk. but eventually we made it to vic falls on the zim side and it was totally worth it!!! the falls on that side were even more amazing and surrounded by a jungle area and at least 2 rainbows. we made it back safely through no mans land and back to our campsite.
Day 10: this was the last day of our trip where we just hung out, packed up came, got to go to the zambia market and got a flight back to cape town.
Overall it was an AMAZING trip filled with lots of animals and fun. it was great to see all other parts of africa and relax for a little bit. travelling to all the countries was great and definitly worth the price of the trip!!!

African animal fact: So if you are ever in Africa and have to escape from a lion, elephant, or hippo, you will now have the ways to escape thanks to delta guide Andrew!
To escape an elephant or a hippo, you must run away zig zagged and hide in a bush. Not a tree because they are big and can probably reach you.
If you are confronted by a lion, you are supposed to stay still and back up a little if you can but never turn away. You are supposed to stay still until the lion gets up and walks away. Then you can continue walking backwards to a safe spot! Do not run away from a lion cause they will catch you :)

Stories worth a thousand words..

My volunteering experiences this week have opened my eyes to new personal life stories of children in South Africa that I would never have thought were possible. The first ones came from my time spent at the homeless shelter called the Arch. It was rainy when we went on monday so we tried to stay inside and talk with the kids and some of the adults there. While hanging out in one room, an old lady came in pushing a stoller with a baby inside. I was immediatly drawn to the baby of course and went over to talk to him. I found out his name was Unknot (spelling?) and that he was 9 months old. He was a very cute baby and well behaved after I took him out of his seat (after asking permission from the grandmother of course). I then went over to the ladies who were cooking in the corner of the room who told me that the lady who brought the baby in takes care of him most of the time and is the greatgrandmother of the baby. When I asked why she was taking care of him, she said that his mother was attending high school so she couldnt take care of him during the day!! I also found out the grandmother of the baby, aka the high schoolers' mom, passed away and could not take care of the baby. This story was really shocking to me not necessarily because of the teenage mother but because the great grandmother, the baby and the mother were all living in this homeless shelter. Although I am glad that the mother is still going to school and trying to get an education.
The second story came from an teenager, 9th grade i think, who I met after we went to another area of the shelter. Cucumber (dont know his real name) and his two friends, Tutsi and Cheeseball (Tutsi was a real name but cheeseball isnt) first approached me and then proceeded to ask if I would marry him (Cucumber). Don't worry Kevin I told them that I wouldn't think my boyfriend would like that too much! So instead of talking about marriage we talked about America and if I knew any celebrities. When it was time to go for the day, Cucumber and some of the little kids walked us out to the enterence where we waited for our car. Then he proceeded to tell us that his older brother was his role model and that some day he wanted to become a business man. The scary thing about this little boy was when he told us that he doesnt have any family with him at the shelter and that he started doing drugs when he was 11 years old. Luckly he said that he stopped when he was 14 and i assume now that he is 15 or 16. Unfortunatley our car came shortly after that so we didnt get to talk to him more about his life but just hearing that was undescribable for me.
The last experience I heard about was at LEAP on tuesday morning. All morning I had been working with this girl during her math class and trying to get her ready for the test she had today. During their break I asked her if there was anything she had questions on and if she was ready for the test. She said that she understood everything and that she was going to study when she got home that night. Then in life orientation class, a whole different story was shared. This forteen year old girl proceeded to tell the entire class that she has been living on her own for a year in a hall with a bunch of other families. Her mom lives somewhat far away from Cape Town and her older sister is off somewhere with her boyfriend. Apparently she hasnt lived with her mom for 4 years now and is constantly having to search for her own food at night. When asked why she didnt want to go live with her mother or at the safehouse, she said that she didnt want to talk to her mom and the safefhouse had too many rules. After talking about her situation with the group, the teachers in the room decided that they were going to call her mom to talk to her and try to figure out a living situation for her. Hearing this story really baffled me and immediately made me think of her academic work. She had a test today but how is she able to study and focus in a noisy hall after searching for her own food? My other question is why is this the first time the school is hearing about this? All day yesterday I could not stop thinking about this little girl and what she was going to go through at night after she left school. Before I went to bed I wrote in my journal and then prayed for her protection and strength to do the right thing and find help in order to live a better life both emotionally, mentially and academically.
These stories that I have heard have had an extremely powerful impact on my life in the past couple of days. They have opened my eyes to the hardships South Africans face everyday in addition to the historical past of apartheid. Before coming here I never thought that my everyday interactions with people would be so powerful but they are and will be throughout the rest of my stay. I guess it took these powerful stories for me to realize how lucky I am to live the life that I live in addition to knowing why I was put on this earth. I now know that my life goal is to help others in any possible way that I can and South Africa will truely help me achieve that goal in more ways than anyone can imagine....

South African fact: On a lighter note, below is a list of words that have different meanings here then they do at home. The words on the left are South African and the words on the right are the American equivalent:
Lekker=awesome or great
Washing = laundry
Drag = a long road
Belt = seat belt in a car
Lift= a ride somewhere in a car
Holiday = vacation