South Africa

be challanged by nature

2008-06-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

Okay so an update on my life here...Well since the last post. The week right after was full of studying. I had to study for my human geography exam, work on a paper, and figure out what was going on for the trip that Chelsea and I took. On that Wednesday night I went to Brazen Head a local bar where they were playing the UEFA final, which is the best soccer, teams from Europe. It was between Chelsea and Manchester United. I was routing for Manchester united because I went with Grant and his friends and that was his favorite team and I was fairly indifferent but I do have way more friends that were for Manchester United. They won in the end in penalty kicks but get this so they had 5 and Chelsea just needed to make the last kick and they would have won but they guy shooting slipped so it was a very close game. It was lots of fun. The next day I had my exam which by the way I got an A in that class along with my other geography classes so basically I am going to change my major to that because I am brilliant in it ;). Just kidding but I really did enjoy those classes. Also during this time the xenophobic attacks began here. At first they were just by Jo'burg which sucked but better than being in the western cape. They spread and happened in Kayamandi, the township in Stellenbosch, where there were attacks against the Somalians. There are now camps set up across the country for people to stay in. It is pretty crazy and sad but it has gotten better as in fewer attacks. They weren’t directed at people like me from here. Instead they were directed at other Africans who are thought by some to be taking South African jobs and increasing the crime and gangs in the country. But with mob violence you never know how things will escalate. So that was a big deal here and they are taking donations for these camps which I plan to give some of my stuff here that I cant bring home to them.

Anyways on Wednesday the 28th of May Chelsea and my trip began to Lesotho so here is the details for that:
Day 1:
We left Stellenbosch a little after 8. JP drove us to the Cape Town airport, which was wicked, nice of him. We then got on our Mango flight. It was mangolicous (or at least that is what the flight attendants hoped it would be). We arrived in the Bloemfontein airport. It was quiet small like smaller than the Manchester airport but it was nice and it is currently under construction. We then picked up our car. It was a Toyota Yaris. We named her Alias because she is tough and hott like Jennifer Garner on the show, which is necessary when traveling to Lesotho. We the drove to Pick n' Pay and got our food rations for the week which included PB&J, beans, canned fruit and veggies, some instant soup, ramen esk stuff, pasta and pasta sauce. We then drove to Lesotho! But we didn’t get a Lesotho stamp when we crossed the boarder all we got was one on the South African side. This was at the Maseru Bridge. Maseru is the capital of Lesotho it was pretty small but I guess it is a small country. It was a beautiful country. It turned into a dirt road as we approached Rambanta. We arrived around dusk. Rose, the lady in charge was very sweet. WE were supposed to stay in the backpackers but she moved us into the main house where it wouldn’t be so cold for the backpacker’s rate. She was very attentive maybe a little too much but it was very sweet. We weren’t planning on eating the dinner that they had cooked because we had bought out food but she said she had already made it and so it was hard to refuse especially because the other people that said they were going to be there that night and eat dinner never showed up. It was 3 courses. Te first was this tomato soup but it was sweeter and creamier than just plan tomato soup. Then there was lamb stew with carrots and potatoes in it along with pap, rice, carrots and peas. There was also homemade bread. Then for desert was peaches and custard. It was so delicious and filling but totally worth it. After we hung out, read and studied..oh by the way we both had an exam the day after we got back from the trip. We were in bed by 9:30...we are old ladies.

Chels and I in the airport
Day 2:
We hung out in the morning at the Trading Post (the backpackers) and goat a free breakfast of museli, cereal, yogurt, toast, and fruit salad (I picked the bananas out). Then we did a little shopping at the store they had there. I got 2 postcards. I read little and said goodbye to Rose she had to go to Ladybrand a town in South Africa to buy more rations. We then showered packed, took some pictures and began the journey to Semonkong. The road was dirt with parts paved at the steepest areas, which had lost of potholes so it required a lot of attention and was a pretty draining drive but we split up the driving so chels drove half and I drove half. When we got there we were shown to our room, which was at the top of a hill up a fairly steep path. Man I thought that I was in decent shape so the fact that I need to exercise and the altitude made it difficult and my bag isn’t the best to carry. Did you know that Lesotho has the highest low point of any country? Then we had lunch...PB&J of course. We hung out and waited for our abseil training. Then we were taught how to abseil properly. The first time when you are standing on the edge it was kind of scary but after that it wasn’t so bad. Everyone here rides horses and uses donkeys to carry things it was really neat. It is so beautiful and the people are very friendly and there isn’t as much begging here as in other areas especially in Semonkong there were virtually no ones. WE were also basically the only white people around. The only white people that I saw were either in charge of the lodges or were staying at them. It is interesting I don’t feel uncomfortable but I definitely notice it. We ate dinner spaghetti and peas and met a guy from Port Elizabeth who was originally from Belgium and came here with his family for 3 years during high school and has stayed here ever since. We then went to bed.

view from the trading post

over a bridge

the view from our dorm

chels and i

our building is the one ontop of the hill

Day 3:
We woke up showered. It was so cold outside. I sat outside and read. Ate breakfast and packed for the pony trek that we were going to do which was 2 days one night at a Bashoto village. Josef was our guide he didn’t speak much English. He taught me how to say some Sesotho words like Dumela (pronounced how it is spelled) which means hello, or 'oosi' and 'oobuti' (I am not sure how it is spelt) which means sister and brother. Oh and Kea Leboha (Calibooha) means thank you and 'ootla' which means beautiful. It turned out to be quite a cold day and I wasn’t dressed appropriately which made the trek less enjoyable but it was still beautiful. It sprinkled for a little while. When crossing the river Chelsea’s horse purposefully kneeled town in the river and rolled her in the ice-cold water. I felt so bad she then was on a bank in the middle of the river but Josef didn’t go back and the horse had walked across the river without her so she ended up running across the rest of the way. It was so cold to begin with and now she was wet I felt bad but it was quite funny because I looked around after I heard her yell what and she was just standing on the bank and I had no clue what had happened. We were horse riding for about 6 and a half hours. I was a little sore but that is fine. We then got to a village that you could only get there on foot or by a horse and Chelsea changed and I put some warmer clothes on. We then walked to a waterfall the Ketane waterfall that looked so fake and like a painting or like it were part of a movie. We helped the chief’s wife carry some water and firewood then made dinner and went to bed.

this is what i got to look at while i was reading

Chels on the horse that dumped her in the river

chels trying to squeeze water out of her shoes after falling in the river

our guide

the falls

Day 4:

We woke up and didn’t want to get out of bed because it was so cold and it was warm. I had five layers on so we ate muffins while still in the sleeping bag and then got up and packed and ate some peaches and got ready. I wore 7 layers this day (tank top, under armor, short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, fleece, and a raincoat and then spandex and jeans on the bottom with 2 pairs of socks. It was much warmer that day or I was just better prepared. I even got hot a few times which made the trek much more enjoyable. WE then took some pictures with Georgina, the chief’s wife and she asked us to send her some clothes for the orphans that she has taken in from her village and the pictures we took. She kept saying remember the orphans so she gave us her address. I plan on doing this. Here is her address if any of you feel the need to do so:
Georgina Paanya
Ketane ha Halalele
Po Box 205
Semonkong 120
Lesotho
We then rode home. Our guide made us whip the horses with sticks he did this yesterday and he was like it helps them learn but he whipped them a lot and I felt bad doing it so I tired no to do it very often. It was about a five and a half hour ride home. My legs, groin and butt were sore especially when we had to whip them so that they would canter or trot. Ouch! We ten got back to the lodge and ate some snacks and chels napped and I read ad ate dinner. Then wrote in a notebook what I had been up to so I could write this then showered and read some more.

we taped plastic bags to her feet so they wouldnt get wet in her still we shoes

Chels and Georgina

Me and Georgina

some of her children

the hut chels and i stayed in

some picture fun that night

Day 5:
We woke up and got dressed. When walking down to the car to get breakfast I saw my first frost of the year. Crazy that it was in June. What is weird now is that I used to think of February as winter and June as summer but now there is just months because I have experienced the opposite in them. Anyway as we were at the car one of the people that worked there informed us that we had 10 minutes until we had to leave for the abseil so we grabbed some breakfast to go. We left around 8:30 and got back at 2:30. There were 6 of us going. I was the 732nd person to go down. Oh hits is the longest abseil in the world...204 meters so it is the longest drop. It took me about 10 minutes to go down which was fast according to them. It wasn’t the adrenalin rush that I had wanted but it was still gorgeous. We then had to walk back up to the top which was difficulty but worth it and inside the canyon that we abseiled into it was shady so it was definitely chilly and the top was cold to because it was windy. After that we came back to the lodge ate lunch I read and studied Chels napped we made dinner. More studying and bed. I Lesotho there is a constant notice but it is children playing, goats baaing, horses hooves, birds chirping or the bells on the cows and sheep’s chiming. It is such a relaxing sound. I love the bells the best it is so melodic. Oh and Ke Kopa (K koopa) means please.

Chels abseiling

yay she didnt die!

Me at the top (the little yellow speck)

coming down

Yay me and chels

part of the view

the waterfall we abseiled next to

Day 6
I woke up and showered. We ate breakfast and checked out and hen bought a few local crafts and drove to Morija. We checked in to the guesthouse and ate lunch and then drove to the only museum in Lesotho. WE read all about Lesotho it was quite small and didn’t have the same quality of some of the museum in the states like there was a cow painted on brown paper similar to what would be hung in a preschool but it was quaint and almost fitted in perfectly with that. There were some pots and weapons and crafts and dinosaur bones and footprints. We then drove back to the room where we watched the sunset and studied. WE then ate dinner ant played South African monopoly. It was interesting to see where they put the different properties. The cards were split so one half was in Afrikaans and the other was in English. It was great. We talked for a while and then watched a lightening storm for a little while and went to bed. Stellenbosch doesn’t get any lightning storms so it was kind of nice to see.

Day 7:
It was raining in the morning so we couldn’t go on the hike that we wanted to do to see the dinosaur footprints so we ate breakfast and showered and then left. The people that worked there kept asking us when we were leaving and confirming that we were leaving that day. We said that we weren’t sure but what time did they need us to leave by and then they would say whenever so it was kind of strange. When we checked out the owner charged us R150 each! It was supposed to only be R100 because we asked for dorms but he said that since we weren’t backpackers he had to charge us the other rate which was going to be R190 and he would give us a discount. So basically we paid R100 to park the car there for a night. It was crazy! We even asked for dorms when we booked it and when we got there when they showed us to our room. Anyway we then drove to Bloem but we didn’t have to stop at the boarder between Lesotho and South Africa or at least no one made us and we went slowly and it was pretty strange and we are not exactly sure if we did that correctly. Hopefully we did. WE then got to Bloem and checked in to Naval Hill Backpackers which was a warehouse converted into a backpackers. It had neat decorations but it was made very awkward by the owners. It was basically an older man and a younger one that sat in the common room, which was basically, their living room watching TV and it was just awkward. I felt uncomfortable not like I was in harms way or anything just awkward. So we ate lunch. We were running low on food, which was good because that is how we planned it. We then drove to a mall so Chelsea could use the Internet to submit an assignment through email that he had to. We got gelato I got chocolate Brownie and drove to Naval Hill nature reserve where the guy in charge of the backpackers said that there were giraffes. There weren’t. We saw mo animals except a dead cat, some humans and a few birds. WE then stopped back at the backpackers and grabbed a few things and took a walk where we set to the Bloem bowling club park and then Hamilton park where were weren’t allowed to play on the playground because it is only for 12 and under and we didn’t think that we could pass for a 12 year old. So we sat on a bench ad I studied and journaled. We then walked back to the backpackers but before we rung the door bell to go in we decided that we didn’t want to and went to Milwaukee Spur instead and I got a Hawaiian chicken burger and instead of the French fries a plate form the salad bar and a Hunters Gold. I think that the waitress thought that Chels and I were dating. I was so full after that. We then walked back to the backpackers. It was still awkward so we went to our room and plated in Chelsea's Lesotho activity book ate the rest of our chocolate. I read Coast to Coast and got ready for bed then went to sleep but there was lighting storm and thunder and the pounding of the rain on the tin roof, which was great.

welcome to SA sign

the bowling green

funny sign

chels writing

Day 8:
I woke up studied and then showered. There were three stalls with the only things that separated them from both the door into the shower room and the path to the sinks which were the ones you had to use after you went to the bathroom down the hall was a shower curtain which was clear with occasional blue designs but still see through. The boys and white not see through ones...interesting choice if you ask me. So chels and I took a shower at the same time in different stalls and closed the door so that there would be no one walking by and looking in. My shower didn’t drain and the water would spray out of the shower if you didn’t close the curtain. But it was a nice warm one! WE then had a big random breakfast, which for me consisted of a piece of bread, beans and ramen noodles. WE finished packing and then left and went to the Orchid garden in Hamilton Park, which seemed to have experience, some leakage issues from the night before. IT was small but pretty. We then took some pictures with Alias and drove to the Bloem airport we were there about 1.5 hours early and so we studied and journaled. The flight home was nice. I discovered that I was on a fruity plane and it was mangolicous. JP picked us up about 45 minutes.

Chels and Alias

we are mangolicous

the trip is over :(

So that was the Lesotho trip. After we got in and I came home and caught up on emails and studied. I had a final the next day I think that it went well I could have studied more but I am pretty certain that I did fine. After that I watched a few movies and decided that I didn’t want to do anything. I have one paper to finish by the 8th and then I am done. This morning I got our shower fixed here it sounded like a jack hammer in the hot water tap in the shower and would not come out consistently. Worked on editing my paper and then did this. So that is my life so far. Oh the title of this is one of the slogans of Lesotho. Okay well I think that is all. I have one week left here. So I will be home shortly.
Cheers.

Time is flying

2008-05-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

Okay...so this week brought the one month mark. That was kind of disappointing. I didn’t realize it until the middle of the day. It is crazy how fast time goes. I think that I am more ready to go home than last time but it is still scary to think I will never be back here again or at least not for a while. So that is that.

My week. Monday I had classes like normal and an assignment due that I had to work on and hand in. Monday night we had our final peer ed braai. We had it aandklas and they had a few free bottles of wine for us and we hung out and talked for a while. We devised some plans that will allow me to stay in the country like me hiding out in the dunes of Namibia for a couple of years and then sneaking back in to the country and changing my identity. I also have 2 marriage options. One with Louis because if I am married for 2 years than I get to be a citizen so he said that we could do that as long as it is a cultural marriage so that he can have multiple wives...its legal if you can prove you are part of the Zulu culture. Jean-Marie said that she would be willing to do it if we could live in America for a while so she could become an American citizen (same sex marriage is legal here). So these are just options and part of what we discussed. We also had pasta salad, potato salad and Greek salad and then you could have brought meat to braai but I didn’t. It was great to hang out with everyone. This is one group that I know I am going to miss.

Tuesday I didn’t have my eight o clock class because we had covered everything for the course and therefore didn’t need to have class...this is the last week of classes. But I did have my other class so I went to that and we watched a pretty sad movie called Red Dust, which was a fictional movie about a case brought in front of the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was good. That night I went to Hillbillies house where we had a review session for the Sociology final the next day and spent the evening there studying then hanging out with Chelsea. It was great. Wednesday I didn’t have class except for the exam so I went for a run in the morning and spent the day studying. It was wicked warm this day not like winter. But I took my sociology exam...I think that it went fine and then came back and studied for my GIS exam on Thursday. Thursday I went to my class and went to a lecture called "Land resources conflicts and prospects for the development of sustainable natural resources use policy frameworks in post-war Southern Sudan" It was pretty interesting but the guy talking was kind of hard to understand but what I could I enjoyed. I then studied for the rest of the day for my GIS exam and ended up doing fairly well. I could have done better but I was pleased enough. I also realized that I had my last class today at Stellenbosch, which is really strange to me.

Friday I didn’t have class but I went shopping to get a shirt for the end of the semester dinner that was that night. I ended up getting 3 shirts and a necklace for R110, which I was pleased about because that it less than $20 and they are nice. I then went out to lunch with Chels and came back here and got ready for the end of the semester dinner. We went to Calcuccio's and could all order a drink under R20 anything more was on you so I got a chocolate milkshake it was delicious but people made fun of my choice. We then drove to an SOS camp (which is like boy scouts here) and had some veggies, chips and dip and boerwors for dinner. We had a slideshow and some speeches and it was very sad. That night I danced the night away and had loads of fun. I didn’t go to bed until 4:30. It was so great. The next day we packed up and cleaned up and then I came home and ate something, unpacked and took a nap. Saturday I didn’t do much I watched a movie read and basically lounged around. Here are some pictures:

on the way to Franshoek

Eric

Chels..she looked great

Me, Chels and Michelle

Caitlin and Morgan

Jacqui and Me

William, Grant and Ernst singing us there speeches

Whiteny, Me and Grant

I am pretty gangster now..if you didnt know

I think Laura is a little better than me

Oh some of the dancing

Chels and me

Mathew, Chels, Me and Grants hair

Chels, Me and Grant (Chels didnt get the funny face memo)

Me and Ernst

Grant and I

I promise I do like Chels

Today Chels came over and we hung out. I then showered and Katy and I went to the park where I started to study for my final. It was nice and we saw lightning and heard thunder, which was awesome but only twice. I was hoping for a good thunderstorm. So that has been my week. Stay well.

"I'm thinkin' about my doorbell, When ya gonna ring it"

2008-05-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

Okay my past 2 weeks...ready set go!

Monday we didn’t have class like I said in the last post. Tuesday of that week I worked on a research paper and went to class. During lunch that day I was sitting on the library steps eating my PB&J like I normally do if it is nice outside. When I was there this girl, Bonnie, came up to me and asked if I wanted to go to Namibia and I said yes. She was like how about tonight. I was thrown completely off guard and was like uhh well I have a paper to do and I am supposed to go to Kayamandi in the afternoon on Wednesday and it is so last minute...she continued to try and convince me and told me that they were leaving after our wine test and that I should really consider it. One of the girls that they were supposed to go with dropped out last minute because she got assigned a group project for over break. So I did and it was in the back of my mind all day but it is a lot of money to be so impulsive with. Anyway I ended up running into Chris who was also going on this trip and he again tried to convince me so I talked to Amy and she was like go for it. But they had changed the car around and ended up getting a 5 person car and with me there would have been 6 people so after the wine test Alex, a boy who was going told me that he would have to talk to the group and then see if they could fit me in and how everyone was feeling. Well it turns out that I ended up going and we had 4 people in the back and then 2 in the front...so I went with Chris, Alex, Bonnie (Americans), Anna (from Ireland) and Jaco (from SA). So here is what I did on that trip:

Just a little random fact. Namibia does daylight savings time so that it was an hour different than South Africa so that in SA it was 7 and in Nam it was 6

the first day we drove to Jaco's mom's farm. We ended up leaving Stellenbosch at around 7 and then got to his house a little after 10. We ate this great dinner that his mom made for us which was so sweet of her. We then went on a game drive through his farm (his family are sheep farmers) but we didn’t see anything except for a small rabbit (although the rabbits here don’t look the same as the do back home) but the stars were amazing. I think they were the best that I have ever seen and it was different than what you see in the Northern Hemisphere it was amazing. We then went back and went to bed.

The next day we woke up and had 2 breakfasts. His mom made these dough balls/ doughnut things that were wicked good. After that we hung around the farm and I got to feed the sheep, which they attach a nipple thing to the top of beer bottles, which I thought, was cool. It was neat and kind of made me want to be a farmer (oh I have a couple career options to tell you about for me but I will do that later). I then played with a little girl named May from England who had been living in SA for about a year and had picked up Afrikaans and spoke that fluently and didn’t like speaking English she was 3 I think. After that it was time for breakfast number 2 where there were scones and homemade bread and homemade jam it was very good and the first time I had grape jelly in forever. We then spent the whole day driving to Windhoek in Namibia and met one of Jaco's friends at Joe's Beerhouse a famous bar there and then went to his house. It was a long and very tight drive but we made the best of it and I was pretty comfortable for the whole ride considering there were 4 of us in the back. Once we got to his friends, Alwyn, we went to bed. Anna, Bonnie and I all shared a bed.

Jaco's farm

Heading towards Namibia

Bonnie, Anna and Alex squished in the back

in Namibia

That big dark bark looking spot on the right of the tree is actually a huge nest that a bunch of birds live in.

The next day we woke up and hung around while everyone showered and got ready for the day. During that time I did some studying, yup I know lame while I am on holiday but you got to do what you got to do. We booked a place to stay the next part of the vacation, which was important. We then went to a craft market of all Namibian crafts. There were some really beautiful things but I didn’t buy any of it. We went to the grocery store to get stuff for our 2 braais that day. We then went off roading in Alwyn's land rover to a river bed and ate brunch/lunch down there where we had a fire and had stokebrojtie (stick bread) which you cook over the fire which is delicious and then eggs and rolls. We then went home and I studied some more. Alwyn had a braai with some of his friends and us. They were all so nice and get this...the blocks of fire starting wood that they had are made from invasive species that have been removed and then they compress them into blocks. I thought it was a great idea because you get rid of invasive species but you still get to use them and the company makes money selling it. Brilliant. We then went to a karaoke bar where Jaco sang a song and I just watched. We then went to bed it was like 11 we were pretty lame.

the river bed

at the bottom of the river bed

Bonnie tending to the fire

The view from Alwyns place

The next morning we hung around the house and then drove to Swakopmund, which is along the coast about 3 hours away from Windhoek. Jaco stayed at Alwyns because he was going to a wedding with Alwyn (he is a photographer and his wife and kid were out of town) so the back was spacious. We then got to the backpackers and hung out there for a while and then walked around town. We had a drink at the beach bar and then had dinner at Spur (chain restaurant) and when to the backpackers and hung out in the bar and I played uno with Chris and talked to some of the other people traveling through and went to bed early.

on the way to Swakopmund

again

It was so barren

Chris and Alex with a dead sea turtle that was on the beach...it was huge

Anna and Bonnie on the beach

angling off the dock

the dunes in the disatance

The next day I woke up and studied and then we had breakfast at the backpackers (it was included in the price) and then studied some more and then went sand boarding which was awesome! I don’t know how to turn or anything but it was so cool and it was soft if you fell. There were 2 different types of boarding there was the lay down and stand up one. So we did the stand up which meant that you got to do 2 rides on the lay down ones. There weren’t any lifts so once you went down you had to walk back up which sand is hard to walk up on and it was definitely a work out. After that the girls went to the beach and took a nap, Chris and Alex went quad biking and Jaco was still with his friend. We then walked around town and people watched a little bit and then went back to the backpackers and met up with Alex and Chris. We then went to the Swakmound lodge to see the sand boarding video that they produced of us and gave us a copy as part of the price. We then went out to dinner and went back to the lodge for a drink and then went back to bed. I had a headache that night it wasn’t the most comfortable.

Alex after sand boarding (that isnt hair on his face it is sand)

me walking back from sand boarding

the dunes we were by

i thought that this was only in pictures

the dune we sandboarded down

Swakopmund light house

Anna and Bonnie

The next day we woke up and packed and went to the shipwreck with Jaco. That day I didn’t feel well at all my stomach wasn’t very happy with me and things were just running through me. But the shipwreck was nice and we then left by about 10 and drove to Windhoek to pick up things and then headed home. We crossed the tropic of Capricorn which was cool there was a sign. We drove till about 2:30 in the morning and again stopped at Jaco's farm and slept there and left around 8 30 the next morning for Stellenbosch which we got home around 12, so I missed all my classes on Monday but I did go to the computer lab and do some work. So overall I would call it a successful holiday.

the Skelton Coast...lots of shipwrecks

sun set as we head home

Oh and the title is lyrics from a song that was played quite often on this trip.

Tuesday was normal I had to study for an exam and do some work. On Wednesday I went to the Concordia Braai which was nice oh and Laura and Sarah got there computers and camera stolen which was awful but I think that they both have a good outlook on it and the police are going to look into it but who knows how much good that will do. On Thursday I went to the Stellenbosch Choir concert during the lunch break and that night I had an exam which went from 7:00-10:30 at night so that was a long and exhausting thing so I came home and crashed which was nice. Friday I had my last class for the module so I am done with that one and went out to lunch with Chels and went shopping and then came home and did work. I have lots to study for this week. Saturday I got up and did work but at 3:00 I left for Cape Town to go to Newlands to watch the Stormers from Cape Town play the Waratahs from Australia in Rugby. We went to a pub before the game and watched some of the other games that were going on and had sausage rolls for dinner. It was pouring rain out like pouring...it was soo amazing though I would do it again in a heartbeat. My feet and top half were dry I just needed to have water proof pants and I would have been fine but it was so awesome. The stadium was great and we were so close. I also met some really nice people. The game ended in a tie, which was kind of disappointing I wish there was overtime but they don’t do that so oh well. I got home and immediately changed out of my pants. My purse was soaked through and my pants and purse are still wet. I then went over to Block 4 to say happy birthday to Elaine and played catch phrase and then came back and went to bed.

The stadium

The Waratahs

Me at the stadium..this was from our seat

Go Stormers!

Today I have just been doing work. Next week is the week of classes and then finals it is amazing how time flies. I can’t believe I am going to be a senior soon.

Oh my career options so I think that I may become a farmer...I really liked feeding the sheep so that is a possibility. The other is I am going to be a sand boarding professional or teach sand boarding like our guides although I think I may have to learn how to steer on the board before I can get anywhere…I can work on that and the last one is there are these 3 really nice old men that work at the Stellenbosch post office and I want to work with them because they are so sweet so I will get a job there but you see it has to be there because they are the reason I want to work at the post office.

Anyway stay well and Happy Mother's Day.

"Good wine is a necessity of life for me." -Thomas Jefferson

2008-04-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

Okay so here is an update on the past 2 weeks. The wine course started for this semester. We had the 4 classes and the test is going to be on Tuesday although it doesn’t matter how I do because I have already passed it and I don’t get credit for it anyway but we had 2 different teachers each for 2 classes. One of the ladies was the one that I had last semester so those classes just proved to be a repeat of last semester but when we had the other lady it was interesting because she brought in new facts, which was cool. I liked it one of the facts is why a bottle of wine is only 750mL and not a liter or something that makes a little more sense and they think it is because when people used to blow the glass to make the bottles the biggest bottle that could be made was 750mL. So that is a nice random fact for you guys. On Tuesday the 15th I had a lunchish thing with people from Northwestern University in Chicago here. It was for the HIV peer education group. They are studying here for a quarter and all of them are minoring in world health, which was really neat. They all seemed very sweet and were surprised to meet me well an American in the group. Nothing was really noteworthy this week just homework and school the normal. On Friday though we left for the Cederberg Mountains, which was loads of fun. We got there not to late like around 5ish so we unpacked. I stayed in a Cabin with Alex, Bonnie, Anna, Katy and Morgan. That night we before dinner I played on the swing set and did the monkey bars and a little girl told me I was to big to play on them :( right after I gave up my swing for her because her friend was swinging next to me but that is okay people just made fun of me because I was bullied by a 7 year old. After that I hung out and talked with some of the drivers and the group and helped cut the rolls for dinner. Then we ate dinner, which was boerewors and salad. It was good. After that we just hung around under the stars and talked it was great.

sunset

dyer (my hat was a hit thanks Debbie)
Then next day we hiked wolfberg cracks like last semester but this time it was much cooler and it rained. At the top it was freezing we ended up doing like a penguin huddle and rotated who was on the outside and who was on the inside. IT was quite entertaining except for the fact that we were freezing. The hike was nice and it just reminds me how much I enjoy hiking so I should do that more. When we got back a group of us went to this pool where people went cliff jumping.. I did not. Then I went back and took a nap with Chelsea. We had dinner and then we all hung around the fire and had some wine and smores, which were delicious. At midnight it was Kate's birthday so I went to her cabin and sang happy birthday to her it was nice.

dyer and chels

rainbow

a group of us

yup we hike with our socks up!

the top

the cliff people jumped off of

Katy Me and William

Laura and I

Happy Birthday Kate (our cake is an apple with a candle on it)
The next day we had breakfast and wine tasted at one of the best wineries in South Africa, which was delicious. Then we went to the rock art and had lunch and explored in that area and then we came home. So all in all it was a great weekend.

the rocks were so interesting

The next week I had a normal day of class with the wine class as an extra and then went to Bronwyn's for dinner where bronwyn, Louis and Genevieve planned their camping trip and I just ate. We had salad, potatoes and this good chicken. It was a great meal. The next day was class as normal but that night it was the continuation of the tradition of Tuesday after cederberg where Bethany shaved her head! It was great...she looks amazing I am so proud of her for doing it herself as well. Amazing.

She is getting ready...I borught her some champagne

The next day same as normal but that night I went to a concert at a local bar of Goldfish again. It was great. It was very packed but the music was good and I didn’t get stepped on too much and I made it pretty close to the stage. The next day was class as normal but then I went to Kayamandi to help Katy with her service site where I taught 2 ladies from the community who were entrepreneurs how to use the computer like how to turn it on and off and how to get on to the internet and get to google and one other web page. It was amazing how much I took for granted that people would know but really we just grew up with the computers so things aren’t second nature. It was a great experience. Friday my class got canceled so I had the whole day to do some work and clean etc... It was good and I ended up going to bed early, which is what I needed.

The next day was the wine excursion for the wine class where we went to 3 wine farms and had tasting. It was nice especially since I haven’t really been wine tasting this semester. I ended up buying a bottle of pinotage, which is surprising because normally I don’t like pinotage but this one was good. We had this sweet lasagna for lunch, which was good and then came home where I took a nap. After that I made dinner and then went over to a friends room and watched some music videos and then went to Concordia (where I lived last semester) and hung out with Grant and then watched part of the NFL draft (yeah it was on here crazy) with some guys that I know that live there like dyer, Ryan and Andrew.

at Villera

Morgan, Kate, Dionne

Anna and me

Simonsig

Anna, Alex, Bonnie at Morgenhof

Morgenhof

The next day was the Cheese and Wine festival. So it was more cheese and more wine. It was good I ate way too much cheese, my digestive system wasn’t too happy with me, and had some wine. It turned into a nice warm day so it was great to be outside enjoying the weather. That night I went to Emily and Dionne's room and watched a few episodes of sex in the city and then came here and went to bed pretty early again (I am turning into an old lady). Katy's dad, uncle and friend came up yesterday but I haven’t met them yet.

Bethany, Bonnie, Me, Whitney

Today we don’t have school so I have been getting work done and catching up on stuff. So that is my past 2 weeks. I hope all is well with you guys. Stay well

cheers.

short and sweet

2008-04-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

Okay so my life this week. On Sunday Katy and I made cookies although the no bake cookies turned out fairly well but the snicker doodles not so much. They didn’t cook well at all and the dough was too liquidy so we have just been eating the batter. And I have done most of the eating of the batter but that is okay. After that we went to Brazen Head a local bar and watched a Manchester United soccer game then went to a friends flat and had a glass of wine and socialized. After that we came home and a few people visited and people started coloring the coloring book that I brought. It was a nice low key but really fun night.

Gary Scott and Ernst coloring

On Monday I had class as normal but that night was the rugby finals! Maties (Stellenbosch) vs. Ikeyes (University of Cape Town). What a game! It was close the whole way through. We ended up being down 9-10 with the last few seconds in which a try (kind of like a touch down) was called back. But with the last seconds of the game we scored a try and right after the extra point was kicked the game was over which means that the Maties won 16-10! It was packed and a whole lot of fun. Chels and I ran onto the field after…man it was amazing. Here are some pictures:

Emily and Katy

Me and Chels

The next day classes as normal but that night was the International Food Evening. When I was there I got food from Gabon, Austria, Finland, South Africa, and Russia. They were all really good unfortunate I don’t know what most of the food that I tried was called but the South African food was milk tart and Austria was an apple strudel. On Wednesday I went to a braai at hillbillies for a friends birthday which was fun. Thursday I hung around I didn’t feel very well and ate chocolate did some work and watched a few episodes of a TV show online. Friday evening I went to a rugby game of a friend of mine in my class. It is a game of a residential hall vs another residential hall. His team won by he got hurt not to bad he just couldn’t play the rest of the game. Then yesterday Katy and I went looking for costumes because our friend, Scott, had a 21^st birthday party and the theme was Alice and Wonderland. So that is what I did last night, which was a lot of fun and I realized that it was my first 21^st birthday party because I am missing everyone’s back home. This afternoon the boys ganged up on the girls (there were 3 girls and 7 boys fair fight I know) and threw us in the pool…not cool but overall it was soo much fun.

Me and Katy

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (Paul and Gary)

Ernst
So that was my week. Short and sweet I know.

"Add life to your days not days to your life" ~Away with the faries back packers

2008-04-06T01:55:00.000-07:00

Okay sorry for the delay in this entry but here goes. I don’t have all the pictures because me and the girls on the second part of our trip kind of split the picture taking responsibility and I only have my portion but I can post those when they come.

So 2 weeks ago was fall break. We did the same thing in the beginning as what I did for spring break last semester i.e. the garden route. It was slightly modified but all the same activities were done. So we left Stellenbosch around 1:30 to head for antlers lodge which was about an 6 hour drive. I was in a great car we listened to Disney music and some other random music. We didn’t get to eat until 9 and many people in our car were cranky because of that and I wont lie I was but anyway we ate at Yellow Wood Spur (it is a chain that changes its name to like Minnesota Spur etc through out the country) on Mexican night. This is kind of disgusting as in the stereotypes. They hand out ponchos and sombreros and give you an Indian head dress thing which you can see in the picture below. It was a nice group of people to eat with and sooo nice to eat dinner because I was starving. The waitress asked us if we wanted to have the head dresses and we said yes and then she asked if we wanted coloring pages. She said “serious?” and we were like “umm yes please!”. She laughed at us but it was worth it. We then went to Antlers lodge and I got a cabin with 9 people. One of the girls was in her bed and she thought she saw a bug on her bed and refused to sleep in her bed so Mike(the one in charge) went to inspect it and found nothing and she still was hesitant about sleeping in it so I offered to switch. It kind of made me laugh because we are in a cabin. Another funny story about that girl so when we left for the garden route she had a dead bug in her room and refused to go in her room she left skype, her computer, her internet and her music on over all break! This made me kind of mad because first of all the bug was dead and South Africa is in an energy crisis like there is rolling blackouts pretty frequently so I found that kind of disrespectful because it is going to be like this until 2012. Anyway so that night just hung out outside looked at the stars and talked to people. We tried to stay up for the second bunch who left around 5 but they didn’t end up showing up until about 2 in the morning so I was asleep.

my van: Jacqui, KAte, Andrew, Logan, Catlin

Clifford, logan, ME, Jacqui, Morgan Kate...politically incorrect

The next day I woke up early and just walked around the place and sat on one of those swinging seats and took everything in. Then we went to Monkeyland which I liked better this time around but I think it is because it was after I bungee jumped last semester so I was kind of all about that and it was hard to concentrate. After that we went to the bungee jump where we watched everyone bungee jump, which was nice. Then we went back to the lodge and took a nap and went out to dinner at Enrico’s where we had pizza, salad and a milk shake. Then went back to the lodge and hung out and people went swimming even though it was chilly.

Ernst, Katy, Anna, Chris

Me chels and Katy at the bridge we jumped off

Worku, Katy and Grant hanging out this just made me laugh

The next day we woke up and had the morning at the lodge where I laid on a dock and talked to random people then went to the beach where we had an hour so I hung out there and talked to the people. WE then went to the elephant park and got to touch and feed the elephants. We drove to Buffalo’s Bay and had the rest of the afternoon. We had poikios which is a stew that is cooked on the fire for a couple of hours with lamb and I played pool and hung out.

Just some pictures of antlers lodge

antlers lodge

me doing some work at the beach

Dyer feeding the elephants

Guinea Fowl

pictures at the backpackers we stayed at that night

On Easter we went to Cango Caves in the morning and I did the adventure tour. People ere being ridiculous and acting like the stereotypical obnoxious Americans so I was kind of embarrassed but it was still enjoyable. I found out that it was one of the 7 wonders of southern Africa. Then we went to the ostrich farm and got to fed them and some people rode them same as last semester. Then we went to a drumming circle and went back to the backpackers. We had boerwors (sausageish) roll and salad and a Rasta band came ad played it was so neat and relaxing although sometimes they were hard to understand because of there tendency to mumble.

female ostriches

Male ostriches in heat..their beaks and shins were more orange

we stopped along the road and took some pictures

At the drumming circle

We hung out in the morning at the backpackers because we didn’t want to go to the township so Ryan and I hung out in bed reading and then Katy and Chels joined and we all took a nap. We then went to featherbed nature reserve where we did the walk down. We then had champagne on the rocks by the ocean as a toast to the end of the garden route and went to dinner where we got R100 to spend. I got a whole pizza and ate all but one slice I am such a pig and then had dessert. On the way home one of the guys was talking about how he thinks that we do things for others as a performance and I thought that was a neat concept because I do do that sometimes. We then sat on the couch and read Maniac McGee which was great and such a blast from the past and talked to people later in the night.

featherbed nature reserve

Katy

me I have become a body builder..cant you tell?

We woke up and hung out at the backpackers and left for Stellies. We got home by about 4:15 and picked up the car almost immediately. This part of the trip I was with Chelsea and Katy from last semester and this girl Emily who is not in my program but she is NJ. We then switched out some of the dirty clothes for clean clothes and wrote a few emails and left for Mossel Bay. We drove until after 11 and stayed the night at the Sanots Express Train Lodge which was an actual train right off the beach and we stayed in a train cabin it was pretty neat but small. You could hear the ocean from the cabin, which made me very happy. Not everyone else was thrilled about it as I was but no worries.

Chels and my train room

The next day we drove to East London, well actually Gonubie which is a suburb outside of the city and stayed at a Garry, a friends, house we ate dinner which was finger foods and hung out on the porch. We then got ready and went out to Numbers which is the 4^th best night club in South Africa. Wont lie I was not dressed appropriately but I got in but I didn’t pack nice clothes because of the whole traveling thing. It was very nice and people were dressed up so we danced and had a few drinks.

beach in Gonubie

The next day we slept in and showered and went out to breakfast/brunch with Cary, Keenan, his friend who went out with us, and Carolyn his mom. I got an omelet it was wonderful. We then drove to Hogsback where the roads were all gravel. Checked into the backpackers and walked around and climbed to a tree house which was amazing with an amazing view. This supposedly inspired J.R. Tolken with the Lord of the Rings. We then drove into town which didn’t really exist but then drove some of the back roads. We then ate laid in bed looked through a few books and wrote.

Katy and Emily climbing up the tree house

Chels climbing up the tree house

The next day we ate breakfast and went for a hike where we saw Samango monkeys and saw some sort of parrot and some beautiful waterfalls. We then had a late lunch ad drove to Jeffery’s Bay which is a beach that is known for its wave so there are lots of surfers. While driving we saw a monkey just chilling on the road. I also got a flat tire from going over a pothole. We had trouble getting the jack out of the car because it was like hooked in by metal and was wicked difficult to pull out but we figured it out. Chels had to stand on the wrench to loosen the jacks but it was a fun experience. We got I late and had a delicious meal which was snook (a fish) with apricot jam marinade some potatoes and s great salad. That night I laid in a hammock and relaxed.

Emily, katy, Chels

Me holding up the rock

800 year old tree

Chels, Katy, Me, Emily

The next day we woke up and walked around town and laid on the beach. Then left to head somewhere closer home. WE were driving past the bungee jump place and Emily hadn’t done it so we stopped and she did it and we walked out on the bridge with her. It was great. Then we drove to Wilderness and when we got there it was dark and we went to this backpackers that seemed like in the middle of no werhe because all of the sudden the road turned to gravel so that was kind of strange but when we woke up the next day it wasn’t sketchy at all. We went out to dinner at Monks a pub and I got an ostrich burger and a Hunters cider. We then drove to the backpackers and went to bed.

Jeffery's Bay

The next day we drove home and went to the grocery store with the car which was great not to have to carry all the groceries home.

Wilderness

Wilderness

Coming home
After I did work that I had to do. So that was the trip. Monday I had class and went to the semifinals of rugby which the Maties (Stellenbosch) won in double overtime which was wicked exciting. The final is tomorrow night here so I can go and watch. I signed up for courses next semester that day and nothing too memorable happened the rest of the week. I had a class presentation on Thursday. Friday night I found out that I should have 2 boys and a girl when I have kids. Umm last night I talked to my family. So that is an update on my life.

a bit of home here

2008-03-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

So the March campaign is now over. The second week was great I had to work at the info stall, which was really nice to see everyone. I like to think that was a success. Nothing to exciting to report on with that. I had a few tests...this week a lot of work. Also a professor from my school came to visit to check out the program along with some other people from other schools. So on Wednesday I left for class at 8:40 and didn’t get home until 10:30 at night because I had class and didn’t have enough time to go home in between and then I had dinner with all of the school representatives to talk about the program. It was nice but it was a long day. I talked to Prof. Meila (from Assumption) and it was great to have a connection at school and that she could see what it was like here. Also Blakelee, my roommate from last semester, had someone from her school and he talked to me about the masters with the Peace Corps in it so that was cool to see what he said about it. On Friday I had to go to home affairs to get my study permit put in my passport. Hestea let us borrow her car and drive it to Paarl which is a half hour 45 minute drive so that was cool. I went with Katy, we only got lost once. But one bad thing about it was that there was a protest about the police brutality here which I am not sure if you guys heard about but apparently it was on CNN but the weekend before there was police raids on a few different bars and basically the police were insane with hitting people and being out of line. There are some videos on youtube. I wasn’t out but I wanted to participate in the march to the mayor. I did sign the petition but it conflicted with me going to get my study permit and I decided that that was more important. There were a lot of people who were going though. Also that night Prof. Meila took me and a few other people including those from my school out to dinner which was great just to talk and reflect on the whole experience. It was great and relaxing. Oh at the first dinner I tried sushi and it was delicious and then we went to this Indian food restaurant, which was wicked good as well. After dinner on Friday Richard, Blakelee's school person, took Chelsea, another roommate still here and me from last semester, out for drinks. It was nice to hear about here and catch up on things even though he didn’t know anything about me it was just kind of nice to have someone here from the US. So that was nice but it was a busy week. On Saturday I studied for a midterm and did lots of work. It was good because I felt that I had accomplished something but I didn’t leave my room once because of the amount of stuff that I had to do. On Sunday me and a few people went to Kirstenbosch gardens in Cape Town for a picnic and to watch a concert. It was really nice. The music was okay we saw Karen Zoid and Selaleo Selota. I liked the opener whish was Selaleo better but it was still nice to get away and see. Here are some pictures from that day.

Katy

Guniea Fowl

Louis and Bronwyn

my flip flop tan line (random pictures)

On Monday I went to class and then had an exam that night so I studied for that and really didn’t do too much else. Yesterday I had class ran some errands and tried to get a lot done. Then the peer eds had a get together to celebrate the March campaign but it turned out that not a lot of people showed up. Today I ran errands and got ready for the break, which starts tomorrow where we are going on the garden route and then renting a car and seeing where it takes us. I also bought 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of shorts for R180 which was like $25 so that was nice but not necessary. So that is what I have been up to. I hope you are all well.

Cheers.

Grow up and Get tested

2008-03-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

Okay so this week....It was the start of the March Campaign. The March Campaign is the HIV awareness thing that I am involved in. So far it is going fine. I will get to that later but first I will go chronologically. So last Sunday night I went to a concert at the Heldeberg Nature Reserve. First of all I would like to say again how beautiful South Africa is. I am constantly amazed. So the nature reserve surrounds a mountain and while we were driving there there were just some gorgeous views. I went with Bronwyn, Louis (both peer educators) Chelsea and Jenaveve (one of Bronwyn's friends). We went to see Goldfish, which is a South African group. It was really neat. They like mix music like a DJ but they also played saxophones, flutes and a cello. They are actually releasing their second album today (there are 2 of them) and at the concert they played some of their new stuff but they had this singer who was amazing. He had this blues ish voice it was so neat so I would like to get the new cd if possible. It was an outside concert and we had a picnic and I liked the music because it was something that isn’t normal. I ended up buying their cd and got it signed by them. So I got to go to a concert, get a cd and DVD for R125 which I thought was a good deal because that is less than $20. On the way home the sun was setting and you could see the ocean and the other side of the peninsula with these clouds and the colors made it look like it was out of sci fi movie. Here are some pictures from the evening:

there is me next to a tortise. Louis made fun of me because i asked him to take the picture saying that i was the definition of a tourist but hey how often do you see tortises

the concert location

Louis and Chels

Bronwyn and Jenaeve

Goldfish

there was some sort of bok in the picnic area

So that was a great night and a good way to gear up for the March campaign. Monday I worked at the info stall, which is located in the Neelsie (the student center). We have to pass out flyers and try and get people interested in doing the testing and participating in the march. If they came to the info stall we give them an A-bracelet. This stands for asking a question or abstinence. Then you can get a B bracelet for making a booking and also means be faithful. Then you get a C for counseling after the test which stands for condomize and a d for a donation. But that is added information.

The info stall is neat you can some weird reactions. On the table there are free condoms, one is vanilla flavored (interesting I cant figure out why it is flavored but hey what ever works). People have some really interesting questions to ask. Sometimes I feel like the people here should be more aware of HIV since it is so prevalent (6 million people in the country have it) and it makes me concerned that people aren’t aware of it and that I know more about it. I wish it was the other way around but I am glad that I have the opportunity to educate people. So I really enjoy it for the most part and being able to see the peer educators that I don’t normally see around. But it is a hectic time of year since midterms are coming up so I have to try and balance it all. Nothing else too significant to report for Monday. I just had classes info stall and homework.

Tuesday was normal. We had a final meeting before the march to get everything sorted out. I had to run to the grocery store and I had class. Again nothing to special.

Wednesday was the day of the March in March for HIV awareness. It also happened to be the day that a heat wave decided to start...it was in the upper 90's and hasn’t cooled down that much yet which is unseasonably warm for here. So I went to my classes in the morning and then right after I got out of my last morning class me and Lungi had to move tables across campus to the place where the march started. I was very sweaty, very very sweaty. Then we got everything set up and ready in time for the march. Everything for the march ran smoothly. The attendance wasn’t as high as I would have liked but that is okay Stellenbosch is very conservative and apathetic so I am pleased with who came and hopefully it raised some awareness. We had a brass marching band, which was good because it attracted attention so hopefully we made an impression. Here are some pictures:

I kind of cut myself out but my chin, Louis and Matt

Gashaw and me. He came to support me it was very sweet.

Elaine, Jacqui and Bonnie

After that we had to pick up everything and get ready. Then Brownwyn and I talked to one of our prof and got him to allow us to move our test until Friday, which I was very thankful for. After that we ate lunch (about 3pm) and got an ice cream and then helped out with the counseling sight. After that I had class which was so hard to stay awake in but I made it. IT was sociology and we were talking about religion in South Africa, which I was excited to learn about, but it wasn’t interesting and I was exhausted. So I left my room at 8:30 and didn’t get home until 7:00 at night. It was a long day so I ate dinner took a nap and then I had promised some friends that I would hang out with them so that is what I did.

Thursday was good. I had class and prac after that since it was about 5 million degrees outside I went to one of my friends house to swim in the pool which was great since it was so hot. After that I got a call and found out that the peer eds had been invited to attend a drumming cafe by the SRC (the student government organization on campus) which would have normally cost money but wouldn’t if we wore our peer ed T-shirts. We were also VIP's which meant that we got free finger food and wine before the drumming thing, which was awesome and also had reserved seats in the front. I felt very important. It was really cool I like drumming. Here are some pictures from that.

Big D, nothy, Abagail, Jean Maire, Jean Marie's mom

Me Bronwyn, Louis, Sandile

Friday I had to take the test that we postponed and then classes and I worked at the info stall and got tested for HIV...I am negative so that is good. So I got home around 4:30 and then made dinner and Katy and I took a long walk around stellenbosch and got some ice cream. It was nice. We hung out in the room because we had an excursion on Saturday where we had to be on the bus at 7:20 in the morning.

On Saturday we went to Robben Island but when we got there and got our tickets we had time to roam and when it was time to board the boat that got us there we found out that there was a mechanical issue but come back in an hour so we did and then we found out that there was water leaking into the engine so out boat was broken however the people who were on the next boat ride got to go. They split it up by boats so you cant just push everyone back an hour and change the boats that people take (not exactly sure why) so ours was canceled which messed up the whole excursion that AIFS planned but anyway we had some time to kill before we were scheduled to have lunch at a restaurant so Chels, Katy and I walked to Long St. and looked around. After that we went to lunch and it was delicious but not as good as last time because they didn’t have the rotti which they did last semester and the lamb curry stuff. It was a cape Malay food restaurant. It was still good and I still ate too much. Then we went to the district museum, which was interesting, but I was very tired. After that we came home and Chles, Katy, Chris, Courtney, Emily and I all went to watch the Maties rugby game which we won and was nice. I like going to sporting events because I miss that stuff back home. That night I hung out with some friends.

at the Victoria and Alfred water front

some of the AIFS group at lunch

more of the group

Bo-kaap

Kelsey and Jacqui in Bo-kaap

Catlin and I

Kelsey matched

Rugby game...look at what the stadium looks out on...amazing

So that was my week well today I have been trying to catch up on a bunch of things that I need to do. I hope all is well.

Enjoying the experience

2008-03-02T03:42:00.001-08:00

Okay so I apologize for being so bad about this blog so far this semester. I really am sorry I kind of had no motivation to because I had no pictures but now mom and dad sent me a battery charger so I can post pictures so thank you. I know that isn’t an excuse either but hey I am doing one right now. Here are some pictures of Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope and the penguins. Now you can see how this is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is amazing!

Boulder's Beach

Okay anyway. Since then I have been in classes, which are going well. I have more work than last semester because of the 4 mainstream courses. I really enjoy human geography so that is good. I just think it is interesting the different stages of population growth (which is what we are learning about now) and the concept that there are countries that are at zero population growth but with the amount of immigration one would not be able to tell. Nothing to exciting to report in classes yet. Just trying to get through. I have finals that are kind of spread out which is kind of disappointing because it cuts down the time for a trip at the end of the year. We were going to try and go to Lesotho and Swaziland hopefully there is enough time. We are also looking into things to do after the Garden Route and we have some ideas but I will let you know the plans later.

The March Campaign is coming along well. It should be if you think about it since it starts TOMORROW!!! Oh my I am nervous but excited for it to begin. I have been brushing up on my facts and bought the official T-shirt that we needed to buy as well as a green shirt for the March which is on Wednesday so if you are planning to be in the area then I think you should come. I hope that that is pulled off okay. We have had meetings and we have one more before the march. Tomorrow I am going to be working at the info stall distributing information and invites and seeing if we can get people to go for voluntary testing and counseling and I want to go get tested at some point. But I have been hanging up the posters and doing some of the small odd jobs so it will be rewarding when it is all done. So that is that. Wish me luck and "Grow up and get tested".

Some of the "fun" things/ non-school things that I have done are gone to a concert in Kirstenbosch Gardens, which is a beautiful garden in Cape Town. We saw the Rudiementas, which is a mix of reggae and ska. I really liked them and had a lot of fun. We had to bring a picnic and by far Katy's and mine was the best. We had a fruit salad, pita with hummus, pesto, feta tomato pasta and chocolate bar. It was wonderful. Here are some pictures.

the stage

Hestea's boy

Chels Dave and Me

the band

Chels Grand and me

Eric and Michelle

I have been watching some soccer games on TV as well as rugby. I went to watch a Maties rugby game, which they tied and they don’t tie, they always win but the coach put in the bad players in because they were up 31-10. I also watched a friend of mine play in the club team. I went to a soccer tournament for the school and watched a couple of my friends play in it. I have been to a couple of braais and went to see the movie the Golden Age. I think that is about it. I don’t really have many pictures because I just got the battery charger so I apologize. I did however take pictures of my room so here they are:

The view from my window

the kitchen

the kitchen

the bathroom

the shower (it is very small)

My bedroom

My bedroom

my room

my room is on the corner bottom floor

the building

I think that is all from the southern hemisphere where it is still nice and warm and shorts weather most of the time. I hope you all are serving with all the snow in the northeast and the general winter everywhere else. Stay well.

There is a difference between living and existing

2008-02-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

This week was the first week of classes so that was the biggest event for me. I am taking 7 courses so it will be a little more difficult than last semester but I am ready for that. Two of my courses are half in English and half in Afrikaans but all of the notes for both are available in English and one of my south African friends is in it so she helps me with anything important I miss I am just nervous for those days that she doesn’t go to class. Anyway the international courses I am taking are the wine course (yes I know again but you get a lot of free stuff and I don’t get credit for it anyway), sociology: political and cultural change in SA, and transitional justice. The mainstream courses that I am taking are conserving nature, human geography, geographical data collection and spatial analysis, geographic information systems. I picked up the data collection course because otherwise I wouldn’t have had class on Friday which is something that I could not handle so my schedule is fairly full just not so bad on Fridays. I am really enjoying the human geography course I kind of wish that I had discovered geography earlier because I think that I would not have had the same major but maybe there is a way that I can somehow incorporate all of it and it is still early I know. I also had some peer education stuff that I had to do because now there are only 3 weeks until the march...hopefully it all comes together.

Also this weekend we went to boulders beach and cape point/cape of good hope. It was absolutely beautiful this country is amazing. The penguins were pretty active as well like 3 walked right by me and I went in the ocean swimming and they were right near me. They weren’t molting this time so they looked less sick which was great. So that was basically my week in a brief recap. Basically I like classes so far and am excited for next week.

I just want to encourage everyone to realize how privileged we are and take advantage of that. Don’t just go through the motions. Live! You may be surprised what you find.

Oh and sorry about no pictures I have a few but my batteries died so maybe next week.

I am back!

2008-02-03T02:44:00.000-08:00

Well as you all know I am back in South Africa. It has been quite the ride. I am very happy to be back. Okay so aging, like last time, I stopped in London for 3 days. This was torture not only because of the fact that I was so close to being back in south Africa but also because the dollar is equivalent to about .46 pounds so since I really need to be careful with my money this semester it didn’t allow me to spend lots of money at all so basically I did a lot of walking and visiting the free museums but let me start from the beginning.

So I left the States at about 6 at night on the 17^th. In the airport I ran into a girl who was coming from my school named Laura (there is also another girl going so there are 3 from Assumption) and at the airport we sat and talked and then we met up with most of the girls who were on my flight. They all seemed nice and were full of tons of questions. I answered as best as I could but I don’t want to ruin the experience for them either. The plane ride was good I watched a movie and slept nothing to exciting. When we got to London we got through everything fine and found our driver. He drove us to the motel so we were there by about 6:30 in the morning. We got there and I went up to see if we could get a room or if there was anyone there from AIFS but there wasn’t so we ended up sitting in the lobby for about 3 hours while slowly other flights began to trickle in but still no one from AIFS showed up. It wasn’t that big of a deal someone did eventually and then we were told that we weren’t allowed in our rooms until 2 in the afternoon, which was disappointing because I really wanted to take nap. After we found this out Katy, a girl who was here from last semester, and I walked some girls to the Natural History museum and they decided that they wanted to go there while we went to the science museum. This museum had a lot of potential but we were both wicked tired so it was hard to get through it. We raced sperm though up the fallopian tube and won so we fertilized the egg and we also found out what kind of personalities we had. After we went to the Victoria and Alfred museum which is an art museum and ended up sitting in a hall of Raphael paintings again this would have been amazing but we were dragging. After that we decided that we would sit in the lobby and wait for our room and eat some of the food that we had brought. Luckily the rooms were ready early so we got ours at about 12:45 and decided to take a 3 hour nap get up and shower watch some news and then we went to the welcome drinks meeting. There are so many people in this group it was kind of intimidating. I made my round meeting people but even still today I don’t know everyone’s names but I think that I recognize everyone from AIFS. After that we got a group together and went to a fish and chips place and we all ordered something after that we stopped at a bar and Katy and I left fairly quickly and went to bed.

The next day we had the bus tour around London. This was fairly similar to the last one but it was still interesting because I had forgotten some of the facts. After that me Emily, Greg, Corey, Eric, Katy and Katy all went to the Tate Modern Art museum in London. This was really interesting there was a couple of of paintings that I really liked and some that I didn’t understand why it was called art like a green neon light that was placed diagonally on the wall but hey to each his own. After that we walked to the globe theater but didn’t go in because it wasn’t free. After that some people grabbed lunch and I ate some of the food that I had brought from home because lets face it everything is way to expensive over there. We then walked to the tower of London and took some pictures. Eric bought a shot glass for his mom. By this point it was dusk and so we started to walk home. Everyone but Eric Katy and I took the underground home but we decided to walk. On the way home we stopped at this Indian restaurant which gave you such small portions it was awful but we ate there and then continued on our way home. We didn’t get back until like 9 and my feet were very tired. That night we watched some TV with eric and then went to bed early. Here are some pictures from the day:

Buckingham palace

Katy and Eric at a Cathedral

Tate Modern museum

Globe Theater

Tower of london

funny sign

The next day was the day that we were leaving for South Africa so we had the morning free. Katy and I got up packed ate breakfast showered and then walked to the natural history museum and walked around there for a little bit and then the whole group set off for the airport. Katy and I were extremely excited. London was pretty much torture because we were so close to South Africa and it was hard to do everything because things are so expensive and it was hard to get to know people because people were only interested in asking questions about Stellenbosch and not getting to know us. But we made it through.

On the plane I had to have a middle seat and I hd this older Australian man sitting next to me and all he wanted to do was talk the whole time and I have issues being rude to people so for a lot of that flight I was listening to him. He was telling me about all of his crazy travels and currently he was on a trip around the world and how many women are keen on him and he has also beaten up a few people in his day. So that was kind of frustrating. We then arrived in Cape Town and I got into the country fine which was a relief because I didn’t have a study permit yet but I had some paperwork that worked out. It was great to see Chels and Hestea.. We then got on the bus and drove to Stellenbosch it was so great to see things that I recognized basically I was ecstatic that whole ride. Originally I was supposed to live in Concordia but things got messed up no ones fault really but Katy and I are living in Academia with a bunch of South Africans but we haven’t met many of them yet. Our room is nice we have a large kitchen/common room and we share a bathroom but we each have our own bedroom. We are on the first floor but have a view of the mountains so that makes up for the fact that you have to be extra cautious about putting stuff out of sight when you aren’t in the room so that people wont break in. Aslo we are along a walk way so it can get noisy but if that is all I have to complain about then I really have nothing to complain about. The first day that we were here we ran some errands had lunch with the new kids and then unpacked. We didn’t have to attend any of the orientation sessions because we had already been here so that was nice especially because it was extra hot that day I feel like. That night we had the welcome dinner. Katy and I were in charge of getting everyone in the Academia/Concordia complex to the restaurant which was 44 people. I kind of felt like a babysitter which was a little awkward because I want people to get to know me and not think of me as someone superior to them and people were late too like 15 minutes so that was frustrating but we got everyone there. The dinner was nice but again it was warm. After the dinner everyone that wanted to go out went to Mystics so I hung out there for a little while but left pretty early because there were so many Americans there that I couldn’t really handle it and it is the first night in south Africa. This group seems to be pretty intent on going to the bars which is not really my thing. I will go once in a while but that is not why I am here. So I hope that people came here for the right reasons. The next day chels, katy and I didn’t have to do anything so again we ended up doing some errands met some more people.

That week was spent attending some orientation sessions and running errands and seeing people that I know from South Africa. It was a nice fairly relaxing week but I always had something to do. There was nothing to noteworthy here. There are some very rich people on the trip. A few guys bought mopeds for about $715 and thought nothing of it which continues to amaze me but hey what are you going to do. On Sunday I went to Yzerfontein to a camp to work on the March Campaign. This campaign is for HIV and AIDS awareness and to encourage people to go and get tested to know there status. The first few days were just there to come up with ideas become more used to the peer eds and the process. I then got placed into a task team. I am in charge of the events which the first one that is being planned is the March in March. It is going to be held on March 5^th so there is a lot to do in a little amount of time. It should be stressful but well worth it. We also went on a game drive and had a braai. It was a lot of work but we managed to have some fn as well. I shared a tent with 2 guys for the first few nights and then after that one of my friends that came late joined us so it was even but they are all great kids and it was great to get to know these people better.

Table mountain in the distance

Bronwyn, Big D, Louis...my tentmates

some peer eds

Nothy and Eberhiem

The day I got back was vensters which is like when all of the fist years have to put skits on for everyone to come and watch in different locations around campus. The whole community comes. Oh on a side note it was pretty annoying that each morning including the weekends usually between 6 and 7 people would run around and in there cars beep or play loud music giving the wake up call to the first years and on top of that wake everyone else up as well. But anyway so I wnet to that and then hung out afterwards. Yesterday was the floats so It was a parade that everyone comes out for. The floats were pretty cool here are some pictures:

So that is what I have been up to. Classes start tomorrow so that is when the real work starts.

sobanana

2007-12-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

That means see you later in xhosa. My last few weeks in South Africa were amazing but difficult here goes the final post.

On the Monday after we got back form the trip I ran some errands with Chels and Blake and brought the tent back. We got a Gatsby, which is a huge sub. Like 2 ft long with curry chicken and chutney sauce but what makes it a gastby is they put chips (French fries) in it. It was so filling. Then we ran some more errands I got my letters. Thanks for those who sent me them it was great! We then went to see the Heartbreak kid which was probably out way long ago for you guys but that is okay I enjoyed it and it made me laugh. That night Katy and Rita came over and we hung out. The next day I volunteered at the hospital with Blakelee, which was interesting. I made a bed saw a crazy bed sore and talked with some of the patience. I then took a nap and cleaned a little. The flatmates and I then watched Madagascar and played cards. We then had tortillas with Tillie and went out for coffee but juice for me at a local place. The next day I slept in and got somethings sorted out. On Thursday of thanksgiving I went to the hospital to watch a surgery we were supposed to watch a cesarean section but there was another surgery where they were debating whether or not to cut a little boys finger off or sew it back on. I fainted on the first surgery something about seeing the boy being sedated and move around made me uneasy. I was allowed to watch part of the cesarean section from a distance, which was so neat, but I do not want to be a surgeon. While we were walking back we ran into Chels and Jen and Katy who were going to a restaurant in Kayamandi and we decided to join. When we got there Rita, Eric and Kylie were there so we joined tables and hade a great meal. Also that afternoon we had to turn our bikes in. It was so strange because everything was coming to an end. Final time in Kayamandi turning the bikes in it was a strange feeling. After that I went and bought a bottle of wine and amarulla for the flat. Then I cleaned some more made dinner and called home to say happy thanksgiving. After that Katy came over and we sat and talked and drank the wine. After that we ended up going out to one of my favorite bars and one of the first ones that we went to. We met up with a bunch of people from AIFS and had springbokkies which are delicious and danced and basically had a good time. Then we went to Springboks after and more of the same. After that we went to McDonald’s my first time and I got a McFlurry and then I came back and went to bed.

So on Friday I woke up…it was everyone’s last day in Stellenbosch. In the morning we cleaned the flat it is so strange now and I don’t like going out into it because it doesn’t feel like it is mine. When I am in my flat I stay in my room because it is the only place that is somewhat the same as I remembered it. We then got the flat checked where they took our bedding and kitchen stuff which was pretty sad but still I can handle it. After that me and a group of people (Jen, Blakelee, Chelsea, Kylie, Eric, Rita, Tillie and Spencer) all went out to a restaurant that I have been meaning to go to ever since we got here. This was great it was nice just talking and people doing things that I associate with them for example Jen reading the history of the restaurant in one of her crazy voices. We then walked around town and through campus which I started tearing up at even though I knew that it wasn’t my last time but that was rough. After that it was time to grab everyone’s bags and load them into the vans. Luckily Chels and I had talked to Hestea about going to the airport with everyone so that we could say good bye so we did. We all piled into the cars and the whole experience was surreal. We stood around and talked while people were getting their bags checked. After that was all done which took a long time we went to a restaurant in the restaurant and ate. Once I was told that after dinner we were leaving it got difficult. So once we paid the check the good byes started. This was so difficult it was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. I started crying almost immediately. I saved certain people for last just because I was closer to them but there were so many hugs and kisses. It was difficult and there isn’t much that you can say. I brought a box of tissues and so I was handing them out like crazy. Saying goodbye to my flatmates at the end was the most difficult. Jen one of them does not touch people and does not cry we hugged a bunch and cried. It is amazing how much I cared for these people and how much they have helped me to develop. I think that hear I have had some of the most real friendships in my life. No one had to be someone that they weren’t. It didn’t matter what we were like because we were going home in 5 months so we could be ourselves. I have been so honest with these people and in a heartbeat would turn to them for anything and I know that in a second they would be there. I hope that I can be like this at home and that I don’t forget how to be this real with the people at home. It makes everything so much more worthwhile. Also especially in the last couple of days it was amazing some of the things you were telling people it was just so truthful about how you felt about people and the worries you have when going home. Everything seemed so genuine, not forced but just genuine. The honesty here is something I want to emulate at home. I hope I am able to be as much of myself as I was here. It is amazing how close I got to these people in such a short time. Normally I don’t let my guard down so that I don’t have to deal with this but in South Africa I didn’t. It stinks just because I had to deal with these emotions and I wont lie I was very sad and still am and randomly will start crying. But then again it shows me just how much everyone here means to me and that the experience was worth it so therefore I wouldn’t change it for the world. I know I met some of the most amazing people in the world and I hope that someday everyone will get to meet people like I did.

Also I began to realize how much I liked my independence here. People didn’t know where I was 24/7. Not just people at home but people here. I didn’t owe an explanation to anyone. As worried as I was to come here alone it was by far the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I gained self confidence and this independence that I found is something that I want to stay with me I am a capable person who can get things done when I need to. Also South Africa taught me how to live a little. At home sometimes I feel like I am just doing things because that is what I am supposed to do. I go to school, I do my work, I just run through the motions. I don’t have to do that there isn’t one right path and I have heard that before but I have discovered it for myself here, which makes the lesson ten times more powerful. If I want t go skydiving then I am going to go I need to live my life. I am sorry I don’t want to be preaching but if you can gain anything from my experience then I will be happy.

Okay anyway after Chels, Tillie, Rodger, peter, and Luke (his brother) all hung out and had a sleepover. It was a sad evening.

The next morning I woke up and hung out in bed with Tillie and Chels for awhile then came back and showered and ate and worked on some things that I wanted to get done before I came home which I haven’t finished yet. Went back to hillbillies and just hung out for most of the day.

On Sunday I went to Canal Walk which is a huge mall in Cape Town and walked around. It was huge and nice. It was a good way of keeping my mind off of everyone being gone. That night I went over to Hillbillies which is where Chels is now living and made dinner and hung out and then walked home. On Monday I went to the school store here and bought some souvenirs and then went wine tasting. We went to 2 farms Waterford and Beyerskloof with Tillie, Renee, Peter, Luke and Chels. I wasn’t a big fan of the second one but the first one was okay. We then went to the grocery store and made dinner. Hung out some more walked home read did some things here etc…

Me and Tillie during the wine tasting

Renee driving us

The next day Chels and I got up early to take the train into Cape Town where we became part of the US Delegation J. It was so cool. We met up with Ed (he was my Dad’s roommate at UNH and now works for the EPA) and him and a bunch of other important people from the USA were taking a tour of different things around Cape Town. Ed invited me and a friend so I went. It was so cool and everyone was so nice. Okay anyway we went to Cape point and Cape of Good Hope and got to look at the weather observatory here, which was wicked interesting. We learned about what they were monitoring and different programs they had with other organizations. We had time to walk around which was nice because the last time I was there it was cold and rainy. After that we went to the Brass Bell for lunch, which was right on the ocean. It was so nice and Ed paid for lunch (I threw that in there for Dad). After that we went to Khayletisha where there was a monitoring station. It was strange though because we went to the firehouse and it was windy so it didn’t really feel like a township. The smell wasn’t there and the surroundings were nice because you couldn’t see past the wall. But that was so interesting to. What was also cool is some things would be over my head but others I was like hey I remember learning about that. Basically it was a great day. After that I said goodbye to Ed and then took the train back home. We ate at Hillbilles and then I walked home and attempted to read but ended up falling asleep wicked fast.

Wednesday I woke up and read some more and then packed a lot of things. After lunch I went shopping for some gifts that I have been meaning to get but haven’t gotten around to it then I laid outside and read trying to enjoy the warm weather while it lasts. Then I read and ate and worked on the blog some more. Basically a low key night just trying to get some things finished before I get home. Thursday I spent the morning reading and walking around Stellenbosch taking some pictures and just trying to come to terms with leaving. I had lunch with Renee, Tillie and Chels at Arizona Apur and then walked around some more and took more pictures then went to see Balls of Fury which is an awful movie might I add. I hung out at Hillbillies that night and then went home for my final night in my room. On Friday I got up and packed everything left up and Chels came over to download some music and some pictures.

this is what my room looked like before i took everything down
Then we walked around some more took some more pictures reminisced and had dinner with Tillie, Peter, Luke and Grant. Tillie made her famous curry which was delicious and then Chels and Tillie drove me to the airport which was pretty sad but the sunset was absolutely gorgeous!

Campus is gorgeous

the sunset on the way to the airport.
I then flew home which was difficult and I am still trying to adjust to everything but all the hard stuff was worth it because this was a great experience. One of the things I noticed while flying into Boston was how flat it seemed. There were so many mountains by me in Stellenbosch and also how many baseball fields there are it was strange. So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for being so supportive and making this experience amazing. I couldn’t have done it without you. I am back in the USA.

Hold On Baby Fire...Pimpin' Ain't Easy

2007-11-28T08:46:00.000-08:00

They didnt take the internet away from me so I have been working on doing this for you guys. Here you go.

So this title is the theme of our trip. On some of the buses that transport people around have names and this is a compilation of three of the buses that we saw..hold on, baby fire, pimpin' ain't easy. We would randomly throw this saying out there...and here the trip begins

Okay do my amazing trip…this was a great road trip and most things that we had kind of planned we changed around. For example we were supposed to stay in Jeffery’s Bay the first night (it is known for amazing surfing if I ever come back I would like to go visit it) but we didn’t so it changed all the plans. So anyway let me start from the beginning. On the first day we picked up a 2 man tent from Tillie a friend andthen rented a 2 man tent. I then taught my flat mates quickly how to drive the car (it was standard). I also wanted to say thanks to my dad right now for teaching me and I recommend that everyone learn if they have the opportunity because it saved as a lot of money. We were on the road by 11. We took the N2 from Stellies (Stellenbosh) to Mossel Bay.

A picture while we were driving there

This is pretty much along the coast so there were some amazing views but we have done this drives a couple of times already not to say that it wasn’t breath taking. We stayed at the Mossel Bay backpackers. They showed us our camping spot and we were like umm okay. It was by a hammock and a picnic table and didn’t seem like a camping spot but I am not complaing. After we set up the tents, I slept with Jen in one and then Blake and Chels slept in the other, we decided to walk through town and take some pictures…

Mossel Bay

Chels and I outside the backpackers

Blake, Jen and Chels

Jen and Blake

The backpackers we stayed at

Gorgeous church in Mossel Bay

Blake Me and Chels

We then went to dinner at Delphino’s a restaurant right on the beach with an amazing view. After that we went to the backpackers and hung out and met this group of American boys who were hilarious. They were from a school in Virginia, EMU. There school makes them go abroad for a semester of a cultural emersion. It sounded so cool and they stayed in a village in Lesotho where they learned the language and had a week holiday then are studying in cape town and basically travel all around South Africa as part of the program that they choose. It was so neat. So anyway we played cards with them, scum, which was interesting some of them were very competitive basically it was a fun night. Then we went to bed and there was this bright lit cross on the hill, which was pretty eerie. It was much brighter than anything else. It was a little strange not going to lie. So it was the beginning of a good road trip.

The next day we ate breakfast on the balcony that overlooked the bay. It was beautiful. We signed up for skydiving but it was to windy so instead we walked around town some more and then drove to Addo national Park where we saw tons of animals like warthogs, kudu, rhino. water buffalo, elephant, deer etc…

Warthog

Zebra

hilarious sign

At Addo

At some part the bush was thick

red hartebeest

Water Buffalo

This picture is not zoomed in they were so close to us

elephant crossing

Kudu

Jackel at the water hole

again there is a pile of bones in the background but it is hard to tell

We got stuck in the park because there was a confusion as to what the closing time was. We had to be out of the game part of the park at 6:30 but out of the gate at 7:00 and we thought that we had to be out at 7 so we honked and someone came disgruntled and let us out…oh the American tourisits. That night we drove to a backpackers that was like 10 minutes out of the park and ate and camped there. The stars were amazing there it was so gorgeous. I saw Orion and the Southern Cross. It was crazy.

The Orange Elephant Backpackers

The next day we left by 10 and drove 9 hours to Port St. Johns. We stopped along the way in a field to make lunch. Here is a picture..

The Circle of Life!

A lot of times along the east coast there will be livestock randomly grazing along the side of the road or crossing the road. So when you are on the highway you have to be very vigilent. Here is an example of a cow. I honked at it hoping that it wouldnt cross luckily it didn't.

We took the N2 to the R62. We entered the jungle. Some pictures on the drive in...

This place was so beautiful. It was one of my favorite places here in South Africa. I had entered jungle madness paradise. We had a low key night were we camped at Amapando backpackers and ate there and just hung out and played cards. The stars were amazing and the view from the tent faced the Indian Ocean. We were on the side of a hill and looking down on the ocean.

there these birds that had there nests like this. The birds were yellow and green and the wholes were at the bottom of the nest.

Jen and I by the tents.

The next day we woke up wicked early with the sun and hung around listening to the sounds of the ocean and the birds. We then went into town where we bought groceries, got money and we saw this man who was trying to sell us sticks. This man was great he was so nice and just genuinely interested in what you were saying. He has been doing this for many years and apparently it works because he hasn’t changed his tactics. WE didn’t buy a stick…we wouldn’t be able to bring it home. Next we took a tour through the backpackers, it was free might I add, of the local sulfur springs and smelled the “soothing” gasses. We then climbed into a mud cave where our guide took out this clay stuff and we had to hold it under the water dripping from the ceiling of the cave and then covered ourselves in mud. Next we climbed up to the top of the hill that the cave was in and drank sulfur water and talked to some of the locals. Then we went to the sulfur spring which was a pool of water that was blackish and the guide gave us more mud to decorate ourselves and other people. Here are some pictures…

The view from our tent

another view from the tent

Entering in to the backpakers

smelling the "soothing gasses"

Blakelee doing it

The jungle

the mud cave that we went in

me with mud all over me

Jen me Chels and Blake

The sufur spring with the mud that we used to decorate ourselves

our guide and the crazy plants behind him

Blake Me and Jen

The hole we drank the water out of

Then we drove to the ocean to wash off. It was such a neat experience. Throughout this whole time when we were driving we were in the back of a pick up truck which is a very south African thing to do so I was pretty happy about that and driving through the middle of town covered in mud allowed us to receive quite the funny looks. Then we had lunch at the backpackers and spent the afternoon at the beach so I went swimming in the Indian Ocean, which was great, and it was a nice relaxing day.

Jen and Chels at the beach after we had all been in the Indian Ocean

Blake

the beach

That night we ate dinner at the Delicious monster, which was great, I had a schwarma. It was a family owned restaurant at the end of this road that was dirt and full of potholes. The food was great and in the garden there was pot growing in plain view. It surprised me. We even walked up and they were smoking it. It is illegal in South Africa.

The view from the delicous monster

The next day we woke up at 4:45 to walk the beach and see the sunrise. It was amazing here are some pictures:

before the sun had risen

Blake and Jen

A man bathing in the ocean

a fisherman going to work

on the way back

While we were waiting for the sun to rise we played with the backpackers dogs that had followed us to the beach. We were on the road by 9 to Durban. We took the R62 to the N2 to the M4. Blaklee drove this day but when we got to the city we switched because she didn’t feel comfortable driving it. I have never driven in a city before so it was quite an experience but luckily everyone was helping when we had to cross 4 lanes so we made it safely. The first backpackers that we went too didn’t have enough room for us so we went to a second one in Durban which was called Tekweni backpackers where we got a 4 person room (there is no camping in the city) for a bargain of R90 because there were no dorms open which were R80 a night so that was nice.

We ate dinner that night at a Thai restaurant which was delicious and then went back to the room. The toilet didn’t flush so well it was very fussy. I got it to flush twice for the whole time I was there which wasn’t a high percentage.

The next day we almost went skydiving but it was too cloudy and windy so they had to cancel it again! But that is okay we took an inner city bus the Myna to the Victoria Street Market instead. This is a predominately Indian market but it sold the usual African tourist stuff. I bought some souvenirs and ate lunch at an Indian street place which was good then we took a nap at the backpackers and went out to dinner at A Taste of India which was good but Indian food isn’t my favorite.

The next day we finally got to go skydiving! It took the entire day. We had to go up in groups of 2 so Blake and Chels went together and I went with Jen. Right before we jumped Jen and I said "Hold on baby fire, pimpin' aint easy." There was 35 seconds of free fall and then like 6 minutes of just floating over the ground. We jumped at 9500’ from Pietermaritzberg, which is 65km outside Durban, our instructors names were Martin and Vernon. It was pretty cool. I was strapped to Vernon and pulled my own ripcord when he said too I wouldn’t say it was as peaceful as bungee jumping they are too completely different experiences but it was worth it. After that we drove to Zulu land right outside Eschowe and camped at a backpackers Inyuzane. The stars were amazing here.

the sun set in Zulu land

I was awake for the sunrise there is a picture of it above and below this

The next day we painted tapestries at the backpackers. I also played with the son of the people in charge of the backpackers. It was so great we were throwing rubbers snakes. It was great to get a chance to interact with a child. It turned into a rainy day so we decided to leave and head to Dundee. On the way we stopped at a brewery to try the famous Zulu blonde beer but they were out so we continued on and arrived at BBI (Battlefield Backpackers International) we ate dinner at Battle creek Spur.

Spur is a restaurant chain here where there are like Arizona Spur(the one in Stellies), Mohawk Spur etc…so we felt that is fitting that we eat there at least once while we were here. It was fine nothing special but still good.

This day we drove to the Blood River Battlefield which is outside Dundee. It was a place where the Afrikaners massacred the Zulu. It is a famous battle and was pretty interesting. After we checked out the small museum and walked to the site of the battle we had a picnic lunch.

the memorial

blake jen and chels walking towards the iron wagons

Jen Me and Chels during our picnic

On the way out we got stuck behind a bunch of cattle and this nice man was trying to move the whole herd out of the way for us.

Then we drove to Johannesburg via the R33 to the R68 to the R34 to the N11 to the N3.

On the way to Jo'berg

Jo'berg from the road

WE got lost in the suburbs of Jo’berg and had to phone Adam, the friend of mine that we were staying with, and he was very patient at getting us to his house. I was very impressed that he knew where we were but we got there eventually. We got a tour of his house, which was gorgeous like amazing. His backyard was like a park it was so beautiful. We met up with Simon, his brother, and went to Orient Fusion after that I hung out with Adam while everyone else watched Harry Potter 4.

The next day we went to the Cradle of Humankind at Maropeng where there was a museum. It was so fascinating there were fossils and exhibits and even a boat ride through the 4 elements. It was one of my favorite things that we did while in JHB.
a view from Maropeng

Adam Blake and Jen and the enterance to Maropeng

fossil

Jen Me Chels and Blake ouside Maropeng

Me Blake Adam and Chels

After that Adam gave us a driving tour of Sandton which is the city kind of combined with JHB and where are all the businesses are moving. We stopped at Nelson Mandela Square. There is a statue of Nelson Mandela in the square but his head is small compared to the rest of his body. That night we ate dinner at the Maestro in Monte Casino where there was an older couple in plain sight for me who were getting very cozy. Then we went outside and hung around by this fountain where there was a water and light show!

This one makes me smile

the light show

It was so cool. The synchronized it to a mixture of Queen songs. Then it was time for the LION KING! We bought souvenirs and then went into the theater. We were in the 5^th row! It was amazing the costumes were beautiful and the music amazing. Basically it was a great first Broadway show. I would go again in a heartbeat there was so much to look at that I didn’t know what to focus on. It was a great experience. After that we drove home got a little lost but made it. Told Adam about it and he was like yeah I remember that and then “watched” Harry Potter 3 but I feel asleep before he had made it to Hogwarts.

The next day we took a driving tour of Johannesburg with Adam where we got to see some of the downtown.

The strike

Then we went to the Apartheid Museum which was pretty heavy but interesting none the less.

on the way home

After we went back to his house and climbed the tree house in his backyard and basically
lounged around. I took a short nap and then went swimming in the pool.

Adam on top of the tree house

me waiting for my turn to come up

We had a small dinner and then went to Cool Runnings Café where his brother did a drum and fire dance thing which was really night. It was a different sort of night on the town. After that Blake, Adam, and I stayed up and talked for a while.

The next morning we switched rental cars because our cd player wasn’t working and apparently our back lights weren’t either… safe huh. Then we drove to Kimberly on the N2 it was cool because things were flatter and you could see pretty far away. I saw some lightning which was the first time since I have been here. Apparently lightning storms rarely happen in Stellenbosch. We stayed at Greatbatch backpackers in Kimberly for the night and drove through town to find a restaurant/explore. The restaurant that we found was decent but they were very slow and they forgot about Chelsea’s order and so that was extremely late and apparently it was gross but the sunset was amazing. After that we went back and went to bed.

The next day we went to the big hole where we took a tour walked through a museum and did an “underground experience” which they basically took us around part of the old mine.

some facts about the big hole

the big hole with kimberly in it

We then drove to De Beer’s mine which is working and had lunch at a sandwich shop.

On the way to the sandwhich shop we saw a police helicopter and a bunch of yellowish orange gas, which we didn’t know what it was. It was in a parking lot that the road we were on went right by. Chels said that she thought that it was tear gas but Blake didn’t think so, so she decided to stick her head out the window…it was tear gas. We then drove to Karoo National Park, which was by Beau-fort West. We took the N12, which turned into the N1. So we arrived at Karoo National Park and found a campsite. We then walked to the restaurant that was in the visitor center and gift shop area where we had dinner. After dinner we ate Blake, Chels, and Jen called home and I sat and looked at the stars. When everyone was done we walked back to the campsite in the dark. While we were walking back we saw about 5 Zebras. It was so crazy they were like 5 ft from us and they crossed right in front of us. It was so neat they were so close. We got ready for bed and then watched the stars. There were some shooting stars and one of them was so orange it must have been a big one I have never seen one like it. I decided that night to sleep outside of the tent. I would randomly wake up at night and could see the stars it was such a clear night it was amazing.

The next day we packed up and ate breakfast. Jen moved the car and somehow ended up in a bush. Oh well. We then went hiking but lost the trail so ended up bushwhacking. The trail was not very well marked. There was still a good view but it was extremely hot. We then did the fossil trail which was an easy walk that told you about the animals that used to live in the Karoo it was so neat some of the fossils were wicked neat and those animals were so crazy. On the way back to the campsite we saw these huge bushes with huge thorns! They were very pointy too I think that these are the bushes that in the lion king the hyena get covered in. They were crazy. We got ready to go where we saw this huge turtle or tortoise I am not sure which. It was massive.

Chels Jen anc Blake

the crazy thorn bush

look at how big they were

the turtle/ tortise

We then headed back to Stellies we took the N12 to the R62 to the R60 to the N1 to the R44. We stopped at a river by Outshoorn along the side of the road where there were tadpoles and crabs and the scenery was beautiful
.

Chels

Blake

Jen

i love windmills

We then made it back home were we got groceries then returned the car. So all in all it was an amazing road trip and not planned but we had enough of an idea of where we had to be that it was great. I would do it again in a heart beat.

I will write about the rest of the time too but I think that the is pletny long so if you made it this far congratulations!

See you all in less than a week.

Stay well.

2007-11-19T07:48:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I made it through South Africa safely but my internet gets disconnected tomorrow so I dont think that I will have enough time to post something. But dont worry it will be posted when I get home. I hope all is well and i will see you in about 2 weeks.

Wêreldkampioene

2007-11-04T01:02:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know that many of you think that I have died because it has been awhile since I have last wrote in this but I am alive! You should all be excited and I haven’t had any near death experiences. In fact I have had a great last couple of weeks except for the fact that I realized that I have about a month left which has been pretty depressing. I am sorry if this offends any of you but I am not ready to go home in fact I don’t want to go home just yet. I am having too much fun and I feel like I am finally getting everything together and now I have to go. So that has been wicked depressing but I am trying not to think about it and enjoy my last 26 days here.

Oh I got a tattoo...here is a picture:

Any way there is a few things that I wanted to tell you that I forgot to put in the last blog post. That week I went and got tested for HIV/AIDS. It was pretty neat I was negative so that is good. But they counsel you before and ask you questions and explain a lot about the disease. I already new what they told me from the peer education training but it was still nice to hear again. Then I got my finger pricked and they put a drop of blood on this pregnancy test looking thing and you had to wait outside until it was done. Then you had post counseling. When I was in the pre counseling I was basically told that I should go on birth control because if I get raped (which may happen according to this lady) then I will get pregnant and get AIDs, which would just be awful. That was a pretty interesting thing. Also when I was there I was asked if I was part of the CAN group which is like cancer association something because of my hair and I was like actually no I am not. So that is what I wanted to add in for the last blog.

Next I hope I remember all of this...but here goes. So that weekend I went to watch a rugby game (it was the Rugby World Cup) and I watched part of the England vs. France game which England won and the South Africa vs. Argentina game the next day and South Africa won which meant that they were in the finals! So that was very exacting. On Saturday the day of the World Cup Finals everyone was driving around with South African flags hanging out their windows and the springboks (there team) flags. IT was so neat there was such a sense of pride it kind of stinks that America isn’t like that instead we have baseball and football which isn’t like the whole country. But anyway that afternoon for the peer education group we had to cut up a bunch of answers to questions. Throughout the week there was a place where you could anonymously answer important questions and you would get a free piece of candy and a condom, which was kind of neat. But the questions were like "Have you ever been abused?" "Have you ever abused someone?" "How do you feel about interracial relationships?" "Could you ever be in one?" The answers were so interesting. It was eye opening although some people I think didn’t really think about the questions. So I cut up all the answers so that someone could arrange them in a display. My fingers were killing afterwards it was pretty intense. But that night was the world cup Championship! This was amazing. I went to a restaurant with a big screen TV with some of my South African friends and some Americans. You know what was strange. The waitress passed out a sheet of paper with the national anthem written on it, which I found very strange but I guess it is still fairly new. IT was so neat and they were all so nice and would explain things to me but the best part was.... SOUTH AFRICA WON!!! It was so cool so the title of my blog is world champions and that can be applied to the red sox as well! But anyway this was so neat so everyone was jumping around and singing and people were so happy. IT was what the country needed. After everyone went out to the street and was jumping on cars and just having a good time. There wasn’t any violence. But a police car came by and people jumped on it and shook it like all the other cars which surprised me because it is a police car but then again the police don’t really do much here. Here are some pictures that I stole from other people:

Chels and me i had issues keeping my eyes open

At the resturant

oh the national pride

in the streets

they were scrumming cars which is when you lock arms and push against the opponents(in this case the cars)

This was so much fun it was great. I am so happy i got to experience it it is one of the things that i have always wanted to experience like when the red sox won the world cup in 2004 (and no again in 2007) but it was so neat to be in South AFrica when they won the world cup it is something the country needed to the unemployment rate is 40% it is intense.

Here are some random pictures I took while studying outside. This campus is beautiful!

Okay what else what else. My weeks have been pretty uneventful. I just finished my last exam yesterday so I have been busy with my last weeks of classes and studying for finals and trying to firm everything up for the trip. In my jewelry class I made a ring but it is too small to fit my finger so that was kind of disappointing but it still looks gorgeous.

Oh we also had the end of the year dinner with everyone from AIFS. It was so nice the restaurant was wicked nice and we went to signal hill and had a toast with champagne. It is so sad I still cant get over it but here are some pictures from that.

This one is for trisa there was a cool runnings cafe in Cape Town and i totally went in. It was very neat.

Chels, Blake, Emily, Me Ximena (everyone who shaved their heads)

Emily, Chels, Me

Kylie, Rita, Trish

Chris, Katy, Rodger

Me and Katy

Everyone feeling Hestea's belly. She taught us some things about being pregnant and was so open about everything. She is an amazing woman.

Eric, Ximena, Peter
Kylie, me, Katy

This is not in order but one night we had a flat dinner where we had a bottle of wine and some pasta and we all helped cook it was so neat I am going to miss it.

Chels putting lotion on Jen's tattoo

Chels

Blake and Chels

Jen and me

Oh some thing random for mom. So Jen was like wow you have long arms and i was like I know they are monkey arms and she was like noo well lets see where my arms end on my legs and then she was like actually you do ;). I thought you may appreciate that.

Hmm what else I went out to dinner last night with some people from the peer education group which was really nice the food was good we ordered a bottle of wine (wow it sounds like I am an alcoholic but I am not I swear) and talked it was great after a stressful week. Then we went out to a bar that I went to one of the first weeks that I was here which was kind of strange just to think how things have changed. We had a slumber party out in the common room and watched Aladdin and the lion king it was great. WE are going to have another one tonight!

I also hung out with a south African and we went to this park and I got to see the national flower here which is so big it was gorgeous and there was supposedly tortoises there but I didn’t see any so I am not sure if I believe him.

Look I got another tattoo...

this ones for you mom

I was just kidding about the tattoo Blakelee drew it on my foot but I thought that some of you would believe that I did in fact get a tattoo because some of you think that I am going crazy but I am not I am just developing into more of myself.

Okay I think that is all. I am sure I forgot things but I will try to write them down so that I can post it later. I am leaving on my trip tomorrow so I wont be back for a couple of weeks and I may type up a post if I have time but the internet gets shut off the day after I get back so if I don’t then I will see you back in the US of A. I hope all is well.

pikkewyn

2007-10-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

That means penguin. Okay this week...Well on Sunday I made myself some rice with corn and tomatoes and carrots and cheese of some sort. But anyway we had 2 cans of corn open in the fridge and so I took one out and put a scoop in the skillet but the scoop was like corn in gel and so I was like this doesn’t look right so I threw the rest of it away and used the other can. I will add right now that I didn’t remove the corn from the pan. So anyway in the middle of that night I threw up multiple times and didn’t get very much sleep. So I decided to skip classes that day, Monday, because I wasn't feeling so well and on Tuesday I had an exam and a prac which attendance is required. So all of Monday I spent in my bed reading and doing stuff on my computer. So that was a pretty stinky start to the week but that is okay. Tuesday I had my prac and then worked on a group project for my biodiversity class. That night I had my wine course exam, which was pretty difficult. The professor of the course had told us that things that weren’t going to be on it which turned out to be on the exam and things just to skim through which actually required memorization so that was pretty stinky. Wednesday was an ordinary day. Thursday I only had one class, which is amazing. After that class I went for a hike/walk around the base of Stellenbosch Mountain. Here are some pictures that I took.

Friday night I stayed in and watched some TV on the computer with my roommates. Saturday morning I went to Kayamandi and did a trash clean up with some peer educators, international students and a bunch of the youth in Kayamandi. If you guys think that you have done a trash clean up you have done no such thing. It is crazy I picked up bones and condoms and trash that had been there for months. The smell at some points was very intense. The youth though, kids teenagers were amazing they were all so kind and really want to make Kayamandi a cleaner place. It gives me hope that things will change in Kayamandi. That night I went over to Rita's where we baked brownies for our Afrikaans teacher because it was her birthday on Monday. I also helped them braai and Katy brought me over a slice of rum cake, which was delicious. I hung out over there for a while then Katy and I went to a bar/restaurant where we watched the first half of the rugby world cup semi finals between England and France. England won the game. Then I came home talked with Katy for a while and went to bed. Today, Sunday, I went to Cape Town to Robben Island, which was very interesting. This is where criminals and a bunch of political criminals were held during apartheid. Also it is a place where they put anyone who they believed to be infected with leprosy. Anyway we learned some about the history saw some penguins and all in all it was very interesting although I got a little seasick on the boat, which was surprising because usually I don’t.

on the boat ride over

at the enterance

i am handcuffed

Nelsons Mandela's court yard

Nelson Mandela's cell

After that we went to Boulders Beach where there is a penguin colony. This was kind of disappointing. There were penguins in the shrubs on the way to the beach but on the beach there weren’t any. You had to pay extra to go to the penguin-viewing place, which is where you can see them on the rocks. But that is okay I just didn’t get to hear them. Here are some pictures from that:

On thee way back we passed khayletisha, which is the oldest township in the western cape. Oh my goodness it was so huge it went on forever like it was awful. I couldn’t believe it. It was as far as the eye could see it was so sad.

Okay you may want to end here if you get queasy over dead stuff. If you do then I hope all is well and cheers, you aren’t missing anything. This is your warning.

Okay, so anyway. On the back we were driving past the township and then cars began slowing down and we were like what is going on then they were swerving towards the side of the road as if avoiding something. It was a dead body, of a person! A car was next to it with its window smashed. Now I don’t know what happened but the person I think it was a woman (I was right beside it like on the side of the car that drove right past the body) there was a wrap on her head and she had a white shirt and red bottoms. Anyway there was clearly a hole where there was white puss/matter coming out of with a blood trail running down the top of her head and a pool of it on the pavement. The person was sprawled on the pavement. It looked as though a small rock was stuck in the head where the wound was. This is what we speculated what happened. So in South Africa people do this thing called "smash and grab" where if you are stopped (this is where it doesn’t make sense because the car was clearly on the road and not by a stop sign) someone will smash the windshield and either grab for a purse or something valuable in the car or they will try and hijack the car. I don’t want you guys to worry about me this was the first time I had heard about it. But anyway is we think what happened is the wife was sitting on the side where this happened and the dead person did this and wither tried to take something or tried to harass the wife and the husband pulled the gun out and shot the dead person in the head. So I am not sure if this is correct but I could not get this image out of my head for the longest time it was and still is crazy. So that was the ending of that excursion. I hope that your weeks are going much better than the people involved in that.

Please don’t worry about me.

Have a good rest of the week.

Cheers

kaal kop

2007-10-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

I will tell you later what the meaning of this or actually you will see. So Monday was a normal day with classes. Except that my jewelry class got cancelled again he said he had the flu, which he had like 2 weeks ago so I think that he was lying. It is crazy we have missed either 3 or 4 classes, which is almost half. I hope that we actually finish something. We have 3 classes left so we will see but I am hoping for the best. Tuesday I had lab like a normal day. However there was quite a large event that happened in the middle.

before

I SHAVED MY HEAD!

See I am still having fun. no worries.

I decided to go shorter

The title of this means baldhead. Me and 2 of my roommates did it and the next day 2 other girls did it. So there is a total of 5 Americans with shaved heads. I am donating my hair to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society in Cloetesville, which is a coloured section of Stellenbosch. So I am not completely crazy. However, initially I shaved it with a number 2 (this may mean nothing to you) but the next day I decided that it was too long and so I did it again with a number 1. I figured that if I was going to do it then I was going to do it well. Now for all of you that didn’t know this was one of my life long goals, to shave my head. It feels so strange. I love when people touch my hair and a lot of people do because they like the feeling. Also you can feel the smallest breezes and it gets cooler easier. It is crazy all the new feelings that I have. Sometimes I see pictures with my hair and I am like oh man I look different. You can be the judge on how you think it looks. So far all I have got was positive feedback and I was told that I was the best-looking bald girl. Haha what a compliment. Anyway I also realized that I used my hair to hide under, especially with my bangs. A more superficial example of this would be with zits etc.. But also if I was having a bad day I could cover my face so that people couldn’t see me as well. Also people can see my facial expressions more clearly now that I don’t have as much hair. I don’t know if that makes any sense but I found it interesting. I also don’t have to shower as often because my hair doesn’t get greasy and it is crazy how little shower that you need to use. So that was basically the big event of the week.

Wednesday classes went well that is the night that we had the two other American girls over so the night was busy because it takes a while to do. Thursday was fine I really enjoy the wine course that I have been taking but that was the last class in a classroom. We have the test on Tuesday evening. That night was the Concordia, the residence that I stay in, braai which was fun I got to hang out with some new people and we went out to one of the local bars after. There was a band playing but they were not very good. Friday I spent all day doing basically nothing it was amazing I caught up on a lot of sleep and got some work done. That night we had a girl’s night/ potluck dinner. We had salad, fruit salad, macaroni and cheese, cookies, and peach, pear and strawberry crisp. I was so full after but it was all wonderful.

Blakelee making her cookies

me doing dishes

rita and I are clearly not heloing right now

Becca with the bald girls there

Saturday I had an excursion for my wine class where we went wine tasting at 3 different farms. It was all paid for and we got a real nice lunch. We also got a sandwich for a snack, which I thought, was a different choice for a snack. The first farm we went to I didn’t like very much I didn’t think that the wine was that good. The wines didn’t have very much length.

The next wine place was much better. They had a good sauvignon Blanc and a red one I think it may have been a Shiraz but I forget. We also got a cellar tour. I wish that we could see it during the harvesting process but I will have left by the time they harvest which is disappointing but that is okay.

The last place was my favorite it was so gorgeous. The wine was delicious and we got to taste a pinotage that I liked and usually I don’t we also got to taste a late harvest which means that the wine was more sweet which is defiantly what I prefer because I have a huge sweet tooth.

We had lunch there, which we got some great bread and this salad and I think it was boobotie although it was cold. I am not sure if it was supposed to be cold or there was just so many of us. Boobotie is like lasagna but without noodles instead and egg thing. Then we got a fruit salad with a scoop of ice cream on the top. That evening I went to one of the neighboring flats and hung out with some people there. Today I have been doing some work and napping and watching some episodes of Friday night-lights. So that has basically been my week. All in all it was a good week. I hope that everything is going well with everyone at home.

Cheers.

Laat hy val waar hy wil

2007-09-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

The title is a toast that means let it fall where it wants to. So basically everything will come into place eventually. So my week...nothing of great importance happened. I had classes. I started my wine course. I find it fascinating we learn about the different kinds of grapes and how you grow them and the history of wine in South Africa. We also got 2 free wine glasses, well not actually free but included in the price, so now I have 4, which I think, is great. We get to taste wine at the end of class for class like 5 each class. We have to look at the color and then smell it and taste it and score it. We have to tell them what we smell and taste like grass or green apple etc...That part is wicked difficult for me I don’t always smell or taste things. But I am getting better. Okay so that was the week. This weekend AIFS took us to the Cederberg Mountains, which are about three and a half hours north of Stellenbosch. Here are some pictures from the drive up there:

We got a flat tire when we were like less than 10 minutes from the place we were staying. This was no normal flat tire. The rim was bent around the tire and the tire was shredded. Jen and I who were sitting in the back of a van like an hour into the drive could tell that something was wrong but Tillie, the driver, said we would be fine. It was crazy. We were on dirt roads, although that is fairly common in South Africa. We finally got the tire changed after banging a rock against it to try and pry it off of the car. The place we were staying was so close to the mountains. We had to split in to halves one closer to the action and the other across a stream. I took one that was across the stream. The cabin was called Orion; I totally chose this one because it is Orion.

The other choices were Pluto and Jupiter. I was with Rosalia, Rita, Eric and Kylie. I got the awkward bed. It was in the kitchen. It’s okay though I really liked it.

my bed is behind the table

Rosalia and the kitchen

That night I was in charge of helping prepare the dinner. I buttered roles.

this was on the walk over to the other set of cabins

I climbed a tree before I had to help with dinner.

That night was low key I played 20 questions and ate dinner and then hung out around the fire.

The next day we went on a hike up Wolfberg Cracks. This was okay. I really enjoyed the hike but there were a lot of people and I didn’t like being surrounded by so many people hiking. It was just loud and when I hike I like to hear nature. I think that silence can teach you a lot. But I took it all in stride and all in all enjoyed it fully. The geology there was crazy. There were so many crazy rock formations. I am thinking about getting a geology book because it really sparked my interest. I think that it is so beautiful and amazing how it all forms so depending on the room in my luggage I want to get one. On the hike we had to crawl through this area called the cracks. This was so neat. It was kind of like spelunking without the cave but it was short stretches. It was a great hike. I want to try and go hiking more when I get home because I really enjoy it. Here are some pictures from the hike:

some crazy flowers

Later that day we hiked to a waterfall. There people could go cliff jumping. I didnt take part in that. I am not a big fan and my blisters were all bandaged up so that I didnt want to untape them just to put my hiking boots back on but I did get to relax in the sun for a while and take some pictures. It was great.

me and chelsea

Later that night when we got back I showered and played phase ten until dinner which wasnt until after 9. I wont lie I was a little cranky from being tired and hungry.

We decided to skip rocks on the way over to see if the food was ready. There were a lot of gnats but I dont think that they were actually gnats there so that was annoying.

Kylie and Rita

eric, kylie and rita

After dinner we had smores which were delicous. I ate three. That is alot of sugar.

Rita and Chels enjoyed thier s'mores.

me blakelee and chels

After that I hung out by the fire and star gazed and then went to bed.

The next day we went wine tasting. There was one wine that was sooo good. It was called bukettaube or something like that. This grape is only grown in South Africa. Next we went to see some cave art. It was drawn by the San tribe.

This was from a spritual ritual for the san tribe.

This is a cavish structure where people since the early 1900's have come to have secret meetings. Such as the first apartheid president so important people.

These names people were angry at so all the white marks are where stones have been thrown and ruined the rocks.

After that we drove home and I have been typing this. So I hope all of your week has been great and I will keep you posted on what I do next week.

Cheers!

walvis

2007-09-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

Walvis means whale which will make sense if you decide to continue to read. Okay, so this week was pretty boring compared to last week but here goes. Monday I had classes as normal. We started making a silver ring in jewelry class although yesterday I put it on my finger and I don’t think that it is going to fit but that is okay. Afrikaans was good I got my midterm back and I did well I think. I got an 80 I think but the grading system is much different here so I never know. But I think that is a low A. I am not really sure. It could be failing and I wouldn’t know. Biodiversity was good. I had my midterm in that on Thursday. But we switched prof. for this half of the semester on Monday and this guy has been instrumental in demeaning the flora in South Africa. He is a wicked important guy here, which is pretty crazy. Tuesday I just had one class and actually today I start my course for me second quarter, which is Introduction to the South African Wine Industry. I am pretty excited about it. We learn about how you make wine and some of the chemical stuff in the wine and the history. The rest of the week I had classes like normal. Wednesday we had a girls night in my flat, which was a nice break. My midterm on Thursday I think went well. We will see when I get the grade. Saturday I went to the Hermanus Whale Festival. It was very neat. I saw a couple of whales jumping in the ocean like jumping, like the whole body. It was pretty crazy. There was a market so it was basically a shopping day. I got some gifts for people. It was cold and rainy in the morning though so it wasn’t the best day to go but I am not complaining it was a free trip. I also found wicked good soft serve for R2.50, which makes me happy because it was at a chain store and there is one in Stellenbosch. Sunday was a me day it was my first day to sleep in in a long time. It was amazing and I took a nap and watched a movie and did some homework. It was a three-day weekend for National Braai Day/National Heritage Day. It was both. I went to Kayamandi where they were having a celebration of national Heritage Day. There were performers from their and some other townships. I learned that Kayamandi is the second oldest township in the western cape. These performers were amazing. They are so talented and boy can the dance and sing it was great. I also bought some things from the local stores, which is great because I am helping the community. It was great. I also hung out with a little boy and he took my camera and took some pictures for me. He was mentally challenged but loved looking at things through the camera screen. Here are some pictures:

this is the little boy who liked taking the pictures

I had class that night which was kind of stinky because I got invited to 3 braais and couldn’t make any of them but I chose to go to Kayamandi instead which was a good choice. And that was my week.

Stay well.

Ellen

ek is mal oor Suid Afrika

2007-09-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

This means I am very crazy about South Africa. This post may be a million pages long with a million pictures or I may break it up. I took about a bazillion pictures. But anyway here goes...

Friday we left Stellenbosch around 11:30 in 10 person busses. As were driving I saw acme wild ostriches around the side of the road which is pretty neat. Also there was a "pack" of baboons along the side of the road. Two were just chilling in the middle of the road. They were kind of like cows that hangout along the road, which by the way there are like a bazillion goats, sheep and cows that hang out there and randomly will cut across the road. Especially in the more deserted places. Our first stop was in Worcester!

We stopped at a gas station where I made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and ate an orange. I bought some groceries before I left so that I could save money on the trip. After another 2 hours we stopped at Ronnie’s Sex Shop.

The reason why it is called that is because some of Ronnie's friends decided to play a joke on him one night and painted the word sex in between Ronnie’s and shop. And Ronnie never decided to repaint it. When we first pulled in I was like where is Hestea taking us. But it was just a cafe and bar. That night where stopped at the African Sky lodge. There was a buffet for dinner. I had ostrich steak and some form of sweet potatoes. I also decided that I don’t need any more buffets because I just eat and eat and eat. I felt s0 stuffed. WE didn’t eat until 8 so it gets dark around 6:30. I spent some time alone just looking up at the stars it was so peaceful. Here are some pictures from that night.

This was a wicked cool tree

Kylie, Katy, Rita

the next day we went to Cango Caves where I did the adventure tour. It was great! We climbed through some very small spaces but the rock was still wet and it was hard to get traction.

at the entrance of the caves

me inside

inside

a map of the caves

After we went to the ostrich farm where we learned about ostriches and I got to feed them and huge them as well as sit on one. I didn’t get to ride it because they only allow a certain number to do it.

me getting a hug from betty (dont try this at home normally ostriches are very aggressive and cannot be trained but for some reason betty is not)

ostrich chicks

me sitting on the ostrich

feeding ostriches

you can stand on ostrich eggs without breaking them but they do not do well with shock

After that we went to another grocery store and I ate another pb&J sandwich and it was delicious again and an apple. Then we drove to antlers lodge, which was o gorgeous!

the ceiling was thatched

a view from the lodge

the outside bar...it was beautiful

my cabin. I was in the room on the right with 3 other people.

this bug was huge!

It was relaxing. I ended up climbing a tree and just sitting in it for a wile alone and tired to take it all in. We had dinner it was a buffet. It was great we had salad, rice this chicken stuff that was basically potatoes, carrots, chicken in stew form. Also we found out Hestea is pregnant! All the girls thought so and noticed but the boys were surprised which made me laugh. That night we hung out outside by the fire and played games and talked. I had to go to bed early because I had to get up early so I did. The next morning I was up at 6:30to pack and headed out to do some tree canopy place. This is where I zip lined from tree to tree in a nature reserve. The whole thing is built so that there are no nails and it didn’t harm the trees, which was neat. It wasn't too exciting. I was expecting something better but it was still pretty.

me, becca, blakelee

chelsea

After we had lunch, which was included in the cost. It was a burger and a salad. It was my first beef burger here and it was good. They put some sauce on it, which tasted good it was like teriyaki/BBQ. Then we waited around for a while waiting for the other group to finish. Next it was off to the most exciting part of the trip. BUNGEE JUMPING!!! Yes I bungee jumped off the highest one in the WORLD! 216m! So we got there and we had to pay and got weighed. Oh boy I have gained weight but I guess the scale is off. They do this because they determine by weight who jumps when. Then we had to get our safety harnesses on and walk to the bridge to the place we jumped off of. The floor of the bridge was mesh and it was beautiful you could see everything. At this point I was nervous but not as nervous as when I go on a roller coaster. We got there they double checked our weights just to make sure that they were going to go in the right order. They had a briefing to go over what was going to happen. We could all stand close to the place where people jumped, like 5 ft, and they played like the music that pumps people up. There were about 50 of us total. The would help you to the ledge so that your toes were just over and cont 5,4,3,2,1 bungee. But pretty quickly and then you would jump. Sometimes they would slightly push you off/guide you off. People would go and they were very efficient. Everyone was cheering. It was a great atmosphere. I was very close to the end and by that point so many people had gone that I wasn't nervous anymore and it had lost comes of the excitement. There were 8 people left after me. Then some of the AIFS people opened chips and chocolates like 2 minutes before I left. I was like there better be some chocolate left when I got back and I was pretty concerned not going to lie. So I was thinking about that. So they did the whole briefing and told me what they were doing. I peaked over the edge from where I was sitting and I still wasn’t nervous. It was strange but I think that so many people had gone before me that it wasn’t a big deal. So I got to the edge wit the help of the 2 workers. I was anxious but not nervous I was worried that I wouldn’t jump well and be sprung back strangely. They did the count and I jumped I didn’t have to be pushed. For the first second I was like ahh but I didn’t scream. I thought like why am I doing this but after that like very quickly it was so peaceful. That is the best word that I can use to describe it. The recoil was pretty hard and not as smooth as others but it was still cool to see everything each though it was upside down. You could see the ocean and the mountains and it was so quiet and peaceful. I know I used the same word again but it was probably one of the most relaxing moments of my life. So I sprang up and down and it felt like a while. Then I looked around and tried to twist a little to see up and down it was cool. Then I got a little concerned because some guy gets lowered down and picks us up and flips us up the right way and then we get raised up. It felt like they took a while but everyone said that so I don’t think that it was me. And then I got raised up when I got back there was one small piece of chocolate left and I ate it it was good. Its okay I don’t really need a lot of chocolate. So all in all it was a great experience. Oh and on the way up the guy who fetched me asked me if this was the best thing ever and I was like I don’t know yet. I haven’t done everything yet. He liked that answer. I waited for everyone else to finish and then we went back across the bridge and I ordered pictures because we weren’t allowed to bring out camera on the bridge for safety reasons. They have a 100% safety record for the bungee jump. I found this out after but I guess someone brought a camera once and dropped it and hit another person on the head and they died so that is awful.

before the jump

being put on the edge

putting me the right way

me after the jump

everyone who jumped

the bridge I jumped off

Me with the guniness world record plack!

After lunch, I had a pb&j again, we went to monkey land. I was so exhausted thought. I think all the hype and adrenalin wore me out. So we saw monkeys and they were cute but it couldn’t compare to anything after bungee jumping.

it was on the satelite dish

ring tailed lemur like Zaboomafoo

Trish and Rita

We then went back to the lodge where I took a much needed nap and drove to Enricos where we got pizza. On the drive we saw a whale in the ocean it was so neat. The restaurant was right on the ocean. The food was good and the view was better. Then I came back and hung out and had some wine. We did a toast to those who bungee jumped. People would randomly go around and say "hey remember that time when we were in Africa and we jumped of a bridge and it was the highest bungee jump in the world." and I would be like holy cow I did that so now if someone says if your friends all jump off a bridge I cam say I already did. Crazy. So that night I stayed up later and talked with everyone. I got up the next morning walked around and went to Plettenburg bay beach. There I touched the Indian ocean. So now I have touched 3 oceans.

Peter and Katy touching the Indian Ocean

My first touch of the Indian Ocean

Peter and Katy

So i got a little exctited because the lichen was orange here and not green and Katy was like you are a bio major arent you and i was like yes.

That afternoon we went to the elephant park where we got to touch and feed elephants. It was really neat.

me feeding its trunk

putting the food into its mouth

Then I had pb&j, which was delicious as always. After Hestea took us to our surprise. We didn’t know what it was and we got lost but it was not a bad lost. WE found the place it was called the Campus of Eden where it took those previously disadvantaged and in the rural communities and teaches them entrepreneurial skills and it bridges the gap between their high school equivalent to university. It was so cool. Anyway there they taught us drumming on the djembe, which is a south African drum. It was so neat we had to be an element they split us up into 4 groups. I was earth and we had to make up our own beat thing. It was just cool to drum.

Also there I ran into a guy from my biodiversity class. It was so strange because he was randomly there touring the school with his dad. After that we drove to a backpackers at Buffalo's Bay where I saw the most amazing Sunset ever.

It was gorgeous and we hung out all night. At buffalo's bay we drove to the Knysna township. There we toured a Rastafarian community which was interesting it was not really my favorite thing but I got a little background on their beliefs and got to try some of their food. We also got to see a conservation effort that the government and the township put the 20 Rastafarian families in charge of. This township seemed richer than Kayamandi.

Their houses were more spread out and they tended to be bigger. There was also more construction going on and plumbing. Brother Paul the person that gave us that tour seemed to have a huge sense of community and doing things for themselves which gives me a great sense of hope. After that we were dropped off in downtown Knysna where we had sometime to get lunch and shop. It was okay but it was a really tourist area. I had pb&j and coffee n' cream ice-cream well actually frozen yogurt. I do miss real ice cream in the US. After we went on a boat to the Featherbed Nature Reserve where we got to walk down the side of the lagoon and the peninsula and see the Indian Ocean and the Knysna estuary. It was beautiful.

Rosalia, Rodger, Unique, Chris, me

this is no joke

After we went to dinner where Hestea gave us a R110 allowance to buy whatever we wanted well food not drinks. So I got a butternut soup, bolognaise and apple crisp. Hestea ordered an appetizer for us, which was like garlic pizza bread. The food was okay but the waiter forgot about my order so that was frustrating like the soup and the pasta. After that we headed back to the backpackers and said goodbye to Mama Hestea and just hung out. The next morning we headed to Buccaneers in the Eastern Cape. Buccaneers were like a resort. There was free volleyball, kayaking, canoeing, and swimming in a pool and on a beach, a yoga palace. It was wicked nice and not to expensive. R80 per night so that is like $15. We got there after dark so we took a walk and ate dinner and then talked. For dinner we had burgers and fresh pineapple grown right by there and coleslaw with potato wedges. It was yummy!

Taylor

The next morning I got up kind of early and took a walk on the beach where I saw a dead whale. It was neat and the scenery was beautiful.

Taylor

Then we went back and ate breakfast on the deck that overlooked the ocean.

After I went Kayaking with Taylor on the lagoon where we talked and I learned allot more about him. After that Taylor and I went to the beach where we watched the people learning to surf and read. Then we showered ate lunch and left for bulengula. One of the cars got a flat tire but Blakelee changed it. She is amazing. The roads at the end were dirt and the last leg we weren’t allowed to go down because it was too dangerous so we had to take a shuttle.

The bathrooms were crazy. First of all they were painted with so many cool designs and you peed in the front which is caught and the back is where everything else goes and then you pour 2 scoops of sand in the back. It is all sustainable. There is no flushing. The showers were also wicked neat. They are called rocket showers. You pour kerosene into a whole at the bottom and then light it. You turn the hot water tap on and regulate the temperature with the cold-water tap. It is about an 8-minute hot shower. The tiling on the floor was beautiful. Also the towel rack and toilet paper holder was all pieces of driftwood.

the bathroom

the bathroom

a shower in the shower hut

the inside of our hut. It was Rita and I with the boys.

me in our hut
That night we hung out and I met people from Wisconsin who go the University of Cape Town and a family that owns another backpackers north of Johannesburg. That night they were serving authentic Swiss food which was delicious it was macaroni and cheese with potatoes and bacon and on top of it you put caramelized apples and onions and then a salad. The next morning I got up and took a shower and sat by the ocean eating breakfast with Taylor. It was beautiful. Then I took part in women power with Kululwah and her family. This was day in the life of women. We played with the children, cut up this vegetable, carried water on our heads, collected firewood and then carried that back on our heads. There was a lot of down time.

Rita

Rachel

Rita fetching water. They took water from still water which surprsised me I thought that it would have been from a fast moving stream

Blaklee, Kululwah, Emily

a view from thier hut

the backpackers

We had a traditional lunch, which was pap with the vegetable that we cut up and fat cakes, which was kind of like fried bread. Then this porridge, which was not so good. It was like applesauce mixed with vinegar that you drink. They called it maize porridge. The babes would walk/crawl around with no pants on and just poop and pee wherever they felt like it on the floor or on Rita. They also to this beaded thing around their waist to measure growth. One of the women was a witch doctor, which is pretty neat. It was hard to communicate because Kuluwah was the only one who sort of spoke English everyone else spoke Xhosa. They were all so nice and welcoming it was neat. But there was lot of down time and I bet it would become very repetitive. After I went on a village tour. That was eating but kind of awkward. We got to learn about them. I learned that people in this village either are Christians or believe in ancestors. Then we went to the witch doctor where I got dressed up by her.

Chelsea, witch doctor and me

We went to the headman’s house, which actually was a woman because her husband had died. There are 2 of these in the village. Next we went to the village bar and the view was amazing. The gender roles were very strict here. At one house we went to a woman showed us how to grind maize.

Then gave us a chance to do it however boys were not allowed to. It was strange. Also girls sit on one side and boys sit on the other. Kids have all day to do whatever they want and play and the village was wicked safe. It is a neat place. But I can see how people would get bored easily. The next day I went for a walk on the beach and ate breakfast.

Then we left and headed inland to the Karoo.

We just drove and then arrived at Nieu Bethsida, which we arrived after dark. It was really neat we slept in a church because the backpackers that we were going to ran out of room and put us up there. People were getting really creped out but I didn’t find it scary at all. I discovered that I feel way more comfortable in rural situations as opposed to city ones and I am much more tense in the city. Which I think it kind of neat. That night we played mafia and went to bed. Then today we left early from there where I took a walk and then ate breakfast.

outside the church

Becca, Rita, Spencer and Chico Cherry

Kayamandi from the road

We got back around 4 and I havebeen replying to emails and writing this. So all in all spring break was loads of fun. I hope everything is well.

Cheers.

grondboontjiebotter-en-knofyttoebrondjie

2007-09-05T02:47:00.000-07:00

Yes that is all one word and it means peanutbutter and jelly sandwich. Yumm delicious. It is what I have everyday for lunch. This is also why afrikaans is difficult the words get so long i dont know how to start to pronounce them. Anyway, on monday I started to make my silver ring for jewlery design. We melted the metel. It is pretty neat but I did about 5 minutes of work and was siting there waiting for the ohter 2 hours 55 minutes. So that got kind of frustrating especailly with all the work that I have to do. Other than that I have just been going to class and I had a midterm in Afrikaans. That went okay but I could have read everything wrong and thought that I was reading it right so who knows. I worte a lab report. Really this week was quite boring and I didnt take any pictures. So I am going to leave it at that. It was a good week but I just had alot of work.

I hope all is well with you guys. I will have a nice long post for you guys next time after the Garden Route. I should be doing some pretty fun things.

Totsiens