Kruger Days

Tuesday, January 27: We got into the park around 12 or 1 pm, immediately seeing impala and warthogs upon entering. We also got news that there were lions not 50 meters up the road, and sure enough there was a male and a female lying right next to the road- so exciting! And one of the big five down in the first couple of minutes! We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around seeing giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, hyena, and hippo. We even saw several black rhino with a baby (two of the big five down!). We stopped for lunch at one of the several camps within Kruger that have a restaurant, small private bungalows and camping grounds.

Around 4pm we arrived at our camp, which consisted of several tents with two beds and a bedside table in each. The camp also had a tented eating area with a picnic table and all the cooking equipment necessary- there was also a chef. But dinner came later, first Megumi and I joined about 20 other campers on a night drive from 5-8. The most exciting thing we saw was elephants (3 out of 5 down!) which came SO close to the vehicle, the guide had to start yelling to scare them off. It was such a cool drive, the sunset was gorgeous, and it was great to be out there even though we didn't see too much after dark other than owls, rabbits, and snakes. Afterward we got back to camp and we had a great dinner waiting for us of miliepap (made from corn, looks like mashed potatos with a thicker consistancy, and is a staple of the African diet eaten at least twice a day), chicken, and sweet potato. Everything was delicious. I took a shower in the campground bathroom (with several huge bugs, I should add) and went to bed early.


We followed these giraffes up the road for about 15 minutes.

Wednesday, January 28: Henry woke us up at 6am (I have never been a morning person -ever- but I should say that never in my life have I woken up early so many days in a row and NEVER minded it. I guess when you are in such a place waking up to new and exciting things makes it that much easier to do.) for a morning drive. About 10 minutes into the drive Henry spotted a leopard in his rear-view mirror, quickly turned around, and we were able to get a good look at it for about 20 seconds before it slinked off into the bush. SO COOL! Leopards are one of the big five that most people don't see, they are hard to spot and don't stick around for long. Henry had thought he had seen something in the bush and had slowed down, then was lucky enough to notice it in his mirror (it was actually the third time that had happened to him, and he was very proud). So after that sighting we were very happy.

We drove the entire day with no set route, just our second camp as the final destination. Henry would come to a crossroads and look both ways, then make a random decision on which way to go. We stopped for lunch at some point, and in the afternoon saw herds of buffalo (all 5 of the Big 5 down!). The weather wasn't great, and for most of the day there was a chilly, misty rain, but we put on our windbreakers and kept the side flaps on the truck up- it was actually kind of nice. Also stopped at several lookout points with awesome views.


Elephants on the night drive.

We arrived at our second camp, Satara, around 5pm and Megumi and I took showers while we waited for our dinner. Our chef tonight was Godsend, who was a very good cook and clearly takes great pride in what he does. He kept saying "Don't try my food, EAT my food" and insisted that everyone have seconds (luckily the food was really good- another traditional meal of rice and beef stew with potatos, carrots, and greenbeans in it, with a greek salad and a side of squash). Megumi, Godsend, Henry and I sat around after dinner for a long time talking- this is when we learned all about Henry's family. He also taught us how they traditionally eat, without any silverware (we didn't know at the time that his instructions would come in handy later).


Camp the second night.

The entire camp of Satara is surrounded by high electric fences for obvious reasons, and our camp site happened to be situated right next to this fence, meaning that the wilderness of Kruger was all of about 10 meters from where I was sleeping. Throughout dinner we could hear a group of lions somewhere in the distance, and afterwards Megumi and I were returning from the bathrooms when Godsend came running up to us- lions had chased down a wilderbeest right on the other side of the fence. We got there just in time to see several lions arriving, and then we heard them make the kill- it was crazy! Half a dozen people from surrounding campsites came over to ours, and they got out the spotlights to see what we could see. The actual kill had been made behind several trees, but we watched about seven lions coming and going for a half hour or so. We were incredibly lucky to see this, and for it to have happened right outside of our camp site. I went to sleep in my little tent literally listening to lions roaring not 100 meters away... probably the only night of my life that I will get to say that.



Thursday, Saturday 29: We woke up five hours later at 3am for a morning walk through the bush. We drove about 45 minutes into the bush and then walked from about 4:30 am until 7:30. Unfortunately, animals are more afraid of us on foot than in the vehicles, so it is hard to see anything from close up- in fact we didn't see anything even remotely close by. By it was a neat feeling to be out there as the sun was coming up, following two armed rangers through the tall grasses. Got back to camp and had a good breakfast, then packed up and again spent most of the day driving with a stop for lunch. We didn't see too much on the last day, I'm not sure why. Henry really wanted to find us a cheetah, but they are almost as hard to spot as the leopard and in the end we didn't have any luck. Today was also different because by day three the giraffes and impala and zebra and even elephants aren't quite as exciting as in the beginning. Plus, Megumi and I were pretty much exhausted, and she actually dozed much of the day. I managed to stay awake and just enjoyed the drive and the scenery. I have never been one for long drives, and every day in Kruger we drove a LOT, but it never felt like it.


On the morning bush walk.

Around 4pm we left the park and drove for about an hour to a village where we got a tour, saw (and took part in) some traditional dancing, and had a traditional meal. It included cooked worms, which actually looked more like thick caterpillars. We were told that it is believed that these worms will ward off AIDS- "if you believe in AIDS", that is. It was pretty gross.


The boys dancing!

Afterward we drove to the lodge that we would be staying in for our final night. When we got there Megumi and I went straight to the bar and hung out with everyone that works at the lodge- a very nice group of South Africans. Megumi went to bed early but I stayed up regardless of the 5am wake up call the next morning-- it was my second to last night in Africa! Ended up having a very good time. And as it turned out, our morning walk was canceled due to torrential rain, which was fine by me. Around 7:30 we had breakfast with monkeys running all around us and trying to steal our food, and then we headed out to meet our transport back to Jo'burg.

Overall I was very happy with the safari. Three full days there was the perfect amount of time- any longer would have been too much. We saw all of the big five (elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo, and leopard) plus giraffes, zebras, impalas, hyenas, hippos, kudu, waterbok, wildebeest, warthog, monkeys/baboons, ostrich, rabbits, turtles, owls, bats, snakes, and many birds and eagles. I enjoyed the time with Megumi and Henry and getting to know two people that I never would have otherwise. Plus I think the safari was a good way to end my trip~ it gave me something to look forward to after leaving Cape Town and brought my trip to an end with a bang.

I spent another incredibly comfortable night at Amadwala Lodge, and then flew home on Saturday the 31st, getting into Dulles at 6am after ~19 hours in the air. (In line for customs I found out that the superbowl was that night, and who was playing- all of which was news to me.) And just like that, my winter abroad had come to an end.

The Beginning of the End: My Last Week in South Africa

What a whirlwind of a week it's been. I am home now, sitting in bed. It's 5:30 am and I have been awake since 4:00, but I guess that makes sense seeing as it's a little past noon in South Africa. I am working on organizing my 1500 pictures from the trip into different categories to make them a little more manageable: Bap, Cape Town/Obs, and Kruger. I also have about 20 short videos from my digital camera plus 2 hours of handycam video I still need to upload and edit. This will help pass many hours of time over the next week.

Right, so now there is so much to catch up on! This time one week ago I was departing from Cape Town. I ended up being dropped at the airport by Kenan with everyone in the van because it was on the way to take them to shift in Khayelitsha, so it was nice to be able to have everyone see me off and to get to say a proper goodbye to them all. When I got to the airport I was able to switch my flight home from Feb 2 to Jan 31, so obviously I had made the decision to come home early instead of spend two days in Jo'burg after my safari (later I felt I had made a good decision). So I departed from Cape Town around 12:30 pm, much to my unhappiness. I had no desire to leave, not one. I wanted to continue on to my next shift at Bap with the rest of them, but of course Kruger awaited. (Okay, of course a part of me was excited for the safari, which I am thankful I got to do, but understand that Cape Town and Obs and Bap and the people there were my life for 5 weeks and I would have been very content to stay for another 5). Flying away from Cape Town, I remembered when I arrived and saw Table Mountain for the first time from the air, and how excited and nervous I was, and it seemed like a lifetime ago.

Arrived in Jo'burg and was picked up by my transport to Amadwala Lodge (she held up a sign with my name on it, gotta love that). The lodge was about 45 minutes from the airport, which was another 30 minutes or so from downtown Jo'burg, so Amadwala is pretty much out in the countryside. I had absolutely no idea what to expect with this hotel since my flights, transports, hotel stays before and after, and the safari had all been completely arranged by AVIVA. All that I knew was that Amy and Amanda had looked up the lodge and said that it looked very nice (I didn't Google it- wanted to be surprised). And well, I was- hugely, pleasantly surprised. Immediately upon coming through the gate you can tell that Amadwala is a neat place- you feel like you have just entered the rain forest. There are bamboo and stone walkways throughout which lead to the main office and dining room, and then paths shoot off towards seven small bungalows- number 2 was mine. My room consisted of a gorgeous bathroom with jacuzzi tub, a double bed (great sheets & pillows after AVIVA house), and a private deck off the back. Oh, and it had a thatched roof. Oh, and the caretaker that greeted me told me to just call her Gran (everyone does). She showed me around the whole place, which in addition to the bungalows has really nice platform tents and regular tents for backpackers. There is also a huge chessboard, a chapel for weddings (small, thatched roof, no electricity but dozens of candle holders-- probably the most romantic place for a wedding you can imagine), and a great open air reception/braai area. There's an awesome bar that over looks the gorgeous pool, surrounded by rocks and waterfalls and flowers, and then there is a lookout deck from which you can see the whole countryside. In short, this is the most beautiful place I have ever stayed. And on top of that, I was the only person staying there that night. Gran kept saying what a shame that was (I guess the poolside bar can be pretty hoppin') but I was happy to be completely alone for once after living in a house with 10, plus I was tired and planned to turn in early anyways. So they brought my dinner down to me and set it up out on my deck, and then Gran said goodnight and I really was completely alone. As much as I wish someone had been there to see this place with me, I enjoyed it very much.


A shot from Amadwala.

Woke up at 4:15 am the next day (Tuesday the 27th) for my 5am pick up. It was a five hour drive from Amadwala to the point where my safari guide would pick me up outside of the Kruger gates, so Shaun drove me and four other girls (two Scottish, one Japanese, one Brazilian- all picked up from a hostel near Amadwala), I slept the whole way minus a stop for lunch.

So as it turned out, the Japanese girl, Megumi, was doing the same safari as me. We met up with our guide, Henry, about an hour outside of the southern Kruger gates and climbed on board the open air safari vehicle, in which we would spend much time in the coming days. Basically it is a pickup truck with 3x3 seating attached to the bed of the truck, with a roof and plasic sides and front that stayed rolled up and tied the entire time. We sat in the front row, right behind the cab of the truck and could easily speak with Henry the whole time.


The safari vehicle.

I should start off by saying that for the three days of this safari, it was Henry, Megumi and I by ourselves for the majority of the time- three people that probably could not be more different. Megumi was 33, though she looked about 23. She had just spent the last three years working two jobs to support her family, so her parents finally said it was her turn to take a break and sent her traveling for a year- she had just come from Europe and was headed to India after the safari. While I spent every day in flip flops, shorts, and a tank top, Megumi dressed in shoes, socks, long pants, a shirt, sweater, scarf and hat, and generously applied 70 SPF sunscreen to her hands very frequently. Every time we saw a warthog she would call out, "Pumba! Pumba!" (as in from the Lion King). She spoke pretty good english, but there was of course still a bit of a barrier. Regardless, she was a great person to be on a safari with because every time we saw an animal she would get so incredibly excited, which in this type of situation is contagious and made it that much more fun and exciting for me (I have learned on this trip that both enthusiasm and negativity are contagious, and I am glad that she was the former). All in all, it was really nice to meet her and I was happy for her company.

Henry, our guide, was quite a guy. My guess is that he was somewhere around 45 years old, and he has lived in the bush his entire life (after leaving Kruger he pointed out his village in the distance to us). After dinner on our second night, Megumi, Henry, our chef Godsend (I'll explain about him later) and I -what a group- sat around talking and Henry began to tell us more about his life: He was born in the bush, and at 18 he was sent out for 6 months with no clothes or food and had to survive on his own, part of the process of becoming a man (this practice still goes on, but there are now regulations that only allow them to be sent out for 2 weeks). His father was a traditional medicine man, or healer, a gift that (as Henry says) came to him in a dream as a child, at which point he disappeared and was "taken by the big snake", who taught him how to be a healer. His father had 6 wives and Henry is one of 54 children. Another interesting, yet sad, fact- his cousin was killed by an elephant. So yeah, Henry was pretty legit.

(NOTE: I actually wrote this on Monday, February 2, but have since realized there is way too much to say for one post, so it will have to come in increments!)

Last Weekend in Cape Town

**Check out earlier posts for newly added photos!**

The past few days have been incredible- last three days in Cape Town WELL SPENT.

On Friday Amanda, Amy and I went down to the Waterfront around 1pm, I quickly bought a snazzy headlamp for the safari and then we got some lunch at Harry's Pancakes (salads this time, though). Our ferry to Robben Island left around 3pm. Unfortunately, I had a ticket issue that held me up and I wasn't able to sit up top with Amy and Amanda. So I was annoyed and went to sit in the bottom, no-open-air part of the ferry and ended up sitting next to the nicest guy and his family. They were from Pretoria, which as it turns out is only 30 minutes or so from Jo'burg! When I told him about my dilemma in visiting Jo'burg alone he offered to show me the town, so if I do stay around that is a nice option to have! He was super nice and my ferry ride turned out to be okay in the end =)

As soon as we got on the island we boarded a bus and were driven around and given a tour by a former prisoner. He was a very good guide (had jokes, too) but being on the bus was kind of annoying and it was hard to see things and take pictures and what not. The whole island is not taken up by the prison- there are churches and some houses and many buildings that are now used as conference centers. There are also old asylums- the island held mentally ill people and people with leprosy before becoming a prison. At one point the guide was showing us a building where guns were made during WWII, and he told us that two years ago he showed Obama around the island and at this point in the tour told him "Please, don't go back to Mr. Bush and tell him we have WMDs!!" Haha.

After the bus tour we entered the actual prison, where we were showed around by another former prisoner who was there from 1983-1990 for working with the African National Congress (ANC). We saw a room where up to 40 men would sleep, on 1/2 inch thick mats and then beds in later years. Then we were taken out to the courtyard off of Nelson Mandela's building, in which he spent much of his time in one particular corner where he had a garden. We quickly saw his cell, and then headed back to the ferry. I am glad that I saw Robben Island for everything that it represents and to learn more about Nelson Mandela. I felt for the tour guides though- the first one told us that the unemployment rate in South Africa is 47% so many of the former prisoners have no choice but to come back to the island for work. But can you imagine having to return every day to such a place after having been a prisoner there?? I can only imagine how hard it must be for them.

Back at the Waterfront we walked around a bit more and Amy introduced me to chocolate cookies and cream ice cream- tasty. Try it.

Saturday brought the Cape Peninsula Tour with Tour Guide Kenan! Eight of us in the house were going, plus four people from Table View (Side Note: learned that at Home of Hope, where the Table View people work, there are only 10 kids... to four volunteers per shift!!!!! At Bap it usually averages to about four volunteers to 40 kids. Currently, there are two BRAND NEW volunteers on shift at Bap that are by themselves because of the people that left Bap to go to Home of Hope. Which means 2 volunteers to 40 kids. UGHH! I hope the people that switched projects because they wanted to live in a nice house know how much they screwed over Bap- volunteers and kids.) ANYWAYS... we left for the tour around 9am and headed down the coast, past the Waterfront and Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles (BEAUTIFUL drive, frequent stops for pictures). Our first official stop was in Hout Bay, about 45 minutes from Cape Town. Hout Bay is famous for its seals, so about half of our group went out on a boat to see the seals but I opted to walk around the vendors and shops by the water- I've seen seals before. Did, however, pet a huge sea lion that apparently hangs out there at the wharf- he was 43 years old!! Walked around with the girls and we all bought a few things (even though I specifically told myself I wouldn't buy any more stuff!! Got a great scarf though for $6, how can I pass that up?)After about an hour we headed back out and drove along the coast to a point with an incredible view of Hout Bay- took tons of gorgeous pictures.

Next we went to famous Chapman's Peak Drive, which is a drive along the coast that is supposed to have spectacular views. Unfortunately, it was closed because they are working to make the road safer from falling rocks. Disappointing because we had to take a detour that took about an hour to Simon's Town, though of course even the detour was great- through some winelands. In Simon's Town we got lunch at a great restaurant; I had a chicken, shrimp, and calamari combo dish. Then we walked right up the street to Boulders Beach, which is where the penguins live! They were really cute when they swam in the water, but the ones on the beach (sunbathing I guess) didn't move- like just stood there completely still. It was weird.

From Simon's Town we headed toward Cape Point through the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. This was a pleasant surprise for me, because the reserve had been on my list of things to see, but I crossed it out a couple weeks ago when I realized I wouldn't have time for it- so lucky me that it was included today! The reserve is gorgeous, drove through it all the way to Cape Point at the verrrrry tip of Africa and saw several ostrich and baboons! Which were carrying little tiny babies on their backs- very cute but I was happy to be in the van seeing as apparently baboons are nasty little buggers (Though everywhere were signs- "Baboons WILL enter your car"). At Cape point we got tons of pictures as well, the water was such a vivid blue and sparkling in the sun. Didn't go all the way to the top of Cape Point where there is a lighthouse (at this point it had been a long day), but walked halfway up with Amy and then got a little snack and just sat and enjoyed the views and the beautiful day. From here we headed home- a nice drive at sunset.

When we got home I was SO tired (had woken up at 6:30 am this morning, God knows why) but everyone was hungry so we decided to go to Panchos, the Mexican place in Obs. Unfortunately, when we got there it was completely full (Saturday night at 7:30, duh) so we decided to get take out and bring it back to the house. While we waited for the food, we all got a few drinks. After a half hour at the bar we decided that we would buy a few six packs to bring back to the house for the evening. With about 8 bags of food containers in hand, we went across the street to a bar the sells six packs, a simple task until someone suggests a shot or two. Half an hour later we were all back at the house eating out back and it was decided that we were going out- Long Street!! So me, Amanda, Jen, Amy, Shawna, Katie, Alyssa, Christiaan, and Jonas all headed out around 11pm and spent the night in the Dubliner (of course this made me happy) and just had a BALL. Everyone had such a good time, which definitely shows in the 100+ pictures that were taken (taking out one camera and passing it around the whole night is a very good method of documenting a night). I am so happy that we all went out because I didn't think I would have the opportunity to do so again in Cape Town, and I am just so happy that everyone had an awesome time. And the best part was that it was completely unplanned but the night just evolved and this morning everyone was saying "How did that even happen??". Originally our plan had been Panchos and the internet cafe and bed- I'll take getting plastered with this group any day =)

Sadly, I woke up hurting a bit which was bad news because at noon we got picked up for SKYDIVING, though as it turns out a really great way to get over a headache is to have jumping out of a plane to take your mind off of it. Today was another beautiful day and, thankfully, not too windy! YAY! Once we were there we had to wait around for about an hour (they have to organize us into planes that only fit six people, and most people videotape their jump which adds another person [I didn't get it taped- it cost like $60 and the final product was a bit too flashy for me]). Christiaan and Jen went up first, and before they got back down I went up with the guy I was jumping with, Julian (a 34 year old from Colorodo, been skydiving for 18 years) and two guys going on their own. I was so surprised that at this point I really wasn't that nervous- I guess after all the waiting I was just ready to do it. You sit on the floor in the plane facing the tail, and Julian sat behind me and I kind of sat in between his legs and leaned back on him. He was super nice and talkative, and I realized that it was good I wasn't with any of the others because I think we would have just been siking each other out more. So Julian has this thing on his wrist that shows our altitude, and when the hand hits 9 (9km) we jump. So at 3km he says "This is how high Table Mountain is. Two more Table Mountains to go!" and so I'd say around 7km I started to get nervous. He explained that he would open the door and I would put my feet out on this little step thing and then he would do everything- my only job was to keep my eyes open. So at 9km he throws open the door and yes I was scared out of my mind, though I expected it to look higher up than it did. So without much ado out we went!!!! I think I shut my eyes for a second but after about 3 seconds I realized that it was a COMPLETELY awesome feeling, and at that point I remember looking up and seeing the plane above us. And then it was 35 seconds of free falling, which wasn't scary at all, and the only discomfort was that I felt like it was a bit hard to take a breath. At 5km from the ground Julian pulled the parachute, which I expected would not be a good feeling being yanked up (minus that at least you know you are going to survive at that point). It wasn't really a yanking feeling at all though, and once the chute was open he showed me how to steer and turn which was cool but turning a lot makes you lose altitude faster which I didn't want to do- being able to see Table Mountain from that point of view was unbelievable, especially it being my last day in Cape Town. After about 4 minutes he told me what was going to happen with landing and before I knew it we were touching down, completely smooth landing. I was thrilled, this is without a doubt the coolest thing I have ever done, and I am so lucky to have been able to do it here. I would do it again in a heartbeat, so I hope there are still people at home that are interested (you know who you are!)!! It was fantastic.

Tonight we were going to go to the Green Dolphin at the Waterfront for a goodbye dinner to me, but I (and pretty much everyone in the house) am really tired and still need to pack (though this may be an impossibility- I have acquired WAY to many things here). Plus, I couldn't ask for a better night than last night so I am completely satisfied.

The past two days have just been absolutely great in every way. I have seen and done so much and had such an incredible time in just 48 hours. I can't believe I leave tomorrow- I could cry right here at this computer thinking about it. God I love this place. At least I can say that I went out with a bang =)

Pictures!

AhHa!!! I have discovered that SOME of the computers in the internet cafe have IrfanView, so I have been able to downsize my pictures and will upload some to my blog, finally. I am going back and slowly but surely adding some pictures to my previous posts so keep an eye out! (I know it is a hassle to go back, my fault for not working it out until two days before I leave here!)

Last Shift at Bap & etc

Good news! I found my credit card! As I had suspected, it had fallen through a crack into the locker below mine. Unfortunately, I had already transfered $400 to AVIVA with Dad's card so that they could give me cash but I guess that doesn't matter. Now I can still say that I have been responsible and not lost anything (knock on wood)!!

I am still contemplating what to do about my last days here. The issue is that I fly to Johanesburg (2 hr flight) for Kruger, stay there for one night after Kruger and then was supposed to fly back to Cape Town, only to fly home via Jo'burg two days later. So my thought was to just leave South Africa right after Kruger instead of flying back to Cape Town and to get home two days early. Good idea to just stay in Jo'burg, Kris, minus everything I have ever heard about how Jo'burg is SUPER dangerous, especially to walk around in alone, especially as a girl. Which is why that idea hadn't even really occured to me, but it is something to think about. It is not at ALL that I am in a hurry to leave here, but flying back and forth from Jo'burg is something I'd be happy to skip. Plus, when I would get back to Cape Town everyone I am close with would be on shift, which would just make it depressing to come back to a basically empty house. Anyways, I am going to think about possibly just staying in Jo'burg, but if not I will go early to the airport on Monday and try to switch my flight home to Jan 31.

Now I have to backtrack several days... let's see... Sunday night! Right so we were supposed to go out for Georgina's last night. I hadn't felt well all day (stomach bug- super fun) but of course didn't want to miss out on the evening, so we (Me, Georgina, Jen, Amanda, and Shawna) started drinking here (finally drank the bottle of wine that came in my welcome pack!) and then headed out to Long Street. Sadly, within 30 minutes three of us really didn't feel well (I'm not the only one with the bug) so we went home. I was so disapointed to miss Georgina's last night but Shawna stayed out with her and they still had a good time- plus I really felt like crap.

Woke up the next morning feeling better which was good because Jen, Amanda, Christiaan and I were booked for SKYDIVING!!! (one of my life long dreams regardless of the fact that if anything, heights are probably what I am most afraid of). Unfortunately, Cape Town happens to be the windiest place I have ever been, and Monday was a particularly windy day. So the skydiving people called and said that we would have to get there right away or we would miss our chance to go. Of course, the taxi didn't come for 45 minutes, and then it took another 45 minutes to get there (of course we had to stop for gas, there was traffic, etc etc). So when we FINALLY got there we were good to go, they got Jen all suited up and then... no go. The wind had become to gusty and they wouldn't take us. We were so bummed!! Skydiving is not the type of activity that you want to have postponed when you are already there and ready to go. So we attempted to rebook for this morning but they were full (go figure, there is like no wind today) so we got in on Sunday- my last day here! So I am hoping for good conditions because if I come home without doing this it will be my one disapointment of Africa and I would like to keep that slate clean.

Now for my last shift: probably my favorite one of the five. On shift was me, Amanda, Amy, and Christiaan, joined by Katie and Alyssa (23, Canada) on day two. Maybe it was just because I was really trying to soak it all up, but this shift the time seemed to go by fast (I don't recall thinking "Oh my GOSH it's only 6 pm right now?" ever) and the kids were great and I really enjoyed the sisis as well- one of the shifts in particular is super sweet and they couldn't believe it was my last shift. We also learned this shift just how much the kids LOVE to sing and dance. Their new favorite game is us standing around clapping and they get in the middle and start dancing like crazy and we call out their names and they just go wild, it's hilarious. They have so much fun that they can't control themselves, usually end up falling to the ground laughing histarically and they all end up in a mosh pit/big pile. It's great. We also sang a LOT of songs- they really enjoy such classics as "The Wheels on the Bus", "If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands" and, of course, "We Will Rock You". It's fun. And really cool how much they respond to music.


Lunch time! Preparing the food.

This was the first shift that I didn't fall asleep easily at every opportunity I got. My mind won't stop, kind of like how it was before I left to come here. Now I can't imagine NOT being here, going to Bap and seeing the kids. My last day (yesterday) I just kept thinking- "this is the last time I'm going to feed a baby lunch/dinner, have free play time, do baths, give a bottle, say goodnight" etc etc. Saying goodnight was the hardest part- it's my favorite part of the whole day, when they are in their adorable footie pajamas and in their crib/play pen/bed and I try to go around and say goodnight to all of them and give them a cuddle (this is an english thing to say- thanks Georgina) and they all give high fives and then do this "thumb flick" (for lack of a better way to describe it), like you are giving each other a thumbs up and then you push your thumbs together- I don't know but it is incredibly cute and they all do it. And then of course last night Babalo, who is one of the coolest 3 or 4 year olds I have ever met, kept on saying "See you tomorrow!" which he has never said before (he has two phrases- "What are you DOING?" and "You're CRAZY") and of course I kept thinking, Yea- tomorrow and then never again!!


Me & Mbali- what a cutie!

Luckily, last night my mind was taken off of it all with a few rousing games of spoons in the flat.

Today I am trying to think positively, seeing as I do realize that I have just experienced something incredible and that I will always remember it. I went out and ran some errands in Obs this morning and felt happy and at easy with the fact that I am leaving this city that I adore so much in three days. I went back to a shop that I have been in about 10 times to finally buy the things I've been eyeing and talked to the super sweet girl that has been in there every time for a while (she started out asking me about my "I Bleed Warrior Blue" t-shirt that I happen to wearing- the second person to comment on it today!). She was surprised that I wasn't at home for the inauguration but agreed that I was making good use of my time here. I also went into Pick 'n' Pay to get some food and the man that rang me up said "Wow, you are very happy!" which I was taken aback to hear but really I guess it is true and apparently it shows, so that's nice.

Now Amy, Amanda, and I are going to the Waterfront to do some shoping (I need a head lamp for Kruger) before Robben Island at 3pm! Cape Peninsula Tour all day tomorrow, and then hopefully skydiving on Sunday (keep your fingers crossed for me!!)

xoxo

YES WE DID!

Today I can say with good reason that I wish I was home- January 20, 2009 has finally arrived after so much hope and anticipation and I am in AFRICA!!! I do wish that I was going to be there at Obama's inauguration with my family, what an exciting time! Unfortunately, I am about to leave for Bap so I won't even be able to watch on TV. Oh well, I can be a proud and excited American while I play with the most adorable kiddies in the world =)

In other news, IT IS MY LAST SHIFT AT BAP! So sad... I don't want to talk about it.

Lastly, I think I lost my credit card. And I might be coming home 2 days early. These two events are not related and I will explain more later. Hope everyone is doing well!!

Day 27

Day 27- the first day of my trip that I do not know exactly what I am going to with myself. I was supposed to go kloofing with Jonas today but decided a couple days ago not to (didn't want to pack my weekend TOO full or spend TOO much money in 3 days). As it turned out, though, the trip was cancelled anyways because there weren't enough people signed up to go. Then a bunch of us (Me, Georgina, Amanda, Jenn, and Shawna [new American girl that is staying at the house but will start Gary's Surf School tomorrow]) decided to spend the day at Camps Bay, but it is really windy today which is not good for the beach. So now I am thinking of doing a 3km walking tour of downtown Cape Town that I've been wanting to do- there are still so many things in the city to see (Castle of Good Hope, Company Gardens, Bo Kaap, etc). I can probably recruit someone to do this with me (though it is the type of thing I wouldn't mind doing alone).

This past shift at Bap was really, really good. Granted, this may be because I only slept there one of three nights- after our first day we came back for an AVIVA cookout and slept at Obs House, and after the third day Ida and I got a taxi back to Obs because we had to wake up really early on Saturday for shark cage diving. The cookout was pretty fun, it was at the Table View house which is SO nice (so many bedrooms, granite counter tops, pool and pool-side bar...) and all the staff was there so it was nice to hang out with them. Afterwards a bunch of us went out in Obs, first to Stones (the pool bar) and then to Roots, a beach themed bar that I had never been to- sand floors, tiki hut bars... gotta love it.

Didn't stay out too late since it was back to Bap the next morning. On the way we picked up 100 baby bottles and during our break labeled all of them with the kid's names on color coded labels (indicating whether the bottle is taken at 2am, 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, or 10pm). With six of us working on it it didn't take that long but when we did bottles the next morning it made ALL the difference in the world- no more broken bottles/lids, no more missing bottles, no more labels that are completely impossible to read. This shift we also redid the out of date poster boards with the kid's pictures that hangs on the wall in the flat. We took all new pictures and put up new, labeled boards. It was nice to do something (as little as those things are) that will last beyond all of our time here. And it is amazing the difference that seemingly small things can make. Though really what Bap needs is on a larger scale- the baby house needs a complete makeover badly (we thought about writing to Ty Pennington). The kids need a cleaner, safer place to live and they need plenty of volunteers to play with them and love them... two things that are not so easy to come by.


The new bottles!

Another orphanage project just opened up through AVIVA (Amanda and Jenn are the first volunteers to work there) that was recently given a COMPLETE makeover- they brought in volunteers that worked non-stop for (I think) four days and now the place is BEAUTIFUL- I have only seen the outside but there is grass (something Bap lacks) and a great swing set. And inside it's clean, and the kids have their own individual beds and much more. Granted, I am glad to be working at Bap where they really, really need us, but I just wish the same thing could be done for our kids, who I guess are considered lucky to be at Bap but really have basically nothing. It is just amazing that there are people in the world with so much money they don't know what to do with it and then you come to a place like this and there is a world of good that could be done with just a little help, and it is amazing that these problems still exist at all. It's sad and makes me wish I could do a heck of a lot more.

Anyways... as I said the shift went really well, I love everyone on it and am so sad that it is Georgina and Ida's last shift!! Makes me realize how fast the end is coming for me because after they leave (and Sofia and Friederike- also leaving this week) I have been here longer than anyone else in the house, which is CRAZY. How did that happen?? I just got here! I don't even want to think about it.

Yesterday Ida and I were picked up at 5am for shark cage diving. It was about a two hour drive there, during which time one might think it would be a good idea to sleep, but I was awake the whole time and turns out I am glad because we were driving over mountains by the coast as the sun rose and it was GORGEOUS. I swear, if you blink here you will miss something worth seeing. It was very nice. We arrived at the cage diving headquarters (a house about 1/4 block from the water & boat) and had a very nice self-serve breakfast (and several cups of coffee). Then they gave us a quick debriefing and we were off! There were only 12 of us (plus the crew), so it was a small group compared to most apparently which was quite nice. We rode out about 15 minutes but were still in relatively shallow water (~10m). This is technically the off season for seeing Great Whites, which are the only species in the area due to the cold water temperatures. However, you generally can see them year round, and this is the most famous place in the world to see them (some people may have seen the famous picture of a man in a yellow kayak being followed by a huge great white- that was taken here). So they put down anchor and throw out a "chum line"- nasty fishy stuff that the shark will (hopefully) catch the scent of and follow back to the boat. Also, the whole time they are throwing nasty fish stuff out into the water and have 1/2 a fish on a buoy as bait.

So everything was super... until I started to feel a bit seasick. Man, I have been a puker my whole life. Threw up twice, which sucked, but then the first shark was spotted so I threw on my wetsuit (in actuality, "throwing on" a wetsuit is the exact opposite of how it works, those things are so incredibly hard to get on [and off]). Plus these wetsuits have hoods, like what scuba divers wear, and little shoes that zip on, and I had a mask on, and they put a weight over your shoulders to help you go under in the cage. All of this was quite uncomfortable after having just thrown up let me tell you, but there was a shark! So I had to get in the cage.


THE CAGE

Five people get in at a time (and only 7 of the 12 on board were getting in at all which in my opinion is not worth the $120 to only watch from the boat but whatever) and you have to hold on to the top of the cage, and then when a shark is coming around they say "Divers go under!" or "Divers, on your left!" so you take a big breath and pull yourself under and look for the shark. Unfortunately the visibility was really poor under the water but there were several very exciting moments when that didn't really matter because the sharks would actually ram into the cage, putting them at about half a meter or less from you and that was awesome. I got out of the cage after about 15 minutes though because you really could actually see the sharks better from the boat. And we saw sooo many. After waiting about 30 minutes to see the first one we would see one every 2-3 minutes, and they would swim right next to the boat and go for the bait and come out of the water- it was awesome. And they looked HUGE, though they were only about 3-4m long and can grow to be 7m long- hard/scary to imagine. It was really great though.


Ahhh!

After about three hours we packed up (there were other boats around not having any luck, and in the off season the different companies help each other out so we left to let another boat come into the area since we had already seen so much) and headed back. At the house they put on the video that a videographer on the boat had been taking the whole time, and it was quite funny- for one, to see yourself in the wetsuit getup, and also because whenever someone was on camera they seemed to either wave or give the thumbs up- it reminded me of stereotypical Asians always giving the peace sign. Anyways, we were driven back to the house and were home by 2pm (I slept the whole way). (NOTE- all of this sounds incredibly touristy, and I guess it is, but it didn't feel like it. And it was definitely worth the money. And the staff was super nice and included volunteers just like us. So it was completely worth it and I am very glad I did it!)

Last night, everyone (Me, Georgina, Ida, Amanda, Amy, Jenn, Amanda, Shawna, Reino, and Christiaan) went out to Mama Africa on Long Street for a kind of goodbye dinner for Georgina and Ida. It was such a nice evening (I shared a kabob appetizer and I have no idea what kind of meat was on it [I am thinking crocodile, ostrich, and springbok?] but really have no idea, and had some kind of fish for my meal- very good). The best part though was that our table was right next to this AMAZINGGGG live African band that was SO good. Like you couldn't help but sit there dancing in your seat. And we had the perfect table because everyone else from inside the restaurant kept coming up to stand and watch them but we were right there the whole time. And of course, Amanda and I were both picked out by the lead singer/drummer man to dance with him on separate occasions... of course I loved this. It was so much fun. We didn't go out afterwards because tonight is G&I's official last night so we had already planned to do it up tonight. Can't wait =)


Some of the band!

Yay!

THANKS TO MOM & DAD for my AWESOME Christmas package!!! It is amazing... everyone sat around while I opened everything and kept saying "Wow you are very loved!". You guys are the best!

Now off to Bap~ back in 2 days!

Table Mountain and Winelands Tour

Yesterday I woke up at 8 am and was supposed to go on my Cultural Tour, but decided to opt out. For one, I wasn't feeling super when I woke up and didn't want to be stuck driving around with a schedule to keep all day if I was sick. Also, I had heard that the tour isn't that great, that you get to see a couple neat things but the highlight is visiting a township, and doing so in a touristy way doesn't interest me. I know the point is to get a glimpse of their culture and township life but to me it seems like most people would just end up gawking at their poverty which seems wrong- these are peoples LIVES. I don't know, that's just the way I feel about it.

Instead Georgina and I decided to finally get to the top of Table Mountain the easy way- Cable Car! We went around noon and had to wait about 20 minutes to catch a car up. The cars are really neat- hold about 60 people and have a rotating floor, so you get a 360 degree view going up and down. It ascends the mountain in probably two minutes For most of the time you are hanging not too far above the mountain, but at a certain point all of a sudden you are hanging over NOTHING and that was kind of scary, though the views were INCREDIBLE. On top you can see everything- Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles on one side, all of Cape Town, the Waterfront, Obs and beyond on another side, and then a huge expanse of mountains in another direction. We walked around on top for a while on nice trails and then we had lunch at the restaurant outside. We visited the gift shop (I bought a t-shirt) and then headed back down- were probably up there for about three hours. We are lucky that we just happened to chose this day to go because the weather was absolutely perfect up top, and a lot of the time this is not the case due to cloud coverage.



Today was all together an amazing day- WINELANDS TOUR! First and foremost, it was nice to have an outing with everyone (Georgina, Ida, Amy, Amanda, Jenn, Amanda, & Christiaan), an international bunch (3 Americans, 2 Canadians, 2 Norwegians, and an English girl). Everyone gets along great and really enjoys each other's company it seems. It is so nice to be forming friendships with these people and then to experience things with people that you genuinely like.

This morning I woke up at 6:30 am (seriously what is wrong with me?? My roommates will vouch for the fact that this is very unlike me... maybe I'm turning over a new leaf?). Unfortunately the first thing I did when I woke up was electrocute myself on an outlet- also I am rather accident-prone here. Anyways we left around 8:30 am I think and had about a 45 minute drive to the first winery (I will have to come back and fill in names- can't remember now). The drive became more and more scenic as we entered the winelands and passed dozens and dozens of estates. Finally we reached out destination- a beautiful estate with a driveway lined with orange trees up to an archway through which you could see the fountain the courtyard inside. We got a short tour throughout the buildings with huge vats to hold the wine and rooms filled with hundreds of wine barrels. We also got to go out and pick some grapes off the vine though they weren't quite ripe (they need another month or two). Then we sat down for the first tasting at a long table under an overhang overlooking the courtyard. All in all we probably tried nine or ten wines here I think- about 5 whites, 4 reds and one desert wine (approximately). With the last three we had chocolate to try with each- one piece of chai chocolate (I bought some of this- delicious), then a piece of salt chocolate (not my favorite, kind of strange but good) and then the last was the geranium chocolate which tasted like you were eating a flower. The whole experience was very informative, very relaxing, and very tasty. We probably sat there for two hours. (During which time it is important to note that I recruited THREE people (Amanda, Jenn, and Christiaan) to go skydiving!! Woohoo!)


At the first winery.


The whole group!

We left this estate and headed next to the cheetah conservation place to pet a cheetah! Of course you end up paying about $10 for 5 minutes with a cheetah but I don't care- it was worth it. We pet Joseph, a 6 year old male and he layed there and purred so loudly, he loved it. The place is for cheetahs that were abandoned by their mothers or whose mothers were killed, and they have 13 cheetahs. Sadly, after cheetahs have been raised in captivity they cannot be released back into the wild, but this seemed like an okay home for them. Joseph was big and beautiful and it was VERY neat to pet him and be so up close. Very cool experience.



After this we drove a while to our next destination- lunch, which was great because we were all STARVING (and a few of us tipsy as well). Lunch was on AVIVA at a cute restaurant called Essence- I had a chicken sandwhich, fries and a small salad. Next we drove to winery number two (along the way passing zebra, ostrich, etc along the road) where we had our second tasting. Tried probably 6 wines but this place was not quite as nice as the first, plus we were in a bit of a rush to get to our third winery. And the last one was, like the first, gorgeous! Beautiful gardens, fountains, and goats as well. At this place you could taste six wines for 20R- $2.00! Plus, you got to chose from a long list which ones you wanted to try. Everyone kind of rushed through and only tried about four, but Amy and I took our time and ended up trying seven (guess the people liked us), all of which were soooo good. I should have bought some. Granted, at the end of this Amy was tanked and I was pretty drunk but I guess that is what a day of wine tasting will do to you. It was fun. We also got to do a cheese tasting (delicious) and I bought two cheeses- one with cranberries in it and one goat cheese for $3.00 all together (probably would have cost at least $10.00 at home?). So those will be delicious to have at Bap this shift. We left this winery to head home but Amy suggested we head to the Waterfront instead for Harry's Pancakes, where everyone had to try the banana and cinnamon pancake dessert. We all agreed so drove straight to the Waterfront and ate outside by the water at sunset. I got a pancake with ground ostrich on it (my first taste of ostrich- good!) and then the banana pancake for desert (mmmmm!). I like the idea of pancakes with anything for any meal here, and it is very popular. Dinner was the perfect end to an amazing, beautiful, fun-filled day.


My ostrich pancake!

Now I am really tired and will probably head back and go pretty much straight to bed (need to call Mom and Dad first!). Tomorrow we are back to Bap, and on the way we are going to buy about 100 new bottles so that we can reorganize and relabel all of the babies bottles. Our shift is also working on making new poster boards with all the kids pictures on it (one currently hangs in the Bap flat but is very out of date). So these are our projects for this shift. We have decided to take a bit of action and do what we can to better the baby house since there are so many things there that need work.

Tomorrow night is an AVIVA braai at the Table View house, so we will come back from Bap after serving dinner and get to sleep at Obs tomorrow night (very nice!) and return to Bap on Thursday morning. I will spend Thursday night there, but Ida and I are coming home Friday night instead of staying until Saturday morning so that we can go Shark Cage Diving on Saturday (leaves around 5 am!). Sunday I am going kloofing, and now we are going to try to book skydiving for Monday (hopefully we will be able to do this though I have no idea how far in advance you need to book it and I guess often trips are canceled due to weather, so we will have to see about all that). In other words, my next break will be known as "Lauren's Adventure and Death-Defying Break" and I am SO excited.

After these past six days off all I can say is that I am incredibly happy here and with all that I have been seeing and doing. And now I get to go back to my babies... not a bad deal =)

Catch Up!

I know I wrote yesterday but still I am several days behind! Let's see...
A couple nights ago after I was here in the internet cafe my plan was to get some sushi takeout and head back to the house, which I did, but when I went to the sushi place they were putting out platters of sushi for the bi-weekly $7 sushi buffet. Sadly I had already ordered my measly 8-piece spicy salmon california role, so I went back to the house a bit bummed. Lucky for me though Sofia is also a sushi lover and when I told her about the buffet she really wanted to go as well, so I put my dinner in the fridge for later and Sofia, Friedericke and I went to the Sushi Zone buffet (not to be confused with the competing Taste of Asia buffet directly across the street) which was an amazing spread of sushi plus lots of other Chinese and Thai food (did I mention for only $7?). It was just great. Plus we got a bottle of wine that we moved outside to the front patio to finish- sat around talking for quite a while. Then we went back to the house and got ready to go out- headed to Long Street where we started at The Dubliner, then went somewhere else for delicious mohitos and then to Zula for some dancing.

The next day (two days ago) Sofia, Friedericke and I went around 11am to a market about 5 minutes away. The focus of it was a HUGE food market- tons of vendors, all with free samples, with delicious looking bread, cheese, fruits & vegetables, sandwhiches, meat, cakes & sweets, etc etc etc. Additionally there was a tented area in which vendors were all around the perimiter making ready-to-eat food such as crepes, pizza, hot sandwhiches, stir fry, wraps, salads, and much more- everything looked AMAZING. In the middle of the tent were several long rows of picnic table-type tables (each with flower center pieces) packed with people eating and drinking beers and obviously completely enjoying themselves. It was a nice scene. I got an iced tea that came in a jar for 20R- when I returned the jar after I drank it I got back 1R.

The market also consisted of an area of shops, some open air some not. Things were not too cheap here but I bought a nice scarf and it was a really nice area to walk around.

The three of us had already planned to pack a picnic that night and watch the sunset from Signal Hill, so convenitenly we were able to buy everything for our picnic at the market (chicken sandwiches on fresh rolls, cherries, salad with artichokes, zuccinni, eggplant, tomato, olives and feta cheese). Definitely the best picnic of my 20 years.



For the rest of the afternoon we hung out around the house (i.e. layed out back on the patio reading) and around 6:30 pm we left for Signal Hill, which is right next to Table Mountain and closer to the ocean. There were a lot of people up there for the sunset picnicking and with good reason- I would do it weekly if I lived here (oh man I wish I lived here). Our food and bottle of wine were delicious and we sat in the grass until the sun was nearly set (around 8 pm) and then walked out to a point for the final few minutes of daylight. On one side of us was Table Mountain, with clouds rolling over the top of it like an avalanche, and on the other side is the Atlantic ocean, with the sun setting over it, and down below us is the coastline scattered with hotels and houses. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and we stood around admiring it until there was nothing left to see.



A little later on we headed out to Long Street (surprise, surprise!) and met up with some Gary's Surf School people and a few others. We spent most of the night at Marvel, which is a favorite bar of everyone but it was my first time there. Not many tourists go to Marvel- it is a lot more locals- and was SO much fun. Awesome music and not surprisingly such a fun crowd. Another night for the books.

Sadly, Sophia and Friedericke went back on shift the next morning which was so weird!! I will have very little time to see them again before they leave next week- as in like 30 minutes between shift changes. I really got to know them pretty well the past couple of days though and as I have said really like them. I guess that is just how it works here but still it is a shame.

Yesterday I didn't feel great (sore throat and runny nose finally catching up with me?) but I still refuse to waste a day (sorry Mom, can't do it!). I did take it somewhat easy though by going to Green Point Market, which is only open on Sundays & about 15 minutes away from Obs. I had a great time taking my time and haggling the prices down, and I bought a lot. I wish I had gotten more, but I have no clue how I am going to fit everything in my suitcases (will worry about that later). It was interesting because I have had an Obama pin on my bag this entire trip, and no where has it gotten more attention than in the market. So many people asked if I had any more that they could have, and one lady put it on and I took a picture of her- she happened to be wearing a shirt from Kenya as well, which is where Obama is from. She and her friends just loved me. So that was neat. Came home from the market and again layed out and read (who doesn't love to lay out and read? I do it a lot).

Last night we all stayed in, and most of us went to bed pretty early & really tired. Unfortunately, Obs House had some bad luck last night, and not for the first time. A little over a week ago Friedericke had her camera and Ipod stolen- someone hoped the wall & electric fence, reached in through the window, and took them off of her bed while other people were awake in the living room. I was at shift when this happened. Last night, everyone was asleep except for Amy, who had been out front on the phone and then went into the living room around 1 am. Turns out that while she was still awake in the living room, someone got in again and this time came in through the window in the other girls bedroom (not mine) and took Amanda's (new girl from Canada) camera and wallet. Around 2 am Amanda and the other girl in the room Jenn woke up and realized that something was wrong- the shade was up. Amanda coincidentally went to get something out of her purse and it was gone. So this morning (when I really, really had wanted to sleep in past 8:30 for once) I awaken to the police in the house- great. They ended up finding her credit cards on the other side of the wall, for some reason the person took them out of the wallet and left them (too bad she had already called her parents to have them cancelled by the time they found them). Of course there is really nothing the police can/will do, but it is really freaky that someone was IN the house- it didn't seem as bad when we knew they had just reached through the window. It's pretty scary, and we are all now always locking up everything of value (of course the lockers could probably be broken in to with minimal effort). It sucks because I know that this isn't a safe place, but I like to try and give it some credit, which is hard to do with this stuff happening.

Additionally, there has been talk at Bap that one of the gangs in Khayelitsha tried to pay one of the older kids at the orphanage to steal a key to our flat there & asked him if we had any weapons. They know that we are there and that we have cameras, phones, and laptops. Of course hearing this is scary, and the flat could be broken into so easily. But everything that I have heard is that townships are actually really safe because they know that when white people visit we are either volunteering or spending money on their goods- so if anyone were to break in at Bap they would literally be hunted down and killed by all the people in the township. This is a crazy, crazy place.

And speaking of which, it is getting dark and I don't really want to walk home alone in the dark, so I'll finish catching up later. I am fine though & definitely keeping my things locked up (though go figure- for a HORRIBLE 5 minutes on Table Mountain today I thought I lost my camera... it was in my pocket, duh). And, there are five of us girls sleeping in my bedroom and if someone tries to get in we have a plan of attack prepared... I won't go into detail.

Miss everyone!!!

Halfway Through

I can't believe it! How have I already been here for 3 weeks? It is strange how the time here works. Three weeks seems like a lot because it is half of my whole trip. And though I feel like it has flown by so far, I also in a way feel like I've been here forever (comfort-wise I guess). I talked to Molly last night (a 21st birthday most definitely deserves a phone call home) and she asked me if I am sad at the idea of going home or if I'm ready or what, and I really didn't know how to answer. Obviously I will be incredibly sad to leave, this is shaping up to be the most incredible experience of my life. But I guess that since I have always known that it's only for 6 weeks and because I have no possible way to extend my trip (spring semester starts Feb 9) I will be okay with leaving- I don't have any other choice. Six weeks here definitely is not enough though; the large majority of people are here for a minimum of I'd say 2 months, most for 4-6. Plus, a lot of people have extended their stays to do more traveling after leaving AVIVA. So when I tell someone I am only here for 6 weeks the reaction is always "Wow, so short!".

I have also found that 6 weeks is a strange kind of "borderline" amount of time between calling this a vacation and saying that I am living here. I FEEL like I live here, and yet I still bring my camera out everywhere and plan the touristy things to do because I don't have the luxury of knowing that I can wait to do something another time or that I will see these places again and again- I have to take advantage of every day because I know how limited my days are here. In fact, I only have 9 more free days here when I am not on shift, at Kruger for my safari, or have a tour scheduled. And I still have such a long To Do list!! The past three days have been very productive though and my time has been very well spent (I will update more about yesterday later). Unfortunately, I have been feeling myself getting sick but have ignored it because it is pretty much inevitable so I figured I should stay busy and party hard until it really hits me, and then hope to not be too incapacitated. So I guess today I will take it easy and hope to feel better for my last two days off before shift.

Apparently I picked a good shift to miss these past three days because about 80% of the kids have diarrhea. My shift came back this morning and said it was messy and horrible so... woohoo! So glad I wasn't there. Hopefully it will be better by the time we go back on shift.

Here's to the next 3 weeks- I can only hope they are as good as the first three!

Yesturday & Today

You can guess by the title of this post that I have no clue what the date is!! But I can say that it is one day after I last wrote so there ya go!

Yesterday was a DELIGHTFUL day. Kerry and I shared a taxi to Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden around 12:30 pm- split up as soon as we got there and decided to meet back up at 4pm. As soon as I walked in I was amazed... every single thing about this place is beautiful- and it's HUGE! There are dozens and dozens of trails, some of which are hiking trails, the longest of which takes about three hours to walk, the shortest takes only 15 minutes. Then there are brick trails that meander throughout, with paths shooting off those everywhere as well. There are about two dozen different garden themes, for example the fragrance garden or the garden with really old plants (I should have brought the brochure with me in order to write this, clearly). I didn't pay much attention to where I was going, or to the specific plant types, I just wandered and wandered, going whichever direction looked the most interesting or Secret Garden-ish. There were huge open areas of grass, where lots of people were laying out, picnicking, playing soccer, etc. There were also paths through densely wooded areas where you couldn't even see the sky. There were several ponds and streams running throughout as well, where kids were wading and playing. One of my favorite areas was a natural spring that flowed down into a waterfall- I was very tempted to drink the water (crystal clean) but all these cholera reports had me scared. Too bad. But the best part: all of this has the incredible backdrop of several mountains that the garden is right at the base of- really stunning. Every plant throughout was labeled, and there were tons of signs with interesting garden information and facts (yes even I found some of it interesting). Three things I kept thinking while I was here: (1) This would be Mom and Dad's heaven. You guys must come here- for the plants, the hikes, and Dad you would have a field day taking pictures (I think I took ~100). (2) This would have been the type of place that Kristin, Karen and I would have LOVED to play in when we were little. You two can probably imagine what I mean (think Ochsenreiter Forest/Crocodile Isle times about a million). And (3)I was so incredibly HAPPY the whole time I was there. It was just such a gorgeous day, in really one of the most beautiful places I have maybe ever been- where everything was so well done and not to mention it was cheap to be there (~$3). I just loved it all. So yeah, that is why yesterday was delightful! I will probably go back soon. (Additionally, I have decided I would like to get married there but that is just a side note).


Kirstenbosch.

When I got home I layed out on the back patio and read for a while. Around 10pm Friederike and I went to Panchos, a Mexican restaurant in Obs that was so cute and festive (actually kind of reminded me of Playa del Carmen) and really crowded- Obs is pretty hopin' apparently. Sofia met us there and we had dinner and a drink and then came home to go to bed. Nice night though- and I am liking these girls more and more.

Woke up this morning around 9 am to go to Gary's Surf School with Friederike! We took the train to Muzinberg, which is about 45 minutes from Obs (and very conveniently the train station is just a couple blocks from our house and the train only cost ~$1 round trip). Gary's Surf School is another one of AVIVA's projects, where the volunteers learn to surf and then give lessons. The plan was for me to get a lesson (Friederike has been like 5 times already), but when we got there it was really overcast and there were basically NO waves. So instead of paying for a lesson (250R, about $25) in crappy conditions, we both just rented wet suits and boards (50R for an hour- cheap!) and decided I would attempt surfing without any lessons (ha ha). In short, it was hard. The waves were very small, which makes getting up on the board harder, and you would have to wait about 5 minutes, then three decent sized waves would come all in a row, and then you would have to wait again... not great. I almost got up so many times and I think that with any type of lessons I would have, but oh well. We did this for an hour and then came in, showered off and went to get coffee at one of the surf shops with one of the AVIVA volunteers there. Caught a train home around 2pm. I am really glad we went and that I got to give surfing a shot, it was neat to see Muzinberg and all the surfers and what it's all about. Don't know that I'll have time to go back though.







Tonight we (me, Friederike and Sofia) were going to go on a sunset cruise at the Waterfront but it is still overcast so we probably won't. Plan to go out on Long Street later though. Tomorrow we are going to go to what is supposed to be a really good market and then we are going to climb Lion's Head with a picnic dinner at sunset- sounds nice huh?

I FINALLY was able to get pictures onto Facebook and email some to Mom (who is supposed to pass them on), but I still cannot get them to load onto my blog (something wrong with the sizing). I am very bummed and sorry about this, I'll have to go back later and add them in (boo).

That is all for now!! Time for some sushi.

New Years Eve & 6 Days at Bap

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! It seems like a LONG time since I have written-- I have missed having internet access very much! My New Years Eve was quite a night. We started off hanging out at the house~ probably about 10 AVIVA people (everyone living at the house currently), several of the Germans that work at Bap, some of the German's friends, then some other people from Bap (like Allison, who oriented me my first day there). So it was a pretty good crowd. We sat out back on the patio (which I love) and drank and braaied (barbecued) until about 11pm when we all headed to Long Street. On the way there we kept stopping to pick up more people so by the time we got to Long Street I was a little nervous that we weren't going to actually BE anywhere at midnight- as in standing in the middle of the street or something. Not that this would have been too bad seeing as the street was completely PACKED with people- it was awesome. I guess they hadn't completely blocked off the street because there were still a few taxis trying to meander through, but they may as well have. It reminded me of walking through the streets in DC after seeing the fireworks on July 4th- but more festive, everyone is drunk and happy and loving life. Anyways, we were supposed to meet up with everyone else at this club Zula, but we couldn't find them and blahblahblah so I pulled Georgina and Jonas (one of the Germans) into The Dubliner (the same bar I went to on another night) with me so that we would be somewhere at midnight. We had just enough time to get a drink and then we counted down and...2009!! Very exciting. It was awesome to finally get to spend New Years in a bar, I have to say. We danced for a bit and then headed out to find Zula and the rest of our group. Everyone was there, and a really good South African band was playing there (we had actually been listening to their CD in the car on the way to Long St. and I really liked it so it was very cool that they were playing there). We danced and hung out there until around 4 am- SO much fun. When we left there the night got a little... unfortunate. Someone had the idea in their head that on New Years people would be partying on the beach, which I guess you might assume but I didn't find out until later that no one had actually been TOLD this. So after trying to organize everyone and whatnot we all get in a couple taxis and go to Camps Bay, pile out of the taxis and... hear crickets. No one is there! No one is partying! So that was a bummer. We then decided to sit on the beach anyway and watch the sun rise until we realized the sun wasn't even going to rise over the water so we finally left around 5/5:30 am. Oh well. All in all, still quite a good New Years Eve. Very different to not spend it with a single person that I know well and to not watch the ball drop, etc, but amazing nonetheless.

New Years Day I actually woke up really early (9am). No one was really planning to do anything all day but I didn't want to waste a gorgeous day (this mentallity here seams to mean that I will always feel the need to do something- everday is a nice day [knock on wood]) so I went by myself to the V&A Waterfront. I had been here briefly before but wanted to spend more time walking around- it's quite a big area with lots of neat things to see. I spent the afternoon leisurely walking around, poking into shops, taking pictures, etc. I got some lunch (a slice of BBQ chicken pizza and a slice of seafood pizza with a whole oyster -shell and all- on it. Very good!)and found a table in the shade and sat and ate and people watched and read some of my book (Eat Pray Love-- which I LOVED! I finished it on shift and it was so good, very appropriate to be reading as I travel and I may just start it over again right now. Thanks Mom!) This was such a relaxing afternoon but it's funny because at home I would never go out to lunch by myself and bring a book- I just wouldn't. But being here I guess it is different, and that is nice. I thoroughly enjoyed myself by myself.


The Waterfront.

The next six days- BAP! The first three days was my normal shift (known as Team Pink) and this time consisted of me, Georgina, Ida, Amanda, Amy, and Ellie. A full house. This is a lot of people to be there at once, but it is also kind of nice because there are more people to do the work and we took turns waking up to do bottles so we didn't have to get up early every day. I got to know and like Amy and Amanda much better, before they really kept to themselves but were much more social at Bap (I guess they didn't really have a choice). They have taken to calling us three Team America.


Siphenathi and Anita being adorable!

Day One on shift- A pretty normal day. Helped Amy and Amanda get adjusted since it was their first time there. So good to see the kids again- after three days away I missed them. I was sort of pleasantly surprised this shift because I seemed to notice different kids than last time- like I still love my "favorites" from before but I have more now. Like Ibanathi (when he laughs he sounds just like that Laughing Baby YouTube video- SO cute) and Onikwa (who took her first steps yesterday!) are two that my first shift I didn't spend that much time with but this shift I was with them a lot. Also, I realized yesterday as I looked around that I know all the kids names with maybe 3 or 4 exceptions- amazing! I hadn't even realized I was learning them.
Day Two on shift- This day was normal as well except for the fact that Amanda and I heard on the radio that there are two cases of Cholera in Khayelitsha. This is not good news because Bap is IN Khayelitsha and before I came so SA I was told that there was no cholera in the area at all and that I just shouldn't drink river water. So this was kind of weird and concerning but we don't drink the water at Bap anyway so we were just all a bit more careful to keep our mouths closed in the shower and such. And granted, with more than 2 million people living in Khayelitsha the risk is really not too serious.


Inga playing outside!

Day Three on shift- Not a great day. For everyone else, this was their last day. For me it was only hump day. Plus I poured boiling water over my hand doing bottles (ouch!!) and in the evening I started to feel sick. 100% of people here have gotten sick at least once, but Team America is trying very hard to avoid this (we are just the only ones so far that have not been ill). I felt crappy all night but better the next day (Thank God!).
Day Four on shift- My 5 shift members left and in their place came... Sofia. Fredericke was supposed to come too but her mom is visiting so she took this shift off. Going from 6 to only 2 people was very weird, quiet, and lots of work!! Sofia is really nice but we haven't had a chance to get to know each other very well until now (since she is on the other shift). With two people everything takes much longer to do, which is a pain. But we got it all done. It showed at the end of the day thought- Day 4 was the day of dirt and grime seeing as I have never been so dirty after one day at Bap. I do love the shower there.
Day Five on shift- A good day. Sofia and I were more comfortable together and the end was in sight.


Lunch time!

Day Six on shift- Two new people (Christian, 24, Norway and Kerry, 46, England) came to do their orientation at Bap, and Kerry ended up staying for the rest of the day/last night of the shift. She is really nice, doesn't at all look 46, and we had talked briefly on facebook before I left so it was cool to meet her in person. Before starting the afternoon session of playing, feeding, bathing, bottles, toothbrushing, etc she asked if we had any advice for her. I couldn't think of anything specific but just told her to follow our lead and that before she knows it everything will seem like second nature. I soon realized the advice that Kerry needed though- to put away any sort of preconcieved notions of how a childcare facility SHOULD work and to just take Bap for what it is. Immediately the questions started- "This baby smells like poop, shouldn't he be changed?" "This baby has a runny nose, aren't there tissues?" "That kid just bit that other kid, how do we discipline them?" "Shouldn't these bottle tops be kept sterile?" NOOOOO!!! The kids all get changed at once, several times a day. Unless there is poop running down the kids leg, you don't worry about it- poop is a normal smell here. Half of the kids have runny noses at one time and there is snot everywhere- get some toilet paper and wipe them off if you want but they will look the same 15 minutes later. The sisis "discipline" the kids but most offenses are overlooked, there is no possible way to keep everyone in completel order. And sterility is not something that exists at Bap- probably never has and never will. I hope I don't come off too harsh but really, let's be serious. It is just different here and you do not worry about things like this. Yes, it would be better if it was cleaner and if the kids didn't hit and fight and steal each other's toys but that just isn't how it is. Kerry got a bit annoying but hopefully she will adjust. I do give her credit though. The three other people over the age of about 35 who have come here in the past month haven't been able to stick it out at Bap or Obs house and have switched projects in order to live at the Table View house, which is apparently much nicer & has a pool. I don't know that a pool is my priority when coming to South Africa to volunteer, but whatever. I love Obs House and Bap.

Anyways, the last day went well, as did bottles this morning. And then we got picked up and brought back to Obs - yayyyy!! As much as I love the kids I am thrilled to be back here and of course to have 6 days off- wonderful feeling. I am going to get a big lunch right now and then head to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for the afternoon. I also hope to do a walking tour of Cape Town, Robben Island and the cable car up Table mountain over the next couple of days- Plus I have my Cultural Tour and Winelands Tour the last two days before I go back on shift. I hope I can get everything in. Oh! and Jonas the German (who I like very much) and I are going to go kloofing next weekend, which is a day trip consisting of jumping off cliffs and abseiling down a waterful and exciting things such as these. Fun fun!

I continue to miss everyone very much. Thanks to many of you for keeping me up to date on Facebook!!