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!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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 =)
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 =)
Monday, January 12, 2009
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!!!
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!!!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
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!
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!
Friday, January 9, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
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!!
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!!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Dec. 26!
Hello All!!
Wow, there is SO much to tell. I have to backtrack several days, back to Wednesday, December 24 . . .
Christmas Eve! This day we had planned to go to the beach or climb Table Mountain but it was kind of overcast (which sucks, because I have realized that everything I really want to do depends on nice weather) so we went to Canal Street, which is basically a HUGE mall, like at least 4x the size of the average mall at home. It was really nice, though was very different from American malls-- lots of big furniture stores, large restaurants, and I passed at least two stores only selling meat. I wasn't really in the mood to shop, mostly because I was bummed to be indoors at all and because I'm not about to spend my money (already) on things that I could pretty much buy at home also. I spent a good amount of the time getting coffee with David (18, UK) who is done at Bap but spending ~10 days at the house until he goes on to Germany or Amsterdam or somewhere. So that was nice to get to know him. That night we (me, Georgina, David, and Kim- a former volunteer who came back to visit her last night in the country) went out in Obs to a pool bar kind of place that has two for the price of one Wednesday nights. I played one game of pool and actually did quite well. After being there for a while we went to Long St. to a bar called The Dubliner... SO much fun. It was such an awesome Christmas Eve atmosphere, really good music, and I talked to and met so many neat people. Then we went across the street to a bar/club called Jo'Burg, where we were until they closed. It is really weird here though because it gets light early- and bright too, like it was maybe 5 or 6 am and looked like it was like 9am out. Really, really fun night.
Thursday, December 25: The next day I somehow woke up without a hangover-- a Christmas miracle!! Granted, Georgina and I didn't wake up until 1, but oh well. We met Ida at Camps Bay Beach which is just on the other side of Table Mountain/Lion Head. It is such an awesome place-- a gorgeous beach, clean water (though FREEZING is no exaggeration, it is painful to go in), the beach is lined with palm trees and on the other side is lined by a street with really nice hotels, stores, and restaurants, and then the backdrop of it all is the 12 Apostles, a mountain with 12 separate peaks. So we layed out here all day- it was hot!- and got lunch at a really good cafe right there. We are about to do the same thing today. What a Christmas!! It sure wasn't traditional but I wouldn't mind spending another one that way. There were very few signs that it was a holiday except for the occasional person in a Santa hat or reindeer ears, just lots of families out picnicking. Christmas night we had sort of a Christmas dinner that Ed had bought us- 2 chickens and some veggies. We also made some mashed potatoes, it was pretty good. Just watched a movie and stayed in.
Friday, December 26: The day after Christmas Me, Ida, and David decided to climb Table Mountain. I would like to preface this by saying that I consider myself in relatively good shape, and I would think that I would be a decent hiker though granted I haven't hiked legitimately since probably the Ochsenreiter California Trip of '95. However, not one person that I had talked to about Table Mountain mentioned to me how INCREDIBLY HARD it is to climb. We started at about 1:30pm, and the first part of the trail is steep, though not even THAT steep (it gets steeper later), but this part was soooo hard. Basically you are climbing rock "stairs" (I use the word stairs incredibly loosely here), but the rocks are tall so it takes a lot of effort to take one step, and then in some areas there is no order to the rocks at all so you are just scrambling up over random rocks... it sucked. Like Ida and David have done it at least 3x before so they had no problem but I was thinking why in the world am I about to spend my day doing this?? Eventually I made it to the top of that section, and for a while you are going pretty much flat because you are basically walking the length of the mountain. David and I walked this part together (Ida was way ahead, Norwegians must be good hikers) but then he got a headache so he decided to turn around. I was fine with this because I didn't want to have to keep up with him on the uphill part and there were a good amount of other hikers going up and down so I wasn't on the mountain by myself or anything. Oh, and I forgot to mention- the reason there were so many people on the trail is because the Cable Car that is usually running up and down was closed because of high winds. This is important to keep in mind seeing as you get higher and higher it is SO windy. The upper part of the trail wasn't as hard as the beginning because it was more windy so didn't go STRAIGHT up, though at parts it did- plus, this part takes hours to get up. Like I would ask people coming down occasionally about how much farther to the top and they'd be like "Oh, an hour and a half, maybe two depending on your pace." ????? Who would enjoy that?? Anyways, it was hard, but I really wanted to get to the top. And the views were AMAZING. When I was about an hour from the top, a couple coming down told me that I shouldn't even bother, that it was freezing cold and windy at the top and that the clouds were coming in (which means I wouldn't have been able to see anything off the mountain). That was all I needed to hear- I did want to get to the top for personal achievement but if it there was really no point then I wasn't about to do it. Unfortunately, going back down the mountain was just as hard if not more so than going up. Not tiring, and it was faster, but I was a bit nervous of rolling an ankle or something, not to mention falling off the mountain. And with the wind and a backpack on my back and etc I didn't think that at least the former was quite possible. In conclusion though, I made it down alive and I am glad I did as much as I did but Ida was like "Oh we will have to do it again one day" and there is just no way. The cable car is there for a reason.
That night we rented two movies and just hung out since the next day was Bap!!! ... which I will write about tomorrow for sure! Georgina, Ida and I are about to go to Camps Bay again.
*I will add pictures later!!!*
**I worked out my Kruger Safari, and will have to miss my last shift at Bap but let's face it it's worth it- I am so glad it will work out!!!**
Wow, there is SO much to tell. I have to backtrack several days, back to Wednesday, December 24 . . .
Christmas Eve! This day we had planned to go to the beach or climb Table Mountain but it was kind of overcast (which sucks, because I have realized that everything I really want to do depends on nice weather) so we went to Canal Street, which is basically a HUGE mall, like at least 4x the size of the average mall at home. It was really nice, though was very different from American malls-- lots of big furniture stores, large restaurants, and I passed at least two stores only selling meat. I wasn't really in the mood to shop, mostly because I was bummed to be indoors at all and because I'm not about to spend my money (already) on things that I could pretty much buy at home also. I spent a good amount of the time getting coffee with David (18, UK) who is done at Bap but spending ~10 days at the house until he goes on to Germany or Amsterdam or somewhere. So that was nice to get to know him. That night we (me, Georgina, David, and Kim- a former volunteer who came back to visit her last night in the country) went out in Obs to a pool bar kind of place that has two for the price of one Wednesday nights. I played one game of pool and actually did quite well. After being there for a while we went to Long St. to a bar called The Dubliner... SO much fun. It was such an awesome Christmas Eve atmosphere, really good music, and I talked to and met so many neat people. Then we went across the street to a bar/club called Jo'Burg, where we were until they closed. It is really weird here though because it gets light early- and bright too, like it was maybe 5 or 6 am and looked like it was like 9am out. Really, really fun night.
Thursday, December 25: The next day I somehow woke up without a hangover-- a Christmas miracle!! Granted, Georgina and I didn't wake up until 1, but oh well. We met Ida at Camps Bay Beach which is just on the other side of Table Mountain/Lion Head. It is such an awesome place-- a gorgeous beach, clean water (though FREEZING is no exaggeration, it is painful to go in), the beach is lined with palm trees and on the other side is lined by a street with really nice hotels, stores, and restaurants, and then the backdrop of it all is the 12 Apostles, a mountain with 12 separate peaks. So we layed out here all day- it was hot!- and got lunch at a really good cafe right there. We are about to do the same thing today. What a Christmas!! It sure wasn't traditional but I wouldn't mind spending another one that way. There were very few signs that it was a holiday except for the occasional person in a Santa hat or reindeer ears, just lots of families out picnicking. Christmas night we had sort of a Christmas dinner that Ed had bought us- 2 chickens and some veggies. We also made some mashed potatoes, it was pretty good. Just watched a movie and stayed in.
Friday, December 26: The day after Christmas Me, Ida, and David decided to climb Table Mountain. I would like to preface this by saying that I consider myself in relatively good shape, and I would think that I would be a decent hiker though granted I haven't hiked legitimately since probably the Ochsenreiter California Trip of '95. However, not one person that I had talked to about Table Mountain mentioned to me how INCREDIBLY HARD it is to climb. We started at about 1:30pm, and the first part of the trail is steep, though not even THAT steep (it gets steeper later), but this part was soooo hard. Basically you are climbing rock "stairs" (I use the word stairs incredibly loosely here), but the rocks are tall so it takes a lot of effort to take one step, and then in some areas there is no order to the rocks at all so you are just scrambling up over random rocks... it sucked. Like Ida and David have done it at least 3x before so they had no problem but I was thinking why in the world am I about to spend my day doing this?? Eventually I made it to the top of that section, and for a while you are going pretty much flat because you are basically walking the length of the mountain. David and I walked this part together (Ida was way ahead, Norwegians must be good hikers) but then he got a headache so he decided to turn around. I was fine with this because I didn't want to have to keep up with him on the uphill part and there were a good amount of other hikers going up and down so I wasn't on the mountain by myself or anything. Oh, and I forgot to mention- the reason there were so many people on the trail is because the Cable Car that is usually running up and down was closed because of high winds. This is important to keep in mind seeing as you get higher and higher it is SO windy. The upper part of the trail wasn't as hard as the beginning because it was more windy so didn't go STRAIGHT up, though at parts it did- plus, this part takes hours to get up. Like I would ask people coming down occasionally about how much farther to the top and they'd be like "Oh, an hour and a half, maybe two depending on your pace." ????? Who would enjoy that?? Anyways, it was hard, but I really wanted to get to the top. And the views were AMAZING. When I was about an hour from the top, a couple coming down told me that I shouldn't even bother, that it was freezing cold and windy at the top and that the clouds were coming in (which means I wouldn't have been able to see anything off the mountain). That was all I needed to hear- I did want to get to the top for personal achievement but if it there was really no point then I wasn't about to do it. Unfortunately, going back down the mountain was just as hard if not more so than going up. Not tiring, and it was faster, but I was a bit nervous of rolling an ankle or something, not to mention falling off the mountain. And with the wind and a backpack on my back and etc I didn't think that at least the former was quite possible. In conclusion though, I made it down alive and I am glad I did as much as I did but Ida was like "Oh we will have to do it again one day" and there is just no way. The cable car is there for a reason.
That night we rented two movies and just hung out since the next day was Bap!!! ... which I will write about tomorrow for sure! Georgina, Ida and I are about to go to Camps Bay again.
*I will add pictures later!!!*
**I worked out my Kruger Safari, and will have to miss my last shift at Bap but let's face it it's worth it- I am so glad it will work out!!!**
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