Homestay Weekend

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August 12th - August 14th

This weekend CIEE placed us with families in Ocean View, a coloured community in a valley behind Cape Town. The families had created a community several decades before after the apartheid government forced them off their property along the coast and in the city. We assembled at a church and met our families and then watched some of the local teen groups perform. They had prepared dances and songs to entertain us - the breakdancing was amazing. After that we went 'home'. Carol and Chris were the parents in the family I stayed with and they had three children, Caroline, Craig, and Caitlyn. It was Craig's birthday (12th) so they took us to have cake and coffee at a local restaurant in the mall. The next day we celebrated his birthday with his friends at a bowling alley and had ice cream cake at Cavendish mall. After the party we watched the American students play agains the Ocean view residents in a basketball game. America won! Later that night Amy (another CIEE American who roomed with me) and I cooked them a Tex-Mex dinner of chicken and veggie fajitas and beans. We had to substitute Indian rooti bread for tortillas and kidney beans for pinto and refried beans, but I made pico de gallo and Amy made quacamole so it worked. That evening Chris and Carol took us to a surprise 40th birthday party for a friend and it had the them of "Barn Dance" so we line danced and watch square dancing. The next morning we went to a church service and enjoyed a cape malay meal made by Carol before saying goodbye. Chris took us on a drive of the coast so that we could see the sights as well as to try to see some Babboons which I hadn't yet seen. It was a fabulous weekend and I look forward to getting together again with my family! Also - Chris is absent from all my pictures because my camera batteries died and I still have to get Amy's pics of the family.

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