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Published: July 21st 2009
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our group
This is my family for the next four months, including our student mentor Cezanne and Program Director Bradley. We were out to dinner on our 2nd night in town. Hello Everyonee!!
I am officially in SA! I arrived in Cape Town on Monday, July 13th after 2 days of travel. On July 12th, I had a 10 hour lay-over in London and our friends the Robinson's were kind enough to pick me up for the afternoon and take me around London. We spent a nice afternoon in the city and I got to see Big Ben, Parliament, Trafalgar Square and the London Eye. It was a great way to start this adventure. If you are reading this, thank you so much Jim, Judy, Casey and Will for a great day - - you sure made my journey here much easier! Also, if you see your neighbor tell him that we will be spending the last weekend in August at Overberg within De Hoop Nature Reserve to watch the whales, he suggested doing this.
Once I arrived in CT, myself along with two of the guys in my group were picked up at the airport by our student mentor, Cezanne, and taken to our "home away from home" for the week. We stayed at Banghoek Place, a backpackers lodge in Stellenbosch. It was a great place! The six girls
mmmm
this was my delicious fish dinner when we were out on the 2nd night. We could have this, or a traditional SA red meat called Springbok, which is also very good. in CIEE, the program I am here with, shared a room with three sets of bunk beds, and the guys had another room. Space was tight, but it was an awesome way to get to know each other.
We stayed at Banghoek from Monday-Sunday and moved into our dorms on campus Sunday afternoon. Within those 6 days we got to do some of the most amazing things I have ever done. We got to spend a day just wandering about Stellenbosch, which is a very historical, beautiful town in the Western Cape that is surrounded by mountains. It is absolutely breathtaking. We went to 2 "braai's" which is most closely related to an American BBQ. It is one of the most popular things to do in SA and they are great fun! Our group has had 2 nights to ourselves since we arrived; one of which we "hit the town" and had a great dinner at a local restaurant and the other night 2 of my group-mates, Alexis and Natalie, and myself cooked dinner at the lodge for the 8 of us, plus 3 others guests that joined us.
The best day thus far was Saturday (18th) when
dinner out
My new friends on our first free night and the restaurant Java in Bosch. we went into Cape Town. It was Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday, which as you can imagine is a big deal in SA. For his birthday, Mandela requested that everyone contribute 67 minutes for Mandela. For our 67 minutes our group went to St. Anne's home in the city, which is a shelter/home for abused women that have children, or whom are pregnant. We purchased about 20 children's books to donate, brought cookies and milk and spent 2 hours with the children that attend the creche at the home. It was a rewarding, yet heartbreaking experience.
From St. Annes, we went up Signal Hill in CT which provides a birds eye view of the entire city of CT from Table Mountain to the port and the ocean. We got a great view of the FIFA 2010 stadium (which looks awesome!) as well as on of SA's 3 government sectors, and District 6. District 6 still remains one of the most apparent scars from the apartheid past.
After that, we made about an hour drive south the the Cape of Good Hope. This is the south-western most point in Africa. Once we were there we hiked upwards for about an
SU
Sam, Rachel and Natalie showing off the beautiful backdrop on our walk to class hour along the rocky coast-line to Cape Point. The views, and peaceful atmosphere were just incredible. On our walk to Cape Point, about 10 stories below us was the most amazing beach you have ever seen in your life (as seen in the pictures). As soon as I saw it, I needed to get there and put my feet in the sand so Cezanne, myself, Rachel, Mike and Sam walked down the largest, steepest staircase you have ever seen in your life then walked down a 200 foot tall sand dune to make it to the beach. We skipped out on the end of the hike to Cape Point and spent the most amazing hour of my life. I have been lucky enough to see some pretty great things in my life, but I am almost positive this place took the cake. It was just indescribable. It was even worth the impossible climb back to the trail, and the sore calves the next day haha.
On Sunday, we went back into CT and went to the V&A waterfront for the afternoon, which is the largest mall in the Southern Hemisphere. We were really back in CT to attend the
SU 2
these are some buildings on SU's campus world premiere of a SA film entitled, Daughter of Spirits, Mother of Mine, at the Encounters Documentary Film Festival. It was a film about traditional healers, called Sangoma's, within SA - - very interesting and full of SA culture.
So that is the run-down of just some of the cool things I have done since I have been here. As for school, it started yesterday. Stellenbosch University (SU) could be the most gorgeous campus in the world. Literally there are mountains surrounding the campus which is made of mostly white buildings with red roofs. I will also include a few pictures of the campus. There are 25,000 students on campus so now that everyone is here the atmosphere is much more alive within the town. I am taking a full credit load, and plan on indulging myself with as much SA culture as I possibly can while I am here.
I begin my volunteer work in the Kayamandi project next week. I will be there Tuesdays from 8:00-13:00 teaching 1st graders english and then Thursdays from 13:00-16:00 teaching the same students arts and crafts. I can't wait for that chapter of this journey to begin.
Well, I
SU 3
this is "the red square" which is not shown well in this picture but is just a huggee staircase on campus am sure this is wwaaayy too much to take in for one blog entry but it has been a very busy week with no internet to update you all. I couldn't be any happier, and will keep you posted on my journey within the week.
I love and miss you all!
Mom, Dad, Chris, Car and Jen--I love you guys and miss you so much...don't worry..I am still planning on coming home ;-) I am calling you now, so you better be home!
Cheers everyone!
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Christie
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MISS YOU
It was so good to hear your voice aubby... I couldn't be happier for you. Love you lots