Back in the Swing of Things

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Well I suppose it’s that time again. Time to get updated about what I’ve been up to. This time it hasn’t been much. First there were the last few days of my break. Friday, April 10 I got up and went with Susy, Phil, Mel, Colin, and Bubba to Ratanga Junction. Ratanga is the amusement park in Cape Town, and it is one of the largest in the country. People kept telling us that we just had to go, and so we set aside the day and headed out. Since it was Easter Friday, the town itself was pretty quiet, because it’s a national holiday. Now, Ratanga itself wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, but we still had a good day. We started by riding the biggest roller coaster they had, the Cobra. We then did a smaller roller coaster, the log ride, a little water raft ride, the rocking ship and the bumper cars. Now, that was pretty much all of the rides that were available, so we rode the cobra a few more times. We then headed over to another part of the park, because they had this thing they called the Sling Shot, and everyone wanted to do it. I hadn’t planned on doing it because I knew that it cost extra, and in all the places in the US a similar thing costs more than I am ever willing to pay. Well when we got to the sling shot, not only was it only R40, but we discovered another roller coaster. Since the Sling Shot was pretty cheap, and I knew I would probably never do it at home, I signed up too. We had our times for 5:10 and 5:15. We had to go in two groups, because no more than 3 people can go at a time. Until then we burned time by riding the other roller coaster and doing some other things.

The Sling Shot ended up making the day all worth it. I was feeling a little bit nauseous all day. I know, not the way to feel at an amusement park, but what can you do? On top of not feeling well, I was disappointed that the park, which all of the local students had talked up so much, was not all it was cracked up to be. The Cobra was really fun, but other than that, it had some things to be desired. Well, the slingshot was that thing. For those of you who are familiar with Worlds of Fun in Kansas City or Valley Fair, you will know the Sling Shot as the Rip Cord. You put on a suit that is basically a large front with a bunch of straps in the back so you can lay on your stomach. Then, you and your flying partners are hooked onto a large rope that is hanging from a rod between two poles. You are then hoisted up a pole far away from the center, and when you reach the top of the pole, you pull a chord, and you go plummeting, face first, toward the ground. Of course, you don’t hit the ground, you swing and fly. (I've drawn you a picture and placed it in the album. It isn’t good, but you get the point. It was absolutely AMAZING too.) After Ratanga, I went to Alma with Susy and we made supper and watched a movie with Portia. We were both pretty tired, and so it was just what we needed.

Saturday, April 11 was a day to get caught up. I went shopping, ran some errands, and did homework. I felt pretty crummy all day, so it wasn’t a very productive day at all. I mostly just laid in bed to do my work, but that’s ok. That evening I went over to Alma again, and Susy Portia and I made pizza for supper. It was the first pizza I’ve had since I got here that was even close to US pizza, and it was wonderful.

Sunday, April 12 was Easter. For Easter I decided to go to my home stay church, because it’s the only church I have here. Well, Portia decided to go along to visit a friend because she grew up in Retreat, and Susy came along to go to church. We took the train to Retreat, and then we walked to the church. At the church, Portia went on her way, and we met Morgan and her home stay family. My home stay mom was glad to see me, but since I didn’t give her ample warning, she wasn’t prepared for me. That was fine though, because I was still not feeling 100%, and I had homework to do. Instead, Morgan’s family invited us all over for lunch. We had lunch with the family, and then Gary, Morgan’s brother, brought us all home.

I did some homework for a bit at home, and then I headed back to Alma, because Ryan wanted us all to go out for supper together. His parents had just left, and he wanted to hang out. Susy couldn’t come with because she had to Skype her family, and I felt bad leaving her behind, but we went to supper without her. It ended up being Ryan, Morgan, Portia and I. We went down the street a few miles to Newland to a place called Spur, which is a BBQ joint. So, for Easter supper, I had ribs, BBQ wings, and fries. It was a lot of fun, and it was really good. Afterwards we walked home, stealing street signs all along the way (Don’t worry, not like real street signs, but the signs they put on the light posts with the daily headlines and advertisements).

When we got back to Alma, Ben had returned from his trip to Victoria Falls. After I listened to his stories and saw his pictures, Ryan walked me home. When I got home, I called my family, and it turns out everyone was there. Well all the important people anyway. I got to talk to Mom, Dad, Melanie, Christine, Grandma, and Aunt Juanita. Uncle Roy was there too, but he wouldn’t talk to me. It was really nice to talk to everyone, and it made it feel a little more like Easter. When I went to bed, it still hadn’t felt like Easter, but that’s ok. It was a Cape Town Easter, and it was packed with wonderful things and people. It may not have included my biological family beyond our phone conversation, but it included the largest parts of my South African family.

Monday was also a national holiday, so I had one more day before classes started. Unfortunately, I had a paper and a big assignment due on Tuesday and before that break had not been highly conducive to homework. So, as a result, I basically locked myself in my room for the majority of the day and knocked out a 22 page project and a 3 page paper. Pretty impressive if you ask me. I did get to bed kind of late, but that’s life.

Tuesday, April 14 it was back to life as usual and classes resumed. Along with my busiest day of classes, I had my assignment to turn in at 1, my paper by 4, and I was supposed to have lunch with Ryan, because on Easter we made a deal that I would wear pigtails all day if he wore his cowboy hat all day and we would have lunch on Jammie Stairs and look ridiculous together. Unfortunately, I had a small problem. When I went to print my assignments, all of the printers on campus were down, so instead of having lunch with Ryan, I fought with printers all through my lunch break. Long story short, it all worked out in the long run, but I had to skip lunch. It was ok though.

Wednesday I had class, and then after class I had a mission to fulfill. I got a recipe off of the Taste of Home website the night before for a frozen fruit salad, and I was going to make it on Wednesday. Like most things I do in South Africa, a simple task quickly turns out to be not so simple. The recipe called for canned fruit, canned mandarin oranges, pie filling, and cool whip. Well, big surprise, I could not find mandarin oranges, pie filing or cool whip. So, once again I improvised. I then went to Alma and made my fruit salad. I had to cut up canned peaches and guava, and I had to whip my own cream. It was a messy disaster, but thankfully it all turned out in the end, and everyone really liked it.

The reason I was making fruit salad at Alma was because Thursday we were having a Braai for our home stay families, and my contribution was frozen fruit salad: South African Style. After class on Thursday I chilled for a bit at home, and then I went over to Alma, because Susy was freaking out about the Braai and not having enough food. It all turned out well though. My family was the only actual family that showed up. Everyone else that had family come ended up having just their older siblings. So, after lots of chaos, my family called it an early evening, and our family Braai quickly turned into a party. I was glad that my family came though, even if just for a little while, and we even went over to my place to see my house. After the party was all over, Ryan walked Caroline, Lull and I home, and I passed out.

Friday morning I had to get up early to register for next semester. All of my friends from Jewell were also registering, so instead of the usual registration party that Josh and I usually have in my room at the time of Registration, we had a registration party online, and Amber and Pierson joined us. I love the internet. Registration started at 12:01am Jewell time, so that was 7:01am for me. Personally, I preferred getting up and doing it at 7 instead of staying up until midnight, because I was up anyway.

After class I went home, packed up some stuff and headed back up to upper campus, because it was another UCT Wakeboard and Ski Club Camp weekend. I was super stoked, and ready to get away from my house for the weekend. This time I was the only IES person that went, but it was cool because I already knew most of the committee members. My friend Rachel was going to go as well, but she ended up last minute not being able to go. It all worked out though. I spent Friday April 17 through Sunday April 19 at Misverstand on the dam with the wakeboard club. We stayed in a house right on the dam, and we had a wonderful weekend of wakeboarding and hanging out. I love hanging out with the Wakeboard Club guys. It’s a nice break from the overwhelmingly female house that I live in, and it’s fun to hang out with all South Africans. It is the first time since I’ve been here that I spent an extended amount of time without a single other person from my program, and I really liked it.

When I got home Sunday, I quick changed and then went to Mass with Patrick and Steven. I wanted to go to church, but I don’t like going by myself at night because I don’t like to walk in the dark, and Steven and Patrick asked if I wanted to go with them. Now, generally the whole Catholic thing weirds me out and makes me uncomfortable, but they assured me that it’s pretty laid back, because it was the UCT catholic society mass. It was actually really cool. I mean, it was catholic, and there was lots of responding that I didn’t know, but it had a South African Twist. For all the general hymn-like responses that they sang, they sang them with a tribal type feel. It was interesting how the Catholic traditions had been adjusted to fit the African traditional way of singing and worship, and I’m really glad I went.

Today I’m finally getting back into the swing of things. After class, I caught the Jammie Shuttle to Observatory, because I had to pick up a package. I had a package from Grandma come, and so I picked it up, went to the grocery store to get milk and bread, and then I walked home. When I got home, I opened the package to discover that Grandma had sent me a monkey, and his name is Henri. Henri came to me because he was born in Africa and wanted to return to his home. Now, he will stay with me until I leave in June, and then I will pass him on to someone else who will care for him and ensure that he remains in Africa. What a cool idea. I’m really excited about this, and I am already thinking about who I can give him to when I leave.

Well, that pretty much brings us up to speed, but before I go I want to point out that I have gotten much better at this whole cooking gig. The other day I had a well balanced meal of chicken, rice and corn on the cob, and I even made it all by only dirtying two pans. Today I made apple cinnamon pancakes. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, so I just put apples and cinnamon in pancake batter, but it was REALLY good. Even if I were to walk away from this experience without learning anything else (which is definitely not the case), I’m learning how to cook. I’m quite proud of it too.

That’s it for me. Please note that I am also going to update some of my other posts with pictures now as well. Hopefully after today I will be totally caught up and you all will no longer wonder what I have been up to. Before I leave I want to say one more thing. I may not miss home per say, but I miss all the wonderful people that make it home, and that’s you.

With Love from Cape Town,
April

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Photos

Slingshot
Ok, so it's not the best, but can you really expect a masterpiece when created in Word??

Henri
Hi, my name is Henri, and I come to you from the US because I was born in Africa and wanted to return to my home.

Comments

[Mom]

Home
I know you love it there and am very glad, but so you know which I know you do, home misses you too. Well the people here do. LOVE YOU!