I Love Me a Public Holiday

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Ok, so I have a confession. I thought I was doing really good about keeping my blog up to date, because I had been doing a decent job of keeping my records of what I was doing up to date, but it turns out I was wrong. No wonder some of you have been asking me what I have been up to. I know that last time I said that I was getting back into the swing of things, but since then I’ve had three days off of class because of public holidays. So, as you can probably assume, I have been up to quite a bit. Bear with me, and I’ll try to hit the high spots quick.

Well, my last entry was April 20. April 21 was a pretty chill day. I had class as usual and spent time chilling on the Jammie Stairs on campus between classes with some of my friends. That evening Matt Raider, the Dean of IES from Chicago was here to talk to us about all the robberies and other things. We all had supper at the restaurant at the UCT Baxter Theater to talk to him. Also, they introduced us to the new security service that started the next day. Since we had so many problems with our previous company, we switched. They used our captive audience attention to tell us all that we were changing security companies and to introduce us to the new security guards. So far they have been doing a good job, no complaints here.

Wednesday, April 22 we didn’t have class because it was the day of the national elections, which is a national holiday here in South Africa. To celebrate the rising of a new era and the very very very very slim possibility of someone besides the ANC running the show, Susy and I met some of our friends for a hike. At Kirstenbosh Gardens, we met Isabella and Sarah and some of their friends. We had met Isabella and Sarah on the Hex River Mt hike. From there we climbed up Table Mountain via Skeleton Gorge. It was a really chill hike, not like hiking with Ben, and we took our time going up. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it all the way to the top, because we had been taking our time and our friends had to get back in order to vote. So, we headed back down via Nursery Ravine. When we finally got home, Susy and I made pancakes at Alma and then just hung out for a bit. It was a wonderful day.

Thursday, April 23 was also a pretty chill day. After class, I headed to Alma again, and Susy and I made pancakes again. This time it was because our friends that we had gone hiking with were coming over for pancakes, and then we were going out. After chilling for a while at Alma we headed to Café Sofia to hang out and listen to the live jazz. I ended up going a little bit later with Ryan, so it was kind of short, but it was fun.

Friday, April 24 after class I caught a Jammie with Ben into town, and we walked along Long Street and stopped in different stores on our way to the market. We had gone to town with a couple of goals in mind. Ben wanted 3 masks, and I was looking for a present for Christine. Our first stop was the Pan African Market. The Pan African Market is an indoor market where individual vendors set up all their things. Within a short amount of time, Ben had found his masks, and after some bartering got them talked down to an acceptable price. Since he is decent at that whole bargaining thing and I am not I asked him to help me. We finally found exactly what I was looking for for Christine. I can’t say what it is, because it’s a secret surprise, but Ben helped me to talk it down so that I could actually afford it. After walking around in the Pan African Market for a bit longer we headed out. We then went to Green Market Square. Even though we had found exactly what we had been looking for, we decided to walk around Green Market for a bit. Ben was looking for some pictures for his sisters, because he had gotten them bowls in Zimbabwe but wanted to get them something else as well. Susy then met us because she had been in town and we all went home together. That evening, I went with some friends to another house of American students. They were having a party,

Saturday morning, April 25, I got up early and headed to Alma. Ryan got up at 8am to make pancakes, because he was celebrating his school’s spring weekend. It is his tradition to have pancakes at 8. Then it is also part of tradition to start drinking right away and drink until they pass out, but I just chilled with him and Jo who also goes to school with him back home, while they drank. It was rainy and gross out, so it was the perfect day to just hang out inside. Even though it was a good day to stay in, around noon 8 of us went to the farmer’s market in Woodstock at the old Biscuit Mill. The cab on the way there was a bit tight, because we put 8 people in a 7 person cab, but it was fun. The farmer’s market is not what you think though. It is a high class farmers market that has a lot of homemade bread, honey, gourmet cheese, and different kinds of spreads and things. There are also lots of food stands. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, so I didn’t bring a lot of cash, so I just shared food with other people. The market is contained in a building and most of the food stands are under a tent, but since it was raining pretty hard it was still pretty wet. Even though it was wet, there were still a ton of people there, and it was all a lot of fun.

After the market we all piled back into the cab and headed back to Alma. I stayed at Alma the rest of the day, partially because it was raining and I wasn’t wanting to walk back home in the rain. For a while I worked on sewing patches onto my friend Ben’s bag and laughing at Jo and Ryan while they were drinking and being ridiculous. Finally, I went home and did a little bit of homework before I headed to bed.

Sunday morning, April 26 I got up early and went to Church at Baxter. It was supped to be another crappy rainy day, the third in a row, but it ended up being beautiful and sunny. So, we decided to go to this place called Mzolli’s with Ben’s home stay brother. Mzolli’s is a really popular restaurant in Gugiletu, one of the townships. At Mzolli’s you just go in and pick out what meat you want, they then cook it for you and give it to you in a bowl. You then bring it out and sit under the tent with a million other people. It’s really good too. It is a bring your own beverage kind of place and then if you want rolls with your meat you bring that with you from home too. On a Sunday afternoon, it is soo busy and popular that you have to get there by 11am in order to get a place to sit. Well, we didn’t make it by 11, so we had to stand, but we made due. When we got there it wasn’t real busy, but by the time we left it had turned into a block party. People had just set up shop next to their cars and things. Before we left to go to Mzolli’s Susy and I had a little spat, and so she was giving me the silent treatment all day. As a result, I spent my day with Ryan. We met a lot of different people from Cape Town, and we had some good conversations. I talked to one guy about the election that just happened and about how even though the ANC is going to win, if you don’t want them to you should still vote. It was really great. Afterwards I went back and chilled at Alma and then headed home.

Monday was nothing spectacular. April 27 is Freedom day, so we didn’t have classes once again. Freedom day is the day where they celebrate the first day that all South African’s were able to vote no matter what race. So, I celebrated Freedom day by doing homework. Yes, I know I actually do homework here. Not a lot, but when I have a paper due the next day that’s what I gotta do. About this time I started to get a little homesick. This is really weird for me, because I’ve only been homesick twice before in my life. It was freaking me out a bit, but I kept moving on with life.

Wednesday was the highlight of my week. Tuesday I got notifications from the post office that I had 3 packages to pick up. We don’t get them at our house, so we have to go to the post office to pick them up. I had a large gap between my lectures and my tutorial Wednesday, so I took the Jammie to Observatory to pick up my packages. It definitely made my day and helped me to get over my homesickness really fast. I had a package from my parents, my grandma, and my friends from Jewell. I decided that while I was waiting for the Jammie to get back to campus I would open one of the packages, and I was curious what my Jones’s Family (Friends from Jewell) had sent me. I opened up my shoe box that was wrapped in packaging tape to discover an Easter Basket in a shoe box. They are so great and they put in there some of my favorite candy. I had starburst jelly beans (my favorite), sixletts (courtesy of Amber I’m sure), and jolly rancher suckers. They put the candy in plastic eggs, and also in each egg was a note from all the girls. To make it even better, the notes were written on Disney Princess paper. Also, they put in it Madagascar 2, Escape 2 Africa. I was really excited because I hadn’t seen it yet, and it is highly appropriate. The other package was from my Grandma. She had sent me a towel (that smelled like Grandma) some snack sticks, and a bag of chocolate chips for cookies. The package from Mom had a bunch of things in it that I hadn’t really thought about but now realize that I missed. Laffy Taffy, happy snacks, peanut butter granola bars, wheatables, fun dip, Girl Scout cookies, peanut butter M&Ms and a kite. To add to the wonderfulness of the package, she also sent measuring cups, measuring spoons, and 2 more bags of chocolate chips. My house mates appreciated these last parts of the package as well. It was a really great day, and I had so much energy because not only was I hyped up on sugar, but I felt so much better after getting those packages, and my room was a bustle of activity because people were coming in for candy and we were all just hanging out. Also, I made Alfredo for supper for Susy and I. I got the recipe off the internet, and it tasted ok, but it looked funny. The new measuring equipment was really helpful though.

Thursday, after classes and a productive afternoon I went to Alma to hang out with Susy, and then we met Sarah, Laura, and Maya at Café Sofia. They ended up not having live music so we left pretty quickly, and so we left. We then headed back to Alma for pie, and then we all went to my place to watch Catch and Release.

Friday, May 1 was Worker’s Day, and so once again we did not have class. Early Shalagh-Anne came over, and after a bit we headed to Alma to pick up Susy and then went to upper campus. There was an All Africa basketball tournament going on, and some of our friends were playing so we went to watch them. After a while at the game we went back to Alma for lunch and then headed to my place. While watching movies and hanging out I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. They were wonderful cookies, because not only did I have wonderful Hersey’s Chocolate Chips, but they were pretty easy to make since I had appropriate measuring devices. Like usual, they were all gone within a few minutes of when they came out of the oven. In fact, the cookies in the last batch were actually claimed before they were even out of the oven.

Shalagh-Anne then hung out for the rest of the evening. We were going to go out, but we got going too late, so she ended up going to Alma to hang with them. I ended up going out with my housemates. One of my housemates, Alex, lent me a shirt and made me put on makeup before we went out, so I wasn’t feeling totally myself, but it made her happy, so it’s all good. It was a lot of fun, and even though we were out late, when I got back at 2:30 I was wired and so I did some reading for class and then went to bed.

Today I went to the Farmer’s Market again in Woodstock with my housemates. This time I knew what I was getting myself into, so I brought plenty of money, and I had a wonderful lunch. Also, it was a really nice day today, so it was much more pleasant.

Well, that’s the update. Done, and Done!! I have spared you all the grueling details, but that’s enough to let you know what’s going on. I’m still alive, and I have gotten over my small bout of homesickness really quickly. Thanks to my Parents, Grandma, and the Jones Family for helping me get over it.

With Love From Cape Town,
April

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Photos

1/2 Way Up
View of the city from about 1/2 way up.

Check out that view
This is where we started. Very close to the top.

King and Queen of the Mountain
They climbed up this rock on a ledge.

The View
A view of teh dam and the gardens below.