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So I'm not very good at keeping a blog. I just realized I haven't written for the entire second half of the semester. I just finished classes on Friday, and now I have the week off before I have any finals. I'll try to think of a few interesting things I have done that I can write about, though a lot of my time was spent writing papers 😞.
I didn't do anything extremely exciting, but soon after my mid-semester holiday I went to the two free concerts that were part of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. The first was at Green Market Square one evening, and then the second was in Mitchell's Plain on a Sunday afternoon. The Mitchell's Plain one was quite an adventure, because Mitchell's Plain is a township and a group of 4 of us took the Minibus taxis there, which actually went pretty well getting there. It looked so weird. I wish I would've taken my camera because it was just this stage set up in a big open field. It was really cool. It wasn't really jazz music though, and we actually saw Mos Def an American rapper, kind of ironic we would
see an American rapper in Cape Town. The real adventure was getting home. We didn't know how to get back to the taxi rank to get back on a taxi so we asked some police officers. They then insisted that it was too dangerous for us to go on the taxis and after some argument we got in the police car thinking we were getting a ride to the taxi rank. However, they gave us a ride the whole way home. So we ended up getting a free ride home with the police officers.
A couple weeks ago Cidney and I took the train to Simon's Town which is a really nice train ride along the coast. At some points the train track is right next to the ocean. We went to see the penguins at Boulders Beach because Cidney hadn't gotten to see them yet, and just walked around Simon's Town because it is a really cute little Coastal Town.
Last Sunday Cidney and I and one of her friends (Chris) hiked up Lions Head at night. We meant to go for a sun downer but Chris wasn't able to go until a little late so we
only got there for the very end up the sunset. After the Sunset we continued up the mountain a little higher to watch the moon rise. It was really beautiful seeing the city at night and the full, or at least nearly full, moon.
This past weekend I decided I wasn't going to do any work at all and just have fun for a couple days since I had just gotten done with class, and have a week to study for finals. On Saturday we had our first real experience with Cape Town winters. It rained on and off all day, but it wasn't just light showers it was downpours, and it was also a little chilly out and very windy. Brittany, Sarah, Jess and I had a museum day since it was so unpleasant outside. It was still unpleasant walking from place to place in the city because of the weather, but we went to the District 6 Museum and the National Gallery (an art museum). The District 6 Museum was very interesting. It gives a feeling for what district 6 was like, and tells the stories of many of those who lived in District 6. It was
a part of the city that had a mixed community of working class people, that was very close to the city center and the harbor. In the beginning of the 1900's forced removals of first Black South Africans occurred, and later colored South Africans. Those removed were forced into Townships far away from their jobs at the harbor and in the city, and their old homes and other buildings in District 6 were demolished, so that new building suitable for the white population could be built. The same thing happened in other communities as well but district 6 was an especially close knit and vibrant community.
Yesterday (Sunday), I went to Kalk Bay with Sarah, Brittany and Mike to hike up a trail to a cave called boomslang cave. The hike was beautiful, and it was a lot of fun exploring in the cave, except for we were a little afraid of the bats. It was really neat because we were just kind of crawling/walking around inside and seeing what we could find and we found our way to another cave entrance/exit to the outside, and there was a beautiful view. It was little wet in the cave
since it had rained so much on Saturday so we got pretty dirty, which wasn't so bad except Brittany and I were planning on going to church when we got back and ended up only having like 15 minutes to get ready so no time for a shower. It was fine though most of the dirt was on my clothes.
This week I'm hoping to do some souvenir shopping, laundry and studying, and maybe if it gets nice some more hiking or a beach day. I have to keep myself busy until Sunday when Chris gets here! I can't believe he is coming so soon. I am sooo excited!!! We are going to Kruger National Park from Monday to Thursday next week, so that should be a really awesome trip. I'll have to write again about what Chris and I do while he is here. I also have some finals coming up in the next few weeks. My last final is June 9 and then I am leaving for home June 11. It's hard to believe my time in South Africa is nearing the end. It will be nice to come home and see everyone at home!!!
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