Tuesday, May 19, 2009

WOW. Today was quite a day… it was a day that I experienced things I would and would not have expected to see in South Africa.

What did I do today: two BIG things.

First we ate breakfast- kind of stating the obvious here. At 8:30 our tour guide Tabie picked us up. By the way, it was a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky and probably in like the 70s. So first BIG thing, we went to this vineyard called Waterford in Stellenbach. It was my first wine tour/tasting experience and the place was absolutely gorgeous. It was surrounded by mountains and the house was open with a fountain in the middle and a long dirt driveway!! It couldn’t have been more perfect. We tasted wine and chocolate (SO good) and got a tour of the winery. Then we went down into the town of stellenbach. Its Dutch and a lot of the houses had thatched roofs- very cool. We got to walk around for a little while. There was a little market in the middle selling handmade crafts- paintings, jewelry, etc. We then had lunch in the most beautiful restaurant I’ve ever been to. It was really open (apparently like most things are in wine country). It is also the home to “the JMU of Cape Town” haha a guy that drove us from the airport said “its spring break there every weekend”

The next and second to last stop was the Warwick winery which is owned by the first woman in SA to ever own winery. It was not quite as pretty and I learned that Im not a big fan of red wine. I did learn about this wedding cup tradition however. It was really cool but kind of seems like hazing to me… if you’re really interested in knowing about it Ill be happy to show you pictures later.

The day went out with a HUGE bang. We went to this winery/resort/golf course/animal reservation like place. There they had zebras and ostrich and a bunch of other typical African animals. Now for the second BIG thing. I got to pet a cheetah. Yes, a cheetah. Its the fastest land animal in the world, just so you know, and it even purred while I was petting it. What more could I have asked to do in Africa!? Let me tell you, it was really exciting but realllly scary.

We had dinner back at our house and it was really good. The dessert was the best part (leave it to me to be excited about the food). It was this warm cake-like stuff with custard on the top---to die for! I’m bringing the recipe home and will cook it many time so be prepared to try it!!

Overall, this was our fun day. The work starts tomorrow. Actually tonight we have a lesson on AIDS because that’s what a lot of the week is going to be based on. But that’s what I’m here for (not to get AIDS, to learn about it, thank you very much!) so I’m looking forward to it too!

Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten. This needs to be mentioned… I’ve seen multiple golf courses and have a lot of pictures! Dad- I knew you would appreciate this part!! Plus I saw a gigantic soccer complex… World Cup 2010 anyone!?

Monday, May 18th

DAY ONE!!
I left Dulles airport yesterday, Sunday around 8am... 1pm Monday- 3 flights later- finally in Cape Town!!! It was the longest flight I had ever been on (and I slept most of the time)! All in all it really wasnt that bad. Even the food on the plane was kind of okay haha

So, Cape Town...

Its winter so unfortunately the first day was cloudy, a little rainy, and kind of chilly (I was not expecting this at all). But we think it will get nicer!

Everyone here has cute accents and are VERY polite. They call everyone ma'am and sir and are just so adorable. There is a very strange thing though. As we were driving into Cape Town from the airport, the driver was pointing things out on the way. On one side of the highway was here he said the "blacks" live and the other side was where the "colored people" live (as in Indians I think). I asked if different races lived together and he said they hadn't lived together since at least the 1990s. I had no idea that this kind of thing still existed.

Another even bigger shocker... they drive on the left side of the road! Yeah, we were not expecting this at all. I dont think I could drive on the left if I tried- its so confusing crossing the streets!! This first picture was an attempt at capturing that. Not such a great one, but I promise my photo skills will get better!

We are staying in two cute little bed and breakfasts on Rose street and I think they are called La Rose and Orange on Rose. Three other students, a graduate assistant, and I are all staying in the orange one. The rest are staying in the yellow one right next door. It little and very nice! The bathrooms have the coolest decorations (only girls can really appreciate this). We will be staying here for 12 nights before we leave for our next destination. My roommate's name is Emma, but she isn't getting her until tomorrow so I have the room all to myself tonight!

So after we got settled, we took a little walk through out Cape Town. We got a mini tour of a small area of the town. One of the other girls and her mom raised $400 so we went to pick up a bunch of basket balls, volleyballs, and soccer balls to donate to kids in the area. Then we went to dinner at a pizza place right across the street. South African pizza is SO good. Much better than greasy pizza you get in the states.

Its really cool. There is a huge Muslim population and they pray five times a day. So five times throughout the day there is a call to prayer and praying is on loud speakers from the mosques!

Thats about it for today. Nothing too exciting! There will be a lot more tomorrow! We're going to Stellenbosch Sape Winelands tomorrow for a tour and winetasting- what a great way to start the trip :)

12 Days and Counting!!!

Sawubona!
(sah-woo-BOH-nah)- dont worry, I didnt know how to say it either!
(and yes, it means hello! That is the first and only Zulu word I know--for now at least)

I'll be leaving on the 17! Plane leaves Sunday morning (the 17th) and I'll be in Johannesburg on Monday afternoon... um, that makes the total trip about 22 hours (considering the 6 hour time difference)! Yep, its going to be a long one! But I'll make sure I have something to keep myself busy.

Ahhh! Only 12 more days :) Its coming verrrryyyy quickly and I can't wait. Herss a picture of the whole group that I'll be going with!!!