- It took 23 hours in the air and over 30 hours sitting on a plane (thank you Dallas for four hours of sitting on the runway)
- I met DIE ANTWOORD in the London Heathrow airport and I SHOOK their HANDS. No big deal.
- My house:
- There are seventeen of us living here, and thus far we are all getting along famously
- Hot water has been very iffy, I just took my first hot shower today (Thursday, almost one whole week!), and a lot of the house is open to the outside, but there are small heaters in our rooms which is working fairly well.
- It has been rather chilly and rainy, as they are still in the deep throws of winter, and my ceiling has a leak in it, so I am hoping for not much more rain.
- There is a Pancho's down the street, so I shall be enjoying Mexican food whilst I am here (I will keep you updated on how tasty it is).
- We got acquainted with everything and had a lovely family dinner at the Obz cafe (the waitress was wearing a mockingjay pin, such a win!)
- We visited the Amy Biehl Foundation. A couple of us are going to be working there. It was started by Amy's mother (who was there and spoke to us) after her daughter was killed in an act of political violence during the Apartheid regime. What is really amazing is that the four men who were convicted of her murder were pardoned five years after their sentence began during the reconciliation efforts of the Nelson Mandela administration. The amazing part is that Linda Beihl advocated for their release and two of them started the foundation with her and are still employed there! Talk about serious reconciliation.
Tuesday:
- We visited Lotus Park, an unofficial township. It looked like a shanty town, but slightly more established. We are told that it is public/private land that has been inhabited due to overpopulation and that there are about 450 around Cape Town. This was a small settlement of 2,000 households. The land cannot be developed due to ownership issues and the ground is boggy and unfit to build on, however, every time someone moves out, they are replaced within the hour so there are efforts to improve on the living situation as it is, because there are always going to be people there.
- A couple of us will be working at the primary school there, it was great because we got to play with the kids for a bit! They were such adorable rascals.
The little guy in the white/blue hat was a master at headbutting the rubber ball. Just like a soccer pro!
As we were leaving, all of the kids shook our hands goodbye, but they did this odd thumb bump. I really need to figure out how to respond to it because the councilman did it as well and I am totally clueless!
- After Lotus Park, we meandered around the V&A waterfront. It's quite European looking and totally reminds me of fisherman's wharf. For lunch we ate at Spur's and it was pretty great to see their interpretation of the American Indian and old west.
On a clearer day, Table Mountain is visible where that huge cloud is
This is one of the more Touristy areas (kinda like Fisherman's Wharf) and it is one of the more European looking places, thank you Dutch settlers.
Our beautiful group! (you can see San Francisco on the sign!)
The ocean is in the background, and if you have superman vision, you can see Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years as a political prisoner.
Wednesday:
- We spent all day at University of the Western Cape, getting to know the campus
- They call it U Dubs!
- It was originally founded as a colored only school during the apartheid regime, but since then has been open to all. It's about 97% percent black, so our group of seventeen, lost-looking Americans stuck out quite a lot!
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