Monday, January 31, 2011
start at the bottom. (Sat. Jan. 22nd-Mon. Jan. 30th)
Mmmmk... So here is a post including every day since the last post I made. If you’d like to go in order of how things happened you should skip down to the bottom of this post and read upwards day by day. :) Have fun! :)
Monday January 31st 2011
I really get to post this today! Yay! You finally get to hear from me.
Today was good. Morning at the project went really well. The afternoon was awful. For our lunch we went to Morgan’s house and we saw his recording studio that he has there. He recorded each of us talking to a song that he had made. I will try and get it up eventually. It was so funny :) that has been the highlight of my day so far! :) life is good! :)
Sunday January 30th 2011
Today was great! :) I went to my church this morning! :) the people were great. It felt so so good to have a piece of home with me. I met some friends, they gave me a ride home, I’ll be going to institute on Thursday night :) there were 8 YSA’s In the ward... Um... It was good.
I went to church with Jean and Franklyn tonight at 6 it was basically a musical worship. And Jean gave a sermon. It was cool to watch. Her son Morgan and his friend Nathanial are in the band. They are so so good! It was such a great day! :)
Oh and I washed all my laundry by hand, it hurts trying to ring out my jeans! No fun.
Saturday January 29th 2011
Hopefully I get to post this today... The internet has been down at the cafe by our house. So far I have slept in and gotten ready and then I am headed to Cape Town to go to the waterfront (the tourist area) and I don’t know what I’ll do the rest of the day :) oh! P.s. I found a church that is only 2 miles away from me so Franklyn said he will take me there tomorrow morning! :) so excited! :)
So! I had a totally unexpected day! :) I was going to meet my room mate Jamie at the waterfront because she stayed at the SASTS house this weekend. Well first of all... The ride on the train to cape town was insane! Oh my gosh it was so so crowded! I have NEVER been so squished in my life! Not even joking. When a flood of people got off the train I was literally sideways crowd surfing and they were pulling me off the train and I had to grab onto a poll in order to not be taken off the train and trampled! It was bad. And now I know the difference between first class and third class. First class is more expensive so on the first class cars there is actually breathing room but on the third class cars there is no room because everyone has third class tickets because they are so much cheaper.
After I got to cape town I took my time and walked to the waterfront. I got to the waterfront at around 1 in the afternoon and I ended up leaving the waterfront around 6. While I was there I walked through pretty much every store that looked interesting. It was kinda fun! I also made sure to stop at every diamond/jewelry store I saw and I sat down with a worker there and priced diamonds! :) I was curious! :) so then around 4 I stopped at a diamond store that had some decent prices! And I found a diamond that I wanted. But it was a little more expensive than I had wanted so I went to another case of diamonds and asked about the diamonds that were already in a setting. Turns out the diamond pendants (necklaces) were 50% off that day! Woo hoo! So I found an even bigger diamond than the one I had seen before and it was less expensive, bigger, and a higher quality! I hit the jackpot! So after lots of issues with bank/withdraw charges and the bank putting a hold on my card because they wanted me to call them I was able to buy the diamond!!! All in all. The diamond originally cost over 9000 rand but my final price (with more than a 54% discount) was 3900 rand so in us dollars... This $1,320 diamond I bought for $490 fun right? And it’s a .40ct I/J VS1 set in a 24karat white gold pendant and chain :) so happy :)
The ride home on the train was crazy. Not only was I worried because I was on my own (with a train full of people) with a diamond in my bag and a crazy man was talking to me about how we are the perfect ages to get married to each other (9 years apart) eeew. And then he asked for my number so he could come meet me and fix my car or something like that... I dunno. But I was so glad to get home and be safe :) it was nice. :)
Friday January 28th 2011
Today was pretty much awesome :) we left the crazy crazy kids around noon and Jamie and I went into the city. When we got there we met up with some people at the SASTS house and then we went to the beach :) amazing. :) this wasn’t a huge beach we went too... It was mostly just a nook of sand but there were quite a few people toward the end and it was less than a 5 minute walk from the SASTS house. We stayed there for a while and then we went to an internet cafe and then out to a japanese/chinese/sushi restaurant. I got the sweet and sour chicken it was scrumptious. I also tried some spicy tuna sushi, it wasn’t bad at all and I would have ate another one but it wasn’t amazing. But I am anxious to try other foods here. The food that Jean makes is really good :) she makes an awesome cucumber salad with vinegar sauce. After we ate we went to the SASTS house and showered and then we walked to the world cup stadium! :) we were supposed to meet our host dad there at seven thirty so we were there at about ten til. But we called him at about 7:40 and he hadn’t left the house yet (which is about a half an hour away). African time.... We forgot. So he told us to just buy our tickets and go in. Well... We can’t buy tickets at the stadium, you have to go other places. So! Jamie and I went up to some cops/security guards and we asked them where we could buy tickets... They said we can’t but... Then they pulled some tickets out of their pockets and gave them to us! We tried to pay them for them and they said just enjoy! So we got in to this amazing game for free! :) awesome :) when we got inside it was the very end of the first game, so we sat and then later met up with some other girls from SASTS and started to watch the second game :) then Jean (my host mom) surprised us and said she had spotted me out right when she got there! Crazy, cuz it’s a huge stadium! So we sat with them for the rest of the game :) I bought a Cape Town Ajax t-shirt (the team that we were going for), they were playing against the swallows, a team from Jo-burg. We won 2-0. Yay Cape Town. And then we all came home! :)
Thursday January 27th 2011
Today was another hard day at the project. The morning was good because Olive rearranged a lot of things. She separated the older kids from the younger kids and it was way nice because the older kids were sitting two to a table and they had their little folders with their names on them where they put all their work. Olive was saying that this is a real treat for them (to have a folder/file of their own) she said she didn’t have one when she was in school until she was in 12th grade. Crazy.
The afternoon was awful! All the kids are mixed in the afternoons because the “afterschool program” starts and uses the other building/room in the afternoons. All the kids were off the wall and wouldn’t listen AT ALL. It’s really hard for me to deal with because I can do absolutely nothing about it.
Nothing else really exciting happened today. The internet was down today so we couldn’t get on on our way home from the project. We came straight home and then ate dinner and how I am typing up this post! Haha. And it’s taken forever, so enjoy! :)
Wednesday January 26th 2011
Today was a better day at the project, not sure why it was easier but it was nice... Well at least the morning was. Olive brought in a bunch of dress up clothes and the kids dressed up for quite some time, it was nice. :) I brought my big camera today and was able to get some good portraits, that was fun.
After the project today we went to the mall and I bought a cell phone for about 25 USD. Not bad! Haha so now I have a local number and I can get a hold of other volunteers and such. After the mall we went to a really nice italian restaurant and we each ordered a pizza because it was 50% off! Haha but then we didn’t realize how big the pizza was! Haha so we get to have some left overs! Woo hoo. Then we came home and got ready to go out. We met up with Richard, our waiter from the other night, and his friend Ebon. We played pool at a club/bar. After about two beers Richard was “drunk” didn’t really think that a full grown guy could get drunk off of two beers. But! It was annoying. I’m just glad that all three of us went because we were able to help each other. Ebon was really nice and toward the end of the night I think he was getting embarrassed because of how Richard was acting. We took a lot of pictures and it was fun and nice to get out but I’m glad we left when we did. We caught a taxi back home around 10:30 and hit the sack when we got home.
Tuesday January 25th 2011
Today was a really hard day at the project. The girls left around noon to go ride the cable car up Table Mountain. So it was really only me and Allouise. Olive was gone today doing something. There are two other ladies that are there to mostly clean and help with the babies, but really they don’t care to do anything else and it was really frustrating. Especially when Allouise left to have a meeting with a parent and it just so happened to be right when we were serving up the food! So we have like 40 little kids under 5 years old all eating RICE and more than half of them were eating it on the floor. I was sitting in the middle of these kids feeding Nathan the autistic one and I was swarmed by all the kids saying “teacha teacha!!!” and the other two ladies didn’t do a thing to help me... Not cool. So finally Allouise came back but then sat at the table to write letters to the parents and I was left to clean up and didn’t know what the kids were supposed to be doing. I finally gave up trying to make them be quiet and sit on the rug so I just settled with being there so the kids wouldn’t kill each other. Then Allouise saw that I was frustrated and asked if I wanted to go home, I said yes and booked it out of there. After I left I realized that I shouldn’t have left so fast... I felt kind of bad.
When I got the train station there were tons of people there. But when the train got there it was insane! We were crammed so so tightly into the train! And then the doors shut but then someone opened them again and more people tried to squeeze on! One of the people that got on though I recognized! It was so crazy because I have only been here for a week and was able to recognize someone out of so many people! But it was Nathanial, Morgan’s friend. It was so good to see a familiar face! Especially since I was alone on a train with a bunch of strangers. Nathanial walked me up the platform and then we went our separate ways. I was able to get to the internet cafe’ before they closed, so that was nice but then I came home and did my laundry in the sink and then hung it up. Then the girls got home, we had dinner and I think we went to bed after that...
Monday January 24th 2011
Today was ridiculous at the project. All the kids came back after a weekend of being with their families and had forgotten everything that we had gone over the week before! It was no fun. We had to start over from square one. It’s so hard trying to teach little kids respect when they go home after you have been telling them to do all these things and it is totally different from everything you are trying to teach them. It’s frustrating.
I feel like I am already as dark as I normally get after a whole summer at home haha. It’s crazy.
After dinner tonight we were all sitting there and Jamie and Jess spotted a mouse and Jamie got super scared haha... Oh man it was funny... So we told Franklyn and he put out some mouse poison or something. But the way Jamie reacted was hilarious... It made my night.
We did laundry last night and we used the washer they have here for us and then we hung them in the backyard to dry. They were on our beds this morning and everything was just as dirty as when we put it in the washer haha so we will be washing things by hand from now on. Haha.
Sunday January 23rd 2011
It didn’t feel like Sunday at all today because I didn’t get to go to church and that kind of put me in a funk cuz it made me miss home a bit more. When we woke up we got ready and caught a minibus (big van manned by two people who stop randomly and whistle and yell and people to give them rides, they drop people off within walking distance of where they want to go). We took the minibus to Green Market Square. It’s in the city and there is a little street market that happens at least on the weekends. We walked around the market for a bit, people were still setting up and saying “I’ll get you good price, you’re my first customer” and then they looked so sad when I walked away and wouldn’t buy anything from them. After walking around we got some breakfast at a little restaurant next to the market. I got a dish that was basically yogurt with granola and lots of fruit and a little too much honey haha. It was good though :) while eating we made friends with our waiter, his name is Richard. He seems nice :) Jess and Jamie are wanting things to do during the week and the little town we are in doesn’t have much to do so they exchanged numbers to do something sometime. After eating we went back into the market and I bought some more stuff. I got some over the shoulder bags! The ones I wanted to get before I came. They are nice. I also got a bunch of bracelets and such for gifts. I was also able to get some bracelets made out of ELEPHANT HAIR! I thought that was so cool. It looks like some kind of thin wood or lanyard or something. But they are pretty cool. Then we went to the waterfront and we got on a boat/fairy that took us to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was in prison). On the way out there I saw a man pointing into the ocean so I turned around just in time to see a dolphin jump into the water! It was so awesome! It just gave me this really great feeling and reminded me just how blessed I am to be sitting on a boat in the middle of the ocean in South Africa and seeing a dolphin in the water! It was awesome. We were toured around the island and through the prison by a former prisoner. It was kinda cool. Noting spectacular but I liked hat it was such a huge part of what South Africa is and that is why It was interesting for me. I was able to learn a lot.
The boat ride back from the island was kind of awful because it was super windy again. I had to cover my nose so I could breath evenly. Kinda crazy. But after we got back to the waterfront we walked about 20 minutes to the train station and then waited 20 minutes on the train for it to start moving and then rode the train for about 50 minutes until we got to the Retreat station. Then we had to walk another 20 minutes to get to our host family’s house. We were so so exhausted! We took showers and ate and then Morgan, his wife Celest and their friend Nathanial came over after they were done with church and we got to talking with them for quite some time. Needless to say, we fell asleep once our heads hit the pillow.
Saturday January 22nd 2011
I called my family this morning! It was amazing! :) I miss home.
I tried curling my hair this morning using my $20 voltage converter that’s supposed to work blew up at me... So I’m going to have to go without really doing my hair for the next couple months haha. I guess it’s alright though because after I’m done with the kids during the day I am a wreck.
I spent a bunch of money today at some street markets. We went to the waterfront ad went out to lunch and took pictures and what not. At the markets I was first going to just walk around and look at everything but then some things caught my eye that I had to get. I should have walked around more because after I bought some things I went to another booth and they had pretty much the same things for cheaper. But I definitely don’t feel bad about what I spent on everything. I got some amazing wood carvings, jewelry boxes, masks, artistic bowls and some earrings. I have to carry all these things around for the weekend because we are staying at a backpackers this weekend so I’ll be living from my backpack! :) After the market Jess and I went on the City Tour bus. This bus was a big red two story bus that drove around to all of the main city attractions and we could get off wherever we liked and then get back on and continue the tour. Jess and I got off at the front of Table mountain where you can get on the cable car and ride up. However, it was closed because it was so incredibly windy! We literally had to walk at an angle to get through the wind haha so we got back on the bus and rode to Camps Bay where we got off again. When I got off I was greeted by this beautiful African man with dreads. Found out his name was Joe and he was from Zambia. At first I just thought he was making small talk and then I caught on haha he was selling something! Haha they are so good at drawing people in here. It’s crazy! Haha. Well he got me. He was selling some beautiful paintings. I pointed to one of them and asked how much he was asking for it. He said like R250 or something like that but I just said no I can’t, sorry... But then he was like no just make me an offer... So I said R50? And he laughed at me and said how about 180? I said I couldn’t and we kept going back and forth. Luckily I only had R80 in my pocket! So I just pulled it out and said this is all I’ve got! And he was kind of stumped but then being quick on his feet he said ask your friend for 20 rand and ill give it to you for R100 so I bought the painting for 150 less than he was asking. It was awesome. And I love it :) we stayed on the beach for just a little bit because the wind was awful, we went into the sand to take pictures and it was blowing everywhere! And it hurt so bad cuz it was hitting our bare legs, so we went back on the grass and talked with all the guys selling the paintings. After a while my guy pulled out some bracelets that were really awesome... He was asking like 80 rand for them and I was like you wiped me out!!! He said make me an offer... So I pulled out the change in my pocket and it added up to about 10 rand. But then my bus came and I had to catch it so he put it on my wrist but I was like, I only have 10 rand! He said it was fine and that I would just have to come back and see him and then maybe I could pay him then! Haha. It was funny. But I really love the bracelet too haha.
After the bus tour we walked like 10 million miles to the backpackers. On the way we stopped by the world cup stadium and took a picture or two. We got stopped by a military man and he ended up giving us a tour of the military base/museum. It was super random, we didn’t even ask to go in... We said hi and then they said something to us so we moved closer and next thing we knew he was talking about giving us a tour. It was kind of lame haha but whatevs. After we left the base we kept walking to the backpackers. My face and arms got so so sunburnt! My nose felt crispy. Later that night I went and got sunscreen from a store across the street from the backpackers and it was really embarrassing buying sun screen being so burnt. I stayed in the rest of the night and a bunch of people went out clubbing.
Monday January 31st 2011
I really get to post this today! Yay! You finally get to hear from me.
Today was good. Morning at the project went really well. The afternoon was awful. For our lunch we went to Morgan’s house and we saw his recording studio that he has there. He recorded each of us talking to a song that he had made. I will try and get it up eventually. It was so funny :) that has been the highlight of my day so far! :) life is good! :)
Sunday January 30th 2011
Today was great! :) I went to my church this morning! :) the people were great. It felt so so good to have a piece of home with me. I met some friends, they gave me a ride home, I’ll be going to institute on Thursday night :) there were 8 YSA’s In the ward... Um... It was good.
I went to church with Jean and Franklyn tonight at 6 it was basically a musical worship. And Jean gave a sermon. It was cool to watch. Her son Morgan and his friend Nathanial are in the band. They are so so good! It was such a great day! :)
Oh and I washed all my laundry by hand, it hurts trying to ring out my jeans! No fun.
Saturday January 29th 2011
Hopefully I get to post this today... The internet has been down at the cafe by our house. So far I have slept in and gotten ready and then I am headed to Cape Town to go to the waterfront (the tourist area) and I don’t know what I’ll do the rest of the day :) oh! P.s. I found a church that is only 2 miles away from me so Franklyn said he will take me there tomorrow morning! :) so excited! :)
So! I had a totally unexpected day! :) I was going to meet my room mate Jamie at the waterfront because she stayed at the SASTS house this weekend. Well first of all... The ride on the train to cape town was insane! Oh my gosh it was so so crowded! I have NEVER been so squished in my life! Not even joking. When a flood of people got off the train I was literally sideways crowd surfing and they were pulling me off the train and I had to grab onto a poll in order to not be taken off the train and trampled! It was bad. And now I know the difference between first class and third class. First class is more expensive so on the first class cars there is actually breathing room but on the third class cars there is no room because everyone has third class tickets because they are so much cheaper.
After I got to cape town I took my time and walked to the waterfront. I got to the waterfront at around 1 in the afternoon and I ended up leaving the waterfront around 6. While I was there I walked through pretty much every store that looked interesting. It was kinda fun! I also made sure to stop at every diamond/jewelry store I saw and I sat down with a worker there and priced diamonds! :) I was curious! :) so then around 4 I stopped at a diamond store that had some decent prices! And I found a diamond that I wanted. But it was a little more expensive than I had wanted so I went to another case of diamonds and asked about the diamonds that were already in a setting. Turns out the diamond pendants (necklaces) were 50% off that day! Woo hoo! So I found an even bigger diamond than the one I had seen before and it was less expensive, bigger, and a higher quality! I hit the jackpot! So after lots of issues with bank/withdraw charges and the bank putting a hold on my card because they wanted me to call them I was able to buy the diamond!!! All in all. The diamond originally cost over 9000 rand but my final price (with more than a 54% discount) was 3900 rand so in us dollars... This $1,320 diamond I bought for $490 fun right? And it’s a .40ct I/J VS1 set in a 24karat white gold pendant and chain :) so happy :)
The ride home on the train was crazy. Not only was I worried because I was on my own (with a train full of people) with a diamond in my bag and a crazy man was talking to me about how we are the perfect ages to get married to each other (9 years apart) eeew. And then he asked for my number so he could come meet me and fix my car or something like that... I dunno. But I was so glad to get home and be safe :) it was nice. :)
Friday January 28th 2011
Today was pretty much awesome :) we left the crazy crazy kids around noon and Jamie and I went into the city. When we got there we met up with some people at the SASTS house and then we went to the beach :) amazing. :) this wasn’t a huge beach we went too... It was mostly just a nook of sand but there were quite a few people toward the end and it was less than a 5 minute walk from the SASTS house. We stayed there for a while and then we went to an internet cafe and then out to a japanese/chinese/sushi restaurant. I got the sweet and sour chicken it was scrumptious. I also tried some spicy tuna sushi, it wasn’t bad at all and I would have ate another one but it wasn’t amazing. But I am anxious to try other foods here. The food that Jean makes is really good :) she makes an awesome cucumber salad with vinegar sauce. After we ate we went to the SASTS house and showered and then we walked to the world cup stadium! :) we were supposed to meet our host dad there at seven thirty so we were there at about ten til. But we called him at about 7:40 and he hadn’t left the house yet (which is about a half an hour away). African time.... We forgot. So he told us to just buy our tickets and go in. Well... We can’t buy tickets at the stadium, you have to go other places. So! Jamie and I went up to some cops/security guards and we asked them where we could buy tickets... They said we can’t but... Then they pulled some tickets out of their pockets and gave them to us! We tried to pay them for them and they said just enjoy! So we got in to this amazing game for free! :) awesome :) when we got inside it was the very end of the first game, so we sat and then later met up with some other girls from SASTS and started to watch the second game :) then Jean (my host mom) surprised us and said she had spotted me out right when she got there! Crazy, cuz it’s a huge stadium! So we sat with them for the rest of the game :) I bought a Cape Town Ajax t-shirt (the team that we were going for), they were playing against the swallows, a team from Jo-burg. We won 2-0. Yay Cape Town. And then we all came home! :)
Thursday January 27th 2011
Today was another hard day at the project. The morning was good because Olive rearranged a lot of things. She separated the older kids from the younger kids and it was way nice because the older kids were sitting two to a table and they had their little folders with their names on them where they put all their work. Olive was saying that this is a real treat for them (to have a folder/file of their own) she said she didn’t have one when she was in school until she was in 12th grade. Crazy.
The afternoon was awful! All the kids are mixed in the afternoons because the “afterschool program” starts and uses the other building/room in the afternoons. All the kids were off the wall and wouldn’t listen AT ALL. It’s really hard for me to deal with because I can do absolutely nothing about it.
Nothing else really exciting happened today. The internet was down today so we couldn’t get on on our way home from the project. We came straight home and then ate dinner and how I am typing up this post! Haha. And it’s taken forever, so enjoy! :)
Wednesday January 26th 2011
Today was a better day at the project, not sure why it was easier but it was nice... Well at least the morning was. Olive brought in a bunch of dress up clothes and the kids dressed up for quite some time, it was nice. :) I brought my big camera today and was able to get some good portraits, that was fun.
After the project today we went to the mall and I bought a cell phone for about 25 USD. Not bad! Haha so now I have a local number and I can get a hold of other volunteers and such. After the mall we went to a really nice italian restaurant and we each ordered a pizza because it was 50% off! Haha but then we didn’t realize how big the pizza was! Haha so we get to have some left overs! Woo hoo. Then we came home and got ready to go out. We met up with Richard, our waiter from the other night, and his friend Ebon. We played pool at a club/bar. After about two beers Richard was “drunk” didn’t really think that a full grown guy could get drunk off of two beers. But! It was annoying. I’m just glad that all three of us went because we were able to help each other. Ebon was really nice and toward the end of the night I think he was getting embarrassed because of how Richard was acting. We took a lot of pictures and it was fun and nice to get out but I’m glad we left when we did. We caught a taxi back home around 10:30 and hit the sack when we got home.
Tuesday January 25th 2011
Today was a really hard day at the project. The girls left around noon to go ride the cable car up Table Mountain. So it was really only me and Allouise. Olive was gone today doing something. There are two other ladies that are there to mostly clean and help with the babies, but really they don’t care to do anything else and it was really frustrating. Especially when Allouise left to have a meeting with a parent and it just so happened to be right when we were serving up the food! So we have like 40 little kids under 5 years old all eating RICE and more than half of them were eating it on the floor. I was sitting in the middle of these kids feeding Nathan the autistic one and I was swarmed by all the kids saying “teacha teacha!!!” and the other two ladies didn’t do a thing to help me... Not cool. So finally Allouise came back but then sat at the table to write letters to the parents and I was left to clean up and didn’t know what the kids were supposed to be doing. I finally gave up trying to make them be quiet and sit on the rug so I just settled with being there so the kids wouldn’t kill each other. Then Allouise saw that I was frustrated and asked if I wanted to go home, I said yes and booked it out of there. After I left I realized that I shouldn’t have left so fast... I felt kind of bad.
When I got the train station there were tons of people there. But when the train got there it was insane! We were crammed so so tightly into the train! And then the doors shut but then someone opened them again and more people tried to squeeze on! One of the people that got on though I recognized! It was so crazy because I have only been here for a week and was able to recognize someone out of so many people! But it was Nathanial, Morgan’s friend. It was so good to see a familiar face! Especially since I was alone on a train with a bunch of strangers. Nathanial walked me up the platform and then we went our separate ways. I was able to get to the internet cafe’ before they closed, so that was nice but then I came home and did my laundry in the sink and then hung it up. Then the girls got home, we had dinner and I think we went to bed after that...
Monday January 24th 2011
Today was ridiculous at the project. All the kids came back after a weekend of being with their families and had forgotten everything that we had gone over the week before! It was no fun. We had to start over from square one. It’s so hard trying to teach little kids respect when they go home after you have been telling them to do all these things and it is totally different from everything you are trying to teach them. It’s frustrating.
I feel like I am already as dark as I normally get after a whole summer at home haha. It’s crazy.
After dinner tonight we were all sitting there and Jamie and Jess spotted a mouse and Jamie got super scared haha... Oh man it was funny... So we told Franklyn and he put out some mouse poison or something. But the way Jamie reacted was hilarious... It made my night.
We did laundry last night and we used the washer they have here for us and then we hung them in the backyard to dry. They were on our beds this morning and everything was just as dirty as when we put it in the washer haha so we will be washing things by hand from now on. Haha.
Sunday January 23rd 2011
It didn’t feel like Sunday at all today because I didn’t get to go to church and that kind of put me in a funk cuz it made me miss home a bit more. When we woke up we got ready and caught a minibus (big van manned by two people who stop randomly and whistle and yell and people to give them rides, they drop people off within walking distance of where they want to go). We took the minibus to Green Market Square. It’s in the city and there is a little street market that happens at least on the weekends. We walked around the market for a bit, people were still setting up and saying “I’ll get you good price, you’re my first customer” and then they looked so sad when I walked away and wouldn’t buy anything from them. After walking around we got some breakfast at a little restaurant next to the market. I got a dish that was basically yogurt with granola and lots of fruit and a little too much honey haha. It was good though :) while eating we made friends with our waiter, his name is Richard. He seems nice :) Jess and Jamie are wanting things to do during the week and the little town we are in doesn’t have much to do so they exchanged numbers to do something sometime. After eating we went back into the market and I bought some more stuff. I got some over the shoulder bags! The ones I wanted to get before I came. They are nice. I also got a bunch of bracelets and such for gifts. I was also able to get some bracelets made out of ELEPHANT HAIR! I thought that was so cool. It looks like some kind of thin wood or lanyard or something. But they are pretty cool. Then we went to the waterfront and we got on a boat/fairy that took us to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was in prison). On the way out there I saw a man pointing into the ocean so I turned around just in time to see a dolphin jump into the water! It was so awesome! It just gave me this really great feeling and reminded me just how blessed I am to be sitting on a boat in the middle of the ocean in South Africa and seeing a dolphin in the water! It was awesome. We were toured around the island and through the prison by a former prisoner. It was kinda cool. Noting spectacular but I liked hat it was such a huge part of what South Africa is and that is why It was interesting for me. I was able to learn a lot.
The boat ride back from the island was kind of awful because it was super windy again. I had to cover my nose so I could breath evenly. Kinda crazy. But after we got back to the waterfront we walked about 20 minutes to the train station and then waited 20 minutes on the train for it to start moving and then rode the train for about 50 minutes until we got to the Retreat station. Then we had to walk another 20 minutes to get to our host family’s house. We were so so exhausted! We took showers and ate and then Morgan, his wife Celest and their friend Nathanial came over after they were done with church and we got to talking with them for quite some time. Needless to say, we fell asleep once our heads hit the pillow.
Saturday January 22nd 2011
I called my family this morning! It was amazing! :) I miss home.
I tried curling my hair this morning using my $20 voltage converter that’s supposed to work blew up at me... So I’m going to have to go without really doing my hair for the next couple months haha. I guess it’s alright though because after I’m done with the kids during the day I am a wreck.
I spent a bunch of money today at some street markets. We went to the waterfront ad went out to lunch and took pictures and what not. At the markets I was first going to just walk around and look at everything but then some things caught my eye that I had to get. I should have walked around more because after I bought some things I went to another booth and they had pretty much the same things for cheaper. But I definitely don’t feel bad about what I spent on everything. I got some amazing wood carvings, jewelry boxes, masks, artistic bowls and some earrings. I have to carry all these things around for the weekend because we are staying at a backpackers this weekend so I’ll be living from my backpack! :) After the market Jess and I went on the City Tour bus. This bus was a big red two story bus that drove around to all of the main city attractions and we could get off wherever we liked and then get back on and continue the tour. Jess and I got off at the front of Table mountain where you can get on the cable car and ride up. However, it was closed because it was so incredibly windy! We literally had to walk at an angle to get through the wind haha so we got back on the bus and rode to Camps Bay where we got off again. When I got off I was greeted by this beautiful African man with dreads. Found out his name was Joe and he was from Zambia. At first I just thought he was making small talk and then I caught on haha he was selling something! Haha they are so good at drawing people in here. It’s crazy! Haha. Well he got me. He was selling some beautiful paintings. I pointed to one of them and asked how much he was asking for it. He said like R250 or something like that but I just said no I can’t, sorry... But then he was like no just make me an offer... So I said R50? And he laughed at me and said how about 180? I said I couldn’t and we kept going back and forth. Luckily I only had R80 in my pocket! So I just pulled it out and said this is all I’ve got! And he was kind of stumped but then being quick on his feet he said ask your friend for 20 rand and ill give it to you for R100 so I bought the painting for 150 less than he was asking. It was awesome. And I love it :) we stayed on the beach for just a little bit because the wind was awful, we went into the sand to take pictures and it was blowing everywhere! And it hurt so bad cuz it was hitting our bare legs, so we went back on the grass and talked with all the guys selling the paintings. After a while my guy pulled out some bracelets that were really awesome... He was asking like 80 rand for them and I was like you wiped me out!!! He said make me an offer... So I pulled out the change in my pocket and it added up to about 10 rand. But then my bus came and I had to catch it so he put it on my wrist but I was like, I only have 10 rand! He said it was fine and that I would just have to come back and see him and then maybe I could pay him then! Haha. It was funny. But I really love the bracelet too haha.
After the bus tour we walked like 10 million miles to the backpackers. On the way we stopped by the world cup stadium and took a picture or two. We got stopped by a military man and he ended up giving us a tour of the military base/museum. It was super random, we didn’t even ask to go in... We said hi and then they said something to us so we moved closer and next thing we knew he was talking about giving us a tour. It was kind of lame haha but whatevs. After we left the base we kept walking to the backpackers. My face and arms got so so sunburnt! My nose felt crispy. Later that night I went and got sunscreen from a store across the street from the backpackers and it was really embarrassing buying sun screen being so burnt. I stayed in the rest of the night and a bunch of people went out clubbing.
Friday, January 21, 2011
It's Friday! :)
Today has been wonderful so far :) The project was so much easier today and i don't know why but it was good. I forgot to mention in my other posts, I am staying with two other girls with my host family. We are all doing the same project. One is named Jess and the other is Jamie. They are really great. We are working at "Piere-Viere Childcare Centre". We went to the bookstore on our walk home from the project yesterday and were able to pick up some books for the centre. Today, my favorite moment was when Mrs. Olive (the principle) was reading the book to the kids and flipped to the first page and saw that i had written in it saying it was their book from "Ms. Kayla". She put down the book and told all the kids to go outside for their play time, we started cleaning up the room and she came to me and said thank you for the book and gave me a huge hug. as she pulled away i saw that she was crying so i pulled her back in and we hugged some more. all because i spent 20 Rand on a book for their classes. she was very touched and that touched me. it was really wonderful. Piere-Viere is at a "community building" meaning that other people use it when they aren't there so they need to pack and unpack their things every morning and every night! and it's a lot! it amazes me how much these women have been doing on their own. They are wonderful. they also encourage us to take time off and look around and travel, but to be safe ;) . From our host family's house we walk about 15 minutes to the train and then take that one station down and then walk about 7 minutes to Piere-Viere.
Today we left the project around 11:30 or so and took a train to two beaches. it was really windy today so it made it too cold to get in the water but we walked around and i got some sun. Then at the second beach we stopped and sat and got ice cream cones :) they were so so delicious! different than American ice cream but just a different flavor. it's way good though. Then we sat for a bit longer and took the train back home. not sure what we're going to do tonight but tomorrow morning we are going to head to Cape town and walk around there all day :) it will be fun! :)
Today we left the project around 11:30 or so and took a train to two beaches. it was really windy today so it made it too cold to get in the water but we walked around and i got some sun. Then at the second beach we stopped and sat and got ice cream cones :) they were so so delicious! different than American ice cream but just a different flavor. it's way good though. Then we sat for a bit longer and took the train back home. not sure what we're going to do tonight but tomorrow morning we are going to head to Cape town and walk around there all day :) it will be fun! :)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
the last couple days
Thursday Jan 20th
Today we are on lunch break now and that is when I am posting all this. things are frustrating today. I wish I knew what exactly was frustrating me so I could put a finger on it and stop it. but I am in a bad mood. the project is frustrating. the kids are great individually and I want to give them the individual attention but I can’t because the teachers say that is spoiling them so they make me stop. so yeah I don’t know what to do but I am going to tell Ilma the project director that I would like to be in a different spot each month. so I won’t be here this whole three months. I would go insaine.
well I am out of time. hopefully posting this goes smoothly. I love you. check facebook for pictures it is hard to get them to post because internet is slow. love you all.
Wednesday Jan. 19th 2011
Today we went to work again, it was easier this time because they were spit up. things are really frustrating me at the school because there is no structure whatsoever. these kids are so confused. they get in trouble and don’t know why. they don’t know how to listen or take direction and don’t respond when you are talking to them. we visited the townships that the kids come from today. it was so so sad to see the environment that these kids come from. legally it is okay to have “squatters” that means that the president who cannot read, and has seven wives and has only completed through the fifth grade passed a law saying it is okay for people to park it in someone’s yard and build a little home out of whatever scraps they can. it is so frustrating. and so sad to see so so so many people that live this way and can’t get out of it or they just don’t want to. no fun. it was also sad to see that when we dropped the kids off at their homes non of their parents were happy to see them. they just said “go inside”. that was sad.
Tuesday January 18th 2011
Oh wow, today.... Was exhausting.
This morning at 8:00am we left for our first day of work at the childcare/daycare center or what they call a “crash”. There were 34 children there today. All of these children come from what they call a Township. It’s a place that is designed to hold about 140 homes but instead the people have built over 800 homes. And when I say homes I mean a one room metal hut were there is probably about 10-30 people in one home. The Principal of the school (Mrs. Olive) was talking to us today about these kids and she was saying that they all come from families where parents don’t have any time for them, they come home from working and don’t do anything with their children in any way. One thing that she said today that really touched me was that “these children do no more than exist. . . They just exist, nothing more.” Olive was also saying that sometimes the kids are only a number to the parents, that they will boast and say “I have 10 kids”, but they don’t take care of any of them.
At this “school” they try to teach the children but can’t because they don’t even have their basic skills yet. They don’t know how to listen, eat (because some don’t at home), sit still, or respond when they are being spoken too. Because they have been so neglected these first years of their lives they don’t know anything. So even just teaching these kids how to sit in a circle is exhausting! I really don’t know how the teachers do it every day. Especially since they teach the kids these things during the day but then they go home at night and probably forget it all.
It’s also really hard to understand the children, not only because they are 1-6 year olds but because they don’t know a lot of english and I don’t understand their baby Africans talk. But most of them are really great. I walked in today and we almost instantly won them over, we all got hugs right away which was a really nice feeling.
I really hope that things will get better/easier from here. I think at least getting to know their names will make a big difference. I think I am going to ask to only spend one of my months here and transfer to two other projects during my time here as well. I think three months of what I went through today would be too hard to actually see and enjoy the things Cape Town has to Offer.
After this long day at the Crash we felt so gross, it was super hot and then you have baby slobber/food/boogers and dirt all over you. We had planned to go hike Lion Head Mountain. So we did! Oh my goodness I almost died. So we’re under the African sun and all I’ve eaten today was a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich and and egg and toast for breakfast. Oh and a cold hot dog and some bean salad. Anyway, the mountain made a pretty vertical hike and it was probably 2-3 miles up. And the closer we got to the top it was more like rock climbing. Eh. BUT it was so worth it after we got to the top and cooled off as the sun went down. We watched it set and saw the full moon. :) it was so so beautiful! And the hike down was so much better than the way up!
I definitely got kissed by the sun today haha. And it’s only the second day here and I have already taken over 200 photos haha I’m so glad I brought my computer so I can upload them right away.
A little more about my experience so far and in general: there was a roach in the shower this morning. It was delightful haha. The house we are staying in is really nice! All of the good houses have what is kind of a garage door that opens to the front of the house and there is a solid wall around the home. And then of course there are sharp things on the tops of the wall. My host families house has tile floors all through the home, they have a nice sun room area kind of like an enclosed porch. And a deep “splash pool” in the yard. My host family consists of “ma Jean” who kind of reminds me of mama odi from princess and the frog. She is so so sweet and very outgoing and “easy people” is what she calls herself. Then “Franklyn” the dad he is also outgoing and enthusiastic about what he talks about. Then they have a daughter who is 28 I think and she has her boyfriend sometimes over and her daughter Mika who is around 5 or 6 and is absolutely beautiful. People here run on “African time” where five minutes could mean an hour. Whenever I buy something I feel like I am spending tons of money and it makes me want to be a penny pincher because for instance, when I spend 100 rand it is actually only about 15 US dollars. And the other day I bought some grapes and a big water and spent about 40 rand but when I looked it up it was only like 4.50 or something like that. So I just need to adjust my thinking and budget things. I really want to go on the Safari. There is an Elephant Sanctuary a couple of hours away and I would like to go. The trip I would really like to go on though is about 400 US dollars and it is like 7 days of traveling and seeing and doing big things like safaris. OH! There are penguins here just off the coast in Cape town, not right on the regular beach but they kind of have their own beach. I’m hoping to go there and take some pictures with them. I still haven’t made it to the beach but hopefully soon. I also haven’t figured out calling cards or the SIM card stuff yet. Oh and my “international” converter that I bought doesn’t have the right plug for the ones that they use here. Anyway, things are going well. I’m just super tired, not only to I have jet lag still but I was at the crash and hiked a big mountain today. Oh dear. It’s time for bed.
Today we are on lunch break now and that is when I am posting all this. things are frustrating today. I wish I knew what exactly was frustrating me so I could put a finger on it and stop it. but I am in a bad mood. the project is frustrating. the kids are great individually and I want to give them the individual attention but I can’t because the teachers say that is spoiling them so they make me stop. so yeah I don’t know what to do but I am going to tell Ilma the project director that I would like to be in a different spot each month. so I won’t be here this whole three months. I would go insaine.
well I am out of time. hopefully posting this goes smoothly. I love you. check facebook for pictures it is hard to get them to post because internet is slow. love you all.
Wednesday Jan. 19th 2011
Today we went to work again, it was easier this time because they were spit up. things are really frustrating me at the school because there is no structure whatsoever. these kids are so confused. they get in trouble and don’t know why. they don’t know how to listen or take direction and don’t respond when you are talking to them. we visited the townships that the kids come from today. it was so so sad to see the environment that these kids come from. legally it is okay to have “squatters” that means that the president who cannot read, and has seven wives and has only completed through the fifth grade passed a law saying it is okay for people to park it in someone’s yard and build a little home out of whatever scraps they can. it is so frustrating. and so sad to see so so so many people that live this way and can’t get out of it or they just don’t want to. no fun. it was also sad to see that when we dropped the kids off at their homes non of their parents were happy to see them. they just said “go inside”. that was sad.
Tuesday January 18th 2011
Oh wow, today.... Was exhausting.
This morning at 8:00am we left for our first day of work at the childcare/daycare center or what they call a “crash”. There were 34 children there today. All of these children come from what they call a Township. It’s a place that is designed to hold about 140 homes but instead the people have built over 800 homes. And when I say homes I mean a one room metal hut were there is probably about 10-30 people in one home. The Principal of the school (Mrs. Olive) was talking to us today about these kids and she was saying that they all come from families where parents don’t have any time for them, they come home from working and don’t do anything with their children in any way. One thing that she said today that really touched me was that “these children do no more than exist. . . They just exist, nothing more.” Olive was also saying that sometimes the kids are only a number to the parents, that they will boast and say “I have 10 kids”, but they don’t take care of any of them.
At this “school” they try to teach the children but can’t because they don’t even have their basic skills yet. They don’t know how to listen, eat (because some don’t at home), sit still, or respond when they are being spoken too. Because they have been so neglected these first years of their lives they don’t know anything. So even just teaching these kids how to sit in a circle is exhausting! I really don’t know how the teachers do it every day. Especially since they teach the kids these things during the day but then they go home at night and probably forget it all.
It’s also really hard to understand the children, not only because they are 1-6 year olds but because they don’t know a lot of english and I don’t understand their baby Africans talk. But most of them are really great. I walked in today and we almost instantly won them over, we all got hugs right away which was a really nice feeling.
I really hope that things will get better/easier from here. I think at least getting to know their names will make a big difference. I think I am going to ask to only spend one of my months here and transfer to two other projects during my time here as well. I think three months of what I went through today would be too hard to actually see and enjoy the things Cape Town has to Offer.
After this long day at the Crash we felt so gross, it was super hot and then you have baby slobber/food/boogers and dirt all over you. We had planned to go hike Lion Head Mountain. So we did! Oh my goodness I almost died. So we’re under the African sun and all I’ve eaten today was a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich and and egg and toast for breakfast. Oh and a cold hot dog and some bean salad. Anyway, the mountain made a pretty vertical hike and it was probably 2-3 miles up. And the closer we got to the top it was more like rock climbing. Eh. BUT it was so worth it after we got to the top and cooled off as the sun went down. We watched it set and saw the full moon. :) it was so so beautiful! And the hike down was so much better than the way up!
I definitely got kissed by the sun today haha. And it’s only the second day here and I have already taken over 200 photos haha I’m so glad I brought my computer so I can upload them right away.
A little more about my experience so far and in general: there was a roach in the shower this morning. It was delightful haha. The house we are staying in is really nice! All of the good houses have what is kind of a garage door that opens to the front of the house and there is a solid wall around the home. And then of course there are sharp things on the tops of the wall. My host families house has tile floors all through the home, they have a nice sun room area kind of like an enclosed porch. And a deep “splash pool” in the yard. My host family consists of “ma Jean” who kind of reminds me of mama odi from princess and the frog. She is so so sweet and very outgoing and “easy people” is what she calls herself. Then “Franklyn” the dad he is also outgoing and enthusiastic about what he talks about. Then they have a daughter who is 28 I think and she has her boyfriend sometimes over and her daughter Mika who is around 5 or 6 and is absolutely beautiful. People here run on “African time” where five minutes could mean an hour. Whenever I buy something I feel like I am spending tons of money and it makes me want to be a penny pincher because for instance, when I spend 100 rand it is actually only about 15 US dollars. And the other day I bought some grapes and a big water and spent about 40 rand but when I looked it up it was only like 4.50 or something like that. So I just need to adjust my thinking and budget things. I really want to go on the Safari. There is an Elephant Sanctuary a couple of hours away and I would like to go. The trip I would really like to go on though is about 400 US dollars and it is like 7 days of traveling and seeing and doing big things like safaris. OH! There are penguins here just off the coast in Cape town, not right on the regular beach but they kind of have their own beach. I’m hoping to go there and take some pictures with them. I still haven’t made it to the beach but hopefully soon. I also haven’t figured out calling cards or the SIM card stuff yet. Oh and my “international” converter that I bought doesn’t have the right plug for the ones that they use here. Anyway, things are going well. I’m just super tired, not only to I have jet lag still but I was at the crash and hiked a big mountain today. Oh dear. It’s time for bed.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Made it to Cape Town!
I made it to Cape Town at about 11 their time and got to the volunteer house at about 1:30 their time. the time difference is that they are nine hours ahead of Idaho time.
i sat next to a nice German couple on the 12 hour flight. they shared their "christmas cookies" with me. on both of my long flights we got two meals.it was delicious. i started getting a little scared when we pulled into cape town and it made me a little teary eyed. but i knew you guys were praying for me. when i got off the plane i tried right away to use the internet but it wasn't working without me paying for it. so i got in the immigration/foreign check line where they checked my passport. then when i got through that they let us go into the full airport. it was really nice. it is all newly built. then i waited for my baggage and it was all there!!! :) then i went out and looked for the sign saying SASTS. the very last man in the row was mine. he was a very nice man named Randall :) big smile. it was nice knowing that it was real! then we waited for the other girls he was driving. i'm with a girl named Tori she is in the orphanage program with me and she was with randall when i saw him. the two other girls are study abroad girls with the university here. we got all of our luggage packed in the car and started to take off when one of the last two girls couldn't find her passport so we went back and randall looked with her for about an hour. we dropped them off later, she couldn't find it, and then he brought me and Tori to the SASTS house. when we got there we had to ring the doorbell because no one was answering. luckily someone finally came. but he let us in and he didn't know what was going on, i think he is one of the program teachers. so Tori and i each just slept on a couch because a lady said they only had one bed open and that they weren't prepared for us. so we slept on the couch. it didn't sleep well at all. i couldn't sleep for longer that 2 hours at a time which stunk because i haven't slept much at all in the last 48 hours! but anyway. this morning the house coordinator got there. he is a very very nice man named Howard. he felt awful that we were sleeping on the couch. and said he stayed up until 1 for us. but then left :( so we missed him because of the passport stuff. anyway, he took us up to our room. beds made and ready for us. and we slept for about two hours and then i woke up and took a shower. the house has about 4 shower rooms and at least 4 toilet rooms. there are quite a few people there with us but not all with IVHQ. I met a girl that was doing the surf project and was leaving today. she gave us some tips which was nice. she said people get really paranoid because of all the danger stories but really if you are just aware you won't have problems. she was very nice and super tan. now tori and i are going to get something to eat and the bus will come get us for orientation at noon. we are RIGHT around the corner from the world cup stadium! we saw it last night. and we are RIGHT next to the beach. we are living right now in Sea Point Cape Town. it is o beautiful and the buildings are bigger than down town salt lake. it is nice. Today i do orientation and then meet my host family. I am way excited. :) I don't know when i'll be able to write next. oh p.s. i saw a sign saying ice cream 25R. haha oh man... this will be awesome.
i sat next to a nice German couple on the 12 hour flight. they shared their "christmas cookies" with me. on both of my long flights we got two meals.it was delicious. i started getting a little scared when we pulled into cape town and it made me a little teary eyed. but i knew you guys were praying for me. when i got off the plane i tried right away to use the internet but it wasn't working without me paying for it. so i got in the immigration/foreign check line where they checked my passport. then when i got through that they let us go into the full airport. it was really nice. it is all newly built. then i waited for my baggage and it was all there!!! :) then i went out and looked for the sign saying SASTS. the very last man in the row was mine. he was a very nice man named Randall :) big smile. it was nice knowing that it was real! then we waited for the other girls he was driving. i'm with a girl named Tori she is in the orphanage program with me and she was with randall when i saw him. the two other girls are study abroad girls with the university here. we got all of our luggage packed in the car and started to take off when one of the last two girls couldn't find her passport so we went back and randall looked with her for about an hour. we dropped them off later, she couldn't find it, and then he brought me and Tori to the SASTS house. when we got there we had to ring the doorbell because no one was answering. luckily someone finally came. but he let us in and he didn't know what was going on, i think he is one of the program teachers. so Tori and i each just slept on a couch because a lady said they only had one bed open and that they weren't prepared for us. so we slept on the couch. it didn't sleep well at all. i couldn't sleep for longer that 2 hours at a time which stunk because i haven't slept much at all in the last 48 hours! but anyway. this morning the house coordinator got there. he is a very very nice man named Howard. he felt awful that we were sleeping on the couch. and said he stayed up until 1 for us. but then left :( so we missed him because of the passport stuff. anyway, he took us up to our room. beds made and ready for us. and we slept for about two hours and then i woke up and took a shower. the house has about 4 shower rooms and at least 4 toilet rooms. there are quite a few people there with us but not all with IVHQ. I met a girl that was doing the surf project and was leaving today. she gave us some tips which was nice. she said people get really paranoid because of all the danger stories but really if you are just aware you won't have problems. she was very nice and super tan. now tori and i are going to get something to eat and the bus will come get us for orientation at noon. we are RIGHT around the corner from the world cup stadium! we saw it last night. and we are RIGHT next to the beach. we are living right now in Sea Point Cape Town. it is o beautiful and the buildings are bigger than down town salt lake. it is nice. Today i do orientation and then meet my host family. I am way excited. :) I don't know when i'll be able to write next. oh p.s. i saw a sign saying ice cream 25R. haha oh man... this will be awesome.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Sitting in Amsterdam
so in about an hour i will be boarding my last flight! It's 12 hours long and i'm not too excited about it, but only because my back is hurting pretty good. My flight from Boise was good, nice and short... i enjoyed listening to and watching all of the little birds fly around inside our Airport haha. My flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was good too except for the last three hours. I was sitting on the inside seat and the guy next to me was sound asleep so i felt bad waking him up when i couldn't sit any longer. We were 39322 feet in the air and it was -63 degrees outside. I watched movie after movie (Salt, Life as we know it, and another one that was dumb so i couldn't finish it). I also played Bejewled a couple of times. Getting off that plane was really nice! and then i came into the Amsterdam Airport where Everything was in German/other languages. haha It's cool though, everyone here has a great accent and i am enjoying the people watching! :) I'm glad that it will be bed time when i get into cape town, because as of right now i haven't slept for about 18 hours and i'm kind of sleepy. well we're boarding to Cape Town! how exciting! :)
Friday, January 14, 2011
Nerves
So I leave tomorrow morning and I’ve been working on packing... I’m probably packing too much and need to go back through everything. I haven’t been nervous at all until today. I don’t feel like I know as much as I should but I don’t know what else I need to know. So that’s kind of frustrating. But I am excited about being in South Africa and working with the little babies, it’s just the getting there that is concerning me haha. Wish me luck! :D
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Two Days until take off!
Two more days until i get on the plane and head to South Africa! I'm so excited and anxious for this adventure! I finally got some more information about the final arriving details. I will arrive in Cape Town on Sunday the 16th at 11:00pm (Idaho time i think). After I get off the plane I will meet someone holding up a sign for me (kinda scary) but I think it will work out great. The driver will then take me to the volunteer house (pictured at the bottom). I will stay the night and then have orientation there in the morning. After orientation I will get to meet my host family! I'm so excited and so blessed to be able to do this! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)