i know i promised a post from America...apologies, I've been busy :(
here are the links to some albums of pics i have up on facebook...you wont need a facebook account to see them...Just click on the title and the album will open for you to scroll through...isnt technology amazing?
Table Mountain Cable Car and some campus
Robben Island and shark diving
Lion's Head hike
Random pictures of my ZA life
More random pictures of my life there :)
Mid-semester vac trip through Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia
I have a LOT more pictures but I figured this couple hundred ought to keep everyone busy for a while....I hope everyone enjoyed my blog...I am hoping to have many more adventures before i get old and gray...until next time :)
Love
Friday, July 8, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Somebody let me off this insane emotional roller coaster!
Date: 10/06/2011
Time: 15:43
Days abroad: 137
Well, this is it. We have reached the end of this incredible journey. In about 5 hours and 15 minutes I will depart my home for the last 6 months and be airport bound...and about a kajillion hours late I will arrive in Oregon.
I am really excited to be seeing everyone and sleeping in my bed and petting my kitty but oh my gosh, goodbyes are so hard! I cannot believe how attached I have gotten to this beautiful place and all of these incredible people in just 6 short months.
I'm about to cry again so I will stop talking about how sad I am...
I am low on megabytes and can hardly justify buying more for the remaining...5 hours I will be in South Africa. So, no pictures this post. Sorry all. I will put up some pictures here on the blog when I reach the land of unlimited internet.
The last 10 days here in Cape Town have been so packed full...I had a couple of finals this week on Tuesday and Wednesday but I still managed to squeeze in some fun...of course.
I went to town several times to finish up my gift shopping and take in every last possible minute...One day a couple of us ran ALL OVER town...we went to Bo-Kaap, which is the Muslim community in downtown for a craft market they were having. Then we walked to a Market called the City Bowl Market which was very similar to the Old Biscuit Mill market that we went to several weeks ago. After the markets we went to a bakery called Charly's Bakery which I had heard had the best brownies in Cape Town. Oh my goodness, I had some triple chocolate explosion cake covered in chocolate sauce and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. After cake, we wandered down to the Castle of Good Hope in town then over to the Taxi Rank where there is a big cement lot in front of the Courthouse that is called the Grand Parade where a whole bunch of tents with things for sale are...I picked up a Bafana Bafana jersey for my brother (Bafana Bafana is South Africa's national soccer team) and a friend did a lot of haggling and trying on to find some new ankle boots. After all of our shopping and walking we were tired to so we went to a little bar called Julep because one of my friends heard that they had the best cocktails in South Africa. I had something called a moonshine which was wintermelon (I think that is South African for honeydew....), basil, vodka, and honey...sounds weird but it was SO DELICIOUS.
umm, I am trying to remember what else I have done lately...like I said, the days have been really busy. Trying to wrap up with all of my South African friends...and new American friends...
OH!
Sara and I took the cable car up Table Mountain finally...what incredible views, and a nice way to bookend the trip....AND! there was a vending machine there that sells SOCCER BALLS!!! IN A VENDING MACHINE. awesome.
and! I learned 'hippo' in Shona, 'Mvuwu'. So now we have Shona, Tswana, and Swedish (how random, haha) I tried to get it in Zulu too but Buhle doesnt know...silly Zulu man.
This post is so lacking in enthusiasm. I apologize, I am coming to terms with the fact that I am leaving a place I've called home for the past 6 months and I dont know when I will return, that makes me a little morose on this beautiful sunny afternoon.
I promise I'll put some pictures up when I reach the land of unlimited megabytes (aka, the US of A)
I cant wait to see everyone at home!
Love from Cape Town, for the final time :'(
Time: 15:43
Days abroad: 137
Well, this is it. We have reached the end of this incredible journey. In about 5 hours and 15 minutes I will depart my home for the last 6 months and be airport bound...and about a kajillion hours late I will arrive in Oregon.
I am really excited to be seeing everyone and sleeping in my bed and petting my kitty but oh my gosh, goodbyes are so hard! I cannot believe how attached I have gotten to this beautiful place and all of these incredible people in just 6 short months.
I'm about to cry again so I will stop talking about how sad I am...
I am low on megabytes and can hardly justify buying more for the remaining...5 hours I will be in South Africa. So, no pictures this post. Sorry all. I will put up some pictures here on the blog when I reach the land of unlimited internet.
The last 10 days here in Cape Town have been so packed full...I had a couple of finals this week on Tuesday and Wednesday but I still managed to squeeze in some fun...of course.
I went to town several times to finish up my gift shopping and take in every last possible minute...One day a couple of us ran ALL OVER town...we went to Bo-Kaap, which is the Muslim community in downtown for a craft market they were having. Then we walked to a Market called the City Bowl Market which was very similar to the Old Biscuit Mill market that we went to several weeks ago. After the markets we went to a bakery called Charly's Bakery which I had heard had the best brownies in Cape Town. Oh my goodness, I had some triple chocolate explosion cake covered in chocolate sauce and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. After cake, we wandered down to the Castle of Good Hope in town then over to the Taxi Rank where there is a big cement lot in front of the Courthouse that is called the Grand Parade where a whole bunch of tents with things for sale are...I picked up a Bafana Bafana jersey for my brother (Bafana Bafana is South Africa's national soccer team) and a friend did a lot of haggling and trying on to find some new ankle boots. After all of our shopping and walking we were tired to so we went to a little bar called Julep because one of my friends heard that they had the best cocktails in South Africa. I had something called a moonshine which was wintermelon (I think that is South African for honeydew....), basil, vodka, and honey...sounds weird but it was SO DELICIOUS.
umm, I am trying to remember what else I have done lately...like I said, the days have been really busy. Trying to wrap up with all of my South African friends...and new American friends...
OH!
Sara and I took the cable car up Table Mountain finally...what incredible views, and a nice way to bookend the trip....AND! there was a vending machine there that sells SOCCER BALLS!!! IN A VENDING MACHINE. awesome.
and! I learned 'hippo' in Shona, 'Mvuwu'. So now we have Shona, Tswana, and Swedish (how random, haha) I tried to get it in Zulu too but Buhle doesnt know...silly Zulu man.
This post is so lacking in enthusiasm. I apologize, I am coming to terms with the fact that I am leaving a place I've called home for the past 6 months and I dont know when I will return, that makes me a little morose on this beautiful sunny afternoon.
I promise I'll put some pictures up when I reach the land of unlimited megabytes (aka, the US of A)
I cant wait to see everyone at home!
Love from Cape Town, for the final time :'(
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I can't believe it's almost ending...bittersweet
Date: 31/05/2011
Time: 20:14
Days abroad: 127
Bonnie and I
Ashleigh, Buhle, and me.
I spent that weekend and Monday and Tuesday studying because I had my first 2 finals on Wednesday the 25th. I woke up very early and got ready to climb the mountain to take my first exam and I left my house at about 715AM (my exam was at 8) and it was MONSOON raining outside. Serious torrential downpour. Well, a very kind civilian pulled up next to me like a block from the base of the big hill and offered me a ride to upper campus because “nobody likes to write a final exam while they are busy getting the flu”. It seemed like very reasonable logic to me, so I hopped in her tiny Toyota.
(Roe and mercy sitting on the steps)
Loren and Ash sitting on a lion :)
Friday, Friday…I went into town with beautiful Bonnie. She had heard about a terrible exhibit at the National Gallery (an art museum in the Company Gardens) so, naturally, we had to go see just how bad this artist was…it was…Interesting. Hahaha. See some of his work here. (Link credit to Bonnie) 
This is the National Gallery. And a statue of Jan Smuts...with a bird on his head! hahaha
The Company Gardens...
Bonnie and our milkshake.
Time: 20:14
Days abroad: 127
Once again, I’ve been MIA on the blog front.
I just get so excited about living my Cape Town life that sometimes I forget to come back and write about it!
My last post was May 18th…and all about Lion’s Head…so let me go back here and see what I can recall from the last 2 weeks. ..
May 20th was our last official day of lectures on campus, our last day volunteering, and our CIEE formal farewell dinner. So, a busy busy Friday. We took all our boys at the Bonnytoun youth facility KFC as our Young in Prison farewell party. I am going to miss those boys so much. They taught me a LOT these last 6 months. We spent most of our 2 hours on Friday taking pictures, eating chicken, and letting them reflect on their experience with Young in Prison. Most of them were so thankful to us for coming out and spending time with them. They loved all of our activities and really I think they just liked having people around to talk to who actually listened to what they had to say. What a cool experience for us and for them. (p.s. i am not allowed to post pictures of the boys...sorry, you'll have to wait until i get home for those)
CIEE’s farewell dinner took place at Calvin Grove which is a fancy country club place in the Newlands (one suburb further out of town than Rondebosch). It was a Sophiatown theme…Sophiatown is like a 60s African Oscars celebration…I’m not 100% sure…anyways, the placemats were records and the RAs all performed a hilarious little dance for us. Overall a night filled with food and merriment and fancy clothes…not too bad, as far as formal dinner events go anyway…
Me, Loren, Kamilah...
Bonnie and I
Ashleigh, Buhle, and me.I spent that weekend and Monday and Tuesday studying because I had my first 2 finals on Wednesday the 25th. I woke up very early and got ready to climb the mountain to take my first exam and I left my house at about 715AM (my exam was at 8) and it was MONSOON raining outside. Serious torrential downpour. Well, a very kind civilian pulled up next to me like a block from the base of the big hill and offered me a ride to upper campus because “nobody likes to write a final exam while they are busy getting the flu”. It seemed like very reasonable logic to me, so I hopped in her tiny Toyota.
After my second exam (at 5PM) I was supposed to go to Observatory (yet another suburb) with some friends to eat at a ribs and wings place called Sticky Fingers. Well, I called Loren when Ash and I finished out final to find out where to meet her and she told us to get to Leslie Social (which is a building on campus) NOW. When Loren says to get somewhere now, it means there is free food, so we made a beeline. Now, apparently May 25th is Africa Day. And there was a big gathering after a talk in Leslie where they were serving wine, cocktails, and a TON of food. Well we ate and drank and met a large group of people from Tennessee who had just arrived in Cape Town the previous day and are doing a one month exchange, though only 2 weeks are in CT. So we talked to them for a long while, then headed to Obs (late) to meet a friend of a friend. We had wings and spent a couple of hours in the restaurant talking to the waiter and the bartender who were both Zim, then headed home. Oh, we also convinced the guardian angel driver to stretch the boundaries of his drop-off zone slightly and drop us off and pick us up at the border of Mowbray and Obs… :)
Thursday We woke up to BEAUTIFUL sunshine so we decided to hike up to the Rhodes Memorial, which is a big memorial built into the hill above campus. We rounded up 7 girls in total to climb up and picnic and admire the views:
(Roe and mercy sitting on the steps)
Loren and Ash sitting on a lion :)Once we were done with lunch and hanging out, we went to check out the little café they have at the memorial and they had DELICIOUS desserts. So I got brownies and ice cream…
Friday, Friday…I went into town with beautiful Bonnie. She had heard about a terrible exhibit at the National Gallery (an art museum in the Company Gardens) so, naturally, we had to go see just how bad this artist was…it was…Interesting. Hahaha. See some of his work here. (Link credit to Bonnie) After the art gallery we walked in the Company Gardens for a while amongst the pigeons and the nappers and eventually wound our way to Long Street where I introduced Bonnie to the now famous Royale. We split a banana smarties milkshake (smarties in SA are like knock-off M and Ms…not the same as smarties in the US) anyway, Bonnie dropped a piece of banana on the table. Well, a kid stopped to ask us for rands. Which is normal, and expected because we sat outside but when we refused he decided he wanted that piece of banana covered in ice cream. Well it took him a solid 10 seconds to pick it up because it kept slipping through his fingers and the whole time his arm was all in Bonnie’s personal space. She was looking across the table at me like I don’t know what to do right now! After he FINALLY got the banana and left I couldn’t help but just bust out laughing. It was terribly sad that he was begging but the whole situation was so ridiculous I couldn’t help but laugh until I had tears in my eyes.
This is the National Gallery. And a statue of Jan Smuts...with a bird on his head! hahaha
The Company Gardens...
Bonnie and our milkshake.Saturday was so much fun. I went to dinner with a Zim waiter-man that I met in January who works at one of my favorite places to eat in Rondebosch. Well, we went to dinner and watched the Champions League final (which is a soccer game, just to inform all of you Americans) because Barcelona was playing Manchester United and Barcelona is his team. After dinner (and a extremely inappropriate amount of pestering from some rude Botswana-ian guy sharing our table—place was packed) we met up with some of the waiter-man’s friends and roommates (who were all awesome…it was like having my own personal African male posse for the night…and what could be more fun than that?) we all piled into a taxi and went downtown where we danced and drank and were merry until far too late into the night...that’s what your 20s are for, right?
Since Saturday, my life has been pretty uneventful…avoiding monsoon rains by staying inside a lot. Haha. Today, Stephan, one of our night-time security guards, spent his day off escorting us to Gaitesville, which is a Coloured community nearby, to get Gatsbys and these delicious donuts called koeksisters, mm-mmmmm. Loren, Ashleigh, Sara, and I went with him and got 2 gatsbys. One boerewor sausage full-house (which means they add egg and cheese) gatsby and one chicken. They were delicious. I can almost consider myself a Gatsby expert since I’ve had 3 different gatsbys from 3 different places…I am definitely going to have to try and re-create one of these sandwiches when I get home.
Anyways. I cant believe June is upon us and I only have TEN DAYS left in beautiful ZA. I have 2 more finals to survive (June 7th and June 8th) and about a zillion other fun things to cram in before those tests…wish me luck on my speed-racer 10 days to fit in everything I’ve missed thus far. And a few things I haven’t missed but MUST do again before I leave…
See you all so soon!
Love
Monday, May 23, 2011
looky looky
I just wanted to pop in and point out that all of you who did NOT come visit me in Cape Town during the last 6 months missed out on the #1 travel destination IN THE WORLD...
Top 25 travel destinations 2011
read the link.
Also, please send all your positive thoughts to Ricky and my Mama right now, they could surely use it.
Love
Top 25 travel destinations 2011
read the link.
Also, please send all your positive thoughts to Ricky and my Mama right now, they could surely use it.
Love
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Lion's Head...pictures pictures!
Date: 18/05.2011
Time: 23:37 (though I started uploading pictures AGES ago...internet is KILLING me tonight)
Days abroad: 114
So, as we all know by now, South Africans LOVE their public holidays. Technically, today was not a public holiday actually, but voting day...so we all got the day off :) I went to Long Street with a bunch of friends to work on growing my pile of gifts...people, you are all hard to buy for! I did a LOT of haggling...to the point of exhaustion....but, in the end, I think I got some pretty good deals. I'm hopeful that I can finish up all my gift buying in one more trip to town...but we shall see.
Anyways...today is not the point of my blog post...though we did have a fun mini-bus ride home. hahaha, always a delight.
The point is, in fact, the hike I did yesterday evening! :)
A boy in CIEE arranged a bus to take us to the base of Lion's Head:
for an evening hike. The view from the top is supposed to be really cool and it was the last full moon for us while we are here in Cape Town. So about 18 of us decided to climb and piled into the bus.
We started the hike on a nice wide, dirt trail that gently sloped up and around the base of the mountain. Pretty views of Camp's Bay and a light breeze on a sunny day, it seemed like an easy walk rather than a hike.
This is Camp's Bay from the beginning of the Lion's Head trail...you cant see the ocean because it is covered by the clouds...
The hill gradually got steeper and rockier and by the time we had made almost a complete circle around Lion's Head it was more of a hike than a walk...
Signal hill is the grassy hill on the right...this is the view of part of Cape Town from the opposite side of the mountain from Camp's Bay...once again, the ocean is covered by clouds.
Because we got a bit of a late start (we were supposed to leave at 4 but we had to make a detour to pick up some stragglers at the 7-11 on Main Road in Mowbray so we didnt actually head towards the mountain until 5) the sun started to set as we were still hiking...
This is the lovely Serena...
Well, after we'd been walking/hiking for maybe 30 or 40 minutes, we got to the part of the trail where walking and hiking ceased and CLIMBING began...
(If you click on the picture it will get bigger and you can see people scattered up the side of that rock face...awesome)
We came across a sign:
sounds like fun...
Well, we had gotten to the part where you go pretty much straight up a rock face using chains and handles that somebody had been kind enough to bolt into the rocks.
This is the lovely Serena again...coming up the "use at your own risk" route with the shadow of Lion's Head over the city and the base of Devil's Peak in the background.
Well, we were a little late and the sun was setting quickly so we paused about 5 minutes from the top for a water break and a picture:
Once we got to the top, the views were incredible. We watched the sun finish setting and the moon rise and all the city lights come on. It was amazing.
This is Mercy looking at the city. Signal Hill is off to the left of this picture. The full moon came up over Devil's Peak on the right (I was messing with the settings on my [mother's] camera so it looks like daylight...it was actually quite dark). Jameson Hall (and the rest of UCT) is on the opposite side of Devil's Peak from here.
This is Ashleigh...Signal Hill is off the right side of this picture. The clouds are covering up the ocean.
(This picture looks a tiny bit like the world is ending...with the clouds coming in and everything...)
And the view Ashleigh was looking at as it got later and I changed some of my camera settings. Beautiful, no?
So, basically, an INCREDIBLE hike...and everyone should come to Cape Town and do it. ASAP. Because nobody is getting any younger, folks.
Wanna hear the best part?
We got to go back down the mountain IN THE DARK!
Scary. But fun fun fun!
Now I can check two things off my bucket list: 1. rock climbing in Africa and 2. rock climbing in Africa in the dark.
haha, just kidding, neither of those things is actually on my bucket list. They should've been though. Because they were a blast.
That's all for now everyone, I mostly wanted to get the pictures up...I hope you enjoy them :)
I miss everyone!
Love
Time: 23:37 (though I started uploading pictures AGES ago...internet is KILLING me tonight)
Days abroad: 114
So, as we all know by now, South Africans LOVE their public holidays. Technically, today was not a public holiday actually, but voting day...so we all got the day off :) I went to Long Street with a bunch of friends to work on growing my pile of gifts...people, you are all hard to buy for! I did a LOT of haggling...to the point of exhaustion....but, in the end, I think I got some pretty good deals. I'm hopeful that I can finish up all my gift buying in one more trip to town...but we shall see.
Anyways...today is not the point of my blog post...though we did have a fun mini-bus ride home. hahaha, always a delight.
The point is, in fact, the hike I did yesterday evening! :)
A boy in CIEE arranged a bus to take us to the base of Lion's Head:
for an evening hike. The view from the top is supposed to be really cool and it was the last full moon for us while we are here in Cape Town. So about 18 of us decided to climb and piled into the bus.We started the hike on a nice wide, dirt trail that gently sloped up and around the base of the mountain. Pretty views of Camp's Bay and a light breeze on a sunny day, it seemed like an easy walk rather than a hike.
This is Camp's Bay from the beginning of the Lion's Head trail...you cant see the ocean because it is covered by the clouds...The hill gradually got steeper and rockier and by the time we had made almost a complete circle around Lion's Head it was more of a hike than a walk...
Signal hill is the grassy hill on the right...this is the view of part of Cape Town from the opposite side of the mountain from Camp's Bay...once again, the ocean is covered by clouds.
Because we got a bit of a late start (we were supposed to leave at 4 but we had to make a detour to pick up some stragglers at the 7-11 on Main Road in Mowbray so we didnt actually head towards the mountain until 5) the sun started to set as we were still hiking...
This is the lovely Serena...Well, after we'd been walking/hiking for maybe 30 or 40 minutes, we got to the part of the trail where walking and hiking ceased and CLIMBING began...
(If you click on the picture it will get bigger and you can see people scattered up the side of that rock face...awesome)We came across a sign:
sounds like fun...Well, we had gotten to the part where you go pretty much straight up a rock face using chains and handles that somebody had been kind enough to bolt into the rocks.
This is the lovely Serena again...coming up the "use at your own risk" route with the shadow of Lion's Head over the city and the base of Devil's Peak in the background.Well, we were a little late and the sun was setting quickly so we paused about 5 minutes from the top for a water break and a picture:
Once we got to the top, the views were incredible. We watched the sun finish setting and the moon rise and all the city lights come on. It was amazing.
This is Mercy looking at the city. Signal Hill is off to the left of this picture. The full moon came up over Devil's Peak on the right (I was messing with the settings on my [mother's] camera so it looks like daylight...it was actually quite dark). Jameson Hall (and the rest of UCT) is on the opposite side of Devil's Peak from here.
This is Ashleigh...Signal Hill is off the right side of this picture. The clouds are covering up the ocean.(This picture looks a tiny bit like the world is ending...with the clouds coming in and everything...)
And the view Ashleigh was looking at as it got later and I changed some of my camera settings. Beautiful, no?
So, basically, an INCREDIBLE hike...and everyone should come to Cape Town and do it. ASAP. Because nobody is getting any younger, folks.Wanna hear the best part?
We got to go back down the mountain IN THE DARK!
Scary. But fun fun fun!
Now I can check two things off my bucket list: 1. rock climbing in Africa and 2. rock climbing in Africa in the dark.
haha, just kidding, neither of those things is actually on my bucket list. They should've been though. Because they were a blast.
That's all for now everyone, I mostly wanted to get the pictures up...I hope you enjoy them :)
I miss everyone!
Love
Saturday, May 14, 2011
The weeks just keep flying by...
Date: 14/05/2011
Time: 22:15
Days abroad: 110
Sorry it's been a couple of weeks! I have been really busy with school lately. However, Thursday I finished the last of all of my homework ever in Cape Town. Hard to believe. In 4 weeks and about 6 hours I will be arriving at PDX. Only 1 week left of lectures here, then finals happen over 3 weeks. Which is really strange, if you ask me, but a lot of things here in South Africa are strange.
For instance, I realized this week, they dont have pie. Oh sure, they have meat pies and weird things like that...but NO DESSERT PIE. And I didnt even realize until this week.
I also was talking to Buhle the other day as he made french toast...they dont put maple syrup on their french toast. He put cheese on it. And it was just egg he made it with. No cinnamon and sugar. No nutmeg. Nothing like that. And it was for dinner. lol
Anyway, i should stop boring you all with random food facts, hahaha.
So, as i said, my weeks have been filled with paper-writing, not very interesting...last weekend I went to Long street with some friends to a place called Royale and had burgers that were DELICIOUS. Finally, a good cheeseburger...too bad I didnt find it until a month before it is time to leave :( They also had an extensive milkshake menu and I got a fresh orange milkshake--best. invention. ever. We also found a cab driver on the way home who was really cool. he was Nigerian...he's trying to save $20,000 US and move to Dallas...he's been saving for 4 YEARS and he's hoping he can go in April 2012...he was nice.
That little adventure was the most exciting thing about my weekend, the rest of it was spent working on homework.
Thursday was a VERY good day. Pricewaterhouse Coopers was on campus recruiting (there is ALWAYS something going on on campus on Thursdays...and they always have free give-aways)...anyways, it was supposed to be free stuff for people interested in accounting...minor details. Serena and i convinced a lovely lady to give us vouchers so we got a free travel mug (a nice metal one) filled with 2 shots of espresso and foamy milk (i dont know what that is called? an americano...? or...a latte? haha, i have no idea), and they had a TON of extras so we each got THREE free donuts. One cinnamon sugar twisty thingy, one chocolate frosted and one white frosted with chocolate swirlys...it was awesome. Then, to celebrate finishing all of my Africa homework ever, I went BACK to Royale with some different girls...this time for happy hour. We took the campus shuttle to the campus in town...so transport was free...on the way there, we were smashed into the jammie (the shuttle) like sardines...i was standing on the stairs praying we would not go around a sharp corner too fast and catapult me out the doors. hahahaa. Also, the Jammie nearly died...i dont know what was going on but we were going up a hill and it started doing this crazy chugging thing...hahahaha. i love getting around Cape Town. anyway, 30 rand burgers and fries...that is about $4.35 US. not bad not bad at all. Kamilah and I split a chocolate-coconut shake this time:
Also deicious...this picture looks like we're on a date. Which is awkward. We werent, haha.
On the way home Ashleigh and I walked from upper campus and I thought I would share a picture of the view from Jameson Hall at night:
There was rugby practice going on, so I apologize for the bright field lights...but it is still a pretty picture :)
Tonight (Saturday), Sara and I wanted to go get a gatsby for dinner. I dont know if you all remember, but I was introduced to the gatsby by my host-family the weekend I spent in Ocean View...it is basically a HUGE sandwich with a ton of stuff in it. including chips (french fries, that is). Well, one of our security guards, Alison, told us where there is a good Gatsby place in Mowbray. But he said they are only good on Fridays and Saturdays after 7pm...problem is, Mowbray is REALLY not safe after about 530 or 6...so, we talked the guardian angel driver (the guardian angel is the car that our security company has to drive us between CIEE houses after 6pm) into taking us to Mowbray. Luckily, Andile is one of the nicest men ever and he had no problem driving us there and picking us up :)
We got a chicken gatsby with chilli sauce...it was so delicious:
Sara with her Fanta :)
No, we didnt eat the whole thing...we each ate 2 and 1/2 8ths of the sandwich (figure that one out, lol). We gave 1/4 to Alison, for telling us where to go and keeping the bad guys away at night, and Buhle ate 1/8.
Other than Thursday and today...a very uneventful week....
Oh! Kate the Canadian that I met on my mid-semester vac trip through Botswana made a video of the trip and posted it on facebook...here it is:
I know it is kind of long but it is definitely worth watching. She started her trip in Cape Town and Sara and I didnt join until Windhoek, Namibia so the part with the Kalahari Bushmen is where we came in. However, Kate's footage around Cape Town will give you some visuals for all my previous posts :)
It really is an incredible video, I hope you all enjoy it.
I cant believe I only have 3 weeks and 6 days left in beautiful Cape Town. It is FLYING by...
I hope everyone at home is well, miss you guys!
Love
Time: 22:15
Days abroad: 110
Sorry it's been a couple of weeks! I have been really busy with school lately. However, Thursday I finished the last of all of my homework ever in Cape Town. Hard to believe. In 4 weeks and about 6 hours I will be arriving at PDX. Only 1 week left of lectures here, then finals happen over 3 weeks. Which is really strange, if you ask me, but a lot of things here in South Africa are strange.
For instance, I realized this week, they dont have pie. Oh sure, they have meat pies and weird things like that...but NO DESSERT PIE. And I didnt even realize until this week.
I also was talking to Buhle the other day as he made french toast...they dont put maple syrup on their french toast. He put cheese on it. And it was just egg he made it with. No cinnamon and sugar. No nutmeg. Nothing like that. And it was for dinner. lol
Anyway, i should stop boring you all with random food facts, hahaha.
So, as i said, my weeks have been filled with paper-writing, not very interesting...last weekend I went to Long street with some friends to a place called Royale and had burgers that were DELICIOUS. Finally, a good cheeseburger...too bad I didnt find it until a month before it is time to leave :( They also had an extensive milkshake menu and I got a fresh orange milkshake--best. invention. ever. We also found a cab driver on the way home who was really cool. he was Nigerian...he's trying to save $20,000 US and move to Dallas...he's been saving for 4 YEARS and he's hoping he can go in April 2012...he was nice.
That little adventure was the most exciting thing about my weekend, the rest of it was spent working on homework.
Thursday was a VERY good day. Pricewaterhouse Coopers was on campus recruiting (there is ALWAYS something going on on campus on Thursdays...and they always have free give-aways)...anyways, it was supposed to be free stuff for people interested in accounting...minor details. Serena and i convinced a lovely lady to give us vouchers so we got a free travel mug (a nice metal one) filled with 2 shots of espresso and foamy milk (i dont know what that is called? an americano...? or...a latte? haha, i have no idea), and they had a TON of extras so we each got THREE free donuts. One cinnamon sugar twisty thingy, one chocolate frosted and one white frosted with chocolate swirlys...it was awesome. Then, to celebrate finishing all of my Africa homework ever, I went BACK to Royale with some different girls...this time for happy hour. We took the campus shuttle to the campus in town...so transport was free...on the way there, we were smashed into the jammie (the shuttle) like sardines...i was standing on the stairs praying we would not go around a sharp corner too fast and catapult me out the doors. hahahaa. Also, the Jammie nearly died...i dont know what was going on but we were going up a hill and it started doing this crazy chugging thing...hahahaha. i love getting around Cape Town. anyway, 30 rand burgers and fries...that is about $4.35 US. not bad not bad at all. Kamilah and I split a chocolate-coconut shake this time:
Also deicious...this picture looks like we're on a date. Which is awkward. We werent, haha.On the way home Ashleigh and I walked from upper campus and I thought I would share a picture of the view from Jameson Hall at night:
There was rugby practice going on, so I apologize for the bright field lights...but it is still a pretty picture :)Tonight (Saturday), Sara and I wanted to go get a gatsby for dinner. I dont know if you all remember, but I was introduced to the gatsby by my host-family the weekend I spent in Ocean View...it is basically a HUGE sandwich with a ton of stuff in it. including chips (french fries, that is). Well, one of our security guards, Alison, told us where there is a good Gatsby place in Mowbray. But he said they are only good on Fridays and Saturdays after 7pm...problem is, Mowbray is REALLY not safe after about 530 or 6...so, we talked the guardian angel driver (the guardian angel is the car that our security company has to drive us between CIEE houses after 6pm) into taking us to Mowbray. Luckily, Andile is one of the nicest men ever and he had no problem driving us there and picking us up :)
We got a chicken gatsby with chilli sauce...it was so delicious:
Sara with her Fanta :)No, we didnt eat the whole thing...we each ate 2 and 1/2 8ths of the sandwich (figure that one out, lol). We gave 1/4 to Alison, for telling us where to go and keeping the bad guys away at night, and Buhle ate 1/8.
Other than Thursday and today...a very uneventful week....
Oh! Kate the Canadian that I met on my mid-semester vac trip through Botswana made a video of the trip and posted it on facebook...here it is:
Southern Africa 2011 from Kate Bee on Vimeo.
I know it is kind of long but it is definitely worth watching. She started her trip in Cape Town and Sara and I didnt join until Windhoek, Namibia so the part with the Kalahari Bushmen is where we came in. However, Kate's footage around Cape Town will give you some visuals for all my previous posts :)
It really is an incredible video, I hope you all enjoy it.
I cant believe I only have 3 weeks and 6 days left in beautiful Cape Town. It is FLYING by...
I hope everyone at home is well, miss you guys!
Love
Monday, May 2, 2011
So many public holidays...I love it
Date: 02/05/2011
Time: 23:25
Days abroad: 98
Thank you all so very much for the lovely Happy Birthday messages and facebooks and everything else! I promise, I am working on e-mailing everyone back, I just wanted to post a quick blog update to show you all some of my weekend...
Friday...
I woke up to this lovely sign outside my door...compliments of Ashleigh, the nicest house-mate in the world :)
Then, I decided to skip my Friday lecture (Happy Birthday to me) and go into town with some friends. A couple of us took a tour of the Shimansky Jewelers diamond cutting workshop at the V&A Waterfront....it was pretty cool to see how they made all of their fancy jewelry.
After our tour, we headed to a bridal expo where we made up a elaborate story about my friend Loren getting married so that we could get some samples. And they were not in short supply. I sampled cake, cupcakes, chicken, truffles, a chocolate fountain, drinks (both alcoholic and non), and about all the cookies I could handle...which is a lot of cookies. the expo went on all day and they were showing coverage of the royal wedding on screens all over the place (let me say, I am quite disappointed that I have to share my day with William and Kate for the rest of my life). Then, to keep up the charade, we got Loren a makeover and into a pretty dress:
I have to say, by the end of the expo, I was pretty bummed that there actually wasnt going to be a wedding...because the one we were planning was pretty spectacular.
The wedding expo happened to be in a warehouse next to the Cape Town World Cup Stadium...so I included a picture of that for you guys as well:
After our day of wedding planning, we headed back to UCT and the southern suburbs. I am very proud of our traveling abilities that day...we took a mini-bus from mowbray into the city (5 rand), walked to the waterfront, took a mini-bus from the waterfront back to the taxi rank (3 rand 50) then the UCT shuttle from the downtown campus back to upper campus in Rondebosch (free); overall 8 rand 50 to get all over the place...about $1.10
And because I had my camera, I walked home from upper campus to share a little beauty with you.
Remember the picture of Jameson Hall I posted several weeks ago? it had the little white car driving in front of all the stairs...anyway, this is the view from the same spot only facing due east instead of west:
I walk by this gorgeous view of the city all day long between my classes...not too shabby. unfortunately, my house is at the bottom of that hill...
Walking to and from campus, I pass through this cool little tunnel under the N2 freeway...this is going home so it is all downstairs...imagine the morning hike. Maybe you can begin to appreciate my rock-hard calves...
I took the next 2 pictures from the roof of a building on middle campus. The building I was standing on was constructed by the Dutch East India Company in the 1700s and it became the center axis around which the University of Cape Town was built...I'll put up a picture of that building at a later date...for now:
This is Jameson Hall with Devil's Peak in the background (The N2 runs between me and the rest of the picture)
And...
This is the northern half of UCT's upper campus. Table Mountain is on the left in the background and the building with the pillars on the right hand side is Jameson Hall (the center of upper campus) with Devil's Peak in the background. The red-ish bushes line the N2 freeway and the green bushes block the rugby fields from view. Pretty spectacular, huh? This is what I look at on my hike to school...at least I have a visual target, right?
Friday night I went to dinner with a couple of friends in Claremont at a restaurant called Greens. It sounds healthy but it was actually delicious. I had pasta with a chicken, bacon, cream sauce...basically a heart attack in a bowl. When I got home, Ashleigh and Sara had gotten me cupcakes! and balloons! and toy story napkins! They are so sweet.
Saturday, I got up and did a little homework then I went to a place called the Old Biscuit Mill with some friends. The Old Biscuit Mill is a touristy market where there are about a million food stalls. I had a delicious steak wrap and a strawberry smoothie...we wandered around some of the shops and headed home. I did homework most of the afternoon--I have a lot of papers due this upcoming week.
Sunday...was homework day. All day long. I did venture down to the Pick N Pay at about 1ish and THEY FINALLY GOT SOME CHICKEN IN STOCK!!! yay! So I bought some chicken. And some celery, cherry tomatoes, and broccoli. Then back to the homework.
Monday (today) was ANOTHER public holiday...I could definitely get used to this South African calendar...I worked on a paper in the morning then I had a tour of the Groote Schuur hospital heart transplant museum. The first ever heart transplant was performed here in Cape Town at the UCT hospital so they have a whole section of the hospital donated to the museum. including the actual operating rooms where the donor and recipient were operated on. It was an incredible museum...made me want to do some surgery. Interesting fact for this post: in Dutch, 'Groote Schuur' means 'Big barn'. The land where the hospital is was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company in 1657 and it was a huge farm with, well, big barns on it that functioned as part of the grainery. In 1893 Cecil John Rhodes bought the land, restored the big barn, and had a house constructed on it which he called 'Groote Schuur', for obvious reasons. His house is actually still standing...I'm hoping to go see it before I leave, and the land was donated to UCT. Hence, the UCT hospital's name. kind of an interesting fact for you all...
The museum, as I said, was incredible...very very informative. The original heart recipient only lived for 18 days after receiving his heart, he died of pneumonia before he got out of the intensive care unit. The second heart transplant in the world happened 3 days after the first in America. The second one at Groote Schuur was about one month after the first, and that patient live 18 months. The third transplant performed by Dr Chris Barnard at Groote Schuur was on a Colored woman who live for 13 years after the surgery. Now the surgery has become a routine procedure in hospitals around the world...this was one of my favorite places I've been in Cape Town so far...really neat...
anyways, I came home and finished my paper (bo-ring) and took a million years to upload those pictures for you guys (sorry I didnt take any of the museum, my little camera broke and I didnt want to carry the big fancy one through Mowbray after the museum at dusk...it was scary enough carrying myself through there after I parted ways with Serena at the ShopRite...so i didnt take it with me...If i have time to go back i will definitely take it).
Well, I'm off to bed. I actually have all of my classes tomorrow. For the first time in 2 weeks.
I hope everyone is well stateside!
Missing you guys!
Love
P.s. i hope you enjoy the pictures...I'm trying to be better about sharing...megabytes or no :)
Time: 23:25
Days abroad: 98
Thank you all so very much for the lovely Happy Birthday messages and facebooks and everything else! I promise, I am working on e-mailing everyone back, I just wanted to post a quick blog update to show you all some of my weekend...
Friday...
I woke up to this lovely sign outside my door...compliments of Ashleigh, the nicest house-mate in the world :)Then, I decided to skip my Friday lecture (Happy Birthday to me) and go into town with some friends. A couple of us took a tour of the Shimansky Jewelers diamond cutting workshop at the V&A Waterfront....it was pretty cool to see how they made all of their fancy jewelry.
After our tour, we headed to a bridal expo where we made up a elaborate story about my friend Loren getting married so that we could get some samples. And they were not in short supply. I sampled cake, cupcakes, chicken, truffles, a chocolate fountain, drinks (both alcoholic and non), and about all the cookies I could handle...which is a lot of cookies. the expo went on all day and they were showing coverage of the royal wedding on screens all over the place (let me say, I am quite disappointed that I have to share my day with William and Kate for the rest of my life). Then, to keep up the charade, we got Loren a makeover and into a pretty dress:
I have to say, by the end of the expo, I was pretty bummed that there actually wasnt going to be a wedding...because the one we were planning was pretty spectacular.The wedding expo happened to be in a warehouse next to the Cape Town World Cup Stadium...so I included a picture of that for you guys as well:
After our day of wedding planning, we headed back to UCT and the southern suburbs. I am very proud of our traveling abilities that day...we took a mini-bus from mowbray into the city (5 rand), walked to the waterfront, took a mini-bus from the waterfront back to the taxi rank (3 rand 50) then the UCT shuttle from the downtown campus back to upper campus in Rondebosch (free); overall 8 rand 50 to get all over the place...about $1.10And because I had my camera, I walked home from upper campus to share a little beauty with you.
Remember the picture of Jameson Hall I posted several weeks ago? it had the little white car driving in front of all the stairs...anyway, this is the view from the same spot only facing due east instead of west:
I walk by this gorgeous view of the city all day long between my classes...not too shabby. unfortunately, my house is at the bottom of that hill...Walking to and from campus, I pass through this cool little tunnel under the N2 freeway...this is going home so it is all downstairs...imagine the morning hike. Maybe you can begin to appreciate my rock-hard calves...
I took the next 2 pictures from the roof of a building on middle campus. The building I was standing on was constructed by the Dutch East India Company in the 1700s and it became the center axis around which the University of Cape Town was built...I'll put up a picture of that building at a later date...for now:
This is Jameson Hall with Devil's Peak in the background (The N2 runs between me and the rest of the picture)And...
This is the northern half of UCT's upper campus. Table Mountain is on the left in the background and the building with the pillars on the right hand side is Jameson Hall (the center of upper campus) with Devil's Peak in the background. The red-ish bushes line the N2 freeway and the green bushes block the rugby fields from view. Pretty spectacular, huh? This is what I look at on my hike to school...at least I have a visual target, right?Friday night I went to dinner with a couple of friends in Claremont at a restaurant called Greens. It sounds healthy but it was actually delicious. I had pasta with a chicken, bacon, cream sauce...basically a heart attack in a bowl. When I got home, Ashleigh and Sara had gotten me cupcakes! and balloons! and toy story napkins! They are so sweet.
Saturday, I got up and did a little homework then I went to a place called the Old Biscuit Mill with some friends. The Old Biscuit Mill is a touristy market where there are about a million food stalls. I had a delicious steak wrap and a strawberry smoothie...we wandered around some of the shops and headed home. I did homework most of the afternoon--I have a lot of papers due this upcoming week.
Sunday...was homework day. All day long. I did venture down to the Pick N Pay at about 1ish and THEY FINALLY GOT SOME CHICKEN IN STOCK!!! yay! So I bought some chicken. And some celery, cherry tomatoes, and broccoli. Then back to the homework.
Monday (today) was ANOTHER public holiday...I could definitely get used to this South African calendar...I worked on a paper in the morning then I had a tour of the Groote Schuur hospital heart transplant museum. The first ever heart transplant was performed here in Cape Town at the UCT hospital so they have a whole section of the hospital donated to the museum. including the actual operating rooms where the donor and recipient were operated on. It was an incredible museum...made me want to do some surgery. Interesting fact for this post: in Dutch, 'Groote Schuur' means 'Big barn'. The land where the hospital is was originally developed by the Dutch East India Company in 1657 and it was a huge farm with, well, big barns on it that functioned as part of the grainery. In 1893 Cecil John Rhodes bought the land, restored the big barn, and had a house constructed on it which he called 'Groote Schuur', for obvious reasons. His house is actually still standing...I'm hoping to go see it before I leave, and the land was donated to UCT. Hence, the UCT hospital's name. kind of an interesting fact for you all...
The museum, as I said, was incredible...very very informative. The original heart recipient only lived for 18 days after receiving his heart, he died of pneumonia before he got out of the intensive care unit. The second heart transplant in the world happened 3 days after the first in America. The second one at Groote Schuur was about one month after the first, and that patient live 18 months. The third transplant performed by Dr Chris Barnard at Groote Schuur was on a Colored woman who live for 13 years after the surgery. Now the surgery has become a routine procedure in hospitals around the world...this was one of my favorite places I've been in Cape Town so far...really neat...
anyways, I came home and finished my paper (bo-ring) and took a million years to upload those pictures for you guys (sorry I didnt take any of the museum, my little camera broke and I didnt want to carry the big fancy one through Mowbray after the museum at dusk...it was scary enough carrying myself through there after I parted ways with Serena at the ShopRite...so i didnt take it with me...If i have time to go back i will definitely take it).
Well, I'm off to bed. I actually have all of my classes tomorrow. For the first time in 2 weeks.
I hope everyone is well stateside!
Missing you guys!
Love
P.s. i hope you enjoy the pictures...I'm trying to be better about sharing...megabytes or no :)
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