When I read other peoples’ blogs I get a little overwhelmed and feel like I don’t update this nearly enough – but, I’ll try to be inclusive and concise.
On Thursday we knocked one more thing off our Cape Town bucketlist and did the full moon Lion’s Head hike. The climb up seemed harder than my first time, but getting to the top was definitely well worth it. The sun was setting on one side of the mountain and simultaneously the moon was rising on the other. I climbed down to where the cliff went straight down and got some great shots and panoramas of the mountains. The hike down was a little scary because it was really dark but Beth had her nifty headlamp, which was pretty helpful for all of us stumbling down the mountain in darkness. Afterwards, I rushed home to get ready and went to the tennis club party, which was pretty interesting. We then piled in a cab with some people and went to Claremont where I had my first Tiger Tiger* experience. This is a club in the mall, a lot of techno was played and it was pretty fun. Waking up for my 8 am was not easy in the morning with 3 hours of sleep.
Friday was pretty laid-back. I spent a couple hours at PASSOP and we’ve gotten pretty far with my event planning for our fundraiser. We’re going to have it at a bar downtown in Rondesbosch called Pig and Swizzle*. It’s pretty stressful having to plan a big event for PASSOP but I’m excited for it. Braam, the guy in charge there drove me and 2 other interns home and we got coffee with him first. For dinner I had a recovery meal at a really good Mexican restaurant in Mowbray called Fat Cactus*. Again, had to rush home to go back out. We went back to Claremont again but went to Tantra* first then to Stones*. Stones had some specials but both were pretty empty. We tried Tiger Tiger again but no luck, so we called it a night.
Saturday we went to probably one of my favorite towns I’ve been to so far in Cape Town (and another place crossed off the bucketlist). Kalk Bay. It almost looked like a little Italian town with all these cute Bohemian stores and craft places with the water on the opposite side. Getting there was a little bit interesting we had a scary minibus situation in Wynberg and it was pretty difficult figuring out where to go because no one was understanding our English. Then we got on the train to finish off the second half of our trip and finally ended up there. It was a great day walking around and I got a couple cool bracelets and headbands (loving the headbands here). After Kalk, we turned our house into a mini-frat party and set up beer pong for the first time. Then it was off to the soccer party, which was not much of a party but fun nonetheless and we got pretty weird. We taught all the South Africans how to play flip-cup as well.
Sunday was my first Mzoli’s experience. We started the morning trying to hire a mini-bus to get us to the township Gugulethu. After this was unsuccessful, we crossed the bridge to the other mini-bus station and had to sit in the mini-bus for what seemed like hours because it was so ridiculously hot. When we got there, our driver pulled over and we were in the middle of a township. He told us this is where Mzoli’s was, and even though it looked doubtful we got out and wandered down the street hoping to find it. Mzoli’s is kind of a restaurant, but really what it is is a big tent with tables. There’s mist hoses on the ceiling and also great music playing the whole time. Food wise, you walk to this basically butchery and order a whole bunch of meat that’s extremely cheap. You have to bring all the plates, napkins, and snacks and you just drink out in the tent while they prepare all the food. After about an hour they literally bring you a big plastic bucket of meat and everyone just eats with their hands. It probably sounds weird, but it was such a fun day and I can’t wait to go back, knowing what to expect the next time around. As is with most things here, you throw yourself in having no idea what is going to happen and you learn as it comes.
Today I spent a lot of my day at PASSOP. We took a trip to Braam’s house because he has air conditioning (one of the only places I’ve been so far where this is a reality) and because he had a new puppy. I got a lot of random jobs thrown at me but it was nice to be in the conversation and find out more about the refugee situation here. I learn so much every time I go there. Afterwards I had an interview for a summer internship over skype phone (very awkward) and then spent the night at Cocoa Wah Wah* which is our coffee shop downtown (Free wifi!) to study for the test I have in the morning. Yes, I actually do do school work here.
It’s really nice that it’s starting to feel like home here and that everything is becoming so familiar. I rarely feel uncomfortable in minibuses anymore and I know that when walking to campus alone in the morning to walk pretty slow where students drive by – You need 3 students to park in the Upper Campus lot so kids will drive by to pick someone up so that they can get into the lot. Today was one of those days so that was nice. I love that I can get around now, knowing where I’m going for the most part and what form of transportation to get where.
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