Exploring Cape Town

It’s been an interesting week, for sure. I should probably be studying right now, but it’s to the point where I don’t know what else I can read, and I’m tired so here I am.

Wednesday we had off from school for Human Rights Day, so I decided that I would go explore Cape Town a little bit. I feel like I’m so familiar with the suburbs around me, but not with the city nearly enough. In the morning, I mini-bussed by myself into Cape Town. We did this in the very beginning so I thought I’d remember where to walk to at least find the Castle of Good Hope so I could orient myself. I just started walking, assuming I’d be going the right way if I followed everyone else and I ended up right where I wanted to be. The next mission was to find Green Market Square, which is a flea market that sells a lot of African souvenirs (many claim to be hand-made, but I would like to have further clarification on this because I had my doubts…). After some wandering around, I managed to find it. Which was great, but I also had no cash so I had to find an ATM before I started bartering. This was a whole new task because it was a public holiday and so banks were closed. I was pointed in the direction of a super-market, which I was told had an ATM inside. This was one of the scarier moments I’ve had so far here. The ATM was asking me for a 10-digit code, which I don’t think I have so I was just confused and was trying to figure out how to use my card and so this man comes up behind me and says he’s trying to help me. I just said it wasn’t working but he insisted that it did and I wasn’t too worried until another guy came over too and were trying to put in codes to make it go through until it asked for my pin. He told me to put it in and I was like I’m just going to put random numbers in so it spits my card back out, which it did thankfully. Then two security guards came over and got them to leave and I just gave up with this machine. I found a much more reliable and not scary machine on Long Street and then wandered back to Green Market Square to look at all the stands. After that I walked on Long Street for a while and looked at some of those shops too. Overall, success and I managed to find my way back to the mini-bus station and got on the right one back home. That night, it was a girl in my house’s birthday, so we went out to dinner at Rick’s American Café* on Kloof Street and then out after to Rafiki’s*. It was a fun night, even though we got a little lost finding Rafiki’s.

Friday I went to PASSOP after my two classes and got a lot of random assignments done. My boss had previously asked me to be his “date” to go to the movies with him and his cousin, who has Down syndrome and his cousin’s girlfriend who also does. He called me earlier Friday to tell me that they were going that night, and I wasn’t going to say no to that since his cousin requested that he brought a date and he’d asked me as a favor. It was pretty special to see his cousin and his girlfriend together, they were absolutely adorable. We saw the Lorax by Dr. Suess. All in all, it was a little bit awkward but great.

That night we went out on Long Street with intentions of going to a Spice Girl’s themed party but the cover was too much, after we thought we were getting in for free because my two friends dressed up like Posh spice and David Beckham and we started a Spice Girl’s sing-a-long on the street.

Saturday I got up pretty early and a couple of us went to Old Biscuit Mill for breakfast. I got the best eggs benedict I’ve ever tasted and some white sangria, which was great. That night was another friend’s birthday and her dad was here and they share the same birthday so we all went on a sunset/champagne cruise with about 20 of our friends. It was a little cold at some points but so beautiful and we got to see some seals and a penguin out in the water. Again that night we went out to Long Street to celebrate her birthday.

Today I just went to a braai after the soccer tournament between the different programs here. After, we walked up to Rhodes Memorial for a little ceremony a friend organized. About a year ago, her friend passed away in a car accident so she organizes this and everyone releases balloons in the air to remember special people that have passed away in our lives. It was really sweet, and also it was my first time up at Rhodes Memorial even though it is so close to where I live.

Today it hit me that at the end of this week, it will be my halfway mark here on Saturday. So scary/crazy. I really cannot believe how fast it is going, even though I feel like I say that a lot. I have been so busy and always doing new things so time has just been flying and I feel like I won’t have time to do everything I want to do. My family is also coming in only 5 days! Even though I do love it here, it’ll be great to have a taste of home. Sometimes it does dawn on me how much I miss just America in general, home, and my friends.