1/19/11 8:50 PM
I have so much to say, I don’t know what to include before I bore you all! So bear with me, this may get a little tedious.
Last Friday was a crazy busy day. It started with a morning in Ratunga Junction..THE WILDEST PLACE IN AFRICA…or the theme park down the street. But it claims it’s the wildest place in Africa. I will say it was more impressive than Silverwood, but still nothing too special. Amusement parks are difficult to get the full experience at when you don’t enjoy roller coasters. I did go on the “junior” roller coaster... but I would hardly call it a roller coaster. But I guess that’s why I liked it. After we rode all the rides, we went across the street to this HUGE mall. My friend Amy and I had enough time to go into about 4 stores, none of which gave me much luck. But I learned that these people here take their malls very seriously. The stores are much smaller, but there are SO many of them. It’s more like a bunch of boutiques, with a few department stores. Hard to explain, I guess. After shopping we headed to the Cape Town Stadium (where some of the World Cup games were held) for a double header soccer game. Upon going through security, we had a little dilemma with our water bottles. In the case of a riot in the stadium, people may hit each other with water bottles. So we weren’t allowed to bring ours in. Amy’s water bottle was worth like 60 dollars, and the game was worth 5. She wasn’t going to give up her water bottle. After a good 30 minute hassle, we ended up paying a lady at McDonalds to store them in her locker so that we could go into the game. It was crazy. The games were fun…I’ve never experienced such a big enthusiasm for a sport like there was there. The stadium was packed. This made traffic afterwards INSANE. We waited for our pre-arranged taxi for 2 hours (bringing us to 1 AM). Then we spent another hour and half on the taxi before arriving at home. It was a looooong day, but still fun.
The weekend was spent writing papers and celebrating Amy’s 22nd birthday.
This week has been filled with all kinds of excursions. Monday we went to the District 6 museum and St. George’s Cathedral. That night was our host dad’s birthday, so we went out and watched the sunset from a high point above a beach and then went out to dinner. Another long, but fun, day. Tuesday we went to Langa, the oldest township in South Africa. This was my favorite excursion so far. It was so incredibly eye-opening. People there are so welcoming towards each other. We were even welcomed off the bus by a group of little boys who ended up following us around for the rest of the time. I have some great pictures of them holding our hands and giving them piggy-back rides. Pretty cute! And Tuesday was Craig’s birthday! Happy Birthday, big brother!
Today we went to Robben Island. If you’ve never heard anything about this place, and especially Nelson Mandela, you should definitely do some research. It has some pretty incredible history, and our guide was even an ex-prisoner who spent 16 years behind bars there. Then we did a little shopping, and now I’ve been reading for homework, writing to you all, and I even just got to talk to my mom on the phone! Yay!
I think I’m completely adjusted now. I still have my little moments that I wish I were home, but I don’t think those are going to go away. It’s good to feel comfortable and be more familiar with the area. It will probably be a while before another update, I won’t have internet for the next week or so. Much love.
:D
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