Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t written in three days! We’ve been so busy though, you don’t even know!
Monday was such a perfect day. We went for a hike at the Cape of Good Hope, which is an absolutely beautiful place. It’s the southwestern-most point of Africa, so you can see out into the ocean and everything… it’s just amazing. I can’t wait for you guys to see pictures… soon, I promise! But on the way down to Cape Point we stopped at a lot of landmarks: Clifton Beach, a really beautiful beach with some really cool houses around it; Simon’s Town, a nice little community that used to be Black before apartheid, but now it’s very White and upscale apparently. It’s so heartbreaking how strong apartheid’s legacy is, but I’m still glad to be learning about it, and hearing about the many ways the country is trying to overcome. We also stopped at a beach to see the South African penguins, which was so cool! And Cape Point itself was indescribably gorgeous. The hike up to the lighthouse was strenuous but worth it because of the view, and then we hiked for 45 minutes to the main part with the “Cape of Good Hope” sign and everything, and it was a struggle but we took TONS of pictures and had lots of fun doing it. During that hike, I was able to see some of the most beautiful views I’ve seen in my entire life, and I just could not stop thanking God for all this beauty He created and for allowing me to enjoy it. It was a great experience! After that, we went to Ocean View, a Colored community where Lowena is from. We saw the school kids perform – dance, sing, and even juggle fire sticks – and they were AMAZING! It was so cool, and meeting them afterwards was so much fun. After that we just chilled because that was a pretty long and tiring day!
On Tuesday, real orientation began for all the study abroad students, not just CIEE (my program). We had to take a 2-hour English test, which was easy obviously (it was just making sure we knew our own language, so I felt bad for the students from other countries besides the U.S. who actually had to try on it…) But to make up for that horrible boring-ness, we got to go to an African drum workshop!! We each got our own drum, and sat there for an hour learning how to play from this band. It was SO cool! Then a Marimba band came to play for us, and after we ate a huge group of us got up there and started dancing, so we had a LOT of fun!! They even played that song they play at Georgetown games, the one that goes “Hey baby, I wanna know, would you be my girl…” and it was just the funniest combination of Georgetown and South Africa. But then they played this one song, and me and Terrance started the Hustle/Electric slide and got a ton of people to do it! It was so fun, and the band was loving it! So I’m glad that day ended on a good note because that test was a mess!
Today, the notable event was our HIV/AIDS session. Of course they have been warning us over and over again about the risk, but today just took it to a whole new level. Long story short, I ended up in front of like 500 people doing a condom demonstration. That is the LAST time I raise my hand when they ask for volunteers!! So guess what I kept hearing the rest of the day: “Great job with that condom!” People I didn’t even know! And I’m like, um, is that really a compliment? But oh well, me and Terrance already stand out anyway because we’re so “animated” I guess you could say, so it’s all good. Then we had to pre-register for classes, which took a couple hours but it wasn’t too bad because we were all together. Then we just chilled after that… I guess it was kind of a boring day! That’s OK though because before today we have been really busy. I’m excited for what’s in store this weekend though… a play, a soccer game, and a braai!
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