Last night: I mentioned Kelsey and I slept in a room a couple blocks from the lodge, but I didn't mention it was directly above a gay south african karaoke bar. So that was a fun experience. I was so tired that I fell asleep immediately, after a small dance party to the tunes, of course. I think last night's full nights sleep really helped because I didn't feel tired today and I hope I will be in the swing of things this week! I'm pretty sure I only got about 4 hours of sleep during the whole 30 hour travel extravaganza.
This morning: We met with all of the other students that are here now and chatted a tad about what this week will include. Lois is one of the coordinators and she has been coming here since the early 1990s, aka before apartheid was over. Its amazing that she has had experiences here like attending a rally for Nelson Mandela before he ran for President!! I am really looking forward to hearing more from her. Its amazing what this country has been through. Lois and Margie (another coordinator) also spoke about the contrasts of this Country. There are cities, like Cape Town, that are more reminiscent of California than Africa, and then just 10 miles away are townships, which are like shantytowns. It's amazing that there is still such a cultural, racial and monetary split. And I can't wait to learn more. Also, all of the students seem great! I will introduce them, but won't go into too much detail: Kim, Chava, and Leah are MSW students from Clark Atlanta University, Karen is MSW from UMSL, then there is Colbey, Kelsey, Rebecca, Marie and Elaina from MU. Heather, Lois and Margie are our fearless leaders. We all have different backgrounds and fields of study so it will be interesting to here everyone's thoughts and get to know everyone more.
Today: We ate brunch at a restaurant right next to our hotel- it was super yummy and cute! Then we walked to the waterfront shopping district. It's about a 20 minute walk from our neighborhood. We passed lots of hotels and shops, but also one of first public health hospitals and a prison where inmates worked on the warf while they were imprisoned. There is an indoor mall, outdoor shopping and the "Red Shed" which is like an indoor craft market. Lots of South African crafts are sold there. Some of it was cool- like art made from recycled soda cans and traditional jewelry, but most was kitschy, but that's like any market I think. We were approached by a few people for money, food and to help us. It wasn't overwhelming, but more like in any city. We've heard it gets worse after dark, like people follow you for multiple blocks, so we will be on the lookout and always walk in groups! We adventured around for awhile, I bought some postcards (I need addresses!) and we got some food. The view of the warf is extraordinary and I have pictures. Then most of the group walked back to the hotel before it got dark [which occurs around 5pm, or 17h00 as the South Africans say ;-)] but Kelsey, Colbey, Elaina (she arrived today; a trooper for hanging out with us!), Rebecca stayed at the mall to go see... HARRY POTTER 7.2!! It was great great great! And I feel special because we saw it in South Africa! We took a (not shady) taxi back to our hotel because it was dark, there were 5 of us and we thought taxi was safer than walking. It was fine, the vehicle was clean and new looking and the company was recommended to us (dad). Then we walked a couple blocks to meet the rest of the lovely ladies at a restaurant. It was fancy, but delicious- I enjoyed a vanilla creme brulee and vino :-). We headed back to get Elaina to sleep and to write our blogs, which are now part of our daily assignment so Heather can keep the folks at home reading the Shealth.missouri.edu website up to date on our travels. Kelsey and I are watching the Women's World Cup Final and resting.
Today's Lesson: South Africans don't say 'no', they will just say 'come back tomrrow' or 'we are working on it' with no intention to figure it out tomorrow, or ever. We encountered this today with wireless internet problems in one of the apartments and when attempting to purchase phones. Weird and slightly difficult to work with.
Miss you all!
place I'm staying: http://www.thevillagelodge.com/content/home.asp. Super nice
1 comment:
Thanks for the photos. Looks wonderful. The final Potter was fun.
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