This weekend was by far one of the most fun so far here in Cape town. After a fairly stressful week of papers and tests, I got a chance to do some really fun things and spend almost all of the weekend outside.
Luckily I don't have classes on Friday so I got to sleep in a little bit after spending my Thursday night out at Boogie. Around mid afternoon Friday, my friend Ella and I hopped on the bus to SHAWCO…I've talked a little bit about this before. But almost every Friday I go out to a township in Manenberg and tutor/play games/run around with a bunch of 1st-3rd graders. This past Friday, we didn't have a lot of volunteers and it was a beautiful day out, so we spent most of the afternoon doing arts and crafts and playing games outside. The kids were adorable as usual…at times a little rowdy…but still really adorable. At one point I think I had 4 little girls trying to put my hair in what I think were braids…..or just lots of knots. Ella got all the kids singing Bruno Mars which was rally cute. Most of them speak Afrikaans, so my newly developed Xhosa skills were essentially useless. But most of them speak English pretty well, so its pretty easy to communicate (even though they rarely listen to you). Not going to lie, it was a pretty exhausting day, but I loved it. It's awesome to spend time with the kids there. They're so lovable and they're always hugging you and wanting to sit on your lap.
That night a bunch of us went to dinner at Hello Sailer. Its a really cute/quaint cafe in Observatory. The food was amazing and we had a great time.
(View from the ferry- the body of a giant)
On Saturday, the vodacom flats had a CAP. Basically every CIEE house or hall has to do a bunch of activities throughout the semester that help advance our cultural perspective and teach us more about South Africa. So as a CAP, we went to Robben Island. We spent the morning having brunch on the waterfront, then jumped on a ferry over to the island. (I will say the ferries here in SA are a lot faster than the ones to Nantucket and MV). The museum on Robben Island was pretty cool. We took a bus around, stopping at a few places and looking at various sections of the jail. We saw where Nelson Mandela stayed during his time there and got to talk to a former prisoner, Cipo, who told us a ton about what it was like to be a political prisoner there and some of the things they did to pass the time. Although the museum was slightly underwhelming, it was interesting to hear about some of the experiences that Cipo went through. One of the main things I remember him saying was how even though a lot of these political activists were stuck in jail, they still did an incredible amount of learning and discussing politics while in their cells. They would get together in groups, headed by leaders who would gather speeches and information that were put together by figures like Mandela and read them aloud. The experience overall was intriguing, and Cipo was so informative. Currently about 200 people live on Robben Island….almost all of them being staff members of the museum and their families.
(Mandela's cell)
(on the jail grounds)
Friday and Saturday were really fun and interesting. But today kind of took the cake. Five of us woke up early and went sand boarding at a nature reserve at Atlantis (about 40 mins outside of Cape Town). Its basically just a huge region of beautiful white sand dunes. You can look out into the distance and see Table Mountain, Signal Hill, and Lion's Head. Sand boarding is basically like snowboarding but on sand. I have never done either before, and that eventually proved to be pretty obvious. We started out on some bunny hills (they weren't so bunny to me). The first few times, I thought I did surprisingly well. I didn't fall and managed to get down the hill safely. But then we moved up to the more advanced hills, where i truly succeeded in showing my true colors. I took a couple wipeouts, but nothing too serious. Although it took a while to get the hang of things, sand boarding was one of the funnest things I've ever done. The dunes and the views were gorgeous and getting to do something new was exciting. Basically all of the girls I went with are essentially pros at snowboarding, so I was a really the only one out of my element. But thats okay, it was amazing.
(A view of Table Mountain from the dunes)
(Alex, Rob, Perri, Jordan, and me)
After sand boarding, we went to Clifton Beach down by Camps Bay. After a week of lots of rain and books, it was so nice to just relax in the beautiful weather. The water there is pretty freezing. However, we were so hot and sandy from earlier that day that my friend Jordan and I said to hell with it and took the plunge. It took a second to get used to but was totally worth it. I think that Cape water can be just as cold, but everyone else thinks otherwise. After an afternoon in the sun, we finished the nigh off on Kloof Street at Hudson's. Its one of the few places here that sells Coronas. I don't think anything could remind me more of summer in Chatham than spending the day in the sand and drinking coronas. It was a really great finish to the weekend.
(Clifton Beach)
This week we finish up our first half of the semester. Spring break is next week and we are off to Botswana/Victoria Falls. I will probably be buried in some books as I finish up midterm papers and tests, so blogging will be limited.
More to come after spring break.
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