…Sorry I have the Aladdin song stuck in my head and then realized that it kind of fit with what I was going to write about. Warning: Since this is my first time on the internet in 6 days, I have a lot to tell you…so much has happened….plus I usually tend to ramble a lot anyway and so this could get kind of long. Sorry ahead of time. :] You can skim it if you want.
I left my house for South Africa bright and early Tuesday morning, Feb. 1st at 3:15am. I had many flights and several layovers. I had to fly to Chicago by myself but then met up with Heather and Katie and we flew to Washington DC. There we met up with 3/4 of our group and had a nice and lovely layover waiting for our 17 hr flight. On that flight we made a stop in Senegal to refuel and then headed to Johannesburg and then to Port Elizabeth (PE). The flights from DC to Johannesburg were LONG and I did not sleep much. I did happen to look out the window though and realize how beautiful the stars were. They looked so close and so pretty! On the flight we had our own personal tvs that had a variety of shows and movies you could watch. There were a lot of episodes of Bones and so I had a Bones marathon (wish you could have been there Nancy!) and then watched a few movies.
When we finally got to PE, it was about 9:40pm their time Wednesday night (it is about an 8 hr time difference from MN). We were exhausted. Who knew sitting down and doing nothing could be so tiring. We got to our flats and started to unpack and get settled in. It was some good roomie bonding time. I live in a flat with 4 other girls. We have a small living room, kitchen, and bathrrom. I share a bedroom with two girls, Heather and Katie. Lindsay and Taylor live in the other room and it has a balcony. You can see the ocean (which is basically right across the street).
Thursday, Bruce and Norma (our faculty directors) took us into town to go shopping. We had lunch at a restaurant called “Wimpy’s” and then went to the grocery store. When we came back we decided to go to the beach and go for a walk along the ocean. That night we had a roomie pasta dinner. Later my roommates and I went out with the rest of the group that night. It was pretty fun.
Friday through Sunday (today) we were at Bush Camp, which is a camp put on my NMMU (my school here) for international students. It was a very interesting weekend to say the least. A lot of people were miserable and did not like the weekend. I didn’t love it but it wasn’t horrible. A few things that made it so miserable were that it was super hot, humid, it was the ant capital of the world, we were in the middle of nowhere and it rained…no…it POURED!!! I have never been so wet in my entire life. It was raining over 3 inches of water in an hour…and we had tents. Yea…they flooded. Overall, even though it was a very interesting weekend I think it is good that we went because we did have some fun and we met some awesome people. I shared at tent with a girl named Suvi, from Finland. We also met people from Germany, Ireland, Sweden, and some others from the US. They all live pretty close to us here so I am sure we will probably see them again. My favorite part of the weekend was when a few friends and I were sitting outside and one girl decided to start doing yoga. She was leading us through some poses. People kept coming up and joining us. Soon there was a huge circle of us doing yoga. The whole time it was pouring and the rain kept getting heavier and heavier. If you would have talked to me last week, I never would have imagined that I would be doing yoga in the rain in South Africa. It was so much fun!
On the way to the camp on Friday we stopped at a reptile center. We learned what snakes were found in South Africa and which ones were poisonous. I also got to hold a blue-tongued skink (I think that was the name..maybe..it was kind of like a iguana). They also were passing around a giant python. I held it!!! Can you believe it? Well, ok I actually held it with my four other flatmates….but still nonetheless it was sitting on the back of my neck (and there are pictures to prove it)! We also got to touch a crocodile. I was amazed with how excited I was to do all of this. I actually wanted to do these things and I was not as nervous as I thought I would be.
Today (Sunday) when we got back we went out to lunch at Cubañas. It is a restaurant that overlooks the ocean right by our flat. I had a chicken mayonnaise quesadilla with pineapple in it. It was delicious!
In summary, I am having a great time so far. My roommates and I talk frequently about how it hasn’t hit us yet that this is for real. This is where we will be living for four months! It feels like maybe we are just on a 2 week vacation.
Okay, well sorry this got so long. I warned you :] Hope everything back home is wonderful. I miss you.
Love & Prayers,
-Laura
PS- When I was packing, a lot of people and websites said to pack half of what you think you will need…I attempted to follow this advice and left a lot of things at home. Well, in the 6 days I have been here I have needed and wished I had brought about 3/4 of the things I took out and left at home!! Ugh. Not cool. :[ Oh well, I can learn to live without these things, but I really would have liked to have some of that stuff.
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