My life lately.

One thing about my life in South Africa... it's stupidly hard to find internet access.  We sure are spoiled by the amount of wifi in North America.  Actually, it's a bit of a love/hate thing - I'm enjoying being off the grid, forced to appreciate the world around me, but it gets a bit frustratingg when you want to get in touch with those you love back home.

We sure have been busy in the last couple weeks; I didn't realized until this morning just how much I needed a day off. 

I'll fill you in on some of the highlights since Soweto - it's so hard to keep up when we do so much here! 

We left Soweto early, early, early... like 5:00am early and drove down to the Karoo Desert, where we stopped for an overnight on our way to Cape Town.  It was a long day on the bus, made longer by the fact that I had contacted some sort of flu.  Luckily my stomach wasn't upset, but I spent the day alternating between hot flashes and chills as I attempted to sleep it off on the floor of the bus.  And!  I was so upset because our night under the stars in the desert was one I was so looking forward too.  With the help of a little tylenol though, I managed to fall asleep under the stars and by morning I was feeling better. 

We hit Simon's Town around dinner the next day and boy did it feel good to see the ocean. 

the beach we stayed at

 To my surprise (and serious enjoyment!!) there were PENGUINS on the beach!!!  How cool is that?!  And unexpected I might add

so cute!

 Our week in Simon's Town was designated for R&R... haha ya right!  Maybe for some, but for myself it was a jam-packed week of adventure and fun.  On the first day, we went to Cape Point: the famouns 'southernmost' point in South Africa (it's actually a lie - but it's more famous that the actual southernmost tip).  And it was W-I-N-D-Y!!!  At one point in time or another I thought i was going to get blown off the cliff.  See?  It's holding me up!

wheeee

 It was absolutely stunning there, the point was covered in clouds that were being whipped over the rocks and stones by the gale force winds.  And, we were treated to our flirst glimpse of baboons there too.  Hard to see in the picture below, but they're sitting right next to the sign that says 'don't feed the baboons they can be dangerous'.  I can well believe that, they nearly grabbed food right out of our hands if we stopped paying attention.

Allison's laughing at the baboon paparazzi

 The next day we went to the beach... sounds great but what you don't know it that our day of paragliding was cancelled due to weather.  Which meant wind.  And lots of it.  It made for great waves to boogey-board on (SO fun, although I think the lifeguards thought we were crazy... as it was, we were the only people in the water... can you say tourist?!), but when you got out of the water your face got re-sculpted by blowing sand.

Luckily, the next day dawned calm and sunny... perfect weather for paragliding.  Oh yeah

Allison & I looking spiffy

 Even though waiting your turn tried everyone's patience, the view made up for it

flying off Lion's Head

 And, as if that wasn't enough adventure for the week, the next day we hopped on a bus and went... SHARK DIVING.  Me!  Can you believe it?!  I still can't!!

It was terrifying and SO MUCH FUN!  They are creepy but elegant monsters... I would never ever want to run into one in the wild, but I'm so glad I got into that stupid cage (I was more afraid of it that the sharks to be honest).  And they're huge!!  One of them also had a really nasty bite out of it's gills from a fight with another shark. 

Mr. Great White taking on a tuna head

 And just in case you don't believe me, here I am not freaking out in the cage.  So there.

all smiles, despite the hypothermia

 After all that adventure came a day of much needed rest.  A quiet morning, followed by some market time in Cape Town, and finished with a Super Rugby match: The Stormers (Cape Town's provincial team) vs. The Sharks

I may not know all too much about rugby, but it was a brilliant game - made better by the comeback at the end!  The Stormers were down 16-10 with 5 minutes left, but managed to pull out a 17-16 victory on their home turf!  Woohoo

We moved on to a town called Athlone in the Cape Community for a chance to learn about the coloured community in South Africa.  We've learned about the white Afrikaner culture in Pretoria, the black community in Soweto and now the students are staying with coloured families here.  There is an unbelievable amount of history here in the country and do I ever feel privileged to have the opportunity to learn.

But like I said, it's been a challenging couple weeks and after dropping the students off with there host families I was in serious need of some alone time and space to clear my head... to not think about anything actually.  Since it was such a gorgeous day, I decided to check out Chapman's Peak.  Best idea ever.  It definitely makes it onto the top 5 most beautiful roads I have ever driven. 

at the start of Chapman's Peak Road

The week was full of learning interspersed with beach time (which means fish'n'chips time!!  So fresh and tasty!!).  But one of my highlights of the week was our visit to Robben Island.  It was a place just full of memories and history - it's crazy to think of the people who spent years of there life imprisoned just for speaking up for human rights.

Nelson Mandela's cell

I spent the day at the beach yesterday, reading and squeezing all the relaxation I could out of my weekend.  With the sand, sun and ocean it wasn't all that hard to do.  But I looked a little ridiculous in my bathing suit - the mosquitos have decided that they just love me and I look like I have chicken pox from all the bites.

I'm loving life down here, but I do get homesick from time to time.  I sure wish I could call home, but I guess that'll just make it that much more special when I get home and can chat with you.

I love you lots and miss you like crazy!

Cheers,
Sandy