Busy, Busy, Busy

Ever since the end of spring break, my days have been jam-packed with things to do. With classes, my internship, and soccer all in full swing, I have not had a whole lot of free time to myself or to update this blog. It’s crazy how quickly May is creeping up on us and my friends back home are getting prepared to go home for the summer. I continue to find myself caught in a conflict of emotions as I long to come home to my family and friends but also feel as though I never want my time here to end. I can’t stop thinking about the fact that I will never be in this country, with these people again. We’re all starting to freak out just a little bit over here as we think about our time slipping out from under our feet. Anyway, this week we started off on Tuesday by celebrating Passover at a Seder organized by some of the die-heart Jews in our program. Even though I am not Jewish and know a very small amount about the holiday and its traditions, I had a wonderful time getting to spend time with friends and see some people in our program completely in their element. Everyone cooked their own dish and brought wine to the celebration. Some visiting parents joined in, one luckily enough being a Rabbi, so he entertained us with several songs and stories about the holiday of Passover. He even got us all riled up by organizing a game of Jewpardy, where our knowledge of Jewish people, places, and customs was put to the test. Needless to say, our table that consisted of about 8 Christians and only a few Jews struggled, but we managed to hold our own. This night served as both a great learning and bonding experience, one in which I am glad I chose to be a part of.

The next couple of nights my friend Courtney and I chose to go out with the people from our internship. Because the program is run by a few people in their low twenties, we have no trouble fitting in with the group and being able to call them up to hang out. We have recently gone to the local pubs to watch a few games of soccer and shoot some pool (well, attempting to shoot some pool), and even spent one night out bowling in the nearby mall. We have become really close with Shane, the person who I work with directly, and his roommate, Sam. These two losers come from England and while Shane is here for quite a while to run the Amandla soccer program, Sam is working at a year-long internship and then returning to England for his final year of university. We have spent a lot of time with them lately, learning all sorts of new words and trying to adopt their sought after English accents (but failing miserably). It’s nice to have made some friends outside of our program and outside the American bubble altogether. I love hanging out with the people we live with, but it’s nice to get some space once in a while and spend time with people who we would never get the chance to meet otherwise. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Shane and Sam have one of the most comical bromances that I have ever seen, so half of the time I am just cracking up listening to the two fools.

Today Courtney and I have a nice day planned with her parents, who are visiting for the week. We are going to Robbin Island, the home of the prison that housed Nelson Mandela for his 27-year confinement. After our tour, we are planning on going to a nice dinner on the Waterfront. Hopefully the weather stays as beautiful as it looks right now so that we can show her parents a great day in Cape Town. Hope everyone back home is doing well and enjoying the spring weather!

Look at the cute, friendly, CHARGING elephant...

From the delta we moved towards the top of Botswana where we made a stop at a campsite called Planet Baobab for the night. Now I don’t know what any of you know about baobab trees, but they are some of the biggest trees in the entire world. They can grow up to 30 meters high (about 98 ft) and 11 meters wide (36 ft). They have such wide bodies because this is where they store water in order to survive long periods of drought. These trees are often used as the home for many types of animals, and sometimes even humans. Some have, incredibly enough, been used to as the host of stores, prisons, or for bus storage. To give you all a picture that you would understand...picture the Tree of Life in Lion King. Okay, I think you all get the point: these trees are massive. Planet Baobab is the home of many such trees and we got to camp among all of them. It was very cool getting to pitch our tents beneath a massive tree that towered over the entire campsite. We enjoyed a great night of swimming, hanging out at the bar, and even laying on the hammocks that hung from the baobab branches. Things couldn’t get too crazy though, because we had an early morning wake up call (like every other morning of the trip) in order to leave for Chobe National Park.

When we got to Chobe at the top of Botswana, we once again pitched our tents quickly, so that we would be ready for our sunset cruise down the Chobe River which went down the side of the park. We spent the next couple of hours enjoying some drinks on the water as we alternated between watching the animals graze on the land and the sun setting in the distance. It was the perfect opportunity to socialize with one another and get to know the people on our trucks that are not a part of our program. We saw elephants, hippos, water buck, warthogs, buffalo, alligators, and many other animals as we rode the boat down the river. All in all it was a great cruise that was followed by a night playing games around the camp fire.

The next morning we were given the option of participating in a game drive through the national park. To be completely honest, this drive was close to being one of my least favorite parts of the trip until the very end. We had driven through the park, and because of the “no guarantees” motto that we were starting to really get the meaning of, we hadn’t seen too man exciting animals. Although it is the area with the highest concentration of elephants in the entire world, we didn’t see one for 90% o the ride. All we could see for the most part were thousands of impala, a type of antelope that we came to view as a glorified version of a deer. However, when I was about to fall asleep on our way back through the park, we ran into a group of elephants eating by the side of the road. Of course everyone stopped to take pictures in awe of our how close in proximity we were able to get to these wild animals.

We soon got ourselves in deep trouble as we found ourselves in between the father of the group and his child. Now to put the following story into perspective, the night before we had heard several short stories about tourist who got too close to wild elephants and ended up violently killed. Fortunately, elephants have a number of warning signs that they give before they plan to charge. These signs consist of shaking their ears/trunks, kicking the ground and stomping their feet, grunting loudly, throwing branches, and mock charges to warn the potential threat. I won’t get into the stories that we heard because of the time it would take and the brutality that they involve. Back to my story, once we saw the father elephant it started shaking its head frantically and making loud noises at our truck. It then kicked the ground from about 10 feet from our truck, just close enough for dust to fly into the open sides of the vehicle. After a couple of terrifying mock charges, it calmed down and walked slyly around a tree behind our truck in an attempt to trick us. This is where it got really interesting, especially for me as I was sitting in the last row, on the same side of the tree. He then started ripping down branches of the tree and throwing them in the direction of our truck. As he continued, I couldn’t help but think that these were all the signs, in the right order, that meant he was going to charge us. And I was right. He  ^th in 10 years that our safari driver had seen, and the 1^st out of those 7 in which no one had been killed. How about that for a wake up call to end our previously unsatisfying drive?

                      

The Start of a Trip of a Lifetime

Early in the morning, two Saturdays back, we were met by a large bus in front of Shoprite that took us to the airport in Cape Town, the starting point of our spring break trip. Despite my lack of sleep, I was filled with excitement as we were finally getting the show on the road with this much-anticipated trip. Of course the first day or two were not filled with the exhilaration that we had al been waiting for. This was due to the fact that we had to endure what seemed like endless hours in our overland bus in order to actually reach the first set of destinations. When we finally arrived at Camp Itumela in Palapye, Botswana, it was pitch black outside, the only light coming in the form of our head torches. Thank god we bought those. Now it was simple, we just had to pitch our tents, eat dinner, and make sure that we were prepared to jet off in the early morning. Simple? I don’t think so. It soon became a game of “how many American girls does it take to pitch a tent in the dark?” as we struggled to figure out which poles went where and how it would all come together.

Once all was figured out, we were able to sit back and relax at the campsite restaurant and bar. This night was an experience that up until right now I had actually forgotten about. As we went to get dinner at the campsite buffet, we followed the distant lights and the rumbling of American classic rock songs. Much to our surprise we were greeted by a huge group of bikers who were dressed in black leather and wearing bandanas! The rest of our night consisted of us watching them all drunkenly dance with each other while one man sang your typical biker songs as he chugged a beer and smoked a cigarette. On several occasions they would bring a motorcycle into the middle of the bar and rev the engine over and over again as they cheered with joy.  So much for escaping American culture by going into the depths of Africa, huh? 

On the following day, we traveled through Botswana to the Okavango Delta. The Okavango is the largest inland delta in the entire world, and is home to many wild animals and beautiful scenery. Once we reached the edge of the delta we were dropped off by our buses and left to pack all of our belongings and campsite materials into these small, canoe-like boats called makoros. We then entered the makoros, two by two, and were led to our campsite deep within the delta by about a dozen locals. This ride, alone, was quite an experience. As the polers (that’s what the “drivers” of the makoros are called because of the way they stick a large pole into the water to push the boat forward) calmly propelled us through the water, we were about to sit back, relax, and enjoy all that surrounded us. We passed through large lagoons filled with beautiful lilies and lily pads. We enjoyed the sight of all sorts of different birds, most especially the open-billed stork. But the thing that I found most incredible about the delta, making it one of my favourite things from the entire trip, was its peacefulness. We rode through miles of silence, the only slight noise coming from the splashes of the storks dipping into the water or the sound of insects buzzing through the air. It was unbelievable to me that such an area could still exist, what with all of the demolishing of nature through construction and building that I have seen in the States.

Once we got to our campsite and set up our tents, we were given a brief overview of what we would be doing for the next couple days in the delta and how we were to respect our environment. When I say brief, I really mean it because there was not much to what we would be doing for the next 72+ hours. There were no amenities, no electricity, and whatever fun was to be had would be a result of our own imaginations. After a short tour of our “bathroom,” which consisted of a hole in the ground accompanied by a roll of toilet paper and a shovel, I quickly realized what I was getting myself into.

For the next two days we went of several nature walks, getting to see the beautifully natural sights of the delta. We saw many zebras (which the locals called “donkeys in pajamas”), several types of birds, and the droppings of just about every animal you could think of. It’s funny because we knew about the animals that lived in the delta (lions, zebras, elephants, buffalo, hippos, etc.), but in our time there we only got to see a few. While we were disappointed by the fact that we knew they were around, based on our knowledge of their poop (never thought I would know so much about #2), this fact made our experience all the more authentic. Unlike game reserves that we had visited in the past, we were not given any guarantees and animals would come and go, whether we saw them or not. Despite our inability to spot anything too dangerous, it was still thrilling and a bit exhilarating knowing that even when we slept, anything could be lurking in the bushes.

At night, we had the pleasure of watching the beautiful sunsets from the water in our makoros, and then got to gaze at the incredible display of stars plastered across the sky from our campsite. Because the air is so clear and so open, we were able to spot many different constellations and even got to see about 6 shooting stars! On our final night in the delta, after dinner, we had a cultural night where the locals put on a song and dance and then we returned the favour. After their wonderful performance that really served as an eye-opener to a completely different type of movement, it was quite embarrassing to put on our rendition of famous American pop and classic rock songs. I think it goes without saying that my talents do not lie in the music and arts department, but nonetheless I helped lead the group through a couple of different songs and dances. I mean, I’m in Africa so if I can’t make a fool out of myself here, when can I? After a long couple of days, we were finally returned by our polers (who we managed to become quite close to) to reality. We then mounted back onto the bus and moved forward to our next destination.

A Weekend Full of Excitement...

Hello, hello! I am hoping that this will finally be the post that gets me back on track after these hectic few weeks. My apologies to all of you, who I know have been struggling tremendously without my daily updates...yeah right. Just when I thought that I was back in Cape Town and getting settled, once again, with my daily routine, I experienced an interesting turn of events this weekend. Friday night was our final pre-season match before our university league kicks off this Wednesday. We set up a game against a tough semi-professional team that we hoped would prepare us for the league kick-off.

When our coach first described our opponents as tough, I assumed that he meant that they fought hard and would be difficult to beat. Little did I know that we would be facing a group of angry, classless South Africans who would not let us go 90 minutes without putting up a fight...a real fight. Throughout the game I was getting hacked at the ankles, pulled by the shirt, and taken out from behind. All of this became quite frustrating, but was also something that I have become accustomed to here in South Africa. I managed to earn a penalty kick, as well as countless free kicks for their misbehavior, but nothing could have enabled me to predict what happened before the final whistle blew.

After I had had about enough of the dirty fouls, I gave one girl a slight nudge when she came to tackle the ball away from me. By saying slight, I may not be doing my opponent justice, but it did not even earn a foul so it could not have been that bad. I then went on to pass the ball to one of my teammates and finished my part in the play. Before I knew it the girl was sprinting at me from about 20 yards away. Just as I was turning around, she clocked me right in the side of the face and I went straight to the ground. Despite the pain, I was not on the ground for long because of the fury that built up inside of me from being hit. Who does that? After over 16 years of playing soccer, I have never actually been punched, especially in the face. Of course I was never going to retaliate physically, but I’m a little embarrassed to say that I did get in her face to scare her with a couple of choice words. All the while I tried to keep my head on straight because as cool as I think it would have been to throw my first ever punch (except to maybe my brother when we were little, sorry Kev), I tried to keep in mind that I was not complete trash and also wanted to finish the game to see if we could pull off a win.

To make a long story somewhat shorter, we ended up scoring in the last 5 minutes to tie the game, and then once more in the last 20 seconds to win it all at 3-2. The trash talking continued throughout the rest of the half, making it more of a verbal competition than a game of soccer, but it ended quickly after the final whistle blew because they fled the field immediately after. After all was said and done, I was just happy that I did exactly what my dad has always told me to do by punishing them on the scoreboard instead of with my fist or my mouth. Hopefully that is the last we will see of that team, and that the teams that we will face in the league will carry themselves with a bit more class.

         As if that was not enough action for the weekend, today on our way to the beach we hit a whole new level of “excitement.” First, let me explain the form of transportation that we were riding in. We typically take minibuses around town during the day because they are extremely cheap modes of public transportation that allow us to get from one place to the next for well under one US dollar. With these vehicles, you really get what you pay for. They are extremely sketchy vans that pack people into any room possible and play loud music as they make stops up and down the main roads shuttling people inside and out. I could get into the stories that come out of your average minibus ride but you can’t really understand them until you actually step inside for a ride, and right about now I’m sure you’d just like me to get to the point.

As we were traveling along the windy road of Chapman’s Peak, which has the beach along one side and the mountains on the other, we reached a point where each person had to pay one extra rand (about 14 cents) in order to make it to the next stop. Unfortunately, and much to our driver’s dismay, a couple in the front did not have the extra rand to make it. So our driver’s solution was to stop right in the middle of the windy road to let them out. Just as the man in the couple was begging him not to stop because it would cause an accident, a range rover slammed us from behind and forced us into the side of the mountain alongside the road.

As a result of the two moments of impact, the back windshield fell in on my friends and I (who were in the last two rows of the van) and our belongings went flying. Thankfully, we all managed to collect our bearings and escape relatively unscathed. Aside from some headaches, sore necks, and whiplash, there was not much damage done to the passengers of either car. Although, this being my first real accident, I was in quite a bit of shock and still remain pretty startled as a result of today’s events.

Anyway, we gave our story to the police, exchanged our information with the medical aids, and took a nice long walk to the beach in order to avoid riding in another bus for a while. In the end, we splurged for a real taxi home and sat to calm ourselves down by watching Disney movies for the remainder of the night. As much as I would love to finally dive into my exciting, happier stories from break, I am pretty beat up from the weekend and looking forward to a good night’s sleep. So please stayed tuned because blogs and pictures about break will be up soon! Take care! 

HEY EVERYONE!!! Just got back last night from an absolutely amazing trip!! I have tons to write about so stay tuned this week as I get back into the swing of things here in Cape Town and manage to post a few blogs about the past 10 days! Hope all is well in the US as well as all the other countries all you are studying in!!!