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!