Adopted for the Weekend

Hello everyone, long time no blog! 


Sorry to keep you all waiting around (because I am sure you are sitting at your computers all day in hopes of a new post), but things have been hectic as usual around here! So this week I had many different things going on. Because of holidays, we have had a four day weekend due to Easter, as well as two days off last Wednesday and today. So let's start with Easter weekend. My really good friend Courtney from Trinity has been here in South Africa with me for the entire semester, and her parents decided to come down for about 10 days to visit. Because my parents were not able to take the trip, I took full advantaged of the DeVinney's pity on me by letting them "adopt" me for the weekend. On Saturday we took a trip to Robben Island, the home of Nelson Mandela's jail cell for 27 years. The tour around the island was very eye-opening as we got to see where a lot of the country's political history took place. Hundreds of the men who fought for the end of apartheid were kept on the island for many of years. It was really something else to finally be able to see the place of which we have learned so much about for the past couple of months. The island, being about 9 kilometers off of the peninsula, also provided a great view of Table Mountain and surrounding mountains. Once we got back to the mainland, we hung out at the waterfront for a really delicious dinner on the water. After we went back to their hotel at seapoint and later caught up with some of our coworkers/newfound friends at a club in Camps Bay on the beach. 


This past Tuesday, Sibs welcomed us with a special treat by bringing the group of Trinity students to Stellenbosch (the wine capital of South Africa) for a cultural dinner and overnight stay at her estate. We went to a restaurant called Moyo at Spier's vineyard. The restaurant was set up with big tents and treehouse tables, giving it quite an African feel. The food was put out in a buffet, serving all types of meat (lamb, chicken, beef, ostrich), fish, vegetables, and dessert. Now I am all about buffets, but let me tell you how dangerous they are for a bottomless pit like me. Around my third or so plateful of food, I was really starting to understand why my dad told me that I could not work at Coldstone for the summer because he would have to roll me out of there by the end of 2 months. Anyway, we had our faces painted and even got to join the locals on stage for an embarrassing rendition of Waka Waka. While my dance moves have improved rather immensely since being immersed in African culture, I hate to admit that I am still miles away from performing the show that Shakira can put on for a crowd. After dinner, we went back to Sibs's estate, where the DeVinney's once again took me under their wing by allowing me to join them in the cottage that they rented out. When I heard the word cottage, I knew that it would be nice because, after all, it is Sibs's house and anything that she owns is beautiful. But I did not expect our accommodations to be the size of an entire house, with multiple bedrooms, a dining room, kitchen, and living room. The cottage was a gorgeous modern place with white marble floors and black leather furniture. I am not going to lie,  I felt pretty spoiled getting to stay with Courtney and her parents while the rest of the students had to survive a night in a couple of Sibs's king-size suites that she has inside her house. The next morning, the rest of the students took forever and a day to wake up, so I went with Court's family to a nearby winery that was, of course, home to one of Sibs's dear friends. We were able to taste test 9 different wines, for no price because Mr. DeVinney bought so many bottles that it made up for the cost of all of our tasting. Needless to say, once we joined the rest of our class for lunch, it was rather difficult for Courtney, her mom, and I to stay tuned in the conversation. I guess 9 glasses of wine will do that to you. 


Now I would love to go on and explain the rest of my week's activities to you, but 2:00 am is quickly approaching and I have gotten an average of abut 2 1/2 hours of sleep for the past 4 nights (for some reason or another), so I am off to bed. Hopefully I will be more reliable to you devoted friends in that I will get back on track with updating my blog. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!