Birthday Fun!

On friday, we got up early and went to class. A few of us were feeling a little under the weather so we ran down to the local Drug Store to grab some medicine for them. Afterwards we tried to find our way up to the classroom. It is kind of confusing. We arrived about 5 minutes late. Our instructor for friday morning was a guy named Steve. He told us about his life in exile, his schooling, his current political involvement and what he wants to do in the future. He had an amazing story about his childhood. He was in exile and had about 5 different names. It was just a fascinating class. After class, Cole, Jesse and I went and talked with him about how he is going to be an great leader someday and that it was great to hear his story. Afterwards, he invited us out to a local concert that night. When we got done talking with Steve, we hopped on the shuttles down to the waterfront to get on the ferry to go to Robbin Island. Robbin Island is a prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Before going on the ferry to Robin Island we had lunch down at the waterfront. At lunch, the waiter came over and started talking to me. It was interesting because I feel this is happening to me a lot down here. Everyone seems really friendly but they always seem to come up and talk to me about things which is awesome because I like to listen to people's stories and talk with them. After lunch we went shopping in the mall area around the ferry dock and I bought a rugby sweatshirt and a cricket jersey. Oh yeah and a South African scarf. I definitely looked like tourist when I put them on. I was actually putting them on outside the shop I bought them at and they clerk that sold them to me was laughing at me. Its ok, that is actually the third time I got laughed at by people here. After this it was time to hop on the boat.

We got to Robbin Island and we missed the bus ride around the island so we walked through the prison. Our guide was actually a person that was imprisoned at Robbin Island. He told us his story and talked about Nelson Mandel and the way they use to get messages to one another in the prison. He told us that his younger generation came up with a way to use the toilet pipes to call each other. I thought that was really interesting and clever. We also got to see Nelson Mandela's cell. It was small. He also told us how the white people got more food then the coloured, who got bigger portions then the blacks. It was a very interesting time and a great learning experience. It was getting late, so we hopped on the boat back to Cape Town. The sun goes down around 6 pm around here and that was the time we were heading back so we got to see an amazing sunset on the boat. It was so beautiful. Man this country is amazing and beautiful.

After this we went to dinner at a local burger place near our house because everyone was pretty beat and still not feeling all that well. So, we kept it low key for most of us. Since it was my birthday I wanted to go get a drink and check out this band downtown. So about 7 of us decided to go even though we had to get up early on Saturday for the safari. We got to the place were the band was playing and there was a super long line. But we slowly made our way up to the front of the line and the bouncer let us in right away. The music was amazing. It is so hard to describe. One band had a guy playing a flute, someone playing a saxophone, and another person playing the violin. Ah it was wonderful. I am so glad that I went.

My birthday was kind of tough though. It was because I am an only child and this is the first time I really have been away from my family and friends on my birthday. So it was kind of hard for me but I made it through and had a great time with my friends here. Also, I get to say that I was in another country for my birthday and got to go on a safari.

So on Saturday, I got up at 3:30 am to post a quick blog since we are left at 4:30 for our safari. So basically I got about 2 hours of sleep on Friday night so I slept on the bus ride to the game range. The times I wasn't sleeping, I was watching the beautiful countryside and mountains and vineyards. We got to the game reserve and had some coffee. It was really cold so the started a fire for us. The reserve was gorgeous. We waited a little bit for the guides to show up. We started the tour off by seeing cheetahs. They are beautiful animals. Also, they are one of my favorite animals. We saw 7 of them. I was so upset that I forgot my camera battery charger because it was so cool to see them up close. But well, I will get one. So after the cheetahs, we went to the lions cage to see them. They had 1 male and 2 females. Wow are they big creatures. We couldn't go in the lion cage like we did with the cheetah cage because they are more violent then cheetahs. From the lion cage we went into the main game reserve. I think the guide said it was about 4000 hectares. We got to see zebras, rhinos, springbocks, giraffes and water buffalo. I think that is about it. It was so awesome. Man, we even got to get out and walk with giraffes. On our way back in, we saw to male giraffes fighting. It was a crazy sight to see. After we got in from the safari, Aaron, Erin, TJ and I got to go quad riding. Which is basically four-wheeling. We went out for a half an hour. It was great getting out and riding in this beautiful country. Except for on the way back in from our ride, TJ went through a big mud puddle and flooded the quad. Nothing happened to him but he just had to get a ride back to main reserve area where lunch was being served.

After lunch, we hopped back on the bus to come home. During this whole day, one of the InterStudy workers name Ajith was helping plan out a night for my birthday. He got us reservations at a local African restaurant called Marco's African place. It was so great of him to do this. So everyone on the trip went to the restaurant. We were also accompanied by Ajith, our tour guide Sawewi, Ouma, who works with InterStudy, and her husband. The food was amazing. I ate Springbock, Crocodile, Warthog and Ostrich. Oh yeah, Ouma's husband Armstrong let me try his food which I think was Lamb or Sheep stomach. It was pretty good. Afterwards, we went out on the town and experienced Cape Town's nightlife. It was cool. We went to a few bars and experienced the dancing here. It was a lot of fun. We had a couple incidents of things almost being stolen but we caught it in time. Also, the bartender told me to keep my wallet in my front pocket just so no one steals it from my back pocket. It was a lot of fun though.

Well I think that is about all I currently have to blog about. I am trying to keep up-to-date on things and am going to find a camera battery charger so I can post the pictures I have online. I just have to reiterate that I am having a wonderful experience and learning a lot about myself and the people around me. Next week is going to be a little tough to blog a lot since I will be staying with a host family but I will do what I can. Hope everyone is well.