February 23, 2008

Another wonderful day in good old Cape Town, South Africa.First of all, I want to say, I want to move here.It is such a wonderful place to be, so diverse, so respectful, so polite, so modern, so understanding… not much like the USA, that is for sure.

So today, my day began again at the crack of dawn.After just 5 hours of sleep, I was up at 5:30AM again, to head out with 15 students to go river rafting down the Breed River.Our goal today was to have some fun, go rafting and to learn and see the wonderful bird life on the river.Today, I was trip leader for this trip, which is great, because I get money off on the trip to be the sponsored staff member for all of the students.(All faculty and staff get a chance to be in the trip leader role and they rotate around so we all get the same benefits.I am up to my fourth one so far, which really helps with the savings on the trips).

After a nice 2 hour drive up to the river, the company that we were working with had a very nice breakfast set up for us.With some yogurt, cereal, muffins, juices and fruit, we got ourselves the energy we needed to get ready for our 4 hour rafting tour on the river.Off to the water we go!!

The 15 of us gotinto two person kayaks and hit the river hard.The instructors and guides were great and really got into working with us and being part of our group, which really makes a great difference on them and the students.I do have to say, I love the South African accent, it such a great accent.And the way they talk… they don't say bus.. they say coach. And make such great sentences, not like our slang in the USA.Besides the point and that tangent, during our rafting we hit some nice swells and we had a chance to fool around with them.Stewart, the student who was in my raft with me, and I hit the swell nice and hard and our boat got flipped over and it was great.Falling into the water was such a great feeling on this hot day.It is fun to be at these programs with the students and be apart of this experience with them and to show them that we as staff members canhave fun, be responsible and be humans all at the same time. I think our students see us more as their partners in this experience withthem, than as an RD or a staff member, which pushes both them and I do have a wonderful experience together.

After our first two hours of rafting, we found a place to have lunch and to make our own restrooms in the bushes.. when nature calls you have to go.. no matter what .The guides had a great lunch prepared for us and we ate like kings before getting back into the water for our next 2 hour ride down the river.After switching rafting partners, we all had a chance to swim in the river, play some games along with each other and have a great time.And by the way, the sun in Africa is HOT and I am now RED as a chili… it looks good on me, but I know I will be in pain soon.

After our river rafting adventure ended, we headed back to the ship.Everyone was tired for the long day and were knocked out on the ride back.As we were pulling into the port area, we noticed again that the mountain was covered in the clouds again, which means wind and a storm coming.

When I get back to the ship, I ran into some of my other RD's who I have not seen all week, who were getting back from their trips all week and we headed to dinner to catch up.

We did find out some bad news today.One of the RD's had her debit card comprised and fraud from Brazil.Mind you, we left Brazil in early February.The frauders waiting to this week to withdraw all of her money and clean out her account and she just found out today.Not good news.Then some students came forward and said that they just learned from their parents that their credit cards and debit cards were too stolen and used from other people.We were warned when we arrived in Brazil to be careful with using our cards and reality is sinking in for us.I checked my account and knock on wood, no unusual activity.I only used my debit card once in brazil and it was for a dinner at a restaurant, which should be okay.I did use my debit card twice in Africa, so I am hoping nobody does anything with my account here.

After dinner, a few of us went out shopping for our last time, since tomorrow we do have to be on the ship early to help with check-in.Yet again, since the items are so cheap here and so nice, I spent another nice chunk of money in a nice African Store.The store ownerloved me and the other RD's, who rang up bills like 2,000 RANDS, which is American money is only $300 or so… no much to us I guess but for them, they were in heaven.

Well, that time has hit and I am beat tired and have yet another trip and full day ahead of me for Sunday.Stay tuned for more on the last day and for the great info on how boarding of the ship goes for South Africa.Students have to be on the ship by 9:00 pm or they get dock time.The captain has the right to pull the ship out of the port any time after 9:30 pm, with or without the full load of the students.Lets see if we leave at 100% or less.

February 24, 2008

Well, our last day in Cape Town and it was a fun day.This morning, three of the RD's and myself hopped on a tour to see the scenery of Cape Town, the local beaches and to visit the world famous Cape of Good Hope, the most south western point in Africa.(See the pictures and stayed tuned for more information in the blog).

Our tour guide picked us up and we were off to go!! As we drove along for our tour, we got to see many of the beautiful beaches, mountains and areas of Cape Town.This place is just an amazing and stunning place to see, with so much to do.I am not sure if I said this already, but I need to come back to South Africa!!

As you can see from the pictures, the scenery is just stunning and such a relaxing atmosphere.Many nice places to eat, to visit and just see in the area, that you don't get sick of it.

As we drove around for our tour, we had a chance to see South Africa's most infamous animal friend, the jackass penguins.These penguins live on the beach and people can just walk around with them and visit them.Now they do bite, so we had to be careful, but it was very cool to be so close to a real penguin and take pictures with them.I guess these penguins are so used to being around people that they did not even seem to budge as we came so close to them.This was a memory I would not forget.Take a look at the pictures and me and the penguins.

As we were leaving the penguin area of the beach, the tour guide warned us about seeing baboons around, as they are animals that just roam the area and are just full of mischief.Well for sure, we got lucky to see a whole bunch of baboon!! It was great.Some locals left some food in their car on the side of the road and these lovely baboons found it and were able to get into the car and ate the food.Since they know that they were able to get food, the baboon family just attacked the car and just ripped the mirrors off and were jumping up and down the car.It was just an amazing site to see, baboons, in a local residential area, running amuck around the cars.I was able to get some pictures of them, so take a peek at them.

As we left this scene, we were now driving off to visit Cape of Good Hope.Cape of Good Hope is the location were the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet, and is the most south-western point in Africa!!I was there, and got pictures of me at the world famous sign at the point.Interesting point of information with the two oceans coming together… apparently, when these two oceans meet, the water is very rough.In the past, many, many, many ships got into wrecks due to the bad seas.Hopefully, we will be alright as we pass out of the cape of Africa and head to Mauritius!!We are ready to experience some rough seas, so we shall see how things go from here.

After we got back from our 5 hour of the area, we just had our lunch and continued on with our fabulous shopping spry we were on.Shopping here is just awesome and I just kept on buying and buying the great items that I found out here.

Well, by now, it was 6pm, and it is on ship for the staff.. our time in Cape Town is over… so sad!!By 7 at night, the RD staff gets ready to help with gangway duty, which is always an experience… (you learn so much here, let me tell you.. this is like being on duty with steroids!!). At 7, we were still missing 600 students who were not on the ship.The students have an on ship time of 9 and if they are late, they get dock time.So for the next two hours, more and more students came flowing in to the ship, which is a good thing.But, yet again, these students try to push their limits getting their last minute drink game on, and still they don't learn about how this affects them later.

By 9, we were still missing students, go figure.As we got the list of the missing students, a few more of them arrived back on the ship and we figured out who we were actual missing.By 9:30 we had everyone accounted for and we were ready to give the all on board single… but yet more things happened tonight.We just got an announcement over the PA system that the pilot of the harbor would not let us leave the port, as the fog has rolled in and it is bad out.Currently, at 11:50 pm, we have not left the port and we are not sure if we are leaving Cape Town tonight, or even tomorrow.

Well, we shall see when we leave Cape Town.

Overall, Cape Town was just a phenomenal place to visit.It has such a character, such a dynamic spirit, such an vibrant atmosphere that anyone of you should come down here and visit.From the poor townships, to the rich, rich areas, to the beaches, to the mountains, to the safaris, to the hiking to all of the adventure thrills you can do here, Cape Town does offer a great vacation time for anyone.Don't let Africa give you that mental model of the poor, poor and the shabby houses, yes that does exists in Africa, but not here in South Africa.. well in some areas.

Cape Town is a two thumbs up!!Go for the visit.. see the world.What I was really shocked with is the stereotype that people from Africa are black..(Sorry for saying this), but in reality, they all are not.There are white African's, there are multi-cultural Africans, there are so many.So know I realized, just because some may look "black", it does not mean to me anymore that they are African American.This whole labeling with our color of the skin has a new meaning to me.I know being here for the past six days has opened my eyes to a few things which is really hitting me in how I do my work and live my own life now.

Well, talk to you soon.

Off to sea for 5 days….talk to you soon.