Chilled

This past week has been very “chilled” as they say here. I’ll just give a quick rundown of what each day held…

Sunday: Went to this church called Jubilee, which is very much like my school church His House! Everyone was so very friendly and there is so much diversity-loved it very much. We were invited for dinner at one of the worship leader’s home, and found out about their student ministry for UCT. I felt very much at home J Later in the day we walked about 5K to Kirstenbosch Gardens, it was a long, hot walk, and I introduced the inspirational alphabet game to a couple of my program mates. Once we arrived…WOW. Every day I am astounded by the beauty this place holds. As my friend Jess said “Every day in Capetown is beautiful, because there is always a mountain!” Going to Kirstenbosch, I honestly forgot about the mountain, and only thought about the flowers, but it’s right at the base of the mountain! I’m not sure if I’ll ever lose the awestruck feeling when I am in the presence of mountains, I certainly hope not.

Monday: Walked to upper campus for UCT’s version of Mainstage, we explored all the different clubs, got some free stuff and listened to a little music. When I say “walked to upper campus” it’s a really big deal, because it’s quite the hike up in elevation, lots and lots of stairs. I visited the Habitat for Humanity booth, the Cycling Club booth, and Mountian and Ski Club (they do lots of hiking, rock climbing and backpacking-not really any skiing…). I’m very excited to get involved in the campus life here at UCT. Later we had a group meeting with Angela (program director, who was actually the first person of color to appear on South Africa television! She is wonderful) and Ronell her assistant. A chill evening consisted of watching Lion King while eating Crunchie Snap cookies and drinking Rooibos tea.

Tuesday: Tour of the Castle of Good Hope and the District 6 museum, then lunch in the Gardens. Later in the day we biked back to Plumstead (where we bought the bikes) and I switched out the plain pedals for my clipless mountain pedals-so much nicer! And what a lovely ride! So good to be back on the bike (even if it isn’t by beautiful Giant) We picked up some wine on the way home to celebrate our bikes, and the fact that the wine is superb here and inexpensive, so many winelands and vineyards.

Wednesday: Walked up to upper campus again to register our computers, which was quite the process. The rest of the day was spent riding bikes! Ben and I biked to Halp Bay, which is over a mountain, and then all along the coast. SO SO SO INCREDIBLEY ASTOUNDINGLY AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL!!!! This ride convinced me that Capetown is the most beautiful place I have been in my entire life-and I have been blessed enough to have seen many other beautiful places. But nothing compares to this. I implore you all to visit Capetown at some point in your life. We had about four hard hills/passes to climb, but the descents were breathtaking, the combination of ocean and mountains is almost too much to handle. After a long descent into the city itself, I got a flat tire L and did not have a spare. So we just called a cab to take us back home, luckily we weren’t that far from UCT. That night several of us went to Jubilee Church’s Welcome Braai for stuents.

Thursday: Visited Yabonga AIDS clinic again, and then went to Manenburg elementary school to help paint the school all different colors. Yellow, blue, purple, orange and green. So much fun! The rest of the day was lazy, I cleaned my room, talked to many friends from home, journaled and relaxed. It was good. I figured out how to text from gchat and make phone calls too!

And now today! After a cup of tea and Sudoku, Megan and I walked to take out our recycling and then to the store. Then I started writing this post and making some lunch. In a couple hours our program is going to High Africa in the bush, a type of adventure camp, for our expectations workshop. All I know about it is that we will talk about expectations for the semester in our service projects, do team building activities such as high ropes courses, AND something called “the leap of faith” I cannot wait! Now I must eat my lunch and pack for the weekend.

Love and miss you all!!!