No longer in Africa

Saturday, October 10 – Off the coast of Africa
14:02
I SAW WHALES TODAY! Mission accomplished.

18:46
While I was in South Africa, I received an email from 43things.com - a website I use to list my goals. This is the email:
“Dear future self, 
I'm reminding you about your stated goal on 43 things, to "Take a Semester at Sea." How's it going? Have you looked into it more? Have you told Dad about it? Have you talked to the other parents about it? Have you been saving at all? I'm really going to get on your ass if you haven't. 
Sincerely,
Your past self”

Amazing, considering I was sitting at a hotel in Cape Town, with the ship in sight. I’m so proud of myself.

The safari was pretty cool! It’s silly to think about, but I’ve seen more animals in captivity then I have in their “natural” habitats. The safari breakfast was so damn good. I had... CHICKEN NUGGETS. Yummy! I also had this other thing that I completely forget what it is, but I loved it! I spent my safari with Viki and I made a few new friends - Kat being one of them. I don’t have a wild story about my safari, and the pictures tell the story.


Sunday, October 11 – Indian Ocean?
1:01
After my safari I got dinner, hit up the town and met up with some pals and went to a gay bar called the Bronx! It was pretty crazy! Some of our LLCs were there! Nothing too monumental happened that night. I saw some seals up close.

The next day was Habitat for Humanity, which at first I wasn’t all about. I thought it was going to be like the Ghana trip where it wasn’t very structured. It also started to rain, and I was getting down on the whole day.

The day quickly turned around. The rain stopped, and  the Habitat for Humanity group leader was this really positive guy. “Pass the brick. Passing the brick. Waiting for the brick.” He was singing songs and keeping the day light. I played with a few little girls. One of which starting to sing and dance “single ladies” out of no where. It was the most adorable thing ever. “I’m a single lady.”

There were also quite a few dogs around, and even some PUPPIES! I was hesitant to pet it, but after awhile I didn’t care because it was so cute. The children didn’t seem to know how to treat the dog, or maybe they were told not to mess with “strays”. But I witnessed a few of them throwing rocks at the dogs, or mistreating the dogs in some way. Naturally, I tried to teach them how to pet the puppy and told them to treat it nice.

The group of students we went with was awesome. I was really impressed with one of the students in particular, Luke. The couple we were building the house for was deaf. Luke took two years of ASL and started to sign to them. It made their day. They wanted to be able to talk to us, ask as where we’re from, what we’re about and thank us for building their house - but they couldn’t. Luke was also really awesome with the children. Luke shared this part of the day at Post Port that I was sad I missed. The Habitat for Humanity group leader, the one that had his spirits up the whole day and made the experience a hundred times better, told Luke why he was a part of Habitat. Luke commented that his house must be really nice, but was shocked to find out that no - it wasn’t. The man lived in a shack, with a hole in the ceiling and explained that he won’t have a house, like the ones he builds, until he’s done helping. And he won’t be done helping until there’s no more need for help.

Another good story from the day: during a little “tour” of other finished Habitat homes, a little boy was given a toy car by another girl from our group. I don’t know if I mentioned earlier - but you’re not supposed to give the children anything, because then they will always expect it and it will create problems. Well, this little boy was trying to hide the car in my pocket to try to get another one, acting like he never got one to begin with. I tried to teach him a lesson, by telling him he should be grateful that he got one. The little boy slapped me. Everyone was in disbelief and all I could do was tell him that it wasn’t nice to do that and to not do it again. Lost in translation, I assume.

After a pretty eventful day at Habitat for Humanity and a nap, a group of my friends and I hit up the town for the last night in Cape Town. We started off at Mitchells, where we took a few shots. As we were leaving, we ran into Ryan - which I was so stoked about. He was already drunk, and being hilarious.

The big group of us went to the Dubliner - where I went on the first night. I had a much better experience the second time around. I got to do some bonding with my roommate and best friend. And I made MORE new friends, like Brian from my West and the World class and Sally and quite a few others.

After being super stoked about Sweet Caroline coming on, we all walked to The Bronx where the real fun went down. Within 15 minutes of being there, Jackie, Ryan and I met Willem. He’s this really rad local, that I’m so glad we met. He was really nice. So hospitable - bought all of us shots and a drink! I wish you all could of met him. I think this night can be best summed up with pictures, a good laugh and explaining that last night was a good night.

My final day in South Africa was wonderful. I went the Operation Hunger field program. Matt ended up going on the same trip, along with Brian and a few of my other friends. The kids were wonderful. They were so energetic and wanted to play and I loved it. There’s one boy in particular that I shared a special bond with. I just thought he was wonderful.

At lunch we collected all the food that wasn’t eaten, and all the oreos so we could donate them to the soup kitchen we were about to visit. During our little lunch break, Matt and I toured the area a bit. We found my car! Besides it was called a Gulf which I thought was really weird. We also saw this playground that was fenced in, and overtaken by nature. This is where I got my new necklace as well.

I had been taking the whole day rather lightly, just like I do in every other experience like this - so I don’t get overwhelmed. Well, then we got to the soup kitchen and then the lady who runs it said a prayer and I lost it. Although, I’m not religious, it was so touching. It was so moving how much they go through and how much they really are thankful to have food in their bowls. It was so moving how the children waited so patiently in line and how all the children went before the adults. I hope I never forget this experience.
South Africa is still very segregated. The area we were docked was predominately white. The majority of the workers at the mall were white. I didn’t see one white person in the townships other than the people we came with. It has a huge housing, job and education problem - and all of these things can be seen in the townships. I really enjoyed South Africa and I know I’ll be back some day. I hope I can bring some aid. I hope I can make a positive impact.