I'm the foreigner??

I am writing this entry Tuesday night in a room with EVERYONE else. I am finding this quite difficult - but at the same time quite amusing. If I could figure out how to upload pictures I would think you would find this quite amusing as well. We are littered around the living room of the house. Ben in the corner under the stairs, Brittney on top of the stairs, Amanda in the corner next to the kitchen entry, Matt, Emily, and I squeezed onto the couch, Jessica on a lawn chair in another corner, Mykala in the far corner near the window, and Erika hiding in her bedroom somewhere. Imagine all of these people with laptops on their laps doing what I am right now: blogging (well, sort of). (There is an indie-pop soundtrack in the background - courtesy of Ben)

Okay, continuing...

It's Tuesday and we had our first FULL day in Cape Town! The boys had the great idea of waking up at 5:30am and running through the house making bird noises waking all of us up. Finally getting the motivation get ready for the day, I woke up at 7:30am and started to get ready. It was quite difficult to get up but due to the humidity the beds it was much easier than I thought it would be! We had an orientation with Ouma, Nj, and Christen at OCT first thing in the morning. Ouma and Nj are the Interstudy leaders who run the program which we are a part of. During the orientation we were given more detailed information about our housing and what we were going to be doing during our stay. Monday night we were given a set of keys for our house and were told about the ADT security system that was in place. I knew extra measures needed to be taken for our safety but it was surprising to me what extra steps were taken in order for us to be taken care of. Around our house is a tall wooden fence. On top of that fence is electric barbed wire and extra doors enforce safety within the fencing. It's hard to think my Minneapolis apartment can be dangerous when I am here in this third world country sleeping behind barbed wire and high fences.

Once the orientation was finished, we all got the chance to see the entire UCT campus once again. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It’s starting into winter here in South Africa, so it’s comparable to fall in Minnesota. The leaves are turning and the campus is gorgeous.This time we walked up to the higher part and got to see a great view of the city. As a group, we toured the campus and took a break in the student's food court. While we were sitting around talking, I took a moment to look around at the students in the courtyard. My group was laughing and making a scene, as usual, and it occurred to me for the first time since I arrived on the campus that we were the foreigners. We were the ones getting looked at. We were the ones who had the funny accents and who always brought out the cameras for the annoying pictures. On my campus in Minnesota, I see that all the time and I constantly am rolling my eyes and wondering what could be so intriguing. I’m definitely having that feeling of being out of my element here in South Africa.

We then headed over to V&A Waterfront for the afternoon. We spent our time walking along the beach and shopping. Well, we didn't exactly shop. The only stores in the mall were Louis Vitton, Chanel, Hugo Boss, etc. Not exactly my style - or my budget. In the late afternoon, Matt found a cruise ship we could ride on through the bay for only R80. That is only $10! It turned out to be a pirate ship. It was great! The show was a little gimmicky but the pirates were halarious and we all had a blast - maybe me more than most! We all enjoyed some beer and the ocean while getting a great view of Table Mountain and the coast during sunset.

This brings me to sitting and writing this blog. I began writing this Tuesday night. It is now Wednesday night. We are contemplating where to eat. I feel that is a daily challenge - there are so many choices! We are also contemplating shark diving. I think that is something I must do before I die (honestly, that might be that last thing I will do before I die - sorry Mom and Dad. When in Africa...) I'm also starting to feel vulnerable being in a foreign third world country...I'll describe that in more detail in my next blog. Thanks for checking in..much more to come!