The Circle of Life

From the day we arrive on this planet

And blinking, step into the sun

There is more to be seen than can ever be seen

More to do than can ever be done

There is far too much to take in here

More to find than can ever be found

But the sun rolling high through the sapphire sky

Keeps great and small on the endless ride

It’s the circle of life, and it moves us all

Through despair and hope, through faith and love

‘Till we find our place on the path unwinding

It’s the circle, the circle of life

Earlier this evening, I went running from my house here on Church Street up through Lower Campus at UCT, and up to the Rhodes Memorial. I’d done this run before, but something was different today. While I was running down the drive to the Memorial on my way back home, I looked out over the city, lights blazing. I could see the Newlands Brewery lit up, the Newlands Cricket Grounds in the distance, Cavendish Square bright as ever, and Claremont gearing up for a night full of UCT co-eds celebrating the fact that the term has come to a close.  That’s when it finally hit me; the term is over, the dream is ending. After 7PM tomorrow, I’ll have finished all my exams, wrapped up my junior year of college, and will have to start packing up my whole life. Except, it’s a new life.

I started thinking back to two years ago. I was lounging around at home, waiting for camp to begin so I could start working. My simple suburban life was the furthest thing from where I am now. Study abroad may have crossed my mind once or twice at that point, but I’d never really seriously considered it.

I don’t remember how I ended up coming to think seriously about study abroad, and remember even less how I ended up deciding on choosing Cape Town. I’m not one with a penchant for spontaneity, but I guess something just clicked when I thought about spending a semester in this city. I used to think that choosing GW for college was the best decision I had made. Perhaps it was up until that point, but now I can say with 100% authority that choosing Cape Town was the best decision I have ever made.

Just think, had I never come to Cape Town, first and foremost I still may not have left the United States (it still boggles my mind that the first 3 countries I can say I’ve been in besides the US are South Africa, Zambia, and Botswana). I wouldn’t have been on a safari, and wouldn’t have camped in the middle of a safari park. I wouldn’t have climbed Table Mountain or Lion’s Head. I wouldn’t have done the world’s highest commercial bungy jump. I wouldn’t have toured Paarl wine farms. I wouldn’t have dartied at Mzoli’s, and eaten meat out of a communal bucket. I wouldn’t have gone to a rugby game at the rugby capital of Africa, the Loftus Verfeld Stadium. I wouldn’t have gone cage diving with Great White Sharks, wouldn’t have seen Goldfish twice (and vowed to do everything I can to make sure they end up big in the US), wouldn’t have gone to a festival in the Karoo.

But it’s not even the big stuff, the trips. It’s the little things that have been the important things that have changed my life. I wouldn’t have been so comfortable going to places like Cybar and Pig & Swizzle, where I am an ethnic minority. I wouldn’t have spent a semester converting Rand into dollars to justify purchases. I wouldn’t have tasted a Coffee Crush from Cocoa Wah Wah. I wouldn’t have discovered the beauty of walking 10 minutes to the Jammie stop instead of walking 15 minutes up to Upper Campus, showing the world just how sweaty Americans can be.

I can even honestly say that I had a great time getting my ear cut on barbed wire. That’s a story you don’t get to have very often.

Most of all, I wouldn’t have met the incredible people I’ve met here. To think that over 150 American students independently chose to come to Cape Town, through CIEE, and to have so many of those people become my friends is astounding.  I can honestly say that I’ve gotten to know some interesting characters, but most of all some genuinely good people. We’ve talked about this a bunch, but it really does ring true: it takes a very special someone to choose to forego the typical European semester and come to a place like Cape Town, a place like South Africa.

But even more than that, I wouldn’t have met the 11 strangers I’ve spent my semester living with. At our farewell dinner, I decided to make a toast; the gist of it was that we are the Real World house. Devonshire House is made up of the 12 strongest personalities I’ve encountered in a while, but somehow we made it work. Naturally, as with every family, there were fights, but we worked those out. More importantly, there were laughs. There were a lot of laughs. I can honestly say that the hardest part of leaving Cape Town will be saying goodbye to this crazy group of people.  

However, above all else, I’m happy I can here for one specific reason. A week or two ago, I was talking with Lacey while we spent the afternoon at the Kirstenbosch Gardens, and the conversation turned to how much we’ve changed since we arrived. Lacey, one of the first people that I met on this program, told me that she’s seen me become a very different person, in the best way possible. I can’t point to the specific traits of mine that have changed, but I know that I am not who I once was. I am eternally grateful to this city for changing me.

It’s fitting that as a close this out, “Rafiki Mourns” from The Lion King soundtrack is playing. It reminds me that I spent months playing this soundtrack in an effort to get excited for my trip here. Now, I’m mourning the end of this chapter of my life. I leave here with only one regret: not holding up a baby lion cub on top of a rock formation that resembles Pride Rock. And hey, that’s not a bad note to leave on. Plus, there are still two days left, and a lot of rocks in this city.

Burn, Baby Burn

Five months ago, I hardly ever did anything outdoors-y. I was more into life’s luxuries than worrying about being one with the Earth. Although I could easily buy into hippy ideology, in practice I was the furthest thing from a hippy.

All that changed in Cape Town. I stayed in my first set of hostels; I’ve done more adventure activities than I had in such a short amount of time (probably combined in my whole life, honestly); I’ve actually camped outside.

The highlight of my outdoor experiences in Cape Town? Afrikaburn.

Afrikaburn is, for lack of a better description, an art festival. However, not your average kind of art festival. Massive wooden structures are thrown up in a day, only to be burned down later that night. You refer to locations, for instance, as “between the Shoe and the Cactus”, and no one questions your sanity. You walk around completely naked, or in a strange costume, and no one questions your sanity. You do whatever drug you want, and no one questions your sanity.

Afrikaburn is basically just a place to go be yourself, whatever that self may be.

Rather than taking the bus/camping trip that was advertised to us, 10 of us decided we would trek up there all together. I drove with Lacey & Jules (and by I drove with, I mean was driven by), with only a minor inconvience in the morning when we got to the car rental place (I may have accidentally ordered a manual instead of an automatic, but by the grace of the Lord and Marlisa, we were blessed with an automatic minutes later). We decided to caravan with some South African friends-of-friends, only to disappoint them with the fact that we were American college kids, prone to American college problems. One broken clutch, one flat tire (ironically neither thing happened to Lacey, Jules, and I who were perhaps the least adept at working with cars), and 2+ hours on the longest, darkest dirt/rock road through the Karoo desert in the middle of the night, and we had finally arrived at an oasis; a sea of lights in the middle of the desert. The South Africans, however, were not pleased. We, as the newly Cape Townian “chilled” individuals we were, were totally okay with it, excited to be there, and not bummed to have left our 2 tents with Anders & Co. in their broken down car. Luckily, after some walking around, an interesting ride on a pirate ship/car float, a new South African friend (Jordan, god bless you for being so entertaining), and an ocean buoy around my neck, I happened to be returning from the middle of the desert to hear calls of “GERIK WHERE ARE YOU?” I was positive there was only one Gerik in the middle of the Karoo, and sure enough, it was our last car, arrived at midnight, tents and all. I drunkenly helped put up a tent – highlight of the evening, as it solidified me (in my mind) as an outdoorsman officially.

The next day was spent doing a series of wandering around, returning to the tents for toke breaks, and some sleeping in the desert. The heat out there, man it can get warm! Sometimes it can get as high as 37ºC (110ºF!!), and then it quickly returns back to the freezing cold. All in all though, there were some great highlights, including:

• ·      A delicious breakfast sandwich, courtesy of some folks from Rwanda
• ·      A giant heart, on which people wrote letters to deceased loved ones, which was ceremonially burned after a Buddhist prayer/chant session
• ·      A tent with incredible love poetry, all written there
• ·      A giant shoe that was actually a slide
• ·      A giant cactus that played trance music and was a dance floor on the inside, complete with 2 swings
• ·      Trucks: a pirate ship truck, a truck with an entire living room set up inside, a truck that had a treehouse attached, including swings
• ·      The most relaxing lounge tent, where they played what can only be described as literally the chillest music ever
• ·      Probably the first and only time 2 30-somethings will come over to me and ask “is this where you can buy mushrooms?” Sorry, but no
• ·      An opportunity to nap in the desert, starting out the warmest I’ve ever been, ending up the coldest I’ve ever been
• ·      Too many little kids for me to feel comfortable seeing at such a strange festival

The nightlife was also great. The trance cactus was probably one of the most entertaining places I’ve ever been, and the roving party truck was really enjoyable as well.

Saturday night was sufficiently draining, so I decided to sleep in the driver’s seat of the car (steering wheel? not all that conducive to sleeping near), and accidentally almost smothering Jules in the backseat when I decided to recline my seat (sorry Jules!).

The next day was more of the same, albeit slightly different as much of the stuff (including the giant Afrikaburn ‘monument’, three giant wooden wheels, and the COOLEST burning dancer exhibit I’ve ever seen) had been burnt. We decided rather than staying the full weekend we were really burnt out from those two days, and since Lacey was feeling sick (and was also nice enough to drive for almost 9 hours two days before) we were going to leave that afternoon around 4. Although staying would have been really fun, I definitely enjoyed the ability to head back home in one piece, as one more day there may have just done me in.

Afrikaburn will definitely stand out in my memory as one of the most entertaining things I did while in Cape Town. Certainly not my scene, certainly doesn’t inspire me all that much to head out to Burning Man (although, I can’t say I wouldn’t ever do that), it was something I never anticipated I would do, and something I can honestly say that I absolutely loved for what it was. Never again will I get such a chance to let out my inner freak, to not judge anyone based on what they’re wearing/what they look like, and to just have fun with friends in literally the middle of nowhere. Although I might be Afrikaburntout right now, it was certainly worth every moment being spent tired.

Whistle While You Work

Just whistle while you work

Put on that grin and start right in to whistle loud and long

Just hum a merry tune

Just do your best and take a rest and sing yourself a song

When there's too much to do

Don't let it bother you, forget your troubles,

Try to be just like a cheerful chick-a-dee

And whistle while you work

Come on get smart, tune up and start

To whistle while you work

Routines. They develop once you’ve become comfortable in a place, right? That’s how I’ve come to view the last few weeks in Cape Town. For the last two or three weeks, I’ve gotten into the rhythm of doing the same things, and am starting to get restless. It’s mainly the work to blame – UCT is really starting to get at me in a tough way. Between all the papers that I have in the near future, the reality that exams (which are 50% of my final grade in all my classes) are coming faster than I can imagine… it’s time to work I go! Perhaps that’s why I haven’t written on my blog in quite some time – it almost feels as if there’s nothing new & good to say. But, if I look back, I can definitely find some highlights to the last couple of weeks.

First off, turning 21 in Cape Town was an absolute dream come true. Despite how homesick I ended up for a bit during the day of my birthday, the two nights I celebrated with my best friends were some of the best I’ve had here. I turned 21 at midnight Sunday, at Cybar. I love that I will have that memory for all my life – all I had to do was walk down the street to the place where it seems like only my friends and I have fun. I took fire shots, danced the night away, didn’t remember midnight, didn’t remember coming home and just dropping down onto the floor in front of my friend’s room (don’t worry – wasn’t hurt!). All in all, exactly how turning 21 should be.

The next day I went to one class, came home, and relaxed talking with friends from home pretty much all day. By the time night arrived, it was time to start having fun, so we all sat around the patio table (not realizing it may have been the last time, given the current weather situation as winter sets in in Cape Town). A couple friends came over, then we went out to karaoke night!! It wasn’t your traditional stage-karaoke set up… you were just handed a mic in the middle of the dance floor. If you can, picture 12 or so drunk American college kids singing Man, I Feel Like a Woman, Don’t Stop Believing, and Bye Bye Bye, and you can get a picture of how the night went. Also, at one point, because it was my birthday, I was forced up onto the bar to dance on the pole… a low point for me, but then again, you only live once! Tapaigh do dheis!

One day last week Daniel, Ashley, and I were bored, and decided to go into town and just see what was to be done there. We went to Greenmarket Square, a big open-air market in the center of town, and then after browsing and not really having our attention caught, decided to walk to the Waterfront. The only problem was that none of us have a real understanding of the geography of town, and didn’t realize that the Waterfront was quite a walk from the Greenmarket Square/Long Street area. Oh well, it didn’t matter! We walked down to the Victoria Mall, window shopped a bit, and ate at one of the best ice cream places I found in Cape Town. Then we decided to take a cab home, and as we were negotiating a price with a driver, a lovely South African woman came over and told the cabbie that he “shouldn’t be trying to take advantage of these nice people”. I don’t think he bargained down the price further after that, but it was nice to hear someone being considerate to us.

This past weekend was Easter Weekend, meaning the city of Cape Town basically closes up shop for the weekend. But, one thing that was still open – SHARK CAGE DIVING!! The Gaansbaai/Hermanus area is considered “the Great White capital of the world”, and is the location where the Planet Earth series filmed a lot of their great white footage. And, yes, that’s where I went! After being picked up right at our door, we drove the 2 or so hours out to Gaansbaai, were served a delicious breakfast (with the good orange juice I first raved so hard about when I got here), and then headed out onto the boat. Despite some moderate sea-sickness, everyone had an incredible time. There must have been 5 or 6 different sharks around our boat at different points during the ride. Me, Ashley, Rachel, and Isabella were the last four from the boat to go in… perhaps it would have been wise (for the rest of the boat’s sake) to split us up, because we were, for the first 2 minutes full of complaints. I hated the cold, couldn’t breathe correctly, and couldn’t figure out how to stay down. But, all that changed once our first shark passed. Immediately I loved every minute of it. The visibility was really low, so I kept watching the bait (2 fake tuna heads on a fishing line), and every time it moved I’d get really excited to see a shark, and most times a shark would literally just pop into visibility and glide past. Twice, about three feet from my face, right in front of Rachel actually, the shark would open it’s mouth, biting for the bait. Imagine staring a Great White Shark in the face with it’s mouth open.. and WINNING. It was a dream come true.

I think Sunday (Easter Sunday in fact) was one of the best nights I’ve had in Cape Town thus far. As most people wanted to stay in, or were at the Pitbull concert (yes… that’s right, Mista 305 was in CT), I decided to just have a chilled out, couple of drinks out kind of evening. So, Lacey, Anders, Austin, and I decided first to pop over to Café Sofia, where we hung out for a bit and got drinks. Since it was closing, we decided to go down to the Hussar Grill (the fantastic restaurant where I had my birthday dinner, and also almost ordered an entire bottle of wine for myself accidentally), and get some wine there (because it was so good the last time). Unfortunately, it was closed, but a nice waitress told us that there was a great wine bar called Oblivion on Landsdowne Road in Claremont. Not realizing just how far off Main Road that actually is, we decided to go for it, and took a cab down there. It ended up being super awesome. When you walk in, you see the great wine selection all up and down the wall behind the bar, reminding you of a great wine cellar. However, immediately to your right, past all the long benches that you can sit on, was a giant disco dance floor (a la Saturday Night Fever), complete with stripper pole in the center. It seemed to be one of the more classy wine bars, so we were all really confused by the pole in the center, but it was alright, we just accepted it and had fun anyway! The four of us sat down for a while drinking the bottles of wine we ordered, until finally we decided to leave. Unfortunately, cabs don’t seem to venture that far off Main Road, so we had about a 15 minute walk back up there, which was very unfortunate as it was wet outside and Lacey’s boots had almost no traction. Finally, after getting in a cab that couldn’t start (and because the cab driver was so rude), we found an actual ride home, and came back to Devonshire. Since none of us wanted to go to bed just then, we decided to hang out for a bit longer, and by the end of the night Lacey & Anders were both asleep in my bed, while I lay on the floor, so the first time I woke up I decided to go downstairs and sleep in the living room. Since I didn’t have a blanket, I walked into Anders’ room to steal his, ignoring the empty full bed in the middle of the room that I should have slept on. Needless to say, the next morning was hilarious for all of us, trying to piece together just how ridiculous we actually were.

Those are definitely just the highlights of the incredible times that I’m having here. I knew I had to write this now before I forget all of it in the haze that is going to be this weekend. I’m going to a festival in the Kalahari Desert called Afrikaburn, which is the equivalent of Burning Man in the United States. You can check it out on their website, because I don’t even yet know really what I’m getting myself into. What I do know is that it is going to be absurd, and I cannot wait to come back with some great photos and stories!!

Ex amicitia, familia

In all my orientations and talks about going abroad, there were two common themes: culture shock and homesickness. Culture shock? Haven’t really encountered it. Cape Town has it’s similarities to D.C., so I’ve become kind of immune to the differences. Perhaps it’s just lucky for me to be from a city to know what city life is like, which has been my blessing. However, as I sit here, on my 21^st birthday, homesickness has finally set in.

It’s not to say at all that there are problems with being in Cape Town. This place is perhaps the most beautiful, most interesting, and most fun place I’ve ever lived. I could actually see myself years out from now living here, practicing law in the Mother City. The people here? Fantastic. My housemates are my friends, my family in Cape Town. There’s no wonder that our house motto (fully credit goes to Remy on this) is ex amicitia, familia (Out of friendship, family). We are a family; a family that lives and dies together. A family that fights for each other, a family that fights with each other, but at the end of the day a family that really, deep down, loves each member.

However, there is one element missing. For the last hour or so, I’ve been chatting with some of my best friends from home. Christy, Christelle, thank you for reminding me of what I have at home. I am only homesick right now for the incredible things that I have there. There is no way to explain what it’s like to miss you best friends so much that it hurts down to the core. I would love nothing more than a day sitting on the roof of 2400M, or in “club 5-1-fo” with my best friends, laughing and relishing in the fact that we found people who operate on the same wavelength.

Talking with Billy & Allie yesterday also made me realize what an incredible family I have. Every single one of them knows what it has taken for me to come here, recognizes that this is something we don’t get to do very often, and has supported my independence. I would give anything to have any of you down here, just to share with you this incredible city. Thank you for recognizing that I need to do things that are outside the norm for our family, and for affording me the opportunity to live out a dream.

I hope no one confuses this post with any idea of sadness. There is no sadness in Cape Town – it’s too chill for that. However, I think it’s just an hour of melancholy brought along by celebrating my first birthday out of the country (and out of the only country in the world where a 21^st birthday is actually a monumental occurrence).

So, to anyone who reads this – my friends & family back home and my friends here – I love you all dearly. Thanks for your well-wishes from the States, and thanks for showing me the time of my life last night & tonight here. To all my friends & relatives: we’re all family. You’ve all influenced me in ways that you may not see, but in ways I can notice. This homesickness is not a bad thing – it’s just made me appreciate both what I have in the States and what I have in South Africa. And it’s made me realize that I’m, simply put, lucky. No matter what, it’s a family affair. Ex amicitia, familia applies to everyone I know.

Some Photos

Lion's Head sunset

Victoria Falls, on the Zambian side

17-month old lion cubs

A small herd of giraffes

Elephants drinking water

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

In the jungle, the mighty jungle

The lion sleeps tonight

In the jungle, the quiet jungle

The lion sleeps tonight

As I’ve never left the United States until the moment my flight took off over the Atlantic a little over two months ago, my passport was quite boring. In fact, it was just a photo of me. Now, I have accomplished another of my goals in Africa: I have enough entrance and exit visa stamps to have moved onto a second page! Hopefully by 2018 I’ll have to be ordering new pages!

The reason for so many new stamps, you may ask? Spring Break!! Not you’re traditional “Spring Break WooHoo” (kudos to anyone who remembers that episode of Friends) kind of trip, though. In fact, it wasn’t spring break; it was fall break, or as some call it here, “10-day vac”. For this trip, I officially made my first foray into the African bush, home of sleeping lions, giant elephants, mighty herds of giraffe, the elusive leapord, the spirity of the Zambezi (the hippo), and more baboons than I ever imagined seeing.

However, 10-day vac was preceded by an incredible set of evenings. I twice, in two days, climbed Lion’s Head for a sundowner. Now that I’ve done it three times, I feel like a pro, able to conquer every nook and cranny without feeling like I’m going to fall off. My climber’s confidence is growing every day, and it’s really getting me inspired to get more in touch with nature once I return home. But, the dream ended quickly, when we had to wake up at 3:15 for our 5:45AM flight to Livingstone, which essentially boiled down to me napping the entire time, including being on the terminal floor in Johannesburg in the fetal position trying to catch any winks possible.

By 1PM we were finally through security and in Livingstone, Zambia! Our driver picked us up, and drove us through what I expected to be quite a large city, as it is the 4^th biggest in Zambia. I have never been more wrong. There are less buildings on main street in Zambia than there are in Congers (and anyone from Congers would tell you that that’s not very many at all). We drove through town so that we could get to our hostel, the Jollyboy’s Backpackers. Upon walking inside I understand completely why it was voted the best backpackers in Zambia many years in a row; it’s not a backpackers, but a luxury resort. From the beautiful pool deck, to the indoor patio & treehouse-looking area, to the great bar, it had everything you needed to go on a vacation without ever leaving it’s doors. After settling down, and having my first experience taking 1 million of any denomination out of the ATM (I took out zKw1,000,000 which is the equivalent of $200, as the kwacha is exchanged at a rate of 4600:1), we decided to stay at the hostel for a bit, until we saw a sign for a restaurant called Fezbar. It was purported to be a Mexican restaurant, with zKw15,000 ($3) margaritas, so we decided to go. Little did we know when we walked in there would be 2 men passed out on the couches. Well, maybe they’re just people who got too drunk there, right? Wrong. It was the staff. The 2-man staff. Fezbar had an indoor area also, where there were painted American sport team signs – the most random, a Baltimore Ravens logo painting above the door. As well as a large screen TV where they broadcast such things as “movies and fashion TV”. So we ordered a round of margaritas, and then another round during our meal. 25 minutes later we still hadn’t received them, so we asked, and were told that we drank them dry off 6 margaritas, so they had to go buy another bottle of tequila, so we had to stay there until one member of the staff came back. Welcome to real Africa. After our meal there we went back to Jollyboys to have some drinks at the bar, where we met the other Americans who were staying with us, who had just come back from the Booze Cruise we were going on later in the week, and they were exceptionally drunk, so the night ended on a really funny night after people started throwing each other into the pool, half-drunk beers and all.

The next morning we woke up, and decided we were going to the Victoria Falls. After taking a cab there, we went inside, and saw everyone coming back soaking wet. Good day for me to where some heavy cotton shorts right? So luckily I was able to rent a waterproof bag, that later I found out turned out not to be too waterproof as my wallet ended up soaking wet regardless (though my camera was fine, which is all I really cared about then). There is absolutely no way to describe the falls that would truly do it justice. It’s no wonder at all that it is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World – it’s perhaps the most majestic thing I’ve ever seen. Because we were there during the rainy season, the water level was absurdly high, so the spray began about 10 feet down the path and didn’t cease the entire time we were there. We got to see the Falls from so many different angles along the path, each affording another incredible view, though some were incredible simple because you couldn’t see anything through the white haze of the spray. The rainbows, also, were absolutely perfect – no words can do it justice again.

After the Falls we went back to Jollyboys for a bit, and then decided to go to the Marumba market, a local market just outside Livingstone. It was much different than the market outside the Falls, where someone every 10 feet was yelling “hey brotha, come see what I make” and trying to bargain with you for anything from your socks to a hairtie in exchange for some jewelry or a tapestry or statue. The Marumba market is a local market where people go to buy their produce and clothing. Definitely an interesting foray into what Africa is really like. It was cool to see just how the other half lives. We went back to the hostel after that, and decided to call it a night early because we had a safari the next morning!

In true African fashion, we woke up at 6am only to find out that our safari was actually booked for Thursday, despite our request to have it on Tuesday! After we fixed that minor setback, we were luckily able to reschedule our events for the week, and that afternoon we were picked up for our cooking tour of Zambia! Our guide, Victor, brought us to a local market, where he brought us around, buying all the goods we needed to cook a meal. One of these, in fact, was a live chicken, which I got to watch a friend behead once we got to the cooking spot. Victor and his partners were full of some really cool cultural knowledge, including a great history of Zambia and its people. One of the most interesting things I found out was that its traditional for the women to do all of the work involved in cooking, including the slicing up of the pieces of chicken, which a girl will learn as early as 6 years old. So, we had our delicious Zambian cuisine, and went back to the hostel for a little bit.

At 4PM we departed for our Booze Cruise! After seeing how our friends came back the other night, and with a slight bit of harbored resentment about the misbooking of our safari, we decided to hit the Booze Cruise hard! The cruise went up and then backdown the Zambezi River, from which we could see the Falls in the distance, as well as some hippos and crocodiles. The bar was delicious, and unlimited, so we started our afternoon off pretty slowly, thinking we had a long time. Once we reached our turn around point, though, the boat kicked it into overdrive, and we started throwing them back pretty hard to ensure that we would have an entertaining night. Once we got back to Jollyboys, we were all a little drink, and drank some more, danced around, and went back into the pool. This may perhaps have been the only time when I felt like I was on a real American spring break trip, but it was definitely tamer than most, which is nice, because we had to be up 6AM again.

This time, however, the early wake-up was worth it. That’s because this was the morning when we got to do the LION ENCOUNTER. Lion encounter = walking baby lions in the morning. There were 2 cubs that we got to walk, sisters who were 17 months old. The place we were at trains these lions in how to be wild, lets them develop into a pride, and then releases them back into the wild. I can’t say when I’ve ever been happier in my life. I’ve been very noticeably obsessed with lions and all kinds of big cats for a very long time right now, and I knew that in Africa I wouldn’t rest until I had seen a lion. Little did I know that at some point in my life I would be able to rub the stomach of a 17-month old lion cub. Everyone noticed my elation, especially in the video they made us after with photos taken during the walk. I swear if I’m not featured on their next brochure they’re making a huge mistake.

We decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing at Jollyboys, definitely a much-needed relaxing day by the pool. For dinner we went to a really awesome place called the Art Café. It was founded by a Canadian couple, who after producing a revue of Zambian dance decided to move to Zambia and open a restaurant where they could showcase local culture. Unfortunately, we missed their dance show, but we did get to see some local village musicians perform, which was delightful. Some of my friends even tried eating Fried Worms, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’ve already expanded my palate enough here; worms wouldn’t been too much for me. Then we headed back to Jollyboys and called it an early night since we were actually going on our safari in the morning.

There’s no way to describe the next two days. After being brought to the 4-way border of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia, where we saw a lion of trucks waiting to cross the border (where some will wait for up to a week, because there is only one barge that brings boats across the Zambezi), we made it into Botswana, and began the safari! The safari started with a boat ride down the Chobe River (the lifeline of the Chobe National Park, where we did our safari), where we saw a TON of elephants (including one that tried to start something with us, and so many baby elephants) and hippos, along with many types of antelope and monkeys. From there, we had lunch, and began our first game drive with our guide, Leonard. Leonard is what you call an animal whisperer; he has a 6^th sense for where to find animals. Over the course of the next three game drives, he could take us to see almost all of the animals we cared the most about. This included about 400 more elephants (not that I counted, but I wouldn’t be shocked if that was a correct estimate), a couple herds of giraffe, the most hilarious baboon territory struggle over a table, many many more antelope (more than I really ever wanted to see, but they are everywhere), buffalo, warthogs, which are the funniest looking little things I’ve ever seen, dung beetles, and crocodiles, among a ton of other animals.

There were two moments on the safari that I will never ever forget, probably because they were some of the scariest things I’ve ever done. On our second game drive, we got charged by a very VERY large elephant. When we drove past it, Leonard stopped like he did in front of almost all the animals we passed, so that we could get a good look, and it was super close to us which was awesome. But, it was shaking it’s head in a pretty menacing fashion, so we drove forward a little bit. The elephant then followed our car onto the road, so Leonard drove up a little bit. When he did this, the elephant began to trot. So, we drove a little faster, and the elephant got faster. This continued for about 30 seconds of absolute panic, until we rounded a bend and lost the elephant for good. That’s when Leonard said to us in his distinct monotone “that was a legitimate threat”. One important thing to know about Leonard is that he was scared of nothing, so it was terrifying to have him actually be afraid of an elephant, which he said that had he waited a few more seconds to drive away would have flipped our car over with his tusks.

The second scary moment was also the most thrilling thing I’ve done in Cape Town. We spent almost all of our second day searching for lions, so around 6:30pm, when the game drives are supposed to end, he heard that there was a lion a couple of kays away. So we sped through what must have been millions of dragonflies (which felt like they were harpooning us as we drove through) to finally get to the spot. Leonard stops the car, and just says “remain calm, don’t make any sudden movements”. That’s when I spotted a sole lioness, out on the nights hunt. She came perhaps 3 feet away from our vehicle, looked at it, then started to slowly walked around to my side, where she stood for about 45 seconds motionless. I was convinced she was going to attack, so I was literally able to scream because I knew I was the closest to her, and thus the first that she could off if she wanted. However, she finally started walking again, and laid down for us to take some finally snapshots before we left.

I think, though, that the coolest part of the safari was where we slept. We had opted for the 2-day, 2-night camping safari, which meant that we were camping in the middle of the Chobe National Park. Directly in the game reserve. Our first night around the campfire the guides made us get up so they could show us 2 wild buffalo that were grazing behind our tents. Luckily I was exhausted so I managed to sleep through both nights pretty soundly, but my friends all told me that they heard a bunch of animals throughout the night. It was definitely the coolest first time camping for almost all of us, but probably something I don’t think I’m going to do again anytime soon.

Finally, Saturday morning we picked up and drove back through the game reserve and up to the Botswana border, and took our speedboat back to Zambia, and then drove back to the hostel. After a pretty long nap, I spent most of the day hanging out by the pool, before we decided to go back to the Art Café to do some crafts. We spent an hour and a half doing the most awesome cultural exchanging of my life. While these 2 artisans from villages outside Zambia were showing us how they make their pendants (which we got to help out on a little bit), we just got to sit around and talk about anything and everything, and I had such a great time watching the man sanding my necklace laugh at the pictures of baby elephants that we also found hilarious. Comedy knows no regional boundaries. For dinner we went back to Fezbar one last time just because we found it so entertaining, and then went back to have a fun last night out at Jollyboys. Some of our group ended up heading to bed a little on the earlier side, but I stayed up for a pretty long time talking with these really cool British people that were on their gap years but also staying at the hostel.

The next morning we woke up to regrettably make our way back to Cape Town. For the first time, I didn’t want to go back to Cape Town. Zambia was an incredible place, and I was very upset that I only go to stay there a short while. However, my mind was turned around a bit when I realized that the airport in Livingstone. There is only one gate to leave from, and with 3 flights departing at the same time, the situation got a little sticky. Luckily, our flight only took off 45 minutes late. From there, we had smooth sailing (despite a hailstorm) through Johannesburg and back to Cape Town!

#winning

So despite the fact that Internet in Cape Town is expensive, thus making Youtube video watching a legitimate calculated expense, I did have the luxury of watching the Charlie Sheen interview from a couple weeks back that everyone raves about. Though I don’t have tiger blood, I can safely say that after this weekend, I am totally winning. Everyone seems to agree here that this weekend was perhaps the best we’ve had in Cape Town thus far.

It started on Thursday, when after attending two classes (wearing a green sweatshirt to support my people, despite the heat) I realized going to the rest of my classes simply wasn’t worth it, so I left and went home to go to the beach. Except, we didn’t go to the beach. We went to one of the most beautiful places I’ve been in Cape Town: The Sea Point public pool. It is a set of three salt water pools that are warmer than the (absolutely freezing) Atlantic Ocean, with a great brick patio where you can lay right along the ocean. Ashley, Daniel, and I spent the day there basking in the beauty of the view (Lion’s Head looks REALLY different from there), and getting our tan on, before we decided to try and make it back home for my dance class. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen, because there was a TON of traffic through the city, and our cab just happened to hit another car during the ride home. Given the way South Africans drive around here, I’m shocked it was my first car accident! After dinner we went to this club in Claremont called Dakota, where a couple of kids from our program were celebrating their birthday. We stayed up in the VIP area for most of the night, and I had a BLAST hanging out with some American friends. The only time I left the upper level was when Daniel, Kayla, and I were going to go downstairs to dance, but I accidentally slipped and fell down the stairs and ran back out of sheer embarrassment. Ooops! After a couple of hours we went back home, because most of my friends were going to Crystal Pools, but I stayed in order to go to volunteering the next day.

Friday I woke up, and decided that I was going to go shopping first. I went across the street to a cool store, and bought my first pair of new jeans in South Africa. Interestingly, I learned that they only make jeans in length 33 (bad news for someone like me who wears length 30 at home), because the style here is to roll up your jeans. Annoying, but I liked the jeans. After Daniel and I attempted to go to volunteering, we went to the Cavendish Mall in Claremont. It was large and overwhelming, but I did manage to find a cool store called Canterbury New Zealand, the world’s oldest and largest chain of rugby retailers, which is awesome because it reminded me of Rugby back in DC (minus the bar and the great thousand island dressing). Also, I went to the Rondebosch Jewelers across the street, and pierced my cartilage! I don’t know why I did it, but I just did, and everyone seems to like it which is great because I’m still a little unsure about it, but whatever, it’s done!

Then came Friday night, perhaps the most fun concert I’ve ever been to. Everyone I know should listen to some music by this group called Goldfish. They are a local group, consisting of 2 DJs. But they are more than just DJs – one plays the double bass and the other plays the flute and saxophone – WHILE THEY ARE IN CONCERT. It’s incredible to hear them wail out while also bumping techno beats. Everyone else had been to see them before, but I had miss their last couple of concerts in Cape Town, and since this was their last I had to be there. The concert was at this really awesome bar called Trinity in Green Point; definitely the kind of place that serves the upscale clientele of Cape Town. I probably have never been as sweaty as I was by the end of the concert (which is certainly saying a lot), but it was ABSOLUTELY incredible to be there – the energy was SO electric. They’re actually playing in New York this week, which makes me really upset because I would LOVE nothing more than to see them again in concert here.

Saturday morning I woke up, planning to do all my homework. However, after returning some DVDs to the video store, I saw an email from my history professor saying that we were given a 5 day extension on our paper for after break, so when Anders asked me if I wanted to go to Old Biscuit Mill, I couldn’t say anything but yes. Old Biscuit Mill is a huge tourist attraction, but it’s cool because it’s also really packed with locals. It’s essentially a farmer’s market that is open every Saturday, but it’s more than that; they have crafts & clothing, as well as some of the most delicious food I’ve ever had. I tried an ostrich burger for the second time, this time with guacamole, and I’ve officially decided that ostrich is among my favorite meats. Luckily, it’s also super super good for you! However, Saturday was potentially one of the hottest days I’ve experienced in Cape Town, and since there is hardly any air ventilation in the food tent, we had to leave pretty quickly, and drove over to meet Ashley, Isabella, Kayla, & Dave at the pool in Sea Point. I spent about 4 hours at the pool, wearing SPF 6 (thank god for tanning oil & low SPFs) and got a phenomenal tan, which I hope to keep until I get back to NY. After a bit, some people left, and others came and joined us, and finally we decided to go home. But, before we went home, we decided to eat at a place called Ocean Basket in Sea Point, where I had some absolutely delicious Kingklip. From there, we went back to Rondebosch.

We got back home around 6, which was a problem, because we had planned to leave for Cape Town Carnival by 8! While we were out, some of my housemates had gone and bought hats, wigs, and masks to wear, mainly on my advice, as I had told them about what a Carnival was like in the Caribbean. Because I didn’t have a costume, I scrounged around for some items, and luckily Alex had a South African flag that I pinned around my neck as a cape, as well as a fedora for me to wear. After having a great time at home getting ready to leave, I joined the early group of people leaving for Long Street for Carnival! Once we got there, though, we realized not many other people were dressed up… So we may have stood out a fair bit the entire night. Oh well! Better to stand out, right?!? Anders, Jules, Lacey, and I went first to the Waiting Room, because we figured we’d have a better chance of seeing the parade on the roof than down on the crazy street. There, we ended up talking for a while with this couple who was sitting next to us, who were wicked cool. After that, some more of our friends came. At one point, I turned to some South African girl who was sitting near me to tell her that I loved her mask. They were really interested in my American accent, so I spent the next couple of minutes talking with them, including a scream session of “Empire State of Mind” after I told them I was from New York. After the Waiting Room, we wanted to go down into the street, where I promptly got into a dance-off with someone (and won) before I headed to Fiction to meet some more friends. There, we just hung out on the balcony, and watched the rest of the parade. When we decided to leave there, I decided to go back to the Waiting Room to meet up with Daniel, Lacey, and Jules. While I was ordering a drink, we decided we really just wanted to leave, so we started to head home. However, because it was Jules’ 21^st birthday and she wanted McDonalds, we walked straight towards the Golden Arches at the end of Long Street, which was ABSOLUTELY packed. So, we got into a cab and went to the McDonalds in Mowbray, where the night ended on a moderately sour note, as there were some South African guys behind us mocking our accents, which put us all in bad moods. Combine that with the fact that fast food in South Africa is far from fast, it wasn’t a great pit-stop.

Sunday morning I know was going to be a bit of a struggle, and it definitely was. The reason for that was our trip to Mzoli’s. Mzoli’s is, literally, a meat restaurant, in a township called Gugulethu. Everyone brings a ton of booze, and hangs out all day, because it takes a couple of hours to cook the raw meat that you select from a raw meat stand outside. So, we waited around all morning, drinking and having some laughs. Luckily there was a liquor store close by, because my 6-pack finished real quick, and township beer is REALLY cheap. Finally, our meat came. Literally, exactly how it sounds: it was meat in a bucket. No napkins, no plates, no utensils. Just you, your friends, and a giant bucket of meat that you devour. I think between the 18 of us that were there, we killed all the meat in about 10 minutes. After that we hung around and danced for a bit, before heading out. When we got back home, we were all a little bit drunk, so we ended up, rather than doing homework or napping or anything, dancing around singing outside like fools. After about an hour of that, somehow Ashley, Dave, Isabella and I all fell asleep outside, only to be woken up by some visitors who were very confused by our outdoor napping spot. The rest of the day was just us recovering from that long afternoon, and finally we were all just wiped and went to bed.

Monday I woke up with every intention of spending the day doing work – didn’t happen. After returning the movie I had watched the video store (the first movie/TV thing I’d watched in South Africa – Paul Blart Mall Cop), I decided to go with Ashley, Isabella, and a couple of other friends to the beach in Camps Bay. I had only been to Camps Bay to go out to eat before, so it was a nice change to be on the beach there, which is literally just like South Beach on steroids, that’s how beautiful it is. Usually the beach is super windy, but it wasn’t that day, so we were able to lay out for a really long time. The sun was super hot, so luckily I got really tan. After laying out for a while, we headed over to a DELICIOUS restaurant called Sandbar on the strip in Camps Bay, where I had the most delicious Mexican Beef Burger before heading back home to relax. That night Isabella and I went over to Pig & Swizzle, grabbed a couple beers, and finished off the best weekend we’ve had in Cape Town thus far!

Sorry if I don’t write anything over the next couple of days – I just finished up a pretty hectic week of classes, and am now getting ready to leave on Sunday for Zambia & Botswana! Victoria Falls and a safari in Chobe National Park, here I come!