January 14, 2008
So I arrived in Cape Town last night. The flights were annoyingly long and very cramped. It took us awhile to get all of our luggage (which actually took longer than getting through customs) and finally we got to the house. The house is absolutely gorgeous. We picked rooms and I am living in the main house (not in the pool house) with my roomie Amanda Ploch. We originally had a room in the pool house but there was no bars on the window and we were right in front of the road. That made Amanda feel uncomfortable, along with the lack of security in the pool house like the main house has, so we switched rooms with some of the guys. If you look out our window, you can see mountains. I am not sure which one but it is definitely a mountain! Right now, it is really hard to be so far away from home. It is especially hard to be out of contact with everybody because there is no internet access and we do not have our cell phones yet. I will get used to this eventually though.
I am suffering from severe jet lag: I slept all of two hours last night. Part of it was definitely that I am really nervous about all of this. All of a sudden I feel as if I shouldn’t be here, that I made a wrong choice but I know it is just because I am scared of the unfamiliar surroundings. Besides, I can’t go home anyways what with Amanda coming in April (I am counting down the days!). Everybody has been really great though and instead of sleeping, like I should have been doing, I just sat in the pool table room (which also has a mini bar and everybody thinks that we should chip in money to fill up the bar with alcohol. Lets just say I am not exactly for that plan) and read my book. It is really strange, being in such different surroundings with no way of contacting anybody that I am really close to. Even though I am surrounded by 24 other people, I feel really alone.
Today, Vernon, the organizer of our internships that lives in Cape Town, gave us an official Cape Town greeting and told us what was on our itinerary for the week. We went to the University of Cape Town campus for a tour. They talked a lot about safety and pretty much freaked all of us out. Our tour guide showed us the middle, lower and upper part of the campus which, by the way, is absolutely gorgeous. People who participated in this program last year were not kidding when they said that it was part way up a mountain. It will definitely be a hike when we have to go to class. Unfortunately, we had our tour and all of our stair climbing during the hottest part of the day – I don’t know for sure how hot it was but it definitely felt like it was 90 degrees. We did not have any water with us and I thought I was going to pass out, from the lack of water and from the lack of food. But I stuck it out and after that, we left to go and get some food, plus to do some shopping for necessities. Since I got no sleep the night before, my necessity was a fan to drown out all of the noise. We also had to go food shopping, I needed to buy shampoo and it was really stressful. Plus what made matters worse was that most people did not have Rand (thank you Grammie Lyle for that!) and needed to hit an ATM but there was a power outage so none of the ATMs were working. We were supposed to get our cell phones today but there were not enough so I think we are getting them tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow we are going to walk around downtown Cape Town, visit the American consulate and eat dinner at a Jazz Café. On Wednesday, we are going to visit the Slave Lodge in downtown Cape Town and the District Six Museum. We also need to return to University of Cape Town in order to get our ID’s; this was supposed to happen today but due to the black out, the machines were not working in order for us to do this.
So I am here and I am safe. Right now I am just more overwhelmed by anxiety and nervousness than anything but I do have to admit that this is a gorgeous city (from what I have seen so far). Everybody is great here but I really miss everybody at home already. I hate feeling so disconnected from the rest of the world but what can you do?
Love and miss you all! Oh and so far, no baboon sightings.
So I arrived in Cape Town last night. The flights were annoyingly long and very cramped. It took us awhile to get all of our luggage (which actually took longer than getting through customs) and finally we got to the house. The house is absolutely gorgeous. We picked rooms and I am living in the main house (not in the pool house) with my roomie Amanda Ploch. We originally had a room in the pool house but there was no bars on the window and we were right in front of the road. That made Amanda feel uncomfortable, along with the lack of security in the pool house like the main house has, so we switched rooms with some of the guys. If you look out our window, you can see mountains. I am not sure which one but it is definitely a mountain! Right now, it is really hard to be so far away from home. It is especially hard to be out of contact with everybody because there is no internet access and we do not have our cell phones yet. I will get used to this eventually though.
I am suffering from severe jet lag: I slept all of two hours last night. Part of it was definitely that I am really nervous about all of this. All of a sudden I feel as if I shouldn’t be here, that I made a wrong choice but I know it is just because I am scared of the unfamiliar surroundings. Besides, I can’t go home anyways what with Amanda coming in April (I am counting down the days!). Everybody has been really great though and instead of sleeping, like I should have been doing, I just sat in the pool table room (which also has a mini bar and everybody thinks that we should chip in money to fill up the bar with alcohol. Lets just say I am not exactly for that plan) and read my book. It is really strange, being in such different surroundings with no way of contacting anybody that I am really close to. Even though I am surrounded by 24 other people, I feel really alone.
Today, Vernon, the organizer of our internships that lives in Cape Town, gave us an official Cape Town greeting and told us what was on our itinerary for the week. We went to the University of Cape Town campus for a tour. They talked a lot about safety and pretty much freaked all of us out. Our tour guide showed us the middle, lower and upper part of the campus which, by the way, is absolutely gorgeous. People who participated in this program last year were not kidding when they said that it was part way up a mountain. It will definitely be a hike when we have to go to class. Unfortunately, we had our tour and all of our stair climbing during the hottest part of the day – I don’t know for sure how hot it was but it definitely felt like it was 90 degrees. We did not have any water with us and I thought I was going to pass out, from the lack of water and from the lack of food. But I stuck it out and after that, we left to go and get some food, plus to do some shopping for necessities. Since I got no sleep the night before, my necessity was a fan to drown out all of the noise. We also had to go food shopping, I needed to buy shampoo and it was really stressful. Plus what made matters worse was that most people did not have Rand (thank you Grammie Lyle for that!) and needed to hit an ATM but there was a power outage so none of the ATMs were working. We were supposed to get our cell phones today but there were not enough so I think we are getting them tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow we are going to walk around downtown Cape Town, visit the American consulate and eat dinner at a Jazz Café. On Wednesday, we are going to visit the Slave Lodge in downtown Cape Town and the District Six Museum. We also need to return to University of Cape Town in order to get our ID’s; this was supposed to happen today but due to the black out, the machines were not working in order for us to do this.
So I am here and I am safe. Right now I am just more overwhelmed by anxiety and nervousness than anything but I do have to admit that this is a gorgeous city (from what I have seen so far). Everybody is great here but I really miss everybody at home already. I hate feeling so disconnected from the rest of the world but what can you do?
Love and miss you all! Oh and so far, no baboon sightings.
6 comments:
So how is the food? Have you had any goat testicles yet? hehe Don and I miss you :( It just isn't the same with out your smiley face. Have you gone high yet? hehehe I have to talk to your room mate about the 25 cent rule!
By the way Cailin, queen mum was scrounging in your room for junk food as soon as we got back from dropping you off. She thought you just might have some left...hehe
CAILIN DARLING!
Well I know that you are going to have a wonderful time in South Africa. It is such a beautiful country and the people are amazing! Take advantage of every second and every opportunity that you have there because it goes by incredibly fast... before you know it you will be on the plane heading back to the US. I know you will take advantage of everything this experience has to offer.
If you are desperate for a really good american hamburger, go to this restaurant called ROYAL on Long Street. There is also a really great wrap restaurant called NAKED. it is a really cute little wrap shop, i know you will love it! its also on Long Street but farther up, just before you reach the Saasveld Lodge hotel. THis way, I know you wont starve! lol.
I am interested to hear what you thought of the District Six Museum! I thought it was incredible. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
anyways, ofcourse I love you and am thinking about all the fun you are going to have!
Your huckleberry
chesnut
Oh, I just checked and NAKED is actually on Kloof street.
okay,
sala kahle!
Forget the goat testicles, you should be looking for the baboon poop. Don't forget it needs to be dried out first. We will split the profits. We'll make millions...hehe
Don't tell Manda or we will have to give her a cut of the profits!
Anyways we love you and know your going to have the best experience of your life.
Hey Cailin,
Glad to hear you have arrived safely in another world. This will be a great way to keep tabs on your trip, I look forward to seeing & hearing all about it.
We had a great time with you at Christmas, the boys are still thinking of ways to get you back!
Love ya! Karen
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