30 March 2013:
Today we took off to Jo’brug for our excursion. We arrived
in the early afternoon and then took some naps and unpacked and then headed out
to dinner at a great steakhouse where many indulged in the some really great
meat.
31 march 2013:
Today we start our Jo’burg adventure. We started off with
Soweto and then headed to the Hector Pieterson Museum where we learned about
the 1976 shooting. It was an intense museum, a lot to read and learn and find
out more about the events of the 1976 shooting. Then we headed to Wandi’s
Restaurant in Soweto to have some traditional African food, which of course was
delicious. We headed to a market to do some shopping for souvenirs and then
headed back to the hotel. Complete day, early to bed!
1 April 2013:
This day was awesome. We spent the day in Soweto at the Boys
and Girls Club where I was able to work with other students in the program and
some learners from Soweto to make a mosaic checkers table for their clubhouse
garden. It was absolutely amazing to get involved in the project and work side
by side with the learners to create a gorgeous piece of artwork that will be
usable for a very long time. We went to different places for dinner and I
happened upon a delicious pasta dish at a Mediterranean restaurant.
2 April 2013:
Today we went to Sharpeville and saw the museum that was
erected to commemorate the 69 people that were killed in 40 seconds on 21st
March 1960. This was a very moving day and everyone was very welcoming to us
and fed us a delicious meal. For dinner we went to WangThai and then headed to
Curl Up and Dye a fabulous play about the interactions between different people
at the end of apartheid. It was amazing to hear what the actors that were a
part of the play had to say after the play in regards to what their backgrounds
were. Just another example about how the apartheid is still very recent.
3 April 2013:
The apartheid museum was absolutely awesome! It was a great
museum with a great Nelson Mandela interactive exhibit with quotes, my
favorite! We also made our way to Constitutional Hill where we learned a lot
and raced the rain. This museum also had a great Gandhi exhibit. We ended off
the Jo’burg trip with, yet another, jazz club where I had the most delicious
grilled calamari that was awesome. It was a very long but good night.
4 April 2013:
We got up early today to get on a buss to head to Kruger.
After a very long bus drive we got to Kruger and went on a sunset drive. We
were fortunate to see a lot of animals including two male lions that were
brothers. It was a very cold drive but we had a delicious warm dinner waiting
for that and after dinner it was off to bed we went.
5 April 2013:
3:55am. I did crew. I know early. This is not early. This is
late. Yuck. Up I got and on the truck I got where my head bobbed back and forth
for the first 45 minutes or so until we saw a lion and lioness. This was cool.
I had very low expectations for this drive and it became one of the best drives
I have ever been on. I saw baboons, impala, vervet monkeys, hippos, elephants,
an owl, and three THREE leopard sightings! After the awesome drive we had breakfast and
took a bit of a nap and then walked around camp a little bit, which was soon
infested with vervet monkeys all over! My favorite was the one I called lefty;
he was missing his front left paw. ;( Spent the day lounging about and then had
a delicious braai for dinner and then off to bed for another early morning.
6 April 2013:
Saturday morning we were up and out very early and in
Jo’Burg by 12, where the rest of the group headed back to Cape Town and I
headed to Centurion for a week of work in Jo’Burg at the loveLife national
office. It was and awesome week!
7 April 2013:
Today, I explored Pretoria with one of my very good friends,
Jimmy, who is up in Pretoria doing an internship at the Danish Embassy. We
talked for 8 hours straight! It was awesome to catch up in another country and
talk about our two very different experiences here in South Africa for the past
few months.
8-10 April 2013:
These days are a blur. I was able to meet so many awesome
people from loveLife throughout the Gauteng area including the national office
staff and the Orange Farms Y-Centre staff and groundBreakers. It was great to
meet the people behind the programs and see how another province is
implementing these programs.
10 April 2013:
Back in Cape Town for one night and then off again!
11 April 2013:
Off the Plett! Today we took off on our road trip to Plett
Bay. Our first stop was George. We stayed in the most fabulous hostel I’ve ever
stayed in. The beds were so extremely comfortable that I never wanted to move
again. The owner was so nice and helpful too!
12 April 2013:
Up early we headed out to the Montagu Pass for a few hours
and then headed towards Knysna. We were able to meander our way there. We
stopped in Wilderness for lunch and stopped at the most gorgeous view spot, the
map of Africa. The Map of Africa was a beautiful top view of the entire Garden
Route and then on the other side there was a piece of land that that has two
rivers that cut out a section of the forest that looks like the outline of
Africa. It was beautiful. As we continued we also stopped to take a dip in the
Indian Ocean, well our toes took a dip. Then we continued on our way to Knysna
to our next hostel; another beautiful day.
13 April 2013:
Bungee Jump! I jumped off the tallest commercial bungee jump
today after spending some quality time with some elephants and that was all before
noon. After the bungee though we were pretty tired so we headed back towards
Plett Bay and hung around the town for a little bit and ofund some food. Then
we checked into our hostel and made our way to the beach. After the beach we
went back to the hostel to shower and clean off the smell of elephant that was
still lingering from the morning and then planned on watching a movie and going
to bed until one of the guys that works at our hostel invited to go see a DJ at
a township party who allegedly is the best DJ in South Africa. We couldn’t turn
that down! We ended up meeting the mayor and having some really great
conversations at the party. We couldn’t have been better protected if we had
brought our own bodyguards since we kind of did since we showed up with the
mayor. Pretty spontaneous and awesome night to round off the trip with a bang.
14 April 2013:
On our drive back we stopped at some cute places for food
and then some lookout places for some quick pics and a good stretch of the
legs. Made it all the way back to Cape Town in time for a dinner and then early
to bed after a long two weeks.
 |
| Ainsley, Audrey, & Liz |
The past two weeks were absolutely amazing and the next two
weeks are going to be extremely stressful as I finish up all my work for my
courses, internship, plan the end of my trip and start thinking about how I am
going to be able to pack up all the things I’ve accumulated into my backpack…
should be fun!
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