Molo! (hello in Xhosa)
I suppose I should tell you a little bit about where I live. The home-base of CCS is located in the University of Cape Town neighborhood, which they did specifically so we could blend in as students or professors. We live in an old extra large colonial home that has been adopted by the organization. There are 11 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, however, there are currently only 16 people (as opposed to the 30 it's capable of housing). I'll post photographs later on.
My housemates range in ages and are from all over the U.S., England, Canada, and Australia. Everyone is here for a different reason but I really like that everyone in the group that arrived with me have similar goals while in S.A. Every day breakfast begins at 7am, then we are split into two vans where we are all taken to our placements. Today was my first day so there were 6 in the van and one by one we get dropped off into our townships- whoever is dropped off first gets picked up first and so on. Since some of our placements are about 20-25 minutes away from our homes we arrive back to the home-base between 1-1:15. Lunch is served and we all eat either outside or in the dining hall. I can tell you that the food is soooo delicious-these are very talented and sweet cooks. The main chef is named Linda and she is the most adorable little lady I've ever met!!!!!!!! She reaches my hip, I kid you not. aaah she's so cute! In the afternoon we usually have cultural activities which can include language lessons, speakers, or things have that sort. Once those are over or if we don't have any at all we have free time. In the coming 4 day weekend i already have planned a Safari, Cape Wine tour, Jazz festival, Markets, High Tea, climbing Table Mountain, and of course meeting the fabulous penguins at Simon's Town beach.
Other noteworthy things: I'm really loving those South African accents! especially the white South Africans, but given that i hang out with an Australian I find myself thinking inside my head with an Australian accent.
It's honestly really lovely here in South Africa. And for those soccer fans-- they're definitely getting ready for the World Cup. There's signs everywhere and construction going on. In my "Day 1-2" post I actually have a photograph of the stadium that they are constructing specifically for the World Cup. Many of the nearby residents are not happy because of all the traffic it is going to cause on the roads. There wont be as many games in Cape Town as other cities mostly for that fact that Cape Town does not need a lot of advertising because it is a popular tourist city but there are other cities which need the incoming traffic more so.
that's all for now!
** I'd also like to add that the photograph of that large soccer ball is actually of Parliament. On the soccer ball it is written: "Parliament supports the World Cup" -which many people do not like because they're spending so much money on the World Cup for construction and ignoring their own people- the ones who need it the most-- the ones who need a home...
