Loving this place!

            The other night we hung out with Jessica’s friend from camp who lives in Cape Town and some of his friends.  It was nice to meet some locals and see where they live—let me tell you their lifestyle is not too shabby!  After a lovely breakfast Sunday morning we spent the day relaxing by Dave’s pool (Jessica’s friend from camp).  It was really the perfect day.  We have been doing so much since we got here, so having a day to just relax with some friends was really nice.  We spent some time lounging on our porch staring at the perfectly blue skies as well.  In the evening Stephanee instructed us in a yoga class—it was wonderful!  Then we all attempted to braai (barbeque) hake and tons of vegetables.  The food came out great but I don’t think we ended up eating until around 10pm. 

            Cape Town is really incredible.  I have found an organization called GSCID (Groote Schuur Community Improvement District) that is working on improving a community near by.  Their mission is "…to improve its public environment to make it a sought after, attractive and pleasant destination in which to live, work and shop.”  The organization is trying to decrease violence in the area, clean up the streets, connect better to the community, UCT, etc.  It seems very close to what I have been studying back in Boulder, so I have contacted them about doing some volunteer work.  They emailed me back saying that I was the first person to offer to volunteer and that they would love to meet with me! 

            Today we went on tours of two museums in the city.  My favorite of which was District Six Museum.  It represents an area in Cape Town where people were forced to relocate from during the Aparthied, making it a white only area.  People’s homes were destroyed and they were relocated to townships.  Today people are trying to reclaim land that their relatives lost when they were relocated.  I bought a really interesting book about the redevelopment of the area, which looks at ways to ensure that culture of the area pre-relocation is accurately represented in the rebuild.  It is a very interesting topic to learn about it and has me thinking about post graduation work over here!

            Sometimes I cannot believe we are in Africa, because the contrast is so extreme.  Cape Town really shows you both the first and third world.  The townships make me so aware of how much I have, while parts of our program make me feel like I am in Hollywood (such as being transported around in a Mercedez van/bus complete with a television playing music videos and loud music).  Classes start on Monday, so we only have a few more days of this lazy luxurious lifestyle.  It is definitely going to be a little tricky to get back into the swing of classes, since I have had a now two-month break.  The weather is going to tempt us with the beach as well.  However I am really excited for the topics we are studying and service work we will be doing!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Love,

Catie

Hanging out by Dave's pool

Some of us at Castle of Good Hope

View out my window