After over 24 hours of travel time including a transfer in New York's JFK, Dakar in Senegal (Western Africa), Johannesburg in South Africa, and finally a mere 2 hour flight to Cape Town, we finally made our way into our houses around 21.00h (~9:00pm). A side note - this trip would prove to be packed with celebrities starting with Rev Run waiting just as patiently to board the plane going from Minneapolis to New York. Rev Run (Run DMC) has a reality show on MTV for those not pop-culturally sound. Some in our group got pictures with him but I have the impression that he was really just just entertaining the star-struck Minnesotans. Celebrity #1.
Upon arrival we met Ouma, Sephim0, Diane, Niki, and Ajith with the Iterstudy program based on the Cape Town U's campus. They showed us around the homes, gave us our cell phones we'll be using the next 3 weeks, and provided pizza. The homes are amazing considering the conditions we're soon to experience just minutes away from Cape Town. The entire traveling experience, moving into a strange house in a suburb of Cape Town where walking on the streets after sundown is "not what we South Africans do," and trying to gain a grasp of what is to come was completely surreal.
After settling into our houses (on Wegelegen Street just off the CTU campus), some of us sat around and played cards, some succumbed to the jetlag and went to sleep, while others tried to figure out our internet and cell phones - international internet access isn't easy/reliable, but I'll see how I fare.
South Africa is currently in their Winter season so the sun sets around 5:30 in the evening. I'm told it's generally "chilly" in South African terms -- "brisk" in Wisconsin/Minnesota terms -- with a lot of rain and wind... definitely not characteristics of weather in South Africa I was expecting. Regardless of weather, we're here in South Africa for reasons beyond our comfort. On the flights from JFK - Cape Town we met a guy named Chad who will be doing a mission trip in Cape Town for a couple months with a Church. Knowing generally what we'll be experiencing and learning what he'll be doing we immediately formed a connection with him. It's good to know there are other students throwing themselves into a city touted having some of the world's most criminals...
This blog was set up to view my experiences through the small lens of a computer screen. There's really no way one can know what is happening here without experiencing it for themselves. I'll try to give a run-down of what days' activities (places we go, monuments we see, people we meet) and then try to expand upon each with my own personal thoughts. Corny?, maybe, sure, but a way to express the events here in South Africa will not only be a way to show you all my perceptions, but a way for me to recall my time spent here a continent away.
To quote every single airline stuardess from New York to Cape Town, "Au Revoir, Goodbye, Tootsi"
Upon arrival we met Ouma, Sephim0, Diane, Niki, and Ajith with the Iterstudy program based on the Cape Town U's campus. They showed us around the homes, gave us our cell phones we'll be using the next 3 weeks, and provided pizza. The homes are amazing considering the conditions we're soon to experience just minutes away from Cape Town. The entire traveling experience, moving into a strange house in a suburb of Cape Town where walking on the streets after sundown is "not what we South Africans do," and trying to gain a grasp of what is to come was completely surreal.
After settling into our houses (on Wegelegen Street just off the CTU campus), some of us sat around and played cards, some succumbed to the jetlag and went to sleep, while others tried to figure out our internet and cell phones - international internet access isn't easy/reliable, but I'll see how I fare.
South Africa is currently in their Winter season so the sun sets around 5:30 in the evening. I'm told it's generally "chilly" in South African terms -- "brisk" in Wisconsin/Minnesota terms -- with a lot of rain and wind... definitely not characteristics of weather in South Africa I was expecting. Regardless of weather, we're here in South Africa for reasons beyond our comfort. On the flights from JFK - Cape Town we met a guy named Chad who will be doing a mission trip in Cape Town for a couple months with a Church. Knowing generally what we'll be experiencing and learning what he'll be doing we immediately formed a connection with him. It's good to know there are other students throwing themselves into a city touted having some of the world's most criminals...
This blog was set up to view my experiences through the small lens of a computer screen. There's really no way one can know what is happening here without experiencing it for themselves. I'll try to give a run-down of what days' activities (places we go, monuments we see, people we meet) and then try to expand upon each with my own personal thoughts. Corny?, maybe, sure, but a way to express the events here in South Africa will not only be a way to show you all my perceptions, but a way for me to recall my time spent here a continent away.
To quote every single airline stuardess from New York to Cape Town, "Au Revoir, Goodbye, Tootsi"
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1 comment:
Now these I recognize as your words - and fine ones at that. Good thing you clarified Rev Run, I guess celebrity status is in the eye of the beholder.
You're not there for the night life so staying close to 'home' will allow plenty of opportunity digest/interpret what each day presents. I'll look forward to each and every corny observation.
'Tootsi', interesting - I do recall from my past international travel that those flight attendants are quite different from the domestic counterparts you're familiar with.
Look forward to your second thoughts....
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