Day 15 - lazy Sunday

Today we really didn’t do much- we finally got to sleep in a little more and then the roomies and I went for lunch at Zorbas. We have a paper due tomorrow based on leadership styles that we’ve learned in class so we’ve been working on that all day. We  raged on the paper for a little while, then took a break for food or music or something that didn’t involve too much brain power! Tonight we had our second big group dinner. Last week we ate way too much so we’re implementing this new idea of will power…we’ll see how all that goes!

my greek pasta at Zorba's

the sunset tonight

            We’re leaving for ‘adventure week' in the morning at 5 am! We’ve got a pretty good idea of the things we’ll be doing, but we know we won’t have access to technology and such…this should be interesting.

Day 14 - the Goldfish people?

After a quick sleep last night, we got up and went to the Old Biscuit Mill with about 1/3 of our group. Since we hadn’t been last Saturday, the only day they’re open, and we’d heard such great things, we were super excited to get to go this time! It’s essentially a market with vendors with all sorts of foods, produce, flowers, jams and jellies, etc. We planned it so we could get there around breakfast, look around, then have lunch before we left! It really was quite an awesome place, there were people with honey, crepes, sausages, cookies, pastries, sandwiches, orchids, purses and bags and all sorts of things. After making a couple laps around to all the various vendors, we finally decided on breakfast- we were told that you should go see everything before you decide because there are so many delicious things to choose from!

 

yummmm

the "dressing room"

            Once we’d eaten, we went to look around again and then to go play in the shops right outside of where all the food was. We saw various neat tapestries, pillows and jewelry amongst other things. Oh! And I found a couple fun clothes I wanted to try on (!) and wound up in the oddest dressing “room” I’ve ever seen! It was a hanging cloth tent-like closet, more accurately.

            Once we got home, it was time to wash clothes- in the bathtub again. Let me tell you, this whole washing clothes by hand thing isn’t the most fun I’ve ever had. It’s quite a workout! You gotta stand all hunched over and swirl your arms around all over creation, then squeeze everything, then do it again and again! We’ve been trying to get everything all squared away for adventure week starting Monday. We’ll be gone for 5 days and we’ll definitely need clean clothes!

breakfast from the Old Biscuit Mill

            Tonight we’re going to the Goldfish concert- I’m still not sure what kind of music there will be or what I’ll be getting myself into, but I’m sure it’ll be tons of fun! Most of the group is going so we can all not know the words together. 

at the Goldfish concert

Day 13 - Robben Island

Today we had a tour of Robben Island, the island that was used to house prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, during apartheid in South Africa. We took a bus to the waterfront, then a ferry across to the island. We walked around the high security imprisonment where Mandela was kept for 27 years and were guided later by a former inmate, Thalani. He led us around and showed us Mandela’s cell and then told us some of his own stories.

            I was somewhat shocked to hear that coloureds and Asians were given more food rations and clothes and accommodations than blacks. I guess that somewhat makes sense considering apartheid ranked highest to lowest whites, coloureds, then blacks. I guess I just wasn’t expecting them to be treated that much differently that they literally would be served less food and given shorts instead of the coloureds’ pants and long shirts.

            Thalani then told us about some of his experiences while he was there- he was 19 when he was first imprisoned and was sentenced 18 years, but wound up serving “only 8” years. Only 8? Only? Sheesh. Anywho, he told us that a lot of the inmates couldn’t read or write and those who could then taught the others. Also, lawyers and doctors and other professionals taught others their skills. Of course this would have to be done in secret, the wardens wouldn’t allow it. His most touching (and enraging) story was one about his dad coming to visit him: The wardens told him he was to have a visit that Saturday morning at 9 o’clock from his father. That morning they told him nevermind, his dad had been shot and he wasn’t going to be coming after all. He later learned that people in favor of apartheid and therefore against blacks planned to shoot him that morning so he wouldn’t be able to go see his son. He was shot 3 times and became confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life…only because he wanted to go visit his son in prison! They only got one visitor per 6 months for an hour, by the way. We were all pretty surprised that this man would be able to come back here and do tours at the place that imprisoned and tortured him.

Nelson Mandela's cell

Day 12 - #winning

Today was the day of the wine tour at Haut Espoir in the winelands (obviously) outside of Cape Town. It was absolutely gorgeous out in the winelands! We all decided we would live there. We were able to taste 6 of their specially made wines: 1 white wine, and 5 reds. Luckily for me, I actually like reds better! Most of the girls at our tasting table preferred the white. Then we were told that we would be dividing ourselves into 6 groups and mixing the wines to make our own concoction- the owner along with 4 of the other staff members would then be judging which was best, and the winning group would get a case of their most popular wine, the Gentle Giant. We obviously wanted to win! 12 bottles of great wine were at stake!

view of the vineyeard on the walk up to the winery

            Laura Claire, Katie, Ches, Erin, Blair, Katie, Sara, Sarah and Kristen and I were in a group and it was business time. First we tasted all the wines and wrote down our thoughts about each one and their particular tastes. Then it was time to determine which ones we should mix to get a nice blend. We had a vignier, merlot, cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, petit verdot, and Gentle Giant to choose from. We made a couple test rounds in small quantities before finally deciding on the proper recipe for our wine! After some creative naming of “proof is in the pudding,” we were pretty confident in our choice. Later, the judges took the 6 wine blends from the groups and went to judge them. We actually won! It was great! I don’t think I’ve ever really won something along those lines…I get in a big competition type deal like that, and I just look at the odds that there are 5 other groups and the chances of us actually winning isn’t that great. So then I just play along, but without such a competitive edge. This time it worked out really well for us!

Ches and Erin making the testers

our winning group with Rob, the vinyeard owner

our winning bottle!

            After the wine tasting the bus took us into the town area where we could go get lunch and possibly shop around a little while. We all tried to split up fairly well so we wouldn’t overwhelm one of the little restaurants around. This town was super cute- a little downtown feel with quaint shops and the wine lands and mountains in the background, along with trees and their leaves turning all the colors of fall- it all made for such pretty scenery!

Laura Clair, Katie, McKenzie and I at Haut Espoir

            Ish had arranged for us to have the opportunity to visit a mosque here in Cape Town during one of their prayer services. They pray 5 times a day, usually at one of the mosques in the city. Even though it had been a long day, we decided this was such an incredible opportunity that we probably wouldn’t get again- we went! It really was such a neat experience- Ish’s cousin is actually the leader of that mosque so we got to talk with him for a little while and have a Q&A session about their faith. We were all up in the second floor of the mosque, generally where the women go when they come to pray. From here we had a pretty good view of the men below and Ish’s cousin leading the prayer right about an hour after sunset.

outside Haut Espoir

the little town outside of the winery where we had lunch

            After our long day, a group of us decided to go to Wang Thai for dinner. When the waiter was bringing our food out a while later, he kept saying “chicken noodles, chicken noodles?” No one had ordered these chicken noodles apparently. Well…my funny-named food never comes, and everyone is convinced that those noodles must be mine! I’m going nono…I ordered some sort of 4-word something or another! So I finally ask him what the actualy, long name of the dish is and he says “chicken noodles” (with a duh attitude, I might add). Apparently that’s what I’d ordered. Whatevs, it was great!

Day 11 - Crazy Folks and Cape Point

Today we went out to see the South African penguins-they were much smaller than I was anticipating! I dunno if I was just expecting monstrous penguins or what…but they were only about a foot tall! I was thinking more waist-height…good thing they weren’t that big! There were so many I’m sure we would’ve been a little frightened by them! They are also known as “jackass penguins” because they make these noises that sounds like a donkey would! Oh! And Vince and Barbara Dooley came with us!

the South African penguins

us with Vince Dooley!

After the penguin escapade, we headed for Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope at the very southern tip of Africa. We were warned to beware of the baboons; apparently they can be quite vicious! We hiked up the small mountain terrain at the cape and got some good pictures. After Cape of Good Hope, we drove a little up the road for the Cape Point, commonly referred to as the southernmost tip of Africa- it’s not! Cape Aghulus actually is! I don’t know why that’s such a common misconception…ah well. We ran into all these crazy Chinese people while we were up there! None of us could understand the other but they sure were laughing like crazy folks!

me posing like the penguin

Ches, Grace, me, Laura Claire, Blair and Erin and I at Cape Point

the crazy Chinese lady motioning to Sophie to get help onto the rock!

Day 10 - Fiery Drinks...

First of all, today is my big brother’s birthday! Don’t worry Sean, I won’t tell ‘em how old you’re getting – that is, if you can even read this without your bifocals anyway ;)

This morning was our community group’s WOW morning- Now, I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I’m guessing it’s just a reason to get people up in front of the group and professors and speakers and have us make fools of ourselves. Or maybe just to pump everyone up? Have a good morning laugh to start the day out right? Get us out of our comfort zones? I dunno. Doesn’t matter, really- it was fun! We made up a Global L.E.A.D. rap (yes, rap- real gangsta) to Smash Mouth’s “All Star.” And it went a little somethin’ like this:

Soooooommmeebody once told me Cape Town was gonna own me,

But now we’re here and seizing the day

We had that tourist look with our camera and our blue book

And the letters “USA” on our forehead

Well, the days start comin’ and they don’t stop comin’

Climbed Table Mountain and we hit the trail runnin’

Didn’t make sense not to Sunset Cruise

The friends were great and the waves were smooth

So much to do, so much to see so we gotta take Ish’s taxi

You never know so just don’t go, LEAD!

You never shine if you don’t glow

Hey now, we’re in Cape Town, get your game on, go, LEAD

Hey now, we’re in Cape Town, bungee, skydive, safari

And seeing the smiles of those kids,

If only we could dance just they did

**Disclaimer: please do not judge me for all these cheesy lines.**

Today we had the honor of having Vince and Barbara Dooley visit with us and speak in class. Lucky for us, they waited to start our WOW thing until they got there- ergh. Maybe I should find them and personally apologize… Anywho, they were absolutely fantastic speakers – charming, engaging, witty, genuine, and just all around enjoyable to listen to. I didn’t see one person nodding off! …as that tends to be an issue in some classes, unfortunately. Think about trying to keep the full attention of 101 college kids at 9 o’clock in the morning. It’s no easy feat, I assure you. The Dooley’s managed to do it with flying colors!

my sprinbok steak

Mr. Vince Dooley started us out talking about some of the things he’s learned about leadership through the years as UGA’s football coach among other things (and lesser schools…GO DAWGS!). His main points included the acronym P.R.I.D.E. and he was sure to specify not the kind of pride that crosses the line into arrogance. P is for preparation. As one team member put it- “proper preparation prevents poor performance,” the 5 P’s. He stressed that anyone has the will to win a football game, but not everyone has the will to put in the time in preparation for that game. R is for risk. His example of risk was UGA hiring him at age 31 to come be the athletic director. He said he and Barbara realized years later that they were the only two people who thought that was a “good hire.” I is for integrity. Mrs. Barbara went into more detail on this subject; integrity is the most important thing to have and it just takes one small move to ruin it and you may never be able to get it back. D is for drive and determination. Mr. Dooley taught us that drive and determination are more important than talent. He used Herschel Walker as an example. Herschel was a good player and fast, but two other boys on his highschool team were just as fast, and “that made him mad.” And his older sister was faster than he was! “And that made him mad.” He decided that he needed to do anything he could to get faster. He worked on starts and all sorts of other things to give him an edge. And finally he could beat those other two players on his team. But his sister was still faster! Also, Mr. Dooley noted that amongst some of the most successful people in the arts, sciences, sports, etc., usually were not the most talented in their family. It was their drive that set them apart and allowed them to be great. E is for everybody. This is where working together and truly being a team comes into play. It really was such an inspiring lecture (if you want to call it that). Mr. Dooley colored his speaking with splashes of funny stories about football, life in general, and his wife- his inspiration he says. How sweet is that?

Moving on to Mrs. Barbara Dooley - my heavens, she is something. She seemed to be such a witty, wise, positive, strong, and well-grounded sweetheart of a lady. And this is only after maybe 30 minutes of hearing her speak? I only hope that I can have her great attitude and outlook on life. She spoke mainly about overcoming obstacles- both the kind you can control and the kind you can’t do anything about. And her philosophy is that it all depends on one thing- your attitude. Attitude is really the only thing we can control. For example, she had breast cancer and remained positive throughout the chemo and radiation. She said once she saw the look of terror on her kids’ faces, she knew she would have to be strong and positive through the whole process. When she decided to shave her head, she bought wigs of all different kinds- blonde, red, long black with red streaks, and a spiked one.

A couple pieces of her advice include:

• The woman is the ‘thermostat’ of the household- if you’re crabby, your kids will be crabby and your husband will be crabby. If you’ve got a good attitude, your kids and husband will likely have positive attitudes too.
• Everything you do has a ripple effect on your family- making them proud, shamed, etc.
• Hit any obstacles you meet head-on. You’ll be able to handle them best when you have the determination to be strong and have a positive attitude.
• Never stop working on relationships. You have the power to make them happy and good or the power to ruin it.

live entertainment at Mama Africa

For the rest of the day we’re free to do whatever. As for my roomies and I, we will be resting, grocery shopping, doing yoga, and going to dinner at Mama Africa. A group of about 15 of us along with two other groups with about 50 people total all chose to go to Mama Africa. On the menu were items such as kudu, ostrich, alligator, springbok, warthog and other random items. I chose the springbok steak, and it was fabulous. It really did taste just like normal beef steak! I tried the others except for warthog- no one ordered it! I don’t blame ‘em. Sounds weird. After dinner we all headed over to Dubliner’s again, then to Fiction to end the night.

not lookin too happy about this traditional fire deal... but hey- when in Rome, right?

Day 9 - Irish Pubs and American music- yes, we're still in Africa. Supposedly.

This morning began the end of sleeping in! We reluctantly pulled ourselves out of bed and headed down for breakfast - a girl’s gotta eat! The wind was INSANE today! We literally were being propelled towards the building. It felt like someone was actually pushing you. Nuts. Absolutely nuts. After our fantabulous breakfast of the hot cereal concoction (this time everyone was OK, we knew something else was coming after) and eggs and bacon we made it down to class for our lecture on leadership styles. We then met in smaller groups to discuss the book A Walk in the Night by Alex La Guma, a personal story written about times during the apartheid. (I may or may not have actually finished reading the book…just being honest).

cooking dinner! they'd kill me if they knew about this...

            Today has been a super chill day, and I’m guessing it’s because everyone is preparing for our busy week. Tonight we’ve got trivia, Wednesday we’re going to Cape Point (the southernmost peak of Africa!), Thursday we will be going on a wine tour, and Friday we will visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. And all of these will be in addition to our classes in the morning! Oh, and we’re going to the Goldfish concert on Saturday - to be honest, I’m not quite sure what I’m getting myself into with this concert, but I’m sure it’ll be a blast!

at the hotel bar

            Tonight we cooked dinner at the apartment instead of going out to eat- gotta save some money! Laura Claire and Ches cooked eggs with peppers and onions and tomatoes, while Adams kindly made grilled cheese for the two of us, and I took charge of heating the soup. Everyone had been talking all day about going out tonight and we weren’t about to get left behind! We all went down to the hotel bar, the new hangout for us global leaders, and chatted it up with some of the students as well as the professor and a couple teaching assistants. Then it was time to call Ish, the taxi driver bodyguard man. (He’s not really a bodyguard…he’s actually quite tall and skinny – but he comes with us when we go out and keeps an eye out for us among other things). We all piled into the familiar taxis and headed to Dubliner’s, an Irish pub/club (say that three times fast). We proceeded to dance the night away with a fairly large group of our friends and some locals, along with the token creepers. The music at Dubliner's is like something you would hear on an oldies radio station back in the states. We had a nice sampling of Elton John, along with “Eye of the Tiger”, Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life,” Shakira’s “This Time For Africa,” complete with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Oh and here’s the kicker – “Sweet Home Alabama” on request. I kid you not. Embarrassing, I know.

Ches, Blair, Laura Claire and I dancing at Dubliner's 

The DJ- quite a character as you can see. And no, we didn't ask him to pose.

I’ve noticed here that not many things are uniquely or indigenously “South African” or really “African” at all. It’s really a mixing of many different cultures. This is obvious from the Irish club with American music, the famous Thai restaurant, Greek and Mediterranean food offered everywhere, gelato, and abundance of curry. This place is just an African-esque melting pot if you will. And a fabulous one at that!

Days 7 & 8 - R&R weekend? Yes please.

This weekend we were finally able to sleep in a little, which was awesome! Once we got up and got going, we went and met up with everyone at the Green Market, a place where we could look for souvenirs and traditional African stuff and haggle with the locals. Random items people bought included a bag, bracelets, a necklace, a ring, a fabric-type poster deal, and other small random things. After the Green Market, we decided to walk to the Waterfront to look for some boots! No boots were bought due to a time crunch unfortunately, but we met up with some other girls there and hung out for a little bit. Saturday night we had a roomie dinner- Adams, Ches, Laura Claire and I decided to go to Wang Thai, one of the restaurants right outside the apartments. We had fantastic food- sushi, pad thai, honey chicken, and spring rolls.

Sunday we finally made it to the Pick-n-Pay down by the Waterfront, a much bigger and better one than the Pick-n-Pay by our apartment. After our shopping escapades we decided to try San Marco Café down by the water for lunch. Again, fabulous food. I tried an African Chococino the waiter recommended, which is a coffee/chocolate/liqueur type drink. It came out warm with whipped cream, a chocolate stick, and a marshmellow on top. Yum.

Once we got back to the apartment, we decided to take another run to the lighthouse and back. Surprisingly it wasn’t as horrendous as it had been a couple days ago! Maybe I’ll finally make it to being a legit runner woman. We’ll see.

Tonight we had our first big group Sunday dinner at the Brasserie, the third restaurant by the hotel. We sat together in our community groups and took our turns going through the monstrous buffet. There were so many salads, breads, entrees, and desserts to chose from! It was insane how much food we put away. Vince and Barbara Dooley were actually at our dinner, too! They were an integral part in supporting the Global LEAD staff when they first had the idea to form the organization and study abroad program.

After dinner it was up to our rooms and time to read for our class tomorrow morning! 

Day 6 - mild fits of hyperventilation

We were told to eat a good breakfast, wear workout clothes, and bring water and a snack for this morning’s meeting. Needless to say, we knew something was up. At breakfast, we were served a bowl of cereal…without milk. Everyone was looking at each other like, “what are we supposed to do with this?” and “seriously?” About five minutes later, after everyone had just assumed we were to eat it dry, we were brought warm milk to add to it. Again, we were a little thrown off by their seemingly odd traditions. Amongst the talk of worry for what our plans would be for the day, something that needed good nutrition as a start, the cereal wasn’t quite going to cut it. I don’t know if the second course was originally planned or if the staff were just horrified at our looks of confusion and worry, but each person was then served a couple small slices of breakfast pizza with a small hashbrown on the side. That seemed to take care of it.

View from the start of our hike up Table Mountain

I really enjoyed our class this morning- it’s occurred to me that this trip is not only based on service, adventure, and history of South Africa; we’re focusing a good deal of our time on character building and incorporating it into our classes. For example, the other day we spent a while talking about our top 5 strengths- something most people weren’t aware of. We spent today discussing our core values and their importance. We were instructed to take 30 seconds and write down what we spend most of our money on, then 30 seconds for what we spend our time doing, then 30 seconds to list our core values. After this, we were asked, “do your values align with your time and money spent?” Sadly, most did not, including my own. Most of my money goes towards food, clothes and other accessories, or sorority things or events. My time is mainly spent studying, hanging out with friends and family, exercising, or cleaning. However, I had listed faith, love, relationships, being genuine and honesty as my core values. Do these align with the way I’m spending my life? Not really. And that was pretty tough to see and recognize.

hiking up Table Mountain

We were then asked to write five of our core values on small strips of paper. “Hold these papers close to your heart,” she said, we need to always remember these and not let them go forgotten. We were asked to throw three away in trash bags being sent around. For many people, groans were followed by feelings of resentment- they didn’t want to have to choose which of their core values to throw away! I held onto faith and love, and it wasn’t hard for me to choose at all. Again, we were instructed to throw away only one this time, leaving just one to hold close. This wasn’t hard for me to choose either. Faith remained, as long as I have my God, I have everything. As long as I have my faith and I stick to its teachings, the other values that distinguish good character will come.

After all the emotional commotion this stirred up, we were surprised to hear that we would be climbing Table Mountain this afternoon and that we would need to gather our things and meet outside for the bus to take us. Once we got there, to the bottom of the mountain, most people were shocked as to how we would actually climb this thing! It looked impossibly steep and rocky. We followed the staff to the trail and got to it! Within five minutes, most of us were quite out of breath and working with shaky legs and burning hamstrings. We decided it was like a stairmaster on steroids. As we continued to climb for an hour and 45 minutes, going in and out of the shade, snapping pictures every couple hundred yards, the air got thinner, our bodies got more tired, and the water supply dwindled. We finally reached the top, and let me tell you it was one of the most gratifying things I’ve done. I’d just climbed that gigantic monster of a mountain! I’m officially a legit, full-fledged mountain climber for goodness sake. Will I go back? Absolutely. Tomorrow? Absolutely not.

about 3/4 up Table Mountain

After some mild hyperventilating for pictures and such, it was time to get off that thing. Cable car was our method of choice, considering our legs would probably buckle if we were loony enough to try to hike back down the mountain. In case you’re not already aware, heights aren’t really my thing. I’m working on it. Anywho, we hopped in the cable car and were informed that it would be rotating. Slowly hopefully, I couldn’t help but picture the teacups at Disney World. We made it back to the busses and then to the apartments, where many a shower and nap ensued. Then we were off for dinner!

View from the top of Table Mountain

Me during my panic attack in the cable car going down Table Mountain

A group wanted to go to Buena Vista, we’d already been but they hadn’t, so we went along. Bad idea. It took 3 hours outside in the cold for the wrong orders to be brought out. Not the happiest situation if you can imagine. We dealt with it, then decided it was time to meet up with Ish- our awesome local tour guide, cab driver, and bodyguard- at Chrome, a club downtown. There was great techno music with a few American songs intermingled and I was ready to dance. A couple shocked looks from my friends told me they didn’t realize I was either 1) crazy, 2) outgoing, or 3) liked to dance. Nevertheless, we had an awesome time. A few people fizzled out and headed to another bar down the road that frankly made me sleepy, it was so chill. A group of us left to find Ish and got a ride home. 

on top of Table Mountain

Erin, Blair, Laura Claire, me and Ches

Lion's Head from Table Mountain