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).
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| Ches, Blair, Laura Claire and I dancing at Dubliner's |
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| 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!
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