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!