Not Done with Africa Yet...

May 24th...

Today we drove about five hours to Stellenbosh, South Africa. The majority of our day was spent in traveling. Once we arrived at our destination the time was spent settling in to our accomendations.

A small group of us decided that we wanted Italian for dinner. We made our way to the only Italian restaurant in Stellenbosh. There the owner began giving us attitude from the about the moment we walked in the door. M. got frustrated easily and gave attitude back and we were quickly asked to leave. I don't remember when I've been so embarassed.

We ended up dining at "De Akker" the third oldest pub in South Africa. The food was great there but the service was a little slow. So far I have not been all that impressed by Stellenbosh.

May 25th...

Some in our group left this morning for wine touring. Stellenbosh is famous for its wines and its a cultural experience being here. Those of us who didn't want to go wine touring went to visit Stellenbosh University. It was such an impressive university, it had a mall for a food court. It was also interesting to hear the english and africaans used on the campus. This is a place I would want to study at. I realize this next comment is not very scholarly or something I'll use in my paper to H., but I have to say the men on this campus are all so very good looking. The Afrikaan men are very well built and it's easy to see why they make such good rugby players. Too bad I don't like those body builder types, oh well, it's not like I'm going to be studying at Stellenbosh University any time soon.

M. and I did a little shopping together. It was good spending time with a friend who I find easy to talk to. The rest of the afternoon was spent back at the hostel reading.

For dinner I made my own food basotho style. It was rice, gravy and hot dogs. Then for dessert K., S., and I went to a dessert restaurant called the "Naked Truth." I had a piece of chocolate cake that was to die for. The service was even great and the atmosphere was even better.

Earlier in the evening I had a chance to talk with M. over event taking place on this trip. It felt good to vent with someone.

May 26th...

For the most part today was reather boring. I spent the morning shopping with K., and S. at some of the better stores in Stellenbosh. The afternoon was spent reading and hanging around the Stumble Inn.

There was some conflict today about H. traveling to the beach with only part of the group. The beach does not interest me so I felt unaffected by the argument.

I went out to dinner at a high scale seafood restaurant called the "Fishmonger." It was different for me to be at a ritz place like that and be able to afford everything (great exchange rate).

After dinner I went with part of our group to the pub crawl organized by the Stumble Inn. We went to four bars and had a shot at each plus other drinks that we purchased. Someone in our group had several shots before we even left and was pretty far gone. He made an amusing drunk compared to those who don't, he kept making comments like, "NEXT!!" I was tired and not feeling good by the end, but it still was a fun night.

May 27th...

This morning we took our time getting ready because in the afternoon we are heading out for our next home stays.

We are all leaving with some uncertainty because we are not sure what to expect. And when we did arrive our plans were completely out of our control. Instead of staying with one family for the week we were being place with two different families. Our first family would be black and we would be living in Khayelitsha (the second largest township in South Africa).

Before meeting our families though we were expected to sit through some dancing routines. The dancing was done by youth from the Hope Center. The Hope Center also hosted the Way of Life Church, which is very active in the community.

Eventually we arrived at our respective host families. The house was very busy when R. and I arrived there. A group of teenage girls were here waiting for our arrival. It was a very busy evening of ansering questions, dancing and listening to their teenage escipades.

A few of the girls needed to go to the store for a few items and they took me with them. Before we even left they had me take off my earrings and take all money out of my pockets. I was followed in the streets for being a white person (a little unsettling having that kind of popularity because of the color of my skin). With my friends I was quite safe, but they told us stories of crime in Khayelitsha.