England!

Well here I am, almost done my week in France and I haven't even wrote a blog on england yet! I am currently in a small village an hour away from nice called st paul de vence, waiting for the bus to go back! It feels like so long ago that I was in Denmark already. I left Ditte on Saturday, and arrived at the London stanstead airport around 6. Security was intense to get into the uk! They asked where I was staying, where I met this friend, what nationality was she etc. Crazy. Made it through eventually, and then took a train into London, then 4 tubes and I finally arrived at Emmas! Was so nice to see her, was like we hadnt been apart at all. We decided to go out because it was Saturday night after all. I didn't have any nice shoes to wear so borrowed a pair of hers, they were just too small though so it ended up being a very painful evening! We went to Mohiki, then met some people who took us to Movita. Had a great time, me and Emma always have a great time when we go out together.

On Sunday, we made crepes, then I went to hillsong London for the evening service!! So good. I can't explain the feeling I get when I'm there. This sounds so lame, but when I walked in, there was a huge banner that said 'welcome home' and it was the same banner that hillsong cape town has, and that's exactly how it felt. I had heard one of he London pastors speak in cape town, but this was a different guy, i liked him though. After the service talked to a few people, ended up going to this wonderful vegetarian restaurant in soho nearby. London was good for eating vegetarian! Everything was labelled whether It contained any animal products, was suitable for vegetarians etc. France is not so good for that! On Monday I had my first sightseeing day. Decided to go to the British museum. That was cool, saw the rosetta stone, and a preserved human body that was super old and gross! Then I walked down to the grant museum of zoology and comparative anatomy. Basically it's a tiny museum run by one of the universities there, and it's full of animal skeletons and preserved animals in jars! It was really cool to see different skeletons, the penguin skeleton looks just like a penguin! I couldn't believe how similar the chimpanzee skeleton looked to a humans!

Then I went to topshop, but saw people with primark bags and was dying to go there! Took the tube to Oxford street where it was. Wow. I have never been in such a ridiculous crazy chaotic store! You could hardly walk, there were people everywhere! The queue for the fitting room was at least 40 minutes long! Just needed to get out, so I bought a few things that I thought would fit, and made my way home!  Came home to see Emma and her flatmate, James, glued to the news. The riots were going! We basically just watched the news all night, shocked at what was happening. On Tuesday, I took the train to Staines to meet up with Georgina! Was lovely seeing her, she showed me around her area, then we went to the pennywood park hotel and spa. She said it was a nice place but I didn't realize how nice it would be until she told me that when she worked there, she served Russell Crowe, and a bunch of the Chelsea boys came in as well. Crazy! It was super gorgeous, we pretended to be posh so they let us take a look around the spa, we snuck into some massage chairs, went in a sauna and an ice cave (room with ice for walls) and took a look at the crazy pools. Can't even imagine going there. We went and ate lunch outside on the patio, I had my first pimms which was delicious.

Came home and the riots were at it again, this time only a tube station away, at Clapham Junction, a nice end of town, popular shopping street, was being looted! Teenagers in hoodies would come and smash the windows with baseball bats or chairs, anything really, and then grab stuff! The cops arrived there after they heard about it, but there were just too many looters to do much! It's so stupid because it was mainly teens, with no criminal record, who heard about it on bbm and went down because they knew they could get away with it! Which most of them have unfortunately. On Wednesday I went to Camden market and shopped around, then stopped in clapham junction to see the damage! Lots of other people had as well, it was crazy, the damage that these kids caused. I took a lot of pictures, will post on Facebook at some point. Was interviewed by the Swiss national news. One of the big stories was the furniture store in croydon that was burnt down. It was 144 years old I believe, been passed down from generation to generation. And now it's gone. Peoples houses were burnt down as well. I just don't understand how these people could just tear apart people's lives with so little thought. Very saddening.

That evening me and Emma went to see love never dies, the musical sequel to phantom of the opera. It was good, although the songs weren't memorable likethe first one! The phantom had a really good voice though. And a surprise ending!  On Thursday I decided I should probably see some of the iconic sights of London! So I went and saw the London eye, went to parliament square and saw big Ben, and went in Westminster abbey. Was sad that you couldnt take pictures inside it, but it was really cool to see still. Saw the graves  of Isaac newton, Charles Darwin, William wilberforce, Robert browning, Handel, rudyard Kipling, Charles dickens, the bronte sisters, David livingstone, and a ton of others! Beautiful architecture, you can tell a lot of money has gone into that place over time. They also had a nice collection of wedding photos from the royal wedding on April 29, which was cool to see. Afterwards, I went and saw buckingham palace, pretty boring! That evening, Emma and i went for a long bike ride through Richmond park! That was cool because there were hardly any people there, and as a result there were deer everywhere! There was a herd of about 30 on the road, they moved over slightly for us and we passed them. The bucks are quite big! On Friday I figured I should have a practical morning, as nothing past Paris was booked at that point! Booked all my France stuff, and a flight back to Copenhagen to catch my flight home! That afternoon I went to see tower bridge and st Pauls cathedral, then a few of Emmas friends came over in the evening for a barbecue. On Saturday I went to Hyde park, took some pics, went through Kensington gardens and saw the palace. Then went to Notting hill, not really knowing much about it. Turns out there's nothing there. (apparently there actually is I was just not in the right spot or something) After that long detour, I headed to brook st and saw where Handel and jimi Hendrix used to live. Then I went to savile row and saw the store where the Beatles used to get their suits from, and then I saw the venue for their last live gig. 3 savile row, on the rooftop of an apartment building. Very cool. Then I headed home. As it was my last night me and Emma decided to go out again. Went to a place not too far from her house, had a good time. Was not so fun getting up a few hours later to leave London! Was sad to say goodbye to Emma, as well as the city!

Denmark :)

So I just reread all my posts (i have a lot of time to kill in the airport!), and it made me miss Africa even more than I usually do! I am planning on going back there though! In September i start school (double majoring in human rights & global studies and international development studies). Originally my plan was to do school for a bit, then in January 2013 go to Kenya and volunteer there, then do an overland tour down to SA (almost did it last time I was there, sounds so fun, go through 9ish countries!) and then be in SA for awhile. But now for my degree I have to do a practicum, so definitely going to see of I can incorporate Africa in there somehow! Anyways, onto this trip! Even in Africa was contemplating Europe this summer to see some friends again! Then in May I found a ridiculous flight deal (less than 500 return after tax), so I just booked it out of the blue! Am gone for 3 weeks and seeing Denmark, England, and France! So just about to leave Denmark now, what a great little country! Arrived in Copenhagen on Sunday evening. Didn't quite have all the directions I needed, so made a quick text to the boyfriend who quickly googled it and sorted it out (so crazy what technology can do these days).

Stayed at a really nice, central hostel for 3 nights, met some great people there! The first night I just walked around a bunch, took in the city. It is the epitomy of how I picture a European city in my head.
The narrow streets with the old buildings, all painted in various colours, with the cobblestone streets. So many bikes wow! It's great that they utilize that, as it is a great city to walk or bike to get around; more bikes than cars! Just have to make sure to not get in their way as they won't be happy!

One day me and another Canadian girl I met at the hostel went on a free walking tour, it was a great way to get to know the city better. Highlight of the tour was probably nyhavn, prety touristy, but very pretty. Is basically a river leading to the harbour with old houses on either side that have been converted into various restaurants and shops. Hans Christian Anderson actually used to live in one of those houses, snapped a pic of that. After the tour we decided to go to the free town of christiania. What a place like no other. Basically a big hippie village located in the city of Copenhagen, yet they have their own set of laws, they don't pay taxes, and they're not a part of the European union! Hard drugs used to be legal there, but then they had five people OD in one day randomly, so they changed it. But soft drugs are still legal, and therefore very prominent there. Aren't allowed to take pictures on the main street, but got a few pictures from other areas. It was a really cool place to visit, but can't imagine living there!!

After that we went to the church of our Savior, and climbed the 400 stairs to the top of the tower. The stairs got steeper as we ascended, until they were essentially straight up! The last 150 stairs were outside, winding up the spire. We thought there would be a small platform at the top, but no, the stairs just got skinnier, and then that's that! What a phenomenal view of Copenhagen though! Wow, what a beautiful city. I didn't realize how close Sweden was, could see it from up there! Almost took a day trip to malmo and Lund (in Sweden, only a 20 minute train ride!), but decided I'd rather spend one more day in Copenhagen!

Wandered around the city (it's great because I just walked with no direction or knowledge of where I was, but there are enough landmarks that you eventually run into one of them and immediately know where you are!) did that for a few hours, then realized I was fairly close to the little mermaid statue so I may as well go see it. Tiny, definitely overrated yet for some reason one of the biggest tour attractions in Copenhagen. It was swarmed with tourists, so I just snapped a pic and went on my way!



 On Thursday I managed to take the train from Copenhagen to skjern, where Ditte picked me up! Was so excited to see her. Drove to tarm (means intestine) a small town where she lives! In Africa, she would always eat toast with cheese and jam, and I made fun of her for it, until I tried it and realized it was delicious! Everytime she would eat something weird, it would end up being good. So I dont even question her anymore, as I know I will somehow love it. Dinner was this salad, strange combination! Spinach, beets, onions, cranberries, pecans, broccoli, grapes, apples, can't remember what else but it was just a weird mix! Then the dressing was yogurt, curry, ketchup, mustard, maybe honey, can't remember it all. But of course it was so good. Her friend came over and we went to go buy some Danish desserts! Had a proper feast, it was delicious. Then yesterday we went to Legoland! Before Ditte I had no idea that Lego was a Danish invention, but it's true! We managed to get in for free (was so expensive if we had had to pay) and had so much fun. Started on the kids rides, then worked our way through the scarier ones. The coolest one was called the power builder. They hand you a card, then you stick it in a computer and pick the level of your ride, and the moves it does! Then when it's your turn, you go up to this at like contraption with 2 seats and they put hour card in and off you go! We tried to make ours as crazy as possible, definitely succeeded, it was insane! Would whip you backwards to upside down, let you hang there for a second, then whip you and spin you around then leave you on the side. Back down, around, forwards, backwards, side to side, pretty much every direction possible. So much fun! Did it twice, second time was definitely crazier, think we made a lethal combination that time. Oh, and some crazy huge statues there made from Lego. Took lots of pics I'll put onfacebook when I get back, super cool!

Then last night we went to a festival in Borg, very different side of Denmark. In Copenhagen, everyone is beautiful and very fashionable. At the festival, everyone was a farmer. And lots of them knew no English! One guy tried to start talking to me in Danish. Ditte told him I don't know Danish. He was silent for a few seconds and then slowly got the words west coast out, then said blah blah and started. Talking in Danish telling ditte that he knew no english! Met some nice people though, had a great time. And now I'm off to London to see emma! Is really nice to see people again. Before Africa I had no idea that I would make such good friends there. Anyways will try to write another blog about London!

Catching up

Hello! Well it's been a long time since I wrote a blog entry, that's for sure! After Africa I met two of my friends in Paris and spent 5 days there, was a great time! It was a lot colder than I was used to, but was great to see my friends again. Not sure when I wrote the last blog in Africa, but I was actually robbed on my last day there, losing all my money, my debt card, and my credit card. Thankfully not my passport! Was in a tricky situation, but managed to get through it with a lot of help from others! One of the volunteers somehow had 500 euros on them that they gave to me, saying I could just send them the money when I got home! Without that money I actually would not have been able to get out of south Africa. In joburg, I had to pay mmm I think it was 434 euros or something stupid for overweight luggage, had a full suitcase full of souvenirs that I just could not part with. Had the police report and was hoping for a sympathetic person as I literally had 33 rand on me (less than 5 dollars), but no luck. Started crying, didn't know what to do, then remembered the euros! Went and switched it to rand, then sorted that out. Then called the fam and got them to arrange a money transfer via western union that I could pick up in Paris! They sorted out with my bank to get me a new card that my friends could bring to me. So complicated! Anyways, got everything sorted and made it to Qatar and then Paris. Spent 30 hours in the airport as my friends got delayed due to a blizzard. But we finally managed to meet up, and had a great time, aw the Eiffel tower in all it's glory, the louvre, Versailles (think we were the last people in the park), saver Codie, Norte dame etc! Then I came home, in beginning of may went to Florida for a week to visit rose, a girl I met in south Africa, and to see ditte and her Danish friend Louise who were traveling across the states! Had a lot of fun there, was nice and hot! And that's caught up until about a week ago. Am going to make a new post for Denmark as it won't let me see what I am typing now. Am on my touch and it's a little difficult!

Last Post from SA!

So I must say,
definitely struggling with leaving South Africa!
Tomorrow is my 21st birthday, as well as my last day in South Africa!!!!
I definitely need to come back here, I love this place so much!!
I finished work last week, and have just been taking it easy this week. Yesterday me, Emma, Sandra, Tueva, and Georgina rented bikes in Tableview and cycled into Cape Town! On the way back, we found a very nice cycling path that went all the way to Tableview, however on the way in, we braved the freeway, sketchy!! It was very hot biking around Cape Town, so we jumped into the pool as soon as we returned to the house. Was good fun though! Tomorrow I am going to go back to Capricorn and Muizenberg, say some goodbyes, maybe go to the beach in the afternoon, and then in the evening me and some friends are climbing Lion's Head to watch the sunset and the new moon rise (quite a popular thing to do out here). After that we're going to head out to Tiger Tiger I believe, and from there I'll be heading straight to the airport! (Not looking forward to that). From Cape Town-Joburg-Doha (Qatar) - Paris, where I will be meeting Brady and Jason, two friends from home. It's sad because I'm not excited for that yet, because I can't get past leaving here! But I know that we will have lots of fun there, and hopefully it will make coming home a little easier since I'll be with them. As must as I don't want to go home, I am excited to see family and friends though, and play the piano again!!! And to use a washing machine again!!  And to eat real food, as opposed to very cheap food.
I made a note on Facebook, entitled "So long South Africa" and tagged all my friends that I met during my time here. For those of you who aren't on Facebook, here's the text from it:

Even the thought of leaving this beautiful place is hard to handle. Sadly, I will be leaving early Friday morning.

However, this has been the best experience of my life, and I will always remember it dearly!

Over the last five months, I have....

Climbed Table Mountain, saw the big 5 on a game drive, ziplined, bungee jumped, skydived, rode an elephant, rode an ostrich, fed an ostrich with my mouth, fed a wild seal with my hands, fell in love with my class of kids at Sunrise, got my hair done about 500 times by the kids in the playground :), had a monkey jump on my head, got a foot away from a cheetah, watched a world record attempt for most surfers on a single wave, saw a whale, had 5 African boyfriends (ages 4-11), saw wild troops of baboons, climbed onto the roof of a shack and looked out over Capricorn township, spent many a evenings at Melting Pot & The Village Inn, blew my vuvuzela as I cheered on Bafana Bafana at Green Point Stadium, got addicted to Rummycube!, helped build a creche in a township, went surfing (in shark-infested waters), went to Hillsong church, went waterfall cliff jumping, went canoeing down a beautiful river in Wilderness, worked with an endangered species, the African Penguin, went to release a group of penguins back into the wild at Betty’s Bay, stuck my arm down a pelican’s throat, went to five professional soccer games (go Ajax!!), went on two road trips down the Garden Route, went to a surfing competition, saw Imogen Heap perform acoustically, oh ya and met her!, went to Robben Island and saw Nelson Mandela’s cell, went streetfeeding underneath the bridges in Cape Town, haggled my way to cheap deals at Greenmarket Square, enjoyed many Sundays at Caprice, a few Mondays at Mercury (stagediving anyone?), R1 shots on Wednesdays at Chrome, biked from Tableview to Cape Town and back as well as around the city, learned how to make the best pumpkin dish EVER, made friends from all over the world, and fell in love with South Africa. Cheers to all the good times we had, the memories we made, and all the other craziness! It’s been an unforgettable experience. T.I.A.! <3 <3 <3 

Imogen Heap!!!!!!

OH MY GOSH. IMOGEN HEAP. IF YOU HAVEN”T HEARD OF HER, PLEASE YOUTUBE HER BEFORE CONTINUING TO READ ONWARD SO THAT YOU CAN BETTER APPRECIATE THIS POST. 

I would recommend listening to “Hide and Seek,” as it my favourite song of all time!!!!!

Okay.

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW.

So before I go on about the concert, because believe me I will, let me tell you a little bit about how this all came to be.

Six years ago, in 2005, I came across Imogen Heap. Immediately fell in love, needed to get the CD, “Speak for Yourself”, but it wasn’t released in North America yet, so I ordered it online from Europe. My mom used to ask if I could change the song, because whenever I was on the computer, I would just listen to “Hide and Seek” over and over again. 

Unfortunately, she never came to Winnipeg. She did come to Minneapolis, but I wasn’t able to see her at that time. To this day, I still listen to Speak for Yourself all the time. It’s my most-listened to album, that somehow I have never gotten sick of!

About a week ago, I saw on Facebook that Imogen Heap was in South Africa! I immediately started screaming, stopped breathing, and had heart palpitations all at once, which is quite the task!!

I quickly googled her tour, and learned that she would be in Joburg that night and the next night, and in Cape Town the next Friday and Saturday night. I tried to buy tickets that instant, but all four concerts were sold out. I was heartbroken. After waiting for so long to see her, to be in the same place as her at the same time and not see her, was unimaginable! I was not that easily dissuaded though. I went through all the South African classifieds, but no one was selling tickets! I found a few people mentioning that they had tickets, so I emailed them saying that I would do anything for them! When that didn’t work, I then sent out a mass email to every person that I had met in South Africa whose email I had, and asked if they knew anyone who knew anyone who had an extra ticket. At this point, I was starting to get rather discouraged. My next step was to email Imogen Heap personally, and plead with her to see if she knew of any way that I could get a ticket. I went to her Facebook page, and saw that due to popular demand, she was thinking of adding a third concert in Cape Town!!!

Two days ago, she decided to add a concert on the Thursday night, but this concert would be very different from the other two. This one would be a private, acoustic show. Just her and a piano in a man’s house in Somerset West. There would only be 100 tickets, and they would sell for R999 ($140ish) each, with half of the proceeds going to a charity. It wasn’t so much of a decision, but an instinctive knowledge that I would do whatever it took to get to this concert. I immediately emailed the events coordinator, and got the payment details on how to get a ticket. Unfortunately, it involved a money transfer, which required a valid South African bank account, which I do not have! But at this point, there was no stopping me. With the help of my friends Tim and Iviwe, I managed to get a ticket!!!! 

Now fast forward to today. SO EXCITED, but a little nervous as I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to get there. A taxi would have cost R1600 (just over $200), but thankfully, a friend of a friend who does some taxi driving offered to drive me for R700! Once that was figured out, then there was the decision of what to wear (having such a limited wardrobe while traveling really doesn’t leave you with many options!!!). Once that was sorted out, I couldn’t contain myself!!!! I got to the house just after 6:30 (the concert started at 7:30), so I waited outside with a few of the other keeners. It was raining a little bit, which was unusual for this time of year here! Around 7:00 Imogen herself just walked outside and told us that we would be able to come in in 5 minutes, and that they were just finishing the sound check. She went back in, and that’s when it became real. I could have reached out and touched her! From inside the house, I could hear a note, or a string of keys every now and then, and I wanted to start jumping up and down, I couldn’t believe I was going to see her live!!!!!!!

We were let into the house shortly after, I got a seat in the second row on the edge, about four or five feet away from the piano. She was fluttering about, getting the webcast set up, talking to us about how maybe she should put some shoes on, it really felt like she was just hanging out with us.

And then the concert started.

AGSRIULHAFIUAEHF;OAAFHUAFGAEHGAELRKJHARE;KGHA

Real words can’t describe it. 

Her first song was “Wait it out,” a song from her most recent album, “Ellipse.” About a minute into the song, I started crying... yes I know, how sad is that! I just couldn’t believe I was hearing her live, in the flesh! It was so beautiful. She is so gifted on the piano, you could tell she’s the type of person who never plays the exact thing twice.  She was so good live. Occasionally she would be flat on a note, but that just made it all the more real. On one song, she sang the wrong chorus, so she stopped playing and started the show again! But about 99% of the notes she did hit, and those notes fell in maybe a 4 octave range, so you have to give her props! It was just so raw, so real. She took a few requests during the show, and at one point a guy asked her to play “Daylight Robbery.” That is a pretty heavily produced song, and she said she had never played it on the piano in her life! But during the break halfway through the concert, she went and listened to the song, and then figured it out in her head, and played it for us for the first time! And it was brilliant of course. 

I just can’t say enough good things about the concert!!

Halfway through, we took a break, to figure out which charity to give the proceeds to. There were many online submissions, which were then voted on, and she had a few people there to discuss the top three. We all came to the conclusion to give the money to an organization that is going to hang out 22,000 children’s books to kids in South Africa to help promote literacy. 

She ended with “Hide and Seek,”  which I wasn’t sure if she would play because I had no idea how she was going to do it on the piano! But she did, and wow it was phenomenal. 

I actually recorded most of the concert, so that I can learn how she played them on piano, as it was beautiful! So maybe when I return home (and don’t have to pay for internet), I can post a few videos from the concert.

After the concert, I had the chance to formally have a conversation with her, get a picture with her, even get her autograph! It was SO GOOD. I think she was going to hang out there for a few hours, drink wine, and hang out with everybody, but unfortunately, I felt bad because my friend had been waiting out in Somerset West all evening for me, and it was already 11:00 (and he was an old man). So I figured I should probably go, so I headed home!!

And have been listening to the concert videos ever since I got home, and am still so impressed. I feel so lucky that I had this chance to see her at such an intimate venue!! This is definitely one experience that I will never forget!!!

Welcome 2011!

Hello! I know I begin each blog pretty much the same, talking about what a horrible blogger I am. My sister recently created a blog, and I think she already has more entries than me!! Her link is www.heartfeltyarnwreaths.blogspot.com , everyone should go and take a look at the beautiful things she has created! Anyways, it is now almost February, I can’t even believe it! I’ve been in South Africa for 18 weeks now, the time has gone by so fast, but in some ways it feels like I’ve been here forever! I’m now staying in Tableview, a suburb on the other side of Cape Town, from where I was staying before in Muizenberg. It was strange, a week or two ago I went back to Muizenberg and was surprised by how much it felt like I was returning home! I spent both Christmas and New Year’s here. Christmas didn’t really feel like Christmas, it was so hot and windy! But it was a good day. I went to Hillsong in the morning for a Christmas service, then I had lunch with my old volunteers in Muizenberg, then I had a lovely dinner with my new volunteers at our house. For New Year’s, me and my friend, Bar from Israel, got free VIP tickets (valued at R500 each! (approx $70?)) to a party at The Fez, a place that both Paris Hilton and Leonardo DiCaprio went to when the World Cup was here! 

I have started working on the penguin project at SANCCOB (South Africa Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds), what a crazy experience that has been!! When I first arrived, they had over 400 penguins! I was working 12 hour days, 5 days a week, which was a shock at first! There was a point where I would literally wake up, go to SANCCOB, come home, go to bed, dream of SANCCOB, and repeat. It was hard at first because since we were so busy, there wasn’t time to properly train me, so I got stuck doing a lot of the less fun jobs. At first I was shocked to think that I would be chopping up fish for them, but now it’s pretty normal, some of the birds can’t eat whole fish, so you chop off the head and tail, and then cut the rest into little pieces. But, two weeks ago, we started releasing some of the penguins back into the wild! We now have maybe 100 or 200 penguins, so it’s a lot less busy. As a result, I was properly taught how to feed and tube the penguins, and am now loving working there! It’s so funny how you begin to learn the different characteristics and tendencies of each penguin. For example, my favourite is currently 644! He’s the funniest little swimmer, he gets so excited whenever we put him in the water. 487 is a nightmare, such a wriggler, trying to feed him is quite the struggle! So in that way it is kind of similar to working with the children, you learn how to deal with each one of them. My favourite birds there are the cormorants, we have maybe 10-15 of them right now? They are so funny to observe. 

I have had some interesting experiences there! Trying to catch kelp gulls while they are flying in the aviary was quite the thing! However, the coolest thing I’ve done there is stuck my arm down a pelican’s throat! We got this pelican in a few weeks ago, he was in really rough shape, blinded in one eye, they almost euthanized him, but decided to give him a chance. He’s doing a lot better now, he can see fine, and he has a lot of colour back in his face! It’s so funny whenever you go near him, he’ll snap at you and it makes this really loud noise! Unfortunately, he still has to be force fed, so you have to take the fish one at a time, and push them down his throat and then massage it down his neck into his stomach. It feels so cool in there! So usually I’ll be the one sticking the fish down, but the other day my friend tried to teach me how to hold him for the feeder. It didn’t go so well! First, you grab his beak with one hand. Then you get his body (with his wings in) between your knees, but then you somehow have to hold that tight while getting your feet in front of his body as well. It was the whole feet thing that caught me, I ended up looking like I was riding him pretty much! Very funny. 

I also had the chance to go on one of the releases last week, which was amazing! We drove up to Betty’s Bay (about 2 hours from here), as there is a thriving colony up there already. We made a semicircle with the boxes on the beach, and then let them go! We put one adult in the back so that he could herd them in the right direction. They ended up splitting into two groups, one group heading straight out into the ocean, whereas the other group lingered near the shore by us, but they too eventually made their way out. It was very cool to see! I hope that they are able to find fish out there, although I was reassured that the adult would show them what to do, which is good. 

( i would put up more pictures, but I just looked at my internet amount left, and uploading that one picture took up so much!! so go to my facebook to look at pictures of the rest of the stuff!!) 

Other than that, I haven’t been up to too much. I’m trying to think what I’ve done over the last month, as it’s been at least that long since I last wrote!!

Hmmmm.

Well, I went to Hout Bay one day, and went on a cruise out to Duiker Island to see the seal colony there, it was phenomenal, hundreds of seals on this tiny island! There were tons in the water as well, it was really cool to see them swimming about, I now have about 50000000 pictures of seals haha. After the cruise, me and my friend met this guy in the harbour who was feeding a wild seal, he said he had been doing it for 26 years! The seal would respond to his voice as well, it was quite cool! It reminded me of one of me and Katie’s favourite childhood movies, Andre. Anyways, so we bought him a fish, and I got to feed the seal! You hold the fish out over the water and he jumps up and takes it out of your hand. Super cool! My friend actually did it with his mouth, which is even cooler! I passed, as I couldn’t bear the thought of putting raw fish in my mouth. No thank you!! 

A few weeks ago there was a Red Bull surfing competition at Camps Bay that I went to. Unfortunately, the waves were not very good that night, but it was still really cool to see! 

My friend Tim is starting up a new organization out here in South Africa (www.dreamstoreality.co.za) so I have been helping him take some pictures for his website and whatnot. Very excited to see it get off and running! The other day, me and him got 15 tickets sponsored, and were able to take 15 kids from the township to a big doubleheader at Green Point Stadium! That was lots of fun. The first game, Vestos vs. Supersport, was average, but the second game, Ajax vs. Kaiser Chiefs was insane!!! The game itself was very exciting, and the Kaiser fans are RIDICULOUS. I was cheering for Ajax, but it was still funny to watch them all get riled up!

I finally got to the District Six Museum, that was so interesting. For those of you who aren’t aware of what it is, it’s a museum that tells how all the coloured people were kicked out of District Six, and their houses demolished, when the Group Areas Act went into effect. So sad to read some of the stories. I am definitely going to read up more on the history of South Africa when I get home. It has such a fascinating story. The thing that hits me the hardest is how recent it is. Although I do find it very sad to read about things in the 1700’s, it resonates more to me for some reason when I think that all of this was happening 40-50 years ago. Especially since the effects are still here so strongly today. You look at the townships all over the place, and think of how the government just took them from their houses, from their communities, essentially their lives, and shipped them off to a remote area, separated by race, and put them up in these tiny shacks. Whereas before they could walk to work, they now either had to pay for transportation, or find a job closer to home. And they demolished their old houses that were perfectly usable, just because coloured people had been living in them. Such a waste of resources, but also, so demeaning! South Africa has so much potential, you can see it in the country’s pride, in the spirit of the people, but they have a long way to come.  It is rather discouraging when you go into the townships and see how they live, compared to the mansions at Camps Bay. I understand that every country has struggling areas mixed with wealthy areas, even in Winnipeg, the difference from Wellington Ave. to Higgins St. is astounding, but here, it’s different. There is such a great amount of poverty. If you go to the outskirts of Khayelitsha (a township about 10 minutes drive from Muizenberg), as far as you can see is shack after shack. I believe it’s the second largest township in South Africa, after Soweto, which is actually a group of townships. I would love to volunteer there, but it is definitely not a safe place to be at all, I’ve heard some pretty scary stories about Khayelitsha!  I would be interested to know what the wealth distribution is compared to the population. 

Anyways, now I just have to go to Robben Island, and then I’ve done pretty much everything I wanted to do!

Funny story about Nelson Mandela actually. So, I have a friend who knows someone who works at the hospital in Wynberg (about half an hour from me), and they texted her saying that Nelson Mandela had been hospitalized there. The press had no idea, and they really didn’t want it getting out, it was very hush hush. I decided that I wanted to write him a card, get him flowers, and try to sneak them in! I am so in awe of him, and everything he did for the human rights movement, and knew that I would never again get a chance to do this! So the next day, I walked to Pick N’ Pay on my lunch hour, and got him a card and everything. I was in the middle of writing it, when my friend called me and said that he was out of the hospital!!! I know I should have been happy to hear that, but I was sad that I wouldn’t be able to try and sneak him a card. Either way, I decided I will just send him the card in the mail. Not the same, but oh well!! 

As I mentioned before, I went back to Muizenberg a week or two ago, and just spent all morning on the beach with some of the kids from the township, it was so good to see them again! Hopefully I’ll be able to go back there one or two more times before I go. 

I have been spending as much time as possible in the sun, whether it’s at the beach or out by our pool (my new volunteer house is soooo nice, and yes it has a pool!!!). I know that in coming home soon I won’t be seeing the sun for 3 months, as I will be holed up in my room waiting for the cold weather to leave, so I figure I should make the most of it now! It’s about plus 30 here everyday, sometimes hotter. So I will definitely go crazy when I come back to Winnipeg!! 

Speaking of Winnipeg, I actually have a story about that!

I was at Hillsong Church the other week, walking around after the service, when I thought I saw a substitute teacher I had back in Grade 4. I chastised myself, thinking, “You’re in Africa, you don’t know people here silly.” A minute later, my friend was introducing me to this woman and her husband, saying that they were Canadians! We quickly compared stats, and l learned that they were from Winnipeg, and they live in Charleswood (the neighbourhood I lived in until I was 14)! So then I just decided to ask on a whim if their kids who were with them went to LCS (the school I went to for 13 years). Turns out yes, they go there, and they know my brother, who is in grade 10 there, and my mom, who teaches kindergarten there! Their son is best friends with my brother’s best friend’s younger brother! How crazy is that!!! So then I say how I thought I recognized her, turns out that her sister was the teacher that I was thinking about! They mention their last name is Guenther, and since LCS does have a big family tree, I decide to ask if they are related to the legendary subs, Mr. and Mrs. Guenther. That’s the husband’s parents!! I was so in shock, I didn’t know what to say! I’m not quite sure how to explain it, but being so far away from home, it was so strange to be discussing street names and people with someone who actually knew what I was talking about! At home, I am a pretty patriotic person, but I feel that my patriotism has been heightened by my stay away! 

The million dollar question is when am I coming home. To be honest, I’m still not 100% sure, but I think it will be sometime in late February. It’s funny, from before I left until now, at some point I have considered going to every continent (except Antarctica) after South Africa. My plans have changed about a million times, and they will probably change a few more times before I get home.

As of right now, my penguin project is scheduled to finish January 31st. After that, I have nothing booked, no plane tickets, nothing.  I don’t quite want to leave South Africa just yet, so I was thinking of staying here for a few extra weeks, celebrate my birthday out here. I am now thinking to work at SANCCOB a couple extra of weeks, just have to determine prices and budget and all of that. After that, I could stay at the volunteer house in Tableview, or stay at a hostel in Cape Town, haven’t quite decided yet. And then make my way home sometime soon after that! Whether I come straight home, or stop in New York, or elsewhere, hasn’t been fully determined yet, one step at a time! But from the looks of things, I should be home in late February! I can’t really believe that. South Africa really has a big place in my heart, I know that I will definitely be back here one day! However, I am getting very excited to see everyone again. I am so amazed at how well I have been able to keep in touch with some of my friends, I almost feel like I talk to some of them more out here than I do at home haha. I don’t know how people traveled before there was internet to keep in touch with.