South Africa

So, I have been in Africa for near a month now. I'm pleasantly shocked. I came to South Africa with no actual expectations because I slightly knew of the diversity that the continent contained. I am in South Africa in the Western Cape area of the country. Western Cape is very much a tropical climate area.

Getting here when I did, the area was dead for people roaming the streets. I was here a week to two weeks before the whole of the student body arrived here in town. You can just imagine a college town during the off season, not much life at all, very minimal at all. However, it gave me the opportunity to catch back up with my sleep, acclimate myself with the heat, and get to know the town a bit.

It may surprise some people, but I have not actually done to much yet here. I have seen a lot of the local area though. I figure that because I have 7 months in Africa, I can start slightly slower. It also ended up working out this way because I am now just getting to know a large number of people since everyone really just started showing up in the past week in a half. But, now that I am getting to know quite a few people, as well as everyone else getting to know everyone around them, we are all starting to go out at night together, to the beaches, to Cape Town, hiking, etc... It is starting to get quite exciting around here, things are shaping up, and the Braai is now an every other day happening, sometimes more often than that, the Braai being out BBQ parties as we would call it in the states. The braai is however a party of it's own kind, different from what we know a BBQ party to be in the states. I will try to get a working definition and explanation soon enough to fill you all in.

Africa is amazing though. The people are very nice, warm, welcoming, etc... There is surprisingly very little crime at all here in the Western Cape area, less than back home even. The beach here is as close as a half an hour, wine tasting is within a 10 minutes to some of the closes wine estates, Cape Point/ Cape peninsula, the Cape of Good Hope is within a half an hour, and to the very point maybe 40/45 minutes if I'm correct. It is pretty amazing to think of. Hiking, mountain biking, and even some small climbing/ bouldering is just a 15 minute walk through town to Stellenbosch Mountain. The mountain is pretty deceiving as well. When you look strait up at it, you cannot see how tall the mountain actually is, or how far back the mountain actually goes. We hiked just a few days ago up the mountain three hours, and down two, and that was just the beginning of the mountain range. The peaks keep going soo much further back and higher in altitude than we were willing to go, but it was quite amazing. And if you get lucky, you can spot some really amazing lizards up on the mountains as well as baboons.

South Africa is a very intriguing place, and that is just the Stellenbosch and Cape Town area where I am. A fraction of the whole country. To see the rest of the country though would take soo much time and effort. But the most exciting part for me though is to have the chance to work with some of the town ships, Habitat for Humanity, and in June and July going up to Kenya to work with a new orphanage that is opening up at that time. I would rather spend my time directly helping and working with the people who need the help than just worrying about seeing as much of the country as possible, even if it is just within this little area that I am in.

Well, that is all I have for now. there will be more later. This is to be continued.