Thought Bubbles

• April is coming to an end and it scares me that May will go by just as fast
• Only 10% of me misses home. Does that make me insensitive and immune to homesick feelings?
• I had one of the best weekends ever. (Such a redundant comment on this blog...)
• What did I do? dance at TigerTiger, S. Africa Cheese Festival on a farm, rugby game, Goldfish concert at The Assembly, dance at Zula for 4 hours straight, good food in good company, church, and then attempted to catch up on sleep.
  
• This week consists of 3 "holiday" days...aka I only need to go in to work tomorrow and Wednesday!
  
• Catalog deadline is coming up!
  
• I love the bookstore. I can spend hours alone just browsing through cookbooks, travel guides, photography books, & etc.
• Music is my soul. Love it.
• Autumn in Cape Town. In April! Who would've thought.
  
• SO many friends are leaving this week.... It breaks my heart :(
  
• I really, really hope Agnes can come visit me from Lyon. That would be....amazing.
  
• Raspberry soda is so yummy.

Cold in Cape Town

Weird. I don't like it being cold in Cape Town. It's really throwing me off and making me start to believe I am back in Boston. And by that time actually comes around, Boston will be hot and summery. So yeah, it's weird how seasons work oppositely here. The rainy season is supposed to hit pretty soon, but I can count on one hand how many experiences with rain I have had.

Coincidentally or not, a lot of my friends have been asking me lately how I can compare my experience in France with the one I have here. It's a question I get baffled with every time. I feel as if my words to describe Lyon and the amazing experience I had will not do it justice. It was sincerely the greatest time of my life. I owe a lot of it to the people I was with - living with 20 Americans from different schools and getting to attend an American-based French university together were opportunities for me to broaden my horizons and tolerate all sorts of people. Somehow without my knowing, my mind was opened. I just let it break free out of the bubble I have been stuck in for the past however many years and I just let it see the world. I learned a lot. A lot about the culture, the people, myself. Probably the most growth I have experienced in such a short span of time. And maybe that is why I have had the same high expectations for myself here. Not to say that I have not been growing and learning. I definitely have. But my experience in Cape Town is set up a lot differently from the one in Lyon. Although I live with many interns my age from the states and other countries around the world, we all have different schedules, different jobs, different goals, different personalities. I love getting to meet everyone and hear about what brought them to Cape Town and what they are doing here, but I still sense the lack of community/family-ness that I had in Lyon. That is the one big thing I miss about it. But I mean, apart from my living and social situation, I love Cape Town. It's a city I can see myself in later on in life. I admit though, it is straining to be immersed in some of the worst epidemics and challenges of the world. Life isn't made to be easy here. You really have to work hard for what you want.

I am planning on doing a personal township tour this weekend. I feel myself getting too caught up in the westernized life. I would really like to start breaking out more into the true South African ways and culture. I still have a month and a half left, and I really hope to see more of it before I leave.

Back on my feet again .. (literally)

The freak accident that was aforementioned in the last entry led to a series of battles for me - both physically and mentally. The situation started off being really funny to me, but then it just started to get uncomfortable not being able to walk normally, run outside, hike, dance, or do any other normal thing that I would do. And two days after, I got a throat infection and had to go into hermit/gimp status for a week. During that week, I battled with myself because I felt like I was finally going through my breaking point homesick period. It was necessary though. I thought a lot of my family and friends back at home, thought a lot about my time here and what I would still like to do and accomplish, and other thoughts about life. So now that I am pretty much all better, things have been starting to turn around. Maybe it's the fact that I moved upstairs into a single, or maybe it's the fact that we turned our manual car in and got an automatic, but all these little things have been starting to have a happy influence on me. And ultimately in the end, I just have to say that life is good. Always. Despite all the bumps in the road, there are signs that show how beautiful life can be.

So I know this post is long overdue since my last one, but like I said...I was in hermit mode and abandoned all my usual duties, including blogging. To recap, here a few of the things I've done since the Garden Route.

-Robben Island tour (very interesting & powerful to see Nelson Mandela's cell in person)
-Skydiving (one of the most incredible things I've ever done in my life)
-Taste of Cape Town (amazing venue with Cape Town's most highly acclaimed restaurants. loved it)
-Llandundo Beach (to chill - beautiful beach)
-Velvet Thursdays (dance dance dance the night away)
-Franschhoek (quaint, French vineyard city - did the Huguenot Chocolate Experience & bought lots of chocolate)
-Fattened up a bit more with sushi and such (mmm-mm good)
-Quality time with friends (sleepover, movies, guitar hero, cooking, eating, chatting, etc.)
-Caught up on some reading (re-read The Alchemist and part of A Long Walk to Freedom)

I am really happy with the way my friendships are developing here. Although there are apparent cliques and circles, I try not to fall into just one. All of the interns here are so interesting. They are all here for different reasons and for different time frames, and from all over the world. From Canada to the states to Sweden. It's amazing being able to connect with these people from all over. And especially being able to develop relationships with my work family. I call them family now because that's what they feel like. We share problems and advice, we concern and care for each other, we share food, we help each other. I am going to miss them most. They are teaching me something from South African culture that I have not obtained from anyone else. Their love for life is so strong that you can't help but get caught up in it. And not to mention that work is going well too. I missed my last deadline for the product catalog, but it was honestly an unreasonable amount of time admitted by both my supervisor and I. To take individual photos of 300+ products, editing them, pricing them, and putting them into a brand new catalog format... it was overwhelming for me. But after a meeting last week, we extended to two more weeks. I just want to get the website design and the catalog done before I leave. That is essentially my deadline. And in between, I still visit our program sites in the townships. Driving through the townships never gets old for me. It puts life into perspective for me.

Life in Cape Town.
It's still surreal sometimes.
Something surprises me everyday about this place.
Something beautiful. Something shocking. Something real.

N2 Adventures

This past weekend was a good one.
It was a 4-day weekend so a group of 8 Americans decided to go on a little road trip called the Garden Route. You basically drive from Cape Town along one highway called the N2 until your heart desires. Considering we didn't have the average amount of 2 weeks time, we only made it as far as Plettenburg Bay. But still. It was beautiful. To give you a little breakdown of what the trip looked like....

On the first day, we drove out of Cape Town for 4 hours and checked into the backpackers at Mossel Bay. We had a sweet room. 4 bunk beds so all the guys and gals slept in the same room (yah, I think we're old enough and past the cootie stage). We had an outdoor porch with the sweetest hammock I've ever seen. The place looked nice, but we had to check out early and get the show on the road. We decided to eat breakfast at Mugg & Bean. My new favorite breakfast place!! I ordered the Belgian Waffles with ice cream (hey, it's never too early for ice cream) and a cheese omelet with toast. I was hungry. To everyone's surprise, I finished every last morsel. We played a few fun games while we were waiting forever for our food. I can't wait to share them with friends back home. So after breakfast, we drove to our first activity of the trip: the Cango Caves Adventure Tour. We were led by the most serious tour guide I've ever met - he would tell us these scary things and not even flinch his emotions. It was crazy..one of our girls almost backed out but she toughed it out. He led us through a few beautiful chambers but our main fear was the end of the tour when we would have to squeeze tightly in the caves. By the end, we were pretty much on our stomachs and hands just wiggling to get through the holes and crevices. The last thing was the hardest part for me (curse my short legs!) but I managed to lift up to the platform thingamajigger. After everyone squeezed through, we walked back outside and we were never so happy to have fresh oxygen. Definitely not for a claustrophobic person! Afterwards, we drove to our next destination but stopped at various points to take photos. We stopped by the camels, the ostrich farm, and scenic mountains and valleys. We got into Kynsna in the evening time and had dinner at 34 South that Nikki & Donielle recommended to us. I ordered the Kassler Chops with sweet potato on the side - it was deelish. mmm. Some of the group went out to partyparty but most of us came back early and had some birthday cookies & cake.

The next day, we checked out pretty early. Something about the day was off from the start. The weather was gloomy and grey and our group was separated doing their own things. And the car I was in got a ticket for parking in the No Loading Zone. How were we supposed to know all the street signs and their meanings?? Two of us were sitting in the car waiting for a friend to get flu medicine from the pharmacy when an officer came up to us and handed us a ticket. He didn't even give us a warning... But ehhhh, what can we do. So anyways, we just grabbed breakfast quickly and met up with the others near the beautiful lagoons. Took some photos and then we took off for the next activity: BUNGY JUMPING. I had absolutely no desire to jump. Like...I never did. I have always wanted to go skydiving but not jump off a bridge. 4 friends were committed jumpers and 3 of us were bungy buddies who could escort them to the platform. 1 stayed behind just because. 1 out of 3 bungy buddies turned into a jumper....and it wasn't me. I had a percentage going on if I was to change my mind. It went from 5% to 98%. Yes, I was THAT sure I was going to jump. I spoke to the guy in charge and told him I wanted to sign up, but he said I could....without my friends being there. Not even a few friends! The reason behind this craziness was because a new group was coming in so something about the capacity. Sooo I said never mind and said maybe I'll come back. But now I definitely want to go back after hearing about everyone's jump and watching their videos. Besides, it's the world's HIGHEST jump. 216 meters. Eek. Just even doing the bridge walk made me a little woozy. It was awesome though because we met up with a couple of our other intern friends who were also doing the Garden Route. Sweet little reunion. After everyone jumped their fears away, we went to our next destination: Plettenburg Bay.

Easter Sunday. I went with two friends to a church across the street for service. It turned out to be a Catholic church so it worked out for my Catholic friends, and it worked out for me too cause I just wanted to go to a service. It was nice. We met up with the others and got breakfast at Europa. I ordered a layered bagel sandwich with rocket, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette. Then we took off for our last adventure of the trip: ziplining! We drove about an hour away to the Tsitsikamma National Park. We got strapped up with harnesses and cables, along with dorky helmets and huge gloves, and got started right away. We did 8 ziplines - the coolest ones being the ones over waterfalls. It was a lot of fun and the day was just gorgeous. We were supposed to paintball and quad bike, but those things didn't really work out so we just drove around to some scenic areas instead. We also planned a braai (BBQ) at the backpackers' camp fire so we prepared the burgers, hot dogs, and chicken kebabs. But before dinner started, a few of us went to Flashbacks (a local pub) to watch a soccer game and to grab a few beers/pizza. It was interesting and fun because my friend, Doug, is such a passionate fanatic so we all learned a little bit more about the sport. The girls went back early to cook. It was really nice to have everyone in a circle by the fire...especially since it was our last night. We had some good laughs and stories.

The last day was pretty much spent driving back to Cape Town. I took over about 3 hours of the way back and it made me verrrrry sleepy...especially because we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour.

All in all, I had a fantastic time. My group was young, reckless, and easygoing. I couldn't have asked for a better group.

I am PSYCHED about the few upcoming trips. I might do a Nomad trip with the boys up to Namibia, Botswana, Vic Falls, and Chobe. Possibly a 20-day camping trip.

I have another story to tell, but it is a bit of an embarrassing one.
I fell through the toilet on Tuesday.
Let me explain.
I usually stand on top of the toilet seat cover because our mirrors are a little high for me and we don't have full body length mirrors. Well, I do this pretty often...but for some reason, the seat cover decided to crack on me. I fell through and my legs/feet were cut and bruised along the way. It wasn't a very pretty sight. But I cleaned up quickly and still decided to go into work. My carpool buddy offered to take me to the hospital but I said no. When I got to work, my boss told me to go to the hospital just in case. So my co-worker drove me to the ER and I got it checked out. Turns out on my left foot, I have a deep cut with a little bit of tissue that was removed. And then on my right foot, I have a sprained toe. So yeah....I can't walk well at all because both feet are injured. Eck. I wish I had a better reason for why I'm walking this funny and why I have cuts all over my legs. Something heroic like I got in a fight with a mugger who stole someone's purse. Or even something like falling on a hike. But nope...I have to be the one who fell through the toilet. Oh well, it could've been a lot worse.

So anyways, back to the Cape Town daily grind. Yeaaah, it was hard coming back after such an amazing trip, but I can never get sick of this city and lifestyle. Lots of work to catch up on. And I am moving up to the penthouse for April and May. I am stoked beyond belief. But it's also bittersweet because about 10 interns are leaving at the end of this month. My roommate, Kelly, being one of them. :(

I've been telling a few friends that even though this year of traveling has been the most incredible experience of my life, I am almost excited to be back in Boston and just return to my student lifestyle. I miss having events to go to, having a class schedule, learning things, meeting and connecting with new people, etc. But wherever I am, I am just thankful for everything, as cheesy as that may sound. I am thankful for Cape Town, the things I am being exposed to and forced to think about, the people I am meeting, the things I am learning. And I know when I return to the states, I will be thankful for the convenience of everything, being near family and friends, and etc. But anywho, for now I am thankful for being here.

CHECKING OUT

I'm leaving for a 5-day road trip. (!!!! EXCITED !!!!) A group of 8 of us will be doing the Garden Route trip stopping at various points: Mossel Bay, Knysna, Oudtshoorn, Jeffrey's Bay, Pletteburg Bay, Tsitsikamma. Pictures & stories will be posted once I return. :)

Cheers.

Y'ello.

Hey loves,
Thanks for checking into my falling behind blog.

Want some updates?

1) I am happily overwhelmed at work. The product manager handed me over a month-long project while he is away for vacay, and also his AC-ed office (woohoo, no more sweating like a dog at work). 10 of the bowl samples came back, I set up a mini exhibition in the boardroom for the staff to choose their top 3 favorites, their top 3 dislikes, and other random questions. I narrowed it down to 5 bowls for this batch. Another batch is coming in tomorrow... and that means I need to get working on more designs for the last batch! The last will be the hardest because I need to graphically design it from our popular sardine label, while trying to stay on top of the trendy colors for the upcoming seasons. I also need to create a format for the new product catalog that we will launch on April 1. The website is lacking as much priority nowadays since it is really just a makeover for our "brand recognition" while the new product catalogs will bring in more income, which we desperately need. No complaints from me though - I like doing more creative things anyhow.

2) I ended up going to the Strandloper lunch on Saturday with Doug & Donielle. It was about an hour and a half drive outside of the city. It was located on Langebaan beach - the eating area was very rustic and quaint. Large ropes on the sandy terrain, chipped paint on random boats set up around the tables, benches set up on cement blocks filled with oyster and sea shells, and bugs everywhere ready to attack our yummy food. We arrived one or two courses late, but we still got to enjoy the mussels, seafood paella, endless bread with homemade butter/jams, braaied snoek with potatoes & sweet potatoes, and bokkoms. Oh, and also a cup of made-over-the-fire coffee to wash it all down. In between the courses, we ventured out to the beach. The water was unbelievably beautiful and clear, and the huge boulders were situated in just the right areas with seagulls perched on each of them. Sailboats could be seen from afar and the most gorgeous shells could be picked up along the shore. It was an amazing day.

3) I went to the one of South Africa's largest townships, called Khayelitsha. I went to one of Wola Nani's program sites hoping to observe another counseling session, but it was even better this time. I had to wait outside while my co-workers had a meeting, but I was surprised with a wave of school children. They were dripping beads of sweat from walking in the scorching sun, still dressed in their starchy school uniforms, and each of them had an indescribable glow. The girls danced for us, followed by the boys. They were so cute and funny. These kids are so strong. Despite all of the hardships they experience in life, they continue on with the most optimistic and hopeful mindsets. One of the girls, appearing to be the leader of the pack, was an orphan until her relatives took her in because both her parents passed away from AIDS. She was the best at English, and she wrote down all of her friends' names along with their meanings. Her name is Unathi, which means "God is with us." They inspired me.

4) I watched Blood Diamond last week and I felt like I was watching it with a new pair of eyes. After being here for a month, my sentiments about this country and culture have been changing uncontrollably. My exposure to how REAL and BEAUTIFUL this country is increases day by day.

5) I am stuck in a westernized world. Majority of my friends are American, I go along with the touristy activities, and I am comfortable... too comfortable. I would really like to branch out more with the locals and into where they live/how they live. And I would really like to start learning more about the history and framework of South Africa. Northeasterners will be going on a trip to Robben Island at the end of this month, so that gives me a lot of motivation to finish Nelson Mandela's, A Long Walk to Freedom.

6) Plans for upcoming trips are tentative, but they include the Garden Route roadtrip, a few days in Namibia/Botswana/Vic Falls, a trip up north to see baobabs!, and *hopefully* a trip to La Réunion. If all goes as planned, I will see my good friend in her home country (with active volcanoes!).

7) I am thankful for the weather lately. It is finally starting to cool down which automatically puts me in a better mood from when I used to be energy drained by the heat.

8) I miss home, inevitably. I miss the taste of my mom's cooking and the close presence of my family and friends.

I wish I could've reached 10, but I couldn't think of 2 more.
Sorry to leave y'all hanging there.

Until next time...
sending lots of love your way.

Under the Weather Bug

Something has been going around.
Something weeeeeird.
Not a flu or a cold or anything like that.
Just a grey cloud that has been sprinkling a little bit of its gloominess on people and things.
I can't quite put my finger on it, but the past few days have been a little off.
It's weird cause I thought it was just me going through my homesick/thinking about life phase, but others seem to be going through something similar at the same time.
Weird weird weird.. !

But for some comic relief, a bunch of us went to On Broadway (Short Market St.) to watch David Newton and his "Politically Incorrect" show. It was hil-ar-ious. He had me in tears at more than I can count on one hand. He dived into areas that left a lot of us "politically correct" Americans uncomfortable, but I personally thought he was just making a good joke out of a bad situation. Laughing never hurt anyone, right? He was also one of our South African friend's (Siv) good friend, so he came by our table before and after to say hello. Funny guy.

And yesterday was what...Tuesday?
Ahhh that's right.
Another karaoke night at Catu Irish Bar.
If it wasn't for all us Connect interns, the place would've been dead.

My new roommate came in yesterday from Zambia. Well, she's actually from Wisconsin but she was volunteering for a month in Zambia. She seems like a cool girl so far and I'm excited to get to know her.

I had two driving lessons with my carpool buddy, Keith, last week.
It was pretty successful in the aspect that I got the concept down... but when I took it out on the streets, the pedestrians seemed deathly afraid of me. When I reached a crosswalk, I had to stop cause so many cars were moving back and forth, and people were trying to cross. So everytime I put my foot on the brake, I would forget to keep it on the clutch also. And not to mention they have London-style streets! Too much multi-tasking for me. So literally, I stalled out about 5 times at the crosswalk. I had to turn the engine back on, put it into the first gear, make a fool out of myself, etc. etc. etc. But it was fun. I think I will try to drive home from work today....

Things are reaaaally picking up at work.
I have lots to do hence the lack of blogging this past week! (Sorry to my loyal reader, Ria).
:)
I'm excited about the new project I got because it's like...my own!
After the April 1 deadline, I'll be smooth sailing. But for now, it's just crunch time everyday.

Tea time.

Love y'all.