Goeie dag!

Goeie dag means “Hello” in Afrikaans! I am officially in Cape Town, South Africa and I love it here! I left Atlanta exactly one week ago; I cannot believe everything that has already happened. We have already visited several areas of the city: The CBD (Central Business District) which is their version of “downtown,” the Waterfront, Long Street (well known for bars), Kloof Street (well known for restaurants), Camp’s Bay (beach), The Observatory, Old Biscuit Mill, and Table Mountain.

Throughout these journeys, we have discovered so much already. First, the South African Rand is approximately sixteen times weaker than the American dollar, meaning that everything is insanely inexpensive. To calculate the price, one multiplies the amount of Rand by 0.059399. For example, an average entre at a restaurant costs about R65 which is only $4.00! Thus, lots and lots of eating and drinking has been going on.

Other observations of mine include the public openness about race. Everyone freely discusses race, labeling people white, black, or coloured, which is politically correct. To word it simply, coloured people here are basically just not pure black, so they have lighter black skin. It is fascinating to hear people classify themselves as such, and to discuss the differences. No matter which race though, everyone in South Africa speaks English, along with at least one other native language. Afrikaans is the most common but there are a total of eleven main South African languages! I pondered about this a lot during our trip yesterday to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Seven miles off the coast of Cape Town, we took a forty-five minute boat ride to the island. The fun and beautiful ride did not quite set the appropriate tone for the historically serious outing. The view of Cape Town from the coast of Robben Island was magnificent, captivating our attention. At first, I questioned why prisoners deserved to get to see and feel such a beautiful sight every single day. Then I decided that I feel like normally it is common for prisoners to lose hope and decide they would rather die than live in prison, the easier way out, debatably. In this setting though, prisoners are forced to look out onto the vast views of mountains, ocean, and city, witnessing everything they are missing out on. From this perspective, the beauty serves as a motivating tease, isolating prisoners and forcing them to reflect on their pasts in order to survive until their future.

That rant is one of the several that fill my precious travel journal, which says on the cover, “I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me.” I have been journaling quite often and every time I do, I take a photograph of my journal with the view that I looked at while writing it. Once I’m done, I am going to print out all of those pictures and slip them into the respective pages in my journal. This way, when I read my words, I’ll be able to see the view that inspired them, while I read it. You'll be able to see those pictures, along with my hundreds of others, in a few days when I begin my Facebook album.

This week is University of Cape Town orientation and then we have a "free week" before classes begin. My friends and I booked a four day excursion along the Garden Route! The Garden Route is a path of several stunning and unique towns and sites along the coast. The travel agency we booked it through includes a van with a hired driver (since all the cars are stick shift and drive on the left side of the road) and three nights in hostels. We will get to play with elephants, zipline through waterfalls, crawl through caves, hike, canoe, and most importantly, do the highest bungee jump in the world!!! I am so excited for all of the deep conversations and thrilling adventures to come.  

I am focusing on taking advantage of every moment, appreciating the cultural differences and soaking up all the historical and spiritual knowledge because as I know, this too shall pass.

with love