I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Well everyone, my time is up, and I'm preparing my long flight to freedom. I can't impress upon you enough how much I have enjoyed being here, meeting and befriending the people I have, seeing and working in the townships; it has been a truly remarkable experience. I hope you all have enjoyed reading my blog and that I have been able to convey a sense of what it is like being here, submerged in a way that few students get to do in a foreign country (unlike many, I have don't have the arduous task of classes), and that maybe you've been affected vicariously through me.

I'm going to miss Ikamva. I'll miss Lubabalo, Gibby, Matthews, Marth and Notemba, Mildred, Benigna, Xoliswa, and Phumla and Tutu. I'll miss Helen, Karen, and Ishrene. The manner in which they supported us was great. I'll miss the principals and children in the creches. I think I'll most miss all of the seniors in the senior centers who welcomed me so quickly and warmly into their centers.

I'll miss my friends here. Truly, "no one in the Gardens throws parties like us." It has been a great summer getting to know you all, and I look forward to seeing you next year at some of the football games (Collin, you got my hopes up by saying you had USC tickets, now you don't, figure it out!). My friends here (Suvrat, Luke, Michael, Dag, Matt, Tara, and Collin) have been really lekker to hang out with. You guys are really "super rockin, dude."

Well, that's enough of that. I need to get ready so I don't miss my flight. I look forward to seeing and speaking to all of my friends when I get home (expect a few phone calls, as I'm excited to hear about all of your summer adventures as well). See you back in the States!

Pictures

Hey everyone, I posted two new photo albums, one with pictures of my room, so you can understand where I've been living the past two months, as well as some pictures from Sunday's winery tours. Hope you enjoy them.

WE ROCKED IT!!!

Hey everyone. Matt and I gave our final presentation to the Ikamva management today, and I have to say, I think we nailed it. From the reactions we got, it appears that the entire management board is ready to go forward with it after we leave. If anyone is interested, haha, I guess I can post pictures of our PowerPoint in a photo album later (haha, jk). Anyway, I’m not sure I can convey how stoked I am after our presentation.

It was also interesting to hear how impressed they were with our accomplishments. To have these people who do great things everyday tell you that you have accomplished something really great, something that they believe will benefit Ikamva for many years to come, is really an honor. They loved seeing how we were able to streamline the mapping, interviewing, and data basing processes, as well as the strides we made in documenting 150 sites and locating 146 of those title deeds.

It was also nice to see them perk up when we made our recommendations, specifically in how they can use the portfolio to generate revenue and to possibly get more donor funds. By using the zoning information that the GIS provides, Ikamva can strategically make decisions regarding where their properties are located to help generate revenue. Perhaps they know a mall is to be built in an area, and they have a property there. They know that they should be able to charge rent on that property to make some money when the mall is built. Having this property portfolio properly manage may also allow them to increase donor funds, as they will be able to show potential donors where and how well they are involved in an area, and if that donor has an interest in the area, then Ikamva becomes more appealing. As I said, they really enjoyed (and rightfully so) hearing how this large project that they are about to embark upon will be able to benefit them for many years.

Well, I’m not really sure if I can top how awesome our presentation went. It’s a bit (only the tiniest bit, haha) sad to know that we’re wrapping up, with tomorrow being our last day of work. This said, I can’t wait to get home and be back in the States. I miss you guys, and look forward to seeing you all at ND football games. Well, that’s it for now. Totsien!!!

Big day tomorrow!

Hey everyone, just a quick update. Tomorrow, Matt and I will present our project and make our recommendations to the Ikamva management. This is the culmination of our project (in a sense), so wish us luck. While we still have a great deal of work to do in-house on Thursday afternoon and on Friday, tomorrow is when we get to have the attention of the entire management team.

Just so you know why tomorrow is so important. Ikamva has tried this project in the past, many times, apparently, and Matt and me have gotten by far the most accomplished. Not to brag, but we have worked our tails off, and we think we have been able to show Ikamva that this project, while quite large, isn't the impossible task that they believe it is and that they should not continue putting it off and picking it back up later on. For this project, for Ikamva to truly get a grasp on what exactly is in their property portfolio, they must take up the charge and carry forward after we leave.

The fact that they have hired Musa (the man that Matt and I interviewed) makes us believe that they do see this project as having legs, and as being as beneficial for the company as we believe it is. Today, Musa joined Matt and me at Sibane, where we worked with Tony to track down some of the erven (what I have been incorrectly calling "erf numbers"). I think the best part of today was realizing that Musa truly understands this project, that he is more than capable of continuing it. That was my biggest worry after the interview, but after today, I'm sold.

Well everyone, I need to get back to work on this PowerPoint. Wish us luck!!!

Because I love wasting Blogger's server space...

Hey friends, just updating the ol’ blog before bed. Not a lot to report today, as I all I did was enjoy my first day off since June 16th (National Youth Day). It was great getting to finally get a little sleep, although I have to say I’m excited to get back to the States so I can sleep in a real bed. Living in a hotel (which I need to take and post pictures of), even one that is conveniently located above a mall, is not all that and a bag of chips, let me tell ya, haha. But, all the same, I have enjoyed my time here in the gardens.

The only real items of note that I did today were writing up some of the final reports that I have to submit after my internship is completed, and I also applied for a few jobs in Louisville. Melissa, if you read this (and you did say you would follow my blog, dangit!), Don’t worry, I will have these final reports in before the August 10th deadline. I might submit them before we leave, depending on how our Friday goes. See? You can depend on me! I promise!

Something I found out today is that, apparently, professional wrestling is the second most popular sport. I’m only basing that on the fact that rugby seems to rule all, and soccer/football and cricket seem to lag behind. That, and apparently the WWE is on EVERY night of the week. Yeah, now that I finally turned the television on (I haven’t watched tv all summer), I have learned something about the culture here. They LOVE wrestling. Brianna told me that in Botswana they were nuts about it, but I wasn’t sure about here. Well, as there are commercials every 30 seconds for tonight’s “WWE Superstars!” or “WWE After Burn!” or “WWE We’re Tired of Making New Names!” Seriously, it’s popular.

Well, that’s really all, haha. Sorry, I’m sure Blogspot is glad to know I am wasting space on their servers with a post like this. Time to go to bed tho, as I have another day off to enjoy tomorrow before going back to work on Wednesday to seriously crank out the last of our project. Goodnight my friends!

Red, red wine...

Hey friends and colleagues. Quick update before bed. Today, Suvrat, Dag, and I went on a winery tour of the towns of Stellenbosch and Frensch Hoek (also, French Hoek, and a variety of other spellings). Joining us were Dag and Suvrat's friends, Vania and Christina, two of the International Peace Studies grad students from Notre Dame. Our first stop was at a winery in Stellenbosch, the name of which I never actually saw or heard. We got there around 9 am, before it was truly opened, so we just showed ourselves around the farm, and did some hiking.

In an interesting turn of events, there was a wedding at the winery today. We noticed the white chairs that were lined up when we first got there, but really thought nothing of it. When we were getting ready to leave, however, they had the area set up in full-on wedding mode. We were hoping to see part of the wedding, but alas, we had an 11am booking at another winery.

That other winery is called Boschendal. Dag met one of the employees of the winery at the Executive MBA dinner we attended a few weeks back, so this guy arranged for us to have a wine tour and tasting at his expense. The winery there was beautiful (not as beautiful as Groote Constantia, but still amazing). The wine tasting was also good. Everyone else bought a bottle of wine to take home and bring back to the states (not me, my allotted travel-liquid is being used for Amarula, yum).

After we left Boschendal, we made our way to the small town of French Hoek. This was recommended to me by one of the Ikamva management members, Karen Miller. The town was really interesting; it has a very distinct French flavor (gee, Will, I wonder why they named it French Hoek?), which is unique to where we have been here in Africa. We spent our time there seeing the shops and having lunch, and then we made our way back to Cape Town. I'll put up some pictures sometime soon. All in all, it was a good, relaxing day. Well everyone, I'm off to bed. I'm not going to work for the next two days while Matt is in Namibia, so I'm going to enjoy sleeping in for a bit. Totsien!

Yeah Bokkies!!

Hey everyone, just about to turn in for the night, thought I'd post an update. Things are really wrapping up here in Cape Town, so we're all making our final trips and adventures. Two of us are already gone (Tara left today, and Luke is leaving tomorrow in the morning), so it's finally hitting that we are in the home stretch. That said, there is still plenty of work to be done before I board my 1pm flight next Saturday.

Tomorrow, Dag, Suvrat and I will do some winery tours and make a small trip to French Hoek, a little town on the other side of one of the mountains here. I'm pretty excited for this, as French Hoek has been recommended to me on more than a few occasions by some of my coworkers. Plus, this gives me a chance to play around with a real camera one last time (Brianna, thank you again for letting me borrow yours, haha).

Anyway, today, Luke, Suvrat, Dag, and I hung out at the V&A Waterfront. They wanted to do a little shopping, and I wanted out of the room. I mostly hung out at a bookstore, reading some of "We Are All Zimbabweans Now" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". I have to re-read this again when I get home (maybe I'll just re-read the entire series and post my reviews up on NotreBooks). Anyway, it was a pretty fun, relaxing day.

We also watched one of the matches of the Tri-Nations Cup, today featuring the South Africa Springboks taking on the New Zealand All-Blacks. The Tri-Nations Cup is a rugby tournament featuring the national teams of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. It's kind of like the Tri-Wizard Tournament from Harry Potter, only more badass because its rugby. South Africa was able to hang on for a win, their first of the tourney, and gave the All-Blacks their first loss. The All-Blacks were 4-0 thus far. From what I can gather, it's just a tournament where each team plays each other a certain number of times, and points are awarded based on if you win, tie, or if you lose you get 0. This is allo purely speculation. You can Wiki it if you want to know more.

Well, that's pretty much it. I guess I'll take this time to say good night, as we have an early day tomorrow. G'night everyone.

I keep forgetting about the tiger...

Hey everyone, pretty fun day today. Matt and I have (keep your fingers crossed) nearly hired our replacement. We think that this guy is the best choice to ensure that our project keeps on keepin' on after we leave. Hopefully, if all goes according to plan, he will accept the offer and we can train him next Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Friday. There has been so much progress this last week, its a big overwhelming; seems like everything in the past week outweighs the success we'd thought we had. Sorry if that sentence sounds awkward, I'm just trying to say that this past week has been fantastic, haha, and we thought we had fantastic down weeks ago.

Yesterday was Matt's birthday, so I'd like to take this time to publicly wish my co-worker a happy belated birthday (I told him happy birthday yesterday, but there's nothing like shoving that kind of private information out there on the ol' internetz for all to see). As such, we spent last night "on the town" to celebrate. Tara, Collin, the birthday boy, and myself ate at one of Melissa Paulsen's favorite restaurants, the Das Anker. It is a Belgian food restaurant located at V & A Waterfront. It was really good; I had duck, which I don't believe I have ever had. I think our favorite part of the meal (aside from the stealing of a bib, haha) were the desserts. We all got something different but ended up sharing with each other (crepes, cheesecake, apple pie, and chocolate mousse). It may have not been "the greatest pizza idea that [Collin] ever had" (inside joke), but it was still pretty damn good.

Afterwards, we went to see The Hangover, as Matt wasn't with us the first time, and he's been dying to see it ever since. If anyone hasn't seen it yet, do so. It's like SuperBad (sorry, SA friends, I know you're getting tired of me talking about that movie) or Role Models, it just gets funnier the more you see it. Matt, the Bar-One man himself, seemed to really enjoy the movie.

Fast forward back to today: Dag and Tara (ND interns at The Business Place) joined Matt and I for lunch at our favorite restaurant, The Kitchen. Longtime blog readers will remember The Kitchen from way back as Matt's and my favorite restaurant here in Cape Town. Tara and Dag also thoroughly enjoyed the great food and, even better, cheap price. It is worth noting that Matt and I are such regulars there that one of the waitresses/cooks offered us a job for our finals days. Depending on how training goes, I might think about taking her up on the offer (I really want to get my hands on some of the owner's, Karen, recipes). Well, that's it for today, my friends. I think we're going to Nando's tonight for dinner, so two great meals in one day is always cause for feeling great. Super rockin', duuude!

CONGRATULATIONS, BRIANNA!!!!!

:D :D :D :D :D

I'm so happy that you got the job you wanted! Congratulations, baby!!

An intern, a visionary, and a landscape consultant walk into a bar...

Hey friends, colleagues, and countrymen, or however that saying that I'm failing to remember goes. Today, Matt and I had a meeting with Helen and the rest of the Ikamva management, with Simon, Michelle, and Tony from Sibane Consulting. Overall, I think the meeting went pretty well, with some good ideas and potential for future endeavors coming from it. Specifically to us and our project, however, I think we were able to see where our project is going in the future.

Over the past few weeks, Matt and I have realized that we won't finish documenting the entire Ikamva property portfolio during our time here, nor will we try to finish all of it (there are nearly 1,000 sites that Ikamva has a vested interest of some form in). What Matt and I see now, however, is that we must make sure that the interns or employees who replace us are able to get to work as soon as possible. We're now looking back at everything we had to do the hard way, everything that we had to learn and find out on our own, things that slowed us down, and are now creating a system that will save our replacements the time that these cost us. Our hope is that by better preparing them, they can get to work right away, unlike us who had to feel our way around and try and ascertain the proper way to get things done.

Matt and I are also giving a final presentation to all the members of the Ikamva management, as well as a representative or two from the board of trustees, next Thursday. We realize how important this meeting is, as this is our way to show Ikamva just how special this project can be. We know they are open to the idea, as they have been attempting this procedure in the past, but now that we have put down this foundation, I think they understand that it is doable, if you are willing to get your hands dirty and just devote yourself to doing it everyday.

As such, we may have found that person. Tomorrow, Matt and I are interviewing a young man who may replace us. He has a background in surveying land, so he should understand some of the property regulations that Matt and I still don't. We think that if he can come in and attack this like we have, then the project has a great chance of staying alive, and, as this is Matt's and my "baby" this summer, we want it to live, damnit! So, that said, we are eagerly anticipating our interview with him tomorrow, with the hopes that he can fulfill what we want, and be trained by us. Everyone keep your fingers crossed!!!

I'm back!!!

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates recently, I’ve just been busy getting things wrapped up. Next week is my last week here, and things are getting really busy. As such, Matt and I have canceled all of our work! Haha, just kidding, but no, we did the remaining six field days that we had scheduled. So, unfortunately, we will not be going out into the field with Meisie or Mildred, but instead, we’ll be in the office getting a lot of work done.

Yesterday, for instance, was a really productive day for us. One of Matt’s and my biggest fears is that, this project we’re working on is huge and could make a world of difference for Ikamva Labantu, and after we leave, we’re afraid that it will get forgotten. If we can show Ikamva that knowing how to properly manage their property portfolio can be a great asset to the company, we think they’ll keep working on it. We decided that the best way to do this is to make them see how important this is, by continually getting into management’s ear about it, and requesting new interns to train before we leave. We really hope to get someone in before we go, because that way we can train them, and ensure that not only does the work continue, but also that it continues correctly.

Sorry, mini-tangent/rant. Anyway, yesterday was especially productive in this avenue, as I created a series of documents to leave behind to the replacements as a way to help them hit the ground running. The biggest obstacle that Matt and I faced is that we didn’t actually get really started on our project until it was nearly half over. If our replacements can come in and be prepared after one week (less than a week ideally), then I think that they can finish collecting all of the data on the crèches, and begin the collection process on the foster homes. Once again, everything we are doing now is to prepare for the next set of people, and also to leave behind some recommendations to Ikamva’s management.

Another interesting development in the past week was the introduction to Simon and Michelle, from Sibane, a development-consulting firm that is actually located across the street. They have a program there called GIS (geographical information systems) that utilizes Google Maps, but already has all of the erf (plot) numbers mapped out, as well as all of the zoning laws pertaining to each site. Not only do they already have the erf numbers on them, but their maps are from 2007, while our maps are from 1981 (see the pictures I posted of our archaic mapping system).

Matt and I see great value (and I mean GREAT) in a partnership between Sibane and Ikamva Labantu. I arranged a meeting between Simon and Michelle, and Helen, Ishrene (CEO), and Karan (communications and overall busy body) tomorrow, along with Matt and I, in the hopes of getting this partnership off the ground. If we can convince the Ikamva management that there is great value in this, I think our project stands a much larger chance of survival after we leave next Friday, July 31st. If it does go well, I think Matt and I will feel confident in having left behind not only our own work, but also a great partnership that will benefit both companies.

Today, I spent the day entering in the data we collected into the Microsoft Access database that David Blake made for us. He got it to us this morning, and I spent the rest of the day using it. This is also something we feel will be of great use to Ikamva, but must make sure they understand its importance, and also how to use it. This job never sleeps…

On a happier note, we gave Helen some of the pictures we’ve been taking of the children and the crèches that we saw while in the field. Helen is sending these to a London-based company who will use the pictures to raise money for Ikamva. I’d be lying if I said Matt and I didn’t pick out a few pictures that featured us in them, haha, but we kept it minimal. What really hit me, however, was when we watched a small slideshow at the end. I always look at these pictures after I upload them, but usually just to see what was blurry and what wasn’t.

Today, however, I actually LOOKED at them, and it really hit me with everything that I’ve seen and done here in the short eight weeks that we’ve been here. It was one of those “wow” moments, something that has been happening to me everyday, and I never really let it hit me. I’m so excited to come home next week, but I’m also so happy that I actually went through with it, despite my fears as Brianna can attest to, and came here. It has really been a life-altering experience for me, and I hope maybe that has come through in these blog and picture updates. Well, I’ll leave it at that. Totsien, my friends.

I'm pretty fly for a braai guy...

Today, Martha and Notemba, two of the foot soldiers that we have worked with during our time here, took Matt and me to Mzoli’s Place, a braai in Guguletu. For those not in the know, a braai (Dutch) is a barbeque-type restaurant found here in South Africa. They are also found in other African countries, just called something else. Anyways, Mzoli’s is a really famous braai here in Cape Town, and is apparently quite the tourist stop. Regardless of this, the food is delicious and reasonably price (many of the touristy places we’ve eaten at cannot make these claims).

Joining us there were some of the other foot soldiers, such as Mildred and Jabu, and a few other guests of theirs. It was a great time; I really enjoyed hanging out with these men and women. They have given a lot of their own personal time to help us with our project, and to have them treat us to this experience was also very honoring.

Anyway, now that that is out of the way, I’m sure everyone wants to know about the braai experience. Well, it was awesome. We got there, and Notemba was the first to meet us. She took Matt and I to a local liquor store and bought us a six-pack of beer each (I was going to have Coke, but, apparently “young people drink beer here”). After we had our spirits lifted, we returned back to Mzoli’s and waited for everyone else to show up.

After Martha showed up, she and Notemba took us inside the butchery-area where we ordered our food. As you can see from the pictures, Mzoli’s offers chicken, pork, lamb, and beef. Martha ordered us a large amount of sausage, pork, and lamb, as well as some pap (cornmeal mixed with water). The food was spectacular.

It is worth pointing out that, instead of working today, Matt and I gorged ourselves on meet and beer. I think most Fridays should work this way; it would definitely make for a happier office. Well, my friends, that’s all for now. I’m tired, and I have to get up early in the morning as we are going whale watching in Hermanus, SA. Good night!!!

Hey everyone. Brianna's grandmother died last night. Please, please keep her, Brianna, and all of the Klcos in your prayers. Thank you, Friends.

Look's like you've got a case of the Mondays...

Hey everyone, just putting up a post before bed. Today was pretty long, but good. Matt and I have come to the conclusion that the work that we are doing for Ikamva is really good. Usually when we talk to Helen about our work she just goes "marvelous" or "so wonderful", and we just figured she was being nice and didn't really care about what we had done. But now, we think that she may be sincere, that what we are doing actually is important to Ikamva, and that she is thoroughly impressed by us. To go from feeling that your work isn't important, to believing that you are actually doing something incredible that your boss never thought possible is a hell of an upper.

On top of this, I also found out that Brianna and I got tickets for the USC and UConn games (as evident in my earlier ALL CAPS post)! This, possibly more so than the realization that our boss actually does see some importance in what we are doing, was cause for such an awesome day. GOOOO IRISH!!! BEAT TROJANS!!!!

To cap the night, we went to see the comedy improv show, TheatreSports, again. We saw this a few weeks ago, if you remember, and went again tonight. It was pretty good, not as funny as last time, but still really funny. It was a good way to end the night. Alright, I should probably stop posting and get back to watching Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (this isn't a porno, I promise). Google it, if you dont' believe me. G'night!

Tickets...

GOT USC AND UCONN TICKETS!!! BRIANNA AND I WILL SEE EVERYONE THERE!!! USC TICKETS WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!

It's raining, it's pouring...

I had another low-key day today. I’ve really enjoyed the past few, as I’ve been feeling amazingly exhausted after having been here for six weeks. Sleeping in until noon today was something that my body, my sanity, and I sorely needed. After I woke up, I pretty much just lounged around, reading my book and doing some work that I needed to do; applied for a few jobs as well. All in all, it was a relaxing day.

I think part of what made today so enjoyable for me was that there was a heavy rain all day. It hasn’t rained in awhile, and in case anyone was wondering, I love rainy days. Going so long without one, when we were told it would rain almost everyday while we were here, has been nice but disappointing. I can’t explain it, but I love rainy days, especially rainy days that allow me to be indoors and reading a book.

Another aspect of today that really made me happy was that I was able to cook dinner. We’ve been eating out far too much recently, and I haven’t been able to cook. Cooking is one of the main ways that I relax. I don’t really relax just making a sandwich or the occasional pasta, but cooking an actual dinner does a lot for me.

Tonight, I made a Cajun chicken dinner. Even if it was a pre-made sauce packet, with a recipe on the side, I was still able to take some enjoyment from playing around and using the recipe more as a framework than a strict guide. I marinated the chicken in the seasoning, even though it didn’t say to, and also added some cook pasta to the dish. The whole cooking process took over an hour, and I was able to read while I cooked, and just enjoy doing something that I normally do at home.

With all of the reading I was able to get accomplished today, I finally finished the book I was reading, Blood’s Mist. I’ll post my review of Blood’s Mist on my other blog, Notre Books (now linked to my blog) in a few minutes so you can all read my thoughts on it there. I’m exited to be done with this book, as now I can move on to one of the other books I brought with me, either Catch-22 or The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Alright, friends, I need to write this review, and then write an update for Prof. Paulsen, telling her everything that Matt and I have been up to for the past two weeks. As this was supposed to be due last Friday, I really want to get it to her either tonight or in the morning. Good night everyone!

More PIctures...

Hey everyone, I posted the pictures from Matt's and my visit to Khayelitsha on July 3rd when we saw the remnants of the riot from the night before (July 2nd). There are a few pictures of some cute kids as well, so I hope you enjoy them. Later!

It's all Good at the Cape...

What an interesting day. Michael, Tara, Collin, and I took the day to make a trip to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point (the self-described south-western most point of the African continent, haha). On our way down, we stopped in Simon’s Town, where we saw the penguins, way back when, because we saw these colorful shacks while we were driving. The shacks are pictured on the cover of Tara’s Lonely Planet South Africa guide, so we had to stop to see them and take some pictures. These are the shacks you see in the background of my pictures, and yes, we are doing a human pyramid.

After we left Simon’s Town, we continued on our way to the Cape, when we saw some cars pulled off to the side of the road, and a baboon sitting in the middle of the road. Apparently, one of the cars had pulled off to look at them, when one of the baboons opened the car door and stole one of the passengers’ backpack. The baboon proceeded to sit in the middle of the highway and rip all of the books and papers out of his back, taste them, and throw them away, before settling on the two oranges he had in his back. I also have a video of the baboon sitting there eating and the American man just cursing at it, unable to stop the baboon from having its way with the bag.

Soon, we noticed that one of the baboons was on the hood of our car, so we started taking pictures of it. As I was lining up to take a picture of the baboon from the driver’s side, I realized that the backseat window was rolled down. I’d had it down to enjoy the weather and in my excitement of seeing baboons, forgotten to roll it up. About the time I noticed the window was down, so did the baboon. We all just sat back and watched as a baboon rummaged through our car.

One of the men who were there told us we should open the front passenger door to let the baboon out, which we did. The baboon escaped and we shut the door. Then, the same guy goes, “uh oh, you let them see you open it, now they know how to.” Sure enough, two baboons opened the door and got it and rummaged through our car again.

All in all, we had very little stolen by the baboons. A couple of Coke cans, a sandwich that I’d brought along for lunch, and some cookies that Collin had bought. Oh, and my stomach medicine. Yes, that’s right, a baboon stole my stomach medicine. It opened up the bottle, and removed two of the pills. I find it kind of funny that the baboon that ate my sandwich now won’t be able to poop it out. Life’s a bitch.

After we finally were able to get rid of the baboons, we got back on the rode (now smelling like baboons) and finally made it to the Cape. Once we got into the park, we noticed that the baboon that had climbed onto the hood of our car had also broken the driver’s side mirror. We proceeded to laugh hysterically. Luckily we fixed it pretty easily (she had just dislodged it when she climbed fro the hood to the back window).

Keeping in our history of desecrating historic monuments, we found the Dias Cross. We have no idea of this Dias was, but his cross provided an excellent opportunity for some pictures, as well as something to climb on. Moving on.

A bit later, we made it to the lighthouse on top of Cape Point. As far as lighthouses go, it was pretty boring, but it’s something we can say we did. The view of the ocean was beautiful though, and to me, was worth the disappointment of the lighthouse.

After we left Cape Point, we hit up the Cape of Good Hope on our way back. We got to see some ostriches on the side of the rode on our drive there. Once there, we got a few pictures with the sign proclaiming it the “south-western most point on the African continent.” I’m pretty sure the people we had take the picture for us thought we were slightly off as the picture we ended up taking involved us holding heavy rocks above our heads. I’m not really sure where my life is at the point my friends.

Well, that pretty much sums up today. I think we’re going to have a quiet night, maybe go to a Mexican restaurant and then watch a movie. Watch out for the baboons, everyone!!!

Hold me closer, tiny dancer...

Hey everyone. Today was a fun, but somewhat sad day. Today we finished our work with Xoliswa. Aside from our lunch together at Mzoli's next Friday, we won't see her again. As I said, this is sad, as Xoliswa has been the best guide we've had thus far; she helped us see an average of 15 creches a day, and is one of the main reasons we have been to 132 sites thus far.

Today wasn't all sad, however, as Xoliswa took Matt and I to a little restaurant called Sasa's Place. Sasa's Place is run out of a container, and is located at a "mall" in Khayelitsha. The food was fantastic. I had some type of beef (I'm not sure how it was cooked), some collard greens, potato salad, and a lot of rice, with some beef gravy to eat with it. As I said, it was fantastic. Matt and I were particularly excited because this is something that we have been wanting to do since we got here; we keep eating a chain restaurants with our guides, but this is what we wanted, something authentic from the townships.

We also started working with Benigna today. She is another former foot soldier who will be acting as a guide for us again next Friday, July 17th (the same day as our braii at Mzoli's). From the get-go, we can tell that we won't get as many done with her as we did with Xoliswa, but Xoliswa's production is kind of hard to replicate. We should get completely done with Site C next Friday, and therefore be completely done with Khayelitsha. Just in case you were wondering, Khayelitsha is the second largest township in the country of South Africa (there is a larger one in Johannesburg), so getting it completely mapped out is quite the feat.

Well, that's all for now everyone. I hope that my adventure with township cuisine doesn't kill me (my stomach is still a bit weak from some of the other food I've eaten recently, haha). Stay thirsty, my friends.

I'm having a party and you can only come if...

Today, Matt and I were invited to a "party" at the Rainbow Centre. Itemba, the teacher-branch of Ikamva Labantu, has meetings at the Rainbow Centre every month, to discuss new agendas such as training and other aspects that are pertinent to their roles as teachers in the creches. It was also fun getting to see many of the principals and teachers that Matt and I have been working with the past few weeks. We got quite a few hugs from them, haha.

Today's meeting was special, however, as today there was a "party" for Helen. Helen went to the States back in May to receive an honor from some group, and they gave her some money ($100,000 Rand or about $12,500 U.S.). She brought this money back to the Ikamva and is using it to throw "parties" for all of the branches of Ikamva. Today's branch was Itemba.

At the party, the members had their normal meeting, and then it was followed by Helen giving a speech explaining where she had been, why she had the money, and why she was throwing the party. After she was done, Matt and I proceeded to hand out a crapload of Kentucky (KFC) meals to all of the members of Itemba. I'm not really sure if this makes any sense, but doing this like this is why I'm enjoying my time here so much.

After the meeting, Matt and I hung back for a bit and spoke with Martha, Notemba, and Xoliswa to speak about our schedule for the following two and a half weeks that we will continue going out into the field. Now that we are squared away again, hopefully we won't have any wasted days going forward and we can continue the great work we've done thus far.

I'm also excited because next Friday, July 17th, the foot soldiers are taking us to Mzole's Place, a braii in Guguletu. We drive by Mzoli's place quite a bit and it looks like an amazing experience. Well, that's it for tonight, I think. Totsien, my friends!

NObama?

I forgot to mention this in yesterday's update, but while Matt and I were in the townships yesterday, we were visiting a creche and ran into a pair of Arizona State students who are here volunteering in the townships as well. When we found out that they go to ASU, we mentioned that we were linked through Obama and they sort of just mumbled something, haha. Gotta love keep things civil between institutions of higher learning... if you can even call ASU that, ;-).

Another day, another milestone...

Today, Matt and I felt some repurcussions from the July 3rd protests. We were unable to document the crèches in Khayelitsha Site B, as there was too much debris still in the roads. Instead, Xoliswa took us to Makhaza and Mandela Park to document their crèches. In all, Matt and I documented 19 sites today, bringing our overall total to 120 sites visited. We are balling.

So, today wrapped up our time with Xoliswa, and tomorrow we were supposed to start working with Jabu, but he is sick. As such, we will instead be working with Meisie, another mother. Matt and I are excited to work with Jabu soon, however, as he is the only male in this group of foot soldiers, and we are interested in learning his story. Seeing a male involved with the crèches here is quite rare, and we are intrigued to hear why he got involved.

Tonight, we are going out to dinner with some of the Master’s of International Peace Studies, from the Kroc Institute at Notre Dame. They have a six month internship/study abroad segment, and this group will be based here in Cape Town. It will be interesting to meet them, as the majority of them (most likely all of the ones here) are international students. I know one of us, Luke (who is from England), is excited to have the MIPS students here, as it gives him a break from us “Amerikaaners”, haha. Well, that’s it for today. I may update again later if tonight’s dinner provides any interesting stories. Bye for now, my friends!!!

Closing thoughts...

Today, Matt and I were in the office and had a pretty productive day. Over the past few weeks, we have been finding GPS coordinates for each of the sites we’ve visited, and today we started to locate the sites using Google Maps. By using the GPS coordinates, we can locate the sites really easily.

Once we located all 102 sites that we visited, we started comparing the Google Maps data with the plot maps that Sipho got for us, and began to find some of the sites’ ERF numbers. After some trial and error, we started to become pretty good at finding the sites and their ERF numbers without much trouble. We did notice, however, that we don’t have all of the plot maps that we need, so we’ll need to figure out which ones we’re missing quickly so that Sipho can get them for us.

Getting these erf numbers is what is at the heart of our project. With the erf numbers, Ikamva and Greg (or a local lawyer) can go about protecting the citizens who are currently using the sites for their crèches and orphanages. By having the erf number, a lawyer can track down the chain of title deed and, if the current tenant doesn’t actually own, can go about procuring the title deed for them. Our work here, once completed, will help ensure that none of these mamas are removed from their homes and that their hard work will be able to continue. It’s a really humbling, yet fulfilling job.

I’d also like to take this time to mention something I saw in the township of Khayelitsha on Friday, July 3rd. As Matt and I were driving through Khayelitsha with Xoliswa, we noticed that there was a large amount of garbage on the road. Xoliswa told us that there had been a riot the night before. Some of the township residents haven’t had electricity, despite being promised it over 15 years ago. Many of them have taken to stealing electricity from their neighbors. Obviously, the neighbors don’t appreciate this, and reported it to the police. The police told them to stop stealing. The citizens became upset about this, and began to riot.

I’ll post the pictures soon, so that you can all see what the riot looked like. There had to have been a great number of rioters, as some of the acts they did required a large number of people. Large boulders and containers were drug out into the road. These containers, like the containers you see on ships and trains, are massive and heavy, so you would need quite a few men to move them, especially the distance that they were able to move them. One container was even set on fire. All down the road, for probably 10 or so kilometers, there was trash and debris everywhere.

Seeing the aftermath of this riot, especially on the eve of July 4th, really sends home how lucky we are to be Americans, how lucky we are that we don’t have to riot like this to obtain something as “common place” as electricity. It really makes you question how we live and what is really important in life. Well, that’s all for my thoughts, hopefully this will raise some questions for everyone else who reads it. Good night, my friends.

Sunday Recap...

Today was a pretty low-key day. I finally got to sleep in past 9:30 (until 11am today, woohoo!!!). We were originally going to go to the Cape of Good Hope, but we were all still feeling a little tired from the past few weeks and decided to try for Cape of Good Hope next weekend.

To make up for a missed day, Michael and I met Dag, Suvrat and Luke at the V&A Waterfront. After some coffee, Dag, Michael, and I went to the Two Oceans Aquarium, which is conveniently located at at the Waterfront.

The Aquarium was really nice. It wasn’t as large as other aquariums I’ve been to, but it was still a good time. I love aquariums, so pretty much any aquarium is going to get good marks in my book. We got to see the sharks (ragged-tooth sharks) get fed, as well as the sea turtles and rays. Seeing this was pretty exciting and worth the price of admission.

Afterwards, we just walked around the aquarium and saw all of the other exhibits. We saw a bunch of different types of penguins, jellyfish, and a variety of other fish. I think my favorite exhibit was the moray eel exhibit. There tank was this cylinder shaped tank with two moray eels inside it. They were massive.

The other fun part of the aquarium was their clownfish tank. Inside the cylinder tank there was a small alcove that you could climb in and be surrounded by the clownfish. Dag, Michael, and I had a mini-photoshoot at this point (check out the album for examples).

After we left the aquarium, we walked through a craft warehouse located at the Waterfront. In this warehouse, people are able to set up booths and showcase their wares. I plan on spending some time there in the coming weeks as I start doing my souvenir shopping. We’ve all decided that this is the best place to shop because we are actually buying the goods from the people who made them; this makes the goods not only cheaper, but also means that we know the money we pay is going to them.

Well, that pretty much wraps up today. I’m officially here for only four more weeks. We’re all going to watch The Constant Gardener now, which I have never seen. Totsien, my friends!!!

Oh say can you see...

Happy 4^th of July everyone!!! I’m happy to report that everyone survived our party, but will go ahead and make the claim that it was the most epic party in the history of South Africa (at least the most epic 4^th of July party). I think I will take this time to describe our party in chronological order.

6:45pm: We got the KFC and pizza. What kind of party celebrating America’s independence can you have without greasy KFC? The answer is, a really crappy one. We, on the other hand, did not have a crappy party, but an effing epic one. It should be noted that, even though Michael ordered three buckets on Thursday night, our order was not ready when we got to the KFC. Luckily for us, but no so much for the customers behind us, KFC had exactly 63 pieces of chicken made up (that’s 21 pieces per bucket, in case you were wondering the significance of the 63). After we cleaned out KFC for the second time since we’ve been there (that’s another story for another time), we went back and the party began in full.

I think people started showing up around 7pm or so, and around 7:30pm the rooms were packed. We had a wide assortment of party guests: Notre Dame abroad students, Univ. of Florida law students, townies, and even a few coworkers. All in all, we had enough people to get through two kegs and all the food.

The party went on from around 7pm until midnight, at which point many of us made our way down to the roof (down to the roof? Yes, down to the roof.) to shoot off fireworks. After about twenty minutes, we heard sirens. Despite the fact that we live in a large city with a lot of crime, we just knew the cops were coming after us, so we booked it back inside and back up to our floor.

This is when things fell apart. One of the other denizens of the apartments (an 8^th floor resident who was quite drunk himself) was on our floor yelling and calling the cops. At this point, the party ended and everyone went home with no real fuss.

This morning, we all woke up and, not feeling as liberated as our ancestors must have on the 4^th of July, we pulled ourselves together and made our way to the beach at Camp’s Bay. After lying out and getting some sun, we all returned back to the hotel for a relaxing night in. As today is July 4^th, we are watching Independence Day. Enjoy the fireworks my friends!!!

I'm alive....

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates the past few days. Due to some personal issues, I haven’t really felt like blogging. But, I think I’m ready now to put myself back out there for all of you to critique my summer work experience. So, in the words of Hoard Dean, BYYYYAAAHHHH!!!

Today, Matt and I eclipsed a milestone in our work. We saw property #100 (we actually got to #102) today. To think that after only seven or so days in the field, we have gotten over 100 sites visited is really powerful. We were able to finish out all 17 of the senior centers yesterday, and therefore will be working exclusively with crèches from here on out.

I took some really awesome pictures today; there are a lot of cute kids in them. I’ll try and post them tomorrow maybe, or on Sunday at the latest. Today was also great from a work-related viewpoint; Matt was able to use the GPS coordinates in Google Maps to find over 50 of the 102 properties we’ve looked at. By using Google Maps, we believe we can speed up our pursuit of finding the Erf numbers for each site on the plot maps. All in all, Matt and I are really confident in our project, and believe that we will be able to leave Ikamva Labantu with something special that they can use going forward.

Also, tonight is our 4^th of July party. Our Notre Dame friends who are studying abroad at the University of Cape Town are leaving tomorrow for a trip to Durban, so we decided to have a celebration tonight, with some small fireworks going off at midnight. In good ol’ fashioned American tradition, we will be having pizza and KFC for dinner.

I hope everyone has a safe 4^th of July, and please email me stories if you have any. I really enjoy hearing from you guys as well, haha. Bye for now, my friends!!

First Day Back at Work...

Today was our first day back to work, and our first day in the office since we have been out documenting the crèches and senior centers in the townships. Matt and I had a really productive meeting with Helen Liberman and Ishrene to discuss where we currently stand and where we see ourselves being at the end of our project. After that meeting, we had some stuff to do in the office to progress our project. It’s kind of nice to be in the office for once, things are slower and not as hectic as when we are out in the townships.

We had a guest today at lunch; Michael decided to join us at The Kitchen, as he had a slow day and was bored. If you remember, The Kitchen is where Matt and I used to eat everyday when we were in the office more (they make the amazing sandwiches with the tomato and basil pesto on them). We haven’t been to The Kitchen in awhile, but I am proud to note that the food there is still just as good. Michael is now also a fan.

We also made some headway today with the Microsoft Access database that we had constructed. Matt and I spoke with David Blake, the IT consultant, over the phone and he walked us through how to use the database that he made. Now that we know what all of the fields and terminology he uses means, we feel confident in our ability to use the database going forward as we continue our work here. Aside from that, it was a pretty slow day, just the type of day you need after a long break.

It is also worth nothing that the weather outside is beautiful today. It would be, on the one day we are in the office all day, haha. The last few days we were in the field were really wet and cold, and today it is warm and beautiful. That’s Cape Town for you.

Tonight, we are going to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. There will be a review of that later, as well as a review of Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps. Stay tuned everyone!

More Pictures...

Hey everyone, I added two new albums (Senior Centers 6/24, and Elephant Reserve), as well as added new photos to Tisika Animal Preserve, Robberg National Park, and Kwandwe Game Drive and Melton Manor. You can all thank Matt Kernan for his help in documenting the trip here, as he is responsible for photographing these new pictures. Later!

Drive home...

The only bad part about a vacation, is when it ends. Before we started our way back to Cape Town, we drove back to the area that Tisika Game Preserve was, to see an Elephant reserve. While we were there, I got to walk with an elephant, holding its nose in my hand, as well as being able to pet it. We also learned some things about the elephants, but we all know that is boring once you’ve gotten to do something cool like walk with one.

After we left, we tried to make our way to Cango Caves. We hoped to be able to go on a tour of the caverns, but realized as the drive went on that we wouldn’t make it before 3:30pm, when the last tour left. We have decided to make a weekend event of it and go back later on in July.

After realizing this, we changed our course and got back onto the N2/The Garden Route, and made our way back to Cape Town. Michael, Tara, Matt and I were in one car, and had some adventures of our own along the way. For instance, we apparently degraded a national monument. On our drive, we turned off down a side road because we saw a sign that said something in Afrikaans on a plaque. We decided to get out of the car here and have a photo shoot. Needless to say, some of our photos are quite interesting, if not slightly stupid, but hey, we’ve been crammed together in a car for the past four days, we’ve reached that level of comfort.

In the process of taking some pictures, a car pulled up to us and the people inside got out to talk to us. Their names were Roy and Daphne Hill. The proceeded to tell us that the monument was in place to remember all of the blacks and coloreds who had been oppressed and died while under apartheid rule. As we were “whites”, they thought we were making fun of the monument; Roy and Daphne are considered “colored” under South Africa’s laws. We quickly informed them that we were American and that we don’t understand Afrikaans, and that we meant no harm, and then proceeded to have a chat with them. After 15-20 minutes of said chat, we were getting a bit antsy and hightailed it out of there as fast as we could.

A bit further on down the road, we passed an ostrich farm. We pulled off to get a closer look at the birds, and nearly got attacked. When we first got there, the birds ran away, frightened by our walking towards them. After they ran away, we looked away ourselves and had a little chat about what to do next. When turned around, the ostriches were creepily walking toward us in formation, wings outstretched and heads bobbing up and down. We then noticed the ostrich tracks on our side of the fence and realized that these guys could easily hop over. We got a quick picture of them, and left.

After leaving the ostriches, we got on the road and made our way back to Cape Town. After being on the road for almost eight hours, we were excited to get home. It was a bit weird getting back into town, almost as if we had never left. I’m not sure now if the whole weekend adventure I had was a dream or not. Oh well, it was a good dream regardless. Now it is time for bed, as I have to start working again tomorrow. G’night everyone!

Tisika Animal Preserve and a Soccer Match...

I pet cheetahs. There, I said it. On Sunday, our group went to the Titsika Animal Preserve, near the Tsala Treetops area. Their big attraction is allowing people to pet big cats, which we did. While there, I got to pet two young and two adolescent cheetahs, as well as some caracals. I’ll post pictures of these events as soon as I can.

Petting the cheetahs was awesome. I’m not going to lie, seeing the picture of Brianna doing it really made me want to pet a big cat, and now I have. It’s such a sweet experience, being next to something that is so elegant and lethal, and then getting to pet it like it’s a house cat; a house cat that can kill you whenever it wants. That said, once you get over the fear, its pretty amazing to be able to say you pet one.

I’m sure people are wondering what a caracal is. Well, if you look at my pictures, they are the animals with the brown coat and long pointed black ears, and they also have stubby tails. They are pretty sweet cats. They are not endangered, but are being hunted by famers because, as the cats’ natural habitat is being replaced by farmland, they are hunting the farmers’ sheep and livestock. It is interesting to note that farmers will accept having a leopard in the area, because it will keep caracals away. They, apparently, are more of a nuisance than their larger relatives.

We also saw a baby leopard. It was really cute. At one point, it climbed up into a tree; broke the branches because it was too heavy; fell onto the ground with a thud; and then ran away, embarrassed. Later, when they were taking the leopard inside (it is apparently too young to stay outside in the rain at night), the leopard “attacked” the attendant, and then, as they were walking inside, he jumped up on a trash can and just lay down (you can see the picture in the album).

After we left the reserve, we drove to Knysna to check into the hotel. After we checked in, we walked down to this local pub called Olde’s to watch the USA/Brazil Confederation Cup Championship match. Michael, Collin, Mike and I all got ribs (which were excellent). We also struck up a deal with our waiter to bring us a round of Jeiger-bombs whenever a goal was scored. That’s right: a goal. Not when the US scored, whenever anyone did. It was, unfortunately, a high-scoring match, haha. After four rounds of Jeiger-bombs, we did our last round with SoCo and lime.

When we were done, Matt and Dag went back, while Michael, Suvrat, Luke, Tara, Collin and I stayed behind to hang out for a bit. After a bit, Michael, Collin, Tara and I decided to leave. On our way back to the hotel, Mike thought it would be funny to play a prank on us. He went “Solid Snake” on us, and hid. I saw where he hid, and we approached this person lying on a picnic table bench. We shook his leg and said, “c’mon Mike,” at which point he responded, “I’m not Mike!” After this revelation, we ran back to Olde’s to tell Suvrat and Luke that Mike was missing.

We went back outside, and Mike was now walking towards us. He later revealed to us that he had been squatting next to the homeless man. Have I mentioned that Michael is the craziest person on this trip? Oh, then, he is. Well, that’s all for now everyone. Later!

Robberg National Park

Today, after we left Tsala Treetops, we drove along the N2 heading to Knysna. While Suvrat, Collin, Luke, and Dag went to go do the World’s Tallest Bungee Jump; Michael, Tara, Matt and I went to Robberg National Park. We hike around the peninsula for a bit. When we got to the beach, we saw a lot of “nature” (inside joke).

Mike and I climbed out onto some rocks that lead out into the Indian Ocean, and saw some pretty cool things. In some of the pools on top of the rocks, we found some corals and some anemones. Once we pressed on a little further, we found some rocks that were covered (and I mean covered) in clams. The rocks were black with them.

After being amazed by this, we continued our trek around the island, hiking up some rocks. Mike and I had some issues with this part of the trip, as the path was winding around the mountain, and was probably only two to three feet wide, and the fall to our left was incredibly far and steep. After a ways, we turned around and made our way back down the mountain and to the car. It was an amazing time all-in-all, as just about everything on this safari has been.

PIctures

Hey everyone. I just uploaded pictures of our stop at the World's Tallest Bungee Jump, and some pictures from Tsala Tree Tops. Dag, Collin and Luke are going to attempt the bungee jump today, while Matt, Tara, Suvrat, Michael, and I are going to explore the area around TTT. We are planning on going to an elephant reserve that is nearby, and also to do some hiking. Enjoy the pictures!

Tsala Treetops

Today, we drove from Kwandwe to the Tsala Tree Top Lodge. It’s a beautiful place; it’s really eclectic and posh. I have seriously never stayed at anywhere as nice as these hotels in my life. The fact that I’m getting to stay at all of these, for a huge discount, is even better. I’m not sure when the last time I had this fun, maybe when I went to Disneyworld when I was little, or when I went to my first Notre Dame football game.

So, anyway, Tree Top is awesome. We’re not actually on top of a tree (false advertising), but we’re in bungalows that have private fences around them, and each one has a private pool. There are two rooms in each bungalow, and the bathrooms are awesome. Each has a massive tub, as well as a walk in shower, which is also attached to an outdoor shower. As it’s dark, this is pretty much the only items of note that we can see.

We just watched Braveheart, and are now going to go to bed. I’ll probably stay up a bit and read Blood Mist, one of the South African fiction books I bought. I finished Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps, so expect that review up soon. I also uploaded all of my safari pictures online, so you can see everything I’ve been up to. G’night my friends!

Last Game Drive

Hey everyone, we just got back from our last game drive, and we are getting ready to leave to head to the Tsala Treetops. On our game drive, we saw the same lion as yesterday, except this time he was on the hunt for two other females. We watched him search for them for awhile, but to no avail. We saw him later with the two original females, and when they realized what he'd been trying to do, one of them slapped him in the face. It was hilarious.

We also saw a female white rhino and her calf. They were HUGE. I got a lot of pictures of them, so I hope you all enjoy seeing them. Alas, we saw no black rhinos.

We also didn't see any elephants. We hunted them down for a good hour and a half, found many tracks, but never actually found them. Oh well, guess I'll just have to come back here again. We aren't too upset about not seeing them as there is an elephant reserve in Knysna, where we will stay on Sunday night, so we can just go there and see them on Monday before we head home. Well, that's all for now guys, we have to leave. Hope everyone is living vicariously through my pictures! Ciao!

Last Update Tonight

Just thought I'd share this: tomorrow, our goals are to see elephants and white and/or black rhinos. I hope we are successful in all three. That's all.

Irish Lions are Smiling...

We went on our second game drive around 3pm. Our new game driver’s name was Alfie. He’s an interesting character. Apparently he lived in America for 10 months or so, working in the carnival there. Told me that he’d bee all throughout the southeast and Texas, and up into Canada. He was a great guide, as he would stop the Land Rover and actually taught us stuff, instead of just pointing at an animal and going, “that’s a giraffe, they eat this.”

So, yeah, the second game drive was excellent. Right off the bat, we got to see some water buffalo at, where else, water. We watched their herd move down this hill and then engulf this little lake. After a few minutes, they became agitated by our presence and started to make their way back up the hill. Alfie thought that they were going to a nearby, different lake to drink, so we backed the Land Rover up to move to that location. As we were heading there, we saw that the buffalo had really just tricked us into leaving, as they were now quickly returning to the original watering hole. We were lucky that they did.

Why were we lucky, you ask? Well, because we decided to leave them alone and move on, we got to see some lions. Kwandwe has a pen where it is currently housing two young lions (a brother and sister), who they are preparing to ship off two a different game reserve. As we drove by this enclosure, we saw three wild lions outside the fence (one male, two females). Alfie told us that this pride doesn’t like the two enclosed lions because they are on the pride’s territory. After watching the lions nap for about 20 minutes, they got up and went to the fence to heckle the other lions. Had we followed the buffalo, we would’ve missed seeing these lions up close.

Anyway, the three lions were amazing. They were mostly napping while we were there; Alfie told us that it appeared that they had recently eaten. The male lion was awesome. He finally woke up and started moving around, allowing us to take some awesome photographs. The one that you see in this blog post is my favorite. Hanging out and watching these lions sleep and then wake up and do nothing may sound boring, but it has been far and away the most incredible part of this trip.

After we left the lions, we drove around a bit more, and then came upon a cliff where Alfie stopped the car for some “sundowners.” This was basically a chance for us to get out of the Land Rover, drink some hot chocolate with Amarula, and see the sunset. It was nice to get out of the Land Rover and stretch the legs for a bit. This also provided the opportunity for some photographs to be taken, as you can see in the album I’ve posted.

After our “sundowners”, we continued on our game drive, now looking for nocturnal animals. We didn’t really see all that much, save for a few porcupines, which were rather large. Aside from those, we saw nothing else of note, and returned back to the Ecca Lodge for dinner.

That pretty much sums up my day. If I were to describe my day in one word it would probably be: wowwhatanawesomef’ndayican’tbelievei’monsafari. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Totsien, my friends!

First Game Drive

Today we went on two game drives. The first one we went on went out at 7:10am. You may not believe this, but I may have gotten frostbite in Africa while on Safari. Okay, maybe not, but it was around 32-40 degrees when we left. To battle this, I wore a long sleeve shirt, a long sleeve layering shirt, my Notre Dame fleece, and my raincoat. Apparently I should’ve packed my down coat. Luckily, the Land Rovers we were in came with blankets and hand warmers. I felt just like Brett Favre… on a safari… and maybe not as wishy-washy on my future, but I digress.

Anyway, we hit the road at 7:10 am, and for a while, animal sightings were slim pickings. We finally saw our first animal, an antelope of some kind (name is escaping me), around 7:40am. Soon after this, we realize that the early morning drive was worth it.

Around 8am, we found two cheetahs. They are two brothers who work together and maintain a large territory. We got a lot of pictures of them, as they kept walking near the Land Rover. We mostly watched them walk around and mark their territory, although our tour guide told us that they were hungry as they kept looking around, sniffing the air. He told us that the wind was making it hard for them to find a scent, hence their constant surveillance. We stayed with the cheetahs for almost thirty minutes, just watching them be cheetahs.

After we left the cheetahs, we drove around for a bit and saw a menagerie of other animals. We saw warthogs, some different birds, some zebras, and giraffes. I really enjoyed seeing the zebras. I’ve never really noticed how much the resemble donkeys or asses more so than horses, but all the same, they are beautiful animals. I was also thrilled to see more giraffes, as my camera was dead when we saw them the night before. This time, I got plenty of pictures of them, even practicing some different photography effects on them (see the sepia shot, that I might frame when I get home). Later on, we saw some ostriches, more warthogs, and some black wildebeest.

After our game drive was over, we made our way back to the Melton Manor to eat and pack up. Due to a scheduling conflict, we had to stay one night in the Manor, instead of two consecutive nights in Ecca Lodge. I have to say they are both the most extravagant hotels/lodgings I have ever been to. I hope my pictures do justice to the awesome-ness that is this place. So everyone, this is the update for my first game drive of the day, haha. Now go read my second update!

Pictures

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that I have uploaded some new pictures from yesterday and today. I'll do a proper update later tonight detailing everything I've done and seen. Hope y'all enjoy looking at them!!

Safari!!!

Today, we made our way to Kwandwe Game Park. We left the Garden Centre Apartments at 6:30 am, and made the long, nine-hour drive to Kwandwe. The drive was fun and scary. There were a few times, especially when we were really close to Kwandwe, where we were driving down really narrow roads that winded around the mountains. To add to our fears, the car that Collin, Tara, Michael, and I were in was running on Empty at the time. But, by coasting down the hills and some luck, we made it to Kwandwe safely. Getting back, however, may be a challenge as there is obviously not a gas station on the reserve, and all of their reserves are diesel reserves.

Anyway, we got here around 4:30, and after signing in, got into a open-top Land Rover at 5:15 pm. Along our way to the Lodge we are staying in, we quickly got to see some animals up close. There was a giraffe that walked across the road behind us; it couldn’t have been more that 20 feet away. I tried to get a picture of it, but unfortunately my camera died. My tour guide reassured me that if there is one animal we will see without fail on this trip, it is giraffes, as they are very used to the cars and will come up to us.

We also saw a red hartebeest, a type of antelope. For more information go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hartebeest. They, apparently, are much more skittish to cars, because as soon as we were near it, it scampered away. Our tour guide told us that it did that because it was so windy, and the animals’ sense of smell is thrown off by the wind, and therefore will run away at the slightest noise.

After a twenty-minute drive, we made our way to the lodge we are staying at for the night. I have taken some pictures that I have posted for everyone to see. This is, seriously, the nicest hotel I’ve ever been in (and I stayed at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles with the football team). The pictures are the best way to understand what it is like is to see the pictures. It is a $3,200 a night room, that we are only paying $1,200 a night for ($250ish apiece). We find this is a steal.

We also have our own tour guide. His name is Murray. He has worked here at Kwandwe for three years now. He told us that we are going out for a game drive at 7 am until around 11 or 11:30 am tomorrow. We were going to go out tonight, but it got late and the weather was still bad. Instead, we stayed in (at our all-inclusive hotel) and had dinner. We ate a bread pudding, some corn chowder, ostrich steak, and then had soufflé for dinner. We also got lots of hot chocolate with Amarula. Well, I think most of us are going to head to bed, as we are getting up so early in the morning. Good night everyone! I’ll try not to get eaten by a lion tomorrow! Also, expect lots of pictures after the early morning drive, and another blog update!!

It's The Circle of Life!!!!!

Today for lunch, Matt and I ate with Tutu and Pumula at a restaurant called Spurs: Steak Ranches. It may possibly be the most unintentionally racist restaurant I have ever been to, haha. The restaurant is a Native American themed restaurant that is covered in layer upon layer of “Native American” crap such as plastic teepees,seat cushions that were made of fabric resembling cowhide, and everywhere you looked there were Native Americans doing Native American things painted on the walls. It was amazing.

For dinner tonight, we went to a place called Marco’s Place. It served authentic African cuisine. It was super touristy. It was good though. I had a kudu (antelope) steak, with pap (it’s a dish made of ground up maize and mixed with water), as well as a spinach dish. It was really good. I also got to try someone’s ostrich. I was also very tasty. For dessert, Suvrat, Tara and I shared an ice cream dish that was covered in chocolate sauce and Amarula. Yummy.

To drink, Tara, Suvrat, Collin, and I shared some local beer made in the township of Guguletu, a township that I work in a lot. It wasn’t my favorite. Tara told me that she thinks it was made of fermented corn or cornhusks, as that’s what the beer in Uganda was made from. It had a very weird taste and consistency. It was interesting, but I don’t think I’ll be trying it again.

So, tomorrow morning at 6am (midnight eastern time), we all head out for our safari. We are leaving so early so that we can make an afternoon/evening game drive at Kwandwe National Game Park. We will be staying at the game park Thursday and Friday night, and will have four drives (one Thursday, two Friday, and one Saturday) to get in. On Saturday, we head to Tsala Treetop Lodge (google it), where we will spend the night, as well as takeadvantage of some of the spots around Treetop. On Sunday, we head to Knysna, an ocean-side city, where we will spend Sunday night. At Knysna, we will have access to other events (elephant riding, bungee jumping, etc.), but we must pay for them individually. All in all, it should be a ridiculously fun event, and I will be sure to post the hundreds, nay thousands of pictures that I will probably take.

As such, I’m sure all my faithful readers are wondering about when they can hear from me again. Well, I will be taking my computer with me to upload all of my pictures everyday, and we’ll see if the hotels have WiFi or not. If they don’t, I’ll keep a log of my days, and post those when I get back on Monday afternoon/evening. This is the update of all updates everyone, so please stay tuned! G’night, my friends!!

Awesome day!

Today, Matt and I took a break from documenting crèches, and instead worked on documenting senior centers. We got through seven of the centers, and when we start back to work on July 1, we will finish out the remaining seven centers. It was nice to have a break from the crèches, which are very informal and sometimes very run down, to work on documenting the senior centers, which are much newer and more developed.

Leading us today, were Tutu and Pumula. They are both amazing women. Tutu actually started Ikamva’s Senior Centre branch. She has been with Ikamva for over 30 years. Originally, Tutu was working with the Red Cross, going through and helping the people in the townships. Over time, she noticed a glaring need for the seniors of the townships to have a place to go. Before, she said, most of the attention was given to the younger generations, while the older people were mostly forgotten. She started working with them because of this. Eventually, she met up with Helen Lieberman, and the two of them began working to fund and construct these senior centers.

Over 30 years later, her work has definitely paid off. The centers are amazing. They provide solid, safe structures for all of the senior citizens to come together and interact with one another. They do exercises with the seniors, as well as lead them in knitting groups. All of the seniors there are so happy. They sang to Matt and I at one of the centers.

There is also another aspect of the senior centers that we just learned about today. Apparently, the local schools have a program where they send groups of students to a senior center once a month. The students, usually a choir or singing group, will come to the senior center and perform for the seniors. We witnessed one of these singing groups today. They were really good. The seniors were up dancing and singing with them. The students are also encouraged to listen to the stories of the seniors. Pumula told me that this is done so that the students will get a glimpse into their culture and heritage. As many of the students do not have grandparents, this is a way for them to have that experience and to learn and understand the past.

This is a great program, one that I wish was implemented in the US, as so many of the seniors in the senior centers back home rarely if ever get to interact with the younger generations. To see how energetic and happy the seniors are here, and to see how most of the seniors are back home who live in retirement homes, there is no comparison. Here, everyone is lively and happy. I’ve rarely seen anyone in a retirment home be this happy and jubilant back home.

Anyway, back to our guides. The other guide was Pumula. She has been working with Ikamva and Tutu for the past 20 or so years. She is in charge of the Noluthundo Senior Centre, located in New Crossroads. Pumula has a daughter who lives in America, in Florida actually, which is where Matt is from, who works as a nurse. Her son, meanwhile, is a detective here in South Africa. She is a very interesting woman. Matt and I really enjoyed working with them, they were very warm and welcoming, and we look forward to working with them when we get back to work on July 1.

The Hangover...

What. A. Day. So, we went to the improv show, as my earlier blog detailed, and then afterwards we went to a bar called Jo’Burg. Around two am, Mike and I decided to go on a Nando’s hunt. We didn’t find Nando’s, and I’m not at liberty to say what happened to us online, but I will gladly tell anyone who emails me and asks.

Anyway, Matt and I had to work today, despite our night out. Due to only getting four hours of sleep, Martha and Notemba thought we were hung over. I can honestly say, I wasn’t. Just extremely tired, haha. They proceeded to laugh at us many times and then tell us to make sure that we got some sleep when we got home after work. Martha looked at me and said, “You’re not going to go to sleep, I know it.” Oh, how right you are, ma’am.

No, instead of taking a nap like I had planned to all day, we went to see a movie. We saw The Hangover. I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it, as it is hilarious. At the same time, however, Michael, Tara, Collin, and I have decided that some of our adventures aren’t that far off from the ones in the movie. The sad (good?) thing is that we are still here for another month, so those adventures will only get crazier. I’m frightened. If Mike dies, I already have his eulogy planned. It has to do with the story that I’m not at liberty to discuss online, but will gladly discuss in email (hint hint, wink wink). Okay, time to read. G’night everyone.

Stop! In the name of love...

So last night we went to an improv show, called Theatre Sports, on the University of Cape Town campus. It was like “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, with two teams competing against one another. It was hilarious. One of the games was called “I’m having a party”, and the main person had to figure out what the other four guests were simply by their actions. The other four participants were given their roles by crowd suggestion. One was a submarine. Seriously, there was a guy pretending to be a submarine.

The audience also had a role in determining when a skit should end. If a skit was going on for too long, the host would signal for us to all stand up and sing loudly, "Stop, in the name of love!" We never actually had to do this, but it was fun practicing it. Overall, it was hilarious. That’s all for now. Ciao!

Songs about rain...

So today’s update is pretty short. It rained all day. Being in the townships while it is raining is a bit depressing. Before, when the building owners and principals would tell you that there was a leak, you would note it and move on. When it is raining, you actually see the leaks. All of them.

Matt and I have decided that actually judging the buildings is the worst part of our job. We love going to the townships, and I personally love never being in the office. Judging these buildings, as if I have any right or expertise, does weigh on you some. We’re basically in charge of deciding how urgent a need is. They’re all urgent, but we have to rate them, from one to five, on how quickly they need to be fixed. “Your leak is only a two, because this other crèche’s leak is so bad that the ceiling is caving in. I know that it is leaking, and your children are cold and wet, but there are worse ones.” We don’t actually have these conversations obviously; so much as we play them out in our heads when we rate them. As I said, it will weigh on you after awhile.

I did have a funny experience with our guides today. We went to Nando’s to get lunch and I got Hot flavored chicken. After I’d finished eating, they both looked at me and go “why don’t you cry?” At first, I wasn’t sure what they meant, then I realized they meant that the chicken didn’t make me cry. I told them that I’ve had Nando’s a few times and that it no longer really bothers me, but that it had made my eyes water in the past. They just shook their head and go “young people.”

Well that’s about it for today’s update. I hope everyone back home is doing well and having adventures of their own. Bye everyone.

That's what I love about Sundays...

So, today was a pretty relaxing day. While the some of the other interns went to another township mass, I decided to sleep in. It was the first day I’ve slept past 9am since May 31^st, the day after I arrived. To put it mildly, I have been exhausted, so sleeping in was a great life decision.

After I woke up around 10:30 (I have no idea how I used to sleep in until nearly 1pm), I started reading my book, Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps, a book about the history and current state of the NFL as of 2006. After reading for awhile, I decided to go down to the mall for some lunch and some people watching. I took my book along with me just to be safe. While enjoying a cappuccino (I seriously drink so much coffee and tea here) and eggs benedicts, I took in the sites of the mall I live in (I need to post pictures of the mall at some point, so people can actually understand that I do live in a mall).

As always, it is interesting to see how differently people dress here. Yes, there are your usual gangs of hipsters, but it seems that everyone dresses so much “nicer” than we do in the States. We truly are “ugly” Americans, at least here in Cape Town. Apparently my sweatshirt, shorts, and sandals look does not cut it here like it would in South Bend.

After I got back upstairs, I met up with Michael, Suvrat and Collin, and we went down to the V&A Waterfront again. While there, I got a safari hat. It’s the one you see in the picture there. I call it my Indiana Jones hat. We head out for safari on Thursday at 6am and get back sometime Monday night. There will be epic blog posts when that I get back on Monday night. Well, that’s pretty much it for now. I’m going to go read some and hit the hay so that I can be rested for another full day in the townships. G’night folks!