Life Down In Cape Town: Braai's and Baboons

So Monday of this week was our last day of orientation and we went out to the site in Khayelitsha to learn more about the Football For Hope Center. The site staff sat down with us and told us what they do, the challenges they face and the successes they've had. It’s so cool to see how much they love their jobs as well as how knowledgeable they are about all the programs. They're a pretty incredible group of people. After our meeting they took us to our first Braai. A Braai is like a barbeque at home with tons of meat and alcohol (we obviously didn’t drink at this one), but they cook over coals instead of a flame. Who knows what kind of meat they were making but it was delicious. You just pick it apart with your hands, put it on some bread and dig in. It was a very “local” experience.

Mystery meat?

Some pickup soccer at the center after lunch

Tuesday was our first official day of work and it was great. The office is so fun but we also get a lot of work done; it’s a very collaborative feel bc you can practically talk to anyone in the office right from your desk since the space is wide open. The other day it was super rainy and we were all kinda sleepy, so some of the guys got out their vuvuzelas and made the whole office gather in one of the conference rooms to do push-ups and squats to wake up. The day before I think there was some Indian leg-wrestling going on. I’m really excited about my position and have already been put on some awesome projects where I have a good amount of responsibility. I can already tell that I’m going to learn so much this year. BD (Business Development) is a really fun place to be since we interact with almost every other department. I think my projects will have a lot of variety and I’ll get to work with a lot of different people. Is it weird that I like work so much? I know I still have to do a whole GRS post; it’ll come.

I think it’s safe to say that this weekend was a huge success. We started of Saturday at Old Biscuit Mill again… I don’t think it will ever get old. Oh and small world, I sat down at a huge table at the market and the family next to me was from Utah! They lived there for the past 7 years and the daughters went to Rowland Hall. So weird. Anyway, after lunch we piled in the intern car, a beautiful and odd Toyota Avanza, and went on a little road trip. Our first stop was Muizenburg beach, a very popular spot for surfers as well as sharks. They have shark spotters and flags to dictate how many are in the area that day, pretty sure the surfers could care less though. I’ll be staying out of the water. After that we made a pit stop in Simon’s Town to see our first African animal, the penguin! I think we could have watched them waddle around forever; those are some cute animals.

Yummmm

Muizenburg Beach

Shark Spotters

Pretending to be penguins

Real penguins!

It started pouring rain but we continued on to our final destination, the Cape of Good Hope!! This might have been one of the coolest things I’ve done. The national park consists of wide-open terrain and then cliffs and beaches on both sides. We parked the car and practically ran up to Cape Point to try and beat the rain… but failed. Cape Point was so windy but totally worth braving the weather to see. From the top you could look out and see both oceans, Atlantic and Indian, at the same time. It was awesome and the weather made it an even more dramatic experience.

Working our way to the top

So windy but so happy

Two oceans at one time

We were about to head out of the park when Anna, an intern who studied abroad in Cape Town and was our tour guide for the day, suggested we just check out this road really quickly before the park closed. It was the best decision of the day by far. Immediately after turning on the road we came across a huge pack of baboons just hanging out and walking along side the car. After we took hundreds of pictures sticking out of the car, we drove about 2 minutes and came across three ostriches! We got so close you probably could have petted them out of the window… it wouldn’t have been a wise decision but the option was there. At the end of the road there it was, Cape of Good Hope! Cape Point was windy, but Cape of Good Hope was the strongest wind I’ve ever experienced in my life. When I climbed up to the tallest rock and stood up it almost knocked me over, you kinda had to lean back into the wind in order not to fall forward. Spit was coming out of my mouth and tears out of my eyes, but it was so exhilarating and beautiful that it didn’t matter. It was one of those moments I'll never forget... along with the hour leading up to it. In case any of you are wondering, Cape Point is near where the two oceans collide, and Cape of Good Hope is the pseudo-southernmost tip of Africa. I say pseudo because everyone thinks it’s the most southern part of Africa but it’s actually some random point that nobody cares about… so we’ll just pretend it’s Cape of Good Hope. Needless to say, it was an awesome day. We were some happy kids.

Baboons! And a baby!

Ostrich and the ocean

On top of Cape of Good Hope!

Chillin by our car

Today, Sunday, we ventured out to the University of Cape Town and had our first minibus experience. A minibus is a big van and is used as public transportation around the city. It costs R8 ($0.80) and they have designated routes but will only go once the whole minibus is full, so you can end up waiting there for a while. Also, there is someone who yells out the passenger seat to people on the sidewalk about where the bus is going so they can pick people up along the way. Its kinda crazy but hopefully we’ll get the hang of using them since they’re so cheap. After wandering around UCT we ended the day playing pickup by the world cup stadium, not too shabby.