Being Better - South Africa Day 1

I'm trying to be better about updating my blog more regularly so you don't get one beast of a post at the end of each port.

We pulled into South Africa this morning and, as I mentioned before, it was absolutely beautiful. The majority of the morning was spent exploring the waterfront area, which is pretty similar to Capitola. Rather touristy, but it's nice to be in an area where I can kind of let my guard down and relax. Pretty different from the other places we've been recently.

In the afternoon I went to the District 6 museum. During the apartheid, District 6 was one of the sections that black people were evicted from and the old houses were bulldozed to reconstruct it into a white area. At least that was my understanding. The museum was a really cool tribute to the people that had lived there before and had returned since the apartheid ended. There was a huge map of the streets before the apartheid where people wrote where there families lived. It was pretty cool to see.

After that we went into the townships. The townships are the sections that black people had to live during the apartheid. A LOT of people still live there. I had never seen houses like that. I've seen poverty before, but this was a whole new level. For some reason it didn't really pull at my heart strings like it has in the past and it did for other people. I hope I'm not becoming numb to it. Just like I think it's important to notice and enjoy the simple/little things in life, I think it's important not to become numb to the suffering in the world. Maybe that's what the difference was - there wasn't visible suffering. Everyone seemed . . . fine. I know that technically they're not "fine," and they need better houses, water, education, food, jobs, and on and on. But at a glance (which is all we had time for), the major problems besides housing are not as apparent.

Or maybe I'm numb.

Something to be on the notice for. Definitely.

After the township visit, I literally ran to my room, changed, and was back on the bus in a matter of minutes to go to the Opera. The served us delicious hors d'oeuvres and wine. I opted for orange juice and then sparkling apple cider, which is supposed to be really good but I like Marteneli's better. Then into the theater. The performance was entertaining, but it didn't blow me away. The acting/dancing/costumes could easily be beat by a SHS performance. The singing was impressive. The story line was ridiculously hard to follow, and everyone left going "what the heck just happened?" Something about a girl wanting to marry a guy, but he's low class so she can't. BUT then it turns out her love and her father were switched at birth, so she's actually low class and he's high class, so now it's okay. BUT that means that her dad and her love are the same age. AND the person who switched them ended up marrying the dad. AND the girl was originally supposed to marry this guy that looked old enough to be her grandpa who ended up marrying a lady that we all thought was already his wife. Confusing, but entertaining none the less.

Okay, sleep for me.

Night all.

Love you.