Somoosas, Mandela, & Penguins: South Africa Days 2-3

Let me start out by saying that I am SO TIRED, so I'm not responsible for any misspellings, stupid grammatical errors, or stupid sentences.

That being said. . .

I'm loving South Africa.

Yesterday I did something called a "cooking safari." It wasn't what I expected, but I LOVED it. We ended up going to the Muslim area of town and going on a mini walking tour of the area. The tour ended at a Muslim woman's home. She welcomed us into her home and introduced us to her daughter and ADORABLE granddaughter (3 months old). Then she proceeded to teach us how to cook an absolutely delicious Malaysian meal. It was cool because we actually got to cook! We weren't just watching her as if she was on a cooking show. We were the ones folding the samosas, whacking the roti, and spicing the curry. AND we got to eat it all too, which was equally enjoyable. And equally difficult - if not more so. How many meals have you eaten with no use of silver wear OR your right hand? Try tearing some roti. They make you work for your food!

The rest of the day was spent exploring the waterfront with Kalista. Quite, quite enjoyable. Oh! Then I went to a hotel that supposedly had free wi-fi, but it was really, really slow. I wanted to upload pictures to this blog to appease your requests, but it wasn't working. I did manage to get one picture uploaded to facebook (it took about an hour).

Today was another really wonderful experience. After not being able to fall asleep 'till latelatelate I woke up earlyearlyearly to go on my Robben Island trip. Although the island doesn't open to tourists 'till 9:00, we were able to go over on the staff boat at 7:30. Usually the tours are given through a bus. You get off the ferry boat, get on the bus, ride around the island in a circle, get back on the ferry, and go home.

Our experience was different.

We got to ride over in the staff boat, which in an of itself is an experience. Usually your ride over in big, cushy boats, but the staff boat is smaller and outside (FREEZING!). It's also the same boat the prisoners were brought over on, so even the passage over added to the experience.

On the island we got a personal walking tour from a peace activist who was there through the whole fall of the apartheid. He brought us all over the island, teaching and then giving us time to reflect and dialogue about it. Some people didn't like it, but I really enjoyed it. So often tours try and pack lots of information and events into such a short time period - I don't end up with time to process or reflect. This way, we were encouraged to process, reflect, and dialogue after every part. This type of tour was really perfect for me, especially with the apartheid and Robben Island, which are so deserving and demanding of processing. The meaning can't fully be grasped by driving by in a bus - at least it can't for me. I really appreciated the time to process.

Then we had a tour of the prison and cells from someone who was actually imprisoned there. It still blows my mind how RECENT all of it was; it's hard for me to wrap my mind around.

I got to see Nelson Mandela's cell. Let me tell you - there's not much too it.

On a less serious note, I also got to see penguins and an ostrich.

When we came home it was around dinner time. So that's been my day so far.

I love you all a lot. I would love to hear from you.
I walk down the halls and see the mail delivered to everyone else. Send me some love.
(MOM/FAMILY - that's not to you, that's for everyone else. I know I have a letter coming in Mauritius).