I have decided I am not going to cry the day I leave, haha, but I am saying goodbye to Dan, Jess H, Ari, Sam, Shawn and Stephen so I may be screwed. It hurts and is weird…and I think I am finally ready to come home.
My family
Monday, June 28, 2010
Goodbyes
Life in CT is weird now. Saying goodbye to Callie was rough, but we still had so much to look forward to. Now…the 16th of June is here and I have been sitting in sweatpants for 3 days doing nothing but saying goodbye to people…and watching new people move in. It is not fun, in any sense of the word. I had to say goodbye to Taryn and Amanda on the 14th…and it was emotionally draining. I helped them both move out that day, and just balled when they officially left…and now they’re home and it doesn’t feel right in the house. That same day 5 of the boys left for a trip and they wont be back until the 19th…the day I leave…but I’ll see them for a few hours. The house just feels so empty now. The 15th, Jess S left me, and of course I cried again. The 16th Anthony is leaving, and the 17th Jacob is leaving, and I leave on the 19th.
I have decided I am not going to cry the day I leave, haha, but I am saying goodbye to Dan, Jess H, Ari, Sam, Shawn and Stephen so I may be screwed. It hurts and is weird…and I think I am finally ready to come home.
My family
I have decided I am not going to cry the day I leave, haha, but I am saying goodbye to Dan, Jess H, Ari, Sam, Shawn and Stephen so I may be screwed. It hurts and is weird…and I think I am finally ready to come home.
My family
World Cup/My 21st Birthday
June 11, 2010, a day that I will never ever in my life forget. The world cup is finally here!! As is my 21st birthday…well at least the eve, but I’ve claimed the 11th and the 12th as my birthdays this year :)
First of all on the 11th, all of the roomies and I got DECKED out in our SA gear…we gotta rep Bafana Bafana (the name of the SA soccer team)! I mean, if you can’t tell in the pics, we got pretty dressed up, and I’ve never worn this much American stuff for any sporting event, haha. So most of the roommates wanted to make it to the fan park for the game, but the girls and I were just chilling and hanging out. We had a dance party in the kitchen at around 11am that may or may not have involved wine and lots of pictures, and then we headed to the fan park to see if there was any chance in hell that we would make it into the fan park for the game at 4pm. This is us waiting for a mini bus:
When we got to town we realized there was not a chance. But we were not bothered. We were so dressed that people wanted to take pictures with us, and town was crazy…so many people around all wearing their yellow and green in support of bafana and all blowing their vuvuzelas (those horns you hear on tv while watching the games). I bought a vuvuzela and had a great time with it. We walked around town, joined a few spontaneous parades:
and just had a great time in the street with the crowd. Around 2pm we decided to get lunch on Long street at Royale, and had a great balcony view of all the craziness going on in the street below us. I had a delish veggie burger and a shooter shaker of shots to split, and then tried to find someplace to watch the game. Unfortunately, we waited just a bit too long and all of the bars on Long street were so packed. But we managed to find someplace to be, some coffee shop that was also packed.
We squeezed ourselves in and made a few friends watching the game, and just enjoyed the general atmosphere of happiness and craziness on Long street…the coffee shop flowed out into the street with people watching the game from the street through the windows, and Bafana tied with Mexico! So it was a good game. I am no soccer officionado but tying is just so un-American…I guess just for the group stages then we get some real wins and losses. Anyway, the game was great and we made friends with a guy named Johannes Berg…hahaha, in South Africa we met a German named Johannes Berg, probably a highlight of the day. So we walked with our new friends about half way to Greenpoint stadium because we were attending the France v. Uruguay game! Somehow we lost them, and ran into all of our other roommates?? I don’t know how this keeps happening when we are in Namibia and in Cape Town…its not like they are small places, haha. Anyways, we had a fun walk to the stadium with them and then all split up because we were all sitting with one or two other people, and me with Amanda! So Amanda and I went in, and found our seats and being in Greenpoint was indescribable…its such a beautiful stadium.
The funny part was that they didn’t even check our Ids when we went in…security was not so tight, but whatever. And the food situation was not good, there was no veggie food and it just took forever and a day to get food so we missed the national anthems and the players walk out and such…and I ended up having beer for dinner, haha.
The game itself was rather boring…not a big deal, I was going more for the experience than to watch soccer anyways, and I was wearing all my SA colors and gear…not really rooting for either team. After the game all of us met up at the McDonalds right outside the stadium and headed back to Long street to celebrate my 21st birthday at midnight! It got a little bit stressful with everyone asking me what I wanted to do when I was just happy being with everyone and all I really wanted to do was eat, but it was about 1130 and not many places were open. So we just headed to the Che Bar on Long street and began the celebration with people buying me lots of drinks.
Fortunately for me, Jess S also bought me a veggie burger so I had something in my stomach to handle my 21st birthday. From the Che Bar we moved onto Jo’burg, one of my favorite dancing places in the city but of course it was just packed as hell, you could barely dance, and I got my wallet stolen there. Which was not fun, but then we made it to another bar, and finally ended the night at the Dubliner. Somehow my roommate Ari and I lost everyone else, and just ended up by ourselves and then found out everyone had gone home, so ended up home. And very happy with a very very successful 21st birthday. It was one of my favorite days in Cape Town, and one of the most fun birthdays ever. I’m so glad most of my good friends here were still around to celebrate it with me.
Day 2 of my birthday consisted of being very very very hungover (see evidence of a hot mess here):
but getting the best birthday montage of pictures from my family. That totally made my day. We then went to the biscuit mill, but I didn’t enjoy it very much because of the state I was in, haha. Then we all layed around all day and watched soccer on tv until the USA v. England match that night. Taryn, Amanda and I were the last ones there and the bar in Obz, The Scrumpy Jack was just packed with lots of people we know and it was really fun to be there.
Even though the thought of alcohol made me cringe, somehow I managed to drink again (you don’t really have a choice on your 21st birthday, cuz everyone buys you drinks). After the game we all came back to our house and had a crazy dance party in the kitchen and then all just passed out and never made it out. It was a great great birthday celebration.
Day 3 of my birthday consisted of lots of laying around again recovering, haha. That night we went out to Beluga, which is a great sushi place in town that has half price sushi on Sunday’s so we all went there to eat. We had delish sushi, ONE cocktail (bleh)
and just enjoyed each other’s company. My 3 day birthday celebration was absolutely incredible and I am so appreciative of all the birthday comments and all my friends from home, school, and SA that made it the best day ever. Oh and my incredible parents :) here's a lil taste of the gift they made me:
I LOVE YOU GUYS.
First of all on the 11th, all of the roomies and I got DECKED out in our SA gear…we gotta rep Bafana Bafana (the name of the SA soccer team)! I mean, if you can’t tell in the pics, we got pretty dressed up, and I’ve never worn this much American stuff for any sporting event, haha. So most of the roommates wanted to make it to the fan park for the game, but the girls and I were just chilling and hanging out. We had a dance party in the kitchen at around 11am that may or may not have involved wine and lots of pictures, and then we headed to the fan park to see if there was any chance in hell that we would make it into the fan park for the game at 4pm. This is us waiting for a mini bus:
When we got to town we realized there was not a chance. But we were not bothered. We were so dressed that people wanted to take pictures with us, and town was crazy…so many people around all wearing their yellow and green in support of bafana and all blowing their vuvuzelas (those horns you hear on tv while watching the games). I bought a vuvuzela and had a great time with it. We walked around town, joined a few spontaneous parades:
and just had a great time in the street with the crowd. Around 2pm we decided to get lunch on Long street at Royale, and had a great balcony view of all the craziness going on in the street below us. I had a delish veggie burger and a shooter shaker of shots to split, and then tried to find someplace to watch the game. Unfortunately, we waited just a bit too long and all of the bars on Long street were so packed. But we managed to find someplace to be, some coffee shop that was also packed.
We squeezed ourselves in and made a few friends watching the game, and just enjoyed the general atmosphere of happiness and craziness on Long street…the coffee shop flowed out into the street with people watching the game from the street through the windows, and Bafana tied with Mexico! So it was a good game. I am no soccer officionado but tying is just so un-American…I guess just for the group stages then we get some real wins and losses. Anyway, the game was great and we made friends with a guy named Johannes Berg…hahaha, in South Africa we met a German named Johannes Berg, probably a highlight of the day. So we walked with our new friends about half way to Greenpoint stadium because we were attending the France v. Uruguay game! Somehow we lost them, and ran into all of our other roommates?? I don’t know how this keeps happening when we are in Namibia and in Cape Town…its not like they are small places, haha. Anyways, we had a fun walk to the stadium with them and then all split up because we were all sitting with one or two other people, and me with Amanda! So Amanda and I went in, and found our seats and being in Greenpoint was indescribable…its such a beautiful stadium.
The funny part was that they didn’t even check our Ids when we went in…security was not so tight, but whatever. And the food situation was not good, there was no veggie food and it just took forever and a day to get food so we missed the national anthems and the players walk out and such…and I ended up having beer for dinner, haha.
The game itself was rather boring…not a big deal, I was going more for the experience than to watch soccer anyways, and I was wearing all my SA colors and gear…not really rooting for either team. After the game all of us met up at the McDonalds right outside the stadium and headed back to Long street to celebrate my 21st birthday at midnight! It got a little bit stressful with everyone asking me what I wanted to do when I was just happy being with everyone and all I really wanted to do was eat, but it was about 1130 and not many places were open. So we just headed to the Che Bar on Long street and began the celebration with people buying me lots of drinks.
Fortunately for me, Jess S also bought me a veggie burger so I had something in my stomach to handle my 21st birthday. From the Che Bar we moved onto Jo’burg, one of my favorite dancing places in the city but of course it was just packed as hell, you could barely dance, and I got my wallet stolen there. Which was not fun, but then we made it to another bar, and finally ended the night at the Dubliner. Somehow my roommate Ari and I lost everyone else, and just ended up by ourselves and then found out everyone had gone home, so ended up home. And very happy with a very very successful 21st birthday. It was one of my favorite days in Cape Town, and one of the most fun birthdays ever. I’m so glad most of my good friends here were still around to celebrate it with me.
Day 2 of my birthday consisted of being very very very hungover (see evidence of a hot mess here):
but getting the best birthday montage of pictures from my family. That totally made my day. We then went to the biscuit mill, but I didn’t enjoy it very much because of the state I was in, haha. Then we all layed around all day and watched soccer on tv until the USA v. England match that night. Taryn, Amanda and I were the last ones there and the bar in Obz, The Scrumpy Jack was just packed with lots of people we know and it was really fun to be there.
Even though the thought of alcohol made me cringe, somehow I managed to drink again (you don’t really have a choice on your 21st birthday, cuz everyone buys you drinks). After the game we all came back to our house and had a crazy dance party in the kitchen and then all just passed out and never made it out. It was a great great birthday celebration.
Day 3 of my birthday consisted of lots of laying around again recovering, haha. That night we went out to Beluga, which is a great sushi place in town that has half price sushi on Sunday’s so we all went there to eat. We had delish sushi, ONE cocktail (bleh)
and just enjoyed each other’s company. My 3 day birthday celebration was absolutely incredible and I am so appreciative of all the birthday comments and all my friends from home, school, and SA that made it the best day ever. Oh and my incredible parents :) here's a lil taste of the gift they made me:
I LOVE YOU GUYS.
Namibia!!
This was one of the best trips I’ve done in a long time, though also one of the most uncharacteristic for me and one of the cheapest and most amazing. So the day of the 5th, we left in our little rental car filled with five girls, Amanda, Taryn, me, Jess H and Jess S. We had made tons of Cds and were ready to go. We made it all the way to a town called Springbok in the very north of SA at around 830 pm and decided to camp there. The campground was a weird place but it was really just functional. Jess S and I had made delish eats for the trip so our camping food was not bad at all. Then we were all beat, so we decided to sleep. We set up our tent like champs and settled in. Not too long after did we notice that the ground was the hardest ground ever, it was absolutely frigid and it was probably one of the worst nights of sleep that I have ever had in my life, haha. That was pretty much the consensus for all of us except Jess S because she took a sleeping pill. At 7 in the morning we were all ready to be up and out of there as fast as possible so as to defrost and sleep in the car.
We ate breakfast in the car and made the short trek to the border of Namibia and South Africa and had to go through customs and get our passport stamped and blah blah blah, but it was all gravy and then we headed on. This day we just kind of wanted to drive as far as possible. So, we then made it to Fish River Canyon which is the second largest canyon to the Grand Canyon. In Namibia too, all of the roads that lead to the interesting things are dirt roads, so you have to be very careful. And we are driving on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car…haha. Once we got to the canyon we all had to change because it was so warm and lovely. It’s a desert so we were all sufficiently hot which feels so good after freezing in Cape Town. We stopped at a lookout point and were the only people in the nearest vicinity but that was just how we wanted it. We at some pb&j’s and enjoyed the view and then decided to head as far as possible to Sossusvlei and the dunes!
Once we got off the dirt road again I was supposed to drive (first time on the wrong side and wrong side of car and in Namibia – AWESOME), and it was great. Haven’t driven for 5 months and it was different but very fun.
So we drove all afternoon, stopped for dinner on the side of the road at a picnic bench and then kept driving until we reached Maltahohe. It was about 930 at night, and the town was completely shut down. There was one main road and absolutely no one in sight. There was a campground but the gates were shut so we were at a total loss for what to do. We finally found a sign for the Maltahohe hotel, and went there to inquire. Btw, Maltahohe is pronounced Malta-huuuuuhhheee. Namibia was a German territory and the pronunciations for words were just really funny, we had fun saying it.
So at the Maltahohe hotel, we asked if there were any campgrounds and the guy told us we could camp in his backyard, so we were like okay. He showed us where to park and where to camp and it was like a concrete square with rocks all over it and stuff and we all looked at it and went…absolutely not. I asked about the hotel prices and he said R170 per person for night, which was not in our budget, so I then asked about the cheapest room possible, and he said he could put us up in beds for R70 with no bedding and no hot water, and that was more our speed. So we jumped in the car, followed another man across the street and even though this was a “if my mother could see me now” kind of moment, it was actually the most legit place we stayed. There were 5 beds in a room, it was like a hostel with a big bathroom and the water actually got really hot, so it was great. And the best night of sleep any of us had.
The next day we woke up all refreshed and headed out to Sossusvlei. Maltahohe was the last paved road we would see for a while. All the way to Sossusvlei was unpaved and gravelly which is hard to drive on. A couple of hours and unimaginable views later we reached the Sesriem campground and the dunes at Sossusvlei! Right as we pulled up to the campground we ran into all of the boys in our house who had gone to Namibia as well. It was funny to see them there, but they were on their way out, but they gave us some good advice. One piece of advice being that you should change your watches because Namibia is an hour earlier than SA. Hahaha, none of us had any idea, they had been told by someone visiting the dunes as well. They also told us not to go now now, because we got there at about 10am and it would be too hot. So they left, and then we relaxed. We got into our bathing suits, and layed out on towels and read our books, it was actually lovely. This campground was also so much nicer than the first one, it was absolutely wonderful. We had some trouble setting up our tent and these two men just came over and set everything up for us right then and there. We ate lunch there and then around 3 decided to head to the dunes.
There is a long (paved) road from the campground to the dunes which was great. And I don’t even know how to describe this part. As you are driving along this road the landscape is just so rapidly changing from desert and flat and rocky to red and sandy and perfectly peaked dunes start appearing in the distance. It takes about 30 minutes to get to dune 45 which is one of the two dunes you are allowed to climb. Our mouths were just open in awe the entire time. Once we got to dune 45 we ditched our shoes, and were the only people there and just had to go stick our feet in the red perfect sand. We ran part way up the dune, and then got really tired….they are hard to climb. And decided to walk. Because we were the first people there that day the peak of the dune was still perfect and much harder to walk up than if there had been footprints already there. But we made it to the top and just sat and enjoyed the view of all the dunes. Actually we did not make it all the way to the top, but we were tired, so we chilled. Then we had the grand idea to run down the dune, which was so amazing.
One of the funniest things was that Jess H (the one who got hit by a train) was actually really scared of falling off of the dune, which was fairly impossible but who am I to judge. So half of the time she crawled or just went really slowly, haha and wanted nothing to do with running down the dune. So after we all did it we tried to convince her to do it, and told her it was fine and when it was her turn she ran so slowly down the dune, and we all just sat at the bottom and laughed at her until she eventually made it down to us. After that we walked up the dune again to watch the sunset, which wasn’t the most epic sunset in the world, but it was still amazing to be sitting atop a sand dune in Namibia and be watching the sunset. We eventually made our way back to the campsite, and took our food that we made inside to the nice tables they had in there, and who do we run into but our roommate Shawn and his friend Jugal and Samir? Haha, oh and I forgot to mention that we also ran into our roommate Zoe and her friends on the dune as well. So many Americans in Namibia that week, haha. So we ate with them, and then hit the hay for another freezing night on cold ground…but it was okay because we were getting up at 5 in the morning to see the sunrise, so we didn’t sleep too much.
We woke up at 5, and left at 520 to make it out to the dune around 545, and climbed to the VERY top of the dune this time, which was so completely worth it and watched the sun rise over the distant dunes. This time all of Zoe and her friends were there and Sean and his friends and us, so we were surrounded by a bunch of friends and just played around on the dunes for a couple of hours. I tackled Taryn and we did somersaults in the sand that looked like cayenne pepper when it was on your skin. I hope I described it adequately because the dunes were insane. That day we were leaving and trying to get back to the Orange River on the Namibia and SA border to spend some time in the warm weather, and so we packed up and headed out.
I instantly fell asleep, and about 2 hours later of travel on this horrible dirt road, our tire just shreds. I wake up and we are all like, oh no. We get out of the car and see our completely shredded tire and not 45 seconds later the first car we have seen all morning on this terrible dirt road drives by, we flag them down and they stop. It is this beefy Afrikaans guy with a grey handle bar mustache, a short military grey haircut, a cigarette and his little Namibian sidekick get out of the car. They look at us and say, “flat tire?” and we are like…uhhh yes….and they just start unloading our trunk, pull out the spare, put the new tire on, dispose of the old one for us, and 5 minutes later after profuse thank you’s we are wobbling down this terrible dirt road again on a donut tire. It was really out of a movie, and it was hilarious, but we were extremely lucky. Unluckily we were about an hour outside of Maltahohe which turned into 4 hours on that road with that tire. By the time we finally reached Maltahohe we were so thankful to be on a paved road, and we went to the gas station and they pointed us to a bottle store (liquor store) that sold tires. We go there and they have tires…just not the one we need. They point us to another convenience store, but they only sell tires for small vehicles like buckeys. So she points us to another place down the road. Mind you, this entire time we are being completely stared at by the whole town of Maltahohe which seems to be congregating on the street, and this third place is not open when we get there. We are sitting in the car like “what the hell are we supposed to do now?” when the guy from the original bottle store rides his bike down the street to find us and tell us that he found a tire. We apparently have good luck. So we make it back up there, wait a few minutes longer and then are all set to leave Maltahohe probably forever.
After that huge setback we decided that we just wanted to make it back to Cape Town. So we made a plan to just drive drive drive til we made it. And that is what we did. We all took shifts and drove through the night in order to make it back to Cape Town around 5 in the morning. We also thought that all of our roommates who were doing the same trip were suppose to be back on the 9th like we were, but we all had the calling to come back to Cape Town so everyone was home when we got there. Overall, it was a great fabulous trip, and I am so glad that I got to get out of SA at least once, and best of all to see some amazing dunes. Namibia is an absolutely incredible place.
We ate breakfast in the car and made the short trek to the border of Namibia and South Africa and had to go through customs and get our passport stamped and blah blah blah, but it was all gravy and then we headed on. This day we just kind of wanted to drive as far as possible. So, we then made it to Fish River Canyon which is the second largest canyon to the Grand Canyon. In Namibia too, all of the roads that lead to the interesting things are dirt roads, so you have to be very careful. And we are driving on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car…haha. Once we got to the canyon we all had to change because it was so warm and lovely. It’s a desert so we were all sufficiently hot which feels so good after freezing in Cape Town. We stopped at a lookout point and were the only people in the nearest vicinity but that was just how we wanted it. We at some pb&j’s and enjoyed the view and then decided to head as far as possible to Sossusvlei and the dunes!
Once we got off the dirt road again I was supposed to drive (first time on the wrong side and wrong side of car and in Namibia – AWESOME), and it was great. Haven’t driven for 5 months and it was different but very fun.
So we drove all afternoon, stopped for dinner on the side of the road at a picnic bench and then kept driving until we reached Maltahohe. It was about 930 at night, and the town was completely shut down. There was one main road and absolutely no one in sight. There was a campground but the gates were shut so we were at a total loss for what to do. We finally found a sign for the Maltahohe hotel, and went there to inquire. Btw, Maltahohe is pronounced Malta-huuuuuhhheee. Namibia was a German territory and the pronunciations for words were just really funny, we had fun saying it.
So at the Maltahohe hotel, we asked if there were any campgrounds and the guy told us we could camp in his backyard, so we were like okay. He showed us where to park and where to camp and it was like a concrete square with rocks all over it and stuff and we all looked at it and went…absolutely not. I asked about the hotel prices and he said R170 per person for night, which was not in our budget, so I then asked about the cheapest room possible, and he said he could put us up in beds for R70 with no bedding and no hot water, and that was more our speed. So we jumped in the car, followed another man across the street and even though this was a “if my mother could see me now” kind of moment, it was actually the most legit place we stayed. There were 5 beds in a room, it was like a hostel with a big bathroom and the water actually got really hot, so it was great. And the best night of sleep any of us had.
The next day we woke up all refreshed and headed out to Sossusvlei. Maltahohe was the last paved road we would see for a while. All the way to Sossusvlei was unpaved and gravelly which is hard to drive on. A couple of hours and unimaginable views later we reached the Sesriem campground and the dunes at Sossusvlei! Right as we pulled up to the campground we ran into all of the boys in our house who had gone to Namibia as well. It was funny to see them there, but they were on their way out, but they gave us some good advice. One piece of advice being that you should change your watches because Namibia is an hour earlier than SA. Hahaha, none of us had any idea, they had been told by someone visiting the dunes as well. They also told us not to go now now, because we got there at about 10am and it would be too hot. So they left, and then we relaxed. We got into our bathing suits, and layed out on towels and read our books, it was actually lovely. This campground was also so much nicer than the first one, it was absolutely wonderful. We had some trouble setting up our tent and these two men just came over and set everything up for us right then and there. We ate lunch there and then around 3 decided to head to the dunes.
There is a long (paved) road from the campground to the dunes which was great. And I don’t even know how to describe this part. As you are driving along this road the landscape is just so rapidly changing from desert and flat and rocky to red and sandy and perfectly peaked dunes start appearing in the distance. It takes about 30 minutes to get to dune 45 which is one of the two dunes you are allowed to climb. Our mouths were just open in awe the entire time. Once we got to dune 45 we ditched our shoes, and were the only people there and just had to go stick our feet in the red perfect sand. We ran part way up the dune, and then got really tired….they are hard to climb. And decided to walk. Because we were the first people there that day the peak of the dune was still perfect and much harder to walk up than if there had been footprints already there. But we made it to the top and just sat and enjoyed the view of all the dunes. Actually we did not make it all the way to the top, but we were tired, so we chilled. Then we had the grand idea to run down the dune, which was so amazing.
One of the funniest things was that Jess H (the one who got hit by a train) was actually really scared of falling off of the dune, which was fairly impossible but who am I to judge. So half of the time she crawled or just went really slowly, haha and wanted nothing to do with running down the dune. So after we all did it we tried to convince her to do it, and told her it was fine and when it was her turn she ran so slowly down the dune, and we all just sat at the bottom and laughed at her until she eventually made it down to us. After that we walked up the dune again to watch the sunset, which wasn’t the most epic sunset in the world, but it was still amazing to be sitting atop a sand dune in Namibia and be watching the sunset. We eventually made our way back to the campsite, and took our food that we made inside to the nice tables they had in there, and who do we run into but our roommate Shawn and his friend Jugal and Samir? Haha, oh and I forgot to mention that we also ran into our roommate Zoe and her friends on the dune as well. So many Americans in Namibia that week, haha. So we ate with them, and then hit the hay for another freezing night on cold ground…but it was okay because we were getting up at 5 in the morning to see the sunrise, so we didn’t sleep too much.
We woke up at 5, and left at 520 to make it out to the dune around 545, and climbed to the VERY top of the dune this time, which was so completely worth it and watched the sun rise over the distant dunes. This time all of Zoe and her friends were there and Sean and his friends and us, so we were surrounded by a bunch of friends and just played around on the dunes for a couple of hours. I tackled Taryn and we did somersaults in the sand that looked like cayenne pepper when it was on your skin. I hope I described it adequately because the dunes were insane. That day we were leaving and trying to get back to the Orange River on the Namibia and SA border to spend some time in the warm weather, and so we packed up and headed out.
I instantly fell asleep, and about 2 hours later of travel on this horrible dirt road, our tire just shreds. I wake up and we are all like, oh no. We get out of the car and see our completely shredded tire and not 45 seconds later the first car we have seen all morning on this terrible dirt road drives by, we flag them down and they stop. It is this beefy Afrikaans guy with a grey handle bar mustache, a short military grey haircut, a cigarette and his little Namibian sidekick get out of the car. They look at us and say, “flat tire?” and we are like…uhhh yes….and they just start unloading our trunk, pull out the spare, put the new tire on, dispose of the old one for us, and 5 minutes later after profuse thank you’s we are wobbling down this terrible dirt road again on a donut tire. It was really out of a movie, and it was hilarious, but we were extremely lucky. Unluckily we were about an hour outside of Maltahohe which turned into 4 hours on that road with that tire. By the time we finally reached Maltahohe we were so thankful to be on a paved road, and we went to the gas station and they pointed us to a bottle store (liquor store) that sold tires. We go there and they have tires…just not the one we need. They point us to another convenience store, but they only sell tires for small vehicles like buckeys. So she points us to another place down the road. Mind you, this entire time we are being completely stared at by the whole town of Maltahohe which seems to be congregating on the street, and this third place is not open when we get there. We are sitting in the car like “what the hell are we supposed to do now?” when the guy from the original bottle store rides his bike down the street to find us and tell us that he found a tire. We apparently have good luck. So we make it back up there, wait a few minutes longer and then are all set to leave Maltahohe probably forever.
After that huge setback we decided that we just wanted to make it back to Cape Town. So we made a plan to just drive drive drive til we made it. And that is what we did. We all took shifts and drove through the night in order to make it back to Cape Town around 5 in the morning. We also thought that all of our roommates who were doing the same trip were suppose to be back on the 9th like we were, but we all had the calling to come back to Cape Town so everyone was home when we got there. Overall, it was a great fabulous trip, and I am so glad that I got to get out of SA at least once, and best of all to see some amazing dunes. Namibia is an absolutely incredible place.
The Countdown Begins
After we got back from Durban I had 3 days to study for my last final on June 3, so I pretty much just lived at the library until I was FINALLY DONE with 3 weeks of hell finals. Whew. June 3 was also our roommate Shawn’s 20th birthday so we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Mama Africa on Long street, which was delicious and then we went out to Zula bar and just had fun celebrating one of the many birthdays.
The 4th was the day before our dear friend Callie was leaving…it seemed so inconceivable because it was so early, but it happened. So that day we helped her move out of her room and pack and then ended up going to town and doing a bit of shopping. We were also going to Namibia on the 5th so Jess S and I did some cooking and preparing for our trip. The morning of the 5th we just hung out with Callie, went to our favorite spot Hello Sailor for some delicious coffee and then had to pack up our car, and head on out to Namibia. That was the first goodbye, of course I cried because Callie is going back to Massachusetts and I am going to California, but I am confident we will meet again in the very near future :) Then onto many hours of driving to make it to Namibia!!
The 4th was the day before our dear friend Callie was leaving…it seemed so inconceivable because it was so early, but it happened. So that day we helped her move out of her room and pack and then ended up going to town and doing a bit of shopping. We were also going to Namibia on the 5th so Jess S and I did some cooking and preparing for our trip. The morning of the 5th we just hung out with Callie, went to our favorite spot Hello Sailor for some delicious coffee and then had to pack up our car, and head on out to Namibia. That was the first goodbye, of course I cried because Callie is going back to Massachusetts and I am going to California, but I am confident we will meet again in the very near future :) Then onto many hours of driving to make it to Namibia!!
Fathers Day (8 days late)
My deliquency this time is due to being lost in time traveling from South Africa to Dubai to LA and arriving on fathers day and being super busy ever since. Excuses aside....
I dedicate this post to my wonderful wonderful father Alvin Earl Johnson, the man who will kill spiders, go out of his way to fulfill my silliest of whims (umm like a disco ball in my room?), man who I occasionally turn around to find crawling in my room to scare me, and who ballroom dances with me to the songs in the credits of movies. Oh, and has some killer dance moves, please see below.
Happy fathers day (and birthday!!) Alvin!! I love you tons and am glad to be in the same time zone again. You're the best :)
I dedicate this post to my wonderful wonderful father Alvin Earl Johnson, the man who will kill spiders, go out of his way to fulfill my silliest of whims (umm like a disco ball in my room?), man who I occasionally turn around to find crawling in my room to scare me, and who ballroom dances with me to the songs in the credits of movies. Oh, and has some killer dance moves, please see below.
Happy fathers day (and birthday!!) Alvin!! I love you tons and am glad to be in the same time zone again. You're the best :)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Reader Beware
Okay so the last few weeks of Cape Town have been absolutely amazing, and I need to document them as fully as possible. This being said, the next few posts may be long…sorry guys, this is more for my memory at this point.
SO. A couple of weeks ago, after my first two finals, and before the third one, 10 of my fave roommates and I decided to take a little trip to Durban. Durban is in the north of SA and Taryn’s parents lived there for a month, and we had heard a lot about it, so we thought it would be fun. The morning we left we were all a hot mess because it was our roommate Ari’s 22nd birthday the night before, and needless to say we were all a little dysfunctional in the morning. But that morning will be one of my fondest memories because it was just too funny with people trying to pack last minute, and me packing my entire wardrobe for a 4 day vacation, it was hilarious. Then to top it off someone had organized something called the boogie bus to take us to the airport. It is this decked out van, the ceiling was covered with Cds and there were US license plates all around the van and the guy was blasting music, it was a fabulous way to get to the airport. Once we arrived, we all checked in and hung out until our flight.
When we stepped off of the plane the warm breeze blew around us and we all could not keep the smiles off of our faces at being in warm weather again!
Cape Town is a total microclimate and its winter is cold and wet, while Durban’s is mild and warm. We waited for a while to get a cab to our hostel, and then ended up at the Surf N’ Dreams hostel in town. Durban is a beautiful city and the cab driver drove us around so that we could get a feel for the city and also see the stadium. Their stadium is AWESOME, and you were originally able to bungee jump off of the top of it but because it was so close to the world cup beginning, Fifa had taken it over and you could no longer bungee. Anyways, the Durban stadium is meant to be a focal point of the city, and Cape Town’s was meant to not take away from the majestic table mountain in the background…kind of cool.
So for the afternoon, we just chilled, and then decided to get some dinner later, at a Chinese restaurant which was clearly where we should not have gone because Durban has a huge Indian population, so Chinese food was not the answer and we paid for it because it was really really gross, haha. Then we just ended up at a hookah bar hanging out and having a few beers before we headed back to the hostel. Between birthdays and finals, it has been a tiring few weeks. The next morning we decided to go to Durban’s version of Sea World essentially. It was called the Ushaka marine world and we couldn’t have chosen a worse day to go. It was blustery and cold and windy, and an R80 cab ride from our hostel, so once we got there there was really no turning back. So we sucked it up. At least we got to touch the warm Indian ocean. We tried to enjoy what we could there, and the best part of the day was going to Moyo for lunch. Moyo is a well known restaurant in Stellenbosch but has a sister restaurant in Durban and I hadn’t been so that was great, and had a nice Indian influence.
Later in the afternoon we finally decided it was time to leave, after some brave roommates got on the water slides and such. That was interesting because that day was a trial run for the world cup in terms of shutting down streets to see how the traffic would work. It failed, it took us an hour and a half and R250 to get home, hot showers and relaxing were definitely in order after that. Some of us needed to save money so we made dinner at the hostel, which was nice. The funny thing about this hostel was that the people who ran it were not nice. They were very inhospitable, and it was more of a guest house than a hostel. We felt like we were walking on egg shells the entire time, and it felt as if we were unwelcome, not like any hostel I have stayed in ever. So one night we tried to get out of it and move, but because there were 10 of us, it was too much and no hostels had enough room, so we ended up staying. Anyways, we made dinner, chilled, and then decided to go out to the bars on Florida Rd, which is where things are happenin down in Durban. We went to a bar called Taco Zulu and it was great, nightlight in Durban was very fun.
The next day was much nicer than the first so we decided to go to the beach. There is a big casino in Durban and food court and movie theaters right on the water and a beautiful beach, so we spent the day there enjoying the sun. It wasn’t as warm as we had wanted it to be, but it was still enjoyable. That day we were walking through this big mall thing, and saw that Sex and the City 2 was playing at the theaters and us girls got pretty excited and went immediately to go see it. It was great, though after that I started to feel really badly and got a random fever. So we went back to the hostel, and met up with all the roomies, I was freezing so I immediately got in bed and took Dayquil, then they all went to dinner and out for the night while I napped, ate, and took Nyquil then slept some more. It was not that much fun, but the next day I rallied and just had to deal with a nasty cough for the next week or so.
The next day we wanted to check out this market in Durban called Victoria market, which is a big Indian marketplace and that was really cool. I got some spices for my parents and bracelets as gifts as well, and then we ate some deliciously awesome authentic Indian food, from a little hole in the wall restaurant.
The big Indian dish here is called bunny chows and they are basically like half a loaf of bread scooped out and filled with curried veggies or meat or whatever. And they are delicious. Then we headed back to the beach. This day was not as warm as the first so we again sought refuge in the movie theater that I slept through, haha. But movies there cost R25, which is about $3 so it was not a big loss, haha. That night we all just hung out and relaxed because Shawn, Sam and I had a 6am flight, so we just got up early and headed to the airport, back to Cape Town and happy to be there :)
SO. A couple of weeks ago, after my first two finals, and before the third one, 10 of my fave roommates and I decided to take a little trip to Durban. Durban is in the north of SA and Taryn’s parents lived there for a month, and we had heard a lot about it, so we thought it would be fun. The morning we left we were all a hot mess because it was our roommate Ari’s 22nd birthday the night before, and needless to say we were all a little dysfunctional in the morning. But that morning will be one of my fondest memories because it was just too funny with people trying to pack last minute, and me packing my entire wardrobe for a 4 day vacation, it was hilarious. Then to top it off someone had organized something called the boogie bus to take us to the airport. It is this decked out van, the ceiling was covered with Cds and there were US license plates all around the van and the guy was blasting music, it was a fabulous way to get to the airport. Once we arrived, we all checked in and hung out until our flight.
When we stepped off of the plane the warm breeze blew around us and we all could not keep the smiles off of our faces at being in warm weather again!
Cape Town is a total microclimate and its winter is cold and wet, while Durban’s is mild and warm. We waited for a while to get a cab to our hostel, and then ended up at the Surf N’ Dreams hostel in town. Durban is a beautiful city and the cab driver drove us around so that we could get a feel for the city and also see the stadium. Their stadium is AWESOME, and you were originally able to bungee jump off of the top of it but because it was so close to the world cup beginning, Fifa had taken it over and you could no longer bungee. Anyways, the Durban stadium is meant to be a focal point of the city, and Cape Town’s was meant to not take away from the majestic table mountain in the background…kind of cool.
So for the afternoon, we just chilled, and then decided to get some dinner later, at a Chinese restaurant which was clearly where we should not have gone because Durban has a huge Indian population, so Chinese food was not the answer and we paid for it because it was really really gross, haha. Then we just ended up at a hookah bar hanging out and having a few beers before we headed back to the hostel. Between birthdays and finals, it has been a tiring few weeks. The next morning we decided to go to Durban’s version of Sea World essentially. It was called the Ushaka marine world and we couldn’t have chosen a worse day to go. It was blustery and cold and windy, and an R80 cab ride from our hostel, so once we got there there was really no turning back. So we sucked it up. At least we got to touch the warm Indian ocean. We tried to enjoy what we could there, and the best part of the day was going to Moyo for lunch. Moyo is a well known restaurant in Stellenbosch but has a sister restaurant in Durban and I hadn’t been so that was great, and had a nice Indian influence.
Later in the afternoon we finally decided it was time to leave, after some brave roommates got on the water slides and such. That was interesting because that day was a trial run for the world cup in terms of shutting down streets to see how the traffic would work. It failed, it took us an hour and a half and R250 to get home, hot showers and relaxing were definitely in order after that. Some of us needed to save money so we made dinner at the hostel, which was nice. The funny thing about this hostel was that the people who ran it were not nice. They were very inhospitable, and it was more of a guest house than a hostel. We felt like we were walking on egg shells the entire time, and it felt as if we were unwelcome, not like any hostel I have stayed in ever. So one night we tried to get out of it and move, but because there were 10 of us, it was too much and no hostels had enough room, so we ended up staying. Anyways, we made dinner, chilled, and then decided to go out to the bars on Florida Rd, which is where things are happenin down in Durban. We went to a bar called Taco Zulu and it was great, nightlight in Durban was very fun.
The next day was much nicer than the first so we decided to go to the beach. There is a big casino in Durban and food court and movie theaters right on the water and a beautiful beach, so we spent the day there enjoying the sun. It wasn’t as warm as we had wanted it to be, but it was still enjoyable. That day we were walking through this big mall thing, and saw that Sex and the City 2 was playing at the theaters and us girls got pretty excited and went immediately to go see it. It was great, though after that I started to feel really badly and got a random fever. So we went back to the hostel, and met up with all the roomies, I was freezing so I immediately got in bed and took Dayquil, then they all went to dinner and out for the night while I napped, ate, and took Nyquil then slept some more. It was not that much fun, but the next day I rallied and just had to deal with a nasty cough for the next week or so.
The next day we wanted to check out this market in Durban called Victoria market, which is a big Indian marketplace and that was really cool. I got some spices for my parents and bracelets as gifts as well, and then we ate some deliciously awesome authentic Indian food, from a little hole in the wall restaurant.
The big Indian dish here is called bunny chows and they are basically like half a loaf of bread scooped out and filled with curried veggies or meat or whatever. And they are delicious. Then we headed back to the beach. This day was not as warm as the first so we again sought refuge in the movie theater that I slept through, haha. But movies there cost R25, which is about $3 so it was not a big loss, haha. That night we all just hung out and relaxed because Shawn, Sam and I had a 6am flight, so we just got up early and headed to the airport, back to Cape Town and happy to be there :)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
The Future
So the world cup is fast approaching. And I’m having lots of mixed feelings about it.
On the one hand, I am super excited, because I get to go to a game!! I had the good fortune to have luck in the lottery and my roommate Amanda and I will be sitting in the nosebleeds of the June 11 France v. Uruguay game :) June 11 is also the eve of my 21st birthday, and a TON of people that I know are going to that game, so we are just going to meet up in town after the game and celebrate my turning 21, so that is also exciting.
Amanda and I:
On the other hand…South Africa is changing. I feel like the last two weeks have been the most significant changes, and many more tourists have started to come here. A new girl moved into our house and our house is being super renovated for the world cup because a bunch of new people will be moving in at a premium just because the landlords can charge that.
I also thought I was not going to be affected over here in little obz. But as I walked home from the library last night, Observatory was HELLA crackin…so many new Americans, so many new tourists and unfortunately we get lumped into that category, which we have all worked 5 months to avoid. Oh well…its gonna be fun, that is for sure. I just need to get used to the new South Africa before I leave on June 19. Gonna enjoy every last minute.
On the one hand, I am super excited, because I get to go to a game!! I had the good fortune to have luck in the lottery and my roommate Amanda and I will be sitting in the nosebleeds of the June 11 France v. Uruguay game :) June 11 is also the eve of my 21st birthday, and a TON of people that I know are going to that game, so we are just going to meet up in town after the game and celebrate my turning 21, so that is also exciting.
Amanda and I:
On the other hand…South Africa is changing. I feel like the last two weeks have been the most significant changes, and many more tourists have started to come here. A new girl moved into our house and our house is being super renovated for the world cup because a bunch of new people will be moving in at a premium just because the landlords can charge that.
I also thought I was not going to be affected over here in little obz. But as I walked home from the library last night, Observatory was HELLA crackin…so many new Americans, so many new tourists and unfortunately we get lumped into that category, which we have all worked 5 months to avoid. Oh well…its gonna be fun, that is for sure. I just need to get used to the new South Africa before I leave on June 19. Gonna enjoy every last minute.
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