Birthday, Christmas, Work and Love

So it was my birthday. I had a lovely birthday, we went into a different part of the city and did what girls do best. SHOP. Nobody bought anything though because we were checking out all of the expensive designer shops and one must look before they buy! Although I went to a market last week and I did buy a new dress. I'm going again on the 3rd to pick me up some more swag, because there is a BEAUTIFUL dress there that I MUST have.

Moral of the story is that I had a lovely birthday. Thank you everyone who sent me lovely birthday wishes. I appreciated it so much. This includes the girls who are on the program with me! Cheers!

I started work at an abused women's shelter doing reception work with another girl. We're both doing full days at the moment until we get used to the ins and outs. But like most work places, different people are telling us to do things differently (or even opposite) and that leads to us A) getting confused and B) doing something wrong all the time. A few more days and we'll be professionals knowing all the ins and outs I'm sure. The ladies who work there are all lovely people and they've been very inviting. It's the same place where we also hold a lot of our workshops so we're getting to know the place pretty well. There's also 4 girls who work at the daycare at the centre, and 2 more who work in a call centre which is located in the same complex. Because it's festive season, most people are on leave so it seems like we pretty much have taken over the place!

Yesterday we had an HIV/AIDS workshop and it was really lovely. I'm not sure what more I can say about it.

On the 24th, I'm going home with Busi to her family's home until the 26th, then we're going to THE BEACH. I'm pretty excited for Christmas lunch beacuse I've been hearing all about it. Christmas is pretty huge in Cape Town. There's a house down the street from us that is absolutely COVERED in lights. I tried to take a picture of it, but I don't think the pictures do it justice. Our host family went on vacation and now the project supervisors are staying with us to make sure we stay out of trouble. It hasn't been TOO terrible yet. It's been lovely having Jackie stay with us, and Shameema will come after Christmas. Then I'm not sure how they will divide up the rest of the time, we shall see.

I only have a few more minutes of time, so I'll use it to wish everyone all of my love! Merry Christmas and if I don't get a chance to say it beforehand, HAPPY NEW YEAR. Stay safe, have fun and be happy!

Sunburns.

Today I got a library card! Woohoo! Now I can use the internet for 45 minutes a day for free! No more R8 for 15 minutes (trust me, it's a lot to pay for internet). Today I got internet for R10 for an hour. Our host family is officially going to keep us! That's a huge relief. They are going on a two week vacation, but for the time they are gone, our project supervisors are going to stay with us (thankfully). So we're in a good spot.

All of the Canadian girls are sunburnt. All of the South African girls are sunburnt. I think the only girl who might have escaped a burn is the girl from Kenya. One of the Canadians had heat stroke and fainted. Another one had to go to the doctor and get a wrap. I thought mine was bad because I can't sleep on my right side and my nose is peeling. NOT SO MUCH. I lucked out in the sunburn department.

My email isn't working, I think it might be down? I'm not sure. I'm going to start working at a women's center soon for abused women. Right now we're working on researching the Millenium Development Goals, and once I found out what they were, I realized that they were grafittied around my neighbourhood. Cool stuff. Politically minded people everywhere. We're going to have to hand out a survey to the neighbourhood youth to figure out what types of programs would be beneficial to the community.

my.nose.hurts.

That's all I can think of for an update now, I'll let you know more once work time starts. We're also maybe going to Table Mountain next weekend but we aren't entirely sure yet. Here's hoping it works out, because I think we're all a little too sunburnt to go right back to the beach.

Cape Town Baby

I have a host family! Woohoo! They're pretty centralized too which is nice. My host mother is a lovely cook and they've been really nice to us. We have separate beds but we share the same room, which is all good (for now haha). We went to town the other day and went to two museums. We went to the Slave Lodge and the District Six museum. They were both VERY informative and wonderful to visit.

Yesterday we had to "explore the community" so we took a taxi to Athlone and it was our job to ask questions at the police station. We went in, they gave us all the information we needed to know and then on top of that they gave us water bottles. I love free things! Most everything is at least in walking distance, which is a nice break from Calgary. The down side is that we don't get our transport paid for, unlike in Calgary. You win some, you lose some. I guess you can't have it all.

Tomorrow we are going to.... THE BEACH! I'm so excited. I can't wait to go to the beach. Busi and I are about to go to the shop and grab some snacks because they're crazy expensive up by the beach area.

Everything is going well, and I think I'm finally starting to get over jet lag, now it's just a matter of adjusting to the heat. I haven't gotten a sunburn yet (thank you sunscreen) but I can tell it is coming. Probably tomorrow... at THE BEACH!

I'm not sure what else is going on right now. I'm going to work on getting a library card so I don't have to pay R11 for internet for a half hour. It's cheaper to do an hour, but I also want to buy snacks. Talk to everyone soon! Much love!

Cape Town

Okay, Okay, Okay, so I'm in Cape Town, South Africa.

After quite a while of travelling (9 hours from Calgary to London, 9 hours in Heathrow Airport, 12 hours from London to Cape Town), I have finally arrived. I just got out of the camp where we were with the other (mixed-gender) team who is going to another part of Cape Town. Oh.My.Goodness. I LOVE my all women's team. I had no idea how loud boys could be. I just spent 3 months with almost all girls and I never realized how truly lovely it could be. At the camp, I got to swim in the Indian Ocean (woohoo) in GIGANTIC waves. It was amazing. My internet access may or may not be extremely limited. We shall see. Right now I'm in an internet cafe woo. I meet my host family tomorrow, it's been slightly diffucult to find host families and so everyone else has already met theirs. I think that means ours will just be a little extra special! So tomorrow we get to meet them and we start our orientation around the community.

I'm excited, but we don't start our work placements until January. It's festive season, but that means theres so many other exciting things that are going on that we don't want to miss. Today I went to a holistic market, and there was a booth there that had BEAUTIFUL clothing. I wanted 3 things, but I had zero money. I change my money on Tuesday, so next time it comes around I'll be able to do it. I hope that my positive energy lasts (at least until the jet lag hits) because so far I LOVE CAPE TOWN.

My time is almost up so I must go, but I'm sure I'll be able to update soon enough. Love everyone and don't worry, I'm alive and safe!

Cheers

Last Minute!

Oh man. Today was the last day I had with my entire host family. We had an awesome day because we went to see THE DINOSAURS! AND THE HOODOOS. The badlands were awesome. The dinosaurs were awesome. The museum was awesome. I took pictures. I didn't buy anything at the gift shop because nothing was perfect enough for anyone. I can't give someone something imperfect unless its meant to be so. Then tonight we were all sitting in the living room and my host parents got both Busi and I birthday/Christmas gifts! (Busi's birthday is the 6th, and mine the 16th of December). My host parents got me the hoodie that I saw but couldn't bring myself to buy. I love it. They also got me a book, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. How well do they know me! Their gift comes in the mail tomorrow, I think I'll wrap it and make them promise to wait until Christmas happens. Maybe I'll send something to Rowan (the little girl) from South Africa, not that she's really old enough to understand or appreciate it.

As is my fashion, I broke something I need today. Hah. Two days before departure and I have to do some running around to figure out WHAT IS GOING ON. I need a watch/clock/something. The battery finally disappeared from my piece of crap travel alarm clock so I'm going to have to rush out and get a new one. I ate McDonald's today and it was OHSOGOOD at the time and now my body is outright rejecting me.

Tomorrow I have to do laundry and pack so that Tuesday I can spend the whole day SUPERCLEANING EVERYTHING. I'm worried about my luggage weight, even though I'm going over with less than I came with, or at least the same. I dunno, I just don't want to have to spend the extra charge. I'm sending a bunch of books home for dear mother and father to deal with, as well as my highly broken camera. Lucky for me, I'm a smart cookie (who knows she breaks everything she touches) and I brought a USB stick so I transferred all of my pictures to that. Now I have all of my pictures in case for some freak chance I'll need them in Cape Town.

This may be my last blog update for a while (I know, it's not like I've been particularly good at keeping up with it). I'm not sure what my internet access is going to be like in Cape Town. I'm almost certain there won't be a computer with internet access in the house. It's all a matter of if they have internet at my specific work placement, or if I can find a library to use, or if I want to spend my weekly pocket money at an internet cafe updating this. (If it comes down to that, you might not get as many updates, yar har).

Moral of the story: My host family gave me super thoughtful gifts, my stomach is very unhappy with me, dinosaurs are completely AWESOME, I'm leaving soon (on a jet plane, i don't know when i'll be back again), Stephen Lewis is officially done on December 1st (World AIDS Day), and my dare is done. I do have pictures of myself and a couple other lovely superhero-iffic ladies, but they are on the camera I don't have a cord for. Some other girls have a picture of it, so if they get theirs on facebook, then I'll probably steal it and see if I can put it up here and wherever else.

Okay. I'm going on a rant and I must go to bed soon because I don't have an alarm to wake me up tomorrow! Cheers, good luck with everything between now and whenever.

One Week

Okay. So I'm probably the worst blogger ever. I never do it. I'll totally try to do it more in Cape Town even though it's actually going to be more difficult. (Hey, alone time right?) The biggest worry on my mind right now? PACKING! I did my Stephen Lewis dare, but didn't get any pictures so I'm doing it again tomorrow! Haha. Good for me. I dressed as a superhero and went to a high school class with one of the sexual health educators. She said she'd give me money if I walked out of the school without my jacket on, looking like a fool in front of everyone. Of COURSE I did it. Now I have to worry about changing my money, sending crap home that I won't need in Cape Town (like a giant wooly sweater and a million books), seeing how much sending that crap home will COST. Phew. I'm a stressbag. But all of the things we have to do for the program are done, by which I mean all the things my team of 6 had to organize are all done.

We went skating last night and let me tell you, skating is not really my thing. I completely fell on my bum and I'm pretty sure I have a huge bruise. It was really fun though. We went to the Olympic Oval, which is pretty impossible to find unless you have a map tattooed on your body, and who (besides that dude in prison break) actually has that? Especially of Calgary. We're in the midst of debriefing our Canadian experience now and preparing for South Africa. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. I'm nervous of having to live with a whole new host family and learn their ins and outs, at the same time as trying to learn directions around an entirely new city. I'm finally getting used to Calgary and traveling through Calgary and now we're leaving. Lucky for us we'll be in walking distance of our work placements and each other (as well as malls etc). This is BIG. I had to travel an hour every day to and from work, other girls had to travel an hour and a half. This is all for a 15 - 30 minute drive by car. Ridiculous!

I'm not sure what else to tell you right now. This is my update. I love everyone and I'll see you on the other side!

Banff, Halloween, Whatever else

WELL. It's about time that I posted a new blog. After Mid-Project we still had to have another educational day, which meant ... yes ... even MORE MEETINGS! Mid-Project was interesting. I never in my life want to create meals for 20 people. Leave it up to the professionals! We had to cancel one of the activities due to group negativity, but we did it the next night. Banff is pretty much full of Australians. I don't know how I feel about this. They were nice enough, if they never had to see you again. Some of the girls learned this lesson the hard way, and I didn't really have any interest in the lot of them. We also got to see Lake Louise. It and the mountains were BEAUTIFUL! I love the mountains.

Halloween we volunteered at this crazy Halloween party. I went as an accident. I had to spend most of the night outside however because they needed someone to ... I'm not even sure. I just know I spent 3 hours outside in my host mother's high heels (she made me wear them). It was cold, but I got a walkie-talkie which apparently made the rest of the girls extremely jealous. I also got in tight with the security dudes, I pretty much OWNED that party. It would have been fun if I hadn't been outside alone all night.

Work is going well, we only have 5 days left. I'm a little sad and I'm trying to find work at other Sexual Health Centers, but Calgary Sexual Health is pretty unique in their approach. I want to "borrow" all of their ideas and take them global. Only 3 more weeks until Cape Town, and I'm starting to get excited. Although I'm feeling guilty, I've only sent out one letter and no post cards. I need to get on that, but I've been incredabusy that it's been hard. I will try harder though!

Thats all I can think of for now, I haven't had my coffee yet.