Capetown

My trip to Capetown was one of the most amazing vacations I have ever taken and I am so glad to have done it. Although it was much colder than I am used to since it is winter there now, after a day or so, it was actually really nice to be in “fall” like weather. It was absolutely amazing to see Zoë, I had somehow forgotten just how much I missed her, which made leaving extremely hard. I think I have somehow gotten used to missing people and being uncomfortable, so that when I am reminded of the good company and comfort I am lacking, it seems so much harder to live without afterwards.

Thursday
On Thursday I flew to Capetown via Johannesburg. On my first flight the pilot told us to look out the left side of the plan so we could see Mount Kilimanjaro. I was excited and expecting to see a beautiful mountain in the distance, but when I looked out we were directly on top of the mountain so that it looked almost like you could jump from the plane onto the snow covered peak. You could also see the giant hole that is the opening to the volcano. It was absolutely incredible. I sat next to a South African man and we talked almost the whole flight. When I got to Johannesburg, I experienced a lot more culture shock than I expected. It was overwhelming to see so many white people and to be in a place that looked like a shopping mall. I met a girl at my terminal who was Pennsylvania and we coincidentally had seats next to each other on the plane, so it was cool to talk to her. She had just done the 20+ hour flight from the U.S. Also in Johannesburg I went into the airport store to look at snacks and they had an assortment of beef jerky type things, including ostrich! Crazy. I got into Capetown around midnight and found Zoë and Ben from Vermont (her housemate) and Ashley, a friend. Then we drove back to “The Cobbles” which is the name of the house they are staying in. There I met Natascha from Germany, Katie from Chicago, and MC (goes to Amherst?)-more housemates. After a lot of catching up we went to sleep.

Friday
Friday morning we woke up and walked up to the University. It is absolutely beautiful where they live and at the University. There are huge mountains everywhere. After Zoë and Natascha turned in their papers, we walked back home and Katie, Natascha, Zoë and I decided to go for a drive around the coast. Zoë had had some trouble earlier that day with the rental car because it was a manual, so I was the designated driver, which was an experience. It took a little getting used to, driving on the left and shifting with my left hand, but once I got used to it, it was fine. It was actually really fun to drive again, and it was funny to me because it was a Toyota Corolla, which is the same car (of my mother’s) that I drive back in the U.S., so I was in the same car, but driving on the opposite side. The coast was absolutely beautiful and the roads I was driving on made me feel like I was in a car advertisement. We drove around the winding cliffs of the mountains, overlooking ocean. We also stopped at a stretch of beach and saw a bunch of penguins, which we walked right up to, and I also found some cool shells. We went home around 6 and then all of us (Ben, Zoë, Natascha, Katie, MC and I) headed back out for Cuban food which was delicious and then to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3, which was good, but long.

Saturday
Saturday we were happy to sleep in a little bit. Zoë and I went up to Kirstenbosch, which is a beautiful garden/park and walked around and took pictures and talked. Then we headed home because Zoë and Natascha had a soccer game, which the other team ended up not showing up for. So Katie and I watched them scrimmage each other while I made friends with a little boy who I played catch with for a while. After practice we went home and had a “braai” which is a cookout and the food was amazing. I am pretty sure I gained all the weight back that I have lost in the past three months, in these past four days. I ate so well. So we ate and then all went bowling, which was pretty fun. After bowling we played some pool and then headed home because we had an early morning ahead of us.

Sunday
Sunday morning we (Natascha, Katie, Zoë, and I) left the house at 5:30 to go shark diving! It was a 2 hour drive to the place and the sun didn’t come up until about 7:15, so most of the drive was in the dark. We got to the place and ate breakfast and then we all went to the boat. The group probably had about 18-20 people in it. The ride out was pretty choppy and we were starting to feel queasy, but then when we stopped and put the anchor down in the water, things got a whole lot worse. The captain was saying how the water was extremely choppy and there were just tons of constant waves rocking the boat up and down. So as the captain starts talking about feeling ill due to this rocking, the man next to me starts throwing up over the side of the boat. This was just the beginning because I am pretty sure that for the entire 3.5 hours we were out on the water, there was always at least one person throwing up. I managed to concentrate hard enough to not do that, which amazed me because I don’t do well with throwing up and I was surrounded by it, not to mention two other boats nearby where you could hear those people as well. When I was getting my scuba suit on to get into the cage to dive, I started to feel extremely nauseous and the captain told us that if we felt sick, getting in the cage would make it a lot worse. But I came to shark dive and I really wanted to do it, so I got in with Zoë and Natascha and another man. Things were going okay at first and we were seeing tons of big sharks. One was even chewing on the cage (luckily on the opposite side from where I was) and got its tooth stuck on one of the ropes. It was pretty intense. Pretty soon though, the jostling of the cage got to me and I threw up that entire big breakfast in the water that we were all sitting in. The man next to me felt the need to mention that at least the fish were enjoying it. Ew. We saw tons of really amazing sharks, but we were all glad when we were back on land and our stomachs settled a little bit.
When we got back to the house, we took a nap, and then went out to dinner to this place that specialized in all different kids of game. Zoë and I split a “game skewer” which had springbok, kudu, and some other kind of meat on it. It was really good. There was actually shark on the menu and we thought about getting it, but the waiter said that the red meat was too good to pass up, so we opted for the skewer instead. Ben, Zoë and I also shared a tasty bottle of South African wine.

Monday
On Monday morning, Natascha made us really amazing pancakes and then we all headed into the city because she was getting a tattoo. While she was being inked, Zoë, Katie and I walked around and did some shopping. In one of the stores, the guy working there had this little baby with him who was probably 18 months old. She was really happy and we danced a lot with her. She was a pretty good dancer and all of the sudden would start what looked like break dancing. It was pretty crazy. She really enjoyed my camera so we spent a while hanging out with her while she ran around giggling and dancing, etc. After the tattoo and shopping were complete, we went home and Zoë and I made Portobello mushrooms with goat cheese and avocado for lunch. YUM. It was really beautiful outside so the two of us went for a walk up the street and into some shops. That night we all hung out and played cards and drank wine and had a good time. Zoë and I managed to sleep a few hours before 4am when we had to leave for the airport for my 6:20 flight back to Johannesburg and then Nairobi.
So the trip was amazing. Zoë’s housemates are really awesome and it was great to spend time with people and just feel at home (even though I was technically nowhere close). I had missed my best friend, who seems to understand me very well-certainly better than anyone here in Nairobi, and that was really refreshing. I was not looking forward to coming back here and getting used to the social and physical isolation again, but it isn’t too long until I head back to the U.S. for some real culture shock : )