Friday, December 30, 2011

Shopping, district six, Linda Fortune

Long day! In the morning we went to this craft market and I wanted everything! I literally could have bought everything there. The jewelry was so pretty, I wanted it all. We were able to bargain down prices for things but I always felt kind of bad. I did get some good deals on things (I think) but I didn't want to rip them off or be ripped off.
After shopping we went to the District Six museum and got to meet Linda Fortune. She grew up in District Six and we read her book during our class. She was amazing! I loved hearing all her stories about growing up in District Six and the history behind the removals. She took us to Odekraal, a secret beach in Cape Town with caves! It was so beautiful. The pictures I took don't do it justice. The ocean water was a spectacular blue and the mountains overlooking the beach were breathtaking. Linda talked about how her and her family would go to Odekraal during vacations and live in the caves. It hit me when she mentioned how one time they went there and set up and began cooking like usually and then were kicked out because it had now become a white only area.
Odekraal had such amazing scenery and I can't imagine not being able to experience it because of my race. We climbed through caves and hiked up hills and enjoyed the fresh air. I ate lunch looking out onto the ocean and the rocks...beautiful. It was a perfect day.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

And 30 hours later...

I'm finally in Cape Town! What a long flight! From Chicago to DC to Johannesburg and ending in Cape Town. Total trip time from when I left my house to when I stepped into the Cape Town house is about 30 hours. Travels didn't go exactly as planned when I was stopped in customs and had to go to the immigration office and when my bag arrived in Cape Town on the wrong flight. I did see Akon though at the airport so that was pretty cool. Other than that it was fine, the airplane food wasn't terrible like I had expected. Lots of chicken and beef. When we got here I found myself wanting to look at everything. Even though it was 10pm when we arrived here I still wanted to take in every little detail of what I saw. The house we are staying at is really nice! We all have our own room and the living space is huge! Im excited to explore on our first day around our neighborhood, "the observatory" and go to the beach!