Oh man! Cape Town just keeps getting better and better! Every week brings new things to see and experience as well as new people to meet! And as always, I am loving every second of it. This past weekend was awesome. The house was virtually empty, well as empty as it's ever going to feel, until everyone got back from the Garden Route about 8ish on Sunday night. When they got back and settled a little bit they told the rest of us stories and showed us all of their bungee jumping videos. Despite a few of them saying that it was the most terrifying thing they've ever done (scarier than skydiving) and that they'd never do it again, the more videos I watched, the more excited I got! Especially when I saw the video of one of the girls jumping backwards. I'm glad I stayed home because I had a flippin ball, but now I can't WAIT! until I get to go bungee jumping with the next group. 

On Tuesday we went to the District 6 Museum as one of our many cultural activities. It was really interesting and sad to hear about the history of the people of District 6 who were forcibly removed from their homes so that the area could be rebuilt and reoccupied by whites. In a period of 15 years over 60,000 people were moved to areas which became the townships the other volunteers and I are working in today. But it was strange. Our tour guide went off on a 30 minute long tangent on global warming. One second we're talking about apartheid and the next I'm listening to how when we graduate instead of buying a car, we should buy a boat because the polar ice caps are melting and it'll come in more handy. I didn't quite make the connection...

But it's ok! Because right up the street from the District 6 Museum is the most amazing place in all of Cape Town...Charley's Bakery! At Charley's Bakery there are petitfours that make your eye's roll back in your head from deliciousness. There are quisches that make your full stomach beg for more. There are cakes and tarts and brownies and cookies that all look like they were made by someone on acid especially for you so you could trip without doing drugs! It was a-mazing! It was glorious! It was a fat girl's heaven (and cheap too)!

Wednesday. Oh Wednesday it's no wonder you're my favorite day of the week! I brought my camera to Nomzamo and me and the kids had a blast with it. Especially my little ninja turtle, Siyasanga. I've been trying to teach him how to say "cowabunga dude" to no avail. He gets the dude part every once in awhile though so I know there's hope. After I got picked up from Nomzamo the van-full of us headed out of Langa to Guguleto which is one of the other townships. It was celebrating its 50th anniversary. Anyways, we met up with the rest of the house and the staff at a shebeen called Mzoli's. A shebeen is our version of a tavern but not quite. It's more like a bar in a garage, beer in garbage cans included, with an outside seating area. It was quite an experience but the food was great! We ate pup, bread, and braii. Braii just means bbq. I ate a ton. But the best part...oh this is good! The best part is that we were listening to a live African music band the entire time. I felt totally saturated by the culture and like I was an actual part of it, not just a tourist because needless to say, not many tourist's eat at a shebeen in a township. It was absolutely tremendous. But if you think the fun stops there, you're wrong. From Mzoli's we went to a community arts center to watch "Themba-African Spirit." It was a performance but a group of kids roughly around my age who sing, dance, act, and entertain in traditional African style while educating young people about HIV/AIDS. They performed for a  half an hour and it was so inTENSE! I swear I'm running out of adjectives to describe my experiences here. But this, by far, was the coolest, most moving thing I've seen since I've been here. At the end of their performance they sang 2 a cappella songs for us. There voices were so strong that the entire room was reverberating with them. And they were good. They were better than good. No joke, almost every person in our group was moved to tears. It was tremendous! I was seriously awestruck the entire time. Final word on the matter- WOW! And my week isn't even over yet. I'm so tired but we have another performance tonight at the house. And we have another birthday this weekend, and a rugby game, and a going away party...oh man I'm going to be so tired when I get back! And I didn't even tell you guys about our visit to Bo'Kaap with all the fun houses and our Cape Malay dinner!

ooooooo! But before I go, the ladies at Nomzamo want me to taste as much of their culture as possible while I'm here...literally.  So this week I tried something called African salad, some bean curd-type dish, and this bread roll thing that could/should be classified as a donut because it's THAT good! But the African salad...ok so it was the first thing they gave me - ever. I didn't know what it was. I don't know how to describe it. I think it might be made with like a chunky maize-type  meal. They put it in a bowl in front of me. Then they poured milk in it and I thought, "cool, this is easy." But then...they proceeded to pour in this foul-smelling thick cream type thing that smelled like old yogurt without the mold to give it away. And they stirred it right in. With all of their expectant faces watching me, I took my first bite. It was awful. It tasted like and had the texture of old cottage cheese - chunky and sour as all get out! I worked hard to not make a bad face. And because I didn't want to hurt their feelings I told them I liked it and ate almost the entire bowl. But they were so happy and thrilled that I enjoyed it. I'm not gonna lie, I got used to it after awhile, once all the sour had killed my taste buds. And also, remember the little boy who is my shadow, my "son" apparently? Well Breyton saved my butt that day. When all the ladies got their fix of watching me eating they left. And Breyton was sitting next to me and it was just us. I watched him watch me eat. A lightbulb was clicked on. I gave him a bite to see if he liked it. Thank Jesus he did! So when no one was looking, I would shovel spoonfuls in his blessed eager little mouth! He ended up eating about half the bowl and I ate the other half. I left before the kids' lunch time so I don't know if I spoiled his lunch. Oh well! He saved my life hahaha!

The following pictures pretty much sums up my life here so far... African dancing, some of my kids, charley's, sharks, and amazing views!

Sukubetha!

This week absolutely flew by. I can't believe it's over. The days go by slow here, but the weeks are over before you can blink. It's true. I would say I'm starting to feel more at home here but the thing is I felt at home from day 1. It seems like I've been here forever already and it's only been 2 weeks. I finally know all my kids by name! Two of them were taken away and placed in foster homes this week. I guess it's technically a good thing but I'm still pretty sad about it. And one of my favorite little girls is going to be placed with foster parents next week. It's hard because I'm already really attached and it's just going to get worse. Speaking of attached...

On Monday when I arrived, I noticed a new little boy with all the children. He wasn't really playing or talking with any of them. Come to find out, he was abandoned and his first day at Nomzamo was Sunday. And he wasn't talking with the children because he doesn't speak xhosa. He speaks Afrikaans and a little bit of English. He is the sweetest little boy. This past week he has become my shadow. On Monday we met and I didn't see a smile or hear a word out of him once. On Tuesday I got a small little grin. He just wants to be held all the time. On Wednesday I was supposed to take the younger kids (2 & 3 year olds) out to play so the older kids could have a lesson. The new little boy started screaming his head off the second I left the room so the other care taker brought him to me. He stopped crying immediately. On Thursday when I was playing outside with all the kids I went to take a bathroom break while everyone was distracted. I walked inside and down the hall. I thought I heard one of the kids start to cry. I got through the office and into the bathroom. As the door closed I wondered why the crying seemed to have gotten louder rather than quieter since I was a long ways away from the playground. I turn around and walk out to check. The little guy had followed me in from the playground, down the hall, and through offices to find me, balling the whole time. And of course, the second I pick him up, he's fine. I don't want to spoil him but I feel awful. The poor kid is so lonely. He can't understand a lot of the workers, none of the children, and he's recently abandoned. His memories are so fresh and he doesn't have a lot of distractions. Today we had to be a little firmer with him. We were making the kids race but he didn't want to run. He just wanted to stand next to me. I wouldn't pick him up and he was okay just standing there until the other worker tried to make him run. Then he wouldn't stop crying so we decided I would go inside to see if he would run. Nope. He got past 2 other workers and chased me down but I hid in the room with all the adorable infants so he couldn't find me. He cried for like 20 minutes and never did run. He just sat off to the side. I felt so bad but there was nothing I could do. So I distracted myself by playing with babies for an hour or so. I finally did go back to the older kids but I had to force myself not to look at him because I didn't want him to run to me and get in trouble. And he watches me non-stop. When he's eating, when he's supposed to be watching tv, during lessons or activities, he's always watching me to make sure I'm not leaving. And I know he's paranoid about that because his mom just did exactly that. I know that's why he's acting this way. Most of the workers and even the director call him my child. By day 3 of him being there they told me I found a son. Awkward, but I do love him.

One thing I feel horribly about, and I know I've mentioned this before, is the lack of staff. But even if they weren't understaffed, the kids still wouldn't get the one-on-one attention they crave. I do my best to give everyone a turn riding on my shoulders, or sitting on my lap, and I give more kisses and hugs than I can count. My way of doing things and the way they do things here are vey different though and I need to be careful not to step on any toes. I know all these women care about kids but sometimes it's hard. You can't show favorites, but certain kids just need more attention. And the women are able to give the kids piggyback rides or make them fly like airplanes. They are basically just left to play with each other and get yelled at IF they get caught doing something bad. It's just so different. Infants and toddlers and children alike are all left unsupervised more than you'd believe. In daycares back home I'm not allowed to leave 2 toddlers unattended for 5 seconds, and here, they leave 10 or more outside by themselves. And kids of all ages, throughout the townships, can be seen wandering around without any adult supervision at all. It's sad but it's a reality. That's another thing. The idea of a childhood, where you get to actually be a kid and play and have fun with the right to be safe is a relatively new idea (like the last 30 years) here. It's baffling to me, who grew up privileged and still tries to act like a kid as much as possible.

So that's my sad, depressing spiel. But don't get me wrong, I still love my time at Nomzamo, and all the kids, (especially my new little guy!), and everyone who works there. But right now, I have a huge empty, dark house to myself and 5 other people (everyone else is gone for the weekend), calling my name for a game of hide-and-seek to cheer me up!! Peace!

P.S. Sukubetha is "don't hit" in xhosa

Great White's Ain't Got Nothing on Me!

So it's been a whole week since I've been here. Time has gone by so fast but I already feel like I've been here forever. I'm starting to recognize streets and know my way around!

My kids are still great but they are definitely a rowdy bunch and can be very hard to control at times, like most kids. I adore them though. I've been at Nomzamo for 6 days and have already been pooped on twice. Well pooped on once, gotten poop on me twice! It's a glamorous life I live, I know! But every day there is great, even the not so fun ones. It got a little more challenging last week when the kids got crafty. They now fake cry to get me to pick them up so they can then proceed to put me in a Hulk Hogan-like vice grip while laughing hysterically. These kids are surprisingly strong, especially the little girls. I'll have one kid in my arms and they'll grab my free arm and dead lift themselves up an then crawl/scramble onto my back. Luckily it's pretty easy to tell when the kids are faking it so I usually just tickle them and run away. It's hard because I don't have enough arms.

I'm starting to get the hang of their names. I have all but a few down and I must say that's quite a feat in just over a week! I have my favorites but I make sure that I don't show it. One of my little boys, and I swear I'm not exaggerating, looks exactly like a ninja turtle! He's so cool! His name is Sayasanga but he's my little ninja turtle (and we all know how much I love turtles!)! On Friday we had a birthday party for all the kids who had birthdays in September. They were so cute in their party hats eating their cake and singing happy birthday in xhosa and then english! I could sit here gushing for hours and pages but I have other things to brag about. Brag or gloat? I don't know what word is better so read on and you decide!

I got to go cage diving with great white sharks! Neener neener neener! Oh my gosh it was such an amazing rush! I was the very first one on the boat to get in the cage. 6 people could fit at a time and we stayed in 30-40 minutes each. It was awesome. We had 4 big ones and a baby shark. The biggest was about 10 feet long. Being in the water with them was so surreal, especially when they are feeding literally inches away from you. Shark week has nothing on seeing them in real life. They are more graceful than you can imagine and you just want to reach out and touch them. Which, was almost a problem for me because we all know how I have a hard time resisting random urges (Daron can attest to that)! Seriously though, one of the times the sharks got close I caught myself reaching out before I knew I was doing it. Luckily I'm not as dumb as some might think and realized what I was doing. I decided since I'm quite attached to my right hand (no pun intended), I should probably not feed it to a ferocious 10 foot shark. When my turn was over I spent the next hour or so taking pictures and pretending I was a National Geographic photographer on location capturing man-eaters in their natural habitat. Yeah, I'm a tard I know. But let me just reiterate myself - absolutely breathtaking and you should all be jealous!

When everyone had their turn we went a few miles away to where whales from all over go to calve. It's right off the shores of a cute little town called Hermanus. We literally came within 10 feet of a mama whale and her baby. We were worried because we didn't know we could get that close but they were fine. The only word that came to my mind was majestic! After whale watching we went back to shore, disembarked from our boat, ate lunch, and then passed out in the van for the ride home. But when we awoke we weren't home! Our driver, the coolest driver ever, had driven us to a beach to watch the whales from shore. The white sandy beach was gorgeous, it was 80 degrees, and the whales were playing in the distance. We stayed there a couple of hours swimming, laying out, and walking along the beach collecting perfectly intact shells in varying shades of blue, purple, pink, and yellow. It was absolute perfection! I couldn't have asked for a better day. It was exactly what I imagine heaven to be. And I was in Africa!

...So I'm thinking gloating is definitely the word. Gloating is so much more refined than bragging! Have a good day all!