Low-key Saturday

Not much to report on today, I kept it low-key. I slept in and then proceeded to be lazy for most of the morning. It was nice outside so I lathered up the sunscreen and went to sit outside in the sun with my book. I ate lunch (which was chicken schnitzel & mashed potatoes) outside and around 2pm it got cloudy so I came inside and continued to read in my room. I had a nice long conversation with Erin on the phone that cheered me up and had many laughs with Sabrina about her long hair extensions that are being twisted. Other than that, I've surfed around on the Internet but really haven't done much else today. Emotions are still running high around here.

My great news of the day is that on Friday I posted an advert on Gumtree for Rhabia advertising she was looking for a flat to let. I checked her email today and she had a positive response from someone who has a flat to let for a good price. I gave her Rhabia's cell number to call her to continue the discussion. I really hope this works out for her.

Dinner was pasta, but I ordered Chinese food because there was no protein in the pasta. An hour later my sweet & sour chicken came, but it was cold. I munched on it anyway because I was hungry. I left about half of it in the fridge for later. I'm going to read for awhile longer, shower, and then who knows what until bed. I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. We shall see later.

A Wonderful Day Marred by Immaturity

NOTE: It has come to my attention through the volunteers involved that the food fight in the kitchen has been blown out of proportion. My information of the days events came from the staff and I took their word based on their authority here. I do not believe the volunteers involved should be sent home because the precedent of relaxed polices. I think that many of the policies of the CCS headquarters need to be adhered to more strictly starting with future incidents. I was offended because I felt my hard work was disregarded and that as a person who contributed a large sum of money to the organization, I had a right to express my opinion and hurt. In no way is this personal, against any specific volunteer, or out to send someone home. This is strictly about policies and the consequences for breaking policies. CCS has set universal policies in place for specific reasons and no one is exempt without a formal conversation.

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This morning I was excited to go to Scalabrini. I couldn't wait to see Aly and the other staff members to share the stories of my wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. I was in high spirits on the bus ride this morning. The weather was beautiful, the sky a crystal blue, a few white puffy clouds, and a gentle breeze. Israel turned up the Lionel Richie and I sang and danced along. Several people looked out the window or wore iPods, but I was happy it was Friday, happy to be in Cape Town, and looking forward to a wonderful day.

I chatted with staff nearly an hour before I settled down and entered names from our employment help desk sign in sheets into an excel file to send to a company who is desperately looking for numerous drivers, cleaners, and technical (trade skills) workers. As I worked I did a few online searches for Rhabia for flats to let (apartments to rent) but found nothing. The office was quiet, only a small handful of staff working today. It was a wonderful, slow day. I did not have the chance to hang out in the kitchen after I finished working upstairs because Israel came earlier than he told me. I'll try to get down there Monday morning.

It was at lunch where the good day crumbled. The dish was lamb curry, which I cannot eat because I'm allergic to lamb, so I opened the fridge for some tasty leftovers to find nothing there. I asked Simone where they were and she explained they were all gone due to a drunken food fight from the volunteers last night. I was livid, angry, hurt, insulted, and a whole host of emotions. I was told neighbours called either the police or security, I do not know which, but Luann apparently received a call at 1AM last night from our security here about the drunkenness and the food fight. The drunken volunteers had requested the security not tell Luann. Of course the security staff on duty called and told Luann what happened because it was their job to do so. The security staff were the ones who cleaned up the mess in the kitchen. Several volunteers continually say they are adults and feel they have the right to behave in any manner they choose, irregardless of set policies that they signed. This demand to behave any way they want because they are legally an adult exemplifies childish behavior.

Luann gathered everyone in the lounge for a house meeting regarding the behavior which later many volunteers choose to take as a joke [personal inference]. They are underage (in the US) and CCS abides by all US laws. They signed the alcohol policy that states if you are found to be drinking/drunk and are under the age of 21 it is cause for immediate dismissal. However, no one was dismissed, they were just given another warning. This is not the first incident of drunkenness that has caused issues and I am rather appalled by the lack of repercussions on CCS's part. I emailed Tahira late this evening expressing my opinions and feelings.

Anthony and I were so livid we had to leave the house. We walked to Rondebosch and just hung around browsing the shops to cool down. It helped, but as soon as we came home, the tension of people the house returned. I feel like I'm in high school, us against them, those who feel that at 18 they can do whatever they want because they are legally an adult, and those who are insulted by this behavior. I did not sign up for this childish behaviour, I signed up to volunteer, to help those who are less fortunate than me, and to change the lives of as many people as I could. I feel there is nothing I can do but endure it. I have chosen not do endure it and have emailed Tahira and Luann to tell them to address the consequences for breaking policies.

I believe everyone makes mistakes and it is how one reacts, learns, and grows from the mistake that characterizes a person.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful feast with friends and/or family. I am happy that I was here to spend it with the other volunteers and the staff as well. Several of us stayed home from placement this morning to prepare the remainder of the dishes for the 25 people at the house today. Steph and I first tore the ends off of nearly a pound of green beans and then tore them into bit size pieces. Then we chopped celery and onions, peeled about 30 potatoes, peeled another 4 extra large sweet potatoes, and then took a much deserved break. We set up the tables in the dinning room to create one large table for everyone to sit around. Steph and I wanted to make one table so as not to separate staff and volunteers. I loved helping in the kitchen, it was a much deserved break for the cooks who work so hard every day to prepare food for us. Many of us cooked food and cleaned dishes, but some of the staff insisted on helping. I rather enjoyed the chaos of not knowing where ingredients were, using “South African” substitutes for ingredients we used at home (not traditional ingredients, rather different brands), and laughter when something did not go as planned. We kept saying, “Apparently they don't have [blank] in South Africa” and had to make many judgment calls after bouts of laughter and stunned looks on faces. We had loud Africa music playing, a beautiful breeze drifting in through the open windows (it was about 70 degrees F), and wonderful smells of South African-American dishes wafting around the kitchen to meander around the house. It was Thanksgiving, yet at the same time a totally new experience. Many people cooked their version of the favorite dishes from their Thanksgivings at home, which was great to compare family traditions and customs for the holiday. We had 2 turkeys, a large green bean casserole with onions and breadcrumbs (no French's Fried Onions in SA), 2 different stuffing recipes, 2 recipes for candied yams, 30 potatoes worth of garlic mashed potatoes, sparkling wine, and coke/coke zero. It was definitely a feast for us all.

Dinner was at 4pm. We started off by popping the bubbly (sparkling wine – grape & white, the kitchen is halaal, which means several things, one of which is no alcohol). Anthony had trouble opening the second bottle of sparkling wine, so I tried my hand at popping the cork off. Boy did it pop. The cork went straight up in the air, to the astonishment of the group and myself, and then I caught it. After a toast and a statement of thanks (our way of a politically correct grace), we delved into the dishes before us. Heaps of food were scooped onto our plates and our feasting began. Thirty minutes later we were all stuff to capacity. It was time for some of the staff to go so we served desert right away. Somehow we all found room in full stomachs for apple pie, chocolate cake, and risotto pie. After desert some announcements about the commencing of summer events in Cape Town occurred and we began the enormous task of clean up. I brought my dishes over to the sink, but a few of us thought we had contributed our share by cooking for nearly two days that we allowed other who did not partake in the cooking to clean. I have uploaded some pictures of our dinner, just click the photo album link on the right.

The dinner was not the same as it was a home, probably because of the substitutes, the temperature conversion from Fahrenheit to Celsius, an old oven, and not being as amazing of cooks as our parents, but I throughly enjoyed it. We had amazing decorations, courtesy of Jaime and his dedication to his decorating assignment, wonderful company, and were able to thank the staff for the amazing job they do every day for us. I hope to help Simone in the kitchen more often, because I'm here to volunteer, and wherever help is needed, that is where I will be, whether at my placement, the home base, or helping another volunteer here, my purpose here is to help those who need help, in any way that I can. I am not here to be selfish, to be vain, to stay out late or go to placement tired; I am here to assist, to help, to serve, to influence, and change the lives of as many people as I can for the better.

Lastly, I want to remind/tell everyone that Monday is World AIDS day and for you to spread the word. Please honor those who are suffering from the horrible disease by going to www.joinred.com and purchasing (RED) items. Depending on what you buy, a certain amount of profit goes to the Global Fund which, among many contributions to African societies, helps provide antiviral drugs to people in Africa who are HIV positive and/or have AIDS. Starbucks is one partner of (RED). Go to Startbucks on Monday and 5 cents of your drink will go to the Global Fund. You can buy (RED) items at Hallmark, Dell, Gap, Converse, and many other places. All are listed at www.joinred.com. If nothing else, I wish you to keep those who are afflicted with AIDS and are HIV positive in your thoughts and tell all you come in contact to that Monday is World AIDS day. Right now AIDS isn't curable, but with enough treatment, preventative measures, and research, AIDS could be eliminated.

South African American Thanksgiving, Day 1

This morning I made the decision to go to placement, because other than a productive cough and a little stuffy head, I felt fine. My voice is still a little deep, but not as bad as before. The Internet wasn't working for a least an hour so I helped a few refugees with some employment help desk services, editing a CV and making some copies. Once the Internet was working again I searched for more jobs on Gumtree for Roberto and Wilfred. I feel like I've scrapped the bottom of the barrel and have no idea what else to do for them. There were a few new general jobs posted that I applied for on their behalf. On Monday I called several restaurants for Monica, Chipo, Mercy, and Nancy, and today I heard that they can finish their training at one of the hotel restaurants I called and the restaurant is looking to hire all four of them! That is amazing! I also saw Rhabia in the kitchen before I left and gave her a list of about 12 apartments for rent that I saw on Gumtree for her. She said she was going to be homeless as of Friday and so I cannot help her find an apartment on Saturday. I hope the names and numbers I gave her helped.

After placement Sabrina I started helping prepare Turkey No. 1. This one is a garlic, herb, and butter seasoning. While it was cooking I went to Rondebosch to buy minutes for my phone and go to the ATM. Our food supplier did not have green beans so I bought lots of green beans and canned cream of mushroom soup for green bean casserole. South Africa apparently does not have fried onions so we're going to fry some bread and onions in oil and sprinkle that on the casserole. After I came back from Rondebosch Mr. Turkey No. 1 was done. I was the official taste tester. It was amazing. I definitely wanted to eat turkey for dinner rather than chicken schnitzel. Instead I ate the amazing banana bread that I found at Woolworths. Mr. Turkey No. 2 is an apricot, honey, and thyme seasoning. It tastes good, as Sabrina designated me as the taste tester. Tomorrow we make apple pie, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes/yams, green bean casserole, and some more deserts.

Today has been HUMID. I have been sweating profusely. Add to it cooking in the hot kitchen today, I still need to drink more water. I still feel dehydrated. Mr. Turkey No. 2 is still cooking in the oven. He'll be ready for the fridge around 11pm tonight. I won't be going to Scalabrini tomorrow because I am working on food prep tomorrow. Dinner will be around 4. I am so excited for Thanksgiving! Many people aren't, but I have so much to be thankful for right now, so much time and energy to give I just want to help everyone as much as I can. I keep pushing myself because I'm sick and ignoring my cough. I really need to relax and rest but I don't want to. I want to help, I want to change people's lives. It's so amazing to know how I've helped Rhabia and the others from the OXFARM project.

So Happy Thanksgiving to all, and I will have many pictures in the coming days of my South African-American Thanksgiving.

Still Sick

Not much to say about today. Still sick. Slept on and off all morning, ate some PB&J for lunch, and hung around the house in the afternoon. I did not go to Scalabrini because I felt too sick. I am not sure what I am going to do tomorrow. I will wake up at 6:45 and decide then. At 4pm I had an appointment to go see the doctor because I wanted some antibiotics. I was able to get Azithromyacin (Zithromax/Zpack) so I was happy. I also bought more Kleenex and cough drops. I have a semi-productive cough but coughing is just painful. I'll have to take more Ibuprofen to ease the pain.

I was feeling better after seeing the doctor that I went to Afrikaans lessons, but we didn't talk much about Afrikaans and instead talked about abuse of children in South Africa. Sabrina and I had made plans to go out to dinner with a former CCS staff member, Shirley. We met her at a pizzeria in downtown Cape Town. The three of us had a great dinner, lots of pizza and girl talk.

I came back home and took a nice hot shower that helped my chest. I'm going to load up on my medications and vics vapor rub now and go to bed. I hope to feel well enough to go to placement in the morning. I will probably rest in the afternoon instead of going back to Scalabrini. Sabrina and I are also on Turkey cooking Duty so we have to prepare and cook 2 turkeys. I also need to run to Rondebosch to buy some minutes for my phone and go to the ATM. Thursday I won't be going to Scalabrini because I have food prep to do: peeling potatoes and prepping food to be cooked in the afternoon for a large Thanksgiving feast around 4pm.

As of now, I'm feeling better, but my lungs hurt from the phlegm in them. I really hope to be better by the end of the week. I will definitely be moving slowly and resting often until I'm back to 100%. Have a good Tuesday, and for those traveling for Thanksgiving, be safe!

Another Short Entry

What can I say about being sick? I went to placement this morning, despite waking up 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave. Somehow, someone (I think Anthony but don't really know) set my alarm for 8:48am instead of the 6:45am that I set it for. I scrambled to get ready and made it just in time to the van. It was a slow day for me at Scalabrini because I wasn't feeling well. I made a few phone calls, helped a few random people make some copies, and did some typing for someone. I was supposed to go to Scalabrini in the afternoon now, but because I was sick, they told me not to come. I came home and slept on and off all afternoon. The off times were when Anthony came in and screamed in a high pitch voice by my head to wake me up because he was bored. I was rather annoyed with this since I wanted to rest. Sabrina came in shortly after the last wake up call and brought me warm chocolate cake. Mmmm, good dinner. I might have half a PB&J later on if I feel like it, but I'm not hungry.

I won't be going to Scalabrini tomorrow because I am going to the doctor to obtain some antibiotics. I think this is just a head cold, but since I had pneumonia when I was younger, I can get really sick if I don't do something about being sick as soon as I can. I also just want to make sure I don't have strep or anything. I've been taking benedryl and sudafed (at least South African versions which are stronger apparently) for two days and my voice is deep now and I can feel some fluid in my lungs.

I did upload some more pictures, one of me riding an elephant, a few from the SA museum I went to, and several from Robben Island. In total I uploaded 18 new photos. Click the “Photo Album” link on the right to view them.

I Hate Being Sick

Today's entry will be very short.

I'm sick. I can hardly breath through my nose. I cough, my nose runs, my head feels like it's stuffed with cotton. I've taken some South Africa version of benedryl and sudafed to keep me going, but I am still quite out of it. I slept most of the morning, well, at least laid in bed being lazy/resting. I wrote up yesterday's blog entry because I was too tired to do it last night. Pictures will follow in the coming days. Lunch was the Welcome Braai for the new volunteers, where I ate some roasted chicken. Yum. After lunch Anthony and I headed to the waterfront mall. I bought the next book in the Outlander series, a few gifts, and an ice cream cone dipped in chocolate. We were there for about two hours and then came back to the home base where I moped around between napping and doing nothing, hoping to feel better. Dinner I didn't eat much because I wasn't hungry and didn't want meatloaf. I took a hot shower which helped for a short while and now I'm going to bed early in hopes of feeling better for placement tomorrow. I'm supposed to start afternoons tomorrow, but I think I'm going to just go in the morning and work from home in the afternoon until I feel better. Many people skip placement when they don't feel well, but I am going to stick it out until I feel terrible in the morning.

Hope your day was better than mine.

I hate being sick.

Robben Island & the Waterfront

Just a forewarning, this is going to be a LONG entry.

This morning my luck ran out and I woke up sick. Actually, I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat and had extreme difficulty swallowing. I was told when I arrived here that it was inevitable that I would get sick because so many volunteers get sick playing with their children at placement. Sabrina has been sick lately and that's probably where I developed this from. I pulled myself out of bed around 8ish and ate some breakfast. I felt like crap so I went back to bed, but couldn't sleep. I changed my clothes and walked the mile or so trek to Rondebosch to buy throat lozenges, kleenex, and vics vapor rub from the chemist at the pharmacy. In addition to my feeling lousy, there was a slight drizzle of rain I had to walk through. While in Rondebosch I found an internet cafe to print off my ticket for Robben Island. I trudged back through the mist home and then laid down again.

Lunch was amazing. Sabrina was teaching the staff how to cook chicken parmesan. I think it was the first meal where I had a clean plate and didn't throw away food. The chicken was breaded and moist with good spaghetti sauce, rather than the typical sauce being made here. Everyone who was in the house ate the chicken. Simone seemed to have mixed feelings, everyone was so happy to have food we liked/recognized and though she was happy we liked it, I think she was a little disappointed to realize that people ate the African food, but we didn't really desire it. We also had garlic bread with the meal and that was gone quickly as well.

Right after lunch I said goodbye to some of the volunteers leaving in the afternoon and took a cab to the waterfront to go to Robben Island. I arrived at the Nelson Mandela Gateway a little early so I perused the gift shop and bought a shirt that says “Robben Island Triathlon” and below it a 3 picture comic that says “Dig, Dash, Dive”. I thought it was so cool. I also bought a book of the history of the island, from its origins of a leper colony to a maximum security prison. The pictures were beautiful and the little bit I read was interesting. I meandered downstairs and half an hour later I went through a metal detector and was the third person to board the boat. The boat was huge, a three story, white catamaran that held about 400 people. I went to the top deck and sat on the starboard side. As we left the VA waterfront, the winds were calm, but after we left the harbour the winds picked up and the Atlantic Ocean was full of deep swells. I stood up and leaned on the railing admiring the scenery. I tried to take pictures, but none can recreate the feeling of standing on the boat and looking out at the ships coming into the harbour full of shipping crates, the Regent cruise ship in the harbour, the partly cloudy blue sky and the deep blue waters of the Atlantic. I loved standing on top of the boat admiring Table Mountain from a distance with its tablecloth covering the top (a natural phenomenon with clouds that cover the top of the mountain). The air did not smell salty so if I closed my eyes I felt like I was on a boat back home and felt connected to my family because they would have loved the boat ride as well.

The ferry ride was half an hour long and before I knew it, I disembarked at Murray Harbour on Robben Island. I walked over to the buses and climbed on one. We drove about 3 minutes to the maximum security prison there and began our tour. For those who don't know, Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his 27 year sentence as a political prisoner at this prison. Most of the prisoners at the maximum security prison were members of the ANC or the PAC which were two groups who were opposed to the apartheid in South Africa. Criminals were also sentence to the island, but they were in the medium security prison about 10km away.

Our tour of the prison was conducted by ex-prisoner who spent 9 years at the prison in the communal cells in the from 1980-1989. Until 1980 prisoners slept on mats on the floor, but in 1980 bunk beds were introduced to the prisoners. Conditions weren't wonderful, but of course, it was a prison, so I actually think after the introduction of beds, there was nothing appalling about the prison physically. Communal cells held about 40 people with an attached bathroom. The bathroom had a few dirty sinks, two toilets, and two showers. According to our guide, salt water comes out of the shower heads, which means they could not use soap, instead they had to use shampoo that the guards only gave you after your first shower and you realized salt water doesn't wash off the soap.

Most of the prison wings (blocks C, D,E, F) were the communal cells. But some prisoners, like Mandela, were in Block B, which means they lived in isolation from each other and the rest of the prison. They lived in their own cells which were only about 5ftx10ft with two windows, one to the outside and one to the inside. They had bar doors and then the prison guards also had wooden doors that they could close to isolate you even more. I visited the row in which Mandela lived on as well as looking into the cell in which he spent 18 years of his life. These conditions were shocking. He did not have a bed, instead he slept on two mats on the floor and had a metal pot with a lid to relieve himself in. They were allowed 1 hour of exercise per day in a separate yard than the rest of the prisoners. Additionally, Monday-Friday the prisoners were required to work for 8-10 hours a day in the lime quarry. Lime, as I found out, is very reflective and the built up of lime dust in the eyes of the prisoners has led most of the workers of the quarry to have eye surgeries to remove the lime and repair tear ducts. Even so, Mandela must wear sunglasses often because his eyes have been damaged so much from the lime. There was another stone quarry that the prisoners worked in when other stone other than lime was required.

After the prison tour we took a bus tour of the island where they showed the rest of the island, the leper graveyard, the village where about 200 people live permanently, the churches built by different settlers, and the shipwrecks. We saw the quarries where prisoners worked and a large number of animals that had been introduced by settlers. The ferry was ready for us when we dropped off at the harbour and I went back to the top deck, however the wind had severely picked up and after 15 minutes I couldn't stand the top deck so I went back to the first deck and sat inside. I arrived back at the gateway around 6:30. I figured since I paid for cab ride to the waterfront by myself, I'm going to enjoy the waterfront a bit. I went shopping for some gifts for friends and family and found several shirts and a few things for other people. I only a few things left to buy now, which is good. I grabbed some dinner at Subway, which is not the same as in the US. I ordered a BMT, my usual sandwich and I have no idea what meats were put on it, it was labeled salami, pepperoni, and beef, but definitely none of those were on it. I think I tasted bologna. I ate half a six inch sub and half of a very dry cookie before calling it quits. It was enough to keep me full for awhile. The combo meal was much cheaper here, only cost about $3.60 instead of $5. It was approaching 8pm, so I figured it was time to head home, I was tired, and I was out alone. I was smart about it of course, always sticking with people and never straying far by myself. I called a taxi and sat by the security staff at the taxi circle in the light. When I was in the cab home Sabrina called because some people started to realize I was out alone and wanted to make sure I was okay. I appreciated the call, but I would rather have had people with me, but no one bought their tickets to Robben Island in time before the tour was booked so I had to go alone.

I came home and met one of the new volunteers, Angelique who is from West Bloomfield, MI. She's in her early 40s with two children. She's only here for 3 weeks, but it is still nice to have someone from home to talk to. She actually works in Troy, so she knows about Somerset Mall, and other places nearby. I showered after talking with her for a few minutes and then fell asleep quickly since I started to feel sick again. I slathered my nose and throat with vics, took some African version of Benedryl and I was out all night.

We Are All Made of Stars

This morning was Kacie's last day at Scalabrini so there was some sad goodbyes when we left, but the morning went well. I've taken over four of Antoinette's clients (she recently left Scalabrini because it was time for her to return to Sweden) and today I focused on them. Chipo, Mercy, Nancy, and Monica have enrolled in a waitron training course that ends soon and Brian asked me to call around to restaurants in the Stellenbosch area to inquire about vacancies. I called about 20 places and two had vacancies that I emailed CV's to, a few I hope Brian called back in the afternoon after the managers came on duty, and one said the manager would call back if he was interested in seasonal help. Tourist season has started which means many restaurants will hire extra staff to deal with the larger number of customers. I think the leads I found are good ones and I hope at least one of them obtains a job from them.

Amongst Kacie's goodbyes, we went into the kitchen to say hi to Fazel, Aly, and the rest of the staff there. I love going down there, the people are so nice and entertaining to talk to. Aly said Rhabia has some stories she's dying to tell me and she'll probably call tomorrow once she buys airtime. I already feel incredibly close with Aly and Rhabia and can't imagine leaving them in two months. I'm going to try to worm my way down there as much as I can.

Speaking of two months remaining, tomorrow is the one month mark. 1/3 of my trip is behind me. I've lived here in South Africa for four weeks! It is incredible. I've been planning and looking forward to this trip for a year and now I've been here a month! I could not imagine leaving now. I'm just starting to feel at home, feeling comfortable, and feeling like I belong that I am not ready to leave. I know I'm going to be a horrible mess when I leave Scalabrini for the last time. I already love so many people there. The staff is wonderful and we get along well.

I arrived back at home and quickly called a cab for 1:30. I ate my leftover pizza from last night and ran out the door to the planetarium. I asked around if anyone wanted to come, but no one did. I made the mistake when I was in Australia of always going with the group and rarely doing what I wanted because no one wanted to do what I wanted to do. This time around is different. I'm going to ask if anyone wants to go, but if no one does, I won't let it stop me. It's not fun doing things alone, but hey, this is my trip, I paid for it, I fundraised for it, and I'm going to enjoy myself. When the cab pulled up, I found out the planetarium was not its own museum, it was part of the SA Museum.

The cab driver drove me to the museum and I went first to the planetarium to see a 2:00pm show titled “Do the Stars Influence Your Life?” It was a scientific look at astrology and other ancient beliefs surrounding the influence of the celestial bodies on human behavior. I loved sitting back in the reclining seat and watching the show in the dome. I enjoyed hearing all about astrology and the methods they used to analyze it. Their conclusion was that astrology is more psychology and opinions rather than anything scientific, however, since we are all made up of previous stellar matter and could not survive without the sun, we are all influenced by stars. I loved the use of The Planets suite by Gustav Holst. I hear the Detroit Symphony Orchestra play it once and I think its my favorite orchestral piece. I learned that the Babylonians were the ones who “invented” astrology and it was the Romans who made readings available to the general public. Interestingly enough, the dates used to determine which sign you were born under are the ones established by the Babylonians and are actually inaccurate. Over time, the wobble of the Earth has shifted the Earth's axis and therefore the night sky is not the same night sky the Babylonians saw. In fact, it almost appears as if the ecliptic has shifted forward, so the sign you think you were born under is not the real sign you were born under. I had no idea, despite all my astronomy classes.

After I exited the dome, there were a few meteorites on display that I could touch and examine. They are mostly made of iron, but I liked to close my eyes and feel the piece of rock that was created in space and fell to Earth. It is made of the same elements available on this planet, but it was not formed here. I just felt connected to something beyond the planet, beyond life here. I was amazed by the meteorites. I walked around the SA Museum which had numerous exhibits regarding dinosaurs, aquatic animals (sharks mostly), and the San (bushmen). The rock paintings were beautiful, depicting the illustrations from the book I purchased at the District Six Museum. I stood in front of the largest lower jaw bones I had ever encountered. I cannot imagine going shark cage diving here. Many people do enjoy it, but I would be terrified the entire time. It would be great for photography, but I don't want the photos that badly! I spent 2.5 hours at the museum and called a cab shortly after 4:30pm.

Dinner was meat pies, which I love. Most people do not like them, but I got a taste for them in Australia and happy to eat them here. My evening has been rather lazy, which is enjoyable, after a busy day. Tomorrow I have to go to Rondebosch in the morning to go to the ATM and print out my ticket to go to Robben Island. I tried to get people to come with me because many people were interested in going, but they waited too long to buy their ticket and they are sold out for tomorrow. So it's just me, myself, and I for Robben Island tomorrow afternoon. That's okay anyway, I'll be able to linger where I want to and go where I want.

Have a good weekend!

African Alsorts Beading

Volunteering at placement today was extremely intense. First of all, it was bloody hot and humid. It was 32 degrees Celsius, which is roughly 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The humidity was up near 50%. I was roasting at Scalabrini because they do not have air conditioning in the old buildings. The windows were open, but it didn't help. I was sweating bullets in addition to all my running around. The queue wasn't that difficult today, but the refugees were. For a short period of time the printers were not working and causing me a headache because the refugees I was trying to assist today kept thinking they just had to sweet talk me for printed copies and kept asking and asking and every time I had to tell them the printers were not working. There were some refugees who “just want one copy” (HA!) and tried to convince me to let them jump the queue and just make one copy for them. I was stern and then had to nearly yell at them to sit down in the waiting area for their name to be called in the queue in order to be helped. The hovering people would go sit down and would I would head towards the copy machine to make copies for the person I was currently assisting, they would follow me and try again for one copy. I know if I crack their going to ask for one fax which turns into two. It's so frustrating because they think they can just smile and sweet talk me. They can't, I've learned their games and can ignore them, but I hate the same three people following me around the office like lost puppies who try to ask for favors every time the desk is open. Today someone came at 11:30 and wanted me to give them a favor and send six faxes of four pages each. HA! I gave him one. He wasn't please, but I still have seven or so people to help who were here on time. The only reason I gave him one fax was because he was on his lunch break from JobStart, a job training program.

Shortly before I left for the day, Kacie and I went downstairs to see Aly and Rhabia in the kitchen. Rhabia was exhausted from her first night shift at Zula's. She did well in her training that her boss said he'll give her day shifts. I'm so happy for her. She's a wonderful success story and we get along very well. I want to come visit her at Zula's one day she's working and tip her well because she deserves it. We have each other's email and phone and plan to keep in touch while I'm still here and even after I return home.

For lunch I ate my leftover lasagna which I quite enjoyed. I had no idea what I would do in the afternoon when Tihara found me in the lounge and said there was some room on the bus for veteran volunteers who were going to African Alsorts. She said something about lots of beading. I shrugged and thought, “what the heck?” and went along. In was very hot in the studio, but amazing artistry was being created. African Alsorts is a company that was created to help local wire beading artists create their work together and link them to better markets than selling on the street. It has been extremely successful which lead to pushing the artists to expand their collections by making all sorts of animals, home decorations, and elaborate pieces. Wire beading starts off with 12 (?) gage wire bent into different shapes like a zebra, a lion, a giraffe, a penguin, etc, and then thinner gage wire is wrapped around the wire frame with beads strung on it. We saw them create penguins in all different stages of creation. We even got a change to bead ourselves. The staff framed heart pendants for us and we wrapped the heart in orange beads. Mine is pretty good and I love it. It feels like a good luck charm to me. I keep picking it up and examining it. I also bought a few magnets, keychains, and some sculptures from the “messed up” pile. Essentially these are sculptures that have flaws of some sort so they sell them dirt cheap. The ones I bought look just fine to me. Of course they are not as stunning as the several pound beaded lion that is larger than most lap dogs, but I like the zebra and giraffe just fine. I really need to stop buying myself everything and start looking for gifts. I think I've bought 2 gifts so far. :) I just love everything and want it all for myself!

The rest of the day went by nicely, I read for awhile, talked with Anthony, and ate dinner. I ordered out again because the mac and cheese for dinner involved tomatoes on top and mushrooms in it. I am quite fond of Kraft and this was not near Kraft or Stouffer's. I ordered pizza again, because I wasn't sure what “sweet and sour” chicken meant and the last time I ordered a chicken wrap I didn't like it. This was a very good magherita pizza with tomato chunks on it (a sign of the quality of magherita pizza). Again they screwed up my drink order and brought me a regular coke. I continually ask for coke LIGHT (diet coke) or Coke ZERO but they always bring coke which is irritating because I am not supposed to have all that sugar.

Tomorrow I hope to go to the planetarium, but I'll probably go by myself because I don't think anyone is interested in going. I'll still ask around of course, but it's not something on everyone's to do list. I also found out that old observatory in Cape Town has tours once a month, the next one on 13 Dec. for free (the current observatory has been relocated about 4 hours outside of Cape Town). If it's a clear night we'll have a chance to look through the telescopes out at the sky. I'm excited, hoping that the 13th will be a clear night. I'm planning on going to Robben Island on Saturday. I've still got to plan a safari and a few other activites, but then my required to do list will be complete! This Saturday will mark 4 weeks here in South Africa and the beginning of the 5th week. Crazy! I love the country now and wish my family could be here to see it because I cannot describe the feelings I have for the people and the landscape. It will be a sad day when I have to leave. But for now, I am happy to be here and volunteering at Scalabrini.

Just Another Day in Cape Town

I woke up a little less sleepy, but still groggy from the anti-histamine, however, it is definitely working because the bites have reduce in size, redness, and itchiness. Supposedly they fumigated my room today, but I've been sleeping with bug spray on my legs for the past two night and that has significantly helped. I've only found one or two bites in the last two days.

I'm feeling much more comfortable at Scalabrini now. Today I searched around for construction jobs/gardening jobs/general jobs for Roberto and IT technician jobs for Wilfrid. I had a little bit of luck, but not so much. There was good news shortly after I arrived, Rhabia came up to me and told me she found a job at Zula's, on Long St. as a waitress during the night shift, 6pm-7am. It's a hard shift and the pay isn't that great, but its a good start. She's nervous about it, but I so happy for her. She's the first one I've helped to find a job that was successful! Then again, she did it all on her own, I just helped her write a CV and gave advice on going door to door inquiring about vacancies. Aly was happy to that Rhabia found a job so quick, it's really a struggle for many Zimbabweans coming here. Aly has been here a year and it took nearly that long to find a job. She works in the soup kitchen cooking meals for refugees. Hopefully when I start working in the afternoons I can work in the kitchen on occasion with Aly. Tomorrow will be a busy day, I have the employment help desk open. It will probably take all morning and I won't be able to look for jobs for Roberto, who is my main focus right now. I found out today that Scalabrini is closed from Dec. 19 – Jan. 5 for the summer holidays. During those two weeks I'm going to work from home on a refugee welcome packet that I hope to start soon when I work afternoons. This will give instructions on how to create an email address, recommended places to look for housing, jobs, and advice on how to present oneself for a job interview. This would be an all inclusive “where to go from here and how to get there”. It's supposed to be thorough enough to lead a refugee who has just arrived and has no idea what to do to having decent accommodations and the ability to find a job.

The afternoon went by quick and I didn't really do much. Anthony moved into the house from the man cave/hut that technically is a guest house. There are/were five guys in cramped quarters and many open rooms in the main house. Anthony likes things neat and most of the guys were messy so it was bothering him. He's now moved into the Xhosa room. I don't even remember the name of my room, though its on a sign just outside my door. Anyway, I helped him move some of his stuff into the house and then I read more of Cross Stitch. I'm at page 482 of 863. Soon I'll have to go the Claremont Mall to find a book store for the second book in the series. I do have two other books I brought but I'm very into the book and want to continue reading instead of starting another series (Eragon). I still have the Twilight series to finish when I come back home. So many books and not enough time! :) Dinner is spinach quiche, which I do not want. Sabrina and I ordered some Italian food. I ordered lasagna and garlic bread. Hopefully that will be good. My plan for this evening is reading more and taking a hot shower. I quite enjoy hot showers at night an hour or so before I go to sleep.

More photos have been uploaded! Click the link on the right side of the page labeled “Photo Album”.

Hectic Tuesday

This morning I woke up very tired. I took some stronger form of Benedryl that despite taking it at 8:30pm and going to bed, I was still drowsy at 6:45am. The anti-histamine was supposed to help the itchy bites. It worked, because I woke up this morning without an itch. I also covered my legs in bug spray and did not wake up with any more bites. So I'm positive now the bites are coming from my bed somewhere. Tomorrow morning they are going to spray the room. I just hope none are living in my sweatpants because I can't wash them until Thursday morning. I ate Special K cereal with red berries and cold milk today. I was very pleased with the meal. I haven't had much milk here because they don't refrigerate milk at the home base. So I bought my own. I also had some strawberry yoghurt. Good stuff.

The morning at Scalabrini was hectic. I was insanely overwhelmed. Alyssa apparently was sick and though she sent Brian an SMS (text) he did not receive it. We had the largest group of people at the desk today, 25 people and only one person helping them (ME!). It was stressful. Brian tried to help me out, but he has his own job to do. Alyssa came in around 11ish and started to help me. When I left at 12:40pm, there still were about 15 people left to go. I hope they did alright. I typed of cover letters, made edits to CV's, made a few copies, and faxed a lot. Many refugees tried to ask for favors when they came in after the deadline of 10am, and sometimes I'll give them, if they want one service, but I could not today. I was snappy at some of the refugees, which I have to be sometimes, but still it hurt for me not to be able to help because I just did not have the time today. Rhabia came in for a few minutes this morning and I printed off more CV's for her. She gave me a quick summary of yesterday's events which were not good and promised to come back tomorrow at 8:45 for me to help her. At 10:30 I have to start working on finding Roberto some jobs for the OXFAM project or else Brian will not be happy since that supposed to be my priority.

In the afternoon I meandered around Rondebosch buying minutes for my phone and going to the ATM. I also bought a ticket to go to Robben Island this Saturday at 3pm. Hopefully it won't be too windy and have the boat ride canceled, that happened to Kacie today. I'm really excited to go. Tonight's dinner was some form of meatloaf that did not look or smell appetizing. So I called St. Elmo's and ordered a magherita pizza. It was amazing. And cheap! A standard size, which is slightly smaller than a medium but bigger than a small (I think about 23cm) and a 500ml bottle (essentially a 20oz) cost R35 ($3.50)! So cheap! I'm not going to enjoy going back to the US standard of living in January.

Despite it only being just after 9, I can't keep my eyes open so I'm off to bed. 'Night.

Good Day All-Around

This morning was a particularly enjoyable one at Scalabrini. One of the volunteers, Althea (Aly), has a daughter, Rhabia (RAH-bee-uh), who just arrived in Cape Town from Zimbabwe (Zim) last week. Rhabia is working on obtaining her refugee papers and is desperate need of a job because the temporary accommodations she is staying in now won't let her stay past the end of the week. Rhabia is an well-spoken, energetic, 21 year old with whom I bonded with instantly. We spent the morning talking about her 3 year old daughter, her educational background, what she did back in Zim, and where she wants to go from here. Until the political unrest in Zim, Rhabia was doing very well with her life, she was wealthy (self-described) and owner of her own massaging business, which she loved. Then the economy folded and political unrest occurred which has forced hundreds of people to leave Zim and come to South Africa, including her mother. It has been a struggle for Rhabia to get where she is, but she is incredibly motivated to re-establish her life.

Today Rhabia & I wrote up a CV for her (curriculum vitae...they do not use resumes here), searched Gumtree (South Africa's version of Craigslist and it's very good), and applied for a few jobs we found on Gumtree. She'll come in Wednesday morning so we check up on her job search progress. I gave her copies of her CV and told her to hit the streets this afternoon going door to door looking for vacancies. She has a good feeling about this one waitressing position in a restaurant on Long St. (a popular shopping street) which would yield great money in tips. She also applied for a full time nanny position that seems promising.

After leaving work at Scalabrini, I felt empowered to help more refugees. I loved the working one-on-one with the person sitting next to me, asking questions and me giving advice. I really feel like I've made a difference in her life, just by being there today. She even said so, but it's amazing to feel it, not just hear it. It's harder to find jobs for people I've never met and just know from a short stack of papers. I feel more of a connection with Rhabia just from interacting with her today than some of the other refugees I've been trying to help for days through less interactive means. I of course want all the refugees to obtain jobs, but I am more interested in Rhabia's progress.

Lunch wasn't that great, it was Shepard's Pie that was too meaty. I picked at it and then headed to Rondebosch to run errands. I printed off about 20 photos that I have now taped up on my wall, bought some anti-histamine and stronger cordizone cream than what I had, bought some other misc. things, and went grocery shopping. I bought Pepsi Light, some snacks (Chips Ahoy cookies this time, but I still have microwaveable popcorn left), cereal (I'm tired of muesli), and fat free milk (they don't refrigerate milk here unless you buy your own...even though the boxed milk they buy says once you open it, refrigerate it and use within 4 days because it does not have preservatives in it). I had to carry all my purchases back to the house, which is about a three-quarters of a mile from the store. My hands still hurt a few hours later from carrying all that. How in the world do some women carry far greater weight in the hands and their head? It boggles my mind. As I walked around Pick 'N' Pay (one local grocery store that I use often) I started to feel like a Capetonian. I feel comfortable walking alone (though my guard is up of course, always listening behind me and glancing around) and I have a sense of belonging here. I do not feel like an outsider or foreigner, but I do feel different because I do not understand Xhosa (click your tongue when you say the first syllable...KO-sa) or Afrikaans. English is the language of business here, but Xhosa and Afrikaans are the casual languages.

Sabrina was sleeping when I got home so the rest of my afternoon was spent being quiet. Tonight's dinner was tuna pasta and by the sound of the other volunteers, no one really wants it. Sabrina and I ordered from Cocoa Wah Wah and some other people are order from other various places. I got a chicken wrap, chips (fries), and a butter croissant. The wrap didn't taste that good, unfortunately, so I just picked out the chicken. I know it's not the healthiest meal and I did eat McDonald's yesterday, but I just can't stand most of the food here. I eat protein in the morning for breakfast when they make scrambled eggs (about 2-3 times a week) otherwise I eat cereal and bananas. Just bought some yoghurt today (not a misspell, that's how it's spelled here).

As for an update on the bug bites, the situation has gotten worse, thus the cordizone cream I bought at the pharmacy. I have about 40+ bites up and down my legs and two on my arm. They (in the words of the pharmacist) “itch like hell” and are very red. They may be flea bites or mosquito bites, but in either case, Luann has called the fumigation company that comes once a month to fumigate for bugs to come a little early and fumigate. The bites seem to appear overnight so they might bed bugs or fleas. I don't think they are mosquitos because it would be strange for me to be singled out when my roommate does not have them. I think they are fleas that I picked up when I was on the Garden Route. I stayed in a backpacker's hostel/lodge and probably picked them up from sleeping on the mattress on the floor. But, then again, there were 8 other people with me and no one else has bites. I'm going to sleep wearing bug spray for awhile to see if that helps and take anti-histamines at night for awhile to stop the itching. I try not to pay attention to the itching and usually then I stop feeling it, but that doesn't always work. And as for my thumb, it is doing much better. It can still bother me on occasion, but it's doing well. Anthony wants me to cut out more pictures tomorrow...I might do a few, but I will stop when my hand starts to hurt.

Castle of Good Hope

This morning was a nice slow, lazy day. I slept in until 8:30ish and then grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl and headed outside to the futon on the porch to munch on it. It was a beautiful morning, a nice breeze blowing by and birds singing. It was peaceful and calming. I sat there for awhile on the futon just admiring the garden that is our yard and watching the lilies sway in the gentle breeze. Leaves would rustle, the monkey bird (a bird that sounds like monkey when it chirps) would talk, and I smiled at the beauty of the morning. It's moments like these that I wish my family could be here to experience. Pictures can say a 1000 words, but no amount of words can describe the tranquility I feel when I sit on that futon and just relax. It's my favorite spot in the house, beside my room. Which isn't so happy right now since my computer isn't picking up the wireless signal while I sit on my bed right now. If I go out into the hallway it will pick it up. Strange.

Anthony had to go to the VA Waterfront to pick up some photos he had printed yesterday so I took the train with him into the city, however, I went to the Castle of Good Hope while he went to the waterfront. We split off shortly after the train station and several blocks away I saw someone walking with a McDonald's bag and eating french fries. As I reached the corner I saw the McDonald's to my left. I raced over. I was hungry for lunch as well as some food I recognized and knew what it would taste like. The restaurant was nice, similar to a McDonald's in an airport. I ordered a quarter pounder with cheese meal and a coke light. The burger was much larger than I expected, it was the size of a whopper rather than a quarter pounder. I couldn't even finish it. But let me assure you, this was the BEST meal I've had since I got here. I am not fond of the food here, mostly due to the spices and sauces used. So I was thrilled to eat the cheeseburger and french fries. They even had American ketchup there and not the South African tomato sauce. I was in heaven. Sad that I was so ecstatic to eat fast food which is so abundant in America, but it is not so here. I was craving something familiar and I got it in the form of a cheap meal. It was in fact much cheaper than in America. Here it cost R27.48, which means it was about $2.47 for the whole meal. I left McDonald's for the castle feeling full and quite happy.

Several blocks away was the Castle of Good Hope. I walked over to it, across the moat, and into the castle gates. The entrance fee was R10, less than I expected. I walked around for a little while without a map, just exploring the castle without any idea where I was going or what I expected to see. Then I purchased a map for R5 and walked around again, noting things I hadn't before. I loved seeing and feeling the stone walls of the castle, looking through window holes and walking through doors. Parts of the castle were restored to display furniture and other items from the Cape Colony during its many years of occupation by the British and the Dutch. Other parts of the Castle, like the mistaken dungeon/ and torture chamber (later discovered to be one of the arsenal storages, not the dungeon and torture chamber) was left as it was, uneven stones in the floor and walls. In such places you can smell the musty scent of time gone by and if you closed your eyes and really listened, you can almost feel the emotions of the rooms, no matter what their current state. I toured through the museums that had military uniforms from those who occupied the colony as well as furniture from each century of occupation. The castle was built in 1600s and until the early 1900s had been occupied by the Dutch and the British. As of now the Castle is in the middle of downtown, but at the time it was built it was at the edge of the Cape. There is now about 100km of reclaimed land, which means when the castle was built the land was under water. I loved exploring the castle and its grounds. I drew many parallels to the book I'm reading, since part of it took place in the 1700s in a castle.

Dinner back at the house was incredibly good. It was roasted chicken and french fries. One of the volunteers found Heinz ketchup so I had real ketchup with my fries. Two great meals in a row? How can this be? I definitely would not be complaining about today's food. Though I might make some microwave popcorn after I shower tonight to munch on while I read.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I feel much more relaxed and ready to help the refugees this week. I am one fourth of the way through my time here in Africa. Three weeks have gone by in a blur and I have 9 more left. This upcoming Thursday is Thanksgiving and the volunteers are going to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner for the staff and the volunteers. Since it is not a public holiday here, we will be volunteering in the morning then coming home to a light lunch and then cooking dinner which will be served around 4. I'm excited because Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorite meals.

Not So Wonderful, But Still Somewhat Relaxing Saturday

Everyone has crappy days now and then. Today was one of those days. I slept in which was great, but then found more bites on my body than when I went to bed and figured out I had bed bugs (or possibly flees). I now have 15 bits on my arms, ankles, and high on my legs. They itch and despite coating a thick layer of anti-itch, anti-rash cream on the bites, they still itch. They are red, smaller than mosquito bites but harder and thicker than mosquito bites. I asked the staff to change my bed lines today instead of in a few days because I need to eradicate the bugs. I also noticed my bag of receipts and packing material for my sculptures was missing. I asked the staff and they said they threw it away because it looked like rubbish. Only the stuff in the rubbish can is rubbish! So I lost all my ticket stubs (except for my plane ones) and all my receipts for the last three weeks. I told them not to throw anything away unless I label it rubbish or it is in the rubbish can.

The morning was lazy, I read for most of it. Shortly after noon Anthony and I took the train to downtown Cape Town where we walked around Green Market Square (shopping), a little around Long St. (big shopping street), and then about 1.5 miles to the VA waterfront. I was wearing flip flops so my feet were killing me. I wasn't expecting the VA waterfront to be so far. I was crabby because I had yet to eat lunch and it was about 2:15pm so I went to eat a hamburger from this take-away place. It tasted more like a steakburger than a hamburger. It was okay, but I could only eat half. Then I spilled the rest on my shirt. Anthony & I walked around the Waterfront Mall for a little while poking around some shops before taking a taxi back to the homebase. Except the driver got confused and went to Rondebosh so we just walked back to the homebase from there.

I tried to make a bag of microwave popcorn when I got back, but the bag never fully popped and instead burnt the popcorn. Some people like burnt popcorn, but I am not one of them. I left it out for the staff and a few other volunteers who liked the popcorn a little burnt and were already munching on it from my hands.

Today 8 of the volunteers left and I was sad to see them go. I was good friends with most of them. I hope to stay in touch with them either via email or via facebook. Dinner was shortly thereafter and it was veggie pasta which was suprisingly tasty, but I couldn't eat more than half a bowl full. I'm tired of the homebase food and figure I'm probably going to order out often. It's cheap, only about $5 for lots of food and delivery. This seems to be common among some of the volunteers who have been here for awhile. The menu tends to repeat itself and get old quickly.

This evening I made several phone calls and enjoyed the long phone calls with my family and Erin today. I miss them both very much and was happy to talk to them. Erin said she received my postcard so mail takes approximately 1.5-2 weeks to get from Cape Town to Michigan. Not too bad I suppose.

Well it is getting late and I just want to go to bed to ends this crappy day. Tomorrow I plan to run errands in Rondebosh (I seem to go just about every day!) and then just read outside and be lazy. Good night!

Thoughts for my Future in South Africa

Finally, I'm caught up! I'm actually posting about 14 Nov on the 14 of Nov.!

My volunteer work this morning was a little repetitious, as I was calling local florists and gardening services in the phone book asking if there were any vacancies. There was period of half an hour I was in charge of the office during which all the staff ran to the corner coffee shop for a staff meeting. I answered the phone and buzzed people in. It was fun to be in charge for a little while. I discussed some afternoon projects I'd like to do when I start working afternoons after next week. I'm going to develop a workshop or seminar in which I help refugees who want to come in to get advice on how to go about a job search, what resources are available to them, how to interview, and essentially answer the question “where do I go from here?” in terms of a job. My head is full of ideas and I cannot wait to develop it. However, they are stuck on this OXFAM project which is rather frustrating because I feel I'm doing all the work and the refugees are just sitting back and waiting for us to find a vacancy for them. I've sent out numerous CV's to recruitment agencies, to job postings on Gumtree.co.za, and anything else I can find. Most of the refugees don't even come in that often to Scalabrini. I feel the refugees should be the ones submit their CV, not me. The OXFAM project is a special project to help reintegrate the refugees who were moved to camps due to xenophobic attacks earlier in the year and are just plain lazy in moving on with their life. I'm not here to help the lazy, I'm here to help those who want to help themselves but are unable to due to education levels or money. I'm not here to help those who just don't feel like getting up and getting a job or looking for better housing. The volunteers put a lot of time into the OXFAM project and I feel it contradicts Scalabrini's mission. I don't mind working on the OXFAM project, but I wish it was not my priority.

I cannot believe that tomorrow marks the start of my fourth week in South Africa. The time has passed by so quickly and I hope to relax this weekend and just absorb the past three weeks. I've certainly done more than three weeks worth of activities and I just need to make sure I slow down and process everything while I'm here rather than staying so busy that I just go through motions. I love the country, the people I work with, and the life I live here. It is so different from my life at home, they feel like two separate lives. I am reading a book titled Cross Stitch right now about a woman who lived one life in 1945 and one afternoon passed through some stones and found herself in 1743. At the part I am in the book, Claire has been in 1743 for nearly six weeks and is forming a life in this new time. She relates to both lives, through they are distinctly different. I feel the same way regarding my life in the Michigan and my life here in Cape Town. They are two distinctly different lives that will forever remain separate because of the distance between the two. My guess is that in the book Claire won't be able to go back to 1945 but I'll go back to the United States. I'll take what I learned here and merge it into the previous life I had in the US, but I am forever changed by this experience. I feel so much at home here, I am already dreading my departure in 9 weeks. But for now I will take things one day at a time, absorbing all that I can because I'm only here for a short while. The only thing I don't love about South Africa is the food. I am craving the foods I am accustomed to back home. I ordered pizza today and I just wanted a plain pepperoni pizza. Apparently the normal pizza is a magharhita pizza base and pepperoni is called salami. I'm waiting for the pizza to arrive shortly and I'm hoping its really pepperoni and not the salami I know. They are two distinctly different meats. Oh, pizza just arrived. It's basically sauceless and the pepperoni is definitely salami that I eat in the US. Oh well. Still tastes better than the smell of tonight's dinner the CCS staff made: lentil bake. I do not like lentils. I tried to like them for the amount of protein they possess. I just can't stomach them.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying my blog. I appreciate the time you take out of your day to read it and share it with friends, family, and coworkers.

End of My Group of Volunteers

This morning at Scalabrini I was operating the Employment Help Desk again. The new system Alyssa and I have implemented has worked wonderfully the past few times the desk has been open so we're going to keep it that way. On days the desk is open I spend all morning working with the refugees. I opened a few yahoo email accounts, made tweaks to a few CV's, faxed, and made copies. Near the end of my time there my thumb began to hurt worse and I could no longer ignore the pins and needles feeling. I wrapped my hand in some ACE bandage while we had a group meeting about our experiences here. For some volunteers there time here is done, they leave on Saturday to go back home. I am sad some people are leaving, as I have become good friends with many of them. It is now I no longer am a “new” volunteer and become a “veteran”. We loose 8 people on Saturday and another 10 more the following Saturday. That same day 3 new volunteers will be coming to start their program here. We will lose 18 people and gain only 3. I am sad to see some people go, but happy to have more wiggle room in the house.

After the meeting, Anthony and I headed to Rondebausch to laminate the collage he made of his kids from the day care. It took forever for the laminator to warm up. I poked my head around at the binding machines and noticed they had several comb binding machines made by GBC. I laughed that so far from work I find machines here that are sold by Digital Finishing Group's competitors. After we walked to the pharmacy because I needed to buy more ACE bandage for my hand and ran into several more of the volunteers from CCS. That seems to happen often, we go in smaller groups to Rondebausch and run into each other there. Ben, Carly, Beth, and Christine were printing off photos from their placements to make collages or something so we chatted awhile before Anthony and I headed back to the home base.

The CCS staff took all the volunteers out for dinner to a nice restaurant of which I cannot remember the name. I don't think I actually saw the name. It was a buffet style meal, since there was a set menu and we choose what we wanted. I was not fond of the food, so I just nibbled at it,eating just enough to be full. They had different kinds of pastas and casseroles. I don't like the pasta sauces here so I usually just eat plain noodles and some salad for dinner when we have pasta. I enjoyed talking with Anthony, Ben, Carly, Israel (my van driver, who turned 37 today), and Tihara (staff member). After dinner Anthony, Sabrina, and I hung out in Sabrina's and my's room until we went to sleep.

Rainy Day

It's POURING rain outside, in addition to the incredibly high winds, and cold temperatures. When I look towards the sky it looks like a nasty midwest storm is coming, but here in South Africa, the wind just blows but no storms come of it. Good to hear I guess, the locals say the wind will die down by the end of the month. I'm quickly running out of my cooler weather clothing. My t-shirts sit unworn while I'm out of long sleeve shirts. I'm on the bus to Scalabrini, but since I'm the last stop, I do not get to placement until an hour after we leave the home base. We drop other volunteers off at the townships closer to the home base and Kacie and I are last because we work downtown. As we pass through Langa (where many volunteers are placed) I see people walking around, carrying food and possessions while drenched. Some wear garbage bags for protection, others just walk in the rain wet because they have no umbrella or even a jacket. I'm sure the tin/aluminum houses of the townships are not waterproof. I can't imagine living in a tin house when the wind blows through and the rain leaks, giving you barely any shelter from the elements. What is worse is this is the best shelter some people know, this is the only life they've had. It makes me feel guilty of the good fortune I've had. I wish I could solve poverty here, but I do not have the time, the funds, the resources, or the ability to do so.

Wednesdays are Welcome Days were Scalabrini opens its doors to refugees who have been in South Africa for less than 6 months and gives them food and clothing. Today we were accepting 22 new refugees and about 60 or so returning refugees. I was asked to interview two of the refugees to obtain details about them. One had just arrived in the country less than a week prior. When I asked where they were living, they did not understand. To make myself more clear I asked, where did you sleep last night? They both answered quickly and frankly, “underneath a bridge.” They were not ashamed of their status, they were happy in fact to be out of Zimbabwe where there is political and economic unrest and be in South Africa. I was so taken aback by the statement because I could not imagine sleeping beneath a bridge nor admitting I slept there.

After my interviews I began to focus on my new clients. I was searching for IT technician positions on Gumtree and found several good job postings that were posted within the hour. I jumped on them and applied on behalf of my client. I will check the email in two days time to see if there has been any response. With the upcoming departure of several volunteers our client assignments are being shifted and right now I have 4 clients assigned to me. My original client has been switched back to Brian and I've been given other clients. I can't give too much more detail on the clients because of confidentially.

Lunch was a group outing to Mzoli's Meat, an outdoor restaurant with a live African band. Since it was raining the desk was enclosed in plastic. There were flies all around and landing on the food, so Anthony and I just ate some bread. Many people ate the food, but I knew I'd get sick and I had no idea where the flies had been and how the meat was cooked so I chose not to eat it. We were there for two hours or so listening to the live band play and some of the staff sing along to the songs.

The volunteers and staff all arrived back at the house around 3pm so Anthony and I headed to Rondebausch to print some photos, buy some popcorn, and book his trip to Europe this January. I had some “waterproof” clothing that turned out not to be so waterproof. My pants were quick drying however, which was a positive. In the evening Anthony and I finished cutting out pictures of his kids from the day care. My thumb was feeling a little numb, like the pins and needles feeling. The feeling did not go away by the time I went to bed so I hope it goes away soon. I am very tired as I write this and desperately want to go to bed, but I'm trying to get as caught up on my blog as possible. But I have to stop, I'm falling asleep just sitting here.

Good night.

Windy City

Placement was incredibly busy. Alyssa and I ran the Employment Help Desk (EHD). Numbuleto has stopped coming in to volunteer, citing she is unable to come for awhile. My bosses Brian and Miranda are going to try to find a third volunteer to come in to help us with the help desk on the days we are open. Lunch was lamb curry which had too strong of a scent and I started to have an allergic reaction/asthma attack. I also developed a migraine earlier that morning that made me feel a little ill. The weather was probably the culprit. It has turned cold and extremely windy. Cape Town and Chicago are tied for the Most Windy City now! As the CCS staff and Scalabrini staff has said it is unseasonably cold. After lunch all the new volunteers (which I am still a part of this group) went to the district six museum. This museum is dedicated to the memory of district six and South Africa's struggle through the apartheid and segregation of a multi-cultural, communal district. It was housed in a beautiful old methodist church which I enjoyed more than the museum. There were many beautiful artifacts, however, with a migraine I wasn't too enthused to be there. I wasn't the only one, either. Many people were extremely tired. I did buy a book at the gift shop about local rock paintings by the san/bushman (aboriginal South Africans). I uploaded a few more pictures after the museum shortly before I went to Afrikaans lessons. Dinner was spaghetti with an undesirable looking/smelling sauce. I do not know what it is, but South Africans don't have good ketchup (called tomato sauce and its soupy and more bitter) or tomato sauce (for pasta). I ate a little bit of noodles and then a bag of microwavable popcorn for dinner. Anthony wanted help on a cutting out pictures of his kids from the day care he volunteers at so he and I work on that until I went to bed around 10.

Garden Route, Day 2 & Relaxing Monday

Today we got to sleep in until a little after 7am. There was some drama and issues regarding the guys previous night drunkenness that I prefer not to go into, but it put the group in a sour mood as we left Fairy Knowe. We drove for about an hour to Cango Caves. Most of the group opted for the standard tour rather than the adventure. I would have loved to do the adventure tour, crawling through the caves and such, but they told me some of the spaces were quite narrow, about 24cm at the max. They did not come right out and say it, but it was obvious I was just a little too big around the waist to try the adventure tour. So I choose to stay with the majority of our group and go on the standard tour. The caves were incredible and though I took many pictures, most did not turn out well due to lighting issues. I have a few good pictures and the caves are imprinted in my memory. We entered the cave and quickly descended into the first chamber which was huge. The guide told me the dimensions in metres but I can no longer remember them. I think it was about three to four stories tall, as long as three basketball courts, and as wide as two basketball courts. Of course that is a complete estimation and could be entirely incorrect, but at least you can understand it was large. They used to have concerts down in the chamber that could easily seat 400 people. We walked through three chambers that became progressively smaller as we continued through the cave. The standard tour ends at 600m into the cave. We then turned back and headed back the way we came, but taking a slightly different path. I loved the rock formations but the tour guide was very dry/boring. The tour was very touristy and we were with the “geriatric crowd”a large quantity of senior citizens from a tour bus that arrived at the same time as us.

After the caves we drove about 15 minutes down the street to the Cango Ostrich Farm. About half the group chose to ride an ostrich. I was tired and not too interested in it after riding an elephant. So I went to the cafe there and ate lunch, which was an ostrich salad. The meat was a little dry for me. It was similar to a beef steak in terms of color and texture, but was less flavorful than steak. While I waited for the group who were riding the ostriches I walked around the shop and decided I want to buy a decorated ostrich egg. They are very popular here and quite beautiful. It is delicate however, so I will have to go to DHL to ship it. I have yet to buy one because I haven't found the one I want yet. I've got time so I'm not worried.

We left shortly after the riders finished and headed to our last stop, the animal park. There we toured some of the facilities and saw bats, crocs, otters, hippos, vultures, flamingos, turtles, springbok, fish, and many other kinds of animals. We then headed to the catland or Cheetahland to see the big cats. There were tigers, lions, white tigers, white lions, cheetahs and cheetah cubs. I petted the cheetah cubs, tigers, and cheetahs. They were pretty tired when I was with them since they sleep 18-20 hours a day. I love the tigers and the cheetah cubs. They were playful and captured my heart. We were running behind on time and had a 5 hour drive ahead of us so I couldn't stay and see all the other animals, even though I really wanted to. I continued to read in the van until it was too dark to see. We stopped at KFC for dinner about an hour or so from Cape Town and arrived home around 9:30pm. After a quick shower I fell asleep, happy to be back in my own room and my own bed.


10 Nov.
At placement today I did what I know well. I filed. For those who don't know, I filed medical records for two summers to earn money during my years in university/college. Instead of filing by number I was alphabetizing by surname (last name). These were the back files that we no longer use since we have now gone to an electronic filling system, however, they were filed by job field and we wanted them by surname for easier reference. The afternoon was free time. I first walked up to Rondebausch to buy minutes for my phone and a few snacks at the groccery store. I end up walking to Rondebausch most days. It is about a mile or so from our house. The more times I walk it the close it feels. Which is perhaps a good thing. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to catch up on my blog and uploading pictures. I'm so sorry I'm behind on all of this. I assure you I keep notes, but have been so incredibly busy enjoying myself and doing things that I don't get to write. After dinner I hung out with Anthony (one of the other volunteers I'm close with) just talking and doing nothing much. It was a good, slow day that was desperately needed.

Garden Route, Day 1

(Most of this was written by hand in the car during the trip. Some details were added in later).

Happy Birthday, Mom! Miss you, love you. Right now we're heading towards the bungee jump site. I'm not going to jump, only about half our group will. It's beautiful outside. I see why it is called the Garden Route. It looks like a garden of eden. Lush greenery, distant mountains, lakes on one side, and Indian Ocean on the other. Driving around South Africa is breathtaking. Last night I saw the sunset on the African savanna. It was picturesque, but no photo can capture what I saw. We arrived at Fariy Know (a hostel) around 8. Some people went to the bar, some stayed in our dorm room. All 9 of us share one large dorm room. There are four bunk beds and since I was the last person to enter the room, I got the mattress on the floor. Oh well. I stayed in the room half sleeping while several girls engaged in a rather detailed venting session with the other volunteers in the house being the subjects of their frustrations. I was rather annoyed. I do not like to talk about people behind their backs negatively like that. I tried to sleep but the girls were loud. We do live in a house with 32 people. Someone is bound to get on your nerves, rub you the wrong way or something, but you just have to accept this is what you signed up for and get over it. I have applied this philosophy to myself and feel better because of it. Fairy Knowe is a beautiful backpacker's lodge. It seems to me it is an old converted plantation house. The wood creaks and the house shows years of love and abuse, stories we may wan to hear and other stoires that are better left unsaid.

It was an early start to the day, we got up around 5:30 and left just after 6am. The places we all want to visit are further apart that I originally thought. Today's activities are bungee jump, ziplinging, monkeyland, and elephant park. Tomorrow is ostriches, and Cango Caves. I'm glad I signed up to come on this weekend trip at the last moment. It's great to get out of Cape Town and see as much of South Africa as I can.

Just got back in the van from ziplining. It was AMAZING! There were 8 zips, the longest being 195m. The first zip I was somewhat nervous, hearing my mom's voice in my head telling me I'm crazy and screaming “What are you doing?!!” I felt the same at first but the view was at a unique angle. We zipped over a river and rocks. We bought a DVD of pictures and I'll upload them soon. I want to go again. May there is a place near home I can go to in the summer. In order to zipline, I was strapped into a harness and attached to two cables. The first one was the safety line I was harnessed to, the second one was the handle/brake that I held on to. The zips are gravity fed so I was constantly going downhill. It was slightly difficulty walking uphill to get to the second to last zip to go back. We are now heading to monkeyland. We're going to eat lunch there and then have a tour.

I think I'm so exhausted but with all the caffeine I've drank I'm awake. Monkeyland wasn't that great actually. We just walked through a giant cage on a path and just saw a few monkeys. The best part was the lemurs we saw. They were the same black & white lemurs from the movie Madagascar. “I like to move it, move it”we sang as we walked away from the lemurs. At Knysa Elephant Park I rode an elephant. They are adorable up close, so full of personality and grace. Their skin is rough and hairy! But I loved petting them. For my ride, I walked up a platform and the elephant had a harness/saddle on it that allowed me to sit on it. The elephant was huge so I was straddling it and holding onto to the waist of my guide/elephant driver. After awhile I relaxed and let go. The open savanna was beautiful/breathtaking. The sun was low in the sky, as it was about 16:30 (4:30pm). We walked around a several km track. The last few metres were down an incline and I started to slide towards the right. Several attempts were made for me to right myself on the elephant before I succeeded. I was sad by the end of the ride because I did not want to get off. I definitely want to bring all the African animals home with me. This weekend has shown me yet another side of Africa. I'm so fascinated by this country. It's full of past histories, heartbreak, life, laughter and happiness. It's so hard to see the aluminum shacks of the townships and the comparison to the million dollar houses. It makes me sad. What hurts more is the knowledge I had to see the heartbreak here to widen my eyes to the same problems at home in the US. I can't stop staring out the window at the sunset, at the water around me and the changing landscape. I love South Africa and I can't believe 2 weeks have already gone by. And now 10 weeks doesn't feel long enough to imprint everything on my mind, to take photos, and to absorb everything that I can from this country.

Last entry for the day. Everyone went out to the bar and I'm here by myself. I desperately needed some alone time. Tensions are running high and I just needed some quiet. After everyone left I went to take a shower. I was drying off my arms when the power went out. Power outages are common in South Africa because they have an energy crisis. They hostel in which we are staying in is old and has very few windows. It was pitch black in the bathroom. Someone staying in a nearby room gave me some light from her flashlight to help me grab my belongings. Thankfully, I remembered my South Africa phone has a flashlight on it. I thought it was a strange feature when I bought it, but I am thankful for it now. It's about 22:14 (10:14pm) and I'm ready to sleep. Might read for a few thought. I'm really into the book Cross Stitch, thanks Erin! :)

Photos have been updated: http://picasaweb.google.com/KDavis4/SouthAfricaPhotos#

Leaving for the Garden Route

(Most of this was written by hand in the car during the trip. Some details were added in later).

This morning at placement I looked for jobs for one of my clients. He came around 10:30 and I tried to help him apply for some jobs by revising his cover letter but we had trouble communicating. It wasn't his English that was the problem, it was his inability to describe his jobs to me to help me tailor his cover letter. I was frustrated with him but then we finally had a breakthrough when I had a meeting to go to. I tried to tell him what he could do himself but he refused. I myself was frustrated as I don't understand why he won't take some initiative and do something without the aid of Brian or I. I left the cover letter on the screen when I left for my volunteer meeting. The meeting was regarding today being Antoinette's last day. She's leaving to travel around Mozambique and Botswana for 2.5 weeks. At the end of the month she leaves South Africa to go back home to Sweden. We loose two more volunteers soon as well. Kacie leaves in 2 weeks and Dora leaves in 1 week. Alyssa is here until March and I'm here 10 more weeks.

Right now I'm in Shamel's van and we are driving about 5 hours to Knysa and the Garden Route. It is the first time I get to see the countryside. The past two weeks I've been in Cape Town and I'm enjoying looking out the window at the landscape of South Africa. I'd describe it as a green New Mexico. It's mountainous, rocky, but covered in green grass and trees. For the most part it is open but there are a few times the road was flanked by rows of trees. As we came up and over the mountains there have been beautiful vistas and views. The sky is partly cloudy and I love it. Some of the people on the trip are from Canada and the scenery reminds them of British Columbia. They country is enchanting. I can see why some of the volunteers want to extend their stay. My roommate Sabrina is considering coming back in January and staying here a few years. I am happy here now, but I think in Jan. I'll be ready to go. Going to read now, I'll write more later.

Atlantic Ocean 1, Kat 0

So it seems many people here and abroad (aka back home in the States) are excited and happy Barack Obama won. Uh oh, my spell checker does not recognize Barack or Obama as being words. I guess Microsoft will have to change that now. I myself am pleased with the outcome. I hope he sets in motion his campaign promises.

Sorry this has to be a two day entry, but alas, I'm so busy sometimes I just do not have enough time to update! Yesterday, Wednesday, I had placement in the morning. I must be selective with the details I provide you because I did sign a confidentiality agreement that I am bound by. Every Wednesday is Welcome Day where refugees who have been in South Africa for less than 6 months can come into the centre and receive a bag of donated food (rice, sugar, beans, bread, maize meal, and canned meat), some clothes, and warm meal. This particular Wednesday I helped bag the food for the refugees for about half an hour and then focused on my clients. I have four clients right now who I am focusing on reintergrating into South African society. They are refugees from Zimbabwe who was moved to a camp earlier this year due to the xenophobic attacks. With the ceasing of the attacks, Scalabrini and OxFam are partnering together to reintergrate these refugees back into society. The first one is a male who is a civil engineer. The other three are sisters who are looking for housekeeping or waitressing jobs. I use Gumtree.com, recruitment agencies, and other sources to look for job openings for them. To be clear, only the clients who are part of the OxFam partnership are assisted in locating jobs. The rest of the refugees I help come to the employment help desk where I make copies, fax their CV, send emails, and assist them in using the phone. I also hope to develop some worksheets or a workshop for Scalabrini to share information with the refugees on finding jobs for themselves.

In the afternoon a group of us went to the beach. I, along with 5 other people, decided to go surfing. We rented a surfboard for about R60 and a wetsuit for R40 (together those total about $10). This was the price for one hour, however, since we were there at 3, he gave us until 5 on the one hour rate. Derek, Will, Beth, Elisa, and Natasha all got up on their surfboards. Unfortunately for me, the ocean kick my butt. I was knocked around an never had a chance to stand up. At one point I was knocked down by a wave and while I was trying to recover another wave came by and tossed me and the surfboard about. Since the board is attached to my left ankle, it wouldn't go far. Instead of moving away it moved towards me and was thrashed into the back of my head. 24 hours later I still have a bump on the back of my head. It hurts quite a bit. I don't think it's a concussion, but my head hasn't stopped hurting since and I've been taking my prescription Ibuprofen. So the score is Atlantic Ocean 1, Kat 0. We'll see what happens next time.

After a quick shower about 20 of us headed to Mama Africa's for dinner to celebrate Obama's win/the end of Bush. Many people were adventurous in trying wild game, but with my head hurting I chose the safer route of a t-bone steak. It only cost R95 ($9.50). My double rum and coke only cost R35 ($3.50). The conversion isn't exact, but it is about R10 to $1 and I use it because it is easiest to convert that way. Some people tried springbok and ostrich. They liked it. Maybe when I'm feeling more adventurous I'll try ostrich. I left the party pretty early to take more Ibuprofen and go to bed early.

However, when I woke up this morning, Thursday, I knew it was going to be an uphill battle for me. I was still exhausted and needed several more hours of sleep. Instead I dragged myself out of bed and had a pepsi light and a special K granola bar for breakfast. Placement was good, Alyssa and I tried to implement some new ideas in running the employment help desk and they seemed to work very well. I hope to continue working that way from now on.

Lunch was at Bo Kaap, a Malaysian restaurant. Cape Town has a very large Malaysian population because slaves were brought over to Cape Town from India, Malaysian, and Eastern Africa. The Malaysian food was extremely spicy and therefore I did not eat a lot of it. I nibbled, pushed it around, ate some white rice, and said I was done when they started to collect plates. The view from the glass restaurant was beautiful. I took some pictures, but I have a ton of pictures of the city. Pictures cannot describe the beauty of Cape Town. You just have to come and see it for yourself. After lunch we had a quick tour of the Bo Kaap, which was an area given to the slaves when they were emancipated. Each house is a different color and they are squished together like condos. I will try to upload photos soon, however I am quite tired and that may have to wait until I have some free time sometime next week. Before heading back to the home base, we stopped for an hour at a place called the Slave Lodge. This is where slaves were housed until they could be sold for auction. It was a horrific place, knowing the amount of disease and the number of deaths that occurred in the lodge. It had since become a supreme court building and lost many aspects of its slave history. The lodge is just now creating exhibitions that display artifacts and the stories of the slave trade in Africa. Just as the American colonists were harsh to slaves, so were the Dutch to the slaves they imported from the East. The Dutch did not enslave the local people because they wanted to trade with them. Therefore Xhosa people were not slaves, yet many of them were indentured servants and treated similar to the slaves. The lodge explained that slavery had always been a part of human history, someone exercising power over another human by force. It is a terrible thing, to treat a human as a slave, the lowest creature on the planet. I cannot imagine the pain, the cruelty they endured. It was a living hell. I think they might have preferred hell the situation they lived in. My worst thoughts as I walked through the lodge was if I was born in another place and time, during the era of slavery in the US, with the same status as I have now, a somewhat affluent white family, would we have slaves? How would I treat them? How much of me and my beliefs is shaped by the time and place in which I was born? What about me would change? What about me is simply me and not a result of an experience? It's a terrible thought thinking that I would have had slaves. My family is from the north, which means we might have been abolitionists, but who really knows? A majority of my heritage has come from Europe after slavery was abolished in the US. But I'm sure I could trace my family back before that and find out the answer. I'm not sure I want to know, though. I think I'm better off not knowing.

Just to let you know I am going on the Garden Route this weekend which is several hours from Cape Town (it is a region not exactly a “route”) and will be extremely busy. I will bring pen and paper and write when I can. I will update either Sunday night (local time) or Monday afternoon (local time). If you signed up to receive email notifications, you will be notified when I post (as long as I remember to send the email). See below for instructions on how to sign up.

Have a good Friday, a good weekend, and I'll update soon!

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Another Beautiful Day in Cape Town

Straying from the norm for a moment, I do want to say I hope everyone went to the polls today or voted absentee ballot prior to today. I voted absentee ballot prior to leaving for South Africa. I am amazed at how interested South Africa is in American politics. I don't even know the name of the president or prime minister of Canada or Mexico, the countries that neighbor me, yet here, at the bottom tip of the African continent where people are just trying to earn enough money to survive until tomorrow, people are asking me about my thoughts on the election. They can name both candidates, their party affiliations, and tell me their choice for president. It is no surprise they are all for Barack Obama. I think that is their choice because he is black, but I would love to be enlightened further. Many of the volunteers here voted through absentee ballots whist there were here or prior to leaving. It seems they are all in favor of Barack Obama as well. As for me, I'm just looking forward to someone who is not Bush. I like both candidates and I dislike them both. I did choose one candidate because I was forced to, but I still debate whether I chose the right one. For some people the choice is clear, but for me, it is not. I dislike the election process in America because it forces the people to divide, to choose sides, and creates a lot of hostility. Somehow, after today this animosity is supposed to dissolve and we will unite together under the person who has been chosen. I fear this might not happen because so many people are misinformed, ignoring what they don't want to hear, and only hearing what they want to hear. But for me, I hope everyone had the chance to voice their opinion and the divided country will come together as one.

Onto today....I went to placement this morning. I spoke to Miranda about my fundraising ideas for the 20 computers they are looking to purchase in order to be certified as an ICDL testing center. I really hope they follow through with my thoughts and do not push them aside. I really want to feel like I've made a difference or made an impact on the Scalabrini Centre, and so far I am not feeling that way. I think I am going to take it upon myself to develop some workshops or worksheets that the Scalabrini Centre can use to give information to refugees on how to dress smartly (a word they use here that means well-dressed), different tactics they can use to be proactive in finding themselves jobs, and all these other ideas that have been spewed out in meetings. From the short experience I've had at Scalabrini so far, many good things are talked about but most often fall by the wayside. Today I assisted Numbuleto and Alyssa with the Employee Help Desk. This took most of the morning and then I tried looking on Gumtree to find home care jobs for two of Antoinette's clients. I was unsuccessful. They are not as qualified as the small amount of listed positions require.

This afternoon I read outside in the sun for a short while, talked with Ben about Australia and then our childhood health issues. He is originally from the UK but moved to Calgary, Canada when he met Carly, who is now his wife. I then spoke to Tihara some more and then read some more. I'm reading Cross Stich by Diana Gabaldon. My friend Erin wanted me to read it and I like it so far.

I just finished Afikaans class. We learned body parts and food. These language classes are supposed to help us at our placements, however, at mine everyone speaks either English, French, or Shona. No one speaks Afrikaans or Xhosa so I am just taking the language classes for fun.

Dinner wasn't that great, it was spaghetti, but I didn't like the sauce so I just ate noddles and bread. No protein unfortunately, but I'm okay. I had PB&J for lunch so I wasn't all to hungry at dinner anyway. After dinner I had a long talk with Anthony about traveling and what we like and dislike about volunteers, placements, and South Africa. We stopped only because it was shower time. It is now about 9:30 and I need to go to bed shortly because I have placement in the morning and then hopefully we're going surfing in the afternoon if the weather is nice. Tomorrow night most of the volunteers are going out to dinner to celebrate the election results. Many are pulling for Obama, I'll be celebrating the end of the worst president. I'm not sure if I'll be able to write tomorrow, Thursday might be a two day entry.

Lazy Day

Today was another slow day at the Scalabrini Centre. They have so many projects they want me to do, but then they keep pushing them back and having me do copies or faxing. I'm rather annoyed because like I stated yesterday, I didn't fly here to make copies. I've expressed my thoughts to Tahira, the program coordinator here and she told me that South Africa has a much slower pace of business. This information helps, but I still feel like I'm useless. Tahira said she would talk to Scalabrini and see if she could light a fire under them.

I was working with one client today, who's name I cannot pronounce, and was rather annoyed that he gave me his CV to fax with some phone numbers and ran off to chat with other refugees. I'm not here to serve you, I'm here to HELP you get get a job, not get it for you. I felt very unappreciated and insulted by his behavior. I brought that up to Miranda, my boss, who was upset as well. I will tell him next time I see him that this will not happen again, I'm not a secretary for him.

Lunch was acceptable today, it was steak something that didn't taste wonderful but the highlight of the meal was MASHED POTATOES. I was so pleased. They enabled me to eat the meat. Tonight's dinner is spicy chicken pizza. Yay for pizza! I've had margherita pizza twice here and loved it, but I have not had regular pizza. I'm interested to see how they do pizza. In all my riding around town though I have not seen a McDonald's or any other US-based food chain. I'd be interested in going to McDonald's to see what differences their menu here has to the US menu.

This afternoon I figured out how to upload a few more pictures to an album. Here is the web address: http://picasaweb.google.com/KDavis4/SouthAfrica02#

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Have a good day!