South Africa so far

Where do I begin?! The last couple of weeks have been simply amazing and filled with adventure.

My first stop in South Africa was Cape Town and I was privileged enough to stay with a couple of great couchsurfers. The first one hosted me 2 nights, and the second hosted me 5 nights. The second host was named Bernard and his girlfriend Laura. We really got along well and they were simply a joy to be around. They were super busy with end of term things since they're both college students but still made time to hang out with me and eat some meals together. They're both artists and film students so I learned a lot about documentaries, which I already love. One of them is finishing up a documentary so it was cool to see her in the process of completing it.

On to the adventure part of my stay. I went shark diving on a Sunday morning and just loved it. It was pretty thrilling to be in a cage and have a shark come right up to it. They put fish oil in the water to attract them, they didn't use blood like people often think. The next day, I hiked up Table Mountain, which was a difficult 2.5 hour hike that I was glad when it was over. At the top were stunning views of all of Cape Town so it was worth the hike. Plus there's a restaurant at the top so I pigged out on a lot of food to replenish the fuel loss. Pretty sure I replenished the fuel loss and then added some on, but I was really hungry so that makes it okay, right?

After Cape Town, I went to Port Elizabeth and met up with a friend who I had met in New Zealand a couple of years earlier and kept in touch with. Her family was wonderfully hospitable and very accommodating. I helped out at a few places including the Human Dignity Center with their daycare class. I also went to a couple of game reserves. At one of them I got to play with lion cubs which was really cool, they were 3 month old twin boys and just adorable. At the other game reserve we saw a ton of elephants and I thought for sure one was going to climb on top of our vehicle at one point. He came right up next to my window, definitely sent a shudder down my spine as they are huge up close and personal like that. I also ended up going bungy jumping at the world's tallest bungy jump so that was amazing as well. It takes your breath away when you jump off a bridge and aren't completely sure if the rope will catch or not. The only thing I could think was, "Man, I sure hope this catches soon." Simply exhilarating. I've been skydiving 3 times and this was about the same amount of adrenaline. They play music loudly at the top of the bridge to help calm your nerves after the long walk out over the bridge where you can see underneath you to see just how long 216 meters is.

A couple of days ago I made my way over to Durban and am staying with an old friend from college and her hosts. I'm working with her at a creche, which is basically a French word for a daycare. The kids are cute but chaotic. Oh man, coming from a disciplined classroom it was quite a shock to my system. I've been very careful not to critique though, that's not really my place. Although one teacher said she wanted me to observe today and give her suggestions tomorrow. We'll have to see how receptive she is to my suggestions, because I definitely have a few.

Well, hope you're all having a great Thanksgiving! Don't go too crazy tomorrow at the malls...