Table Mountain

Our time at the Bible Institute has been a bit boring, especially in comparison to our time at home-stays. We have finished up our last few class sessions, and papers. On Wednesday we got to hike one of the staples of Cape Town––Table Mountain. Table Mountain, as you can imagine, is this huge mountain right off the coast which goes almost straight up vertical and then at its peak, it flattens out like a table. We hiked up through a valley passage way between the vertical parts from there were able to get to the peaks. Sounds easy, nuh uh! it was one of the most intense hour hike that i have ever been on. In the short hour we scaled 600 meters. It is not like many of the hikes back home where you are on a dirt trail that weaves back at forth, no the Table Mountain trail is stepping up huge stones just going straight up through the valley. At times it did weave back and forth but not for long and it was still always on rocky paths, not dirt. However, once we reached the top, all the struggle was worth it because walking around the mountain top you have a 360 degree view of all of Cape Town. It is absolutely stunning, Cape Town is definitely one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen in my life. I have never seen mountains meeting the waters edge like in Cape Town, they literally are just cliff faces right at the waters edge. Ah! it is so beautiful! if only we weren't homesick and ready to be home we might enjoy even more than we already do! Saturday we are going great white shark cage diving, katie will blog on that! until then!

Joey's Home-stay Experience

So Katie has talked a lot about her home-stay experience, and a bit about mine, so I thought it would be a good idea to tell a bit about my home-stay experience. As you would already know from Katie's posts, we stayed in a township called Ocean View. I don't remember if Katie explained what a township was or not but i will give a brief explanation. Townships were more or less created when the colonials came in and forced black, colored, and indian people off their land and pushed them to the outskirts of metropoles. When the apartheid began in the 20's, the legislation is what they had already been doing for years. One of the laws was the Group Area Act, which reserved the more developed and prime land for the whites and forced non-whites to the less develop and less prime land. It also made it illegal for non-whites to be in white distinct zones. There is a lot more to it, but it was a very terrible time in South African history, a time that they are still feeling the after shocks of. Though the Group Area Act is abolished, it still is more or less in place because the non-whites don't have the means to get out of the circumstance that the whites created for them many years ago. Anyways, Ocean View is a colored township that we stayed in for 8 days. With the purpose of changing our mindset of marginalized communities. The white people in South Africa would consider where we stayed "ghetto" much like many white americans would consider downtown LA "ghetto". We stayed in a community much like downtown LA to give you an idea. My roommate for the 8 days was my friend Luke. Luke and I stayed with a family of three. Thelma (our host mom), Lantor (our host dad), and Xavier (our host brother). I absolutely loved my time there, it was spent with many laughs and great food! Luke and I picked up on a lot of Afrikaans which is the language that colored people speak. They said we picked it up faster than anyone they have had stayed there. I wish we could have stayed there longer during our time in South Africa because they literally became family. I felt like part of the family, in the short 8 days i became close with not only the Hazell's (my family's surname) but with their parents, grandparents, friends, and cousins. I know that i will always have family in South Africa, and that they will always have family in the United States. They offered to have us stay the second week that we were supposed to stay at the Bible Institute but it would have been more of a hassle  even though i would have really enjoyed it. The Hazell family and friends have truly built a place in my heart, and i look forward to hopefully coming back to visit the family i have made here.

Sunsets and Braai with our South African Families!

Tonight was such a fun night!!  The day started off a little rough for Joey and I because we have just been stressed, anxious, homesick, etc., but it ended up being a really fun night!! We get dropped off in Oceanview (the township we are staying in) at 6:00p.m. every night.  When Christina and I got back, our host mom and dad told us that we were going to watch the sunset at the beach with Cherokee, Beka, and their host family!  We were super excited to go and watch this!!  We went to the beach and talked, laughed, and watched the sunset.  It was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!  We took TONS of pictures! Ha  After this, Lucy and Clive (Mine and Christina’s host parents) took us to pick up their grandson Pedro and then took us all to McDonalds J  We had a nice time eating, then went to visit their daughter Kim at the hospital! We always enjoy getting to spend time with them, their family, and just getting to know them better.  On our way home, Lucy and Clive dropped us off with Joey and Lucas’ host family and a bunch of their friends.  They were having a braai (BBQ) and just hanging around, talking, laughing, singing, dancing, playing, etc.  They are all fairly young and overall a SUPER lively crowd!  We had SOO much fun just beign able to hang out and laugh and get to know everyone better!  Joey’s host dad 
Lantor drove me and Christina home and played Christmas music in his car which got me REALLY excited!! I can’t wait to come home to Christmas and the whole Christmas environment!!  Along with this excitement, I also became a little sad.  We have grown to love all of these people in Oceanview SO much!!  These last few weeks have been a little rough and been filled with feelings of wanting to go home, but after getting to know these people so well, I can’t imagine not coming back to see them.  It is like I already miss them and I haven’t even left yet!  I really hope that Joey and I will be able to return someday (sooner than later) and stay with our host families in Oceanview again!! We love you all and miss you!!

Sunday with my South African Family -Katie Baker

Today was such an amazing day!!  As I have mentioned, I am staying at a home with my friend Christina Zavalza.  We are staying with a couple named Lucy and Clive in a township called Oceanview.  We have been so spoiled being here with them!!  Lucy is an amazing cook and is teaching us how to make some good meals!! J  They are feeding us well, giving us plenty of sweets and chocolates, packing us snack bags for our school days, telling us story after story, and sharing their home and their lives with us.  We have been so blessed by their love, hospitality, and servant hearts.  Lucy and Clive have been married for 35 years, but have known each other since they were 7 and 8 years old.  They group up together and then fell in love and got married.  They have two children and 5 grandchildren and they treat us like their own grandchildren!!

Anyways, today we woke up and went to mass with them.  After mass, we came home and started to cook.  Clive wanted to know if Christina and I knew how to cook so we told them we would cook lunch.  Of course, we did so with the help of Lucy who is practically an expert cook!  We made chicken, vegetables, fried potatoes, and salad.  Then I told Lucy that sometime during my stay here I wanted to learn how to make curry.  Within five minutes, she changed her dinner plans from stir-fry to curry and had all of the ingredients out and ready to go.  She prepared the curry and we ate some for lunch and saved the rest for dinner!! We were SOO stuffed from lunch, but of course munched on some of our Cadbury chocolate that they always provide for us (Clive had worked for Cadbury for 25 years).  Then, we went and met her daughter Kim, son-in-law Andre, and grandson Pedro.  We hung out there for an hour or so and played Uno with Pedro and just hung out.  After this, Lucy and Clive took us on a drive and showed us where they grew up, where they came from, and told u how they ended up where they are now.  This was the highlight of my week because they opened up to us so much and to hear there story was heartbreaking, but also allowed us to see deeper into the people they are.  They lived through the Apartheid Era and used to live in a place called Simon’s Town, which is right on the edge of the mountain, and right on the beach at the same time.  This is where their families’ histories had been and this is where they spent their whole lives.  When they were teenagers, they were forced to leave because they are “coloured” people.  They were not given any money for their land, yet they were forced to leave.  What was once their home is now filled with million dollar mansions that stand vacant because the owners only visit once a year or so.  This was so heartbreaking to see, but, like I said, amazing at the same time.  Then they drove us round the mountain along the ocean and we just talked and asked questions for about an hour.  Then we cam home and Joey and Lucas came over and had some curry with us for dinner and then we went and hung out with Joey and Lucas’ family for a little while, and now it is bed time!! I have kept you all long enough!! Please let me know if you have any questions! I would LOVE to answer them!!

Update on Joey: he went back to the Dr. today!  They took the dressing off and the cotton out.  They put a new band-aid on his leg that will help to continue to draw the infection out.  He is still taking antibiotics and will return back to the doctor on Wednesday for a check up.

Joey's leg is DIAGNOSED... and POPPED!

Today Joey went back to the doctor.  This is when the crazy stuff happened!!  For some reason, the leaders said that I wasn’t allowed to go to the doctor with Joey.  This made me very sad because I wanted to be there for him because I knew how much pain he was in.  I was also really worried because his infection wasn’t getting any better!  Apparently, he has an abscess on his leg.  It was ready to pop, and the doctor pushed it and worked on it for a while and got all of the puss out.  The doctor dressed his leg, recommended that Joey doesn’t walk on his leg still, and asked him to come back to the doctor tomorrow.  I went with my group and did a walking tour of Cape Town, but wasn’t able to enjoy it fully because I hadn’t been updated on Joey and was really worried about him. Also, we were split into groups and were on a very strict schedule.  It did make me very excited to be able to go into town with Joey and with our friends and just explore the town!  It is a very pretty and exciting town!!  At the end of the day, we all returned back to our families in our home stays and spent the rest of the night with them!!  Oh, and Joey is fine J  Slowly getting better and making progress on killing the infection!

Orientation and Home Stay Dinner!

Today we had orientation.  There are some pretty crazy ruled at the Institute we are staying at!  The boys and girls are not allowed to hang out in each others dorms AT ALL.  There is ABSOLUTELY no PDA no holding hands, hugging, kissing, etc).  These are just the most extreme rules, and are very frustrating, not only to us, but most the people on the trip.  Many of us are feeling like we are being treated like kids, and we are having a hard time dealing with this.  We are hoping that once we get past the orientation we ill have more freedom to explore Cape Town on our own and do things that we want to do!  After orientation, we walked around Town with mentors that had been assigned to us.  Joey had to stay behind because the doctor recommended that he stay off of his leg.  No one was staying behind so I knew that no one would be able to check on Joey.  This was also frustrating because I wasn’t allowed in his dorm so I could not check and make sure he was doing okay.  I went with my group, but I got take away food for Joey and brought it back to him.  Because I am not allowed in his dorm, and there were no boys at BI from our group, I found myself outside the boys dorm yelling, trying to get his attention to give him his food. Lucily, another man heard and got Joey for me.  My group was supposed to come by and get me after they ate, but they never did so I stayed and hung out with Joey and relaxed which was nice.  At night, we packed up our stuff and left for home stays! We had a dinner where we got to meet with all of the families that we would be staying at for the next week!! Christina and I are staying with a couple named Lucy and Clive.  Joey and Lucas are staying with Thelma and Lantor.  We are very excited for home stays!! J

We have ARRIVED :)

We have finally arrived in Cape Town!! Yay!!  It is absolutely beautiful here!!!  The only problem is: Joey still has the bad infection on his leg L  I informed the leaders this morning that he needed to go to the Dr. as soon as we arrived in Cape Town tonight, but when I told them again they said they didn’t make an appointment so he would need to go tomorrow.  This wasn’t going to fly with me because I had already told them and I was EXTREMELY worried about him :/ After pushing for this option, they took us to a medical center where they put him on a heavy dose of antibiotics, told him not to walk for the next two days, and asked him to come back in two days.  We will stay the night at the Bible institute tonight and we will both begin our home stays tomorrow night!! We are so excited!!