Arrived!

Well, it was a little bit of a journey but I did finally arrive in Cape Town this morning (Sunday, 1/13) at around 10am SA time.

The Flight: The eighteen hour flight wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. South African airways is a pretty nice airline--I recommend it. The food was even edible. That said, missing our connecting flight, waiting in an airport for 5 hours in Johannesburg, and having to go to a hotel to sleep for 5 hours before boarding a plane at 7am for cape town was a bit painful. But I met some really nice people (including a fellow volunteer, Regina) along the way and I'm here now and Cape Town is lovely.
The House: We are staying in an 170 year old "estate" in South Africa. It's pretty breathtaking from the outside. They've done a pretty good job keeping it up inside considering it sleeps upwards of 33 people. I lucked out with my room an roommate. There are only 2 of us and we have our own bathroom. Score! She is 26 and from San Francisco--her name is Stephanie.

The People: Stephanie was working at an investment bank, quit her job and is trying to figure out what she'll do next. She's very down to earth and sweet, and I think we'll get along just fine. The rest of the girls seem great--21 of us to be exact. Lots of college students which is definitely something to get used to (it's like living with 15 vicki's--oy!). But we have a few ladies into their 40s, 50s, and 60s who are really interesting women with diverse backgrounds. All of the volunteers are women which proves again that women are the superior gender :-). I'm sure there will be some interesting things to report once all the estrogen begins to rage.

Our first day of orientation: Really great orientation program today. Learned so much--from the history of south africa (from 2 south african natives--really moving) to what to do in case the power goes out in the house. It was a lot of info to take in. We had a Braii (barbeque) for lunch. And I learned that I'm either going to be taking language classes in Afrikaans or Xhosa (the click language) once a week until I leave. Watch out--i'll be clicking away once I'm back in the states (debby, that's for you).

Day 2 is tomorrow. We learn about our volunteer placements and visit a black township. South Africa is such a contradiction. We took a tour today and I can't explain the differences in the living conditions between the "haves" and "have nots". I'll be posting some pictures so you can see some examples of the shacks that South African families live in. So much different than I ever could have imagined.

Start my volunteer placement on Tuesday. Will send more info later. Pictures to come...

Love,
C