10/07/09
Today I did all my shopping. I slept in a bit too, so that felt good. We grabbed lunch on the ship and headed out for the day. We went to the market which is really a craft warehouse with over 110 stations of merchandise. It was a really cool place and I wanted to buy everything. I did get a couple of things that I needed; including really cool salt and pepper shakers! After that we went to a couple of shops at the waterfront to check prices for things and then went into the mall too. We ended up walking in a few circles and going back to all the places we were at originally. But, it was fine we had all day to shop and stuff. In the afternoon we decided to get lunch and then the plan was to head back to the ship. I got a piece of pizza and French fries with a COKE LIGHT. I haven’t had pizza since we left, it was so good. Then, we came back and relaxed for awhile. I took a nap and then we headed back out for dinner and drinks. It was our last night in Cape Town and I knew I wanted to get to the bar. For dinner I had chicken and cheese quesadillas that were really good. After dinner we went to the brewery that is located in the port area. I wasn’t sure what to get as there were soooo many beers on tap. So, I saw a man whose wife teaches a class on this trip and asked him what he was drinking. He told me it was called Old Wobbly and it had 11% alcohol. So, I went to the bar and got myself one. It was fantastic! I really enjoyed it, so of course I had another. Then, we headed home because I have Operation Hunger tomorrow.
10/08/09
Today is our last day in Cape Town. I can honestly say I’m going to miss this place. I don’t want to leave. These past 6 days have gone by way too fast. It’s sad to see South Africa go. Anyway, I got up in the morning and had breakfast. We had to be on the bus and leaving by 9am. We had practically a full bus. We had 3 stops on our tour today. The first stop was in a township, which are the poorest areas of Cape Town and all throughout South Africa for the most part. The “houses” were made of anything that they could find such as strips of metal, all sorts of wood, and pieces of glass. It was definitely a shock to see some of these places people call their home. We walked up to the structure that was of mint green color. It said educare and aftercare on the outside. It was the daycare center. We entered and were greeted warmly by the two women who ran the center. They explained to us what we were to help them do for the morning. Some of us would be in the room with the babies, some of us with the toddlers, and some of us with the older children. Also, in those rooms some people were to record the age, weight, height, and arm circumference. I chose to be in the toddler room. I walked in an looked to see all these children sitting on the floor waiting for us. It was a little awkward at first because we all didn’t really know what to do. Eventually the children came to us and we all sat down on the ground. That was a huge mistake haha. They began to flock toward us and would come and sit in your lap. I brought stickers with me and they loved them. They were all bombarding me to get one. They were so intrigued by them. But, the best part was that they loved digital cameras. They understood the concept of taking a picture and an instant the image appears on the screen. They try to take pictures with your camera and take it out of your hands. It was difficult at times, but needless to say I now have over 100 pictures of small children haha. There were two little boys who seemed to like me. Or well that’s because I would pick them up and carry them around. The first one was a little boy who was a bit chubbier than the rest wearing a maroon sweater. He didn’t talk and seemed to be a shy one, and probably age 3. So, I picked him up and brought him around. He liked to just look around at everything. He was adorable. The second little boy approached me because he wanted to see what was going on in the other room. He was very active and wanted to see where all the action was. So, I carried him around to see what was going on everywhere. He loved loved loved to be tickled. He also liked to give lots and lots of high fives. He was probably about 2-3 yrs old. It was toward the end I sat down on the small chair because I was getting tired. It was 3 and a half hour of playing with toddlers. Well the two little boys climbed into my lap and laid their heads down on my shoulders and closed their eyes. It was absolutely adorable. It made it even more difficult for me to have to leave. So I gave them hugs and high fives and slowly made my way out of the center. We left and headed to lunch at a nice little community hall. Most of us donated our Oreo packages that came with our lunches to the Soup Kitchen that we visited later. Next stop was the Soup Kitchen. When we arrived there were people standing there waiting in line for food. Mostly were children. We gave them our juice boxes, apples, egg, chicken, and sandwiches that were from our lunches that people donated. A child would get a bowl of soup and 2 rolls. An adult would get a bowl of soup and 4 slices of bread. I was able to hand bread to a few of the people. They were so thankful. As we left many children and adults came up to us thanking us for coming, helping and donating. I left with a big smile on my face and so did they. We headed back to the ship and relaxed. I had dinner and then watched some of a movie. I went up to the 7th deck and watched the ship pull away from the dock. It was so sad to see us go. There was a huge cruise ship next to us and all of those people were waving bye to our ship, it was really cool. In about 12 days I will be half way down with my voyage. I cannot believe it’s going so fast and it’s going to go faster once we get to India. I hope to get back to South Africa sometime in the future. I feel like everyone would have loved Cape Town. Well, I’m heading to bed. The seas are supposed to be extremely rough tonight so I’m going to try and get some sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment