Brandi's reflections on what she learned

Brandi in Ocean View

To be completely honest, this semester changed my life. The race & gender course seriously opened my eyes to a whole new realm of not just thinking but new information I never even knew existed. Before this trip I kind of just accepted everything that was told me to. Now I have learned to not believe everything someone tells me and to always research things before I trust completely. I have learned to question assumptions but to not loose myself in the process and I have learned how easily people can jump on bandwagon of any kind.

My life choices…that’s so strange to think about because it seems so far away but in reality that’s so close! Well, my life choices have definitely been altered because of this trip. I think differently now. I feel more socially aware about issues like racism and sexism. Before this trip if someone made a racist joke I probably would have laughed and thought it was funny. But by being in your class and seeing first hand how racism affects people, I feel like I can stand up against it and tell people how seriously wrong it is. I have learned how even if something isn’t offensive to you, it could be to someone else. I have really learned a new perspective on people that I definitely know will affect whom I hang out with and what I do today, tomorrow and for the rest of my life. I think the biggest thing is that I have learned to open my eyes. Before I came on the trip I knew I didn’t have a lot figured out but I thought I knew a good amount about a lot of things. But boy did that change, especially by being in your class. I feel like I was so ignorant before I came on this trip but I am not angry at myself because of it but I now realize how important it is to stay informed. I have never been much for watching the news or keeping up with social issues but now I think it is so important to stay informed. Seriously, I know that I will stay informed when I go home and that will help me so much later on in life.

About my future career; being here in South Africa just emphasized exactly what I want to do with my life. Working at Christel House with the grade three children who come from nothing but work so hard just to live makes me even more passionate about working at The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp when I am older. I know that I want to travel and see the world and maybe even start a camp here in South Africa. I just want to help people and by experiencing all that I have here it has made me realize how possible it actually is to do that.

            

I have learned so much about race and gender that will definitely help me become a more informed global citizen. I now realize how important it is to talk about issues like race and gender because it is when we ignore issues that nothing gets solved and the cycle continues. We watched a video in class about how in the United States when people drive through places like Harlem we lock out doors and windows. It gives into the negative stereotype that all black people are bad. That is not okay. By watching videos provided us, and reading articles and discussing issues like this, I realize how prevelant these negative stereotypes are in our culture at home. I see how even before I came I even did some of those things we discussed because subconsciously I accepted many of the messages that are so prevalent in our culture. Now I want to break those stereotypes and I feel like I have the power (from our experiences here and the knowledge I have gained) to stand up to close friends and call them out on a racist remark or sexist comment. The talks we had about how women are portrayed in media and so many different areas blew my mind as well. I never realized how sexualized and degraded women are just in simple magaizines in the US and even on billboards here. I learned that by women calling each other ‘sluts’ and ‘bitches’ it only makes it okay for men to call us that too. Its disgusting when I think how often those terms are used on a daily basis at UConn, whether it’s a man calling a woman those things or even women calling each other that.

            

I feel like I have learned so much about so many issues that are right under my nose at home that I never would have known or realized by coming here. I think by opening my eyes to so many issues like race and gender I see how many more issues need to be addressed. I think everything I have learned makes me a more informed global citizen because even though I don’t know everything about the topics we covered in class I still know so much more then I did. And by even acknowledging that such things exist is the first step in making a change. I feel like I can make other people more aware to and assist them in becoming more aware.

Now here comes the big part- what I learned about myself. I know I have talked about this before but I think the biggest thing I learned was how to love myself. I learned that I really truly love myself and this is the first time in my life I can honestly say that. I wish I could say how it happened but I really can't pinpoint it on one specific event. I think it started at camp this past summer when I learned that there is more to life then surface level fake ideas that people so dearly cling onto because they don’t want to open their eyes and heart to things other then themselves. From working at camp with such incredible people and children I learned that it is possible to love every second of every day. From camp to coming on this trip, I feel like I have grown so much as a person. Not only am I more self aware, but also I am more aware about things happening right in front of me. I am more perceptive to sexist and racist remarks and I now see how there is so much more to a person then what you think you already know.

            

Like I said before though, the biggest thing I think I learned about myself is that I am okay. I know I am not perfect (definitely not perfect) but I am comfortable with myself. I think by learning to accept myself I have learned to accept other people even more and that is so important. I also have learned how important emotions truly are. Openly crying during some class discussion made me realize how important emotions and feelings really are. Its also important to me that I realized I am not alone on so many different things. Even though all of us may have wanted to scream at each other more often then once on this trip, I have learned patience and realized that someone may be going through a hard time at the moment. I think it is so important that I experienced everything I did here. I think coming into this trip with no expectations really made me see how important it is to stay open minded. 

Brandi: Oh what a life

Oh what a life

The past week has gone by ridiculously fast. I wish I could describe all the crazy things I have done since last Thursday, so I will do the best I can in this post. So I will start with last Thursday, April 12^th. Wellllll I don’t know how to put this gently but three of my friends and I spent the day in a cage under water in the Indian Ocean diving with great white sharks. IT WAS INSANE. My friend Kristin’s parents were here from the states so her dad took Maria, Nicole, Kristin and I shark cage diving that day. We left early in the morning and drove to Gansbaii, which is a bay about two hours away. We got there around nine in the morning and got a nice breakfast by the organization we were diving with. At ten we were on the boat and heading out to open water! It was really cool to watch exactly what they do to bring the sharks up to the boat. They cut up nasty tuna into something called chum and let it be taken away by the current so the sharks taste it wherever they are. They then follow their senses to the place where the boat is.

           

There is a lot of controversy over whether this is bad for the sharks- bringing them into unnatural habitats and getting too used to humans. However, the place where we were was where sharks naturally come (I believe). Anyway, they chummed the water and would throw this flat black kick board into the water to make the sharks think it was a seal. Along with that they had a giant hunk of tuna on a rope that they would throw in the water to get the sharks attention. Anyway, when we first got there all the sharks were over at another boat about a hundred feet away. Our boat kept in contact with the other boat and when they left we swooped in and took their spot. Before we knew it we had huge sharks swimming around our boat! Some of them were as big as four to five meters- it was crazy.

           

The five of us (including Kristin’s dad) suited up in our ridiculously tight wet suits, goggles and waited to hop into the cage. When I first put my legs over the side of the boat to climb through the small bars to drop into the cage- I can admit I was very scared. I wasn’t scared of the sharks or the water, but I was more scared because I had no idea how to hold my head above water to breathe but look underwater to see the sharks. On top of that, there is a bar at the bottom of the cage underwater that you are supposed to put your feet on to stand on, but my feet kept slipping off of that and onto the outside of the cage where the sharks were! Once I got my bearings in the water (in the cold cold water) I was excited and ready to see some huge sharks.

           

While under the water, I got to see these great big sharks swim by. A guy from the crew stands above the water and shouts “down!” every time a shark is close enough to see. So we went down and up for about fifteen to twenty viewings of sharks during out first time in the cage. Nicole was on the end of the cage with me right next to her, and then Maria was next to me and Kristin was next to her. Right as we were about to leave, a huge shark came up and the hunk of tuna in its mouth and went straight into the side of the cage! Its jaws were opened and I swear Nicole and I jumped a mile. It was so cool but so scary! We got out after that and had a little time to rest on the boat. Then we all went back into the water two more times to have up close and personal encounters with these great whites. At one point during out third time in the cage, Nicole and I were standing next to each other and out of no where this giant shark’s face in actually in the cage right in front of Nicole! Its nose had stuck through the opening where our faces were! It was really really cool.

           

After our time was up with the sharks, we took the boat ride back to land where the little cottage was. The landscape surrounding where we went shark cage diving was incredible. There were mountains with this beautiful beach with pure white sand. It literally looked like a backdrop painted on a canvas put up for us to look at. It was amazing. Once we got back we rested for a few minutes, got changed and headed back on the two-hour drive back to Cape Town.

           

Now, I am leaving out a little bit from this story. I failed to mention how on that Thursday almost our whole group of students (about 17 out of the 21 of us) were getting on a bus and heading to Platenburg Bay. The bus was set to pick us all up at 4pm….however Maria, Kristin, Nicole and I didn’t get back until almost 5:30 so we held up the entire group from our 8 hour bus trip. That was completely our faults, and it caused some serious issues between different people in our group. Once people got it out of their system at how angry they were at us, we were on our way to Plettenberg. I had already packed the night before and literally threw my stuff on the bus and we were basically ready to go. So I spent the next nine hours (it took longer then expected) on a bus with all 17 of us.

           

We got to the hostel at about 2 am. It was a cute little place, with very nice rooms for us to sleep in. I slept in a six-person room and got a bottom bunk right below Maria. The beds were so comfortable and I slept like a baby that night. However our sleep wasn’t really a full night because we woke up 5 hours later to go kloofing! Now what is kloofing you might ask? It is jumping off of cliffs into a river below. IT. WAS. AWESOME. We got driven to a national park, and to the cottage where the kloofing was run out of. We had to put wet suits on and big life jackets and we were on our way. We got into a van that all of us fit into (twelve of us went on this adventure) and got dropped off at the starting point of our hike. We hiked through the woods for about half an hour, and then came to the mouth of this little river. Our guide told us it was super clean water and that we could drink it right from the stream. So I did! It was great and tasted so refreshing. Anyways, we all jumped in the water and started off down stream. Our guide had this waterproof bag that floated in the water with him with all of our cameras in it. It was really cool.

I had no idea what it was going to be like when we found a cliff and I was soon to find out. Our guide stopped out of nowhere and showed us two different cliffs we could just off of. We had to climb out of the water up the side of the cliff and jump off. There were two- one was 4 meters and the other was higher then that. I was kinda nervous at first but once I jumped I realized there was nothing I could do about it now. Landing in the water was kind of hard sometimes too. If you landed just the least bit sideways, you got slapped really really hard. I wish I could say that after a few jumps I managed to jump straight- but that’s not true. It hurt pretty badly sometimes but the sting wore off after a while. We kept swimming down the river and he showed us more cliffs to jump off of. The hardest part about jumping was the mentality to through myself off a cliff. It was terrifying to look over the edge and see how far down it was. But once I got the courage to jump it felt so good to realize I actually did it. The tallest cliff we jumped off of was 11 meters, which is about 35 feet. It was a ridiculous jump, and we had to clear a whole other cliff below it before we hit the water. I have to say that was the most scared I have ever been on this trip. But once I did it (and got over the feeling of being run over by a truck) I was very proud of myself!

After our time kloofing, the bus got us and took us back to our hostel. We relaxed for a bit then went exploring the cute little town. There were all kinds of stores and restaurants and you could see the ocean from the hill our hostel was on. It was the perfect area and I had so much fun eating, exploring, then eating some more. I got this awesome sushi from this little market that sold all this great food- salmon califonia roll- YUM. That night our whole group went out to dinner and had a great time just laughing and having fun.

           

The next morning we all woke up early again and got on the bus to drive to- wait for it- the highest commercial bungee bridge in the world!!!! We got there and I think everyone was nervous. I’m not gonna lie, I certainly was. And I think the line in the girl’s bathroom proves that fact too. Anyway, we got harnessed up and walked with our guide across the thin wire bridge that led us over the ravine 719 feet below. Looking down, as we were walking- I became increasingly more excited and nervous. I felt like I couldn’t show that I was nervous because there were so many more people around me more nervous then I was, but that didn’t stop me from feeling it. Once we got up there, everything was a blur. The DJ started playing music and suddenly- people started to get strapped up. Kelsey was first and I give her so much credit for actually doing it. I would have been terrified to go first! As I watched more and more people throw themselves off of the bridge, I become increasingly more nervous, but even more excited. I just wanted to do it! Finally, it was my turn. Since a lot of other people had gone, the workers were trying to get other members of our group to walk back and not watch us. But Dan insisted that they stay and cheer us on- and I was so grateful. As I walked up to the edge I cant even remember what I was thinking. I think I just was trying to get enough will power to convince myself that I would be safe, that my feet wouldn’t slide through the squishy plastic thing held on my ankle, and that I would come out of this alive. Before I knew it I was hearing “ 5 4 3 2 1- BUNGEE!” and there I went with my arms open wide. I was free falling off of the bridge into the trees and ground below! Then suddenly I was pulled back up by the chord and free falling all over again. It was the coolest sensation to keep my eyes open and just watch as I fell over and over again. I felt oddly free. Finally as the chord (which was kind of like a giant elastic) stopped swinging me I just hung there waiting for someone to get me. I was so excited that I survived and even more excited that I had actually accomplished it! A guy came down and hooked me to the line and brought me back up to the top. Once I was back up there I felt like I could do anything! I cheered on the rest of my friends still to jump, and then we headed back to land. We went to the store where they had our pictures and videos and made our purchases. Then we were off to our next adventure!

           

Our next adventure was hanging out with elephants as an elephant sanctuary. We got to feed them, play with them, pet them and even kiss them! it was really cool to see the huge animals up close and personal.

           

Our drive home Sunday was nice- I can’t say uneventful because everything is an event when we all travel together. But we got home safe and sound and even went and saw the Hunger Games together.

           

This past week has been a mix of emotions, from sadness to joy to a feeling of anxiety. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at Christel House at my second to last week with them. I think that is going to be one of the hardest, if not the hardest, parts about leaving Cape Town. I have been talking my kids through the fact that I do have to leave, and I still get choked up about it. Wednesday night I went to Khayelitsha with some of my friends to help with the last night of the tutoring program with the Firefighters soccer team. Since I have only been able to go one other time this semester, I wanted to go for a final time to say goodbye. I don’t think it has hit me yet that I probably won’t see any of these kids again…

           

Thursday was another eventful day. As we all know, we always go to class at UCT on Thursdays. We got to class on time and settled in for our review for our exam next week. Then as things would work out, Nicole ended up needing to go to the emergency room and I took the trip with her! Nobody worry, she is perfectly fine- just an allergic reaction that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible.

           

Anyway, I got to play nurse that day which I seriously loved- it gave me time alone at the house while Nicole was in a deep sleep from all the medication she was on! Then that afternoon we took a trip to the bowling alley in Cavendish to meet our little sisters for one last time. That was really hard for me too. I don’t want the girls to think that people will come into their lives and leave them again like we are leaving them. I just hope they know how much we all love them. I promised to keep in contact with my little sister as well.

           

Friday was another tough day of saying goodbye. We went to Ocean View for our final time with the tutoring program. The kids had made up dances and one of the older girls read a version of the poem I had posted earlier on my blog. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” (Marianna Williamson) She read it with such courage and conviction. I was so proud of her, in fact I was so proud of all the kids we worked with at Ocean View. The kids even handed out certificates to us tutors and we got to give them certificates for their hard work too. It was so so hard to say goodbye to the girl I had worked with since starting the tutoring program. She was such a hard worker and even through her tough circumstances was always smiling. The director of the program (and the girl who read the poem) told us how their marks in their math classes had improved and we had helped them a lot. I am so grateful to have been a part of that and so grateful for Chantel and Kelsey for starting the program.

           

So where does that leave me now? Well it leaves me sitting at our dining room table in the big house, eating packaged soup, thinking about life, leaving, and how hard it has always been to say goodbye. But I learned something from camp this past summer that I can take with me and apply it to saying goodbye to my kids here. Instead of saying goodbye and ‘see ya never’ we can always say “see ya down the road”. And I think that’s what I need to do. Even if this is goodbye for forever or for a very long time, I’ll see ya down the road.

"You and I will meet again, 
When we're least expecting it, 
One day in some far off place, 
I will recognize your face,
I won't say goodbye my friend,
For you and I will meet again." 
– Tom Petty       

Brandi confronting tough questions

What happens if all you ever have known has been questioned and you feel like there is no real answer to anything anymore? What if you always want to be positive and see the good in everything but sometimes it just becomes too much? Does that make you weak? Does it make you different because sometimes you can’t be happy constantly? If the weight of everything just becomes so real and you realize the world isn’t always a happy place- should you cry? Should you show your weakness or do you keep your head held high because that is all you have ever known? Do you push these feelings away because you know you can escape to your little home in a ‘good’ part of town- or do you realize that maybe nothing has ever been as it seems but you have just been to blinded by ignorance and ‘everything is perfect’ to see it? Do you question everything, or do you let some things be? Do you stand up for your opinion or do you let others have their right to think what they want to think? Even if you know something is right, do you let it be known even if it’s not right in their eyes?

When you see people in need, do you drop everything for them or do you take care of yourself first? Is comfort something real or is something made up that we feel internally at different levels? Does being uncomfortable really make us grow or does it limit us in that moment to looking at things based on our comfort? Where do we stop? When do we stop believing everything we hear and question assumptions? Do we question assumptions so much that the original point gets lost? Or do we let things be based on our own judgments?

This afternoon I took a bus to Nyanga to help out with the Africa Unite after-school program. I think I learned more about the world from today then I have any other day since being here. I hung out with the kids and played games with them outside. I spoke with two different nineteen-year-old guys who basically run this program for 60-100 kids on a daily basis. It just, it just shocked me about how much I don’t know about life in general. Hanging out with these kids, some with special needs, some without, just makes me realize how precious it all is. From this trip we are always told to question assumptions. And I get that. And it’s important. But what happens if we start questioning so much that we start to loose the importance of what was originally asked? What if we become so wrapped up in the ending that we loose the process and what got us to where we are? I am scared to come home and get wrapped up back into the fast pace of life. I am scared to loose the feeling of the importance of the small things, like realizing that other people are going through just as much as me and maybe just maybe I need to take a step back. I am scared to get back into the life of ‘everything is great- lets just get through the next week” because seriously- that’s a week you will never get back.

Brandi's weekend

What a rainy Friday. From the time we woke up until mid-afternoon it rained and it poured and it rained some more. Oh wait- that kind of rhymed! Cool- anyways, Friday was our day for Ocean View tutoring. We had a group of about eight or nine of us heading there, so we all went to catch the train at eleven. However, anyone that knows me knows that I have no sense of time and walk like a turtle, so my friend and I caught the later train. It wasn’t bad though because either train we took (eleven or eleven thirty) we still would get to tutoring on time. So anyways, Kristin and I had a lovely walk to the train station where we waited for a little bit for our train to come. We made it to Fish Hoek still in the pouring rain) and caught a mini bus taxi to Ocean View. By that time it wasn’t raining as hard, so Kristin and I made our way to the church where the kids go to get tutored. As we were walking up to the building, we saw Chantel and Mike outside playing a ball game with about twenty small kids just running around screaming. It was so cool that Mike got to come with us since he doesn’t work with kids at his internship and kids love him. So we were glad to have him come with us this week. Anyways, we went inside and the older kids were eating so we just hung out for a little bit until they were finished. Many of the kids weren’t here this week because its their break from school (last week and this upcoming week) for Easter. But we still had about nine older ones looking to have help on math and all of us were willing to help!

Here’s the thing about Ocean View tutoring. It’s more then just showing up and helping kids on math, it’s about establishing a connection with these kids that look up to us more then we realize. Just the fact that we say we will come, and we actually do must mean the world to them. Being there and seeing the progress and being on a first name basis is so important. And to me, that’s what its all about. It reminds me so much of The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp and how people can have such a serious impact on others without even realizing it. Even seeing my friends get up in front of a group of students and teach them an entire lesson on multiplication was awesome. I know sometimes we think everything is going wrong and nothing will ever be okay again, and that’s okay to feel that because all of our problems are important to us whether others see it or not. But I realize that life goes on and we become stronger even when we don’t realize it. We each have our set of problems that we deal with on a daily basis. Some people let those issues define them, while others realize that that’s not how it has to be. To me, hanging out with these kids every week makes me realize that the problems I had yesterday were important but they shouldn’t define me. And I know you may think that’s easy for me to say but to do it is another story. That may be true but its your attitude and realization that there are other people out there worse off then you that makes me remember how blessed and fortunate I am.

After our multiplication lesson, all the kids from the outside came charging inside and added to the group of us inside. We all stood in a huge circle and played game after game with the big group. It was so awesome to see the older kids helping the younger ones explaining the rules and watching out for them. We played a really fun game called ‘duck bang’ which got everyone laughing and shouting. It was hilarious and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my Friday. And yet again, I think about the people that made it possible for me to be there and I couldn’t be more grateful for Chantel and her devotion to the community and these kids on a daily basis. As we were leaving I stopped by my families house (the house I stayed in during the home stay). I said hi to Chantel’s mom and dad and we were on our way home in the mini-bus taxi back to the train station.

           

Another cool thing about living in SA is that everywhere you go there is always somewhere to buy food. I guess living in rural Ashford Connecticut will do that to you because I still find the idea of walking to a grocery store crazy. But there are always people selling fruit or samosas here in Cape Town. It’s so convenient. So a few of us bought some food and got on the train back home after a successful day at Ocean View.

           

Saturday was a great day too; very low key and slow and just what we needed I think. We spent the morning at the coolest place ever called The Old Biscuit Mill. It’s like a giant outdoor farmers market with organic vendors and yummy food. There are stores too where you can buy all kind of cool stuff. I enjoyed it a lot and definitely want to go back. However, when your walking into the venue you saw so many kids outside begging for money. They looked so hungry and my heart melted. It’s really hard to see that and know that you can’t do something to help each and every one of them.

           

While we were leaving the mill, a group of kids ran up to us. I recognized one of them right away because they were the same kids we saw at the beginning of our trip when we went to Camps Bay and were jumping off of the concrete deck thing at sunset onto the beach. The little boy’s name was Randall and he had really made a connection with Nicole. We were happy to see he was still alive but he looked so much worse since we last saw him. I felt so bad leaving him and his friends.

We went into the city for a bit and had a nice time just walking around. I really enjoy the city because I know my way around now and can navigate from one end to the other. Once we got home last night, we rested and just all hung out together. That’s one of the big things I know I am going to miss from our trip. Just being together as a group and always knowing there is someone to hang out with and just talk to.

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do."  -Eleanor Roosevelt

Brandi's PHENOMENAL week

Where to start? Well I didn’t do much this past week…ya know just sat around, twiddled my thumbs…

JOKE! Besides the first two weeks of being here which was orientation, this past week was definitely the busiest. We spent the last week (3/17-3/24) in  Johannesburg then in Kruger National Park. That Saturday morning (St. Pattys Day) was exciting- I woke up early to pack the rest of my things in a giant suitcase that Nicole and I were sharing and we were off to the airport. The flight to Jo-burg was fine, it was nice and short and I think I attempted to sleep but I might have been too excited to actually drift into a calm state. Anyway we arrived in Jo-burg around midday and checked into the hotel. I was sharing a room with Nicole so it was very convenient that we packed together. We had a few hours to rest in our rooms (which consisted of Nicole and I sleeping for three hours straight) then we headed to dinner at Trumps Grill House in Nelson Mandela Square. The drive was literally two minutes to get to the restaurant so we got to relax for a long time while eating. I had escargot and steak and it was soo good. Mandela Square was really nice, it had a big fountain in the middle of it surrounded by a mall and some restaurants. While we were waiting to leave the square after dinner, my friend dared our RA to run through the fountain. It wasn’t spurting out a lot of water so she thought she could just run quickly through it without getting too wet. We all stood and watched her as she lightly jogged up to the fountain with her pant legs rolled up and without shoes. She started to run but quickly realized that it was super slippery and down she fell! She wiped out in front of all of us including a larger audience that had gathered and completely soaked her whole side. We were laughing so hard and thank goodness she didn’t get hurt. She was a great sport and even laughed about it. After that we headed back to our hotel and Nicole and I watched a little TV before we fell sound asleep for the night- day 1 complete.

The next day (Sunday) was a day of museums and yummy food. We started off in the morning taking a drive to Soweto to the Hector Pietersen Museum. Hector Pieterson was a thirteen-year-old boy killed during riots by schoolchildren to protest the use of the Afrikaans language in schools. He was an innocent young boy shot by a police officer. The museum commemorated his death and showed what happened that horrible day in 1976. There were pictures, videos, quotes and much more that showed how horrible things were during that time. It shocked me how incredibly brutal people can be to other people. It also shocked me how horrific police and the government was to people just trying to make an honest living and protest ridiculous rules that limited their education. Looking back on the incidents it makes me so sad at how many people needed to loose their lives over an issue that I unintentionally take for granted in the states. Such an idea of having classes taught in my native language makes common sense to me, but apparently not to the government in South Africa during the time of the riots. I just wish violence was not always the ‘go-to’ for so many different groups of people. After that heavy museum we traveled right into the heart of Soweto to the Mandela Family Home.   It was a small brick house right smack dab in the middle of the township. When you first drove around that area you didn’t notice the home and the wall that said whose home it was. But once being inside and around the area, you noticed just how friendly and homey it could seem. Nelson Mandela’s home was extremely small but there was much history to be learned from it. On the same street where he lived for part of his life, is the home of yet another Nobel Peace Prize winner- Desmond Tutu! It is the only street in history that two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived on. Its really cool to see that. While driving to lunch we drove past these really cool huge statues of hands. I was confused at first to as why the government would put in giant statues of hand symbols right in the middle of Soweto, but then Vernon explained to us what they meant. Since public transportation is different here in Jo-burg then Cape Town, these symbols represent how people get around. Instead of having a yeller scream out the window of a mini-bus, the hand symbols tell people where they are going. I wish I could explain what the different ones meant but unfortunately I forgot! It was still awesome to see how even small things like public transportation are different in Jo-burg then in Cape Town.

After going to Mandella’s home we traveled to a place called ‘Wandies” for lunch. It is a small family owned restaurant run out of what looked like to be a regular little house. Once we drove down the tiny road which led to the house and the bus found a place to park, we piled out and walking into this restaurant. It was one big room with two giant tables (and a few little ones) occupying every last inch of space there was. I ate all kinds of typical African dishes ranging from ox stomach, samp and beans and curry and meat just to name a few. Now, I know all of that sounds deliciously appetizing (cough cough) but let you tell you- the ox stomach was not all that it was cracked up to be. It was this blackish bumpy looking food with a smell that just made you uncomfortable. I never have a problem with trying new foods, especially when I’m in new places but this piece of stomach really looked unappetizing. But it didn’t matter. I was dead set on trying everything. So I picked that piece of stomach off my plate and took the smallest bite I could manage. And that was one more bite then I should have taken. It tasted GROSS! It was salty and chewy and the texture was just weird. I ate it anyway though so now I can officially say I have eaten ox stomach. I forgot to mention the coolest thing about the restaurant. Every inch of the inside of the room was covered in little notes or writing on the walls from the thousands upon thousands of people that had been there. There literally was writing on the ceiling, all over the walls, papers and business cards and money stuck all over the walls with names and things written in languages I had no idea about! It was the coolest thing ever. I went around the room and explored a bit and saw so many different things. Our group found an American dollar among us and we all signed it. We placed it on the wall to add to the collection so all of our names are officially up there! We hung it to the wall using Ryan’s chewed gum so his gum will forever have a place there too.

            

After stuffing myself to the brim, we headed to Freedom Square for a short walk around, then to the Rosebank flea market. I must say, flea markets are one of my favorite things ever. It must be how I was raised to be a bargain shopper (thanks mom!) so I love getting good deals from all different vendors. And this wasn’t just a small flea market with a few people selling things. This was a giant building with row after row and person after person selling all kinds of crafts! Not only that-but there were TWO FLOORS! Crazy right? Lets just say that I had a great time shopping. After our shopping time, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for another long day ahead of us.

            

Monday morning we woke up bright and early again to start our day of exploring. That day we headed to Sharpeville Memorial to visit the museum and surrounding historical area where the famous Sharpeville Massacre took place. It was a solemn environment, where we learned all about the atrocities that were committed that day so many years ago right on that very spot. We saw pictures through the museum and got to walk through the commemoration garden where they had exactly 69 remembrance blocks for the known 69 people we passed away on that day. We walked through the area of the township surrounding the site, and even got to meet a man walking on the street who told us his story about the massacre. We learned that he had to bury his aunt and brother from what happened that day. He was actually carrying his passbook with him so we got to see a real passbook from that time. It was really cool to talk to someone who lived through that and remembered exactly where he was while it took place. We toured the old prison and saw much of the surrounding area. We then got onto the bus and were taken to the cemetery where the 69 people are buried.  It was a huge cemetery with many gravestones. The interesting thing about it was that there were no flowers around. Here in South Africa, instead of putting flowers on the gravestones for the dead they leave cups and bowls filled with water. I can’t remember exactly why they do this, but I know its some neat reason. I wasn’t a huge fan of hanging out in cemeteries so I was happy when we got to get back on the bus and head out. It as really moving to see the graves of those who passed away during the massacre and I am glad I was able to pay my respects.

            

We drove to a little ways to our lunch destination and landed at a place called Nom’s Kitchen. It was a lovely little restaurant with delicious food as well. We ate there and enjoyed each other’s company then everyone got ready to board the bus for our hotel. HOWEVER there was a flaw in this plan. Right before we were leaving Nicole, Kimmi, and I decided to run to the bathroom. We knew people were getting ready to leave, so we thought we could go quick and get right on the bus. But, as we were coming out of the bathroom we see our bus slowly start to drive away. We start running and yelling all the while people on the bus see us and are just waving!! I must admit it was very comical and I am sure we provided quite the entertainment for those around us on the street and in the restaurant.

            

We jumped on the bus and drove the hour back to the city of Jo-burg. When we got back we had a few hours to rest and then were to meet up for dinner. A group of us decided to walk to Mandela Square to see the area. We got there and explored the mall and ended up taking an hour just to find the grocery store! But we found it eventually and were able to head home with enough time to get ready for our dinner. Our dinner that night was in a place called Monte Casino and boy was it fun. We ate a delicious buffet dinner then got to walk around for a bit.

            

Our fourth day in Jo'burg was nice, but hot. We went on a tour of the city by the Jo’burg Development Agency and got to learn about everything they are doing to help build up the city. I think the agency was extremely important for the development of the city and its image as well. After that we headed back to Soweto to have lunch in the mall and then head to one of the best parts of the trip. 

Around 2 that day, we met up and went to volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club of South Africa. We spent the afternoon playing, reading, running, jumping, hop-scotching, hula-hooping and just having the best time ever with a huge group of children. I loved every second of it. There were so many kids and you could just tell they loved having all 25 of us there. In the end, it was really hard to say goodbye because you know just how much it meant to them (and us) to get to play.

After our fun afternoon we went back to the hotel and got ready in five minutes for a play a few of us signed up for. We got a delicious dinner all together then some of us went to the play. It was called Scenes from Soweto and had excellent music and singing in it. That night I slept like a rock and was so excited to see what they next day brought.

The next day was good as well. The morning was a bit heavy emotionally, but I learned so much. We spent the morning at the Apartheid Museum learning about the racism and segregation that separated the nation for so many years. It gave me a heavy heart after going through there and felt so sad for everything that had happened to South Africa and its people. I wish there were words for me to describe everything I saw and learned in the museum, but words don’t do it justice. Following the museum, we got lunch (which for me consisted of 28 pieces of sushi (which I only at 26 of thank you very much!) I was hungry!) and we drove to Constitution Hill and the Old Johannesburg Prison. The Old Johannesburg Prison was astounding and eerie all at the same time. We learned about who went there and the living situation these people faced daily. It was also interesting to find out that Gandhi stayed in that exact prison for few months too. It truly was upsetting.

The next morning was very exciting because WE WERE HEADING TO KRUGER! We woke up super early and hopped on the bus for the one and only Kruger National Park! The eight-hour bus ride was decently long, but once we got there it was completely worth it. Once we finally got to Kruger (after sleeping on the floor of the bus next to the steps that lead out the ‘out’ back door) we had finally made it. I was so excited that I couldn’t think about anything but the safari we were going on in the hour. We brought all of our stuff to our room and then went quickly back to the meeting point for the safari. We all waited there patiently and then it was finally time to load the safari vehicle and get on our way.

One of the coolest things in the world was the safari rides. They were like a completely open big truck with seats and everything. I loved it! it made it more bearable to wake up at 4 am to go on another amazing morning safari! We saw so many animals, including a giant elephant that looked like it wanted to charge at our car and a lovely zebra crossing the road right as the sun rose! It was breathtaking. After our morning safari, we went back and rest a lot for the second half of our day. we would be participating in a walking safari and needed to gather our strength. I was so excited for this walk and had been looking forward to it all day! Finally, 3:45 pm rolled around and we looked to see what the officers were staying for the walk and its rules. 

The walking safari was probably one of the coolest things in the whole world. We were literally one with nature and watched as our two guards carried huge guns with them to scare the animals (they would never shoot , just let them go off so the animals can hear them and get scared away).  We walked through the bush and got to see so much more to nature then I expected. We learned different plants names, different ways the animals interact with the environment and we even tracked a rhino (but he was too scared of us so he ran away).

 I had the best time ever on the safaris and was so happy to see all of the animals. I am going to write a big list of everything we saw!

Elephants

Zebras

White rhino

Giraffes

Warthogs

Impala

Kudu

Mere cat

Lion

Puff otter

Spider

Monkey and baby monkey

Hippo

Hornbill

Guinea fowls

Water buffalos

We saw all of those animals during our safaris and our stay in Kruger. It was amazing to see them completely in their native environments just walking around safely. I am so excited to put the pictures online for everyone to see.

Finally our day to depart Jo-burg came. We left Kruger early early on Saturday morning and headed back on the 8 hours drive to Jo-burg to the airport. On our way home we stopped at many rest stops, but one in particular has a story to go with it. At one stop we met a women who had a little baby monkey on her shoulder! The monkey was literally two inches tall, with fluffy fur and the CUTEST little monkey face you have ever seen. Apparently you can buy pet marmoset monkeys here and just have them as pets! I got to pet this little baby monkey named Martin- and that made my whole day.

So, I definitely could say my trip to Jo'burg and Kruger was PHENOMENAL. I learned so much and had the most incredible time in Kruger with the animals. I am so grateful for such an awesome spring break and I don’t think any other spring break can compare to that.