so much has happened in the last couple days. the first day we took a cablecar to the top of table mountain and saw the views of the whole city. that night we went to a bar called cool runnings (we went there the next 2 nights too). it was over 90 degrees the first couple days and our hotel hadno air conditioning and we were dying. the second day we walked around the city a lot, i ate lunch at an open air african market (with no tourists in it). we stuck out like a sore thumb. my orientation leader, lindizwe, helped us navigate and order us south africa food. then later we all hiked one of the peaks of the mountain. while we were there we saw this cloud coming over the rest of the mountain. the cloud is called the tablecloth and it creeps across really slowly. on friday our program took us out to a really fancy dinner at an african place. the wine was flowing (a lot) and we ate ostrich, kingklip (an african fish), and pap (a ground maize, basically the staple food). there was a band and dancers and we joined them in the dancing. then after the dinner a few of us went into this club called Rhodes House, which is very exclusive. these south african guys we met the day before got us on the vip list. apparently this is the place paris hilton parties at when she's here. on friday we also walked by the opening of parliament and saw all the security and the big parliament buildings. we've been taking taxis everywhere. the taxis are crazy! they are minibuses and they cram as many people as they can in them and it costs about 50 cents u.s. They honk along the street and they hail you, you don't hail them. everyone here is really soft spoken, it's hard to get used to.

on saturday we moved into our housing. my house has 6 rooms for 7 people. i live in the upstairs double and we have our own bathroom. The house has a pool, a living room, 3 bathrooms and a massive kitchen. the walls are sponge painted yellow. the houses are all very mediterranean, with lots of windows and big fences and gates to get in. there is a lot of security on the houses here to keep out burglers. we live right next to a main road (it's called main road) and there are a lot of homeless there. my roommate goes to georgetown, then in the house is a girl from scripps, a boy from brown, a boy from cornell, a girl from usc, and another girl. also on saturday we went to a giant mall that has everything, even claire's. it felt like america. weird. also we went to our first Braai. they say it's really different from a barbeque, but it's not. we had lamb and curried pasta salad and beer and cider. there's a popular drink here called cider which is like an alcoholic version of our sparkling cider. also, for the college students reading this: the shots are miniature. and CHEAP. (actually, everything is cheap).

there are only a few boys in the program, so there are only 2 in each house, it's kind of weird. it's also strange to have to be so protective of your belongings. one girls already had her wallet and phone stolen (out of her purse while she was wearing it) and another girl had her atm card sucked into a machine.

mom: they have mini licorice allsorts. i'll bring you back some.

i've already bought a jewelry item. a bracelet for 5 rand, which equals about 80 cents. and i've seen so much great art. today we were supposed to go to robben island, but the wind gusts were so big that they ferry operators canceled the trips. i nearly got blown over. but we are exploring our neighborhood instead. i learned that there are 6 hair salons on my corner. but i think all of them do braids.

so yeah, not much else to say. the next 2 weeks are still orientation. i'm going to figure out where i'm volunteering in the townships, which clubs i'm joining (maybe scuba and the wine club). and we'll be doing more touristy stuff like doing a peninsula tour and going to a rugby game. later!