so what have i been doing in my last week and a half? well trying to cram lots of things in, and not really succeeding, but having fun anyways! last monday i made my triumphant return to volunteering, but it was the last week. on tuesday i went shopping with a few of my friends, got my money from the foreign exchange place, had a giant lunch (i ate a sandwich with potatoes on it. and chicken. and sauce.). then that evening i headed back to the mall for more fast food and a movie. We saw pretty persuasion starring evan rachel wood and the guy from office space. it was funny, but so messed up that i didn't love it. wednesday i volunteered again. and i think studied a little. i may have gone out to dinner. i really don't remember. thursday i hung out, studied, wasted the day. I hung out with some kids who had just got back from namibia. Since it was study week a lot of kids went on vacation. Most to namibia, some in mozambique, my roommate laura went to kenya. Well a lot of kids in namibia got into car accidents. One group's car flipped a few times and they spent the night in the hospital (the same one as brad and angelina! how exciting!) and then got flown home the next day. They're all fine, but it's so scary and it makes me really happy that nothing happened to us. namibia is dangerous.
Friday i took my first exam, in Xhosa. so glad to be done with that. our senile teachers put tons of vocab words we had never learned on the test. the reading comprehension was impossible to comprehend! after that i went out to dinner at the greek restaurant with the girls and then we went to Springbok, the rugby bar. i did not have fun. i got in a bad mood and then our cab never showed up and it was obnoxious. i got really annoyed at rugby players which is strange because normally i love them. i love the rowdiness. but this time i was so ticked off.
Saturday we went to the final day at the orphanage. It was the little going away party. We took lots of pictures of the kids and said goodbye to them. It was pretty sad to think that there's a 99% chance we won't see them again. when we got home we watched movies. then on sunday i went to greenpoint stadium flea market to pick up presents and artwork. i love the artwork here. Some of the paintings are so beautiful. and they are really bold and i love the colors. i think i want to be an art collector. although it will all be cheap and worthless art, but that's ok. so i bought a bunch of stuff. Then that evening we had a final meeting for the orphanage where we talked about how to fundraise in the US and about the future of the orphanage and about the future of ciee volunteers there. CHOSA, the organization that we are a part of that funds Baphumelele has just picked up a second orphanage. It's in Nyanga in a woman's home and is struggling in the way that Baphumelele was 5 years ago. So they are trying to establish a relationship with that orphanage and help them expand their property and to put together a daily routine. i might start putting together the CHOSA newsletter since i have experience with page layout and all that stuff from orchestra. you know, just doing my part.
On monday we went into town again to go to the greenmarket square craft market. Lindsey bought a drum which was exciting and then everywhere we walked with it all these guys would go "nice drum, come sit down and play with me!" also i walked by this man in a stall and he goes "i like your necklace" and so i said thank you, and then he says "now what do you like about me?" i was so thrown off by it, i was just like "umm i like your hat?" and kept walking. very funny. we went to lunch at this semi-famous deli called mr. pickwick's. they had lots of "american style" sandwiches and they even had hummingbird cake. I had a milkshake and since then i've wanted to die because i'm definately a lact-ard now. great. we also went in lots of used book stores and antique shops. some of the antiques here are really cool. it's a bit of an undiscovered market.
today i took my second final. the tests here are really intense. they make you put your bag in the front of the room and people only sit at every other row. then you have all these booklets and you have to fold over the part with your name and seal it with a sticker. then when you are finished you can't leave, you have to wait until everyone is done. it's crazy! then we had a final house dinner at the african rest and bar, our favorite restaurant. it was lovely. and they had new placemats! sorry, for us that was exciting, they got rid of the cheetah print velour. also - the weather has been beautiful! i tanned by the pool today while studying for my test!
also i've been online trying to apply to jobs and find some way to make money this summer. if anyone has any ideas - please let me know!
and now i have 2 nights, 3 days left. I'll be returning home on saturday at 4:30 at seatac for anyone who would like to come greet me! i want everyone to come!
Friday i took my first exam, in Xhosa. so glad to be done with that. our senile teachers put tons of vocab words we had never learned on the test. the reading comprehension was impossible to comprehend! after that i went out to dinner at the greek restaurant with the girls and then we went to Springbok, the rugby bar. i did not have fun. i got in a bad mood and then our cab never showed up and it was obnoxious. i got really annoyed at rugby players which is strange because normally i love them. i love the rowdiness. but this time i was so ticked off.
Saturday we went to the final day at the orphanage. It was the little going away party. We took lots of pictures of the kids and said goodbye to them. It was pretty sad to think that there's a 99% chance we won't see them again. when we got home we watched movies. then on sunday i went to greenpoint stadium flea market to pick up presents and artwork. i love the artwork here. Some of the paintings are so beautiful. and they are really bold and i love the colors. i think i want to be an art collector. although it will all be cheap and worthless art, but that's ok. so i bought a bunch of stuff. Then that evening we had a final meeting for the orphanage where we talked about how to fundraise in the US and about the future of the orphanage and about the future of ciee volunteers there. CHOSA, the organization that we are a part of that funds Baphumelele has just picked up a second orphanage. It's in Nyanga in a woman's home and is struggling in the way that Baphumelele was 5 years ago. So they are trying to establish a relationship with that orphanage and help them expand their property and to put together a daily routine. i might start putting together the CHOSA newsletter since i have experience with page layout and all that stuff from orchestra. you know, just doing my part.
On monday we went into town again to go to the greenmarket square craft market. Lindsey bought a drum which was exciting and then everywhere we walked with it all these guys would go "nice drum, come sit down and play with me!" also i walked by this man in a stall and he goes "i like your necklace" and so i said thank you, and then he says "now what do you like about me?" i was so thrown off by it, i was just like "umm i like your hat?" and kept walking. very funny. we went to lunch at this semi-famous deli called mr. pickwick's. they had lots of "american style" sandwiches and they even had hummingbird cake. I had a milkshake and since then i've wanted to die because i'm definately a lact-ard now. great. we also went in lots of used book stores and antique shops. some of the antiques here are really cool. it's a bit of an undiscovered market.
today i took my second final. the tests here are really intense. they make you put your bag in the front of the room and people only sit at every other row. then you have all these booklets and you have to fold over the part with your name and seal it with a sticker. then when you are finished you can't leave, you have to wait until everyone is done. it's crazy! then we had a final house dinner at the african rest and bar, our favorite restaurant. it was lovely. and they had new placemats! sorry, for us that was exciting, they got rid of the cheetah print velour. also - the weather has been beautiful! i tanned by the pool today while studying for my test!
also i've been online trying to apply to jobs and find some way to make money this summer. if anyone has any ideas - please let me know!
and now i have 2 nights, 3 days left. I'll be returning home on saturday at 4:30 at seatac for anyone who would like to come greet me! i want everyone to come!
posted by kerry at 12:14 PM
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