Hey everyone! Here’s the weekly rundown.

Monday—Pendla was pretty normal on Monday. It was extremely hot, so the kids were all worn out and tired. In the afternoon, our jazz class went on a “field trip” to the private high school that my professor also works at. The place looked like a country club (couldn’t contrast any more with Pendla)—I felt like I was in the midst of South African gossip girl. There, we heard 11^th and 7^th graders play the marimbas—they are SO GOOD. It was so much fun to hear! They did lots of popular songs (everything from Andrea Bocelli to Coldplay to Black Eyed Peas), and then we got to try them out. I learned a part on the bass marimba, and then we all came together to play a mambo. During our “cool drink” break, I asked one of the students to show me how to play Just Dance, so I now know how to play Lady Gaga on the marimba. I also talked for a long time with another student—she is 17 years old and seems to be smart beyond her years. She was really curious to know what life is like back in the states, so we had a really good conversation about how we each grew up.

After class, we had our first taste of a thunderstorm here in PE—they need it like crazy, there’s a big water shortage because they are in the middle of the worst drought in 88 years. However, it only last a few minutes and there was a big rainbow over the ocean afterward. J Since the weather cleared up, a few of us headed to campus for the varsity rugby game. It was SO fun! There were tons of people there, and student section cheered and danced and sang the entire time. There also was a group of guys that were just like the Rat Pack, so that was fun too. Getting home ended up being quite the process because none of us there had a phone and the only cab number we knew wasn’t picking up…but it was totally worth it.

Tuesday—Again, Pendla was pretty ordinary this day. My favorite little guy (Awonke) got the ear-pull from Mrs. Ndumi and a letter from the principal, so that was sad to see (especially because I have no idea what he did!), but on the whole it was pretty standard. This picture is of a few of the boys in my class--Awonke is the second one from the right. SO CUTE.

After class, we went to a pancake dinner at the church a block from Langerry. I’m really happy we went. First of all, the food was great (pancakes here are actually crepes), and secondly, I got to talk to some cool people. I sat at a table with a couple of moms and their kids, so they were telling me about their world travels and the schools they go to. Afterward, I walked out the back door of the church and about 10 kids were there playing with a volleyball—naturally, I had to join them. I absolutely love the kids at Pendla, but playing with the Afrikaner kids at the church was a nice change for a bit. At Pendla, there are always 20 kids hanging on me at once and it’s always mass chaos; with these kids, I was actually able to talk to and play a game with them. The fact that they spoke English helped as well. J Like I said, I would never trade working with the Pendla kids, but it was just nice to get to play with kids in a setting more like home.

Wednesday---In the morning, we had our second community service learning lecture. I found out that lots of people have not had great experiences at Pendla, mainly because of the teachers. It made me really grateful to be with Mrs. Ndumi. Also, after hearing from the people at the House, I’m much more confident in my decision to go to Pendla.

Wednesday night, some of us went and saw Valentines Day at the boardwalk—it was really fun to get to a movie in the theater. It actually made me a little homesick for the first time (a couple other girls felt the same way!) because I felt like I was at home during the show. It faded pretty quickly though, so no worries. J

Thursday—Nothing too exciting on Thursday. I absolutely love going for walks and runs on the beach early in the morning here…so that was probably the highlight of my day haha.

Friday— I headed to the pool again for the late morning and early afternoon. I LOVE that place, so it’s soo wonderful. Sunburn city though, my Minnesota skin had a little too much of the African sun. In the evening, our entire group went to the PE cricket match versus Cape Town. It was so much more fun than I thought it would be! It was packed (15,000 people), the Castles were cheap, the crowd was crazy, and the weather was perfect. It actually felt like a Twins game, but outdoors (whaddup Target Field!). This coloured guy (still feel weird saying that!) sitting next to me was extremely helpful in explaining the game to me so I actually knew what was going on. He and a few girls he was with also told me a little about the coloured population down here, so that was interesting to hear.

Saturday—Jeffrey’s Bay! We crammed 14 people into two compact cars for the hour long drive to Jeffrey’s Bay, one of the best surf towns in the world. It is SO BEAUTIFUL there! I absolutely loved it. The ocean waves are massive, the beaches are a beautiful white, there are tons of sand dunes, and there are mountains on the outskirts of the city. It’s not huge by any means—it’s actually relatively small—but that is part of what gave it a really cool feel. I felt like there should be speakers everywhere in the town blasting Jack Johnson. People with surfboard are everywhere, and it’s just super chilled out. Billabong hosts their annual surf competition in JBay, so there is Billabong stuff everywhere (we definitely did a little damage at the factory outlet store). There were lots of cute little ice cream shops and whatnot, so it was a lot of fun to walk around town.

Unfortunately, the ocean was too rough and choppy for us to try surfing. Instead, we got some lunch, explored the town, shopped a little, then headed to the beach outside our hostel (Surfpackers) to climb on the rocks and search for seashells. For dinner, we went to this AMAZING place on the beach called Walskippers! Expensive, but worth it. The floor of the restaurant is all sand…you can just walk around barefoot. It’s lit by candlelight lanterns, and you can see everything being cooked—a great atmosphere! I had crocodile and calamari (yes mom, I voluntarily ordered seafood), and it was sooo so so good. Jake and Lauren split a meat platter that had everything from springbok to bone marrow (yes, bone marrow), and Jedlicka and Kenefick split a seafood platter…I’ve never seen so much food on one plate in my life.

On the drive to Walskippers, we passed the most run-down township I’ve seen since I’ve been here. We all were shocked to see such terrible conditions, but the real shock came about 30 seconds after we passed it—all of a sudden, we were surrounded by these unbelievably huge, extravagant homes. There was even a moat going around the estates (not kidding). It was just a really clear illustration of the political and social climate in this country.

After dinner, we went back to our hostel and hung out with some guys from Argentina that were also staying there. We were going to head into town, but we were having so much fun that we decided to just stay at the hostel! We just played games, talked, and had a blast. One of the Argentinans (is that what you call them?) taught me how to salsa, so that was a lot of fun. (Anji—they were very impressed with my knowledge of Spanish songs! They even knew david bisbal—we sang ave maria. YES.)

Sunday—We all got up early because some of us were going sandboarding and some of us were going horseback riding. I was in the horseback riding group, which I was really excited for because I had never ridden a horse before. My horse, Baby, was pretty good—she would buck around a little bit but stayed pretty calm for the first half of the ride. The scenery was BEAUTIFUL! We started up at the base of a mountain, overlooking the ocean…went through the sand dunes (I felt like I was in the desert and should have been riding a camel or something)…and ended with a long beach portion. Baby went CRAZY when we got to the beach, and it was soooo scary. I could handle it when she trotted quickly, but on the beach she launched into a full-blown gallop. Pulling the reins didn’t work in the least, so I just held on for dear life and prayed that my brain didn’t hemorrhage. All in all, it was a good experience, but the horses were a little crazy. A couple people got thrown off their horse, and one girl’s horse decided to launch into a full-blown sprint in the opposite direction. It all makes it more of an adventure though, so I’m really happy we did it.

So, here I am, back at Langerry for another week of classes. This week is going to be crazy on the homework front, so I doubt there will be anything too terribly exciting to blog about next week. Until next time, cheers!