COUNTRY: South Africa
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching, Health and Art/Design
WRITTEN BY: Lauren Dreyar
This week has gone past so quickly. The weather was fantastic this weekend and I was lucky enough to catch the local Red Bus tour on both days. On Saturday, we did the tour as a group and went to V&A Waterfront- a popular tourist destination. The best part had to be the food at the markets. I had an Indian dish called Dosa and it was incredible. I also was able to go to the One & Only Hotel as the Lalela Project where I am a volunteering has a gallery exhibition there.
On Sunday we caught the Red Bus Tour again but stayed on to tour Cape Town, where we stopped to do a wine tour. It only cost R35 to taste five different wines, which is about $3.50!
The good weather stretched out to Monday so after volunteering at Silikamva (a local high school where Lalela operates), four of us decided to go out to lunch in Camps Bay then hike up to the top of Lion's head. Lion's head was a tougher hike than I had anticipated but it was still so much fun. It only took 45 mins to climb to the top but towards the end it was practically rock climbing; there were also ladders and chains we had to use to hoist ourselves up the mountain. It was totally worth it though- the view was amazing! I could also see a great view of Table Mountain and the rest of Cape Town, as you can see from the above photos.
Tuesday was by far my favourite day. During the day I attended two of the Lalela Project sessions, the morning one was with the 4-10 year olds as usual. The kids had a lot of fun painting tin cans that could be turned into mugs or storage and also making necklaces out of plastic bottle caps. In the afternoon, I was with the 12-15 year olds. They were much louder then the younger groups, and we had a lot of fun singing 'Grenade' by Bruno Mars while they finished painting. At 4.30pm I raced home and showered quickly before heading to Mandela Park for a home stay. I was partnered with Josh. We stayed at a grandmother's house with her two grandchildren named Zuzu and Luanko. For dinner she made us a traditional African meal- including sheep intestines! They were actually pretty good but impossible to chew. The highlight of the night for me was dancing in Zuzu and Luanko's room to Rihanna's 'We found love'. During the song Zuzu and I were dancing and the grandmother came in and started dancing (well, more like krumping) along with us. It was incredible; I had such a fun time. At night Mandela Park is so noisy and lively, we could hear parties going on all around us.
In the morning I said a sad goodbye to everyone and headed straight from the home stay to my morning project at Silikamva. The kids were especially rowdy, and they didn't end up finish their task of recycling and painting bins to be used in the teacher's classrooms. That afternoon the group headed to a local restaurant called The Dunes. I was finally able to try a Dom Pedro- which is kind of like a milkshake with Kaluah. It was amazing. With just over a week to go everyone was anxious to fit as much in as possible, so we headed out again later to a local Hout Bay restaurant called The Lookout for fish & chips.
Today was a terrible day weather-wise. It rained. It hailed. It was all-round miserable. Luckily, today was the excursion with the Everyday Heroes Club- a group of 10 boys who meet a few times a week to talk about local issues and moral concerns. The Everyday Heroes Club aims to reach out to boys who are 'at-risk' and keep them out of trouble. Together we all crammed into a minivan and headed to the Cape Town Science Museum. The boys were all laughs and had a lot of fun. The best moment was in the car ride home when one of the 16 year old boys named Gcinkuhle said that he would remember this excursion for the rest of his life and would take his kids one day to the science museum. I couldn't believe how much it had meant to him.
Tomorrow is Mandela Day! I am super excited to be in South Africa at such an important time.
Till next time!
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