Winter weather in Cape Town is no joke.

For the past couple of weeks now, the weather in Cape Town has been less than enjoyable. Unlike the warm, sunny and breezy weather in January, February and March, winter weather in Cape Town consists of torrential rain, coldness, gusty winds, cloudy, grey skies and the occasional part of a day when there is a hint of sunshine. Now, I have to give myself a pep talk before leaving the house, especially going out at night. My house doesn't have central heating, so I make do with a small, square wall heater in my room that really only works if I keep my door closed at all times of the day. For some reason, the house traps cold air and most of the time, it is warmer outside than inside the house. I love Cape Town of course, but winter Cape Town is just not as much fun.

Here is an example of this awful weather: the tree in our driveway is now split in half and broken, because of one night full of gusty winds and torrential rain.

My classiest cup of tea

Afternoon High Tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel is officially the classiest activity I have done while in South Africa. I, along with seven other girls, enjoyed an afternoon of tea, coffee and delicious finger foods at the beautiful hotel one Sunday.  I finally had the opportunity to enjoy a cucumber sandwich and other little treats like salmon and cream cheese wraps, egg salad sandwiches, small fudge squares, little pieces of cheesecake, hazelnut chocolate cake and much more. The tea menu was more extensive than anything I had seen before. They had so many types of herbal, black, green, and rooibos tea, plus coffee upon request. 

The environment was full of people who appeared as if high tea was a weekly activity for them. We saw several parties of daughters, mothers and grandmothers and then other parties of women catching up on a casual Sunday afternoon. Men were there as well with their wives or mothers it seemed, but the majority of tea-goers were female. Overall, the demographic was white. Since I haven't done any other "high class" activities like this since I've been here, I don't know if the white majority is to be expected at places like this in Cape Town.

One thing I never quite figured out while I was at the hotel was the reasoning behind the pink color of the building. The whole hotel was gorgeous, inside and out, but the faded bubblegum pink color never quite made sense to me.

After tea, we explored outside and walked around the grounds. Behind the hotel is a beautiful courtyard and outdoor area with bright green grass, where we stopped to take a few pictures before leaving.

Sharing some fun with huge, but little, soccer fans

Pizza, juice and cookies at the Ark.

Every volunteer site had the opportunity to throw an end-of-the-semester event for the kids whom we have been working with for the past several months. For the Ark, we decided, after many ideas fell through, to have a pizza party at the Ark and then take the kids to the last game of the season at the World Cup stadium in Green Point to watch the Ajax (Cape Town's team) play against Maritzburg United. We raised money for the event by hosting a fundraiser at CyBar (a bar in Rondebosch near my house) and selling cupcakes and cookies at the bar. We managed to raise R800 that night , which CIEE matched giving us R1600. I was so excited that we got all of our money straightened out and everyone, kids and volunteers, go to the game free of charge.

All of the kids and volunteers -- we managed to leave and return with the same number of people without a problem.

We tried to keep the soccer game a secret for the boys so it would be a surprise when we hopped on the bus to go to the stadium, but I think a few of them may have either guessed, found out or had an idea of where they were going. Regardless, they were excited, and as were all of us who had never been to the stadium before. When asking the boys what they want to be when they grow up, most of them say rugby or soccer player. For most of them, this was their first trip to see a professional soccer game, and for it to be at the World Cup stadium made it even more exciting.

Keanon, the boy I worked with the most this semester, and me on the bus heading to the stadium.

Security entering the stadium was normal -- searched purses, patted down the boys -- but they also disassembled flags that people brought to the stadium by taking off the stick part and just leaving the cloth flag. I'm guessing the stick could be used as a weapon, even though they were selling the same flags (sticks included) inside the stadium.

World Cup stadium in Green Point.

I can only imagine how amazing a game was during the World Cup. The stadium is huge, so it wasn't completely full for this game, but the stadium was still full of energy and excitement from all of the wild soccer fans. Now, I truly understand the concept of a soccer "hooligan."

Ajax players on the field. (Photo courtesy and the most enthusiastic child photographer I know: Keanon)

Jamie and the boys.

GOAL for Ajax!

It's the final countdown...

Rounding out the end of the semester, all of the RAs worked together to organize our "Farewell Dinner" on Friday, May 20. Everyone dressed up and met at Tugwell (the Jammie bus stop on Lower Campus) to be driven to the "secret location." We ended up at a country club-like place just 10 minutes away and from there ate dinner in the ballroom, drank wine, and danced like it was our high school prom.

Some people, particularly the RAs, were emotional (especially Martina) because this was the beginning of all of the goodbyes and a realization that the semester is coming to an end. I, on the other hand, felt that it wasn't yet time to get emotional about leaving because we still had a good three weeks of time to study, take finals, explore the last bits of Cape Town and enjoy each other's company. 

Now, that I'm finally posting this blog entry, it's June 6 and the goodbyes have truly began. When I see people now, I'm wondering if I'm going to see them again before leaving or see them ever again in life. This semester has been more than I imagined and I hate to leave Cape Town, but at the same time, I'm ready to go. Three days left until I depart...

African Dance class showing what they've learned this semester.

Me, Tyra (a friend of a friend's), and Masha sitting at our dinner table.

High school prom.

Masha, Matt and me.

Highstead (well, half of us): a house full of 30 crazy and fun people!

Every time I walk to campus, I appreciate UCT's beauty...

Long day. Lots of love.

For our final house event organized by one of my RAs, Martina, we spent a full day exploring and being part of the community in Mitchell's Plain, Cape Town's largest township. The apartheid government created the township in the 1970's for displaced coloureds, who still make up the majority, if not all, of the population there today.


The team leader of our security guard staff, Andrew, lives in Mitchell's Plain and has lived there his whole life. Martina worked with Andrew, and Andrew's family, to organize a day full of activities for us so we could get a feel for the township and interact with the community.


We started the day with eating breakfast at Andrew's mother-in-law's house. We had a huge meal, and were not allowed to help clean up one bit. They truly treated us like guests.


I almost felt like we were in Ocean View again. Everyone we met was completely happy living in Mitchell's Plain. Although the original foundation of the township was created by the apartheid government, many of the people who live there, including Andrew's mother-in-law,  moved to Mitchell's Plain about 30 years ago and do not ever plan on leaving.


Our first stop after breakfast was a huge church in town. Apparently it's the largest church in the Southern Hemisphere, but for some reason, I couldn't find those details on Google, so I'm not sure if that's completely accurate. It was a huge church though, that had multiple auditoriums with televisions so those who couldn't fit into the main chapel could still watch the service while in the church.

After driving around a bit more and learning about Mitchell's Plain and Andrew pointing out the different areas that house various gangs, we headed to the huge open field around the corner from our home base, Andrew's mother-in-law's house. There, the DJ was setting up and people started gathering. A neighborhood block party erupted from that point. The boys played soccer. Some of the kids showed their rehearsed dances. We painted kids faces (the South Africa and Brazil flags were very popular requests). We handed out goodie bags to the kids and hot dogs to everyone there.

Once the neighborhood party wrapped up, we went to several different homes in the area to see their houses and talk to them about their experiences in Mitchell's Plain. Everyone was very welcoming and willing to answer any and all questions!

The night concluded with an all-night dance party and delicious food, again, cooked by Andrew's family. We didn't get back home until about 2 a.m. that night, which made for a long, but very fun, day.

An odd-looking bird...

After spotting these bizarre birds on campus, in the Company Gardens in Downtown Cape Town and in other random places, I just finally looked up the species: Egyptian Goose. From my experiences with them, the Egyptian Goose is an interesting animal that tends to stand and observe, and quacks a unique noise quite sparingly. Apparently, it's the "most commonly encountered waterfowl" in Southern Africa, which makes sense since I see them all of the time.


To learn more about this goose or listen to its "quack," click here!