Alright, the past week has been awesome. I guess I’ll just start with last weekend. A bunch of us hopped on a bus and went to the Wacky Wine festival. I just have to say that South Africa goes crazy for wine. There were also many mulleted, short shorts wearing European men in attendance. Haha it’s kind of impossible to remain pc while drinking in that kind of environment. I also may or may not have ended up speaking in (or attempted to speak in?) a South African accent. During the day, we traveled to the different wine tasting destinations, which were a few kilometers (haha metric) apart from each other. We had the bus, but there were definitely drunk drivers going from location to location. I don’t know who planned this event, but I feel like maybe they should have thought this through a little bit more thoroughly. Anyway, the wine was amazing and the vineyards were beautiful. At one stop a couple other girls and I danced with some South Africans and learned an Afrikaans dance. It was sweet, even though I had no idea what I was doing. We got to our final destination later in the afternoon. It was a campsite where there was more wine and a live band (Goldfish- I’m obsessed, look them up) and djs and food tents. It was nuts.
The next day, our bus broke down on the way back. While we waited we watched some sort of pirated version of The Hangover part two. It was one of those ones where the guy is in the theater filming the movie and you can see people standing up and walking in front of the screen. Legit. Then I went to McDonalds with a couple of people. We wanted to see if there were any different kinds of foods on the menu than in the US. There really wasn't, except for corn. So I got a McFlurry.
I think probably the weirdest thing that I still have to get used to is driving here. Sometimes, if I’m on a side street or something that doesn’t have any traffic I find myself driving on the right side of the road again. And then another car comes down the street and I have to swerve over onto the left side again. I also get lost in the ghetto pretty much on a daily basis because I have to drive to different work sites and it turns out that it’s hard to read a map while driving. Yeah, I look like an idiot. But luckily I remain calm during these times because I found a radio station that plays a lot of Jack Johnson. And also talks a lot about cricket, which I knew absolutely nothing about until now.
This week at my internship I made a powerpoint about environmental sustainability to present to a group of 10 year old kids. Before the lady gave me the information that I had to put onto the slides, she told me not to take anything in the presentation personally. Some of the facts and quotes I had to put in it could be considered slightly offensive to Americans… but could potentially also be true. There was a quote from an environmentalist that said, “If we replaced every Hummer driving American with a vegetarian, the world would be a better place.” And also facts about how Americans are single-handedly driving the world into the ground because of there abuse of resources. So yeah, that's all I have to say about that. I also worked in the gardens. It kind of breaks my heart to see how poor these people are and realize how much more I have than them. Including an education. But aside from that I really enjoy working in the gardens. At first I just had to shovel manure into wheel barrows, but then I got promoted to planting onions because out of all the volunteers I looked the most “shy and gentle” but I had also “proven my strength.” That’s what’s up.
I’ve also gotten in a little bit of running. I don’t know if you saw the picture of the view out my window, but my running route is basically up the side of that mountain. I am going to have thighs the size of Captain America's by the end of the summer (well, winter here). Anyway, I run out of the down town area and into the suburbs. Where I noticed a strange fad. Apparently, people dye their dogs’ fur here. I am not joking. I’ve seen at least three or for of those little dogs that are supposed to have puffy white fur, but instead of being white it’s like pink or purple. Whaaaat?
I have about ten more weeks to explore South Africa. And I am so excited!
(The title of this blog is from the prince of bel air, but I am using it in reference to driving here. Seriously, messes with your mind so much more that you'd think at first. But after a week, I'm getting pretty used to it. But I still do not understand the rules for round-abouts here...)
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