Arrival

Greetings from Cape Town, South Africa. After 30 long hours of travelling, including one 17 hour flight, I have arrived in Cape Town. The flights were long and taxing, but for the long one we had personal video entertainment systems and could pick from a large selection of recent movies to watch whenever we want. The Pacifier, by the way, is surprisingly good, as is Coach Carter. I also slept a lot on the flight and have gotten well-rested since I've been here, so I don't feel terribly jet lagged.

I've met all of the students in my program. Most of them, including everyone in my house, seems to have come here largely for the purpose of getting drunk and partying, which is definitely NOT my bag, so I've been a bit lonely, so far. The city is incredible and beautiful, though, and I have hope that once classes get started and I meet some other students things won't seem so bad.

I'm living in a double room with a student from the University of Denver in the lower level of an enormous, 150 year old home near the college. There are about 15 people in my house, three males and the rest females. I have my own bed and closet and lots of space. The house is nice, despite the lack of common ground with the housemates.

A few notes about Cape Town: it lies right at the foot of Table Mountain with the ocean close on the other side. I haven't been to the beach yet, it's a 20 minute drive from my house, but I'm looking forward to getting there soon. It's very urban with all the expected conveniences and such (yes, I have hot running water and I can drink the stuff that comes out of the tap). There's an incredibly mix of poverty and wealth, with the townships and shantytowns showing immense poverty and very wealthy homes all surrounded by security gates.

We've had two days of program orientation, so tomorrow we start the official orientation for the international center at the University. Our first thing in that orientation is a tour of Robben Island (a former prison for political prisoners where Nelson Mandela was held) which I'm really excited about. We also get to register on Wednesday and get our student IDs, which means I'll finally have reliable internet access. Then next moenday we get to start classes, which will mean I'll have more reliable internet access and will be able to respond to an e-mails sent my way (hint, hint!).

Topics to be covered in future entries sometime: driving in Cape Town, poverty, more descriptions of the natural beauty, and a whole lot less complaining.

"Work is love made visible."