(I don't think I'm ever going to be able to add pictures to a blog or post them on facebook - just doesn't seem like it will work out here. Look for a MASSIVE facebook album when I get back, and I'm sure I have hundreds of other pictures that I can show people who really want to see them. I'm DYING to share pictures, but this will have to do)
What an eventful weekend! It seems like every weekend we take a road trip, which is really cool because we get to see places outside of Cape Town. This weekend we went to Jeffrey's Bay, about seven hours away from Cape Town, right on the Indian Ocean. One of our cars broke down, and we had to wait at a gas station for six hours. It sounds awful, but that was actually really fun - we had a soccer ball in our car, so we played around for a bit, got some food, and just spent some time hanging out. The beach at Jeffery's bay was BREATHTAKING - the best looking beach I've ever seen in real life or in pictures. I could have stayed for hours, but we had to leave the next afternoon because we went BUNGY JUMPING! And we didn't do just any old jump, we went to the world's highest bungy jump. Let me tell you, there is nothing like the feeling of jumping off of a bridge over a beautiful view (not that I'd recommend it unless your attached to something.) But for the first few seconds of the jump the rope doesn't have any pull on you, so you literally feel like nothing is holding onto you. Scary, but also amazing. Now for the scary part. Once the cord finally tugged on me, I got a bloody nose. The blood started POURING out of my nose, and at first I didn't know where it was coming from - I saw blood and I freaked out. Once I brought my hand to my face and realized it was coming from my nose, I stopped caring, given my history of bloody noses. I wasn't going to let that one little thing ruin the amazing feeling that I had. It was really funny when I got pulled back up though because my face was covered in blood. Some people had just crossed the bridge to jump and saw my face and freaked out that I had hurt myself. It was an inconvenience, but I still had an amazing time. Something like this would happen to me, so I just let it go.
The Mini World Cup was at my school this week. It was one of the most adorable things I have ever seen. During our "opening ceremonies" each class did a little song/dance, and then the games were underway. My 6th grade class (Brazil) went first against the 7th grade class (South Africa.) It was a really intense game that ended in a shoot-out, but my team walked away with the win! We had a few other games Mondayand some of my friends' classes lost, so I was kind of upset for them, but as long as my class is still in I am happy. The rest of the games were yesterday. My team lost in the final round, but I still had so much fun cheering them on. (For those curious, I think it was the kids playing Spain that won, if that's any kind of a foreshadow for the real thing, I don't know.) Today we just handed back exams, which was a real test of names for me, but I've known the names of my entire class of 40 since week one! Then we had an extra-long recess, and I had fun running around playing with them for one last time. (The schools go on holiday for four weeks every July, but I am volunteering at the 'winter' vacation programs at the school, so I will still see some of my class every day)
And the REAL World Cup starts this week. I don't have a ticket yet, but there are still some available, so a bunch of us are just going to try to get random tickets. Even though we don't have tickets, we still will get to experience it. They are doing screenings of the games in Cape Town, so we are just going to go into town for the weekend and enjoy the games and watch the city come alive. We have all been feeling the excitement building, and I am so excited for the games to finally start! Granted I am not the biggest fan of soccer, but it is still really cool to be here and just be a part of this incredible experience.
And in other news, the house just keeps losing and gaining different people. There are only about four people that were here when I got here and that will be either leaving when I leave or leaving after me. Considering that our group is consistently around 20 people, that's a lot of first meetings and a lot of goodbyes. It's interesting to meet so many new people, but I just really got comfortable with the first and second phase of people to arrive here, and now most of them are starting to leave. We have all made the comparison of our house to some sort of international Real World-type reality show on MTV, and we figure that we are about a few episodes into the fourth season. The seasons each last about a week and end with a trip on the weekend, and when we come back Sunday night there are new people sitting on our couch. We've even witnessed staff changes within the organization that oversees us. Must be very similar to how the kids in our schools feel. We can't help but bond with the kids and really feel for them, but we feel so guilty about it because we know that at some point we have to leave them. Every so often a kid will ask where a specific person is, and they have gone home, and we have to tell them. You can see the heartbreak in their eyes. These kids meet a new "teacher" every few months. Their environment is already unstable enough, and in some ways we unintentionally add to that feeling.
I've been given a lot to think about here. Just after these few short weeks, we all have generated a deeper appreciation for the way we were raised and the opportunities that we have been given. I have to be thankful for the fact that I can take an entire summer and jet off to South Africa and get to know these amazing kids while doing things like skydiving and bungy jumping. And I am very grateful.
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