Top 5

As our trip comes to a close here are each of our top five favorites of Global LEAD Cape Town 2012!

Katherine:
1. Making new friends. Over the past 5 weeks I have grown close to so many people. Sharing all these new experiences and facing fears with all the other students of Global LEAD will definitely bring you together. I know that some of the friendships I have made will last forever.
2. Sunrise hike of Lion's Head. Hiking up a mountain when it is pitch black dark in the morning and getting to the top to watch the sun rise over the city was absolutely incredible. I watched the sunset the night before so being able to watch the sun rise the next morning made the experience even more memorable.
3. Sir Lowry's Pass. Getting to play with all the children and forming those special relationships were some of my favorite parts of service week. I will always remember the sweet little girl, Yolandi, that found me every day and didn't speak much English but would stay by my side throughout the whole day and give me the biggest hugs every time I left. Also the one memory that will remain with me forever is seeing Mrs. Hetta, the soup mom I spent the week with, waving and crying as the bus pulled away for the last time. It blew my mind that spending a week with someone who opened her home and heart to me would be impacted as much as I was.
4. Bungee jumping. Literally the scariest thing I have ever had to do. I absolutely hate heights, but the feeling I had after facing my biggest fear was incredible. Standing on the edge of the highest bungee bridge in the world, flying in the air, and waiting for what seemed like forever to get back on solid ground was an unforgettable experience. I'm so glad I did it but can't say I would be the first to do it again.
5. FOOD! I have always loved trying new foods but Cape Town took this to a new level. I can honestly say I didn't have one bad meal the whole 5 weeks I was there. Ostrich, wildebeest, impala, kudu, springbok, crocodile, kingclip, and prawns were just a few of the new foods I tried....all of which I loved.

Mary Claire:
1. Bungee Jumping. I can't even describe the feeling the moment you jump off the bridge. It's in between the feeling of "Oh my gosh I'm going to die" and the biggest peace and stillness I have ever experienced. I think I could be talked into doing it again...
2. Old Biscuit Mill. If only there was something like this in the United States. You can get anything you want to eat, from egg benedict (to die for and I don't even like runny eggs), waffles, sandwiches, ice cream, coffee, dried fruit, pizza, and the list goes on. Then there is the shopping. I could buy everything, and I almost did.
3. Sir Lowry's Pass. The best feeling in the world came at the Final Celebration. There was one little girl in particular that I met during service week. She was about five and spoke no english, but she held onto me the entire time. I looked for her during the final celebration and spotted her with a fellow Global LEADer. I went up and gave her a hug and then left because I figured she wanted to stay with the other girl. About 30 minutes later, the Global LEADer came up to me with the girl and said she had been asking and searching for me ever since I left.
4. The food. We all are coming back with snug clothes. Seriously the Cape Town 10 was not a joke. Every meal I have had has been beyond delicious! I have also tried some very different foods such as ostrich, kudu, springbok, crocodile, kingklip, and mussels. My diet and workout plan starts tomorrow!
5. Meeting new friends. Seriously the people have made the trip! Through our experiences we have all grown really close. Leaving all of the new friends I have made will probably be the saddest part of leaving Cape Town!

See you in America!! 

Update

Friday we were supposed to go to Cape Point, but because of the weather it got postponed to Sunday. Therefore, we had another lazy day of writing our essays and catching up on some much needed rest! Like every other Saturday we started off the morning with Old Biscuit Mill. I seriously think it has been one of my favorite parts of the trip! This Saturday we got the nutella and banana crepe and pancake bites. They were to die for. We did a little more shopping in the stores around OBM and then headed to Long Street. Long Street proved to be quite an adventure. On the way there, our cab driver kept asking us, "Are you sure Long Street?" We insisted since it was right near Green Market and near some boutiques. Well what do you know, we jump out of the cab and are immediately greeted by a friendly South African who yelled, "Hello b******, welcome to Long Street!" Needless to say we didn't stay very long. That night a group of us went to Rick's Cafe Americain. It is based off of Rick's Cafe in the movie Casablanca. It was such a cool restaurant and the food was amazing! On the topic of good food, we literally have not had one bad meal here. I don't know what I was expecting, but the food is incredible! We have gone to some of the best restaurants! Let's just say we are going to need to get on a workout schedule when we get home. Sunday, we finally got to go to Cape's Point. We drove all the way around the coast and had the chance to stop at Chapman's Peak and Cape of Good Hope before we finally made it to Cape Point. Along with the beautiful scenery of Cape Point, there are some pretty mean baboons. They have signs all around about not feeding them or interacting with them. They even have baboon police that carry sticks and guard the trashcans. One of our roommates was carrying a bag of chips and a baboon chased her down to get the chips! Not going to lie, I was probably more terrified of the baboons than bungee jumping. Today we had class with all 140 students together again. It was about creating a vision for your life. We have to create a statement that is to guide our choices and decisions throughout life. It has definitely been something interesting to think about and actually put down on paper. We now are in the final week of our trip, and I am going to be very sad to go! We have had such a great time making new friends and experiencing once in a lifetime adventures. I'll leave with an awesome video from today's lesson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z7iHB24Oqg

Chapman's Peak 

 Cape of Good Hope

 Notice the sign and the guard with a large stick...

 Baboon

The most beautiful sunset I have ever seen 

Educational Experience Week!

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately! So here is a quick catch up. Monday we had the chance to visit Robben Island. We rode over on a ferry, and had a tour from a former political prisoner. He was accused of treason in the 1980s and spent 5 years on Robben Island. He showed us around the different sections of the prison, and we got to see the cell where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. We then got to visit the house Robert Sobukwe was kept in. During apartheid the white government feared the release of Sobukwe so they decided to keep him under house arrest on the island. One of the most interesting things about the island now is that both prisoners and guards have come back together to live on the island and work in the museum. They have moved on from their past, and are now looking to educate others for the future. Tuesday a group of us went to tour the World Cup Stadium. It was so interesting! We got to go to the team locker rooms, and we got to visit the VIP boxes where the president of FIFA and Prince William and Harry watched the games from. We even got to go out to the field. That afternoon we visited the Green Market and Charly's Bakery, Oprah's favorite bakery! Wednesday we drove out to Franschoek a little town surrounded by mountains and is home to Haut Espoir, a vineyard. At Haut Espoir we did a wine tasting, and then we had a competition as to who could make the best wine blend. Sadly our teams only came in 3rd and 4th, but it was such a cool experience! Today we have a free day, but it is storming outside so we are taking this chance to work on our first paper, comparing South African leaders to the different leadership models we have learned about. We are coming close to the end of our journey, and it has flown by! I can't believe we have been here for almost a month! It has been one of the best experience, but we are looking forward to seeing everyone when we get home in 11 days!!!

 

Nelson Mandela's cell

World Cup Stadium!

Running out onto the field!

 Charly's Bakery

Wine tasting at Haut Espoir

The Past Few Days...

Sorry we haven't posted in a while! We've been really busy the past few days but want to share about our last few days in the township and our weekend in Stellenbosch. First off just thought I should share that I learned how to play the marimba this past week. Probably one of the coolest instruments I've ever gotten to play. At the Amy Biehl Foundation we got to sign up to help in a certain area at the after school program so I chose to work with the music. I learned a whole song then got to perform it with some of the little kids there. Thursday we went back to the township for the third time to play with the kids and talk with our soup moms. My soup mom Mrs. Hetta made a fire especially for us and made sure her whole family was there so we could all stand and talk around the fire. We compared holiday traditions with each other and they talked about how lamb was an expensive treat they saved for Christmas. Mrs. Hetta told us she would always feed children in her community with the extra food from her holiday meal. Even though her family barely had enough money to spend on their own food, Mrs. Hetta still reached out to others to make sure they got a meal too. She is such a role model for her community and has the biggest heart for others. Friday was the last day in Sir Lowry’s Pass. One of the little kids I had gotten attached to, Yolandi, found me right when I got off the bus and never left my side the whole day. We played lots of games with all the kids there then went to Mrs. Hetta’s house for the last time.We took pictures with her and her family and promised to send them to her so she could hang them on her wall of pictures with past Global LEAD students. Mrs. Hetta prayed for us before we left and told each of us she loved us when we were leaving. It was so hard to say goodbye to these people I had grown so close to in so little time and that I knew I would probably never see again. They truly taught me how little you need to be happy. I will never forget the life lessons Mrs. Hetta taught me.

My group with Mrs. Hetta

After service week 40 of us took a weekend trip to Stellenbosch. It is home to the University of Stellenbosch as well as many vineyards that make the famous wine of South Africa. We left about about 12 p.m. on Saturday so no worries we still made it to Old Biscuit Mill where we both got Belgium Waffles, they were divine. Once we got to Stellenbosch we took a tour of a brandy distillery and a vineyard. It was absolutely gorgeous! After that we headed to check into a hostel located right by the university campus. For dinner we all went to a tapas restaurant for a friend's birthday, and ate some more delicious food. We ended the night at a local favorite Catwalk where we met many of the college students. Sunday we wandered around the quaint town. We had a nice breakfast and the most delicious gelato I have ever tasted. It was so fun to experience and visit another college town. After a full weekend we ended it tonight with a Sunday night dinner with the whole Global LEAD group and staff. I can't believe we leave just two weeks from today to go back home! 

Roommates!

Wine tasting!

Day 2 and 3 of Service Week

The past few days have been very exhausting both mentally and physically. This is our "service" week. We have class in the mornings on service learning, then in the afternoons we go to Sir Lowry's Pass, a township outside of Cape Town. Being in the township and seeing their circumstances first hand has been a very real and hard experience. It is one thing to drive past the shanty towns off the freeway, but to actually step inside one and meet the people who live day and night in them is shocking. My family that I have been paired with is Ms. Fiela and her daughter Samantha. They live in a small house in Sir Lowry's Pass, and almost four days a week Ms. Fiela passes out meals to around 60 to 80 children around the neighborhood. She blows her whistle, and they all come running to her house with their plate and cup. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to help pass out "cake" and juice to some of the kids that were wandering around. They came all lined up smallest to largest. It was so humbling to help pass out food that could be that child's only meal of the day. Ms. Fiela barely has enough to feed her family sometimes, but when she comes across the resources she not only shares it with her house but also with the children around her. She truly is a woman of God. Today we got the chance to go back to the Amy Biehl Foundation after school program in Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town. There we picked up trash, planted a garden, sat in on a couple of classes, and most of all just played with the kids. Most of the kids do not speak English, but language is not a barrier when it comes to playing. They loved for us to pick them up and swing them around, or even just a hug brought a smile to their face! It was so wonderful to have the opportunity to work with this foundation again. Amy Biehl Foundation is making strides in the community by spending that extra two hours after school to further empower the children in all areas of life. This week has definitely been a fun but hard week. Tomorrow we return to Sir Lowry's Pass, and we look forward to spending the rest of our week with the families there!

 New friends! 

Helping make bracelets in Sir Lowry's Pass

First Day of Service Week

Monday we began Service Week by talking about the difference between service and service learning in class. Service as Chase, our professor, told us is the act of doing something to help others like many of us do in our communities. Service Learning is impacting others while also impacting yourself. It's gaining knowledge from that experience and reflecting on it. Joanna, our director, told us what the township would be like and we were warned about all sorts of situations and questions we might get in Sir Lowry's Pass. 

When we were pulling up to Sir Lowry's Pass that afternoon all the kids swarmed the streets and ran with our bus all the way till we stopped. They waited at the door of the bus for us to come out and as each of us filed out one of the kids would grab our hand and start walking with us. They were some of the most welcoming children. We all got placed with a soup mother in groups of 5 or so. My mother's name was Mrs. Hetta. Mary Claire's was Ms. Felia. We went with our assigned mother to their home and met each of their families and also cooked dinner for them. Each of the mothers opened up their homes to us and it was so cool hearing their stories. We get to go back almost every day this week to do activities with the kids or just talk with our soup mom. Can't wait to see what we learn through each experience!

This past weekend

We are trying to do a little bit of blog catch up before this week. Saturday we went to Old Biscuit Mill again. We both had eggs benedict, and it was incredible! That night we went with a large group to Mesopotamia. It was an authentic middle eastern restaurant complete with belly dancing and low tables with floor pillows as "seats." We ate nan, which is like flat pita bread, and for our main course we had chicken and lamb. Sunday morning we went to Hillsong Church again. The guest preacher was Mark Gungor who is actually from the United States and was hilarious. We ended the night with a buffet dinner at a local restaurant with all 150 students. Today we are starting our service week. This afternoon we are going into Sir Lowry's Pass, which is a township located about 45 minutes from Cape Town. We are split into small groups of about five and paired with Soup Moms around the community. Tonight we are going for a couple of hours to spend time with them and eat dinner with our families. We are so excited to have this opportunity to learn and grow from this experience. Be sure to look out for more posts soon!