A Week in Review... "I've had the time of my life"

I know it looks long, but it’s interesting… I promise :)

Monday:

We went to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela and so many others were kept imprisoned throughout the apartheid. It was incredible, but I have to admit, I was expecting a little Alcatraz type set-up, but for those of you who don’t know, it’s a pretty big island with 3 prisons total, a church, a mosque, a visitor’s center, and a town with a population of about 200 or so. We had a personal guided tour by a man named Tulani who actually was a prisoner at Robben Island. He told us all kinds of stories and really opened up and shared about his experiences while imprisoned there and it sounds pretty terrible. Some of the things he told us included how his dad was shot by prison guards the day he planned to visit his son, and various tortures he and other fellow prisoners had to undergo. He also shared happier stories about the camaraderie within the prison, and the relationships he built with Mandela and other men. The tour was amazing and extremely eye opening. I felt very blessed that Tulani let us into his life and into his past. I have so much respect for him and the many others like him.

Tuesday:

We had class in the morning and then… I went sky diving!! It was such a spur of the moment thing for me because I have always said I wanted to sky dive, but I think I thought it was one of those things I would get around to “one of these days”. Well, it is an activity we can choose to take part in here so I signed up because I figured what better place to do it, and let me tell you- it was incredible!! I was attached tandem to a professional named Jason, and the scariest part for me was riding up in the teeny little plane. It could only hold 6 passengers who were sitting scrunched up, and since Jason was the tallest, he sat at the front of the plane and therefore we went first! We literally fell head first out of the plane and free fell from 9,000 feet for anywhere between 30 seconds and a minute. It was the weirdest feeling ever and totally un-natural, but it was absolutely amazing! I can’t even describe how beautiful it was!! Thankfully it’s all on video, but I wish I could do it over and over to just soak everything in. You can bet that I will be trying to convince my family to do it with me again, or anyone else for that matter… any takers?? That night we went to a Mexican restaurant called Pancho’s where the portions are waay too big, and then we went to a pool bar and played pool for a while. Something different to do for sure, but lots of fun.

Wednesday:

Wine country day. We actually made wine for class… How cool is that?! We went to the village of Franschhoek and visited a vineyard named Haut Espoir. We tasted some of their favorite wines and then had to mix them all together to create our own. We actually got 4^th place and were in the “drinkable” category, so we were happy with that result. One group got “gasoline”, and another got “could only use to marinate food in”, so as long as we were drinkable, we were happy. I feel like I have learned so much about wine here, but don’t worry, not in an irresponsible way. For those of you who don’t know, the drinking age down here is 18, so doing it as part of our class is a normal thing. After that, we went into the village and had lunch and dessert. To say that we have eaten well on this trip is an understatement. I have probably gained at least 30 pounds, it is all just too good. 

Thursday:

We had class in the morning and then… I went rappelling off of Table Mountain!! I have rappelled before, but this was by far the most beautiful rappelling I have ever done in my whole life. There were 8 of us who did it and we rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain and then rappelled 350 feet down. It was incredible! The only time I was ever scared was backing up over the cliff, but thankfully I have done it enough times to know not to look down when I’m starting out. As I eventually started to get my bearings, I tried some jumps and had a blast! About halfway down, there is another cliff and the part of the mountain I had been rappelling down just drops off, so truly I was just swinging and hanging the rest of the way down. Our adventure guide Gavin (*sigh) told our group that rappelling is the scariest thing to do, so if that’s the case, I feel like I can do anything!! (even bungee jumping…)

Friday:

Friday was a great day as well. It was the first day we really experienced the bad weather we have been hearing so much about, but it was still an incredible day. We went to Cape Point as a group and drove all around the tip of South Africa. It was extremely cloudy so sadly we couldn’t see much, but sporadically the clouds would clear and we would get glimpses of the ocean. Driving to Cape Point we saw some wild ostriches, wild penguins, and wild zebras!! I couldn’t believe it. There is a nice sit down restaurant at Cape Point and some people chose to eat there, while the rest of us saved money (and time) and enjoyed our pre-made sack lunches. Then we hiked to one of the lighthouses at the tip of Cape Point… and it started pouring, and when I say pouring I mean it in every sense of the word. I was also dressed extremely poorly in wallabies and jeans, and I felt every drop and gust of wind. The wind got so strong I was blown into the side of a house and the rain was coming down so hard, at one point it felt like hail. It might have been a bad choice, but the view was incredible and hey, when in Cape Town… For dinner a group of us went to the Waterfront, a famous fishing and boating community, and we had dinner at a place called Karibu and I got the Cape Salmon. It was fantastic! A friend of mine got the ostrich fillet and I must say that as I was trying it, I couldn’t help but think of that animal I saw on the tour. It was an incredible dinner though and perfect location.

Saturday:

As many of you might know, we make fun of my dad all the time for knowing people everywhere we go… Well now it’s my turn to be made fun of. I am all the way around the world, and ran into a college friend of mine who lives in Johannesburg but is visiting family in Cape Town. Yes, it was partially planned that we would see each other, but not that we would overlap time here, so I got to look impressive in front of all of my Global Lead friends for knowing a local. We met up at the Old Biscuit Mill, (I told y’all that even locals went), and then we left from there. He showed me and a few other friends around today and it has definitely been one of my favorite days yet. We went to one of his favorite shopping streets- Long Street, and then went into a local burger joint where I got a grilled chicken sandwich with baked brie and cranberry sauce on top… (I’ll just let that sink in). To add to that, they had sweet potato fries. Then we went to a popular hotel and got their famous milkshakes. I got a peanut butter and banana one and obviously it was no Cookout, (people living in the Carolina’s will understand this), but it might have actually been better… it was SO good. From there we went wine tasting. Casual, right? We laughed saying we felt so sophisticated at the fact that tasting wine was something to do with your friends here, because obviously it’s not something you can just do with your friends in the States. After that we went to famous Camps Bay and watched the sunset at a restaurant right on the water. It was a wonderful day and so fun to share it with such a good friend. Everyone had a blast and we were so sad to see him leave. I feel so blessed to have such great friends all over the world and it’s then when I am reminded of how powerful and sovereign God truly is. I know the Lord has me in the right place and I'm encouraged by that fact each and every day. I'm really looking forward to adventure week next week, but even more so to service week the week after. God is doing things down here and I'm pumped to be a part of it.