I still can't get over how beautiful this place is. Everywhere I look, I see something new. On Monday, we headed towards "High Africa" for some program bonding. We slept in cabins, participated in a high-ropes course and just hung around with each other. At night, we pretty much cleared out the tiny cash bar that was there and headed out to Stellenbocsh the next afternoon.
In Stellenbocsh, we made out way to Spier winery where we got in a cage with a cheetah, had our faces painted with traditional African designs and ate dinner at an incredible restaurant called Moyo, which was a all you can eat buffet that served about 30 types of meat and fish. It was seriously delish. I had never seen anything like it. We sat at huge round tables in a circus-like tent and watched African drummers.
We got home around 10 and got ready for our first night on the town....first to watch the soccer game at a local bar and then down the street to the PIG and Swizzle-a questionable establishment that apparently is not meant for international students. We'll keep that in mind for next time.
The next morning I met Jeff. Jeff is a South African man who lives down the street above the book store and cleans our entryway during the week. I bumped into him on my run the other day and he seems like a stand up guy. Gillian had never met him. That is, until she accidentally buzzed him in without checking. She ran to my room freaking out about the supposed stranger standing outside of our door. Naturally, I hid in the closet. Realizing I couldn't use that for protection, I asked again who it was and it was Jeff. Oops!
45 minutes later I knew everything about Jeff. His most interesting fact is his that he collects popsicle sticks that he finds on the street and makes decorative containers out of them. He kept offering them to us and I thought, "Wow! he is so generous!" Before I knew it, I was up to my neck in popsicle-stick towers (literally) and told him I would think about which ones we wanted. At the time, I didn't realize that he expected compensation and that he makes part of his salary off of these. He stopped by later that afternoon to say hi and I told him which towers we would like, and jokingly offered him 100 American dollars. Apparently Jeff doesn't understand sarcasm. He assumed I meant 100 Rand (South African currency). Because I haven't been her very long, I was having trouble realizing how much money I was spending on something I probably made for free at age 7. I said "okay, great". I didn't know what to do besides run to my room and get my wallet.....I think i need a lesson in bartering.
45 minutes later I knew everything about Jeff. His most interesting fact is his that he collects popsicle sticks that he finds on the street and makes decorative containers out of them. He kept offering them to us and I thought, "Wow! he is so generous!" Before I knew it, I was up to my neck in popsicle-stick towers (literally) and told him I would think about which ones we wanted. At the time, I didn't realize that he expected compensation and that he makes part of his salary off of these. He stopped by later that afternoon to say hi and I told him which towers we would like, and jokingly offered him 100 American dollars. Apparently Jeff doesn't understand sarcasm. He assumed I meant 100 Rand (South African currency). Because I haven't been her very long, I was having trouble realizing how much money I was spending on something I probably made for free at age 7. I said "okay, great". I didn't know what to do besides run to my room and get my wallet.....I think i need a lesson in bartering.
That night, we headed out on the town to Long Street. Long street is a very famous long strip of cool bars and clubs. It was so interesting to see the other groups of American students traveling in HUGE groups of the 20 people. I am sososooo glad that my program is smaller so that when we go out in groups, we don't make a scene and fall into the stereotype of being impolite and selfish...All in all I had a great night..
No comments:
Post a Comment