From Scuba to Cape Town

My second day of scuba diving was fun. There were big swells out in the ocean, so we weren’t able to take a boat dive like we planned. Instead, we went in the same spot as on Friday. It was very cool again. Saw some interesting fish and plant life. The water isn’t super blue like you would imagine, but it still had pretty good visibility. We were diving around the “6 pillars” which is the big cement legs that used to hold up a pier. Underwater, they are overgrown with plant life. I got to hold a flute fish, which is long and skinny like a flute and has a head that looks like a sea horse. It was moving very slowly, so we were able to catch it and all hold it for a little bit. After two dives and some more skills, I took my final exam and I am now scuba certified for life! So if anyone ever wants to go somewhere, invite me to come along!

All day Sunday and any freetime on Monday was spent working on my poli sci paper…which is finished! Nice to have that big thing check off my list, but the week after spring break there is another one due! I seriously cannot understand how this teacher would enjoy reading 25- 14 page papers. Monday night I had to stay up late to register for classes online in Central time. So that was fun. I guess what was the most fun is that it is the last time I’ll be registering for classes (since I’ll be student teaching in the spring)!!

Tuesday morning we woke up early, loaded our bags and hopped onto a bus to begin our spring break! 10 hours later we arrived in Cape Town. This is supposedly the best city in South Africa, and so far it’s beauty really ranks high. It is a very metropolitan city bordered by the ocean on one side and mountains on all the others. Most notably is Table Mountain, which is flat like a table and often has a “table cloth” of clouds hanging over it. For dinner we went to a restaurant called Cape to Cuba which had a very interesting mix of food. I had a pasta that wasn’t anything spectacular; but other people had enchiladas with all sorts of weird things in them including onion rings and curry. It really was from Cape to Cuba!

It’s Wednesday now, even if this doesn’t get posted till later in the week or once I get home. This morning we went to see the District 6 museum which told another story of a section of town that kicked out all the non-whites to make them move into townships, similar to ghettos. This museum was different than others that we have seen so far in that it had a lot more community involvement. Many of the people who used to live in District 6 contributed to the exhibits, so that was cool.

About half of our group just left to go climb Table Mountain which is a very strenuous 3 hour hike. I chose to go with the other half of the group to a Holocaust Museum and then take a cable car to the top of Table Mountain. We will meet up with the rest of the group up there, walk around on some trails on the plateau, watch the sunset and then all take the cable car down. It should be beautiful. I am still indecisive about whether or not I made the right decision to go to the museum over the hike. I really wanted to do both and if my plan works I will be able to. We have a free afternoon on Saturday, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to hike the mountain then with a couple people who didn’t go today. But if the mountain is covered in the table cloth, which apparently happens a lot, it will be too dangerous to climb. So I will for sure see the top of the table mountain, I just don’t know if I’ll get to hike it.

I just wanted to get some of this written down now, so I don’t have to try and remember later. Or try to post it all at once! Everyone in my group is praying for those at home who are dealing with this new blizzard, and of course the floods in F/M. Sorry your spring break has turned out to be so long Anna!! Nice to have the time off, but maybe not in these circumstances. I hope everyone else is doing well at home. I know that Mac and my dad printed off most of my blog to bring to Grandpa and Grandma in Arizona this week, so they’re getting caught up on all of this too!