I started school again on Tuesday. It was weird to back on campus after over two weeks off! Classes this week were normal and we didn’t have volunteering because Pendla had their fall holiday break. I turned in one of the three big papers due in this next week, so that felt good.
Last night we went to a play called Ours Was the Dawn. It was a very good play, made us laugh and cry. It was put on by a husband and wife who we have a very unique connection with. Our director, who has been researching South Africa for many years met this couple about ten years ago. I don’t know the whole story, but somehow they became good friends and Gary asked the couple to come to St. Bens and St. Johns to spread the story of South Africa. They’ve been to a couple times now and Ours Was the Dawn is the play that resulted from the very long plane ride over there. Some people from my group saw the performance last year when they came to MN, but it was my first time seeing it last night. After the play we met with them and just talked about South Africa and MN. It just seemed like such a cool connection!
Speaking of cool connections, I forgot to write this in my spring break post. But when I was getting off the boat at Robben Island, I saw a boy that I graduated high school with. I went to school with him for all grades and he was on my Odyssey of the Mind team when mom was our coach! When we saw each other we both just freaked out because it was such a coincidence!! He is studying abroad with Loyola and is going to school in Cape Town. We got to catch up, but then we both had to join our groups again. This seriously is a small world!!!!
Today we’re leaving to go on our Frontier Excursion. We will be staying with white Afrikaner farmers who probably have different views on apartheid and the new government. We’ll see though. The weekend will consist of horseback riding, game drives, hiking, swimming, meeting new people and lots more I’m sure. I’m excited for the weekend because I’ve heard it gives us such a different perspective on South Africa. We are a little worried because we’ve also heard that people in the part of the country we’re going to are racist and we have a couple people in our group who aren’t white. So I hope there aren’t any problems for them and that we can maybe build some bridges.
I’m glad you’re all enjoying my ostrich riding and bungee jumping posts! They were fun to do and fun to write too! I can’t believe I got the place of Grandpa’s ostrich riding wrong! But I guess there isn’t that much a difference between Australia and the Fertile Fair…
Friday, April 17, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Spring Break/Fall Holiday
Okay so here's how you can read the enormous amount of stories I just posted. Go down to where the post is titled "From Scuba to Cape Town" and that is the beginning of my spring break. I tried to break up the posts to make it easier to read, so you don't have to read them all at once.
Also, I want to add pictures to each post but the internet here is not working to my liking and won't let me post pictures on the blog or on Facebook. So it maybe a while for those. But I hope it's not too long and that it is a little bit interesting!
I hope everything is going well at home! Anything new going on since I've been gone? Whats the status in F/M? I want to wish Tyler, Mac, Erin and Andrew Happy Birthdays! There is just another thing to add to my middle child syndrome, all my "brothers" and sisters have their birthdays within 10 days of each other and I'm all alone in May! (I think that was planned.)
Anyway, enjoy this cause I sure did ;)
Also, I want to add pictures to each post but the internet here is not working to my liking and won't let me post pictures on the blog or on Facebook. So it maybe a while for those. But I hope it's not too long and that it is a little bit interesting!
I hope everything is going well at home! Anything new going on since I've been gone? Whats the status in F/M? I want to wish Tyler, Mac, Erin and Andrew Happy Birthdays! There is just another thing to add to my middle child syndrome, all my "brothers" and sisters have their birthdays within 10 days of each other and I'm all alone in May! (I think that was planned.)
Anyway, enjoy this cause I sure did ;)
Bungee Jumping
Saturday was the big day of the trip: bungee jumping. Now anyone in my group would tell you that I did not want to bungee jump, but you know the saying “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you too?” And the answer to that is, yes, I would jump off a bridge. Now if you thought the ostrich riding story was fun, this one will be a riot! Okay so I didn’t want to go, but it was only $70 (I think that’s cheap for bungee jumping and compared to sky diving) and this is the highest commercial bungee jumping sight in the world!! (Look up Bloukrans Bungee Jumping on google or youtube if you want to see it). So we pay, get weighed, get harnesses on such and such. Oh, three boys came and joined our group of 9 girls so we had 12 people from CSB/SJU jumping. We were taking a zipline to get out to the jumping site. This is just a huge bridge over a gorge with a small river going underneath it. One side of the bridge looks down the gorge into the mountains and the other side looks out into the ocean. I swear this bridge was built solely for the purpose of bungee jumping because underneath the bridge is a huge platform and that is where we jumped from.
So we’re all hanging out, waiting to go across the zipline to get out to the platform. Everyone is calling what number they want to jump off in the order. A couple people who wanted to go first went across the zipline. Then the man who was in charge of our group, gets off his walkie talkie and starts calling, “Lauren, #64.” Everyone points me out and he goes, “okay you need to get over there now because you’re going first!” I started to freak out saying, no I didn’t want to go first, other people wanted to go first. But this man said that the order was fixed by weight and I was going first! I fought back with him on this point because my roommate Alison weighed one kg less than me, so I tried to make her go first (she would’ve wanted to). But to no avail, I was sent across the zipline ahead of the rest of my friends! The zipline wasn’t that scary for me. The only bad part was you saw how high you were up and what you would be jumping down to: rocks in a little bit of water.
When I got over there, I kind of hid behind the crowd of people (this is a very efficient system and they were doing like 50 people in a group). I hoped they wouldn’t notice me, but they did. So I got called forth and they started strapping me up. I was on the verge of tears again, saying I didn’t want to go and that my friends weren’t there to watch me. By this time there were four girls who had come across and who were trying to get me excited about jumping. Again, a man finally took pity on me and said I could go second. They like to have someone heavy go, then someone light. So this heavy, old man went before me. But I was still the first person from my group, so it still sucked. Anyway, I’m sitting there with a look of complete terror on my face (this was all recorded on camera) waiting till I had to jump. They’re hooking me up and the man says that the more you weigh, the tighter the rope pulls so you’re safer….he’s telling this to the person who weighed the least…basically telling me that I was the least safe out of the group, great! They tie no knots when they’re attaching the bungee to your feet. I got all hooked up, carried out to the edge. I’m standing there with my few friends yelling behind me words of good riddance. I didn’t look down before I jumped, but I knew what was down there. The two men yelled, “5-4-3-2-1-BUNGEE” and pushed me off the side of the bridge!! I made sure I was going head first and I almost enjoyed the free fall. The rebounding wasn’t so bad either, it’s not painful like it looks in videos. But every time I rebounded, I felt like I was going to flip back over, so my arms were flailing all over the place. I don’t know how many times I rebounded, but it was a lot.
When the rebounds stopped and I was just hanging there by my feet, I got a chance to look around and admire the scenery. It was very pretty and not too scary until I looked up and saw how far from the bridge I was. As I’m hanging there, I feel like my feet are going to slip out of the rope and so I’m flexing my feet so I don’t fall! (I was told this is a natural feeling) I also felt like I peed my pants. I was certain that I peed my pants and the more I thought about it, the more I had to go and the more I got embarrassed about when I would have to go to the top. I started wondering where the man was who was supposed to come and get me and I thought people at the top might be able to hear me, so I yelled “Hello?” I got a “hello” back. Then I said impatiently, “Come and get me” and a man yelled back at me “I’m coming!” When he finally got to me I grabbed on to his legs so tightly and we began to be hoisted back to the top. He asked me how I liked it, but I just said I wanted to go back to the top. I was still so embarrassed that I had peed my pants so I was trying to cover that up and ask about a bathroom. Of course though, there is no bathroom on the platform. When we got to the top, they unhooked me and then a man started trying to talk to me, asking about the jump and stuff, all I said was “I really need to go to the bathroom” then I looked down and saw that there was a microphone on his shirt. I figured out that I was being videotaped and it was displayed on a tv for everyone else to see!!! AHHHH! Embarrassing! I immediately went to sit down and told my roommate Emma about the pee problem. She looked down and informed me that I had not peed my pants! I don’t know what I was thinking but I guess it was all just my imagination because luckily, I didn’t!
All in all this was another thing that is checked off the list to never be done again. I watched the rest of my group go and that was more fun. Then we went back and bought tshirts, pictures and dvds of our jumps. We all hopped in our cars and drove the two hours back to PE!
Since I’ve been home it’s been so nice to sleep in my own bed with clean sheets and towels. To have a new bunch of clothes to wear, clean laundry, warm showers, an actual kitchen. All the things you miss from home. I’ve been busy getting re-situated and now I need to kick out a lot of papers again for this week and next week.
So we’re all hanging out, waiting to go across the zipline to get out to the platform. Everyone is calling what number they want to jump off in the order. A couple people who wanted to go first went across the zipline. Then the man who was in charge of our group, gets off his walkie talkie and starts calling, “Lauren, #64.” Everyone points me out and he goes, “okay you need to get over there now because you’re going first!” I started to freak out saying, no I didn’t want to go first, other people wanted to go first. But this man said that the order was fixed by weight and I was going first! I fought back with him on this point because my roommate Alison weighed one kg less than me, so I tried to make her go first (she would’ve wanted to). But to no avail, I was sent across the zipline ahead of the rest of my friends! The zipline wasn’t that scary for me. The only bad part was you saw how high you were up and what you would be jumping down to: rocks in a little bit of water.
When I got over there, I kind of hid behind the crowd of people (this is a very efficient system and they were doing like 50 people in a group). I hoped they wouldn’t notice me, but they did. So I got called forth and they started strapping me up. I was on the verge of tears again, saying I didn’t want to go and that my friends weren’t there to watch me. By this time there were four girls who had come across and who were trying to get me excited about jumping. Again, a man finally took pity on me and said I could go second. They like to have someone heavy go, then someone light. So this heavy, old man went before me. But I was still the first person from my group, so it still sucked. Anyway, I’m sitting there with a look of complete terror on my face (this was all recorded on camera) waiting till I had to jump. They’re hooking me up and the man says that the more you weigh, the tighter the rope pulls so you’re safer….he’s telling this to the person who weighed the least…basically telling me that I was the least safe out of the group, great! They tie no knots when they’re attaching the bungee to your feet. I got all hooked up, carried out to the edge. I’m standing there with my few friends yelling behind me words of good riddance. I didn’t look down before I jumped, but I knew what was down there. The two men yelled, “5-4-3-2-1-BUNGEE” and pushed me off the side of the bridge!! I made sure I was going head first and I almost enjoyed the free fall. The rebounding wasn’t so bad either, it’s not painful like it looks in videos. But every time I rebounded, I felt like I was going to flip back over, so my arms were flailing all over the place. I don’t know how many times I rebounded, but it was a lot.
When the rebounds stopped and I was just hanging there by my feet, I got a chance to look around and admire the scenery. It was very pretty and not too scary until I looked up and saw how far from the bridge I was. As I’m hanging there, I feel like my feet are going to slip out of the rope and so I’m flexing my feet so I don’t fall! (I was told this is a natural feeling) I also felt like I peed my pants. I was certain that I peed my pants and the more I thought about it, the more I had to go and the more I got embarrassed about when I would have to go to the top. I started wondering where the man was who was supposed to come and get me and I thought people at the top might be able to hear me, so I yelled “Hello?” I got a “hello” back. Then I said impatiently, “Come and get me” and a man yelled back at me “I’m coming!” When he finally got to me I grabbed on to his legs so tightly and we began to be hoisted back to the top. He asked me how I liked it, but I just said I wanted to go back to the top. I was still so embarrassed that I had peed my pants so I was trying to cover that up and ask about a bathroom. Of course though, there is no bathroom on the platform. When we got to the top, they unhooked me and then a man started trying to talk to me, asking about the jump and stuff, all I said was “I really need to go to the bathroom” then I looked down and saw that there was a microphone on his shirt. I figured out that I was being videotaped and it was displayed on a tv for everyone else to see!!! AHHHH! Embarrassing! I immediately went to sit down and told my roommate Emma about the pee problem. She looked down and informed me that I had not peed my pants! I don’t know what I was thinking but I guess it was all just my imagination because luckily, I didn’t!
All in all this was another thing that is checked off the list to never be done again. I watched the rest of my group go and that was more fun. Then we went back and bought tshirts, pictures and dvds of our jumps. We all hopped in our cars and drove the two hours back to PE!
Since I’ve been home it’s been so nice to sleep in my own bed with clean sheets and towels. To have a new bunch of clothes to wear, clean laundry, warm showers, an actual kitchen. All the things you miss from home. I’ve been busy getting re-situated and now I need to kick out a lot of papers again for this week and next week.
Wilderness
Still on Friday we drove to Wilderness, all this time each night we were getting closer and closer to home. When we got there we checked into our hostel which was on top of a mountain over looking other mountains, the city and the ocean. Such a beautiful view again. This hostel was also a farm, yes on top of a mountain! We then went and rented canoes and went canoeing down a river that went from a waterfall all the way to the ocean. Well actually, we started at the ocean end and canoed to the waterfall. Well even more actually, we canoed till the river got too shallow and eventually had to hike the last 45 minutes to get to the waterfall. But this time there really was a waterfall and we went swimming in the pool that was formed at the top and bottom of the waterfall. It was super fun, beautiful and refreshing/freezing! And the canoe ride was fun because you know how I love canoeing! The paddles were weird though and they were one stick with a paddle on each end, like a kayak paddle. It worked though. The hike was easy and it was fun walking on the rocks around the waterfall. Everything is so gosh dang beautiful here, you wouldn’t believe it! Friday night some people went out to dinner, but I opted with the group that stayed on the farm/on top of the mountain. We cooked hotdogs, corn, potatoes, beans and s’mores over the fire. It was a great night for it, pretty cool and a full moon.
Ostrich Riding in Oudtshoorn
First thing on Friday, we stopped halfway through our drive to do a little ostrich riding in Oudtshoorn. The only reason I wanted to do it is because I remember Grandpa telling me about he did it in Australia. Anyway, I was so terrified of that ostrich I was almost crying. All the girls in my group were just laughing at me! The guy tried to make me go first, but luckily I passed that role off onto someone else. Then when it was my turn, I still really didn’t want to go, but since I paid $5 for it I felt I needed to. To catch an ostrich, you put a sack over its head so that it can’t see you and it becomes immediately calm (ostriches are one of the stupidest animals and have the mentality that if they can’t see you, you can’t see them). Then to hop on it, you grab each of its wings and sit kind of on its back, kind of on its butt so you’re almost falling off. Then squeeze your knees around its middle section and lean back! If you know how much I love animals, you can imagine how much I loved riding on this thing. It was seriously the worst, I was more scared of that ostrich than I was of skydiving! I rode it around the pen once, surrounded by other ostriches that seemed ready to peck me to death. Four of the other girls were running around with their ostriches too. One girl got bucked off by hers. I wish I did, but I was stuck on mine because they didn’t tell me how to get off! So I’m just riding this thing around, about to cry, with pictures being taken and such, and I’m yelling to the guy who works with these horrid birds to take me off. While I was trying to get on and while I was trying to ride and while I was asking to get off, these men are just yelling all these commands at me. And everything was contradicting! It was “squeeze your knees,” “lean back,” “lean forward,” “let go,” “loosen up!” So confusing, finally one man felt sorry for me and told me I could just let go and slide off whenever I wanted to. So I waited until I wasn’t completely surrounded by other ostriches and made my escape! As we walked toward the car I said, “There’s one thing I can cross of my list and I never have to do again!”
Mossel Bay
Thursday our group drove to Mossel Bay where we planned on doing shark cage diving. But the outfit was honest with us and said they hadn’t seen a shark in almost two weeks and advised us not to pay the large amount of money to go. We’re going to try and go back in a couple weeks, when “shark season” will pick up. Instead a couple of us went scuba diving and the rest of the group went snorkeling. It was cool, the water was clearer than in PE and there was more underwater life. Our guide brought food down with us and so we were surrounded by fish and even some small, and harmless, sharks came. They were swimming between my legs and stuff, it was cool. We only had to keep our hands in a fist so that they wouldn’t think our fingers were pieces of food. After scuba diving we went out on a jet boat, which I can honestly say I don’t think most readers of this blog who I am related to would have enjoyed (unless your Dad or Mac). It was just a really wild boat ride that went flying over huge swells. We weren’t buckled in at all, just holding on to a metal bar. Yes, I thought I was going to fly out. You had to stay standing because if you were seated when the boat came down on the water you probably would’ve had the wind knocked out of you. It was crazy. We did slow down once though to see a large pack/herd/family? of dolphins that were surfacing. So that was really cool. Afterward we went out to dinner again and then dancing!
Swellendam
Wednesday we woke up early and drove to Swellendam. We stayed at backpackers there that was very large with a lot of people staying there. We were in a room with ten people, so there was us 9 girls and then Nick from Germany. I think he had a good time because we included him in everything that we did. There was also a large family of baboons that lived at this hostel, or in the woods right by it. So we had fun watching them. About half of us went on a hike during the day to see a waterfall, only to find out that there was a drought and the waterfall was no longer existent! It was still a good hike though. Then we went on what was my favorite part of spring break! We went on a “Sundowners Cruise” (sundowner=happy hour drinks). It was a little drive away but in a lake formed from a dam. It was a huge, homemade, double-decker pontoon that took us on a cruise around the lake and down a stream through some cliffs. It was only us and Nick on the boat. We had a great time just going around on the boat and when we got to the cliffs, we took out kayaks and went deep into the cliffs to see a waterfall that was still running! Some people went cliff jumping, but I didn’t. The water was black from the roots of the trees that grow there or something like that. On the way back, the driver stopped and we jumped off the top deck of the boat. It was fun to swim in fresh water (although some people’s doctors warned not to swim in fresh water in South Africa) and of course to jump off from up high. Some girls were scared, but I helped them all jump! We went out to dinner at a seafood restaurant with Nick too. When we got back home we had a fire and made s’mores with weird crackers and strawberry flavored marshmallows, but it was good!
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