Goodbye States, Hello South Africa!

Hey Everyone! I arrived safely here in Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday afternoon. Sorry for all of those wondering if I ever made it here. I had limited internet access at the hotel I was staying at for CIEE orientation and wasn't able to access this site. Anyways, I'm all moved into my house now and have full internet access! I live in a house on lower campus with all of the other service-learning students (all American) and a house representative who is a UCT student. Her name is Vavi and she is from Zimbabwe. That means that all together there are 8 girls and 1 guy living in our house. Poor Drew. :( We all have our own rooms and share 4 bathrooms so it's not a bad set up at all.

Cape Town is beautiful this time of year, even in the dead of winter! There is nothing as majestic as waking up in the morning and looking out your window to see Devils Peak shining above the clouds--simply glorious! I haven't done a lot of seeing the town yet because we have been stuck in orientation meetings all day, but we did go out for a traditional African dinner last night complete with African dance lessons! I can't dance back in the states, let alone Africa! Let's just say it was a great time with some hilarious memories.

Tomorrow we have the day off so my house mates and I are going to go shopping for some much needed household appliances (ie-coffee pot!!!) oh yeah....and food. :) There seem to be plenty of coffee shops around too so I think I will be just fine. Also, there is a frozen yogurt place just down the street so I can live with all the comforts of home....except heating..... As you may have guessed, I'm in the Southern Hemisphere which means its winter here and only a few buildings have heat. My room has a heating pad on the wall which is about 1.5ft by 1.5 ft and takes about an hour to "heat" up which is more of a warm than hot. If the sunshine is out, its not too bad at 50-60 degrees, but when you have no place to warm up, it's cold all the time Oh well, I only have a month and half more to be cold, then I'll be warm again.

Well, there's plenty more to write about, but we'll save that for another day. Until then, stay warm in the summer sunshine for me! Miss you all!