The End

Our trip is coming to an end. In about 3 hours we will be boarding the plane back to Johannesburge with a connecting flight to America. We should be arriving in Memphis sometime mid-morning on Sunday.

Yesterday we had an all-day safari at the Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Game Reserve. It was a great way to end the trip, to say the least. We all got some amazing pictures but they will not to do justice to the feeling of being feet away from a lion, hippo, rhino, elephant or giraffe. Other than the animals, we spent a few minutes looking at the stars. I can't describe how awesome the night sky looks in South Africa when away from the city lights. The Milky Way is very distinct and there just seems to be more stars here.

This morning, a few of us went down to the beach to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful and a wonderful way to close out our time here. Overall, our trip to South Africa has been incredible. I can't wait to tell everyone about the trip and share all of my pictures.

Later!
-Alex

Not the best photo but, this is the cell

Nelson Mandela lived in while he was

imprisoned at Robben Island.

Virginia riding an ostrich! There was no saddle,

you simply just held on to the animal's wings
and it went. Quite an experience.

This photo was taken at the Grahamstown Festival.
This man was balancing all of that on his head!!!

The next couple of days we are preparing to leave and

trying to finish our journals and portfolios to turn in

for our grades. We will try to post more pictures and blogs

soon. We miss everyone!

-Emelia Wilson

Well... our trip to Cape Town is coming to an end. We'll be checking out of the hostel this morning and headed to Cape Point and Hoop Bay. Supposedly, there is a large market in Hoop Bay and Cape Point is a place where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic. After our relaxing day we'll be driving back to PE.

Tomorrow the routine starts again. We have community service in the afternoon then lectures and community service throughout the week.

The night before we leave (17th) we will be visiting Addo Elephant park. That should be exciting!

Everyone is having a great time, but I think some of us are a little homesick. Evenso, we're looking forward to our last week! It will be great to see everyone and share all of our pictures and stories. For my family and friends, be ready for some serious story time when I get back.

Until later...
-Alex

Brief Update

We left early this morning for our weekend trip to Cape Town.

Believe it or not, I rode an ostrich today... just imagine that for a second. It was a lot of fun but kind of scary. You're supposed to grab onto its wings and lean back but, of course, I didn't follow directions exactly and ended up rolling off the front of ostrich. Good times.

We also visited the Cango Caves en route to Cape Town. They were beautiful and definitely worth our time.

Right now I'm in our backpacker's lodge about to hit the sack. It's about an 8 hour drive from PE to Cape Town so we're all pretty tired.

Tomorrow morning we're are going to tour Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela was held for a little over 25 years before being released in 1990. We've been studying all about the apartheid era and have focused on the resistance movement throughout the 90s so it will be interesting to learn more about Mandela's time on the island.

Until later...
-Alex

Just Now

I would like to point out the one cultural difference that has bothered me the most. The concept of the word NOW. To South Africans now means in a little bit or latter. They often use the term "Just Now." When we first heard this phrase we were very baffled and began to do the thing immediately which is not what they wanted us to do. Their concept of now can be broadened to even say that they have a completely different view of time. They may say, "O the bus will be here in 20 minutes." What this really means is an hour and a half later the bus will arrive. Another example would be when they say,"you can sleep in till 9:00," and then wake us up at 8:00 and tell us the bus is here but really only one bus is here and we rush and pack all our stuff for the weekend ahead and end up sitting on the sidwalk for 20 minutes. Why? we are waiting on another bus.....
these are actuall occurances

Sincerly,
-the very punctual Tall One

Nat'l Arts Festival

Yesterday we got back from the National Art's Festival in Grahamstown. I had an awesome time. To kind of give you an idea about the scope of this festival, I heard a statistic from a lady I met at one of the shows that stated if you were to attend every performance and exhibit offered from start to finish back to back it would take take you 5 months and some odd days. It was absolutely amazing! There was music, dance, theatre, visual art, poetry, street performances, vendors, circus type entertainment, and a lot more. Most people from SA plan months in advance before coming to the festival and plan each and every day: choose what to see, buy the tickets, plan out on the map where to go, etc. We, on the other hand, had absolutely no time to plan and we're kind of thrown into the who experience without much knowledge of what was going on. Fortunately, I made the best of it and somehow ended up with tickets to a couple of really entertaining and interesting shows. The first night was arranged by our university coordinator. We saw a comedy entitled "Learner Husband" which was kind of awkward considering none of us are married, but, for the most part, was very entertaining. Next, a few of us went and saw a jazz performance. It started with a young jazz choir, followed by a high-school jazz band, and concluded with a performance by a very well-known and talented University band from Cape Town. The whole performance was entertaining, but I especially enjoyed the college group. Jazz is always a lot of fun so we had a good time.

The next day I split from the group and saw a performance entitled "Intersections" that featured two small ensembles, one from Switzerland and one from South Africa. It was strange, to say the least. The Swiss musicians played some of the most modern, new-age, interpretive music I've ever heard while the South African groups played some of the most simple, yet powerful music I've ever heard. It was cool and I'm definitely glad I got to experience it. I also saw a Steel Drum ensemble from a prestigious all-boys music high school in South Africa. They played a variety of songs including american pop, big band swing, south african jazz, some of Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess, and songs from "The Lion King". They had an atlo sax, a trombone, and a trumpet in the band as well who would solo from time to time. The whole band was really talented and their show was very entertaining.

Enough of the music rant. We continue our lectures and community service this week then head to Cape Town this weekend!

Until later...
-Alex

The whole group at the farm we visited. We
certainly did not come prepared for this
weather.



This is our neighbors pet. Just kidding, this
beautiful lion lives at the Sea View Game
Reserve.

We are in the cage.....glad we made it out.

More pictures to come soon.

-Emelia Wilson