so far, so "lekker"

Just to warn you, this first post could be a bit long. Stop complaining, it won't be as long as my trip over here :)

Where to begin? I guess I should explain why we suddenly ended up in Cairo, Egypt for a day. The trip to South Africa had been going smoothly (thanks mainly to Dr. Kluck for giving me meds to relax while flying; did I mention I hate flying??) until our 9 hour flight from London to Johannesburg. About ten minutes into the flight I was fast asleep (thanks again, Dr. Kluck). When I woke up, I checked the flight map in the plane that shows how far we've flown and how far we had left. When I saw that we only had over an hour left I was elated! I literally thought I slept for 9 hours straight and celebrated with a vocalized "yessssss" (complete with fist pump in the air- no joke, I was excited). Little did I know that the one hour mapping was showing our soon to approach emergency landing in Cairo. A passenger on our plane needed some immediate medical care so the pilot took the first landing possible. Because of certain laws restricting how long a pilot/crew can work straight, we had to delay our flight.

The Cairo Airport took our passports and bussed us to a hotel. I type that last sentence so casually but it's pretty scary arriving in the middle of the night to a fairly deserted airport while men with machine guns patrol. Not having a passport while out in the most populated city in all of Africa was also unnerving. This whole experience actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Arriving at a 5-star hotel with all meals provided and a room to shower/nap in was beyond wonderful after traveling for about 35 hours. And thankfully the passenger sought medical attention in time and is, last I heard, recovering!

Fast forward 30 hours, we're in Cape Town! Even though every South African we talked to on our flights only talked about the crime of the country, I was still more than excited to finally be there. It's honestly the most beautiful city I've ever seen!

Our living quarters are precious. I live in a house with 5 other study abroad students: 3 girls, 1 guy (poor thing). It's a Mediterranean-like cottage complete with 4 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath, full kitchen, dining area/den, porch and an outside shower in the garden. And yes, I used that shower this evening :)

On our first night in the house (last night), we walked (15 minutes) to the closest grocery store and bought supplies for our first dinner together. We grilled burgers. We may be in South Africa, but we're still Americans :)

Today was phenomenal. From 7:30 to 5:30 hundreds of study abroad students piled into buses for an in depth tour of the peninsula of South Africa. Words and pictures really can't describe its beauty. We saw countless beaches, penguins (yes, penguins), baboons, and historical sights of the city. For lunch we visited the Oceans View community center where we were greeted with a fantastic meal and even better stories. Groups and individuals performed dance routines (even a Michael Jackson tribute), sing songs and recite poetry. The performers were young people of the poverty-stricken and crime-infested community that decided to join the Performing Arts school to take their stand against being a victim of their circumstances. This was probably my favorite part of the tour today- seeing the passion of young kids who have all odds against them fight for their own future. And I'm not gonna lie, I squealed like a little girl when the MJ jams came on :)

We closed the trip with a pretty hefty hike up Cape's Point and then the Cape of Good Hope. It was quite tiring, but I had the voice of Mike in my head the whole time. I couldn't let my backpacking-nature-loving-leave-no-trace-outdoor-education-outdoor-ethics-following-father down :)

So, this was quite long and still didn't give half of the info or hilarious/awkward stories I had wished. But now that I finally have this thing up & running, I'm hoping the following posts will come quicker and won't be so hefty.

I love you all & I'll see you in the summertime :)

-les

PS if you're wondering about the title, "lekker" means 'good' in South Africa :)