Spring Break

Spring Break

Before I go into my trip to Cape Town for Spring Break, I just want to briefly talk about something really important.

On Sunday, as we were climbing a mountain called Lion’s Head, Daphne and I got an important phone call. As we were descending, Daphne got a call from our roommate, Niels. He informed us that our dear friend Dee had passed away earlier that afternoon. This was devastating news. Daphne, Niels, and I had all developed an important relationship with Dee during our time at Botshabelo. Dee was the 1^st grade teacher I took the place of in February. She was a mother, a grandmother, a sister, a friend and a savoir. She had two children of her own and a black son she adopted. Dee was white Afrikaans and she comes from a generation of people who were (are) extremely racist and unjust. However, Dee was different. Dee loved all people despite skin color. She even worked closely with the SPCA in South Africa and adopted and fostered multiple stray pets. She came to Botshabelo when her family business went bankrupt and took a teaching position. Dee was ostracized by her family for adopting a black child and the only people that would talk to her were her children.  Dee’s death will go unnoticed by many in her community and even her family, but I want to share with all my readers what a kind, loving, and beautiful person Dee was. Dee loved unconditionally, fought for equality and justice, and was a martyr for the underserved. May she rest in peace. We all love you and miss you, Dee. 

I also want to share my time in Cape Town, so please enjoy these pictures. The first group of photos is from our time spent in Muizenberg, a surf city outside Cape Town. I quite enjoyed our trip to this beach. The amount of manly attractive surfer men was almost overwhelming. BABE ALERT, you guys.

The next group of photos is from our trip to Robben Island. This is the prison where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years behind bars. It's a beautiful island off the Cape. Before Robben Island became a prison for political prisoners it was a leper colony. I actually have a silly story about the leper colony. Ok, so, when Daph and I were sitting in the tour bus on Robben Island, the tour guide started to explain the history of the leper colony. Daph's English isn't the best so I was helping her understand the tour guide. I was like, "Do you know what leprosy is?" and she goes, "Yeah, it's like this" and she bent her limbs all crooked and made this really weird sick face and all I could think was, "Yes... that's actually really accurate...". We were laughing so hard! But leprosy isn't funny, it's sad. Daph just does a really good leper impression. Enjoy these pictures.

Nelson Mandela's Cell

Nelson Mandela's bathroom!

A picture when all Robben Island Prisoners were released. Freeeeedom!

I feel like this would be a good time to start talking about apartheid... But, that will have to wait until next week after I have visited the apartheid museum in Johannesburg. 

Of course, we also spent some time climbing the mountains of the Cape. Here are pictures of Lion’s Head Mountain. Daphne was not a fan of this mountain. Kathryn and I, however, had an amazing time.

Anddddd finally, please enjoy these pictures of mine and Daph’s adventure with great white sharks. I don’t have any pictures of the sharks because I was too busy puking over the side of the boat. After 5 hours in the choppy waters of the Atlantic, I was so sick I couldn’t even lift my camera for pictures. By the time I was actually in the water with the sharks, I was so worried I was going to puke on the sharks; I hardly noticed the great whites swimming next to me. All in all this adventure would have been significantly better if I hadn’t gotten so seasick. It was still really awesome, though. I bought a video of our trip, so I can just show it to anyone interested when I get home. Luckily, they didn't film me vomiting everywhere.

See the outline of the shark?!

So, that was my Spring Break. After we got back to Botshabelo, I had to clean up a hut that was previously inhabited by a man who is now dying of septicemia (his foot was infected with gangrene and now the worms are just eating his entire leg). There is just nothing better than coming home from paradise to clean up an infested village hut! I got some good pictures of this experience. We ended up burning everything because all his stuff was infested with bed bugs. Have you ever seen a mattress ripple when you touched it? I have! And not because it was soft. It was infested with bed bugs. Seriously, this hut was a public health petri dish. We called each other the 'Septicemia Clean-up Crew 2013'. I have never smelled something so vile. I even found maggots that could swim and they had little tails. I researched them and they are called Rat-Tail maggots. They are often found in sewage. These maggots even live in gastrointestinal tracts. That means the previous inhabitant of this hut also had these worms because I found them in his toilet. YOU GUYS, I am a scientist. Thanks, wikipedia.

After we cleaned and disinfected

I love Cape Town. I love Africa. I love these people. I even love Rat-Tail Maggots. Maybe I won’t ever come back home.

Christy