One week in the UK!

Well, it has been one week in the UK!

My journeys in Cape Town ended…well…abruptly. So, here’s the thing, I have always had an issue with military time. I know that it “makes sense,” but it never has to me. And yes, I even tried to “get used to it” and it resulted in me missing my first class when I was in Vienna. That is another story. Anyways, so the point, I hate military time, and military time almost caused me to miss my flight to the UK. I had my entire last day planned out. I spent the entire day barefoot, which you could do in my neighborhood, and walked to the beach, the farm village, did some reading, and some sitting in the sun. The girl were going to pick me up and take me to my bosses house where we would all cook dinner. We were supposed to pick up our friend to take him with us. Then, on our way to the airport, we were going to go by my host family’s daughter’s house and say goodbye to them. Well, as you can imagine, none of my afternoon plans happened. We went to my boss’ house and began to make dinner. At around 6 pm, 18:00, I went to print off my boarding pass. Now, the number 20:00 time has always confused me. I always look at it and think that it says 10 pm, which it doesn't.  So, that ENTIRE week I believed my flight to be at 10 pm. As I was printing off my boarding pass, I saw that my gate closed at 19:50. Now, I know that time. I know that 19:00 means 7 pm. So, I began to freak out because I realized that my flight was in 2 hours, not 4. We ran out of the house and dashed to the airport. The girls tried to get me to eat cookies to calm my nerves, which were running pretty high, but I was nauseous. So, my goodbye to Cape Town was more or less ripped off like a band-aid. In hindsight, this was probably a good thing, so that I didn't completely draw out my goodbye. On the other hand, all of my emotions hit me at once while I was in the airport, resulting in one uncomfortable woman sitting to my right. I was amazingly thankful that my friend Grace was on the other side of the flight in London.

So Grace picked me up at the airport and off we went into London! It was hard to realize that I was in the UK. It was, and still is, a very different environment. My senses were overloaded with the trains, cars, people, and buildings. We got to her neighborhood and it was beautiful! I was so overwhelmed with the environment and the wonderful stone buildings and uneven streets…which were not so great for my clumsy feet. We spent the afternoon walking around her neighborhood, hitting up various markets and tourist attractions. I was so thankful for having the comfort of a friend J

The weekend ended up being a Sewanee affair! Seeing Sewanee friends was so amazing, and we were all able to talk to each other about our experiences abroad. London was an amazing place, and it was so crazy being in a city after living in a farm neighborhood for the last 3 months. Here are some weekend highlights:

-Having dinner in Notting Hill, yes, I was freaking out a bit because I am a huge fan of the film, with Sewanee folks.

-Seeing Matilda the musical!! I really love Matilda and all of us had heard great things about the musical, which is a huge hit in London. So, Grace, Chris, and I woke up early on Sunday morning to get in line for student reserve 5 pound tickets. The theatre reserves 8 tickets for 16-25 year olds each show. Amazing, huh?! We were second in line, so we got the tickets!!! The show was AMAZING! The children acting in it were so fantastic! Mostly though, I was in love with the set! It was so cool! The floor looked like plywood, but then things kept coming out of the stage, like desks, chairs, and walls. It was decorated floor to ceiling with scrabble like letters, all in different fonts and colors. And the best part was, our seats weren’t even restricted view or behind a column or something!

-Hitting the art museum AND the British History Museum in ONE day. Not recommended. Never the less, it was a great afternoon!

-Going to an apple festival! There was all kinds of yummy apply goodness there. My personal favorite was a pork sandwich with apple sauce! Who would have thought about that?!

After leaving London, I caught a bus to Bristol to continue on my school adventure! I got to Bristol and had written down directions to the school. After exiting the station and re-entering twice looking for the street, I sought help at the information desk, where I was told that I should catch a bus instead of walk. Well, I started towards the bus stop, and then saw the street where I was supposed to begin my journey, so I decided to walk. Well, I got about halfway when I was confronted with about 6 flights of stairs. Now, in my google maps directions I had written down, “take the stairs,” but looking at the stairs, I was second guessing myself. I asked a girl if she knew the street on top of the stairs and when she asked me where I was going, she also recommended the bus. So, I turned around and found the bus stop. I kept my eye out for the school, since I only had the street name and no address number, but luckily, I found it! Woohoo!

The school that I am at is lovely! It is a Steiner school, so it follows the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. It is in a really cool old building and goes from play group through class 10. I am spending time with the older students, which has been really great, since I spent time with mostly the younger ones in SA. One thing that has really impressed me is their handwork. Steiner education really puts an emphasis on handwork and man, the things that these kids create is amazing! They were doing cross stitching, knitting, crocheting, and sewing. They made little animals, teddy bears, dolls, purses, glasses cases, all kinds of wonderful things. And I have to say, I felt a little embarrassed that I had to tell children I couldn’t help them because I didn’t know how. To which they would reply, “It’s easy,” and show me what they were doing. I can’t wait to spend more time there!

The good news about the UK, which I am thankful for considering the rain and lack of sun, is that it is fall here, YEA!! I’m just so, so glad that the leaves are out here! The only bad part is that winter is coming…and I don’t think that I am ready yet. But on the flip side, I think experiencing two springs makes up for that J

Bye South Africa

Well, I leave South Africa today and I just can’t believe it. The last two and a half months have flown by and it is now time to move onto the UK for new adventures.

I have spent the last couple of weeks here, thanks to the warmer weather, exploring the outdoors here. Cape Town is simply STUNNING and filled with mountains J hurray! The good thing about leaving this week is that my body can finally have a rest. My arthritic knees have been pushed to their limit…for now.  So, here are my mountain adventures.

As I have said before, Table Mountain consistently strikes me as regal. It towers over the city and it is beautiful whether it is covered in clouds, which I found is pretty normal, or against blue skies. The views from the top of the mountain are just as marvelous! We took the cable car, which had a rotating floor that really threw us, up to the top and then hiked around up on the top. The amazing thing about the top of the mountain was that you would continue to walk along the top and see different mountain ranges, lakes, and neighborhoods the further that you went. The entire length of the mountain took about 45 minutes to walk. The day was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, and the wild flowers were up and the frogs were singing. Walking along the ridge of the mountain was so peaceful, especially because it took us away from the crowds of people. It was a perfect, absolutely full afternoon on the mountain.

A few days after journeying to the top of Table Mountain, I went to the Cape of Good Hope nature park. In the park, there is the Cape Point, which is the tip of the Western peninsula. The park is hugggeee and there is a lot to do there. We spent the entire day at the park, which was much needed. In the park there were a lot of drives and walks that you could take. The park was beautiful! It was filled with wildflowers, rocky beaches, and breathtaking cliffs. We even spotted some assorted animals. The afternoon ended perfectly with tea with my host family. Tea, by the way, is one of my favorite parts of life here. I have always drunk tea, however, it was never a stopping point in my day. Here my host mom will treat tea as a break in the day—a time to pause and have some conversation. It is not just a way to wake up in the morning or a way to calm down at night. And it is best served with cookies, I mean, who doesn’t love a break in the day to have cookies?! Exactly.

The most recent of my adventures happened over this weekend. The girls and I had the fortune of meeting someone who likes playing outside as much as we do, and luckily, he has been able to show us a lot more fantastic spots. The weekend adventure began on Friday with a night hike up Lion’s Head, which is the mountain to the right of Table Mountain. The hike was strenuous! But man, it was so worth it! The top of the mountain, although it didn’t offer a great view of the stars, gave us a spectacular scene of the city lights down below. I was amazed with how brightly the mountain was lit up from the city lights, especially Table Mountain. Table Mountain had a dark and ghostly look due to the glow of the city lights. After the hike we went the piers of Simon’s Town and Kalk Bay and greeted some late night fishers. On Saturday we went for a hike at the Rhodes Memorial, a monument in town. We saw an old block house and decided that it would be our hike for the day. Haha, and another steep hike we faced. The day was much more windy and so when we finalllllly got to the top, we decided that we would have a long break and hide from the wind. Our small picnic at the block house had lovely views of the city harbors and some cool old cannons. The adventure weekend ended with bouldering on Sunday. By the end of the weekend I was finished! My body was telling me that it was time for a rest and a hot bath. Despite how tired I was, it was just the most wonderful last weekend that I could have in Cape Town!

And now, my adventures here come to an end. I cannot put to words the emotions that South Africa has brought to me. All that I know is that I have been so blessed to be in such a wonderful place for the last two and a half months. I have met wonderful people who have inspired me, played with unforgettable children, and experienced the kindness of strangers. What I have experienced here has changed me, pushed my emotions, and opened my eyes. I am terribly sad to leave; however, I know that it is time to leave and continue on. I am so thankful that I came here. South Africa has been a blessing.