It was extremely sad to say goodbye to Cape Town on Friday evening but I couldn’t wait for my adventure in Durban to start. Our last day in Cape Town consisted of a small shop at V&A Waterfront, a visit to the University of Cape Town and a quick stop in at Muizenberg Beach. The Pearsons had a few vouchers to use up at the V&A Mall so after we checked out of our AirBnB at around 10am, we headed to the waterfront to look at some toy shops (for Lydia) and some clothing shops (for Zoe). Jenna and I stopped off at a coffee shop with a beautiful view of Table Mountain while the others wandered through stores. Table Mountain that had had some clouds on it and Mandy informed me that when it looks like that the locals say “Table Mount has a table cloth on today”.
UCT is a gorgeous school! It is placed right in the foothills of Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak, and it has an incredible view of all of Cape Town, the Chapman’s Peak mountains, and the ocean. One thing that I thought was really interesting was the fact that there is pretty much no boarding in South African colleges. In UCT for example, a school with 24,000 undergrad, only about 3,000 students board. All other students have apartments in Cape Town, and they commute to the school every day. I don’t like that there is minimal boarding because I think it would be hard to make friends without dorms.
We then made a quick stop at Muizenberg Beach for sight seeing. Muizenberg Beach is a really cool location because is right in the middle of False Bay, so you can see the entire bay, from Gordon’s Beach to Cape Point. It is also famous because of it’s claim to fame: the coloured changing huts! We took a few cool pics and enjoyed the gorgeous white sand before heading of to the airport.
On Friday I discovered another cultural difference between Americans and South Africans. Growing up in America, I was always taught to get to the airport 3-4 hours before your flight boards, but that is not the norm in SA. We were sitting a small cafe for lunch at around 1pm when Mandy told me that our flight started boarding at 5pm. Imagine my horror when I thought that we had FOUR hours to drive to the airport, return the rental car, check bags, go through security, and find our gate. I started freaking out and then everyone laughed at me because in SA it doesn’t take an outrageously long time to go through the airport. We ended up getting to the airport at 4 and still having an extra half an hour to spend in the airport lounge. Also, the airport security is extremely lax, I didn’t have to take technology out or shoes off, and Mandy got two large tubs of yogurt and a full water bottle through no problem. So weird to me!
The flight was very short, and we soon arrived in Durban! We landed at 7:30pm, and went straight to a sweet sixteen for Jenna’s friend Mishara. The party was really fun, she had catered Chinese food and churros, a dance floor and DJ, and a fire pit roasting an entire pig! The party consisted of her family and friends from Durban Girls College, which was awesome because I got to meet some of Jenna’s close friends. I met Josie, Amy, Mishara, Ashley, and Frances, another US exchange girl from Georgia. We had loads of fun dancing and eating, but I was definitely ready to go see Jenna’s house and sleep some when it was time to leave.
We drove through Durban, but I didn’t get to see anything because it’s winter here and the sun sets early. I did get to see some of Durban on Saturday, though. On Saturday, we woke up early, picked up Josie, and headed to the Moses Mabhida soccer stadium for a volunteer day with kids from Bhambayi, a local township. Mandy founded the Bhambayi Project 13 years ago, to help orphans from the Zulu township get more education opportunities and financial assistance. The kids got a tour of the stadium, and then debriefed, had a picnic, and played some games on the grass outside.
Josie, Jenna and I spent the rest of the day relaxing and talking at Jenna’s, and then for sunset the whole fam headed over to uMhlanga, a beachfront neighbourhood in Durban, for a sunset walk. uMhlanga (oom-SH-Lon-ga), is a more posh area of Durban, so I got to see the very fancy Pearl flats, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the nicest hotel east of Cape Town: The Oyster Box. The sunset was gorgeous, and I got to see the historical lighthouse of Durban, as well as, scope out some running areas for my preseason running program.
Sunday was a nice relaxing rest day, we woke up early and went to 9am church, and then had some of Jenna’s family over for a lunch braai. During church, Jenna, Josie and I went to youth group, where Steve and Normonde, a youth leader, led a session about the Bible and reading it. I haven’t experienced much church like that recently, but I actually liked it because it was very chill, and nobody cared that I didn’t have as much of a religious past as them. All my questions were welcomed and answered with enthusiasm. The braai was very nice, and I loved getting to meet more of the Pearson clan. I met Rosie and Adam, Jenna’s cousin and Jenna’s cousin’s husband, along with, Trev, Jenna’s uncle, and Rich and Roxy, Jenna’s cousin and Jenna’s cousin’s wife. We had a nice lunch with lots of interesting conversation about the South African government, the US Government, and the problems with the UK and Ireland, I learned a lot more about South African and British politics, which I found fascinating. Monday was spent with Jenna, Amy, and Frances. We went to the mall in Durban and then came back to Jenna’s, where Amy and Jenna prepped Frances and I for our first day of school tomorrow! I am a little nervous, but mostly excited! I look forward to writing all about it!
South African Adventure 