Thursday, Sept. 02, 2004

here is a grammmatically incorrect description of my first three days here . . .time is precious when you pay by the minute

the first thing you notice about africa is the smell. i can't describe it to you. but it smells distinctly different than north america or any other place i've been before.

that was after stepping off the plane, where i flew over some of the most desperate looking places i have ever seen, the cape flat townships. its hard to believe that anyone even lives there, it didn't look suitable for my dog.

that night we ate dinner in a township. it was in better shape than the ones i saw, and its where i will be living for 7 days in a couple weeks. it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and it made me feel like before that i had never really experienced life, as corny as that sounds, i know. but that is how the majority of the world's population lives, adn as americans' we tend to forget that. its kind of mind boggling seeing that juxtaposed next to incredible wealth.

the plane ride was awful. but, you force yourself to get used to it after the first leg to refuel at cape verde, and there's a wide selection of movies, and after, you know, 17 hours you get yourself to fall asleep. they feed you a lot too.

the people here are incredibly nice. i've been told to watch out for the whites, because they're racist, and the blacks, they steal your money. this of course is true in a very over-general way. but they are some of the most welcoming people i've ever met, adn the black people will be incredibly nice, once you talk to them. they don't expect that i guess. i went with some people to a club (yes i know) that i don't think white people ever usually go. and it was so much fun!

i haven't really experienced much of south african culture yet, but as far as development goes cape town is just like any other city in teh us or europe, perhaps just a little more dangerous.

one thing that's interesting is the taxis. they're more like large vans. they probably fit about 10 people comfortably, but they squeeze in more than that. today i was in one with 16 others. its less than a dollar to go one way, and i geuss you get what you pay for. there are people in this group who have already gotten in accidents in them and who was in one that ran out of gas.

there are usually two people working in teh taxi, one who drives adn one who leans out the window yelling at people on the street and shoveling them through the door. you don't need to hail a taxi because if you'r emerely standing or walking down the street they'll stop and accost you. they drive crazy adn get in fights with other drivers for your business. i guess this is part of what poverty does to people . . .

i haven't yet been down to the city center, tht is saturday. haven't seen teh beach yet. but its still the end of winter here and cold, like october, and sometimes rainy all day. there is a large mountain in teh middle, which i have abeautiful view of from my house, that is always covered in this hypnotic mist. there are zebras and wildebeast that live on this mountain, but i've only seen them from a distance.

i am living in a house with 10 other people. we'll see how it goes. they're all really nice and i can tell i'm going to make some good friends on this trip. some say our house will be like the real world, i honestly hope its not! there is only two bathrooms, two showers that run out of hot water after a couple turns. at least there is a washing machine!

i can tell these next 3 months are going to go by so fast. in france i was counting down the days, but here i'm not having much problems adjusting to live here, probably because i have been around almost exclusively americans at this point and things here are really cheap. although i feel like i'm spending a lot of money, like i bought dinner tonight at a nice restaurant, and i'm like, what 20 rand for this, and then i have to remind myself that its only like $3.

anyway that is a brief description of what i've been doing so far. i've got a lot planned so i'll be writing more for sure as soon as i can.

i hope everyone is having a wonderful time in their new school year! good luck to you all! and i bought stamps today so if you haven't sent me your address . . .