Baboons, Buzzed Bicycling, and Bums

Our final days in South Africa were a whirlwind of equal parts fun and craziness. Sarah, Mac, and I road tripped down the garden route, with Sarah driving. Thank god she was willing to drive, because I never would have had the nerve. I hear that Maxine is the race car driver of the Cechvala family, but Sarah definitely could have given her a run for her money at times! After the first day we stopped getting confused about which side of the road we were supposed to be on, and things went pretty smoothly. Our first day we drove along the coast, stopping for beaches and pretty views as we saw fit. We spent the night in Hermanus, with enough time to watch both football games that night. In the morning we got a bit of a late start because we decided to stop at a travel clinic to get Mac her Yellow Fever shot before we left S.A. On our second day, we drove down to the southern most tip of Africa, which has a very end-of-the-world sort of feel, with huge waves crashing against jagged rocks and little tide pools hiding in the nooks and crannies. We took a very ecua-reminiscent photo of us standing on a plaque with one foot each on the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. We also made a couple pit stops off the side of the road- one to a cheese shop and one to a winery for a free wine tasting. Our last day on the road entailed a lot of time in the car, but it was an eventful day nonetheless. We got to stop and enjoy the beach at Harold's Bay, and made some friends along the way. There was a car full of boys driving along the same stretch of highway for a while, and after driving parallel to us for a while, they decided to moon us! Those were some of the whitest, hairiest bums I've ever been unlucky enough to see. After Harold's Bay, we hauled back to Cape Town, but not before we almost hit a baboon hanging out in the middle of the highway! There were five or six of them, just sitting around. You know you're in Africa when...

Our penultimate day in Cape Town, we went on a bicycling wine tour. We stopped at three wineries, and one brandy distillery. The wine was delicious! I got to learn a little about wine making as well, so I can pretend to be a wine snob, as long as people don't question my knowledge too carefully. Sarah and I split up, because she and a couple Brits we were with wanted to get back early to watch the football matches that afternoon. Sarah, to the surprise of absolutely no one, managed to flip over her bike and land on some train tracks. To be fair, it wasn't entirely her fault; she was scared by a friend, but how she managed to fly over her handlebars is still a little bit of a mystery to me. :)

We spent our final day in Cape Town preparing for our journey, and I finally met up with Peter! We met at the train station, and I immediately kidnapped him and told him he was going to Table Mountain with me. We bought some food and when we got to the top of the mountain had a nice picnic. The views we incredible! Cape Town really is a beautiful city. That night Sarah and I went to our second World Cup match, Cameroon v. Netherlands. The stadium was a sea of orange. Although the game wasn't important to determine who progressed to the next level, it was still an entertaining game. I was afraid that by going to two games, some of the magic would be lost the second time, but that wasn't the case at all! The energy in the stadium is indescribable. I don't think watching football with 40,000 avid fans will ever get boring.

The next morning, we caught a flight from Cape Town to Jo'burg, and started the next leg of our adventure: one week in Botswana! Stay tuned: Sarah should be writing about that leg of our journey soon.

Katie

England v Algeria for the Cupa del Mundo

So the World Cup fever has been crazy! The volunteering is declining since all the children are on holiday for the entire month of world cup (why aren't all countries like that?? :)). But, we have definitely been keeping busy!

On Friday, Katie and I along with a bunch of our housemates witnessed a rather unimpressive showing for the English team at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town....However, that is not to say that it wasn't ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!!! The stadium is unreal and absolutely beautiful and to see such football was just awe-inspiring!! Seriously, I was in heaven!!

Katie and I have also made a new friend, Mackenzie from Oregon! She's awesome and going to come along to Botswana and Victoria Falls with us in the next week! Yeah for making new friends! :)

We are currently driving the garden route for a few days...yes I said driving (aka me driving stick shift on the wrong side of the road for 3 days!! watch out South Africa we have one crazy American driver on the roads!!) :) I suggested decking out our new Mazda in American flags and obnoxious soccer gear just to provide an indicator to the other drivers...watch out! haha

Have an exciting wine tour on bikes planned for Wednesday...yes I am not quite sure why we are continually endangering our lives with modes of transportation... haha not really but biking to 4 wineries in between tastings should be entertaining to say the least!

Then we get the exciting opportunity to see Cameroon v the Netherlands on Thursday!!!!!! SO EXCITED FOR ANOTHER GAME! I need to buy a Holland jersey! :)

The off to Jo'Burg and Botswana on Friday....Southern Africa here we come!

More soon!
Sarah

Bafana Bafana!

Holy cow...where to even begin? Sarah and I have been in Africa for a week and it feels like we just got in yesterday. We started volunteering this week. On a typical day, we usually roll out of bed around 9, and head straight for the beach. When the ocean permits it, we go out and surf. The first day we got in the water, it was so cold neither of us could feel our feet, which makes standing on a board rather difficult. We've had limited success so far, but I'm not discouraged!

After lunch we head to the township to play soccer with the kids. The program we're doing is only about a month old, and so it feels like they're still figuring a lot of things out. In retrospect perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, but our first day I was a little disappointed to see that there are no girls who play soccer with us. There are about twenty boys, aged 10 or 11. We warm up and do some stretches to get started, and then do some drills and activities with them. The last 30 mins or so are devoted to a scrimmage. These kids are tough. The field we played on the first day was essentially mud and weeds, because it had been raining a lot. Some kids don't have shoes that fit properly or the soles are falling off, so they just played in the freezing mud in their socks. They get in fights with each other fairly often, on and off the soccer field. Volunteering with these kids in the afternoons is unlike anything I've ever really experienced.

Our evenings have been spent relaxing and making new friends. We are currently sharing a house with a few more Americans, a couple Brits, a South African and a Frenchman. Soccer has dominated our lives, especially in the last couple days. The energy and excitement surrounding the tournament is incredible! We've been watching games in Cape Town, where they have a fan park with a huge screen and lots of avid fans. Everyone is dressed up in their countries' colors, waving flags, and drinking lots and lots of beer!

This weekend we're taking it pretty easy, and just watching the football matches. Hopefully next weekend we'll be going on a wine tour and climbing Table Mountain, if the weather cooperates with us. I'm off to watch a couple games. Have a good weekend!

Katie

WORLD CUP MANIA!

So I just thought I would send a quick update and let you all know we're alive!! Things are pretty crazy down here..clearly! Skipper is going to send an longer update about our volunteering and all, but for now just wanted to let ya know that we're wrapped up in world cup mania here! Heading into Cape Town this afternoon to watch the opening ceremonies and the 1st match South Africa v Mexico and then France v Uruguay, but the big game is tomorrow...USA v England! :) watching it all from the fan zone in Cape Town with our new housemates! :)
Ps. picked up our tickets a few days ago!!! SOOOO EXCITING, I felt like I was Charlie in the chocolate factory...because WE'VE GOT THE GOLDEN TICKETS!!!! :) We'll be at England v Algeria on the 18th and Cameroon v the Netherlands on the 24th!!! SO HAPPY :)
More from Katie later!
Miss you all from the world cup capital!!!
Sarah

Back Back Back Again to London!!!!

So after the debauchery commenced (and yes we send our LOVE LOVE LOVE to Liz for as always being the hostest with the mostest.. <3) we finally boarded a flight to Standsted and hulled our tooties to our hostel late that night.

Clearly we took London by storm the next day, making sure that we saw everything that we hadn't gotten in our 1st 24 hours! Beautiful day, so we strolled the thames starting at the London Tower! Gave ourselves the cheap student version of the guided tour (aka read all the signs...imagined some fun stories and clearly took some hilarious photos). We then went to the Tate Modern...yes more ART but this one FREEEEE!!! So awesome...totally felt like a kid in a candy store with that collection.

Strolled across the crazy Millemium Bridge and ended up in Traflagar Square and visited the National Portrait Gallery. YES quite an Art day! After renting a audio tour which gave us quite insightful info..like George Washington never smiled because of his many painful sets of false teeth or the tragic story of Lady Grey..beheaded at 16.

However, after oding on art it was clearly time for a tall glass of strongbow! This was a major highlight because Skips and I stroll into the nearest pub called Halfway II Heaven, after a little bit of rudeness from the bartender, Skipper insightfully notices that there are only men in the bar..interesting. However, we then noticed the guides for the Gay Tour of London, yet we still weren't conveniences that we had walked into a gay pub...then we noticed flamboyant photos of men at Madri Gras that were strewn across the walls finally culminating with the fact that the pub's logo on the menu was a man with red lipstick on. Ok now let me explain why this was so absolutely ridiculous, because Skipper and I usually have no qualms with gay bars...in fact sometimes there are a rather nice time...yet this was the MOST AWKWARD gay bar ever!! Not a sole inside was speaking to one another...men in suites just standing around looking at the middle of the room!!! Bizarre and yes hilarious!

Our night cap that evening was Macbeth at the Globe! Best £5 I have ever spent!! The director draped the stage in with a black clothe and the people in the pit could stick their heads through the cut out holes..creating an eerie sea of heads..quite fitting for Macbeth! So Skips and I took advantage of that and took our Strongbow and Scrumpy Jack in our holes with us!!

Our last day in London was filled with making sure we got our fill of Strongbows and then a Charles Dickens walking tour! Quite informative (although it followed a path through LSE- London School of Economics- campus...oh sad!).

Got our butts on to Heathrow and shot over 12 hours later to Cape Town appropriately for Skippers bday!! Our volunteer program's operational manager Tim picked us up! We are staying in Muizemberg which is probably like 20 minutes outside of Cape Town in this really quiet surf town in a group house with a bunch of other volunteers! The fun begins on Monday! Skips and I saw the town and finally tried to hunt down some bday wine..apparently too late (since alcohol can't be sold in stores past 7) and let me tell it was a valiant effort and our search and yet sadly to no avail! Yet all bday's told Italy definitely made up for this rather quiet evening!

Getting ready to head to Robbin Island tour tomorrow (did this one with IHP but it is totally worth doing it again) with a few of the other vols who had planned it!

More from the current Soccer Capital soon!!!!

Midge

Our Final Day in Italy

Our final day in Italy was marked with even more gluttony and indulgence than was our first day. During the day it was a scramble to finish getting Liz packed up, and to walk around Bologna, saying good-byes and wrapping up errands. In particular, Liz needed to say good-bye to her seamstress, a Mexican woman who has lived in Italy for 19 years. Somehow, popping in to say good-bye led to drinks and food being delivered to the shop, and a good loooooong talk about this woman's dog. We went home and got all gussied up in various dresses belonging to Liz, and went out for one of the most amazing dinners I have ever eaten in my life. Liz has only been to this restaurant once in the year she lived there, but the owner remembered exactly who she was when we walked up. Who can blame him? Liz is pretty unforgettable. Anyway, it was a four course meal, and the prosecco flowed freely. As it was a dual celebration of Liz's last night in Italy and my birthday, we were treated to extra desserts, which were wholly unnecessary, but so very delicious. Toward the end of the meal, we were given a tour of the restaurant's wine cellar. And just in case we hadn't had enough, we joined some of Liz's classmates for a nightcap. In all, a fantastic night. We sent Liz packing at 3am, and hung around her apartment until we were ready to leave for our flight that evening. In all, it was an incredible two weeks. All the photos are currently being held captive on Liz's camera, but we will hopefully post them soon. Thank you, Lizcita, for an amazing trip!

Katie

Venice, Florence, and Rome

I know you all have been waiting with baited breath for our next blog entry, and I apologize for making you wait so long! For the last five days, I keep promising Sarah that I will write an entry as soon as we get back to Liz's apartment, and then by the time we actually get home, I'm too tired to do anything but collapse into bed. But as the title of this entry suggests, we have been to Venice, Florence and Rome all in the last week.

Venice was beautiful, and exactly what you imagine when you close your eyes and picture the perfect Venetian stereotype. It was also quite a bit cleaner and prettier than I remember it being seven years ago. We wandered around and got lost among all the canals and and alleys. We also popped inside Saint Mark's Basilica, which Sarah particularly enjoyed, being the art history student that she once was. We also walked to the top of the Basilica and appreciated the amazing views from the top. The highlight might have been sitting on the sidewalk, next to the Grand Canal, eating gelato and gossiping. We headed back to Bologna that night, and tried to get to bed early in preparation to our day trip to Florence the next day.

Florence was also lots of fun. Liz and I sent Sarah off the the Ufizi to enjoy more art, while we went on a hike to find this park Liz had read about that overlooks Florence. After trekking uphill quite a ways, we located the park, only to find out that if cost money to enter. Being the cheap graduate students we are, we declined to pay, and trekked all the way back down the hill back into Florence. We then retrieved Sarah and found a nice little place for lunch and wine. We walked to the Duomo and did a lap around it - truly an amazing building - we indulged in a little shopping, and then headed back to Bologna to prepare for our trip to Rome!

We arrived in Rome with some complications, mainly Sarah getting sick and nearly vomiting on the very crowded and sweaty bus. Luckily for everyone, she abstained until reaching the hostel...well maybe not lucky for her. Since we had very limited time in Rome, I deserted Liz and Sarah at the hostel and dashed off to go see the Shelley-Keats house, a museum neither of them had any interest in seeing. In short, it is a little, four room museum next to the Spanish Steps where John Keats died. They had lots of strange little artifacts from various Romantic poets, including a Carnival mask Byron once wore, a small urn containing the cremated remains of Percy Bysshe Shelley's jaw bone, a letter from Mary Shelley to a friend after her husband's death, Keats' death mask and so on...in short only things a literature student would find interesting, and not a little creepy. I met Liz after and we enjoyed a couple large beers with her friend Andrew, where we people watched, sitting in the grass in the shade of the Coliseum. Back at the hostel we picked up Sarah to grab some food.

 The next day Sarah was still a little sick, so Liz and I walked around in the morning and looked at some Roman ruins. We walked on the track where they used to hold chariot races, and looked from afar at Palantine Hill, where Romulus killed Remus back in the day. In the afternoon we met Sarah and went to the Vatican, where we had a pretty amazing tour of the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. The power and wealth of the Catholic church is somewhat awe-inspiring. We also walked by Pope John Paul's tomb under the Basilica, and got a far-off view of St. Peter's tomb as well. Sarah got a glimpse of her future husband (sorry Jesse), the Swiss guards who protect the Vatican. These Swiss soldiers serve a three year term at the Vatican; they are required to speak five major European languages, and trained in the martial arts, must be single, and no joke, must be esthetically pleasing in a uniform. After they've served their term, they also have the option for the Pope to officiate at their wedding.

 After the Vatican we three ladies searched all over Rome, hopping on and off various metro stops, to find a movie theater that was playing Sex in the City 2 in English. We finally found one, and indulged in popcorn, beer, and gummy candies as we watched a thoroughly American movie. To be fair, I think there were only three or four Italians in the entire theater; the rest were Americans getting their fix, just like us.

We decided to stay an extra day in Rome, since Sarah had been sick and didn't get to see everything she wanted. Unfortunately none of us had packed enough clothes or supplies for the extra day, and we were pretty ungroomed and gross by the end of the trip. Before we headed back to Bologna though, we squeezed in the Coliseum and the Pantheon. From what I learned, it seems Russel Crowe and Gladiator did a fairly good job of portraying the Coliseum accurately. Yes, they had lions and pumas and such that they fought against humans, and the emperor would often decide the fate of Gladiators during games, according to the crowds' desire. The Pantheon was also enjoyable. If was once a pagan temple that was converted into a Catholic place of worship in 600 AD. The poured concrete dome ceiling is something to behold.

After stopping by the Trevi Fountain and tossing a coin over our shoulders, we headed to the train station to go home.

Today, we're back in Bologna, helping Liz pack up her apartment and getting her ready for her move to Uruguay! Well, Sarah is helping pack and I'm writing this gi-hugie blog entry. I promise to keep the blog entries shorter from now on, and make them easier and more enjoyable to read. Hope you all are well, and Sarah and I miss you!

Lots o' Love

Katie