Post Offices without Packages, Cape of Good Hope

Monday, June 21st
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I regret not blogging all of these events sooner, as so much has been happening recently, that I simply have not had time to sit down and write it all down! Frankly, I don't remember anything worth blogging about that happened on Monday - but I have this nagging feeling that I did something important that day but forgot to mention it. I'm going to skip to Tuesday, though. Hope you don't mind.

Tuesday, June 22nd
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So today, Shelley finished her AWESOME video for Philisa Abafazi (I'm featured in it, too!) and we wanted to put it on the website. Unfortunately, uploading a video to the website using the internet at Lucinda's would 1) Destroy whatever internet bandwidth we had left; and 2) take approximately 3 days. Soooooo.. We went to Newlands to use ProjectsAbroad internet to upload the video, and do other errands for Lucinda.

I also was conveniently in the proper area to pick up packages that my family had sent me (thanks so much to everyone who sent something, I have received your yummy gifts, and I am consuming them now!) However, this was easier said than done. I arrived at Post Office #1 after a short 5-minute walk from the Projects Abroad office. When I said that I needed to pick up a package, the receptionist reassured me, "Oh, we don't have any packages here. How are you sure that it's here?" My initial reaction was to say, "YOU'RE A POST OFFICE! OF COURSE YOU HAVE PACKAGES!" but instead, I negotiated with her and showed her the tracking number for my package. This was largely unhelpful, as she said it was an invalid number (it was correct, actually.), but somehow she found the package. One down, one to go.

The next package was in Rondebosch, about a 10-minute walk from the office. But instead, I took a minibus taxi with someone else and got there very quickly. This package was picked up very easily, as this post office assured me that they did, indeed, have packages. I then hailed a minibus taxi by myself, got where I was going, and successfully patted myself on the back for using South Africa's premier public transport independently for the first time.

Shelley and I did other errands while we were in town, like exchanging Namibian money, getting Lucinda's cell phone repaired, and other various requests. We also took the opportunity to have a nice lunch at Cavendish mall, at a healthy sandwich cafe called Kuai, or something like that. Overall, it was very productive and nice to get things done. You can watch the video at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13z-WnR4IbI&feature=player_embedded

That evening was the Bafana Bafana match against France! Leo and I met up with some human rights friends of Ryan's to go on a sunset cruise (which apparently would have included a showing of the game and unlimited champagne) around Victoria Harbour, but we quickly found out that all of Cape Town shuts down for Bafana matches; the skipper was nowhere to be found. So, we watched the game at a seafood restaurant. I met some cool people, and.. Bafana won! Even if they aren't going through to the next round, it's nice that they are able to go out with a bit of pride.

Wednesday, June 23rd
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This morning, Lucinda arranged a trip for the children of Philisa Abafazi and the volunteers to go to Cape Point, which includes the Cape of Good Hope! It's actually only about a 40 minute drive from Lavender Hill, which surprised me. For those of you who don't know, the Cape of Good Hope is the most south-western point of Africa (not the southern-most, contrary to popular belief). Long story short, we did LOTS of climbing up very steep hills and mountain pathways to get some amazing views, and learned some great history along the way. Oh, and we saw BABOONS! Yep. I have a few pictures from the trip below.





Edit: I forgot to say that today was also quite possibly the most epic day in sports: USA beat Algeria, heading to the round of 16!! WOO!! And England won too!! And Germany won!! So all the ethnicities represented in our house (besides the Swiss one, who hasn't had his team play its final match) were very happy =]

Also, this. Wow. Wow. Wow.