I can click!

Molweni, igama lam ngu Jessica.

That's isiXhosa for "Hello everyone, my name is Jessica." isiXhosa is one of the largest languages spoken here in South Africa, after English and Afrikaans (a more Germanic language that was created by the Dutch). I took an hour class yesterday in Xhosa because that is the language spoken by the people at my placement (more on them later). So, every time you see a 'C', 'Q', or 'X' in Xhosa you 'click'. However, they are three different types of clicks and extremely hard to master. They even have strange pairings of letters such 'mlh', another very hard sound for English speakers to master. So for now I'll just stick to clicking my heels three times in case I need to go home.

Back to the beginning-I'm here safe and sound with minimal damage from American Airlines. The flight to London was awful, had about an hour of sleep and had the open seat next to me taken up by a woman whose television set was broken. Slept less than an hour and then less than an hour at the hotel. We missed our tour of London the next day because the hotel told us it would only take an hour to get to the bus stop but it took well over an hour and 15 minutes. So Ashley (a fellow CCS volunteer from Chicago) and I spent the day touring London on our own and eating fish n' chips at the Sherlock Holmes Pub in Trafalgar Square. London is absolutely way too expensive but I find it to be such a magical city. This is the second time I've been there and next time I get to go I'd like to try to manage to stay for more than 36 hours. One day...when I'm rich...in the far far far future...

Boarding British Airways was a completely different experience. The food-gourmet. The attendants-charming, kind, accommodating. The seats-a bit roomier but much cleaner than AA. The perks-unlimited wine, care packets, and better movie options. I was thrilled and finally got about three hours of sleep. Spoke to the most incredible SA native who works for Dell. He and his wife invited me and some friends over for a brie (BBQ) and to meet his three children when we get the chance. We will definitely take him up on the offer one evening because he just gave me the best advice about Cape Town and so far he has been on the ball about everything.

Arriving in Cape Town was a breeze and we were greeted by Malinga. Malinga is one of the three drivers employed by CCS. They are in charge of pick-ups/drop offs at the airport, driving us all to our placement in the morning, and doing our group tours to museums and other spots picked out by CCS (a bit of a late side note: CCS stands for Cross Cultural Solutions, the name of my program & SA stands for South Africa). We have all immediately fell in love with Malinga. He is the grandfather I always wished I had. So caring, so funny, so paternal. When we picks us up from the placement in the afternoon he greets us with a huge smile and a warm hug and it's almost as if I'm in pre-school again and my dad has just come to pick me up. Included in his awesome taste in music (all things American plus he has the greatest African dance beats and tribal sounds) he is a huge DAVE MATTHEWS BAND fan. I just discovered this yesterday and I'm telling you, you should have seen his face light up when I told him my iPod had over 200 DMB songs and that he could have them all on CDs. We jam out to it and I give him the background on all of the songs. (Beth-his favorite song is 'Angel' so you'll have to tell Ashley because I know that is her favorite as well!) The children at my placement even chant 'Molo Malinga Molo Malinga' (hello Malinga hello Malinga) when they see the van pull up in the morning-he is a superstar in our world.

On to the house. It's a large yellow house in the Rosebank neighborhood of Cape Town located adjacent to Rondebasch where the University of Cape Town is located. The house is 150 years old and CCS is in the process of purchasing it from its owner. We have a gate around it and security hut with a 24 hour guard at the front entrance. There is a backyard garden area and a large back porch. It's quite old and needs a lot of work but it's very homey. It is a lot like living back at Sigma Kappa (especially since there are only two boys here) but Sigma Kappa would have been lavish compared to this. We make it work though and I have no real complaints.

Did I mention it's FREEZING? It's been in the low 60s with rain every day except for today. In the house I am bundled up in one of two sweatshirts I bought and my heaviest sweatpants. I'm wrapped up in my blanket 24/7. Today it warmed up to about 68 with sunshine and no rain. It's the end of winter so we're just expecting spring to show up soon or I'm screwed. What on earth am I going to do with the four pairs of shorts and countless tank tops I brought? I thought for sure I'd be sweating by now but the only time that happened was when I was dragging around my 80 lbs. of luggage.

I've already made some wonderful friends here, as you do with any international situation. It happened at CIMBA, it happened at Birthright, and it's happening here as we speak. Like I said, it's mostly girls so we have about seven of us who have found each other. There is still a bit of a division between the veterans (those who have been here for at least a month) and those of us who just arrived but I have found three veterans who I have come to rely on and trust. Two of my favorite ladies here are Jill and Pat. Jill is in her late 50s and she is a Scottish woman living in Hawaii. What an accent! Pat is also in her 50s (I think) and she is a Scottish woman living in Canada. They met by chance here and have quickly become best friends. They remind me so much of my mother and I wish she could meet them. They are brave, independent, funny women with hearts of gold. They will take care of us if we ever need it (Jill offered to hold heads out of the toilet if we get too rowdy one night) but they are just about as wild as we are. I have never laughed so hard as I did last night listening to the two of them banter about what's bothering them. They love to go out to dinner with us and do everything that we're doing. Tonight they went with a group to see some sort of naked opera. I opted out of that one but I'm sure the pictures will give me all I need to know. I'm excited to forge friendships with people from all over our country and in all different age ranges.

The food here is decent. Nothing I can't eat but nothing I would ask Lola to cook back at home. We have PBJ, cereal, fruit, juice, coffee, and tea available all day long but it's hard to stay at the house and eat because we have such a plethora of international cuisine to choose from at our disposal. Two nights ago we all went out to Mama Africa and I crocodile and ostrich! Ostrich tastes just like steak and crocodile could fool you for chicken. I obviously cannot afford to eat out more than once or twice a week but I will soon be trying the Mexican restaurant that is in walking distance as well as the Ethiopian cafe down on Long Street (the Mass. St. of Cape Town).

Nights and weekends are free except for the cultural activities and seminars that our program has built in to our two-week orientation. We plan to do a lot of exploring (anything free or extremely cheap) including climbing Table Mountain, visiting Robben Island, surfing lessons, and visiting the Kirstenbosh botanical gardens which has jazz music on Sunday evenings. This place is an extreme adventure capital so if I get the chance and decide to splurge on myself I will be going skydiving or jumping off the highest bungee in the world. Most people here are going shark cage diving on Saturday but I will be retaining my fear of sharks and staying on dry land. I just remind myself that it is good to be scared of something in this world and that we all don't have to confront our fears. I'll stay away from Jaws, thank you very much.

I know so much of this has been about everything EXCEPT for my placement and volunteer work but I have only been there Tuesday and today so I am going to hold off until my next or third entry because I haven't really formed an opinion about it yet. It is incredible what they are doing there but I really want to go into detail and I just don't think I could do that right now. But let's just say that there might perhaps be a small little stowaway in my 80 lb. luggage on my return flight. I do have over 40 of them to choose from...

(...I'm talking about the kids)

Good night for now. Below is my contact information in case you want to drop me a small letter or pictures you can mail it to this address or call me at this phone number. I will be getting an international pay-as-you-go phone shortly but until then use this #:

(011) 27 21 685 2699
or
(011) 27 21 685 5037

Cross Cultural Solutions-Post-net-Suite #3
Private Bag XII
Mowbray, 7705, CT, South Africa