Relief

Holy crap August is about to begin. How the hell did that happen? So in terms of Arcadia I feel relieved. We met Will today, our new resident director. He has great credientals though the fact that he’s never been to South Africa or Africa at all makes me a little uneasy but whatever uneasiness I feel towards him, they are relieved by Tony our new professor for the core class. So the core class like they’ve been saying in those emails that I haven’t quite believed is still happening, so no need to add another class that I really don’t need….relief. So yeah, it should be good. I feel a lot better after meeting the guys and hearing what they had to say though it did get a bit awkward when Will started talking about Andrea and Kevin but I guess, that’s to be expected.

The day besides the meeting with the guys was good. I went swimming again. This time I was armed with a lock for my stuff so I didn’t have to worry every ten seconds to make sure my stuff was still there though really if they had been or even if I looked up just to see my stuff get taken, what could I do? Damn well nothing swimming in a pool…I could just see that not going so well. But that’s irrevelant what is importanct is the fact that I totally improved my back stroke today. I had to remember what back when I took lessons. That was at y and that was a while ago. But I definitely improved and I think I’ll do some reading on swimming so I can get even better. Plus I learned about a place where I can get goggles so I won’t have to worry about the whole water in my eyes thing which gets old pretty quickly…..there were a lot more people at the pool today probably because it was one instead of in the morning like it was last time (side note: its raining hard outside. It sounds awesome but I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow. Cape town is no fun in the rain!)

Hmm, I honestly don’t have the much to say. I went to sociology of health. It was interesting. It’s weird because some of the stuff I’m learning is exactly what I need right now. Like for example we talked today (I say “we” but really it was us listening to professor) about how social networks can be helpful in terms of health. For instance, people are less likely to commit suicide if they have a strong support system through church, friends, family, etc. It makes perfect sense but still hearing it just crystallizes things for me. I need to find a good support system so I can survive here. It is immensing helpful to be able to talk Loren. Trust me, I don’t know what I’d do without being able to talk to him but it’s also just a benefical if not more so to talk to people here because they’re going through similar things. It just takes me a while to get that comfortable around people where I feel I can talk about things like that….idk. just random thoughts I guess

One thing that was productive and exciting today was the fact that Amanda, Adam and I went to 2way Travel. It’s a student travel place. They have some great trips for spring break which is coming up soon. It’s the end of August for UWC kids. So I have to figure out what I’m doing quick. Right now, I’m looking at a 4 day trip to Kruger National Park. The big 5 are supposed to be there which are lions, elephants, and honestly I can’t remember the rest but you get the idea. It’s relatively inexpensive considering its all inclusive. The only thing I have to worry about is getting to Johannesburg and malaria pills, which can be expensive. Jamie has some pills that are $7/pill. The flight to Joburg (as they call Johannesburg here) is not too bad either. I found a flight today for $130. So we’re looking at about a $600 trip including the flight, the pills and the actual expense for the trip, which I mean sounds bad from a purely financial look. I hate the fact that I’m just spending money here not making it but when else will I be in Africa? Though I’m not going as big as Amanda is thinking about going, there is this great 10 day trip to Botswana and Victoria Falls which would amazing but its about $1800. That’s a bit out of my price range. I need money when I get back.

Another trip I’m looking at is much simpler but it’ll allow me to do other things. It’s an overnight safari. It doesn’t require malaria pills or a flight to Joburg and the price is sweet: $125. Then I could do other things like spend a day or two at a township and/or a canopy trip which I know is about $50. So yeah, I’m open to suggestions if any readers have any but I need to decide soon because if I need to book a flight it needs to be soon to keep the price down. Yup that’s about all here in Cape Town. I’m really glad the drama with Arcadia has at least died down a lot. Hopefully it’ll continue to be that way. Peace out