I’m starting to settle into a routine here in CT. I have early mornings everyday which means naptime in the afternoons! Classes are going well but I’m still not in the school mode. I’m not a big fan of having each class every day because that requires reading every night which I haven’t quite gotten used to! My Econ class is going to be a challenge. The teacher knows my name which in this case is NOT a good thing! The teacher is kind of spastic and asks questions all the time in class and calls on the few people whose names she knows. There are about 40 people in the class and she knows like 8 names so those few people get called on quite often. I have two strikes in that class already! Before class started yesterday she was walking around the room talking to people and she came walking up to me and opened my book and goes what is the main point of the article and it took me by surprise so I was dumb and answered I’m not quite sure what the authors main point was. She laughed and started walking off and then turned around and goes you’re not a complete idiot because the main point is hard to find. Ya, great way to start off the year and then she asked me what my name was. So today she asked me this question in the middle of class and I tried to answer it but obviously it wasn’t the correct answer so she laughed and goes we need a Capetonian to help out Audrey. My face turned bright red of course! My other teachers are much nicer! I am loving African dance even though I’m sure I look pretty funny trying to dance! We have an awesome teacher who is a lot of fun and there are two guys that play the drums for our class. I was extremely sore after the first two classes and I have it again tonight. Ang, I have more respect for you after these classes! It is kind of funny to watch these two girls who are trained in classical ballet because they are so stiff trying to do the moves and the teacher laughed at them!
One thing that is very funny to me is that birds fly into the buildings and classrooms all the time! It is completely normal for these big ugly birds to just be flying around during a class. All the windows are open so they just fly right in. I was attacked by a bird three different times walking home from class last week in the same spot! He would come flying from a tree and make this screeching noise and hit me in the head as it flew by. I screamed one time and this homeless guy named Mike was sitting there and started laughing at me. The street that my house is on is where all the homeless people sleep and stay during the day. Every time I walk home somebody comes walking up asking for money. We have become friends with one guy named Mike who just says hi now and talks to us but doesn’t ask for money. He said he has been living on the same street for 13 years with his sister. They have a shopping cart full of stuff and a mattress that they sleep on at night. There is this other homeless guy, Denzel, who lies and makes up stories to try and get money. We asked Mike about Denzel and he made a face and goes ya I don’t like him, he lies all the time. It is a tough situation walking by those people multiple times a day. One of my roommates gave this homeless man like 10 cents he was carrying. A few hours later I went walking by him and he comes running up to me screaming and cussing and asking where my friend was because he was so mad that he only gave him 10 cents and kept saying “what does he think I can do with only 10 cents” and all sorts of other stuff. I just kept walking really fast and didn’t look at him and finally he stopped and walked off. My roommate was just trying to be friendly and apparently they expect more than 10cents. We were told to never give money, especially as girls because we shouldn’t ever get our wallets out in public. I personally have never felt in danger, but the danger is much more real here than back in the States. Cell phone theft is a huge problem here. There have been two students killed in the last two weeks because they tried to fight back when a robber asked for their cell phone and wallet. Just a reminder to never fight back and give them what they want. It is very uncommon for anyone to have bodily harm done to them because most crimes are petty theft.
Well on a lighter note I had a very fun weekend! Friday night I went to dinner and to see the movie Valentine’s Day with a big group of girls. Dinner was fun, but I was a little disappointed in the movie! On Saturday I had beginners sailing lessons which wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It was just students at the UCT yacht club and they didn’t really teach how to sail. It was still fun because that was my first time on a sailboat, but I never got to try sailing and I didn’t really learn very much. Maybe next time I will get to try it myself. Later that night I went to a performance called Black Noise which was hip-hop dancing and all sorts of stuff. It is an organization that teaches kids from the township and they were AMAZING. It was really fun to watch them dance. On Sunday afternoon I went to the waterfront with a group of people for lunch and to walk around. There is a six star hotel there called the One and Only. Some of us decided to sneak in and act like we were staying there so Nick and I walked in and a lady came up to us and asked if we were joining them for high tea and we told her we were just waiting on our parents! Every single girl in there was carrying around a rose since it was Valentine’s Day. We walked around for awhile which was fun and everything was incredible. I didn’t even know six stars was possible!
I am still loving my time here and all the experiences. I just got tickets to three world cup games which I’m so excited about! I really don’t know how CT is going to handle that many people coming for the games, but it is going to be interesting to see how it all works out! The picture is of me in the One and Only!
