Friday, March 2, 2012

Clownfish and Homestays

Day 2 in South Africa started early.  Lauren, Liz K., Josh and I wanted to get to the aquarium at 9:30am when it opened.  We were a little later than we had planned, but we still left the ship by 9:30 at least.  It was only a 5min walk so it wasn’t a big deal.

The aquarium was pretty cool.  There were penguins, a giant tank full of clownfish designed so you could still your head inside and look at the fish from the inside, and a bunch of other cool aquariumy things.  We stopped at a photo booth and all piled in for pictures.  We figured since we weren’t likely to be able to take photo booth pictures in South Africa again for a long time it would be worth it.  And it was.

We ate lunch at the café beside the aquarium and then went on a hunt for the Chocolate Studio.  A friend told us she had went there the other day and was able to watch them make chocolate.  It sounded really cool, but I am still not sure we found it.  None of the taxi drivers we spoke to knew where it was and the guy who drove us just dropped us off at a chocolate shop.  So we walked down Long Street, where our friend said it was, looking for the shop.  We spent about a half an hour just walking down the street.  At one point we asked a shop owner and he pointed us to another chocolate shop.  The guy behind the counter said it was the chocolate studio when we asked, but said that they don’t make chocolate on weekends, so we couldn’t see it being made.  I am not sure it was the right place.  I had been picture Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and this was just a small shop, but I bought a couple of bars anyway.

We headed back towards the ship, taking a few wrong turns along the way and eventually ended up back at the docks.  I immediately ran to my room and packed for my homestay.  I had no idea what to pack since I had never been to a township before.  All I had been told was to bring nothing expensive and take a small gift.  I am not completely sure of how to explain what a township is other than that it is a very poor neighborhood.  They have a lot of problems with crime and it often takes up to 15 years to finish their houses.

I went down to meet my group.  We sat by the buses for half an hour because the bus driver had been told the wrong time, but once he was there we took off.  For some reason the person I had been told to room with was not on the ship so they paired me with someone else.  The lady I was paired with was a lifelong learner and I really don’t think she wanted to be stuck in a room with a college student, which was too bad since I am really missing having some adult friends.  But it was still fun.

We stayed with a woman named Nortemba (not sure exactly how it is spelled) and her family.  She made us dinner and answered all of our questions about her life and the townships.  People in townships set up shacks made out of corrugated tin and live beside the place where they are building their houses in order to make sure their materials are not stolen.  Nortemba had been working on her house for 9 years and it was still not completely finished, but I thought it was a very pretty house.  We walked around for a little while and met some of her family, but were still in bed by 10PM.

 

(Nortemba’s house)

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