Sunday, February 1, 2009
We went to Breakfast at Tiffany’s today. The food was delicious – it is so cheap to eat out that we might make it a regular weekend habit. I went running with a few of the other girls and we also went to the beach for awhile. Nikki Reed arrived today! I am so excited to be living with her! It was nice to be able to get into my own apartment as well. There are very few shelves so it is difficult to know where to put things. Right now the game collection is on the floor under the TV, which is fine, but I am not sure how the maid will feel about that. I am not completely unpacked but I put up lots of pictures!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Bacon and Banana Pizza, Hello Kitty MIA and Mass
Saturday, January 31, 2008
We got up fairly early today. We went to the beach and swam for awhile. We went to lunch at a place called Leanardo’s in the boardwalk (a shopping center). I had bacon and banana pizza and it was really good. Everyone who sampled it thought it was good too J so next time I make a pizza from Papa Murphy’s don’t be surprised if it’s bacon and banana! Yum!
They play mostly American Music here. I have heard Taylor Swift more then once while we were out shopping!
After lunch we shopped for quite a while and walked back. We walk so much here. I love it! And it’s so warm out and right by the beach – it’s incredible. We took showers and got ready for church, which is less then 5 minutes away from Langerry (our flats).
Mass was pretty typical. A smaller church, not very crowded, mostly older white people. They welcomed a new parish priest this weekend and at the end of mass right before the final blessing he paused and said: “I believe we have some students here studying from America. Where are you? Can you raise your hands?” So we did and we had a short conversation with him explaining we were attending Nelson Mandela University and that their would likely be more of us next week since we had arrived a few days early. He then said a petition for President Obama since there had not been one prior. After mass everyone warmly welcomed us and wanted to know what part of the US we were from.
After mass I remembered I had left my Hello Kitty cup at Leonardos. Melissa agreed to walk back with me. It was quite walk and it was starting to get dark. We got there and asked about it and thank goodness they had it because we were booking it back to get back before it got really dark and before 8 pm. I got huge scrapes on the back of my heel and blood on my new white flats, but it was worth it to rescue Hello Kitty. J
We had dinner in the flats and then went out to Toby Joes. It was a lot of fun.
We got up fairly early today. We went to the beach and swam for awhile. We went to lunch at a place called Leanardo’s in the boardwalk (a shopping center). I had bacon and banana pizza and it was really good. Everyone who sampled it thought it was good too J so next time I make a pizza from Papa Murphy’s don’t be surprised if it’s bacon and banana! Yum!
They play mostly American Music here. I have heard Taylor Swift more then once while we were out shopping!
After lunch we shopped for quite a while and walked back. We walk so much here. I love it! And it’s so warm out and right by the beach – it’s incredible. We took showers and got ready for church, which is less then 5 minutes away from Langerry (our flats).
Mass was pretty typical. A smaller church, not very crowded, mostly older white people. They welcomed a new parish priest this weekend and at the end of mass right before the final blessing he paused and said: “I believe we have some students here studying from America. Where are you? Can you raise your hands?” So we did and we had a short conversation with him explaining we were attending Nelson Mandela University and that their would likely be more of us next week since we had arrived a few days early. He then said a petition for President Obama since there had not been one prior. After mass everyone warmly welcomed us and wanted to know what part of the US we were from.
After mass I remembered I had left my Hello Kitty cup at Leonardos. Melissa agreed to walk back with me. It was quite walk and it was starting to get dark. We got there and asked about it and thank goodness they had it because we were booking it back to get back before it got really dark and before 8 pm. I got huge scrapes on the back of my heel and blood on my new white flats, but it was worth it to rescue Hello Kitty. J
We had dinner in the flats and then went out to Toby Joes. It was a lot of fun.
The Longest Day Ever
Friday, January 30, 2009
I arrived safely to Port Elizabeth today. Leaving Minnesota and arriving here felt like “the longest day ever.” The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was about eight hours but four of us sat together and I occupied the first half of the flight by playing Caveman (like pac man). After winning ALL 25 levels I have felt quite accomplished (when I went to Australia in the summer of 2004 I had tried to accomplish every level and was unsuccessful) so I decided to leave the Congratulations on the screen for the rest of the flight! For the rest of the trip I played pass the pig, talked and slept.
In Amsterdam airport we walked around and we stopped at a little coffee shop. The lay over was only about 3 hours so it was not too bad.
The next flight to Johannesburg was l0 and a half hours. It was long. We did not have personal TVs like on the previous flight but they did show movies. I slept for quite a bit, journaled, colored and read but the highlight of the flight was towards then end when they showed High School Musical 3!
In Johannesburg we had an overnight hour layover. We couldn’t check our luggage because we were one of the last flights to come so everything was closed down. We should have been sleeping because it was night in Port Elizabeth, but sleeping on the linoleum with all our luggage proved rather difficult. I was successful for about 20 minutes though J So we talked on Talkie and played Kings in the Corner and Catch Phrase. We also met a young man from Iowa who played games with us.
It felt like forever to get our tickets and bags checked in on the flight to PE. But the flight was nice and short and I could see Africa out the window! We watched a short cartoon video about safety features and it was very entertaining, much better then the one showed in the states. Then they had a silent video for our viewing pleasure, but I think it would have been better with sound. We arrived, got our bags and met our director Gary and Vilma who brought us to Langerry.
Gary had us go grocery almost right away. It was a bit overwhelming because we only had a half an hour and no idea what we wanted to eat. It’s also weird because I am not moving into my own room until Saturday. In the meantime I am living with five other girls whose fifth roommate isn’t arriving until then. I like that I am not living by myself but it’s a bit frustrating since I am not able to move in and unpack.
We walked around the beach and I went for a run with Amy, enough time for me to get sunburned, but thankfully not as sunburned as most other people. I took a short nap and started this journal. I also found out that we do not have unlimited internet access as the flats like they had last year and we had anticipated this year. It is like $6 an hour so, unfortunately I will not be on facebook or skype nearly as much as I thought, so I would love some snail mail! But if you do facebook or e-mail me, don’t expect an immediate response.
That night we all went to dinner together and I had sirloin and calamari. The exchange rate here is amazing though – all 14 of us ate for under $150! After dinner we stopped by Toby Joe’s a place where they hung out a lot last year but it closing down on Sunday. However, it is rumored to re-open in a new location in about a month. We came back and went to bed early.
I arrived safely to Port Elizabeth today. Leaving Minnesota and arriving here felt like “the longest day ever.” The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was about eight hours but four of us sat together and I occupied the first half of the flight by playing Caveman (like pac man). After winning ALL 25 levels I have felt quite accomplished (when I went to Australia in the summer of 2004 I had tried to accomplish every level and was unsuccessful) so I decided to leave the Congratulations on the screen for the rest of the flight! For the rest of the trip I played pass the pig, talked and slept.
In Amsterdam airport we walked around and we stopped at a little coffee shop. The lay over was only about 3 hours so it was not too bad.
The next flight to Johannesburg was l0 and a half hours. It was long. We did not have personal TVs like on the previous flight but they did show movies. I slept for quite a bit, journaled, colored and read but the highlight of the flight was towards then end when they showed High School Musical 3!
In Johannesburg we had an overnight hour layover. We couldn’t check our luggage because we were one of the last flights to come so everything was closed down. We should have been sleeping because it was night in Port Elizabeth, but sleeping on the linoleum with all our luggage proved rather difficult. I was successful for about 20 minutes though J So we talked on Talkie and played Kings in the Corner and Catch Phrase. We also met a young man from Iowa who played games with us.
It felt like forever to get our tickets and bags checked in on the flight to PE. But the flight was nice and short and I could see Africa out the window! We watched a short cartoon video about safety features and it was very entertaining, much better then the one showed in the states. Then they had a silent video for our viewing pleasure, but I think it would have been better with sound. We arrived, got our bags and met our director Gary and Vilma who brought us to Langerry.
Gary had us go grocery almost right away. It was a bit overwhelming because we only had a half an hour and no idea what we wanted to eat. It’s also weird because I am not moving into my own room until Saturday. In the meantime I am living with five other girls whose fifth roommate isn’t arriving until then. I like that I am not living by myself but it’s a bit frustrating since I am not able to move in and unpack.
We walked around the beach and I went for a run with Amy, enough time for me to get sunburned, but thankfully not as sunburned as most other people. I took a short nap and started this journal. I also found out that we do not have unlimited internet access as the flats like they had last year and we had anticipated this year. It is like $6 an hour so, unfortunately I will not be on facebook or skype nearly as much as I thought, so I would love some snail mail! But if you do facebook or e-mail me, don’t expect an immediate response.
That night we all went to dinner together and I had sirloin and calamari. The exchange rate here is amazing though – all 14 of us ate for under $150! After dinner we stopped by Toby Joe’s a place where they hung out a lot last year but it closing down on Sunday. However, it is rumored to re-open in a new location in about a month. We came back and went to bed early.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
