I love South Africa

On the way to South Africa:

We had Neptune’s day on Valentine’s Day and the crew marched through the halls playing drums and yelling “wake up” around 7 am. Then around 8 they made an announcement that everyone had to come to the top deck and when I got up there people were taking turns getting this blue liquid poured on them which was suppose to be fish guts, and it smelled horrible! After that you jump in the pool and when you climb out you have to kiss these two big slimy fish and then kneel before King Neptune, who is actually our executive dean, and kiss his ring. After that was done they started shaving heads, and surprisingly about 15 girls did it, but I was not one of them! This day also happened to have roughest seas so far on the voyage, so that made a little more interesting. And for lunch we got hamburgers and hot dogs that we didn’t have to pay for… probably the best part!

Two days before we had our first global studies exam but it took us a really long time to get our grades back. Everyone did really badly for the most part, but I got a 90% so I’m really happy with that. It seemed like the average was in the 60s. I think a lot of people don’t even show up to the class, but I actually really enjoy it. Then the last B day before South Africa I had my first Finance test, but I have no idea how I did… I won’t find out till we’re back at sea.

I ended up getting bumped off my operation hunger trip that I was super excited for because they changed the day to a day that I would be on my safari. On the bright side, they ended up having extra room on the habitat for humanity house, so I will be helping to build a house the first day I get there!

South Africa Day 1:

I woke up at 5:30 am to watch the ship pull into port and see the sunrise, as I plan to do for every port. I went up to the seventh deck and it was still dark outside, but I could see Table Mountain!! It was so beautiful, I can’t even describe. I was so excited to be in South Africa, it is the port I was most looking forward to. I just stood along the railing and starred out at the mountain. Soon it started getting light outside and I could really see everything and I took a lot of pictures. We didn’t have a good view of the sunrise but it was still really beautiful. Once the sun was up I went and got ready and then had breakfast with Megan and then got all my stuff ready for my habitat for humanity trip!!

At 8am we had a diplomatic briefing. There were three speakers from the US government that worked in South Africa. The meeting was actually on time and got done early and the ship was cleared right after, I was shocked! It was 8:45 and my trip left at 9 so I headed to the class where we were meeting. A lady told us a little about the program and then we headed off the ship. We got to bypass the long line which was really nice! It was so good to step on land again and the fact that the land was in Africa made it 1000 times better. We split into two groups of 15 and got on these small buses. As we were driving we first saw the big mall and all the shops that were right by the port, but as soon as we got a little farther out we saw the townships. They were full of shacks made out of whatever material the people could find. It was such a huge contrast.

In about 30 minutes we were at the township we would be building our house at. We got of the buss and walked into this fenced area where we were told a little bit about what we were going to be doing for the day and then we got back in our buses and drove to the house. Each bus had a different house. We got out and made a big huddle and were introduced to the homeowner and the other guys we would be working with. The woman we were building the house for was living in a shack in this township for the last 15 years. It was right next to the house we were going to build, and I cannot imagine how someone could live there and raise their children there. We ended with a chant and then got to work.

The house already had the first layer of bricks started by the guys before we got there. The first thing I helped with was mixing the cement. One part cement 3 parts sand and water! We mixed it on the foundation in the middle of the house and it was a lot of work. After doing that for a while we made a brick line to move bricks from the front of the house to the inside were we would be working. Next three girls and I were called over to help oil the doorframes and window frames. This is done to help keep them from leaking. Once we were done with that it was tea time! The homeowners provided us with tea and this fried bread with jelly in the middle that was really good. After this I went and helped more with cement, which I think they called duggert or something that sounded like that, and moving blocks.

Before I knew it it was lunch time! They brought us all out a plate with chicken rice and vegetable, which was so so good! I could have ate 3 more plates I think hehe. After this we went back to the house and filled in any holes in the cement and used sponges to get the extra off and smooth it out. There was also more mixing and brick moving. They began putting in the window and door frames and by the end of the day we had the first 8 levels of brick done. Towards the end of the day all the kids were getting out of school so we went and played with them. I can’t even describe how cute they are. I forgot my stickers to give to them, I’m so mad!! Some people had stuff to give them though and they loved it. We even got them to sing the national anthem because we had learned a little bit of it on the ship. I got a video of it, it was so cute! We had a tire that we rolled back and for with them and they loved to have their picture taken, especially when you show it to them on the screen after. It was so funny… this one guy was taking a picture of them and he wanted them to count to three and then he would take the picture, but they didn’t understand and just kept counting all the way to fifty. We were having so much fun but the project leaders called us over because it was time to clean up.

We started cleaning but then one guy called the girls over because he wanted to drive us to see what a finished house looked like. So we all piled into the bed of his pick up and drove over to another house. The streets were filled with kids that had just gotten out of school and they all waved to us. Something I found interesting was even though many of them lived in these shacks they still dressed really nice in uniforms for school. We got to see a lot more of the township as we drove to the other house. There were shacks that had signs that they were hair salons or kitchens. We got to the house and it looked really good. This lady also had the old shack that she used to live in right next door. I got a good picture of the two houses side by side. The shack is now actually used as a garage.

We headed back to our site and by that time the clean up was done. We got in another huddle and we thanked them for the food and the opportunity and they thanked us for our hard work. We also asked some questions and I found out they build about 200 homes a year. The cost is around 10,000 is US dollars. The part that takes so long is getting it approved to be built. We ended again with another chant and got back on the bus to the ship. It was probably the best trip I have done so far on this voyage.

When I got back I took a little nap because it was a long day of hard work! I got up and Megan and I met up for dinner on the ship. They had steamed rice and thanks to Megan my new favorite thing is rice with butte rand sugar! You’re supposed to use cinnamon too but they don’t have any on the ship that I know of. After this we were ready for shopping! There is a mall right in front of the ship called the Waterfront. It was like being back in the US, they had all of our stores! It was even nicer then any of the malls I’ve been to back home. There was even a grocery store in this mall… it was huge. The first thing we did was find an ATM and take out some rand. Then we walked around but there weren’t many stores we wanted to go in because it was all stuff we could find back home. We ended up buying some overpriced post cards and then Megan found a flag that she wanted and I found a cool t shirt! Next it was time for smoothies. Yum! Then we decided to hit the grocery store restock on snacks because the last 9 days at sea without snacks was really hard. I found these mango wafers which ended up being really good! I spent like 180 rand which I think is really only like 20 dollars. I think it was a pretty good deal. We carried all our stuff back to the ship and I began packing for my safari. I think I got everything squeezed into my little backpack. I leave at 4:45 tomorrow morning… I can’t wait! Now I’ve just been typing my blog and I’m hoping I will be able to post it and go to bed. I am now 10 hours ahead of the time at home, so weird. Anyways I miss everyone soooo much!! I will have more once we leave.