A day off...

Today is Tyler's 19th birthday!! Although we celebrated before I left on this trip...I woke up feeling guilty and homesick this morning. I was a little off at the start of the day, but once I saw Kelly's email saying she was taking Tyler out to dinner for his special day, I felt much better. Then once I talked to him on the phone and found out the Kelly's mom made him Mickey Mouse Chocolate Chip Pancakes for breakfast...I felt much much better! I'm sorry to have missed his birthday, but this was the best time for me to come, work wise and with Rick's work schedule. Sorry Tyler. Next year we will celebrate extra! :)


Today was our first full day off. It was a beautiful day and nice to sleep in! I made a trip to a place called The Old Biscuit Mill. It was a market type place with some antique shops and glass bead stores, etc. They also had a section that was just food. There were people there making food. A small group of us went down for breakfast, as they sell "New York Bagels." Well I can't say that I've had a New York Bagel but it tasted like something I would get in Florida! :)


After shopping around for a bit, we took a taxi to an enormous mall....Canal Walk. It's one of the largest malls in South Africa. I needed trekkers (tennis shoes). The tennis shoes I brought are the nylon-ish running type shoe so the top of the shoe "breathes" however the playground at the creche is so sandy and dusty that the stuff comes in thru the breathing holes in the top of the shoe. I get home from placement and have to wash the sand out from between my toes!! So I bought new tennis shoes that are more practical for the sandy playground.


Then it was back to homebase for lunch and then a train ride down to Green Market Square! I love that place. It's the open market in the town square in Downtown Cape Town. Lots and lots of vendors selling their goods! The only thing I'm not really crazy about is you have to barter! BLEH! I don't like to barter and I find it stressful. I bought a few items today and I'm quite certain my bartering stunk. I probably could have gotten better deals, but I'm always afraid of offending them by not offering enough. So I tend to settle. At any rate...it helps those folks that need the money, so it feels good to buy their stuff and support them. I picked up a couple items today.


Tomorrow is a Safari!! I'm very excited! There is a group of 5 of us going. Our driver will be picking us up at 6:00 am. We are going to the Aquila Private Game Reserve. I hope we get to see a lot of animals!! I think I figured out (and all by myself I might add), why my pictures wouldn't upload! I needed to compress them!