Introduction week

The aim of the week was to get used to new situations and to enjoy South Africa. What I can say is that I am totally in love. My house is super cute and adjusting to my new life is going very well.
My neighbors are super nice and the kids are like angels on earth. A lot of people say that you have to be careful because South Africa is quite dangerous. Just pay attention to your belongings and don’t walk alone in the evening. South Africa is beautiful and wonderful, but there are also bad things. According to my teacher, there is no problem in South Africa but everything is a challenge. It's so nice to hear that no matter what you have to stay positive. That’s also what I learned from the South Africans. Even if they live in a cardboard house they always walk away with a smile on their faces.

South Africa is rich with music, color, people and culture. Poverty is the only thing that’s not so nice to see. Children run around in townships without shoes and their clothes are dirty. They just want to have some food. Maybe for us it’s so normal but they don’t even have clean water. I’m sure that my heart skipped a few beats when I saw them. I cried a few times because I can’t imagine myself being in that situation. We are so blessed but at the same time we are blind. We can complain about a lot while others don't even have food.

Racial differences between white people and black people is still an issue here. It’s like white and black are not equal. I hope it becomes less with time because allot of South Africans become victims of that. I don’t want to talk about that issue because I think that everyone is equal.

Let me tell you about something nice. My first weekend was amazing. On my first Sunday we went to the Gordon Beach at Cape Town. To be honest with you it’s simply formidable here. The beach and everything around the beach was nice. After reading a book on the beach we went to a pizza restaurant. The pizza taste better than in Holland and it was so cheap. I paid like 5 euro’s for a pizza and an iced tea. I think if you really want to have a great experience here in South Africa you have to take your backpack and just walk and look around what will be your next stop. Tourist here can have a nice vacation without having much money and I can guarantee you that even the poorest person is happy here.
A tip that I have for you is to not forget to take water and a map because we got lost a few times, and
most of the times we didn't have anything with us. It’s so warm in Cape Town now but it’s so great. All of the houses are colorful and almost everyone has a lovely garden.

My first week was filled with nice experiences. The problem is that I can’t tell you everything because my blog will be endless, but I’m going to tell you the highlight.
Our introduction camp started on a Friday. We went first to the town of Cape Town, just for a walk. After that we went to a huge mountain where we took pictures and we eat ice cream. On that mountain you can see the Robben island and Tafelberg. It was really beautiful to see how perfectly God made South Africa. Everyone was laughing and taking pictures; seriously it was really nice.

I just want to say that I have never been on tour with a group of students before, but it’s so funny.
Everyone in the group is so nice to each other and especially the guys are super sweet. They can make a party everywhere. We also went to the district museum. The information that we got was similar to the history of my island. I was born on Curacao, a small island in the Caribbean next to Venezuela. If you want to understand why I have so much in common with South Africa, we have to go back in time. During the time of slavery, allot of South Africans (black people) have been moved from South Africa to Curacao. The white people took their freedom from them and turned them into slaves. It’s a long story, but I know you heard a lot about it. After all, the slaves got their freedom back. But after so many years we can see that there is still discrimination between blacks and whites. I don’t like to use ‘black and white’ because, like I said, everyone is equal. I learned allot about the South African culture and at the end of the tour I got a nice offer. The lady who was the guide wanted to hear more about my culture so now we have another meeting. How great is that??

Another highlight of my introduction week was the eating habit of South Africans. I didn't hear any comments about the breakfast, but everyone was surprised that our lunch was like a dinner. I don’t have a problem with that because on Curacao we also used to eat dinner at lunch time.
The problem was that most of the time we had two dinners on a day. Well the Africans can even eat three times hot meals. A meal without meat is not a meal for South Africans. Braaien is the most popular cooking style here in South Africa. Braaien is like Barbeque. If you want to eat some braai I will recommend you to go to Mzoli’s. It’s a restaurant in a township, in Cape Town. If you want to see how it looks like, I put some pictures below.
I was impressed by what the children eat. They eat a lot of chips and sweets. Unhealthy foods are cheaper than healthy food. So people who do not have so much money cannot always buy healthy foods.

The second day of the camp was really great and funny. We had a lot of activities on the beach and in the forest. Around 4 o’clock I was so tired that I decided to take a nap in the garden. I put my blanket on the ground and I fell asleep immediately. I wasn't feeling so well because a bee stung me on my foot. My foot was red and swollen, but thank God I got some medicine and now I can walk without feeling any signs of pain.

That night we went to a typical African party. Everyone was dressed up. I had a sweet white dress on with red shoes. The theme of the party was Valentine, so everyone must have had something red on. I danced the whole night, to be honest with you it was my first night out as a student. I felt super happy. I laughed and made fun of everything. It was also the birthday of my roommate so we partied the whole night long.

The funniest part of the night was that all the African guys though that I was an African girl and they tried to get my number and asked me a million times to dance. But I didn't like the idea so much, so I danced only with the students. I learned a lot of things at that party, but the cute thing was that they taught me how to do a South African dance. I was terrible at the beginning, but I’m a professional now.
(hahahha) I’m kidding.

That night I slept in a huge tent with a lot of girls. I was so tired that I just fell asleep. The name of the camp is ‘back to basic’; believe me, that was the best camp ever. I've done activities that I never thought I would do in my life. The last day of our camp I decided to help some ladies in the kitchen. Well, I baked like a hundred breads with eggs. It was very fattening for a breakfast, but believe me, everyone ate it.

I had a lot of fun during my first week here but after partying and having fun I had to start with my research. I’m so proud of myself because I tried to be social with other students, I learned how to live without Internet at my house, and I opened my mind and soul to be part of this South African community.

I did it! Now I'm ready to start with my last internship!

Till my next report.

Much love,