The Weekend

Hello All,

The weekend has past and we have now started the 2nd week of classes. Its crazy to think that we have already been here for 3 weeks. Regardless, this last weekend was a lot of fun. We started it early on Thursday night when we went to a poetry reading at the Aquarium. It was so awesome, there was free wine and cheese, we got to look around at all the fishes, and then we stayed for about 40 minutes of spoken word. It was really awesome and by some miracle it was only 40 Rand (about $5). No where else in the States can you get that kind of deal.

Following the spoken word we went out to dinner at this place called San Marco. The five of us had a great dinner for a total of about $50. The food is considerably cheaper here than back home which is pretty cool.

Friday we went to the University of the Western Cape where we had a lecture about the history and politics of South Africa. It was an extremely impressive lecture, as he gave a through lecture in under an hour, that would have normally taken 4 semesters to cover.

Then on Saturday we went to the Castle of Good Hope which is the oldest building in Cape Town/South Africa. This is base that the Dutch build upon the arrival of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). There we learned about early SA and its military history. Following the Castle we went to the Slave Lodge, which is a building where slaves were brought to be traded. The museum is based where the slaves were housed before the they were sold out front on a tree stump.

Sunday wasn't too eventful and I did laundry. The highlight of the night was free dinner at a restuarant. The catch was we had to listen to a talk about traveling in and out of SA during breaks. However, it was quite informative and some of the trips look pretty cool.

Today we had class and after a group of us went to Long St. and 3 of the girls got piercings. The bad news is that my laptop is not really working at the moment. So I am trying to get it fixed at the university's IT place. So at present I am unable to use a computer as much as I would like, but I am using Eva's laptop for the moment.

But for now, I will bid you goodbye. I hope you are doing well.

Lalani Kakuhle. (Sleep Well in Xhosa)

-Pat