I have been here for almost 5 weeks now. So far this has been a great journey. I have seen and experienced some amazing things and worked with some remarkable people. There are times that I miss home, but I wouldn't call it home sickness. This week however, that has changed a little bit. For those of you who aren't family, my cousin and his fiancé are getting married this coming weekend. I wish more than anything that I could be there with my family! I am extremely fortunate to have a great extended family support system. I love them all and feel so thankful to have them. I feel that by missing the wedding I am missing a huge moment in not only my cousin and his fiancés life, but also a huge moment for my family as a whole.

I know that in life you must make sacrifices. I made the sacrifice to come here, in hopes of having an incredible experience. I do not regret it one bit because so far it has been incredible! Nevertheless, it is still hard to accept that I will not be in any of the family photos or there to help celebrate with everyone at the reception.

Knowing my cousin and his fiancé, and my family, I am certain that everyone is going to have an amazing and crazy time! I can't wait to see pictures and hear about it when I get back. I wish my cousin Andy and his fiancé Kimmie the very best and for the family members that are reading this, I love you all very much!

Besides missing home, everything else is going great. This past weekend was a blast (I posted some pictures). On Friday we went to Kalk Bay, which is about a 40 minute train ride away. We hiked up to the Boomslang Cave, which was absolutely beautiful. The cave reminded me a lot of the Ape Caves near Mt. St. Helens, for those of you who have been to those. On Saturday, Chelsea, Hannah, and I went to Simonstown to go to Boulders Beach to see penguins! Simonstown is about an hour train ride away from Cape Town and is located right on the coast line. Boulders Beach is a stunning beach just south of Simonstown and is inhabited by a colony of penguins! If this isn't cool enough, the beaches have the whitest sand I've ever seen and the ocean water is a beautiful green-ish blue color. On Sunday we went to hang out on the V&A Waterfront. We went to the Cape Town aquarium and took a boat tour in the harbor. On the boat tour we actually saw a whale right in the harbor! It was amazing and a great way to end the weekend.

This whole experience has been strange because I see daily how drastic the divide is between people living in the city or city suburbs and the marginalized populations living in the townships. My weekends are full of tourist activities, eating out, and traveling, while my weeks are full of witnessing the poorest of the poor. I was expecting this coming into this internship but it is still so overwhelming. Literally MILLIONS of people live in these townships and most of them have nothing. I've always known how fortunate I am but working in an environment like this has brought my gratitude to a whole new level. I am thankful for the privileged life I was born into and I am thankful I was given the opportunity to work in Khayelitsha and learn from so many great people. All of these experiences have definitely taken me on an emotional roller-coaster, but I wouldn't change a thing about this experience.