Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
A few days have passed and I think I'm finally getting settled in. Only took a week. I started working finally and although I think I'm learning a lot, I hate being inside when it's so beautiful outside. Right now, my boss Sean is in the midst of restructuring Obzside so he has me researching various business models in SA. Also, I managed to get sick already. I got a cold the third day I got here. I think that it has something to do with the fact that my bed was built for an umpaloompa. I feel like Will Ferrell in Elf. I also didn't think that it would be that cold at night… I was wrong. I finally got to meet all of my roommates which I thought was odd seeing as I've been here almost a week. Everyone seems chill but we're all too busy to hang out at the moment. Not quite as exciting as the other local intern who's roommate was crawling through the attic and fell through the ceiling. The pictures were pretty good. Monday night we hiked Lions Head during the sunset, Epic. I also forgot that I'm not invisible yet again because I tried running up the trail. Once again, disappointed by my mortal reality. Besides my lungs burning, I enjoyed it. I could see the whole city as well as all the clusters of houses that had no electricity. There is currently an energy crisis here and to combat the amount of demand, they have rolling-blackouts throughout the entire city. Every area looses power for at least 2 hours, once a week… at least that's what they say, but seems like blackouts happen more often and not on schedule. It hasn't been that bad except for the fact that wherever I am, the blackouts seem to follow. Speaking of energy, we don't pay for power every month, like in the states. We have a box that has a digital readout, indicating the number of credits remaining. These credits amount to energy and once the number gets to 0… no power. You purchase credits at convenience stores and receipt contains a password that you type into the keypad on the outside of the box. I don't know if that sounds strange to any of you but I thought it was a great way to monitor your energy consumption. Anyway, back to the hike. We hiked down in the moonlight, which was really cool, and later went to a Mexican food restaurant. I'd been talking with the other interns about how Melissa and I are burrito fanatics and how much I needed my fix. Was nothing compared to Lonestar, Qudoba, or Chipole but I'll manage. One of my goals I had while I am down here is to go kayaking and I got to do it yesterday. Sean has a brother who owns a Kayak school, so he took me to the Waterfront and we played Kayak Polo. Wasn't the kayaking I expected to do, seeing as we were playing in a man-made canal, but I can't complain. Days are starting to get colder already and most local South African's are talking about how fall is upon us. Kind of a bummer, having winter twice and no summer, but apparently is snows not to far away from here. I saw in the paper that someone had even gone skiing a few days back. After a little research, I found out that the University of Cape Town (UCT) has a skiing club! All UCT students who are a part of the club also get free equipment rentals and lift passes…. You heard right, lift passes. There is actually a ski area only an hour or so from here. I'm sure your all surprised because you had an image on what South Africa would be like and let me assure you, I'm just as surprised. There are so many more things I want to do while I'm down here so I can't wait to get out and do them. A look into the future: I start my Open-Water Scuba certification on Tuesday, and will finish on Wednesday with a few shore dives. I'm also planning on visiting Robbins Island on Sunday to visit where Nelson Mandela was held captive for 27 years. With any luck, I'll go to a wine tasting and convince others to share the costs of traveling up the Garden Route (road going up the western coast) to do the world's highest bungee jump… We'll see. Cheers!
- comments