A Video Slideshow Update

This has been a pretty packed week. As I mentioned, the first day of our orientation was a coach tour of the peninsula, different areas of Cape Town, the penguins on Boulder's Beach, as well as the famous Cape of Good Hope. The last few days have mainly consisted of lots of speakers... on many different topics. We've covered safety and crime in Cape Town and on campus, the libraries, technology, HIV/AIDS, information about registering for classes, as well as some general welcome addresses from UCT representatives.

I thought it would be interesting to see how the campus addressed the HIV/AIDS issue, since by some estimates, 28% or so of South Africa's population is HIV positive. I haven't really encountered too much obvious educational campaigning in the city. That being said, they've got a pretty active group on campus that works on education, information, and testing.

To finish the lectures off yesterday, we had two volunteering groups from the university speak to us. SHAWCO and Ubunye are both groups that work with youth in area high schools and townships... and I'd like to get involved with one of them, just not sure which yet. Afterward, we got on buses to visit a SHAWCO township site. Kara and I went to the Kensington site and saw a music school, as well as an elderly center, and a day care for parents that work during the day. The children woke up from their naps to sing Patty Cake, Patty Cake for us. It was probably the most adorable thing in the world.

Anyhow, I've been giving some thought to the best way to present photos, etc here. I decided to make a photo slideshow with some of the highlights of this week. I took something like 400 photos since I got here (all on my new camera), but here's the abridged version.



Click here to watch in HD!

If you'd like to look through the photos more closely, or see the explanations of any of them (I've got captions), you can go to this album. Higher quality, and explained!

Welcome To Cape Town

I still haven't gotten used to the roads and opposite lanes, I look the wrong way a lot. And I keep jumping back and forth between a feeling a paradise and a feeling of third world country. There is such a divide between classes, race, and privilege. I'd like to explore that a bit, a maybe take a relevant class. I schedule tomorrow morning, so I should figure that out soon! Hope everyone is well! As they say in Cape Town... Life is Good!