Hello from South Africa!

Hello there!

We have officially been in South Africa for over 24 hours :)  Hooray!

Our flight from Newark to London went well :)  We spent the entire day on Thursday walking around London.  It was crazy because we arrived without having made a plan of what to do, which is so unlike us to do!  We went to see Big Ben, the Parliament, the Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace.  We watched the changing of the guards, which was pretty cool.  Then we went to Covent Garden and walked around the shops, and we went to a little pub.  Lastly, we went to the British Museum, where we looked at different cultural artifacts and saw an exhibit of old and new Olympic medals.  The Olympic medals for the London 2012 Olympics were very pretty.  Tim will have to post some pictures soon.

Our arrival to South Africa was great.  Munya came to pick us up from the airport, and on the drive to campus we could see the mountains with Table Mountain in the background--it was beautiful.  We have been here for just over 24 hours and have experienced so many emotions.  As for me, I am very excited to meet people and learn the culture and get to experience South Africa.  Everyone I have met has been very friendly, welcoming, funny, and willing to answer questions.  My department is wonderful.  I will share my office with a woman named Monique.  Monique and Sashley are two women in my office who seem very fun and outgoing, and are excited to show me around Cape Town soon.  I am really excited for orientation next week.  I will be shadowing different people in my office and learning about the culture here.

This weekend is quiet, and it's been a bit nerve wracking.  It is more difficult than I imagined it would be to be in such a different culture and place with only one familiar companion.  It makes me feel great compassion for international students and the stress they must feel adjusting to the American culture.  The residence we are staying in is quite nice, and campus is very safe, which is comforting.  However, we have gotten mixed signals about us traveling off campus.  Some of the staff members we have met want us to go off campus with a driver (a staff member driving us).  Many of the students we have met told us though that we could take a cab or the bus by ourselves to go places.  So, right now we haven't quite figured out how to navigate going off campus to adventure and to get items we need for our stay.  Munya and D took us to the store last night, and Sashley took me to the grocery store, but as we unpack we realize we need other things from the town.  I am hoping that next week when I am at work, I can find out more information about how to safely travel by ourselves so that we can start going to the Waterfront and other places to have fun and go food shopping ourselves. 

Being the extrovert that I am, this weekend is challenging, but I think we can push through.  Next week is finals week for the students, so campus is very quiet.  And, because I just met my colleagues briefly in the office yesterday, Tim and I don't have any campus friends to hang out with yet.  Tomorrow, some students who are from other parts of Africa will be arriving and moving into our residence, so hopefully we can spend time with them too!  I think the most valuable thing I am learning is to just relax and be patient.  And to ask questions.  There are many different things here, and we can't understand or get help without asking.  Things in South Africa move slower.  (Not just the internet and phones lol, the processes and work do too).  So, we need to be patient.  Give the offices time to get us prepared and for us to adjust to the culture and learn how to travel and where we can go and what we can do.  Learning to be patient and take everything in stride is a very difficult task, but an important one.

So, that is where I am at.  I am excited to meet people and excited to learn about South African and the culture and how to travel safely and catch the cab and navigate around the town.  But, in the meantime, I need to be patient.  Take it all in.  Relax.   I miss everyone back home.  I tried opening Skype and it wouldn't connect, so the internet might be too slow.  Maybe it will work later in the week.

Sending my love home,

Kaity