Saturday, August 22, 2009

Final Day and Cape Wine Tour

So yesterday was the final day of volunteering. Paul and I decided to finish things up with whatever kids we saw by doing a group mural that could be put up. As it turns out, the teacher didn't expect us to be in and we had to remind her to bring us a group. She brought us one group and said she would bring another later on and never did. Because we probably saw the same kids once or twice, I didn't think termination would be as severe as if we had a consistant group. I definitely under-estimated the impact that we had on these kids. It was evident to me the day before working on the mural that we had really done something big for the kids, but the day after the teachers were talking about how the kids were raving about the mural. I could see the excitement in the kids' eyes that went as well. To me, it only took one really happy and appreciative kid to make the whole thing worth while. :)

After the final day, we had plans to go to Robben Island that got cancelled due to bad sea conditions. I figure, if these things keep cancelling, it must be some form of divine intervention - it is just not meant to be. We went to the waterfront and did some shopping, then went out to dinner with members of the other home base at The Africa Cafe - a place that brings around dishes for everyone to try for a flat fee. They also paint faces there and play music - it was pretty fun, but also pretty pricey. After that we went to Cape to Cuba, a Cuban influenced club, serving cuban themed tropical drinks mixed with natural cape drinks. We went out after that as well. It was a pretty long night, but heaps of fun.

If you couldn't tell by my short and simple phrasing now, It's pretty late now and I should get going to bed. Today we went on a Cape Wine Tour...of course, I didn't do any sampling, but I trusted the taste of my friends, so we shall see how their taste matches up :P. We stopped at three places - Fairview, Solms-Delta, and Tokara. There seem to be so many great wineries around here, I wouldn't know where to begin. If I were super into wine, I would probably have an absolute blast. We also stopped at a cheetah and eagle farm which was not very impressive (in fact, seeing them caged, having people pet them was kind of depressing). Needless to say, the sights were amazing as always, and I learned a great deal about wine and wine tasting.

Now I am staying at the Protea Fire & Ice, which is the ultimate in swank and is unlike any hotel I have ever stayed in. It is almost like a modern club turned into a hotel - with good, minimalist design and solid colors. The elevators are set up like shark cages, with images of sharks on the outside and rope lining a "cage" inside. I will have to take pictures and post them up. The internet is somewhat limited on this so I don't know if I can upload pics right now. I'll still give it a go. Goodnight allllll


-k

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