Finally here!

Good Morning from the beautiful, wonderful, vibrant, gorgeous city of Cape Town!

As some of you may or may not know, I am in Cape Town for the semester studying at the University of Western Cape. I’ll be here until the end of June and I’ve decided (like so many others) to send out a large group email to keep everyone up to date on how things are going and what I am experiencing and learning while here. So, please don’t be offended by its largeness or broadness, just know that I am doing the best I can with limited email access (I guess it’s more like expensive email access) and the craziness of being someplace so new. But please email me back because I’d love to know how things are going with you (even if it has been a LONG time since we last communicated...I’m not so good at that...I seem to be getting progressively worse, actually). Oh, and if you think that there is anyone I missed who may want to see this, please feel free to forward it ahead.

So, after about 36 hours of flying and layovers, my group and I finally made it to Cape Town yesterday morning at 5am! At first I felt like I was about the only person who wasn’t excited when we landed. I just wanted to get off of the blasted plane and landing at airports has unfortunately lost its luster with me a bit. But after I came out of security and met our absolutely wonderful program director, Claire Collins, and saw the blue Cape sky I decided I never wanted to leave. Ha! When I say that Cape Town is beautiful, it is almost beyond description. I’ve had a few friends who have gone before and I’ve seen pictures, but it is not until you are here with the people, looking over the water, looking up at Table Mountain, and feeling the fresh breeze that you can fully appreciate just how incredibly and uniquely beautiful this place is. Uggh...its AMAZING!

When we got to our apartment, I got even more excited for the upcoming months. We are staying the neighborhood of Woodstock which is a great mix of people that is kind of on the up and up. The building we are staying in was a bought by a gracious man named Anwar a year or so ago and he has been working to transform it from a centre of neighborhood crime into an unbelievably lovely mix of a restaurant, a couple of businesses and then about 6 small apartments. Our rooms are all furnished with great antique furniture, tile floors, great windows, and views of Table Mountain behind us. Plus, the community here is great. Anwar’s parents are wonderful and we got the privilege of having dinner with his family last night. They are a great Muslim family with two kids and they have been so gracious with us.

This week is going to be full of firsts as we go to campus and register, as well as finishing up our orientation with Claire. I am most definitely nervous, but so excited as well! This is a country which has experienced deep pain and trauma because of apartheid, and it is kind of overwhelming to think about stepping into that even after a decade of democracy. But I know that this place has so much to teach my mind and my soul. My friend, Sara, challenged me to go into this semester with eyes open, ready to learn. I’m a person who loves to talk (I know, I know...surprising), and I think my time here will challenge me to shut my mouth and just learn. To love readily and be ready to be loved. To understand without having to know everything. I’m excited and I trust that my experience here has much more to offer than I can even fathom right now.

Well, I must go meet the local librarian to learn about the history of the Cape and Woodstock. Hopefully I won’t fall asleep and smash my head into a window like I did yesterday when the police were driving us around to show us what areas were safe and which were not...incredibly embarrassing.

I miss and love you all,
Dave