More on arrival and first impressions..

Note to anyone thinking of entering a foreign country: always have your return ticket printed out and with you. I didn't even think about printing my return itenerary with me, and I almost didn't get into SA. They had me stopped for 20 minutes (after a 28 hour plane ride) trying to figure out why I was showing them an AVIVA paper that said the person traveling was Sammie. Obviously my name wasn't Sammie becaue my passport had Samantha on it, not Sammie. But eventually they must have gotten tired of it because they gasve up and stamped my passport and let me go through. It was an adventure though.

The first very stupid thing that I did happened at the airport getting into the car. I was getting in the front seat and I go to get in the normal passenger side for the States, but I end up getting in to the drivers side. The stupid thing is that I was so tired and jet lagged thatI didn't even notice. The AVIVA man laughs, hand me his keys, and asks if I am already ready to drive. :)

The second crazy thing that I did was expect all of the Brittish people here at the AVIVA house to understand my twangy American English. They still laugh at me everytime I talk. But, apparently there is an American guy coming in net week, so I want be the only one being laughed a

A note on Cape Town:

So far, I have been into the City Centre, the market, the orphanage, and the cinema. My first impressions are that Cape Town is a beautiful city, but it is over taken by crime and overall hate of Americans. It's really funny how the people respond to my accent versus how they respond to the Brittish and other European accents. I would never dare walk down the street by myself, or get into a mini bus or taxi. I'm very thankful for the group that I am with. I am also trying to copy the Brittish accent so that I can pass as one while I am here. :) IT would help me out a lot!

The AVIVA house where all the volunteers live is in Table View, which is about a 25 minute bus ride from the City Center. The bus that takes you between Table View and the City center is apparently brand new, and it is a fairly safe center filled with security gaurds and such (except for Americans, and even the security guards hate us). But, anyways, on the bus ride we get to pass through a lot of the rougher areas of Cape Town and get to see the 'real' Africa. It is just like you see in pictures, except much more real and much more depressing. Before, I thought the bums in Birmingham were sad, but these bums do not even relate to those. There are about 100 of them under one bridge. And they have acres of land beside the bridges that are covered in trash, clothes, and maybe even bodies, who knows.



But, Cape Town is the perfect place to experience a bit of African culture, see how real Africans live, and still survive through it all (if your smart, and not American). I am defintely getting a good taste of South African culture and I'm not exaclty sure how I feel of it, yet. I'm also learning ot speak with a great fake Brittish accent:)