Night #1

It’s my first night in Cape Town, SA and I’m freezing. It is so cold both outside and inside, and while I brought winter clothes, I just feel ill prepared, and just ill from being on a plane for 14 hours and now so cold that my body is stiff. The apartment we’re staying in, of course doesn’t have a heating system, and our hosts asked that we use the space heater moderately as it makes their electricity bill crazy. So they’ve left us a number of blankets and hot water bottles, but I just can’t with this weather.

On another note, I’ve been feeling somewhat anxious about travelling here the entire plane ride, and already, I’m feeling somewhat homesick (especially for the warmth and the familiar). I know, I just got here, but in these short hours, my in-country partner (we came in twos) has already left me in this house by myself (I was asleep, smdh). She went to go buy a cell phone, which is something I need to do too, so I don’t really understand why she didn’t just wake me up.

I know–I’ve roamed around many countries alone, just got done roaming about Taiwan, but it doesn’t feel the same, and also I always had someone to roam about with for the first few days. Now that I’ve woken up and put on 17 more layers of clothing, I don’t want my first experience in Cape Town to be my wandering around, alone, in the dark, especially as a woman. I just don’t think that makes a lot of sense, especially because I have no since of direction in this place and it’s kind of suburban: read–dark, and all the streets look the same. So now I’m frustrated because I feel like I have to stay here, and I know that by the time she gets back, she probably will have done everything she wanted to do (as in get food for dinner as well), or will have met up with friends she already has here, and won’t want to go out again.

*twiddles thumbs* *stomach growls* So…I guess I’ll just do some homework/fill up a hot water bottle and get back in bed. Great.

Well, despite this little stint of feeling sorry for myself, tomorrow is another day. I will meet with my mentor in the morning and finally (hopefully) get a full picture of what project I’m going to be working on the rest of the summer. I know it deals with health and human rights on the Western Cape, or at least that’s what was proposed, so I may either get more clarity or a new project all together. Who knows?

So here’s to trying to remain optimistic!