My converter's about to fall out of the wall

Quick description of the past week.

We did orientation for CIEE and got cell phones. That's about it.

Now on to today's post!

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So my luggage is somewhere in the states, definitely not en route to Cape Town, so it looks like I'll be buying everything I need. I got this awesome fleece jacket yesterday at Ackermans (it's like Wal-Mart, only more expensive....) and it keeps me very warm. Yay. I also spent way too much money at a place called Vertigo that had the best staff of any of the clothing places. I went to one first in Rondebosch and didn't buy anything b/c of the expense (they remind me of American Apparel) but the staff helped me get to Cavendish by hailing a minibus for me.

The minibus taxi system is really confusing and foreign if you've never traveled in one before. It's basically a 10-15 seater van, on the smaller side than the ones in the states. There's a driver and an usher type guy who pokes his head out the window while driving to yell at people on the street, takes money, and fits as many people as possible into the tiny vehicle. They're a rather informal type of public transportation, but they get the job done. For R5 (R7 is equivalent to 1 US dollar) I took the minibus to Cavendish (took me a while to actually find it as it's underground), a large mall in the area. While it's better than the Waterfront, there were still lots of expensive shops and I had to pay attention to where I was going because it was three stories and somewhat confusing. I walked in a two story circle at the beginning. But I found a lot of clothes and now I'm much warmer. I got socks at the Shoprite (grocery) down the street. Yay socks.

I have discovered that the problem with the cold here is that I like to sit around on the computer, not moving for hours and consequently losing what body heat I may have had.

Oh, the KFC in Cavendish was interesting b/c it was clean and modern looking. The food was basically the same. There's one down the street from where I'm staying so I am very tempted to go there instead of cooking for myself. Unfortunately it's not safe to walk out alone at night and I haven't made friends here yet.

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I haven't explained the living situation yet. I'm living in the res, which is short for residential dormitory. It's self-catered, so it's essentially an apartment with four bedrooms and a kitchen. The set up is two UCT (generally South African) students paired with two CIEE (generally American) students. For them it's the second semester and they just had a three week winter vacation. When I got into the apartment I thought I was the first one, but when the second CIEE student (Molly) arrived and we were talking, we realized that there was someone else in the apartment. I had pegged the flat (I'm gonna call it that b/c it's local slang and faster to type :_D) as belonging to guys because of a picture of Angelina Jolie (just her face, not her naked...) and a car on the water heater in the kitchen. But it turns out the girl (Snele...I apologize to her if I'm wrong on this) is just staying in the flat until the end of vacation (they call it vac. Hee). I also met her brother Smiley (not his real name) and his girlfriend Natasha (she's from Sri Lanka). Snele and Smiley are Zimbabwean and so are a lot of other UCT students I've met. It's like a trend.

Anyway, yesterday I spent most of the night (in between chatting online with you guys) hanging out with Snele, Natasha, and another girl named Kuni who lives in another res. They're really cool, politically incorrect and lewd, which made me feel right at home. There's drama to learn and I'm almost glad that I'm enjoying the native (quote-unquote) population more so than the American students. I really don't get along very well with the CIEE kids. I also haven't gone out at all because I get so tired in the early evening. Plus I have no desire to drink. *shrug* Go figure.

Let's see, there's lots more to say, but instead of describing it, I'm gonna point to the right hand side of the screen on the main page where I've added a slideshow of pictures that I took today during the tour around the Cape that was organized by the UCT international orientation committee. Tomorrow we're apparently taking an aptitude test to see if we're at least on the high school level. You'd think being in COLLEGE would be enough of a pre-req, but whatever. It's supposedly really easy.

I'm definitely going to feel less of a inclination to write posts if I consistently get boring comments/no comments from you all, so please encourage me....
even if it's in email/facebook form.



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Now playing: Mariah Carey - Just To Hold You Once Again
via FoxyTunes