Lazy Sunday

So this is my next update:
May 19th: Yay! My birthday! Jenny and I went down to the waterfront for the day. We tried to go to Robben Island, but the ferry was sold out. We ended up walking around and looking around at all the shops and the interesting sights. Along with happy hour, they also have something called cake hour, which is absolutely fabulous. We had some cake and tea on a terrace and watched the buskers. I picked up a great cd. After we got back from the waterfront, we set up for a BBQ (which here is called a braai). Some of Jenny's friends came over and we all grilled in the yard. Ostrich meat was absolutely amazing, I highly recommend it. It's like eating a big juicy steak except is has no fat or cholesterol. All in all it was a great time.
May 20th: The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we decided that it was a good day to go to the beach. We went to Camp's Bay, which is the big popular beach near here. During the summer it's completely packed, but this time of year it's pretty much completely empty. We sunned ourselves on the sand and I decided to go in the water, which everyone else seems to think makes me crazy. The water is absolutely freezing cold and there are sharks, but I had a good time. After that we went back to the waterfront to catch the ferry to Robben Island as we had reserved tickets earlier that day. All of the tours are run by former prisoners. The guy who was doing our bus tour was incredible and completely hilarious. He had been the Secretary General for the NAC and had been imprisoned on the island during Apartheid. We got to see the different prisons and buildings around the island, as well as tons of wildlife. There were a few different endangered species (we saw some Oyster Catchers, but I can't remember the names of the others). After the bus tour of the island we get a tour of the prison and we got to see the cell where Nelson Mandela was kept. The whole thing was really intense but totally amazing. After the tour was over we got to go see the penguins!!! They are so cute but apparently if you try and pet them they bite and could take off a finger. It's sort of bizarre as they live in bushes and you sort of assume that penguins live in cold places, but I guess not. We met Jenny's roommates Jason and Truda at the harbour and they gave us a ride back.
May 21st: We got up really this morning as we had to walk up to the UCT campus to take a shuttle to Jenny's volunteer project in the townships (Nyanga). It was the women's graduation today and they all came and got their certificates and there were all sorts of speeches and stuff. It was really amazing to see that this program is making a difference in people's daily lives. It's sort of a community centre that is set up in one of the townships and they offer programs such as HIV/AIDS education, health, business, entrepreneurship, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The women brought their children and there was food and lots of picture taking. After we got home we came and relaxed a bit for a while. Jenny used board with this woman named Denise and she came and picked us up and we went for high tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel. It's probably the best hotel in Africa and is ranked as one of the best hotels in the world. It's very old colonial. There's this huge buffet of finger sandwiches and tarts and cakes with fresh berries and fresh whipped cream. It's basically enough food that you'd never eat again. Each person gets their own teapot (like actually a large one) and there is a huge selection of different teas. Very yummy. Afterwards we drove up to Signal Hill and saw the amazing view. I of course took plenty of pictures. We drove back through Camp's Bay to watch the most beautiful sunset ever over the ocean and Denise took us for cocktails at a very posh restaurant overlooking the beach. I had a very yummy Mandarin Mojito (Ne, this is definitely the next drink we have to make. You'll love it). We were generally pretty tired after the long day so we just came back home to hang out. We are currently watching the Eurovision Song Contest (Holland didn't make it into the finals. We're not a musical folk). My favourite so far is the Moldovian Ska. I'm hanging out and using Jenny's laptop. I'll try and post this later if I can. We're hoping to go to the craft market tomorrow at Greenpoint, but it looks like it might be raining, so who knows. I will attempt to respond to people's postings, but the internet at the house is slow so I might not have time to read them and post. I definitely will though next time I go up to campus with Jenny.