Monday: Service Trip- Habitat for Humanity

Spent the previous night finishing up my account of the homestay for Marie (the communications/media reporter for SAS). She wanted to put it up on the SAS blog read by parents and folks. But anyhow, had to be up by 8 am for this service trip. I barely made it. I missed breakfast and was sad about that when I did drag myself out of bed. I got up with only a few minutes to spare. I actually forget what woke me up. Anyhow, tossed some stuff in my bag and grabbed my water and ipod. We were meeting on the pier. Got out there and it was a small group of people so far. Turns out a lot of people were no longer doing their service projects. I guess people didn't think Capetown would be as gorgeous and didn't want to be constrained. I gotta say, there were so many things I wanted to do and although we were going to be there about 6 days (minus one day for the weather, so 5). I had already half of my time eaten up by SAS trips. There was soooo much available. For one thing, all of the stores were alluring!!! I finally caved in and took money out. I wanted to buy everything. Seriously. Then there was the Table Mountain thing. I also wanted to do sky diving and sure I know it's available many places but I figured with the beauty of South Africa as a background, there was no comparison. I know plenty of folks who did it along with Caged Shark Diving. Neither are acceptable and if SAS found out they would get dock time. Our SAS insurance doesn't cover extreme sports...and I guess it's quite obvious to see how that makes sense. Then there was Cape of Good Hope, Castle of Good Hope which was the slave quarters...Cape Peninsula and Boulder Beach with the furry land penguins. Some SAS'ers went on wineland tours and came back pretty tipsy. Some went snorkeling. Some went on safari's. There was this booth on the walk for helicopter tours and I thought that would be cool...definitely wouldn't be covered by SAS insurance though. There was talks about visiting the District 6 museum. Oh the story about that is the government pretty much rounded up over 60,000 people and displaced them. As we left the city of Capetown, we drove through what looked like infinite rows of shacks where they were now housed. The museum served as an exhibit of what it was like prior to this. Again my point is there is so much to do in Capetown, SA and it is easy to get caught up in the glitz and glam...The habitat for humanity service trip was to build a house for a family who made less than 5,000 rand living in the district 6 shacks, which is about $723 in USD. The application process was very competitive as you can imagine.

It felt odd to be once again, traveling on a big mega-coach bus through broken down villages. We got there and had brief introductions and a “war cry.” Grabbed hard hats, wrote our names on labels and got to working. The previous SAS group before us had laid the foundation down for us so there was a skeleton of a house. What we would be doing was putting up the walls to differentiate the rooms. We would also create the steps and stoop, along with putting up the material for the roof. The last group who would come the day after us would finish up with the roof and whatever else was left. So we get started with the mixture to put between the bricks. We had to mix the sediment with cement and that wasn't an easy task in itself. Then, we created an assembly line to pass the bricks (which weren't ordinary bricks, but bigger, gray blocks) from outside and create a number of different piles inside. Just from doing that alone made me thirsty lol. We worked on and on, and it was very gratifying to see immediate progress. I thought about those in the construction business and see how it could be rewarding. I liked seeing what we were working on, develop right before our eyes. Very cool. Just very very strenuous work and the heat again, unlike any other sun. Heat or the sun rather, in Africa is serious. We finished up and got lunch (our boxed lunches). Mfundo took a long plank which we used as a bench to sit and eat. The boxed lunches from the ship are pretty full... we get a sandwich (not usually good though), a fried chicken drumstick, hard boiled egg, a piece of cake (we had banana nut), another type of snack (this time oreos, in the past, granola bar), a capri-sun, a fruit (got a green apple out of the bunch of us =) and some assorted condiments. The locals had took Eleanor with them to the store to get things for us but no one wanted to use the glasses they'd rinsed with the hose and drink some of the soda. That was like unspoken but obvious reasoning. We did try this bread like thing—it had the taste of a fried donut in that it was sweet but not overbearing. I guess it could be classified as a bread. It was very filling. Then it was back to working. I felt like I was dying. Definitely was taking a few breaks to drink my by then hot water, and hoping that the time would speed up. We worked on and on and finally we completed what we came to do. The walls for the master and second bedroom were completed, as well as the wall that would separate the kitchen from everything else. I had packed my camera but my bag stayed on the bus. We were working so much that I didn't even stop to take pictures. Fortunately Brittany (the SAS photographer) alternated between working and photographing. Before we left, we got in a circle and prayed again and did some team building chant. Hugged everyone and was on our way. We were stinky, funky, dirt and dust all over with cement and sediment on our clothes, faces and shoes. When we got on the bus, we all passed out and slept. I didn't even mind that there was little air.


Later that night:
I didn't notice my ridiculously two toned tan until I'd showered and change into a tank top. I had no idea it was as deep as it was. With the lighting in the 5th dining hall it suddenly became a lot more noticeable. The top of my shoulders remained its normal caramel color since I had worn a quarter sleeves shirt. From that point downward, was an oh so visible line where I had significantly browned several shades. Pretty funny. I'm going to take a picture for sure. But yes, that goes to show that African sun and heat is SERIOUS as I was talking about. Lol. Anyway, grabbed dinner with my roomie Mandy and Alex. Jack joined us as did Candice (the interport student from South Africa). We decided to head to the mall but we ended up splitting since Candice had to get back to working so Jack and I went. I found Eugene at the booth as he said and we chatted. Jack was across talking to the guy at a stand selling collectibles. Folks kept asking Eugene questions so I floated over and joined the conversation. The guy's name was David and he was 21 years old. What was crazy was he didn't have an accent and was from Zimbabwe, but he reminded me of someone from New York. Lol. Before long we were laughing, making jokes about Jack's obsession for collectibles, and answering questions about the ship. We literally stood there for hours talking to both David and Eugene. With just fifteen minutes to spare before the mall closed at 9, I went and got rands from the atm machine. Jack stood guard haha. Then we practically ran/walked really fast to the apple store which was amazingly different but similar... if that makes any sense. But they didn't have the dock with speakers he wanted so we left. Then we went to pick-and-pay which was the closest supermarket.. so many SAS'ers were coming back to the ship with bags of groceries. The minute we walked in, our faces lit up. I know mines did. It was simple but it felt like home. That's what Capetown, South Africa meant to us. It was the most westernized location of all the ports we had so far, and if we didn't know it then, we knew it now... we are creatures of comfort and that's what this meant for us. Walking through the aisles and seeing all of the familiar foods and seeing the deli sections with the salad bar, olive bar and routisserie stuff and not being concerned about dying if I ate or drank something was an enormous feeling!!! I wanted to buy everything! We went up and down aisles so excited, picking stuff up and sharing stories about them. The candy aisle was a hit!! As was the chips aisle! I ran for the Salt and Vinegar chips. Love those things! I'll even argue when I later got back on the ship and ate 'em, they were the BEST Salt and Vinegar chips I've tasted. But yes, it was awesome. Even though we had seen the KFC, pizza spot (which was where I had a bbq lamb slice, different but great),Haagzen Dazs (where we sat outside using the free internet until the managers got clever and tried to make us buy something), and some other fast food spots in the mall, the supermarket garnered a different response. Yes we enjoyed the greasy symbolic foods that made us miss America so much more, but that supermarket, I am telling you was awesome awesome awesome! We stood at the 10 items or less line, browsing through magazines of South African celebrities. Not much was referenced to the USA over-publicized celebrities and that was a-okay! We also ran into Courtney and some other SAS'ers, as well as Linval, one of my favorite dining stewards =) It was past 9 ish so David and Eugene were all packed and waiting for us when we walked out because we had planned to walk back to their booths and say bye. We looked for a good spot to take pictures and then opted to head outside. Eugene's bus didn't come until 9:30pm. We posed with the ferris wheel in the background. It is such a great backdrop.There were a lot of boats docked with options (pirate boat with a show, the sea princess for drinks and a cruise and some others).  I remember the first thing we saw when we looked out our window once in Capetown was this ferris wheel. At night it lit up and just walking down the strip filled with restaurants, bars and the shopping malls was a blast. Definitely a great port in terms of the number of options of what to do at night. But anyhow, we took pictures and split ways after exchanging information. Eugene also gave us information about where to go for the evening in Camp's Bay...

Late late that night...
Jack wasn't feeling well so I went along with Sarah, Courtney and some other people. This time I got dressed but they weren't semi dressed lol. I just can't seem to get it right! Haha. Anyhow, the idea was to go to Mitchell's and figure the rest out which was what everyone else did. We got to Mitchell's and linked up with a ton of people like Mina, 'becca, Eylee, Louis, Eric... can't remember everyone – it was just a mad house and lots of SAS. Oh saw Cobie, Dan, Malachi, Kyle...just about everyone lol. We got a table just inside to get away from the chaos and agreed on a fishbowl. It was a mixture of alcohols with two or three lemonades, if I'm correct. It was bright blue in color and when we got it definitely loaded with more ice than anything. It was great fun though. There were about 8 straws or so for each of us and we took pictures and turns. There was confusion about the go-to spot whether it would be some gay club called Bronze? Or Mercury, a club we had no clue about but was hearing about just then. So we chose Mercury since SAS in big numbers = power haha. We headed towards the taxi ring to get a cab to longstreet since the perception was that Mercury was one of the many clubs on longstreet. We also had this no tolerance attitude and wasn't going to be cheated to get there since we were all operating on limited rands between us all. However, the first guy was determined to make a point when we told him we wouldn't go for anything other than 30 rands. We had taken the cab just yesterday in a metered taxi and realized that the 40, 50 and 60 rands charged by different drivers was clearly ridiculous. This dude takes out some rands and says he will make a bet with us and if we get any cab to take us to longstreet for 30 rands he'll give us the money. Of course they would charge us more because they assumed we wouldn't know. We ignored him and he stood there taunting us. Then several other cabs came through and we started walking up to them to ask the driver but then this dude made a point of walking up to each of them and saying a few words to them. They would all pull off after we asked them. He came back up to us and gave us a price which we said no thank you, and he huffed and puffed as we walked away. That felt good, just gotta say lol. We walked back towards the direction of traffic so that we could get to someone who hadn't spoke to him. The guy we got charged us $35. The only reason why we complied was because cars generally suit four so one of us had to squeeze just so that we didn't have to split into two cars lol. It divided evenly between us anyway so that was cool. What we thought was originally a good guy turned out to be a crook as well! So, we get to longstreet and pay him but he's then telling us that Mercury is on the other side of town. This dude.. mm mm mm. We were sitting in shock not really sure what to do because here he was telling us that he didn't know we meant Mercury the club and we were looking at him like this little liar! What else could we have meant?! He obviously picked us up because he wanted the money that the other cabs were missing out on. It also became clear that he expected us to stay and ride to the club which would then cost us another cab ride... ahh cab drivers. They've outdone themselves in all efforts to cheat us in every freaking country. Lol. Needless to say, we got out, asked the policemen who confirmed that Mercury was indeed on the other side of town. Decided to just stay on longstreet but there were limited options. We found ourselves in Dubliner, an irish pub. Walking in it was wild. It seemed like a fraternity party and the male to female ratio was nonexistent. There was a lot of drunk people and it was just over all not a very comfortable atmosphere. Towards the back was the bar so we headed there to figure out what to do. Courtney was trying to be optimistic and saying we could make it work haha. Eylee and Sarah was filling it out and already getting into. Me and Mina were kinda like what on earth did we just step into... haha. We actually took a picture with our “WTF” faces. Haha. Courtney ended up leaving with her roomies to go to Mercury. We weren't sure we would meet up up with them but the night was still young so who knew. We left Dubliner to take a walk up and down and see if anything else was open. We get to this place where we hear music and decide to just check it out and either stay or leave. There is a guy sitting out by the door and to get in requires ID. I then realize Courtney has my ID and that stirs up the panic where we are wondering how I will get back on the ship and into my room. The guy asks me for my name and lets me enter with the girls. He kinda grabs my hand and say somethings that I ignore.. lol. We walk up there and beeline for bar/kitchen area and leave once we realize there is no one up except for one or two very very drunk people. We were also hungry and couldn't get food there. We make our way down to leave and the guy says my name and some other stuff and I roll my eyes, glad we were leaving lol. Head across the street when Eylee sees a sign for 10 rand shots. Upon walking in, it seems okay... there are wooden tables and chairs, a bar area with stools, pool tables and tv's. She and her roomie Sarah mull over the menu and take a bunch of vodka and tequila shots. Meanwhile me and Mina are sitting opposite of them and are able to see what's happening in the bar area. There's this lady who we presumed to be a prostitute urging this guy to take her home... she had an interesting method to make her case. Definitely couldn't believe our eyes. Then the more we looked around we begin to realize that it was a pretty shady spot. We coulda sworn we were surrounded by prostitutes and men in there who expected or wanted some type of service. Eylee and Sarah, again were just taking shots with the suggestions from this woman and had no clue. Lol. Then this one particular guy came over to our table and took it upon himself to stand over us and give suggestions about what to drink (there was a menu with very promiscuous names). He also didn't work there but he was leaning over us and taking the empty shot glasses and bringing it back to the bar. Strange, just strange. Mina and I were hungrier than ever and the night life was killed when we realized nothing great was open... lol. So we were going to get food but Eylee and Sarah wanted to get out of there once they realized how strange things were getting lol. When Eylee got up to pay at the bar, she came back and said the bartender told her that the guy (creepy one) liked her a lot and was taken back by her breasts hahahahaha. She also asked her what was she going to do about it. Eylee was creeeeped out she was like what do you think I'm going to do about it...hahahahaha. Just confirms our suspicions. We got outta that place! Crossed the street to the burger spot but everything looked so sketchy, the guys hanging around looked sketchy lol. It was turning into a sketchy night from beginning to end. So we headed back towards Dubliner but Mina and I noticed the McDonald's sign from afar... we decided to walk there, eat, come back  and hopefully our not so sober friends will have danced and be ready to leave. The walk was a lot further than we though haha, but when we got there it was the most upscale Micky D's we'd seen. It was like a modern, deco space. Very cool. We ordered big mac meals haha. =) Ended up having a deep conversation about SAS expectations and the people we call peers etc. Until we finally realized so much time had elapsed and we needed to get back to the girls. We also didn't realize until we walked towards the door that all of the employees were sitting in the front waiting on us to close hahahaha. We were sooo embarrassed that we kept apologizing, we had no idea. Lol. Sped walked back since it was even shadier than the first time. Got to Dubliner, walked through looking for the girls didn't see them, but saw the piano bar steward and one of the dining hall guys. If we thought the people there were drunk before, this was a whole 'notha level. It was utterly disgusting! Two of the drunken guys were slobbering over Mina – one grabbed her, another was touching on her hair and we had to like push them off. No bueno. She was shaken up, I was shaken up... and we just kinda ran out lol and grabbed the first taxi we saw back to the ship. Explained to the gate keeper I was from the ship just didn't have my ID, got to the foot of the gangway and the steward radioed that someone was without their ID, the stewards who do the bag checks looked down and saw me and fortunately recognized me so he let me up. Feels great to know how safe our ship is though. Called my room phone and my roomie left the door ajar =) Thus concluded that very very long day as you can see. So much happens in a day, even more happens in the evening!