Cape Town...and other news

Well as many of you probably already heard Cape Town was a very memorable trip for Alyssa and I, as we got engaged on top of Table Mountain. Alyssa was surprised it was on Table Mountain although she had a pretty good idea it was coming in the near future. We are currently thinking late fall of 2012 but we will let everyone know later on as there is still sometime before that happens. Regardless, I’m an extremely lucky guy and I’m so glad she said yes! I didn’t bring the real ring with me to Africa because I was afraid she either might find it or it would get lost/stolen. So as for the ring Marty and Liz currently have it back home and Alyssa is anxiously waiting to get home to try it on. As for Cape Town our trip went as follows:

Tuesday April 26

 The bus arrived at Annie’s at 9:00 a.m. and we loaded up all of the luggage and headed out on the 10 hour drive to Cape Town. There were 13 of us total including out two advisors Divinia and Marita. Patrick and I were the only guys so needless to say it was a long estrogen filled ride! The bus was pretty tight but after finding a semi-comfortable spot we slept most of the way. We stopped in Kysnya for lunch about 3-4 hours into the drive. It was kind of cloudy and rainy but Kysnya was still very pretty. We had an hour for lunch and ended up eating at all places The Dry Dock. Yes, you heard that right just like Okoboji so Ike we of course took pictures for everyone! The food was good but I should have known better than to get a “Lunch Portion” ha. I got hake and chips which was very good but only 6 chips and 2 popcorn bites. As for Alyssa she ordered a salad and ended up with a very small “side” salad. They have obviously never met me and my love of food so needless to say I hit up the hotdog stand on the way out. After lunch we loaded back up and hit the road for Cape Town. The radio was broken so it made for a long ride but Alyssa and I just listened to some podcasts and music on the ipod and time went rather quickly. We had a few bathroom stops along the way and finally reached Cape Town around 7:30 p.m. We met up with our tour guide for the week Mike and he showed us to the township where we stayed for the night. Everyone was divided into pairs and we got the opportunity to stay with a family in the township for the night. Patrick and I stayed with Mama Mpumi who was an elderly woman who had lost all of her children and her husband had left her. We were a little hesitant about staying in a township with all of the horror stories but this township was very safe and I never felt uncomfortable. Mama Mpumi was a bit rough around the edges with dreads halfway down her back but she was very nice. She welcomed us into her home and made us feel like part of the family. She made a HUGE South African dinner for us and told Patrick and I that it was rude if we didn’t eat it all. So me being the trooper that I am I polished off about a pounds worth of food. We had chicken, potatoes, mealie-pop, beets, and pumpkin. For dessert we had custard and jello. After barely making it through dinner we watch How to Train Your Dragon on my laptop with Mama Mpumi and her great niece who was staying with her for the night. We went to bed around 11:30 but I didn’t sleep much because I was so nervous about proposing the next morning. Lucky for Patrick he got to listen to me talk about my nerves and toss and turn all night but he said he’d rather have that than my extremely loud snoring. Alyssa had a good experience at her house and she stayed with our friend Chelsea. When we go on trips Lyssa says she’s a vegetarian so she doesn’t have to deal with being picky about the meat. This will come as a shock to all of you but the family she was with had fish sticks and Alyssa ate 3 of them. Now I have no idea why she had to travel 10,000 miles away for home to finally try them but she said they actually weren’t bad. Go figure!

Wednesday April 27:

We woke up around 7:15 and had a pretty big breakfast. We had porage, eggs tomatoes, bread, and chicken. Now I have eaten weird things for breakfast but cold chicken with eggs and tomatoes was a first but very good. The whole morning Mama Mpumi and Patrick were giving me crap about being so nervous but it didn’t really help. We met up with everyone else as well as our tour guides and headed for Table Mountain around 9:00 a.m. The rest of the group hiked up the mountain but I convinced Alyssa to take the cable car. She thought it was a little weird but I’m thinking she just thought I was being lazy, and after hiking down that mountain on the way back I’m so glad we took the cable car. We had to wait in line for around an hour and then took the 4 minute ride to the top. It was freezing cold and cloudy on the top but when it cleared up the view was amazing. We walked around for a while and then ended up running into our friends who hiked up. I had originally hoped to find a place off by ourselves but it was rather busy at the top and I was afraid since our friends knew they might accidently say something. Anyway I took Alyssa off to the side and got down on one knee. I didn’t say a single thing that I had rehearsed all night long but it was definitely a memory. She of course said yes and I got some tears which I was secretly hoping for. Our friends were in the background and they started clapping a cheering. Then go figure the clouds cleared away. Alyssa definitely got the short end of the stick and like I said above I’m one lucky guy. Patrick brought up a bottle of Four Cousins Champagne which is Alyssa’s favorite and we all had some champagne on top of the mountain. After that we walked around for a while a got some souvenirs from the shop to remember the day. Then we had a quick sack lunch and headed down the mountain on foot. It was a really tough hike and it was slippery since it had been raining but we eventually made it down. We were so sore for the next few days. After reaching the bottom we drove to the hotel we were staying in for the rest of the trip. We briefly called our families and then went to this restaurant called Royal Eatery. It was a fancy burger place that had really good sandwiches and milkshakes. We all ate on the patio and it was a fun time. Once supper was over Alyssa and I just went back to the hotel and hung out and looked at some stuff on the internet before going to bed.

Thursday April 28:

Today was our free day and the group decided to go on a wine tasting tour in the wine lands outside of Cape Town. The hotel served a really good hot breakfast and then we headed out for the day. First we went to Green Market square to get so souvenirs. We got lots of things for people back home and Alyssa and I also got a really cool South African painting for our future house. We shopped around there for around an hour a half and then headed for the wine lands. The first vineyard was about forty minutes outside of Cape Town and it was really beautiful. We got a short lesson on how to taste different wines and the history of the vineyard. Next we tried six different kinds. It was really interesting to hear about the wines and even though I’m not much of a wine person like Alyssa some of them were good. I wasn’t a fan of the reds at any of the places but I did like some of the whites and dessert wines. We did the tasting first and then we had a cheese sampling. All of the cheeses were extremely good and I wish we could have had a way to buy some but there was no way to keep them cold. After that we ate lunch at the vineyard and then moved onto the next one. We went to four total vineyards and the countryside along the way was very scenic. We finished the tour around 5 and then headed back to Cape Town. Once we got back we quickly got ready and then went out for supper. Alyssa and I went with Bridget and Chelsea to a pizza place next to the hotel because it was cheaper than some of the other places. After supper we all went to an Irish Pub called Dublin’s. It was a really cool place and they had a live band playing. Our friends all said it was for our engagement and they had the band announce our names. It was a fun night and it ended with a stop at McDonalds for a cheeseburger on the way back to the hotel.

Friday April 30:

We had to get up early today but it was well worth it. Patrick and Hannah went shark cage diving, which I had originally planned to do, but it got pushed back a day and I wanted to see Robbin Island more. We had breakfast at the hotel again and then we left for Robbin Island. For those of you who don’t know Robbin Island is just off the coast of Cape Town and it is where the prison that Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years he was behind bars. We took a very rocky ferry ride out to the island which made a lot of us sea sick. The ride was about a half an hour and then we spent 3 hours on the island. It started with a bus tour around the island and it was very interesting/sad to here all the stories of the island. The best part of the tour, however, was the last 45 minutes in which an ex-political prisoner of the ANC gave us a tour of the island. To me it was so crazy to imagine that just a few short years ago people were treated this way. The guide told us about how he was captured and tortured before he even got to the island. He told us several stories and then talked about life on Robbin Island. The tour ended with a walk around the prison where we were able to stop and see Nelson Mandela’s cell. It was a very humbling experience and I would definitely say that if you ever come to South Africa and want to get a taste of their history to go to Robbin Island.

After the tour we made a quick stop at the gift shop and then we got back on the ferry to head back to Cape Town. Once we arrived our tour guides had cold lunches ready for us and we ate on the way to Cape of Good Hope. The views from Cape of Good Hope were absolutely amazing and the pictures won’t even begin to do it justice. This is the Southern most tip of Africa and it is where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. It was a really scenic place and I’m glad we got the chance to go there. After driving around all day we made it back to the hotel around 6:00 p.m. Alyssa and I went with Patrick, Maria, Hannah, Divina, and Marita to a restaurant called Mama Africa. It had a really cool atmosphere and the food was really good as well. After that we just went back to the hotel because we had to get up early to head to Odtshoorn.

Saturday April 31:

Waking up at 6:00 was rather rough but we made it and got all packed to leave Cape Town. We checked out and left the hotel around 8:00 and made the five hour drive to Odtshoorn where we stayed for the night. After a rather long bus ride we made it to a nice restaurant where we were forced to eat really fast in order to make it to the Cango Caves in time for our tour. I tried springbok pancakes and an ostrich steak for the first time and both were very good. After the meal we headed to the caves and got briefed quickly before entering the caves since we were 15 minutes late. Alyssa and I were a bit hesitant to go through the caves because there were a lot of VERY small spaces and some crawling in the dark involved. Regardless, we made it through them and it was a lot of fun. I’ll try and post some pictures since it was so pretty but they are hard to see in the dark. After the caves we went to our hostel. We had supper around 7 which consisted of Kudu sausage that was good as well. We ended the night hanging out at the hostel bar and just sitting by the camp fire with all of our friends.

Sunday May 1:

Today we got up for breakfast and then headed to the Ostrich Farm. I will admit that I could have cared less about seeing an ostrich but it turned out to be fun. Patrick, Trevor, and I were “lucky” enough to get picked to have an ostrich give us a kiss. Let me tell you it was like no kiss I have ever got before. It was really funny to watch the video but the slightly bloody lip was a bit of a change. Some of our friends got to ride the ostriches but not suprising I didn’t make the weight limit! The farm was fun but we weren’t there too long. Then we headed to a waterfall and I jumped off a cliff into the water. It was a lot higher than I expected and I was greeted with icy cold water but hey it made for a sweet picture. After the waterfall it was back on the bus for our journey back to PE. We stopped back in Kynsna for a quick lunch and then made it back to PE around 7:00 p.m. It was a great trip and it is one I’m sure we will never forget.

Random Update:

For those of you that don’t know Alyssa’s grandma Joanne Kielly had to have surgery last week and is still in the hospital. They removed a tumor from her neck and found out that it is lymphoma. The doctors aren’t sure what the plan for treatment will be but right now they are focusing on getting her recovered from surgery. Pray for Joanne and the Kielly family and that she will have a speedy recovery and be back to normal in no time. It’s been a little hard for Alyssa to be 10,000 miles away from her family right now but we have been able to skype so that helps. To Grandma and Grandpa Kielly we love and miss you guys and we will see you soon!

 On an exciting note we will be heading home in less than 7 weeks! I can’t believe how fast the time as gone and while it is a bit of a bittersweet thing we can’t wait to see everyone after being gone for five months. Things have been crazy since break with tests and papers. We leave for Victoria Fall on Thursday and will be back on Sunday night. I’m really excited for the trip but after we return not only will we have a ton of finals to study for but we will be broke! Zanethemba is still going really well and they got two little boys last Wednesday. They are brothers and one is 1 ½ and the other is 3. They are both really cute but they only speak Afrikaans. The youngest boy looks very malnourished and his arms arm probably as wide as 2-3 of my fingers. It is hard to look at kids like that but it is good to know they are in a stable and safe environment. Gert and Elaine the house parents are doing great things here and I give them props because I don’t know how they could just pick up and leave there home and families in the Netherlands to move here. It’s pretty cool what they do. I talked to Gert and we are planning on helping them with a clothing drive in the township later in May so that will be a really neat experience. Besides that not much is new just going to class, hanging out with friends, and watching Two and a Half Men on my computer. It is crazy that we will be home in just over a month. Alyssa and I were just talking about how for the past year and a half we have spent all our free time planning for here and now when we get back it will all be over. It’s been an amazing experience here in South Africa and now we will be starting a new chapter in our life. I start at Allen in the fall and Alyssa will begin taking all of her major classes. We have a wedding to plan and I’m excited to start working again to have an income after going off of savings for 5 months. I am living in a house with 5 other guys in Cedar Falls starting in July and Alyssa is moving into Gold Falls Apartments with Bridget. Time is flying by but we are having lots of fun and making some great memories. Have a good week everyone. Cheers.