Blood Diamond

This weekend we hopped into our vans with our loyal drivers Kay (who has taken the headphones out, and is quite the clubber we discovered) and Langa. Two hours later we crossed a bridge into the Eastern Cape, pulled into a parking lot and started our "hike."

Our hike was guided by a very nice man, can't remember his name to be honest. We walked through a construction zone for about 10 minutes so we could really understand the beauty of nature (we joked about this quite a bit) and ended on a beautiful beach. We then spent about two hours on the beach, examining every little thing. I swear this tour guide wanted to talk to us about every stick, rock, and piece of sand on the beach -- I suppose it could be interesting for a few, but I opted to focus on something more important.

Imraan, the academic program advisor for our trip, and I talked in great detail about his educational and career background, what I inspire to do, and NGOs in South Africa. From this discussion we decided I should visit an NGO called Accord (accord.org.za check it out!) in the final week of my trip. They focus on conflict resolution internationally. In fact, I learned how vibrant the NGO culture is in South Africa and I'm beginning to realize I may want to work here in the future and gain NGO experience with Accord or with other organizations.

After leaving the beach we began the real hike, which lasted maybe 45 minutes, but had breathtaking views of hillsides where Blood Diamond was filmed. We completed our hike in a small village where we were picked up by our loyal drivers and taken to another village to eat lunch. Truthfully, my beans tasted like cigarettes and I opted to leave them untouched, but the rest of the meal was delicious. We then got back in the vans and headed to a sweet bed and breakfast place on the hillside overlooking the ocean and had showers. The showers may have been the best part of the weekend getaway. We were only at the bed and breakfast from dinner time until just after breakfast and within that time I showered twice -- glorious.

Now we are back in Durban and spending time with Menzi -- this is our last week with the secondary school.  We are preparing a performance for the entire school on Friday, which I am really excited about. I'll be taking a video and when I get quicker internet I'll try and upload it to the blog.