2 OCEANS & JAZZ

Another excellent weekend…

So I’m not quite sure where to start but all of last week pretty much revolved around my half marathon this weekend. I found out on Monday that the race was at 6AM (which is soooo early for any race!) so I was determined to stay on a good schedule so I wouldn’t be tired at my race and would able to get a decent amount of sleep the night before. So basically I went to bed early (and woke up early) and ate really well all of last week. My race was awesome. It was just so much fun. There was over 21,000 people there, 12,000 of whom were running the ½ marathon, the rest ran the ultra (34 miles). The first half of the race was in the dark too so that was really neat. And because I’ve never raced a half before I was automatically seated all the way at the back…behind thousands of people, so I spent the first could k’s weaving around trying to get past walkers etc. It was just really cool though and not as difficult as I thought it would, although it was really long I didn’t get that tired, I’m definitely planning on running the marine corp marathon in DC this fall now.

After my race I was able to have a little fun so that really nice. I went to a really good Ethiopian restaurant Saturday night with a bunch of my friends and then afterwords bar-hopped/danced on Long St with my girl friends here. It was so much fun. I was awake for more than 24 hours though so I crashed pretty hard around 3:30 AM but it was totally worth it. Then Sunday, I went to church downtown with some friends. We went to St. George’s, a huge stone medival (thank you humanities) Anglican church that sits next to the town gardens. After church I had a potluck brunch with some friends and then went to the Cape Town International Jazz Festival for the rest of the day. It was so much fun there too, and I’m now a little obsessed with jazz music : ) I spent all of today working on a paper…that’s due tomorrow, but I’ll get it done, no problem. I’m already counting down until Friday though; I realy enjoy my classes (and am so pumped to finally get back to volunteering, its been 3 weeks!) but in reality I just have so much more fun on the weekends because it’s when I can really explore the city and of course hangout with my friends.

Random but while running for almost 2 hours on Saturday I reflected a lot on my study abroad experience and decided that I’m in a really good place right now. I know I obsess over how much I love Cape Town but what I mean is that I feel truly independent. Over the past few weeks I’ve done some pretty incredible things; I bush camped in the Ocavano Delta-talk about being in the middle of no where, the delta’s literally untouched by man, and then I can’t even begin to describe how great it felt to run around at Vic Falls. I couldn’t remember feeling as great as I did getting soaked in the fall’s runoff, and I was by myself? Then of course I free fell from a 155 meter gorge, alone. Besides getting an adrenaline rush I just did something amazing (and horrifying) by myself. It’s just all this stuff and then running the half marathon that made me feel so independent and free and I’m so incredibly happy and it’s just me. And like I’ve always said, I do miss people at home but the more I think about it, the more I don’t want to go back. There are no stereotypes here, at least not yet. I’ve made some really great friends here and Cape Town has begun to feel like home; I’m so reluctant to return to the cliches and clicks that exist back home. Oh well I guess this just means to really enjoy the next 69 days that I have here and make the most of them all because I don’t know when I’ll be back again but it really is amazing.

Enjoy your week, and happy [belated] Easter! Cheers!

p.s. today i got the worst craving for Special K-I haven't had cereal since I came abroad (and for anyone that knows me, thats basically my staple meal at home) bu the milk here goes bad after a day or two...and I can't get special k anyway but seriously that's all I want to eat right now :( that and dunkin donuts needs to come to africa.
oh and i also want easter candy, no basket this year-life is tough.