for mommy lol

Hello everyone!

It makes me so happy that people actually read my blog! I know there is a way to send out e-mail notifications when I post new things but I have yet to figure that out. anyway....
The past few days have been really good! The thing I am most excited about is school. My school, University of Cape Town, is ranked number 200 for best Universities in the world!! (Harvard's number one of course) But it is gigantic. We have FOUR CAMPUSES! Lower campus, middle campus, upper campus, and hiddign campus. There are people from all over the world that go there. There are obviously a lot of South Africans. But I've also met so many Zimbabwains, Namibians, Botwanians, Kenyans, Egyptians, and much more. Its a big international school so there also lots of people from Europe, Asia, and all those places. Walking through campus you hear so many different languages its so cool. Also, the most common language besides english that you hear is Xhosa which is known to Americans and "the click language". Im taking a class to learn to speak it once school starts, which is on Monday! I cant believe it! But walking through campus is like walking in a completely different world. Everything is so different than what Im used to, especially the enviornment. I usually take what I see when I walk down the streets for granted in the States, but here that is absolutly imposible. If you stand on the wain stairs of upper campus and look down you see all of cape town, the mountains and the ocean. It is such an amazing feeling. There are some places here (like on those steps, or out near the ocean, or on the slopes of the mountain i live on) where you look out and and its so beautiful that it brings tears to your eyes. You just feel so close to God, and I just start to feel so fortunate. Speaking of fortunate I went out to one of the townships I will be volunteering in yesterday. Im not going to spell this right, but its called "Khayletshi". Its the largest black township in the western cape. It was a very humbling experience. The houses are made of garbage and plastic and tires and whatever other mateial the people can find. There is no running water or indoor bathooms. These people live in conditions we could never survive in, but when the kids saw the bus coming they ran and chased after us with huge smiles on their faces. When we got out they just wanted to touch us. They wanted so badly to just touch an american. Being there with those children for the first time is definately something I will never forget. I will be tutoring children there twice a week starting in 2 weeks.
Just so everyone knows........ the next time you see me i will have:

1. ridden an ostrich
2. cage dove with great white sharks
3. bungee jumped from the highest bungee jumping point in the world
and
4. Hiked Devils Peak

Mom,
Dont worry I will be fine :)

Im facing a lot of fears while i'm here. I've already grown and changed so much.