live from the "Wellness cafe" at the "wellness warehouse"

Cape town is rocking my socks. I am SOOOOO much happier here. People are fun and friendly and cool. Bounced from couch to couch for the first week, but now I'm moved into my apt that Im sharing with two other mid-twenties awesome chicas (well actually one just stays in her room all day, but really i find that a nice quality in roommates). I live on Kloof street in a penthouse that is located next to a restaurant everyone knows and loves and hangs out at... arnolds. I am down the street from a health food mega store and cafe where I spend way too much time (im there now actually). The vibe is sort of Santa Monica. I am just 5 minutes from Long street which is the sort of well known center of town. happenin bars and cute clothes and millions of backpackers and all that.

The Earthchild Project is happy to have me on board and I've jumped right into things. Ive been out with the garden clubs a couple times and been working on some office-type stuff as well to really lend a hand. The staff is incredibly friendly inviting me to dance classes and free yoga and out to eat and giving me couches to sleep on when i needed them. Im going on a hike with a bunch of grade 7s this weekend. Very exciting.

Ive been hiking like crazy. I am literally walking distance to the mountains... because the mountains are sort of IN the city. Table mountain, lions head, devils peak... for those of you like... huh. you can go look em up.

Good food and cafes are every where (my money is disappearing much faster here as well). This city feels like San Francisco except its actually affordable. My room in one of the nicest parts of town on the top floor with a crazy view of the city and table mountain costs me less than the room i rented in a house in Lawrence. Soooooo eat it.

Is that enough of an update. Sorry no funny stories or anything. all my love to all of you.

I can totally make this!

So i went for a hike this morning on my own at 5:45 am. The misty mountains are amazing in the am. So quiet and beautiful and this hike actually took me through viney green forests in the mist (a rarity in this lumber capital).

But the trouble was getting to the actual trail, i sort of had to make my own way. I had been around the area before but didn't quite know the best way to cross this stream that stood between me and my goal. I walked for a while to where I thought I could cross it then back tracked to a place i thought i could cross it, but I didn't want to backtrack all the way to where i KNEW i could actually cross it via log bridge... so I took a good look at this big ole stream. somewhere between 6-10 feet across... clean water... good banks.... If I just found the right spot I could totally make it by jumping.

I walked up and down a while, thought I'd found it and tossed my bag across. It was after the bag toss that I realized... i probably couldn't make it. But too late. Long story short... i jumped... and ended up up to my thighs in cold mud and water. I'm practically Bear Gryllis, so I clambered quickly up onto the bank... but i by no means can say that i "made" the jump. I then rolled up my muddy, soaking-wet jeans and kept on to the rest of the hike. I celebrated my success with a breakfast buffet at a classy hotel, ruining everying for all the other guests with my hap-hazard appearance.

But you know what, I am super glad I jumped. I (embarassingly) can't help but see that stream experience as a metaphor for my time here so far. I took a leap, and you know what, I didn't make it... but all you can do is pull yourself out. and in the end, the jump was awesome and exhilarating and I'm really proud of myself for attempting it. How many people can honestly say they would try to jump it? Most would go back to the bridge. I am the kind of girl who jumps, even when she knows deep down she isn't gonna make it.

Well if thats movin up, baby, I'm movin out.

Its official. I am moving on. My time here has ended (well I ended it 7 weeks early). I just wasn't happy, fulfilled, or useful. So... I am moving to Cape Town. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to any of you that know me, that I would just move away. Par for the course that is my life.

My epiphany of how badly I needed to get out of here came last weekend. We went out for pizza at the Pot N Plow. There were two American boys there who were stopping in town before heading to the Waterberg. Long story short, I drunkenly piled into a car with three drunk dudes and a deaf housekeeper and drove 5 hours in the middle of the night to god knows where. I ended up spending the next day with Terry, an easy going middle-aged bald South African. I spent three hours in a mall in Pretoria (malls are still huge here). We had a nice braai (bbq) and looked at the stars and talked about life and the universe and marriages and all sorts of stuff, and the next day I drove with him and some of his staff back to Haenertsburg (he was on his way to his lodge by Kruger). It ended up being great. HOWEVER... it was absolutely stupid of me to have gone. It could have ended horribly. I could have been raped and kidnapped and murdered. My gut, which is usually right, told me these things weren't going to happen; but god, I never SHOULD have gotten in their car and drove off. I realized it was an absolute act of desperation to be free of my current location, companions, and situation. I realized (with the help of my wise mother) that it was time to throw in the towel.

So Cape Town, here I come! I will be working with the Earthchild Project (http://www.earthchildproject.org/). I will be subletting... errrr... somewhere. I will be hanging out with PYRO!!! Woot woot!