Leaving south africa

Well, I am on my last stretch in South Africa, we are scheduled to leave Friday morning around 4am. =( BUUUT I am very very excited for Argentina.. and for some serious Spanish lessons.
South Africa has been absolutely wonderful! Very very different than India. India has a lot more ppl so there is a lot more poverty in your face, here it is tucked away in the township area that were set up during the Apartheid. I have been doing a lot of research on housing. We broke up into smaller groups and did case studies. So I was in a group of 5 and we did a lot of visiting township and organizations trying to find out everything we could. It was a rough 3 days. I stopped writing in my journal. I just cant seem to find the words to describe how I felt. Absolutely heart wrenching. Cape Town has a lot of really beautiful things but it is really hard knowing what is right outside the city. In each place that we have been i consider what it would be live to live there. I would love to live here, but I dont know that I could.. unless I was doing some kind of work helping the situation for people living in informal settlements. Living in town really comfortably and knowing their situation and not doing anything sucks. It would be different if I was here long enough to get involved with TAC or another NGO buuuut we aren't. SO Its very frusterating. I have been working on an independent project based around women's movements throughout the 3 countries, with an emphasis on female entrepeneurs.. I have met a lot of really awesome men and women. The stories of what people have come through are so inspiring. Its really interesting to hear how things significantly changed after the Apartheid. The 2 townships I lived in are completely different.. and had different lasting affects. Langa is a Christian community and Bo-Kaap is predominantly muslim. People I spoke with in Langa are still so thrilled at having rights-- many women are the heads of their households are really took advantage of these rights and opened their own Spaza shops, so they could take care of their families. In Bo-Kaap its still a very patriarchial mindset.. but the women are now starting to step up in having their voices heard. Divorces are becoming more common as women are standing up for themselves. Its amazing sitting with these women who went through the process of leaving their husbands. Hearing everythign they went through , and how they feel about it now. They are such strong women! Such great examples for their children.. its amazing the impact they are making, on the community around them as well!
This past weekend was busy! We finished up our classes in South Africa, so our vacation week started. Sunday 2 other girls and I took sand boarding and surfing lessons. (see pics above!) soooo much fun! I was talking with our instructor, and he said that snowboarding and sand boarding were the same just hot vs cold.. sooo I am really pumped at my head start in snowboarding b4 i move to VT. I had 1 bad wipe out that my neck and shoulders are still sore from but after that I did really well!! Was going down the hills w/o falling at all, even at the end had graceful stops.. didnt have to crash to stop! Surfing was a lot of fun... I didnt stand, but I kneeled. It was enough to get the feeling of catching a wave, so I was happy. The currents were really strong, and the water was freezing. We were prolly out there for 3 hours, but thanks to the oh-so attractive wet suits we barely noticed the cold. Saturday night my friend Corrine Abbie and a few other went to a jazz club across the street from our backpackers. We are living in a Backpackers called Carnival Court (maybe google it?) on Long Street.. its kinda of similar to South Side in Pittsburgh, a lot to do on one street so its a good lcoation. One of the pics. the other pic. is my Bo-Kaap family. There was an apartment above our house so 2 of the other guys on our trip were staying there.. so I had a lot of roommates, which was really awesome! My family was wonderful, they host a lot of students from all over the world. We also lived with a guy named Kim, from South Korea; and a girl, Umit, from Turkey. They are both studying English. Apparently, its very common for students from Eruope and S.Asia to come here and study English because its a lot cheaper. There has been so much to do around Cape Town, I def. can see why its becoming such a tourist destination. Having the mountains and the beach so close has been wonderful! SO many different things to do! I miss you all...I will be back Dec. 14th!! Hope all is well!!!!! Send me some stories.. I feel very out of the loop of things!
<3
Amy Lynn