Yesterday morning we woke up at the shining hour of 8 AM to get an early start on the day that began with another South African history lesson and then we had our first Community Group Leader meeting. The assignment was easy, but perplexing. It was called the “Dash” project. What’s the dash? Well, the dash is simply the dash that separates your birth and death dates on your tombstone, the question was, what did we want our dash to represent? What did we want to be remembered for? So, this was what I wanted my dash to represent:
Never take a step back.
From a young age, I’ve always considered myself to be a rather daring individual. Now, not daring in the sense that I would randomly partake in parkour and scale from building top to building top, I was always more of the type of person that would put myself out there and try something new just for the hell of it, and if I liked it, great- if I didn’t, no harm done.
The biggest lesson I learned from this is that you can never take a step back, especially if you love it. Granted you may try something and absolutely hate it, but if you didn’t try that thing you could never feel the sense of satisfaction knowing that you actually tried. Most of the time, the reward will be greater than you could have ever imagined- you will most probably laugh at almost every try you make, good or bad. Those are the memories. That is the joy of living.
Everyone has talent, but not everyone is willing to follow that talent to the dark places it may lead. Be that person- never take a step back and take life head on.
Good enough, right?
After class, we decided to take a walk down to Centre Point and exchange some money and had a little American immersion and had lunch at KFC- yes, they have that here. But, the KFC here was a little different than the ones at home. How? Well, the counter is behind a cable-wire cage and they don’t serve ice with the drinks- they don’t even have fountain drinks, or Dr. Pepper. Hell, I know but it could’ve been worse. Now, the KFC was no Popeye’s but it wasn’t awful either, it was good to have something that was a little reminder of our fast food nation.
After lunch, we made it down to Green Market Square, which is basically the vendor area of Cape Town where you go to buy all the little souvenirs and stuff, all in all, total tourist trap, I love it. I got to practice my bargaining skills, which are nowhere near my dad’s, but I feel like I got some pretty good deals. I bought a 6-foot painting for R200 and a $50 bill, so about $78 US. Everything is so cheap here!
We came back to the apartment and decided to be a little more domestic than what we had been and we cooked dinner, at first it was going to be lasagna, but then it turned into a baked ziti because 1) the lasagna noodles didn’t quite cook the way I had planned 2) not enough beef- but all in all it was quite delicious and complemented with a goat cheese salad made by Ms. Spinella herself.
Travel on,
Seth
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