journal excerpt, etc

6/17
This really made me think about family. What is family? Is it something we create throughout our lives, or something we are born into? I have to say I'm more convinced it's the former. Family is... home. It's people you love unconditionally and irrevocably?Maybe that's not right. Maybe family is a group of people who touch your heart, mold it around even, and teach you to love in all kinds of new ways. Yes, I think that is what a family is.

TODAY
Capetown's smell is smoky-sweet, mixed with whatever environment you are in. This is because of the smog. My nose and throat are feeling funky, and you can definitely feel the smog when you breathe in. I didn't really expect this. When I post pictures you will see... it is very, very thick. You can see it today--it was very sunny and when the sun was at the right angle the air was harder to see through. But really, I am making it sound bad. It is very, very beautiful here.I am excited for tomorrow--Cape Point!! (:
But, more about today. We went to Robben Island. Very very interesting--learned a lot about apartheid/prison history. Our bus tour guide was... ah shoot I can't remember his name, but he lives on the island as a guide and is a fairly prominent figure. He usually guides internationally high profile people around (i.e. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton). Our prison tour guide was a man who had been imprisoned there and began his time there at age 18. Interesting to hear his perspectives.
What a strange island, ecologically speaking.
The traffic here is CRAZY, I've got to tell you. There's a mutual disrespect between cars and pedestrians. Pedestrians do have no rights, but you frequently see then crossing at red signals, and basically you have to cross whenever it's clear. The road next to our hostel that you have to cross to get anywhere is a one-way two-lane street where cars go EXTREMELY fast. The sign says 60 (km/h I think) but they are CERTAINLY going faster than that. Once again, we just cross when there are no cars. I am doubtful that there are seatbelt laws as well.
Another observation--there are guards and police outside everything once it gets dark, including our hostel and a few cafes on the way down here (I'm in an internet cafe a few blocks away from the Backpack--don't worry, I didn't come here alone).
I'm trying to think of a few more things to tell you...
Ah.
On the drive out of the airport to the main city, we drove by several minutes' worth of townships. The poverty so close to the city and airport was a little unsettling to say the least. I will have more to say about townships I'm sure.
They're very excited about the world cup 2010 here! Countdowns all over the place... just 356 more days until kickoff, in case you were curious.
Olivia and I made dinner tonight---Stir fry. SOOOO DELICIOUS after a long day of walking around after a night of little sleep.
The packaged "stir-fry ready" vegetables were odd though. Kale and iceberg lettuce, anyone?
The time change is still a bit odd of a concept for me... as I type this, everyone at home is probably waking up (teenagers are anyway) or eating lunch. And I am doing an after-dinner blog post before bed, in the dark.
I need to journal some more about today. It is often hard to think of things to say. I am just so immersed here. I know my photographs will help narrate my story.
I drank a Sprite today from the hostel vending machine (just 10 rand! haha) and it certainly tasted differently. Carbonated water and sugar were the first 2 ingredients... in that order. Is that what it is in the US? Can someone check for me?
Also, they measure "energy" in kiloJoules here, instead of calories (or I should say kcal).
hmm... "m@in internet cafe does not except any responsibility..."
The multilinguality of the area is very beautiful. I hope someday the US will be so diverse. It will help our brains too! According to the Segalls and personal experience, many people are fluent in 4 languages... at least 2, anyway.
I love it here.

p.s. I lit 2 candles today in St. George's Cathedral. One for everyone at home (especially my grandparents and hermanito) and another for those with HIV/AIDS. I have a few things to say about that later on... but there is a special place and prayer for those candles under a beautiful picture of St. George, who I think is their patron saint.

p.p.s. it was 75 degrees and sunny today (nicer than in Seattle! hahahaha)! This is my kind of winter (: