I'm the worst blogger in the world..

and I acknowledge that. Sorry. If its any consolation, I thought I'd update since I haven't talked to anyone in a while. Its been a crazy week!! The last day of the Stellenbosch homestay I got the stomach flu..it only lasted about 48 hours but I'm still really tired/achy. On the day inbetween stellenbosch and our last homestay, we stayed at a backpackers in Cape Town. A few of the girls and I went back to Langa to meet a few friends and we all went to a club to go dancing. Unforunately, nobody here celebrates halloween but we did our best anyways. Yesterday we moved into our homestay in the Bo Kaap, which is an area comprised mostly of Muslim coloured families. (The phrase Coloured doesnt mean the same thing here as it does at home..it pretty much means anyone of mixed race like indian, malayan, biracial... pretty much anything that the apartheid authorities couldnt call "African.") We weren't told anything about our families or the area, and we just sat on the steps of a museum as our parents came and picked us up. This is pretty much how SIT functions- nobody knows whats going on, and we just go with it. I was kind of nervous because I was still sick and didnt have the energy to mesh with a new family, and I'm pretty burned out and jaded with the whole homestay process in general. BUT despite all that, I ended up having a really good first night. The Bo Kaap is up on the hill above the city, and the views are incredible. Right above us is table mountin, right below is the city, and beyond that is a perfect view of the harbor and ocean. The flats the people live in are really run down and its a fairly low-income area, so I think thats why the rich white people havent infiltrated yet. (I also suspect they're scared of the muslims and/or cant stand the 4 am call to prayer.) My family is really great. My little brother Gareith is 11 and plays rugby. He's really cheerful and energetic and easy to be with. My sister is 15, and she is also really nice. Her best friend who is always at the house is CRAZY and talks 100 miles an hour and likes to talk about boys and listen to american music. (We've already had a dance party to Justin Timberlake.) My mom and dad and brother in law and the other adults constantly milling around the apartment are really welcoming and engaging. I was planning on going to bed early but ended up discussing the civil war and american politics with some family member of mine until 10:30 pm. Its hard to balance our conversations-- all I want to talk about are South African issues, and they just want to talk about American issues. I cant believe that it is already November... there are so many things I want to do during the independent study period, and I'm freaking out because I know I won't get half of them done. Its also really stressful to realize the amount of research and interviewing I'm going to have to do to make my ISP really good, which is what I want. I'm interested and invested in the issues surrounding HIV+ pregnant mothers. If I'm going to spend all this time on this paper, it had better be really good. I'm going kind of crazy with the group; it'll be nice to move into ISP accomadations with the girls and not have to constantly be with the same 23 people all the time. (I've formed a close relationship with four girls on my program are we are all living together in a house near UCT.) It will also be really nice to sleep in once in a while and be able to plan my own schedule. Tomorrow we have the afternoon off so I will post pictures from the Stellenbosch homestay and my new Muslim homestay.

I still miss everyone. Just so you know :-)