Well I made it through the weekend without jumping off of any really tall objects. I had SHAWCO fun day on Saturday, which went all day at Kensington, the center that I volunteer at. All the volunteers and kids were invited and we basically split everyone into teams and then played a bunch of different games for points. It was really fun! But man was I exhausted afterwards. We had a long jump, obstacle course, team songs (we were the white team...hence I had the chant "white, white, is so bright...w-h-i-t-e" in my head for the rest of the day), dodgeball, musical chairs and that really awkward game where you have to pass an orange using you neck. It's much much harder when someone who is 6 feet tall is trying to pass it to an impossibly tiny 3rd grader. Our team song was the best by far, but we didn't get any points for that and ended up in last (only by a point!) but I think the kids still had a lot of fun. All of the volunteers are super enthusiastic and outgoing and you can tell how dedicated they are.

Saturday night it rained (I don't know how it manages to be sunny and perfect all week and then rain all weekend!) but we went to this huge outdoor festival on Long Street anyway. There was supposed to be live music and DJs in the street, but most of it got moved inside of bars. It was cool to finally see some local bands and I even bought a CD of one of the really famous pop groups here cause I've been hearing their song everywhere. On Sunday me and my roommate Zoe (who also had a long childhood obession with wanting to be a marine biologist) headed to the aquarium on the waterfront. We got to see enormous crabs, seals, a shark feeding, and we found Nemo at least 10 times. And we followed it up with what is becoming the standard Sunday braai.

Running club has also been going really well. They don't actually have an official team like U of I. There's no try-outs or anything, but only the top people gets to represent UCT at meets. There are people that go on social runs every day, but I'm thinking of seeing if they'll let me do some of the other workouts. I signed up for the Two Oceans Half-Marathon on April 7th (without realizing that it's over our spring break, so I'm not exactly positive that I'll run it, just in case I'll be out of town) but I've met a couple other people who are running it too. I really wanted to be able to do a full one here, but the Two Oceans full one is an ultra (34.8 miles...eeep) so I think I'll pass on that...

It's calming to finally be in a routine here and feel like it's becoming some sort of home, and I'm still so excited to see an endless list of sites and adventures, but being away really does remind you how hard it is to be away from people you love. Wishing you all were here.