I have really mixed feelings about leaving and a huge knot in my stomach for some reason I can't identify.

I'm really going to miss this place. I love it here. I suppose I'll just have to make my way back sometime soon.

Farewell, Cape Town.

So after my time in Namibia, I rode a bus up to Victoria Falls to meet up with some of my friends from my first trip there. I spent a bit of time in that part of the country, and a day in Zambia, as well.

[Zambia as viewed from the bus on the way into Vic Falls.]

Shortly thereafter, I went down to Bulawayo, the second biggest city in Zimbabwe. I rode a bus down there, which had a temporary break down as every bus I have ever ridden in Africa seems to have had, but the landscape was incredible. This part of the world is just beautiful -- there's no other way to put it.

I had a great time in Bulwayo once I got there, and strangely enough, it kind of reminded me of home. It's odd to think that Cleveland and Bulawayo could have a similar feeling for me, considering their drastically different circumstances and histories; however, I really felt at home in that city and had so much fun. It's full of old, colonial-era architecture mixed with 50s, 60s, and 70s stuff, and is generally a little dilapidated, but the city has a lively, friendly vibe.

[The streets in Bulawayo were made big enough so that a cart being pulled by 16 oxen could do a U-turn.]

[Bulawayo City Hall]

[The train station.]

[The headquarters of the MDC, which was the primary political opposition in recent elections. They had a chance of ousting Mugabe that was stopped by elections that were not entirely free and fair and by violence carried out for[by] the governemtn particularly in this part of the country, where support for the opposition ran high. The MDC is much weaker now due to splits in the party, but there is still hope in Zimbabwe for the future, especially once Mugabe is no longer president (and he's getting old, so that time will come soon).]

I also spend a day in the township in Bulawayo visiting the family of my friend, Vusa.

[Vusa in front of his family's house, where he grew up. If you look at the foundation on the right hand side of the photo, in front of the house, you can see where walls used to stand. The Zimbabwean government went through the townships throughout the country and wiped out entire households, or in this case, forced the families to knock down the parts of their homes they'd added on over the years as a way to "control the informal economy". The people in the township will tell you that it was a threat against supporting the political opposition.]

[This is the epicenter of social activity in the township. Because of the high level of unemployment due to Zimbabwe's failing economy(inflation is at 1000%, the highest of any country not in a war-time economy), you can find people here all day long.]

Bulawayo was a great place, and it was amazing that in a country with so much poverty and so much political unrest that it was safer to walk the streets than in Cape Town.

There's much more to tell, but I'll continue when I post about Namibia.

[the cut! two days after initial injury]

[My silly bandage in action!]

It's pretty funny, all around. It's just unfortunate that one of my rare instances of irresponsibility had to cost me R800(equivalent to about $135).

In other news, I have travel plans for after classes end and before exams start; I will go up to Namibia for a few days and then travel back to Zimbabwe, where I will make my way down from Vic Falls to Bulwayo and get to see a lot more of the country than I did last time. Should be excellent.

I can't believe how little time there is. I definitely need to take advantage of my UCT club memberships before I go. I haven't been surfing in several weeks, but I am sure to go next week and the following weeks. I have a lot of skill to gain before I'm back to ocean-less Ohio, so I better brush up as quickly as possible.

[Muizenberg, the town where we take surfing lessons - this is the beach at which we [try to] surf.]

[Colleen, one of my fellow interstudy friends, and me.]

I'm a bit apprehensive about exams, however; they do count for about 50% of the final grade, so there is no room to mess around. I'm sure I'll be fine, but with trying to take advantage of travel opportunities before I go, I might not leave a lot of time for studying or for packing my belongings at the end of my stay. I'm sure it will all work out, but there will be no time for rest.

It's amazing how short one semester can be.

There were people from all sectors of South African society -- black, coloured, Indian, white, and whomever else, men and women, young and old. There were a lot of school groups in attendance, in fact, from primary through secondary school ages. There were people from the townships and people from the university, and really, just a great diversity of individuals who all had come together to address the concerns facing South Africa and to share their thoughts on HIV prevention and the effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on their society.

Between speakers during the town hall meeting, someone would start singing and then the whole room would simultaneously burst into song with beautiful harmony and people would dance and clap. There was a play put on and people in the audience spoke out about why it was important for everyone to have come together to address HIV. During the rally/march, people were joyful, optimistic, and had such a positive energy with songs and dance. I've been to a number of marches in the last few years of my life, but this one was, by far, the most spirit-filled and fun, and it seemed to move everyone in a way that reached into the depths of their being and people were determined to make a tangible difference in their lives.

On Friday, I went with Lauren, one of my roommates, to a few museums downtown. We checked out the National Gallery, which was really a great art museum and I reccomend to anyone who comes to Cape Town that they should see it. There was a good mix of both the classic art you'd find in any museum and also contemporary art, including a lot of political art. There was special Picasso exhibit going on, but I think I enjoyed an exhibit entitled, "A Premonition of War" the most. For a glimpse of it, click here. We also went to the South African Museum, which is kind of a natural history museum. There were exhibits on everything from prehistoric animals to rocks and minerals to sharks and whales, and a really old exhibit room on "African peoples". That exhibit was particularly interesting because it hadn't been updated since... oh, I don't even know when... but everything in it is definitely politically incorrect.

The whole day was great! Cape Town is amazing.

The trip began by travelling from Cape Town to Johannesburg, and then to Vic Falls, via Air Zimbabwe (or Air Zim), an airline affectionately called by many "Scare Zim". The plane was unexpectedly small, but the flight was fine and the food was the best I've ever had on any airline.

We stayed at Shoestrings Lodge, a really great hostel, and we made great friends with the soem of the local crowd, with whom I'm sure we'll continue to keep in touch. Victoria Falls is a small tourist town, though it didn't feel overrun with tourists because most of them tend to stay in the compounds of their ridiculously lavish hotels. Seeing as we stayed in the hostel, quite close to the main road through town, we had a much different experience. The people there were so incredibly friendly and helpful, and it was nice to be living the relaxed pace of small town life. I would love to return one day, and I even wish I could live there for a while.

[At the hostel with (clockwise from bottom right) Chris (one of the local guys), Lauren, Sasha, Sam (our Aussie traveller friend), and Vusa (another local friend of mine)]

In Zimbabwe I was a millionaire for the first and most likely the last time in my life. The inflation rate for Zim dollaras is not so hot, with the official bank rate going at 99,000 per 1 US dollar, though on the black market it's about 180,000 per 1 US dollar. Every time we payed for something we had to use a huge stack of money, and because the inflation continues to worsen every day, it wasn't surprising to go to a restaurant twice in the week that we were there and have the prices go up 200,000 between visits.

[Our stack of 14.8 million Zim dollars was equivalent to $80 US]

On the first full day we were at Vic Falls, we went to the national park to walk along the path opposite the falls. The views were incredible and so amazingly breath taking. The falls are 1.7 km long and I can't do justice to their absolute beauty in words. While we walked along the path we were entirely soaked at certain look out points because the mist rising from the falls is like constant rain, and the rising mist forms directly into clouds above the falls. Victoria Falls are understandably one of the seven natural wonders in the world.

After walking through the park, we went across the border into Zambia for a bit and travelled to the nearest town, Livingstone, for a bit of exploration.

On the second day we started things off with a bungi jump. Yes, that's right, I went bungi jumping, and off of the 3rd highest jump in the world (at 111 meters). It was incredible because as you fall, you can see the end of the falls in one direction and into a beautiful gorge in the other.

It was amazingly beautiful and I jumped right through a rainbow.

[The view of the falls from the bridge where we jumped]

[From the gardens of the Victoria Falls Hotel, with the bungi bridge in the background]

Later that night, we went on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River and saw a lot of wildlife along the way and a beautiful transition into night.

[Full moon rising over the Zambezi]

[Hippos on the Zambezi]

The next day we relaxed and explored town. On Tuesday, we went on a day trip to Chobe Park in Botswana and went on a river boat safari in the morning and a land safari in the afternoon. Going to the zoo is fun and I never expected safari stuff to be too fun, but it really is incredible to see these animals in their natural habitat, as wild animals.

[The first animal we saw on our drive, this elephant walked within 15 feet of our vehicle.]

[Female kudu]

[More kudu]

[More elephants; we almost got charged a couple times by elephants, once by a playful younger one, and once by angry parents (we drove too fast around one corner and startled a family)]

We saw so many types of animals and I could post pictures all day, so ask when I get home if you want to see more. I kept a running list of everything that we saw, as well.

The next day we went on a helecopter ride over the falls which provided some incredible views.

[The Zambezi drops off at the falls and continues into this beautiful twisting gorge]

On my last full day, I went on a walk with a friend down to the banks of the Zambezi and just took it all in. One of the strangest things to me was having to think about what to do if an elephant, baboon, or who knows what suddenly appeared on the road, and how I would react. The scene at the banks of the Zambezi was beautiful, though, and it was really nice to see the river far away from any of the tourist destinations.

We also spent some time sneaking into The Kingdom throughout the week to use their pool; this was probably the most posh place in town, but the decor was rather culturally offensive, as everything was "African" and on a huge, extravagant scale. Considering the $400+/night rate, we didn't feel bad about a little free swim.

This was the most amazing vacation I've ever been on and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to see Victoria Falls and to meet so many great people and learn so much. I also got to add a bunch of new stamps to my almost-empty passport (now including Zim, Botswana, Zambia, and South Africa) and to see bits and pieces of this part of the continent. It was really sad to leave, but school was calling, so we went home to Cape Town. And Cape Town does feel like home now, which is kind of funny to consider, and doing so also makes me wish I could stay longer than the next two months. It's hard to believe that's all the time I have left here. I also wish we could've stayed longer in Zimbabwe; it was a beautiful country and I felt instantly at home in Vic Falls. Maybe one day I'll have the opportunity to go back. I think I have really fallen in love with southern Africa and I hope I can return here after this semester is over.

[the Clifton Beaches area]

[going, going...]

[gone]

[my crew for the night (clockwise from me: Susie, Sasha, Morgan, Monica)]

The surprise:

[the beach from above]

We're at the time when mid-term papers are due and everyone's busy and working hard. Only a week until spring break!

[front of our house]

Notice the fence. I haven't seen a single residence here that does not have a fence around it, though many in my neighborhood aren't too serious, only symbolic 3-feet-tall fences. In other parts of the city you'll find much higher fences. This is all left over from Apartheid, and a lot of people still feel that they're necessary because of the high incidences of crime here. Of course, the crime is a symptom of the severe poverty created by Apartheid.

[my room]

This room is bigger than the ones in the Village at 115th. I hope that makes you kids who live there jealous.

[Our kitchen and living room. Clockwise from top middle: Evan, Courtney, Lauren, Susie]

A bit small for 11 people but definitely manageable. This area is constantly full of people eating and talking, mostly about food and/or politics, or the zillions of things we want to do before we leave.

[back yard]

[back porch]

[back of house]

[Our pet spider]

This sucker is about 4.5 inches from back leg to front, and is currently hanging out between a tree branch and a bush in our back yard. I'm not so fond of the arachnids, but I guess it does look kind of cool. I'm sure it must be poisonous, though.

[Our pet cat]

This cat seems to think that it lives in our back yard and tries sometimes to come into the house. It's friendly enough, but I'm sure one day I'll see it eating food on our kitchen table and have to chase it out.

[The gem of the house; one of the upstairs bathrooms.]

Who wouldn't love this view while taking a shower or relieving oneself?

So that's home for now, and it's suiting me (and my roommates) quite well. It's a nice place to live, for sure, and it's conveniently located near a lot of important things (like multiple grocery stores, restaurants, etc.), and is also only a 15 minute walk from upper campus (of course, the walk is uphill, as I've mentioned several times). It's pretty far from where all of the other kids on the interstudy program are staying, but it's kind of nice for us to forge our own way without the entire pack tagging along.

In other news, I went on a pleasant outing on Wednesday evening with the Wine Cultural Society (one of the clubs I joined--we get to join three for free here, my other two being the Surf Club and Treatment Action Campaign, or TAC, which deals with HIV/AIDS awareness, education, and other programming--more to come on each of these groups in the future). It was a dinner with the wine maker night at Manuka, a nice restaurant in the Tyger Valley area, just outside of Cape Town. I met a lot of European kids and made some new friends and tried some excellent wines. It's really interesting how the more I learn, the more I can appreciate a wider variety of wines and the more I can recognize in the "bouquet" and "pallate", or smell and taste for those of you who think, as I do, that those terms are snobby.

We went to the Kango Caves, which were really beautiful. I've been in caves before, but these were the most spectacular caverns I've ever seen. The main chambers were so large and really breathtaking; there was also an option for a bit more intense caving experience, and I went on this little expedition with some of the other students in the program. The spaces we had to climb through and up were quite tight, and we had to hoist ourselves through the "Devil's Chimney", and crawl on our bellies through the "Tunnel of Love". It was great fun.

[A shot of the main chamber; concerts used to be held there until the 1960s when vandalism became a big issue.]

[Two of my housemates, Evan and Christy, and I pose for a shot in the "Tunnel of Love". This portion of the tunnel was small, but it was much larger than some of the other areas through which we made our way. We definitely had to squeeze through a lot of small spaces.]

We also went to the Klein Karoo Ostrich Farm. This is a commercial farm which harvests just about everything possible from its ostriches, including the meat, leather, feathers, etc. We had a tour of the farm and learned about the farming process, and got to interact with a few ostriches (though most are naturally hostile towards people). We also had an ostrich meat lunch, which was quite tasty. Ostrich is a red meat, but apparently without all of the negative aspects one would typically associate with red meat, so it's an ideal food. It's extremely delicious, and for those who know how much I love to eat, this was a great part of the weekend for me. I have taken to buying ostrich for a couple meals a week now (you can get it in any grocery store here), and it's really easy to prepare and is really good for you.

[This is one of the oldest ostriches at the farm (I think her name was Lucy, but I forget), and she was somewhere around 16 or 17 years old. She was very friendly, but most ostriches will attack humans, out of fear, of course, by kicking at them with their extremely powerful legs and clawed feet.]

[They had Lucy (?) "kiss" the guys in the group; they all helt bits of ostrich feed in their mouths and she pecked it out. Hilarious.]

[They also allowed a lucky few to ride the ostriches. They assured us that this was humane and placed a lot of restrictions on the rides, so I guess it was ok for the birds. It was definitely funny watching the riders. This is Nate, one of the interstudy students.]

We also went to a Wild Life Ranch, which was somewhat like a zoo. I had seen most of these animals before at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, but it was still fun and we learned a lot about the habitats in South Africa for these animals and the challenges their species are facing, etc. This ranch raised funds for habitat preservation and protection of the animals. For all of you animal lovers out there, I have included some shots:

[Crocodile]

[Otter]

[Who knew storks were so ugly? Check out the hairy, saggy necks.]

[White Bengal tiger, and for those of you who didn't know, they're just albino Bengal tigers.]

[Lion and lionesses]

We also went on a township tour on that Saturday night, which raised a lot of mixed feelings among many of the students. It was a really weird experience for lots of reasons. Township tours in this particular place are normally done in small groups of people. We, however, pulled up in two coach buses(this was the first time a group this big came to this township). Sixty people piled out of the buses and we definitely interrupted the neighborhood for the evening. People had been informed that we were coming, but it still felt like an imposition. Some people were very openly welcoming of us being there, while others stood in their doorways far from us. The little kids were excited to see us, as we walked off the bus, and ran up to us and talked to us and held our hands. Some of the adults came over and engaged in conversation. All the while, though, there was some strange tinge of voyeurism to it all. Were we tourists going on a field trip to look at poverty for a few minutes and then leave on our merry way? Is it important for us to see first-hand what these people's poverties were, and were we having a valuable experience? Could we come close to understanding any of it with the short visit? Were we imposing on people or were we welcome in the neighborhood? It was all really strange and uncomfortable. We were invited into the homes of some people. All of the homes in this township were fairly identical; 2 bedrooms, a living room/kitchen area, and a bathroom. They were small and cramped and most of them housed around 6 people, sometimes more.

We walked around the neighborhood for a while and talked with people and learned the history of the township's founding during Apartheid from our guides, who also lived in the township. The guides expressed the importance of our being there, to learn about the reality of township life and to expose it. While I think that this was true, it was still a very uncomfortable experience for many other reasons.

After walking around the township, we went to a local shabeen, or pub. The people there were so friendly and made such great efforts to come and talk to us. It was nice to have some time just to talk with the people of the area. After the shabeen, we went to have a traditional Xhosa dinner in the township. The food was really good and we also tried home-brewed beer, which was really interesting. I can't describe it very well, but it was sort of thick and kind of the color of cream-of-wheat. [As a side-note, the home-brewed beer is interesting in a historical context because women in townships during Apartheid used to sell it as a means of income; however, it was made illegal and police raided homes and destroyed home brewed liquor so as to encourage men to use municipal beer halls. In response, women attacked the beer halls and destroyed equipment and buildings and also organised a highly successful boycott of the beer halls.]We also saw some dancing, known to Americans as "Stepping".

[A picture from the bus window. Even though we were told we could take pictures while we walked around the neighborhood, it didn't seem right.]

Unfortunately, this township is far better off than the ones nearer the cities. For instance, in Cape Town, many homes in townships are made of only corrugated tin and the homes are much closer together and sanitation is much worse. I will eventually have more to tell on this topic because I will do my interviews in Mannenberg. To get a glimpse of what township life is like, I'd reccomend watching the film Tsotsi, which recently won an Oscar for "Best Foreign Film". This film definitely doesn't represent a broad sector of South African culture and portrays the very worst you might find here, so please do watch it with those thoughts in mind. However, it does show what townships really look like, featuring one outside of Johannesburg. Also note that Johannesburg is very different from Cape Town.

All in all, living in South Africa has been full of dichotomous and simultaneous experiences for me. I'm really glad I came here, though,and I'm learning a lot.

I spoke with one of my professors today about getting into the townships to do interviews for my Experiential Learning Fellowship project. I now have some contacts and have a place to start. I'm going to make some trips to Mannenberg township to meet some women and do interviews for the project; it will be an interesting experience, certainly, and I'll have to be sure to bring a friend along for safety reasons. I do think it will be entirely worthwhile, though, and definitely a good way to understand the lives that so many people lead here, post-Apartheid.

I also have an interesting topic for my series of papers for my gender study course; I'm going to look at Western feminism(s) and its applicability elsewhere in the world. I'm going to do some definitive and theoretical comparative stuff for my first shorter paper, and then for my final paper I'll build on the theory stuff with primary research; I'm going to speak to women who are a part of the "New Women's Movement" here in South Africa, and talk with them about Western feminism and the issues that they think are important for the women's movement versus what the "West" thinks. I also want to talk about the ability of Western women to study and understand women's issues in other parts of the world. This description doesn't include many details, but I think this is going to be a great project to work on because it will allow me to explore some of my questions and reservations about feminism along with learning simultaneously about women's movements here in South Africa.

I also need to get started on my papers for both my history course and my sociology course. I think for the history essay I'm going to do a comparative paper on liberation struggles through two biographical sketches, using Sobukwe and ... someone else yet to be named. I think this will also be an interesting project.

I am definitely getting a lot out of the courses that I'm taking here and I'm glad to be learning so much about people and cultures that aren't presented very often at home.

I hope everyone at home appreciates the great legs I'll have by the time I get back.

SOC2030F: Poverty, Development, and Globalisation
HST3025F: Liberation in Southern Africa
AGI3000F: Theories, Politics, and Action

The first course, which comes from the Dept. of Sociology, is definitely a valuable course for me to take. I've been quite interested in poverty and globalisation for quite some time now, and so it's great to get into the theory and the way theory plays out in real life. The professor, Dr. Jacques de Wet, is a really friendly and engaging person, and he worked in the development field before going into academia so he's got a different perspective on things. This course is giving me a lot of insight into the poverties that exists in South Africa and the ways in which people live and struggle, and the ways in which people are still affected by Apartheid. Looking at the cases in SA, however, provide a lot of opportunity to understand poverties around the world and how development works (and why it often doesn't). I really appreciate his emphasis on people-centered development, though, and I think I'm going to learn a lot of valuable information and gain a lot of insight from this course.

The history course is also going to be very interesting. The professor, Dr. Christopher Saunders, looks a bit like the classic white-haired professor one might picture as a little kid, but he seems incredibly friendly and is also a very engaging lecturer. "Liberation in Southern Africa" obviously covers a multitude of liberation struggles in many countries, so I'm looking forward to gaining a lot of knowledge from this course. I do have to confess, however, that the reading list is a bit daunting; he provided us with a list of 7 or 8 books he highly reccomends, and then four more pages of book titles grouped under various headings as optional reading. There is no timeline to the reading schedule, so you just do as you please. This is an interesting way to prepare for a final exam that accounts for 50% of one's grade, but we'll see how it goes. I do think that class is going to be extremely interesting.

Finally, my last course comes from the African Gender Institute, and covers women's movements throughout southern Africa. This course is really going to be rewarding. Not only am I learning a lot of feminisms, gender construction, etc., etc., etc., in Africa, but I'm also FINALLY getting a really good critical look at Western feminism(s). The readings are very interesting and are drawn from a variety of sources, and the other students in the class seem to be generally very smart. The professor, Dr. Elaine Salo, is again, very friendly, and also has some views that I share but hadn't seen expressed by other academics. She's giving me a bit of assistance in working out some of my research for next year, as well.

I keep emphasizing the "friendly" aspect of all of these professors because I was told numerous times (even after I got here) that I couldn't expect to have the same kind of contact and relationship with professors here as I could at home because of the different style of education. I have found, however, that professors seem even more personally accessible here than at home. UCT has over 20,000 students, but professors are entirely willing to meet with you and talk with you after class, etc.

There are some differences in eduation, however, including our tutorial sessions, which are exist (and have mandatory attendance) for most classes. A tutorial (or "tut") is supposed to be a once-a-week meeting with a smaller group of students (considering most courses are large lectures) with a tutor for discussion and clarification of what's going on in the lecture hall. I have only had one tut so far, and have another tomorrow. I'm not sure yet if I think they are important parts of the educational system. I am a bit irked, however, because I was told that education overseas generally has fewer assignments (typically about 2 papers and one final exam), but with the tuts in session now, I have to write up short papers each week. Right now it seems like busy work and merely a way to make the unmotivated students engage with the material, but it might end up worthwhile. We'll see.

And having said all that, I also want to contest the notion that school is "easier" outside of the U.S. Perhaps it's just because I'm studying at UCT, which is apparently the dream school for students on the African continent, but there is hardly less reading, and with these tut assignments, certainly more work than at home. Furthermore, work is much harder to get done because a majority of readings come from the library and are on short loan (or "reserve", for you Case kids), so you only have limited time (the library closes in the evening and has few hours on Saturday and is closed on Sunday).

I do like it here, though. There is in some ways a more laid-back atmosphere than at Case, but people are smart. Students from all over Africa vie to get into this school and the diversities in history and culture here make for an interesting experience.

I have only a few minutes to write, but I want to comment on public transportation here. It's entirely interesting. There are public buses, but I've not even used them yet because there is a more fabulous way of getting around: the minibus! 16-passenger vans mob the streets every day during daylight hours and it's a cheap ride into the city center, where you can switch to another minibus to get just about anywhere in the city. If you need to get a bit further, the train is also a nice option. Inexpensive, though a bit unsafe after business hours. On the minibuses, though, each one seems to be independently owned and operated, and many people "trick out" their vans, if you will, with massive appliques on the windows and thumping sound systems. I think I might try and find one great minibus applique saying for each entry that I post from now on. While I haven't memorized any at this point, I can note that there have been several very pro-American buses, with flags and sayings, and then my favorite ride has probably been on the "Pleasure Bus" which plays loud trance music and has a tiny disco ball spinning where there was formerly a light on the interior of the van.

More pictures to come soon from my adventures in Oudtshoorn.

My roommate and friend Sasha says that South Africa has a 1st world fascade imposed on a 3rd world infrastructure. I think she makes a good point, and while I might not say it's quite a 3rd world infrastructure, I do think that there is accuracy in her statement. This place is full of interesting dynamics, and I have decided that I have to carry around a little journal with me to jot them down as they come up. In some ways, this city is a lot like home. In other ways, it's completely different. The differences have certainly been highlighted by this pwoer situation, though. It's just irritating to have to stay in our house most of the evening--with the power out, crime has a lot of potential to happen.

Speaking of crime, while I haven't experienced anything yet, it's becoming more of a reality for kids on my program. A group of three got mugged on the way home (they were actually at the corner of their street), but only lost a couple cell phones and a bit of money. Crime definitely occurs here, but as we were told (and as it is seeming), crime is opportunistic. You never know what's going to happen, but it most often isn't violent--it's more about "separating you from your possessions", as I was told when I first got here. We're all learning to carry as little as possible, and you realize that what you have is expendable in most circumstances. It's definitely different than being in Cleveland, but at the same time, all the street smarts I learned there have been handy here; some kids on the program have had to learn it all for the first time. Fear is useless and cripling, though, so I will continue to explore and have an amazing time in this place (I'll just be smart about it). (Mom, if you're reading this, relax!!! You, too, Dad! I'm fine, don't worry about me!)

Alas, because of the shortage of power here, and not knowing when it might go out, I'm going to conclude this entry and continue with my commentary at a later time when I can make my comments worthwhile and meaningful.