i live in an anemone

so, apparently, quinton and felicity (the fearless leaders of ciee, my study abroad program) have been reading my blog, which i find to be quite hilarious considering i have no idea how they found it. i guess this is what happens when you put stuff on the internet. ;)

i've been rereading my blog entries, though, and to be quite honest, i really have no qualms about what i've posted online. there have definitely been entries where i am more whiny and angst-ridden, but it's all a part of my history. i like my more recent blog entries, though (from europe to the present).

(pondering of the day: blogging about blogging = metablogging? hmm...)

life has been going pretty well lately, save for the weather, which i'm sorry to report has been miserable. i'm usually the first person to denote how much i love the rain, but it just seems to be more difficult to take on here. i suppose it's better than washington's current heat index of 105º, though.

last weekend, agnes and i hit up the two oceans aquarium at the waterfront. now, it's no secret that i'm actually a 6-year-old trapped within a 20-year-old's body, but this aquarium was legit awesome. even agnes thought so, and god knows she's much classier than i am! ;)


this is a picture of me within the tunnel in the aquarium of adorable nemo-esque fish... it was definitely awesome! so, to all you capetonians out there, it's definitely worth hitting up if you've got the chance. :)

in a change of pace, this weekend, ciee is taking us out of town to spend a weekend in a homestay. however, this isn't a typical homestay... we're going to ocean view, a city of 30,000 denizens that's only 72 kilometers from cape town, but a world apart. during the apartheid era, ocean view became the site of relocation for coloured people being evicted from their homes in communities deemed by the government as "whites only". nowadays, unfortunately, ocean view struggles with its own socioeconomic disadvantage, not to mention the ensuing social problems. i've been to the townships before (in fact, i went to nyanga on sunday), but it's an entirely different experience to be living with a family in such an environment. i'm already discovering that poverty means something completely different here than it does back in the united states, and while the families we'll be living with won't be quite so destitute, i anticipate that i will see and learn a lot during this experience.

so, in conclusion, if you wish to chat with me this weekend, you can't, because i'll be in ocean view. ;) i'll have my phone, but i probably won't be able to spend much time communicating with everyone. i'm sure i'll have a lot to talk about when i get back, though. ;)