1st email

so since I am starting this late I will just post a few emails that I sent out rather than trying to recap the first couple weeks.... partly because I am lazy and partly because of the time issue.

Hello all, sorry I have not been better about keeping people updated but internet access has been difficult to come by. Starting monday I will be able to access my e-mail daily. I am now in Capetown after spending the first 4 days in Johannesburg. Joberg was great and amazing but Capetown takes my breath away. The first night in Joberg was my birthday and we went out to a Native American themed restauraunt and then we went to the bar that was a part of our hostel. This bar was a straw roofed house with a hottub inside of it. It was quite fun and the bartender became a good friend of all of ours. This is were we hung out during most of our freetime in Joberg since we could be loud and relax. We thought that that hostel was nice until we got to Capetown. This hostel feels like we are staying in a Hilton compared to a roadside motel. The beds are white linens and the showers have real pressure and separate stalls. There is a pool table and computers. You can also relax on the roof and see pretty much all of table mountain. Last night we went out to eat at a Cuban restauraunt and I had a plate of mussels and rice with a white wine sauce and it only cost me $8. Tonight me and one of the other girls walked to the grocery and bought food and then came back here and cooked. It was great and we swapped stories and recipes with one of the workers here who is from Cameroon. He told me I was a true African woman since I knew how to make my own food and also that I knew that if you didn't stir mealie pap it would get lumpy (a voyageurs lesson with malt-o-meal). Tomorrow we are going to a restauraunt that is all african themed and has a live band. It also serves tons of different animals unique to South Africa so that should be interesting. There is also a rumor that tomorrow we are getting dropped off at different ares in the center of the city and then given an address and a time limit to navigate our way there. It should be interesting and scary. Sunday night I will meet the first family that I stay with. They live in Langa and I stay there for 4 weeks. She is a grandmother who has three young grandchildren ages 9,7, and 4. I am very excited and hope to spend a lot of time with the kids. Today we saw the classroom where we will spend most of our time and got a chance to explore the area nearby. I honeslty gasp everytime I look up and see mountains in the distance. I can't even begin to explain how beautiful it is here. I wish I could upload pictures but apparently there is something with the way that you purchase internet here that makes uploading things very slow if not near impossible, so as hard as it may be to hear you might have to wait until I am back to see them. I love you all, but I am happy to say that I don't miss you. I really love it here and am having a wonderful time getting to know everyone in my group. I think that this is going to be an amazing semester and wish that you could all come and visit and be able to see it for yourself.
Love you all and I hope that was enough info to satisfy.
Raissa