It is so crazy to me how fast our time here has been going. I know that it seems like 18 days is a really long time to have left somewhere, but it’s really not at all. I mean, we spend 5 days out of the week working until 4, which means that by the time we work out, get home, shower, eat, it’s already 9 or 10. Our only days to really be able to do anything in Cape Town are the weekends, and everything in this country closes early on Saturdays and doesn’t even open on Sundays. Basically, of the million things I still feel like I want to do before leaving, there are barely four days to get them done before we go home…
So today and yesterday were days of proactive measures. We sat down as a group and listed things that we want to do and how we plan on doing them. I feel like it’s taken this long for us to get comfortable enough in South Africa and with our group dynamic to be able to go out and do things on our own. The same thing kind of happened in Cairo. It took almost 2 months for me to trust myself in the city to go out and do things on my own. But at least in that circumstance I still had over 2 months to do the things I wanted. Not so here. That’s one thing I definitely think should be considered in the design of DukeEngage. 8 weeks isn’t enough time to establish a routine that you have to become comfortable breaking. Does that make sense? Building a routine before you’re comfortable breaking it? It does to me. I need more time in Cape Town.
Top of my list of things to do: safari and shark-diving. Everything else can be worked in, but those are both whole-day, involved activities that I refuse to leave Cape Town without doing. We booked both events for this weekend. That way if the weather sucks on one day we still have next weekend to make-up for it. Good plan, yeah? It felt SO GOOD to plan something on our own, that wasn’t structured through Duke. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than appreciative of all the opportunities that DukeEngage has organized for us that I otherwise would have never experienced. But it just felt good to take some of our own initiative to turn our time in Cape Town into a more personal experience. And to me, that means adventures. Fighting off sharks and bonding with the giraffes. Maybe some of you understand…
Other than our initiatives, the past two days have been relatively uneventful. Minus the accident on Bob’s last night with us when he spilled red wine all over my Citizens jeans and Lacoste sweater. That sucked pretty bad. But life could be worse. Way worse. Besides, now I can buy a new clothes! Sorry mommy. Anyway…
Let’s hope my last weeks here are what I want them to be. I’m making that my number one priority for the next 18 days.
Ukuthula,
Lynn
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