Evil Did Not Win

Today marks the anniversary of an unthinkable tragedy.  My heart still aches for the families who lost their babies. The pain will surly stay with them forever. These moments are times that test our faith. I don’t think we will ever understand these tragedies, and it is so hard to accept that.

Here is a beautiful video about one mom and how she is responding to her pain. It is very inspirational.

Evil did not win

My prayers go out to those effected on this day, and to the sweet little angels who have gone before us.

Rest in Peace Mandela

Yesterday a great leader passed.  South Africa, and the world will mourn the death of President Nelson Mandela, a figure of great political change and peace.

This summer I had the great pleasure of visiting South Africa and teaching engineering in a school outside of Cape Town. Although I had briefly studied Mandela in history books, it was not until my trip that I really had the chance to realize the impact this man had on an entire country, and ultimately a whole planet.  For the class  we were assigned to read  the book “Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation”. To be completely honest, the book was not written in a style that made is an easy read. However the story was incredible.  If I could give one piece of advice to the world today it would be to watch the movie that tells the same story.

Here is the trailer to the film.( Invictus trailer) Even if you are uninterested in sports or politics, I still highly recommend it.

During my visit to South Africa, President Mandela was in very poor health. They were not predicting he would make it through the week.  However his health did improve slightly towards the end of our trip, and were able to join in the celebration of his 95th birthday at his former home in Soweto (an urban area outside of Johannesburg). This celebration gave me goosebumps (you can read more about it, and the rest of my trip here). It was so incredible to be a witness a part of history  We signed a poster wishing him a happy birthday. The poster read,  “How privileged we are to live in your time” .

When I heard the unfortunate news, I reached out to my friends in South Africa, the students from the school.  I wrote on our facebook page that their friends at Mizzou send our love and  prayers. My beautiful friend Paulcia said “His death will surely be the cause of a nation dividing”. Gosh it just broke my heart to hear her say this. The worst part, is that is could quite possibly be true.  I was there. I saw the museum of district 6. I bonded with so many students who’s lives were directly impacted by the changes this man influenced.  There is still a lot of work to be done there regarding equality for all races. There are still many people who harbor hatred for the blacks and coloreds of the country. They are stricken with poverty and prejudice.  With the death of Mandela, a symbol of hope and peace has perished.  It leaves me scared and sad of what this might mean for the country, and what it might mean for my friends at Bellville South. This could be a great opportunity for the nation to rise and unite, but it could also mean uproars of violence and political unrest.

No he was not a prophet or god, but he instilled principles of peace and  acceptance. He came out of 27 years in prison ready to forgive and fight for the people who imprisoned him. I just can’t imagine how much strength it took for him to do the right thing when our human tendencies usually lean towards revenge, anger, self pity,  and  hatred.  Not only did he avoid these, but encouraged so many others to do the same.

I know I will probably not ever be a political figure  and change the habits of a city, let alone a country. Still his actions inspire me to do what is right and loving even when it feels hard. Even when I am hurt and want so badly to seek revenge, ignore, or hurt the person who betrays me, I can follow the example of acting with peace and most importantly love.

“In judging out progress as individuals, we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one’s social position, influence and popularity, ealth and standard of education…but internal factors may be even more crucial in assessing one’s development as a human being; humility, purity, generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve your fellow men – qualities within the reach of every human soul” – Mandela 1977

This is the Gospel. Even though we sin and turn our backs on the Lord, he sent us his son to love us and teach us how to love one another. It is so easy for us to forget this when we have been hurt.  I do not think that Mandela is a god or prophet, but I do think he is a great example. I have been inspired by him and his actions, and so have many others.  In 1989, he was quoted saying “I stand here before you not at a prophet, but as a humble servant of you the people”.  To me that is truly inspiring and humbling. I want to be a servant of love and peace in this world. To me, that may just mean I have the ability to impact my family, friends, and co workers, but if more people act in this way what a difference it could make.

I pray that South Africa may mourn in peace and continue in the search of peace and love for one another.

God bless and sien jou later!

Decorating in Memories

A few weeks ago I finally got around to creating some home décor. Since my apartment is a temporary space, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, but wanted to hang some things on the walls to make the place feel more like home.  The couch is gray, and I decided to stick with a gray and blue theme with a pop of red. I read up on pinterest and decided to mount some engineer prints on canvases. Engineer prints are very inexpensive black and white prints that can be made at staples. The prints are only a dollar and some change and can be made in big poster sizes. (I may post later on how I mounted them). I put each print on a canvas and painted the  edges with red acrylic paint.

 

I really think that people’s decorations can show a lot about a person. I wanted to choose something for my walls that are personal to me. When I started on this project I knew exactly which pictures I wanted to use: pictures I took while studying abroad!

 

I went on two study abroad trips through the school of engineering at the University of Missouri. Both trips were short term and included a pre-departure class. I spent 10 days in Ireland, and two weeks in South Africa.   To read about my experience in South Africa click here and navigate through the trip.

 

I had a hard time choosing my hundreds (literally hundreds)  of photos. I decided on six landscape photos. Five were taken in Kruger Park in South Africa, and one from Killarney National Park in Ireland. I absolutely loved how they turned out, and what is even better, is that they all have a great memory attached to them. They make for a great talking piece in my home too! I love reminiscing about these great trips and sharing the stories with others.

 

I thought I would share the photos here and a little bit about the story behind each. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

This photo was actually taken by Gabby, one of the girls I was lucky to travel with. In this moment were driving in our large van though Kruger park. Some times we drove for a while without seeing any animals, but in this specific point in time, we had a group of elephant on our left, a group of monkeys on the right, and a giraffe coming down the road in front of us.  I took some photos of the monkeys on my side and then switched camera’s with Gabby. She snatched this moment right at the perfect moment as the elephant turned her head and flapped her ears. (Thanks Gabby!) We saw so many elephants on this trip, it was so cool. They are definitely beautiful creatures.

This photo was at the very end of our experience in the Kruger National Park. Zebras are one of the animals I was very excited to see. I think their fur is so beautiful and unique!  I had almost given up hope that I would get to see one in real life. Marty decided that we would have a little extra time on our last day, and he took us the long way out of the park. This meant that we would go a little further north and have the possibility to see some large cats and zebras! This beautiful creature looked right at us, just a few yards off the road. (This photo might also have been off of Marty’s camera. We shared a lot of our photos after the trip, and I have lost track. Marty if this was yours, thank you so much!)

This photo was taken of the sun setting in Kruger on our way back to camp on the second day in the park. I love this one because the trees and landscape really frame the sun in the sky. Even though the sun sets all over the world, I think you can look at this photo and tell this is the sun in Africa! I was not originally going to choose this as  one of my prints because the original photo has so many beautiful colors. I thought making it black and white would really loose the essence of the photo. When I tried it out, I liked it even with out the colors. It reminds me of the beauty in the terrain.

This is the photo I took on the trip in Ireland. We had an early morning in Killarney. We took a guided horse and buggy ride thought a beautiful park over looking a lake. The property had a historic castle, church, and other ancient buildings each with unique stories. The brisk and foggy morning made for a beautiful ride as we learned about the property. The way the  morning sun was coming thought these  trees really caught my eye.

 

These last two photos are my two favorite!

This one was taken on our way down to the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. We stopped to look for penguins (which I never saw), but I loved the way the sun was hitting the water as we climbed on the boulders.  When I look out into the ocean I am always taken back by the massiveness of the ocean and our world. The ocean reminds me that I am just one small being in a grand and beautiful world. This moment really humbled me.  I like reminding myself that I am just one being in this universe, yet God loves me as if I were the only one.

This last photo I talked more about in this post. This was taken at a look out place we discovered early morning in Kruger. We sat and watched this scene as the sun rose and changed the color of the sky. We listened as the birds awoke, and as the hippos began to grunt. If you look close you can see the hippos faces popping up near the tree branch. I could have sat in this moment for ever. When some one says “close your eyes and go to a peaceful place” this is it for me! It was so amazing to be in and surrounded by nature. Here I was a girl from the city surrounded by the earth and animals in THEIR home.

 

Here I am about three- four months after the South Africa trip, and I have finally gotten my pictures printed, written on, and in an album. I hope to share them all with you and relive my trips!

 

One last photo of my wall.

If you would like to read more about the South Africa trip, click here, and navigate though! Thanks for reading!

 

 

Sien Jou later South Africa

Our last night in South Africa we ate at a fancy restaurant on Mandela’s Square. The whole place had stuffed animals on the walls and made a very cool atmosphere. We spent the dinner talking about what we had learned and our favorite parts of the tip. It is always great to listen to others give their perspective on the same experience you had. Each person can see something totally different and unique. I am not sure that I could choose a favorite part of the trip. To me it seemed to almost be two separate trips, one spent with the learners in Bellville, and one spent exploring the country. Both “trips” unforgettable in their own ways.

At dinner I ordered  Kudu. If you remember from my Kruger posts, a Kudu is similar to a large deer or elk. It was delicious!

Kudu in Kruger

I have been asked many questions about the food in South Africa. Yes the food was delicious! Overall, at any given restraint, store, most things that would be in an American restaurant or store would be there as well. Burgers, pastas, wraps, sandwiches, steaks were all available. By no surprise, being on the cape, sea food was a huge hit. (I personally am not a huge seafood fan, but I always like to try it out when I visit a place known for their fish). It was very fresh and delicious. I think Gabby ate it for at least half of her meals! They said it was the best seafood they have had. Most menus also had a few “exotic” items. Things that showed up often were: Ostrich (usually in a burger), Kudu, Springbok, and at a few places Crocodile. All of which I tried and liked. Like I said, for people who were not willing to challenge their taste buds, there are plenty of “normal options”. There were also quite a few KFCs and some McDonalds.  We saw lots of Chinese restaurants some Indian restaurants, but absolutely no Mexican food. They didn’t even know what a tortilla chip is. I am lucky there was plenty of food to try, or I probably would have been having chips and salsa withdrawals.

Kudu on my plate

Do you have any other questions about South Africa?

I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip across the world to the beautiful South Africa. These post only share a very brief highlight of the amazing memories made here. I would love to share more with you so call me, lets meet up and talk! Or message me I could go on for hours about the wonderful experiences I had in these too short weeks.

Beautiful view of the Cape

If you are a student, please, please please, look into a study abroad trip. I know it is a big commitment, can be expensive, and can be a little scary, but I promise it will be worth it. I am lucky enough that I went to a university where short term study aboard programs are an option.  I didn’t want to take an entire semester away from my schooling, or family, but was still able to have the experiences of a life time for 2 weeks in South Africa and previously 10 days in Ireland. In these trips I have learned so much about how other people live, what adventures lie outside of my comfort zone, the incredible beauty of our planet, and so much about myself. Save up the money, look for a scholar ship, and take the risk! It will more than pay off. Once you graduate and enter the working world, it will be a long, long time before you can acquire enough vacation time  to take an adventure like this. The real world doesn’t have spring breaks, and winter breaks, and summer breaks, just a few days off here and there.

Thank you Mizzou Engineering and JR Swanagan for making these trips possible! Thank you Marty Walker for your time, patients, and wisdom along this trip. It truly has impacted my life in so many ways.

I will never forget the students at Bellville High school, your sweet faces have touched my heart. I wish you all the best futures. You are all so bright and have so much potential to make a difference.

My classmates Gabby, Jenna, Levi, Tanner, Mark, and Ashton, it was a pleasure learning with and about you on this journey. I am so glad to have met you all, and hope to see you soon!

I am back to reality now, with a new place, and a new job! Stay tuned for more about this new chapter of my life.

Post your thoughts and questions below I would love to hear from you.

Julie

Nelson Mandela’s Home

For the last few days of our trip, we headed back to J’burg. We had multiple options on how to spend the precious time we had left in  beautiful country of South Africa.  We were able to squeeze quite a few things into this time including another African market, a lesson and shopping session on African diamonds, and my favorite, a visit to Soweto.

Soweto is an urban area just outside of Johannesburg and was the location of Nelson Mandela’s home for most of his adult life. We were lucky enough to visit on his 95th birthday. Before we left for our trip, Mandela’s health was quickly declining, and it was assumed that he might pass during our time in the country. It was an especially joyous celebration, because the country did not know if he would make it to see his 95th birthday. We had the opportunity of a life time to be a part of this historic occasion.

The Soweto home is now a small museum dedicated to the life and work of Mandela. The entire street was filled with music, dancing, street performers, news casters,  and  vendors.  We hung out for a while observing the  festivities, and signed a huge banner for Mandela. It said “How privileged we are to live in your time” and how true! I mentioned in one of  my earlier posts, that I highly reccomend the movie “Invictus”. If you haven’t watched it, take the time to do so! Nelson Mandela led a reformation of an entire nation with the ideas of peace, equality, and kindness. He was a simple man with a vision, and was able to change so many people’s lives for the better. No, the country is not perfect, but has come a long way under his influence.

A group of men dressed in tribal outfits danced like I have never seen before!  

School children gathered to watch and listen to the music.

The house it’s self was very small. It is probably about the size of two dorm rooms. Nelson Mandela lived there with his wife and children (both his first and second wives lived in this house during their respective marriages). The kitchen was about the size of my closet! This is still considered a nice home for a black or colored person is South Africa. The house had many historic items to view including family photos, letters from Mandela written during his time in jail. He only lived in the house for a few weeks after his return from jail. It was unsafe due to protests, and his family moved to a safer location.

There are very few times in my life so far where I have actively felt like I was standing in a part of history. The most obvious time being on September 11th when the twin towers were destroyed. I know this day might not be written about in history books, but I know that history books will talk about Mandela. As a matter of fact, they already do, and I lived in his time, saw his home, and wrote him a personal birthday message.

One more post about Africa this week, then a whole lot about my new life, new job, and wedding planning! Thanks for reading, talk to you soon 🙂

Kusile Power Station Tour

Our stay in Middelburg preceded our tour of one of the largest construction projects in the world, the Kusile Power Station. We were lucky enough to get this special tour set up by some fellow Midwesterners.  Black and Vetch ( a engineering company based out of Kansas City) has a very large presence in the design and construction of this plant. Our Tour guide was a graduate from Mizzou’s school of engineering (we also talked with some other engineers from the Midwest). It was really neat to see the components of a power plant on such a large scale. This project has, and will continue to require so much planning, design, and hard work from hundreds of people. The engineers on the project are brought from all over the world to stay and work on the design for a few years at a time. Many have enjoyed the work and area and have opted to stay longer. This project has provided work for so many locals who come to work each day for only a few dollars. The minimum wage is extremely low in the area, yet workers are lining up for the opportunity to work these labor intensive  jobs.

It was very neat to have the opportunity to talk to these engineers over lunch. They grew up in the same area as I, and went to the same type of schooling as I. My future could easily be their present. Moving to the other side of the world for work and new experience seems like such an exhilarating life path. Don’t worry Mom, I don’t plan on moving to South Africa permanently.  They were able to answer a lot of questions for us about the plant, their new lives, and things they missed from the US.

We were not able to take our cameras inside the plant so I don’t have any personal photos to share with you. I also don’t know much about the demographic of my readers, so I don’t know how much you all would like to hear about the plant. From an engineering point of view, I thought it was very interesting.  The plant is coal-fired and will generate over 5,550 megawatts. It is HUGE! Hopefully I will get access to some photos soon to share with you, but I am not sure that they will be able to put it into perspective.

If this kind of thing interest you, please let me know, I would be glad to share more!  

A Scary Night in Middelburg

As we left Kruger Park, we drove though some of the poorest parts of South Africa. Ridding though the country side, we saw the destitute conditions that so many people were living in.

It is such a strange spectrum of emotions day by day in Africa. Starting out the day on a safari though a foreign land looking for exotic animals and just a few hours later it seemed to be a totally different world.

We stopped at a gas station to fill up in a very poverty-stricken area. The station had a credit car reader, but didn’t use it very often. They had trouble running our card, and we hung out in the van for at least an hour. Eventually I went looking for a restroom. Never have I ever seen a restroom so disgusting. It was so apparent that these people didn’t have the money to hire janitors, buy cleaning supplies, or keep up with any routine maintenance. The toilet seat was missing and there was a random tire just laying on the damp floor, there was dirt( and possibly feces in the corner). I decided to choose another rest room and went into a convince store next door. It was even worse. I just couldn’t imagine these types of conditions being the norm. I am so used to being able to just whip my credit or debit card out of my pocket and buy what I need even if I don’t have the cash in my pocket. The bathrooms I use are almost always clean (I can assure that if you don’t initially agree with this statement, you would consider your restrooms clean after seeing what I saw). As we drove away, my heart hung heavy. I thanked God for the life he has given me.

The highway we drove on had many small villages of dilapidated huts along it. At around 3:00 the shoulders of the road became busy with foot traffic of students. So many children clad in school uniforms laughed and played as they walked home from school. It was quite a sight so see for the next 2-3 hours. Once we would pass from one school district (I don’t know if that term is used outside of the US) to another  we would see a change in uniforms. One thing that was interesting to me, was that we would see a few miles stretch of the same uniform. It dawned on me that these students were walking MILES to get an education. I thought I had it rough walking the quarter mile (maybe half mile) home each day for 9 years of grade school.

When driving though a small town, we got a little confused on the directions (not the first time) and  the lane merge at a stoplight was a little strange. We might have lingered in a turn lane for too long before correcting our path and going straight. At the top of the hill, a police woman flagged us over to the side  and told us that we had committed a line violation. Marty talked to the woman and explained that we were visiting students and were a little confused. He plead for us to be let off, but the lady insisted that we must go to the station. When Marty explained that we would be late for our check-in at the B&B, and didn’t have time to go in, she decided to strike us a deal. She told us that should could let us off if we paid a fine of $100. Marty is quite the haggler, and was able to talk her down to a $45 fine. We never filled out any paperwork, so we are pretty sure she pocketed the money.

Our hold up with the law had us a little behind schedule, so we called to let the clerk at the Bed and Breakfast know that we might miss normal check in hours.  Although South Africans speak English, the accents have a very strong Dutch sound, and the accents are even harder to decipher  when on the phone.  After a few minuets we realized that they were confused in our reservation and were not expecting us until tomorrow. There was no room in the Inn, and there was no near by stable to crash in for the night, so we were told they would look into new lodging for us. To make things more complicated we were talking on an international cell phone, and therefore they were unable to call us back. Every thirty minuets or so, we would call and try to understand the woman on the other end of the phone. After about six calls, and receiving coordinates and a name, but not a real address, we though we had figured things out.  By the time we got to the general area, it was dark. Like pitch black! Rural South Africa has no street lights, no stop lights, and in some areas, no pavement. We ended up on a horribly bumpy, dark road. It was incredibly eerie. We did not know the exact name of the hotel, we didn’t know the exact address, and we couldn’t see a thing. It felt like we were heading to Bates Motel! After a while we arrived, they didn’t have enough rooms prepared, and they had no heat or hot water. When I woke up my hair was still wet and freezing cold!

I hope you are enjoying hearing about my trip! Next post: Our visit to the biggest construction project in the world, and our last few days in Jo’burg!

Kruger Part 2

As we ventured further into the park to our second camp, we kept our eyes out for more animals. Our goal was to see the “Kruger Big 5”. The Big 5 are the White Rhino, Elephant, Water Buffalo, Lion, and Leopard. We were lucky enough to see 3 of the 5. We never saw any cats, but were told that they tend to move north in the winter for better weather,  I don’t think we moved far enough north to see them.  In addition to the elephant, water buffalo, and  white rhino, we saw the black rhino,  lots of giraffes,  baboons, a hyena, zebra, a crocodile, hippopotamus, wildebeests, wart hogs, and so many birds and deer/antelope species.

Enjoy some photos!

For Dinner we ate at a train station which was converted into a restaurant. I had a pizza with crocodile meat on it. It was delicious! I would totally recommend it. This was a super fun night chilling under the stars with a campfire in the grill pit next to the huts. We definitely had some good bonding 🙂

In the morning Gabby, Mark, and I went on another sunrise ride with Marty. We discovered a visitor viewing area where we were able to get out of the car. This was the only place (besides the camp) that we saw this option. The area had a fenced in pathway to a small covered dock area.

This was the coolest part of all of Kruger! We sat in total silence as we watched the sun come up over the most serene watering hole. About 8 hippos stood in the water in front of us, just their faces peaking out of the water. Occasionally they would snort and make calls to a group of hippos in the distance. A tree COMPLETELY COVERED in birds was to our right. It was so covered, I thought the birds were leaves at first. Occasionally a few would soar off over the lake and deeper into the park. A crocodile floated in the water right in front of us.  The whole scene was utterly unbelievable. I was so glad I chose to forgo a few hours of extra sleep to experience this unique sight.

Look hard, those ears/ heads sticking out of the water are hippos

 This was the viewing Area

Check back to hear about the scary night we had in Middelburg!

Travel Day/First Night in Kruger

On Saturday morning we departed Cape town on “Mango Air”.  The small orange plane took us to Johannesburg which is the capital of South Africa. Once settled in our futuristic hotel, we headed to an area called Mandela’s Square. This was a large, high end shopping mall attached to a court yard lined with restaurants. The court yard has a HUGE bronze statue  of Nelson Mandela which is a popular place for photo opportunities. 

 

Our evening was very chill. We were tired from the travel, and wanted to be rested for our journey to Kruger National Park in the morning. The night was spent sitting on the deck of the hotel and sipping drinks as talked about our experiences so far.

In the morning we packed up the van and headed north towards Kruger National Park.  On the drive north the scenery began to change from the city views of Jo’Burg, to country side, and eventually began to look more like the terrain from Lion King.

 

Kruger National Park is a large area in the north of South Africa. It borders Mozambique, and is about the size of the whole of Whales. The entire park is protected. The animals that reside there are in their natural habitat and are totally wild! The park has many black top roads that visitors can drive their personal car’s through on a self led safari. Scattered through out the park are visitor camps. These camps are large enclosed areas where visitors can stay the night. The area is surrounded by a large gate and is guarded by officials with guns. It appears that these precautions are to keep us safe, but I think that it might be there  to keep us in rather than keep animals out.

 

The camps had a gas station, a restaurant, a convenience store, and small huts where we stayed the night.

The huts were made of brick with a thatched roof.  In the mornings, curious little monkeys would jump around on our roofs. We also saw warthogs in our camp, and of course many unique birds and plants.

 

We spent two nights in the park, and three days on safari to get from one area to the next. On the first night we took a open air jeep safari night ride. Our guide taught us how to spot certain animals by the colors their eyes shine at night. We had a couple large spot lights that we shone into the brush looking for animals. Sometime the animals are more active at night due to the weather  and hunting patterns of their predators. We were able to see quite a few animals during our night ride, but as you can imagine, the photos in the dark were not so good.

 

The group took a vote and most of us decided to get up  early and go for a early drive to look for more animals and watch the sunrise.  I know I have mentioned it before, but the sun in Africa is SO BEAUTIFUL. Sunrises and sunsets just trump those in Missouri!

 

The impala were our most common animal, we seemed to see them everywhere. Impala are medium sized antelope. We also so other deer-like animals like the kudu, and springbok.  (Fun fact, springbok means jumping goat).

 

We saw many elephants on our morning ride. Just like  in the movies, we almost always saw them in groups, and when they moved, they would walk in a single file line.

 

After our early morning ride, we headed back to camp to eat breakfast, and grab our gear and the rest of the group so we could head off towards the next camp. Walking back from breakfast, Gabby and I came across a cute little monkey, we stopped to take a few pictures. I looked up from my screen, and realized that we were getting surrounded by a ton curious little monkeys. I felt like Jane in the scene in Tarzan, when we drew the picture of the cute little money, the ended up being surrounded and chased down by a ton of vicious monkeys. And “Daddy, they took my boot!”.

We didn’t get chased, but they sure were very curious, as they followed us back to our hut. It was cool to see them swinging in the trees above our heads, and landing on our roof.

 

Stay tuned for the best of Kruger Park still to come!

Friday: The last day in Cape Town

   

On Friday morning, we woke up and headed out on the scenic drive down the coast to the Cape of Good Hope. The entire drive was utterly breathtaking.  It was incredible to just watch the might of the ocean waves crashing into the rocks and cliffs along the shoreline.

Just driving and soaking in the beauty was a great time to reflect on my experience with the learners at the school. We got out many times to take pictures. One location, we stopped and were able to get out and walk along the beach, and climb on some large rocks on the shore. Between some boulders were shallow tide pools full of tiny sea life. We found brightly colored sea anemone, and even live starfish.

It was incredible that just the night before one of the administrators used a starfish analogy to thank us for our work. He said that after seeing conditions in the school system and in the country in general, we might not feel that what we have done on just one week would have made a difference. When walking along the beach if one sees a starfish washed up on the sand, if everyone could just toss one back in, the starfish would be safe in the water. Seeing the tiny detail of the star fish and sea anemone, and the greatness of table mountain and the ocean remind me that God created it all. Everything and everyone on this earth was created carefully and with a purpose. It reminded me to live my life with intention in all that I do. I want to take the extra step to make someone smile. I want to use my talents and gifts to help another life.

Once we got further south we entered into a national park where we were able to get out of the van and stretch our legs. We hiked to the southernmost point of Africa (which is actually just east of the Cape of Good Hope). This was a great lookout point complete with a post showing the distance and direction of many cities from that point.

New York 12541KM

We were told that many times tourist spot whales from the cape. We kept our eyes peeled and even thought we spotted one. After if didn’t move in the water for over a few min, we were able to locate the binoculars, to check out….a rock.  It made for a good joke the rest of the trip. We saw many [whales] rocks throughout the rest of the trip.

A traditional Whitney head stand picture at the Cape of Good hope!

 

We came across some funny looking lizard guys that seemed like baby crocodiles!

Then we came across a couple of ostriches. They were very interested in our van!

And then some baboons surrounded us.

After a great morning of driving and climbing we headed into the countryside where there are many wineries and vineyards that produce the delicious South African wines. We have the pleasure of visiting the Stark- Conde winery that is owned by a fellow Mizzou Grad who met his wife overseas and moved to South Africa to be near her family. Once here, he entered a wine making contest and was so successful, that he now owns this enchanting winery. We were able to sample the wines while sitting on an island surrounded by mountains. Such a cool experience!

We concluded our list night in Cape Town with a “cheers” to Mizzou in South Africa!