Arriving in PE

Well, I have made it to South Africa. The flight was not bad, but I have to say that 15.5 hours on a plane, from NYC to Johannesburg, is a very long time! When I finally made it to PE, that's Port Elizabeth, the weather was wonderful. On my way to the house I saw the ocean and, though I feel bad for my family and friends in the north, I must say that I have never before seen such a beautiful sight. I am living in a flat (or apartment) connected to the main house. There are 4 other girls living with me. All of them are really nice and we felt like friends immediately. I was the last to arrive. The others arrived about a week or two before me.
On Saturday, we went to Jeffrey’s Bay, or J-Bay as they call it, and learned to surf. It was really fun to try to surf, I was not successful though. After our surfing adventure, we went to probably the only Mexican restaurant in SA called The Mexican. The food was good, although not anything like what any of us had expected. Also, we had fun learning to drive here. Other than driving on the left side of the road, there are some strange signs and unwritten rules of the road that we had to learn. The drive out to J-Bay was beautiful and we passed some places that we plan to go to in the next few weeks.
On Sunday, we went to Seaview, a game park not far from PE. There we were able to see many kinds of animals. Also, we saw the adult lions being fed. We ate lunch at the top of a hill. After lunch, we got tickets to pet lion cub. There were about 8 cubs that were all about 6 months old.
These first few days have definitely been tough, but, between meeting wonderful people here and having bits of home popping up every once in a while, I am doing great. Also, Jacob Vanags, if you get to read this, I would just like to say thank you, your music has been just the piece of home I have needed.

Less than 3 weeks

I have less than 3 weeks to go before jumping on a plane to nice, sunny South Africa. Unfortunately, I am still working on getting my visa and have hit a couple bumps along the way. I am so excited to leave and see a new part of the world. Here is a video in case people want to learn more about Port Elizabeth.

I am also now working on applying for jobs for when I get home. So many things happening all at once.