Cate in South Africa

Happy Mother's Day!

Emily, Evis and I made Lebanese food last weekend. It was amazing! Honestly, it may have been the nicest meal I've ever taken part in making, including Thanksgiving. Wow! Middle Eastern food is the BOMB! I miss the Pita House in G-Vegas!

This is from Evis' balcony. I just liked it :-).

We had a going-away party for Catharina, an awesome Italian-German law student.She's coming back here for second semester, but most of us will be gone by then. We'll miss her! She's one of the most vibrant people I've met; I've heard Italians are that way ;-). I thought this picture was funny!

Last Monday was another public holiday (Worker's Day) so some friends and I went to Cape Town, then to Gordon's Bay. It is NICE to have friends who have cars! Buying a car is like buying your freedom here. Stellenbosch is GREAT and all, but sometimes you just need to get away. Know what I'm saying? By the way, Anna and Jason, I heard about your new puppy "Stella" for "Stellenbosch"! I can't wait to meet her!!!

Jillian, me, Melanie, and Emily at Gordon's Bay. Our driver (Rod) is on the other side of the camera :-).

At Kayamandi last Friday we made picture frames for Mother's Day! The kids had a blast. We took photos of them last week and let them glue them on their "frames" then decorate. It's always a messy job, but such fun. I made drawings of the kids who didn't have pictures of themselves.

We had a girls-only makeover night (not like guys would want to come). I got my hair straightened by some Tennessee girls :-). I feel like I look like a politician in this photo.

Vote for Cate!!!!

PS--If you are just itching to e-mail me, which I know you are, please do! My e-mail is [email protected] (really easy, right?) or [email protected]. Sorry if I don't get back right away. I'm working on it ;-)! Really! But I'd love to hear from you guys! Snail mail is GRRRR-8, too.

random happenin's

It's been a while since I've written! Sorry! "Varsity" has really picked up here. I've had so many ridiculous tests and papers. You wouldn't believe it :-). I feel so productive! It's great! Lots of reading here, too. I'm taking an African Literature class that's really fascinating. My favorite class right now might be photography. The class system here is by quarters for many classes, so I'll only have 9 weeks of photography and some other classes.
What's been up? Really, a lot of studying. But Friday was Ben's and my roommate Anouk's birthday.

We made pancakes in the morning and chocolate cake at night! There's a LOT of junk food eating around Concordia. We had a braai for Anouk's birthday. The braai is basically a cookout/barbeque. A REAL braai will have a pig or a lamb on a spit, but we usually settle for sausages, and sometimes fish. Veggie burgers and squash are popular vegetarian alternatives :-)

I get around Stellenbosch on a little red bike. I've only had to get the tire reinflated once. It cost me R30 (about $5) (is that good? or a rip-off?). Somehow a thorn poked all the way through the tire and into the inner tube! I was surprised a thorn could do that.
Most of the international students here live in a place called Concordia. My favorite feature is the courtyard in the middle. Right now there's a kiddie pool on the grass in the courtyard of Concordia. North Americans are crazy, is all I have to say :-). Last night Brice decided to ride his bike around the second and third balcony, and then into the kiddie pool. I think it's time to find a new hobby . . . never a dull moment!

There was a Mexican, a Canadian, an American and a Dutch guy (all guys, of course) involved in this scandal. It was pretty funny, though. The same group of boys also had a food fight last week. The maids weren't too happy.