Journal #6 from Cape Town

The Olivet College women's volleyball team is on a 10-day trip to Cape Town, South Africa. While there, the players will be writing blog posts and sending them back to the U.S.A. to be posted on the website. The home page for the blog, where future posts will be linked to is: www.olivetcomets.com/sports/wvball/2019-20/cape_town_blog/

SATURDAY, DEC. 14 -- written by Kyleigh Cross

Today was a fun filled day, where Coach Merchant let us explore some of Cape Town in groups. We got to sleep in a little, which many of the girls were thankful for due to the long day yesterday at the orphanage. The day began with breakfast at the hotel, which consisted of some of my favorite fruits: pineapple, kiwi, mango, and peaches. When we finished, my group head out for the day of exploring! The girls I am rooming with (Laken, Morgan and Abbi) decided to take a taxi from the hotel to the Harley-Davidson Cape Town store. Some of the girls wanted to look around here for presents for their fathers or brothers. Our taxi driver was very nice and decided he would wait for us to bring us to our next destination, the waterfront.

The waterfront is one of my favorite places here due to the energetic atmosphere. There are always live acts, as seen in some of the gallery pictures. Being able to experience some of the African culture is truly amazing. When we got to the waterfront, we decided to shop around in the mall and some of the smaller African stores. I ended up getting small presents for myself and some of my family members, but I had to make sure they would fit in my suitcase for the way home! Abbi and I also decided to get our ears pierced, because it’s so cheap here compared to the states. We also realized we had missed an important memo. There were groups of people dressed in all sorts of crazy, matching outfits doing some sort of scavenger hunt. It was rather humorous to view their ridiculous costumes. We had lunch at a cute Italian restaurant and I ended up ordering spaghetti. The food here is so good, no matter where you decide to eat! After spending a few hours at the waterfront, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel.

We called a new taxi and began our journey back to the hotel. This cab driver was also very nice, but his backseat was broken which caused a rather uncomfortable ride for Morgan and Abbi. However, it was a funny experience we will remember forever. While we were driving back, we sparked conversation which our driver and learned a little bit more about South Africa. He thought it was quite odd there was so much traffic, but then he remembered Saturday was rugby day at the stadium. After a short ride back to the hotel, we were all exhausted so we decided to take a nap. After we woke up, we got ready for another fancy dinner. However, we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant due to the weather, it was storming, windy, and cloudy, so no one really wanted to go out in our dresses.

Yet, the dinner at the restaurant did not disappoint. Some of the food does taste a little different, for example the sauce on spaghetti or the hamburger meat. Nonetheless, for the most part, my food was very good. Coach Merchant decided to make a no phone at dinner, so we could enjoy each other’s presence. We went around the table and said our favorite part of the trip so far and what we were most grateful for yet. I thought it was super cool to see everyone’s perspective and see what they enjoyed most compared to myself. A lot of the girls were able to share their experiences at the orphanage, which was very satisfying to listen to. Overall, our trip has been an eye-opening and life changing experience, which all of us will hold in our hearts forever. We are excited for another fun filled day tomorrow!

Click here for today's photo gallery.