Monday night I attended my first Maties (Stellenbosch) rugby match. Rugby could be compared to football or basketball at universities in the States so the games are a pretty big deal and luckily I happen to have season tickets! It was a beautiful night for the game and we won which made it even more fun. I have enjoyed learning about the sport and it is actually a fairly interesting game to watch.

Other interesting events from this week include a dinner at a local seafood restaurant where I tried (and liked) sushi, calamari, and three different types of fish and meeting with a professor from Penn State with whom I got to talk about (and highly recommend) the program I am on. My friends here are from the east coast and while it might not sound like a big deal, they seem to have been raised to be a little bit more adventurous than I. They have really enjoyed introducing me to new foods and what not and find it so funny that I have never eaten things like muscles and squash. We actually have a list going of all the 'adventurous' activities I partake in each day.

On Thursday, I began my volunteer work at a non-profit organization called the Pebbles Project. The Pebbles Project creates, maintains, and staffs creches (preschools) and after-school programs on local farms/vineyards. For the most part, vineyard workers and their families in South Africa live on the farms and while illegal, are paid with wine. They live in pretty bad conditions so that the farm owner maximizes his profits. Since they are paid with alcohol, there is a really bad problem with children being born with fetal alcohol syndrome... apparently Stellenbosch and the surrounding wineland areas have some of the highest rates in the world. I will be working to come up with craft ideas for the after-school program for an entire year. This is difficult because the ages range from 5 to 19 and most of the children have severe learning/mental/etc disabilities. In addition, there are very few supplies. Right now Pebbles just has paper at their disposal. I will also be working at the after-school program every Thursday helping with homework (mainly just English help since I don't speak Afrikaans/Xhosa and they don't really speak English) and craft time. I got to meet the children last week and I was amazed at how happy and well behaved they all were. I am really excited to start doing this weekly and just provide whatever help I can.

Then this weekend (Friday and Saturday) I went on a two day, 25km+ hike up to the top of Table Mountain. I'm not going to lie, it was a rough hike, quite possibly the hardest I have ever had to push myself in my life. On Friday we left Stellenbosch at 6h30 and started out on the trail at 9h00. We hiked for a good 7 hours and then stopped at our campsite for the night. The campsite was incredible, almost like a treehouse. There was a main open air building with kitchen facilities, a fire pit area, outdoor breakfast bar overlooking the mountains, a round deck area perfect for playing cards, real plumbing, outdoor showers, and a few platform tents connected by a boardwalk of sorts. We all enjoyed a warm shower while taking in the beautiful scenery and then air dried in the sun. We played some cards, had some wine, journaled, and then all cooked and ate dinner together. We went to bed early so that we could get up and start the hike again at sunrise. The hike today was shorter, only about 4 or 5 hours, but much more strenuous. It was pretty much uphill rock climbing the entire way... it was like doing the stairmaster in the hot African sun for 5 hours straight. So needless to say it was so rewarding when we reached the top. The views were amazing (as are all views here) and it was so great to see how far we had hiked. We stayed at the top for a while and took pictures and then took a cable car down. The top of Table Mountain is a huge tourist destination so most people just take the cable car up rather than hiking... believe me, my group felt so much more accomplished having hiked the entire way up! We rewarded ourself tonight with a nice dinner out and now I am headed to bed! I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow!