Saint Louis Blur

It's 2:30am and I am crashing in the desolate JFK terminal 4 on my way back to Stellenbosch after an 8 day visit to Saint Louis. Two things I've learned today: not all taxis take credit cards and not all airports are open 24/7.  I flew out of Saint Louis and after a two hour delay I was on my way to Newark.  I was feeling a bit nauseous from the flight so I decided to splurge and take a taxi from Newark to JFK instead of the alternative of a series of trains and subways. I found out halfway through the drive that I needed cash and I had to have the driver take me to an ATM - no big deal, just another $30! Anyway, now I'm camping out by the check-in counters with a handful of other weary travelers because apparently I can't check in for another few hours. A bed sounds really great right about now. Too bad I have another 54 hours of flights and layovers... 

My visit home was really great even though it was too short! I don't feel like I stopped going the entire week yet I didn't do most of the things I had on my to-do list. For the most part I just hung out with my family since my aunt and little cousin were in town from Switzerland. I picked and carved pumpkins, picked apples, stuffed my face with my aunt's delicious cooking, visited Bread Co. over once a day on average, saw a couple of much missed friends and attempted a few crafts I found on my new obsession, Pinterest. Yes, we made a candle out of a clementine! It was so great to come back for a bit of Fall also. Fall is my favorite season and is up there with Bread Co. on the list of things I miss the most. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit sad to leave - I think I was half dreading the long venture back to Cape Town and half wanting more time in Saint Louis. I will be back in two months for Christmas though! At that point I'm not sure where my life will be headed - I could be staying in Stellenbosch for a few more months, continuing to work at Women on Farms Project or there is the possibility of moving back to Boston with a friend and starting up a wedding planning business. Or maybe living at an ashram in India for awhile? Who knows!

the cousins - Abby, Shawn, Kaisla, Janie, Kelly and I.

Sigma Kappas at Eckert's

Rombach's

Rocking the Daisies.

These past few weeks have been hectic as a local South African would say. Apparently the end of September is a popular time for NGO funders to want projects wrapped up and reports turned in. So in South African time that means things get done mid-October. I did two survey analyses and two reports for funders - one survey on hunger and land access for farm workers in the Rawsonville area and the other on labour rights and wages for farm workers and farm dwellers.

After the busy week, I was eager for a break! This past weekend I went to a three day long music festival called Rocking the Daisies, just an hour and a half from Cape Town. It is a huge deal, happens once a year, and is probably the most well know music festival of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. It is pretty much a modern Woodstock. Anyway, I went with a few friends. We camped all weekend, listened to music, laid out in the sun around a reservoir, and enjoyed the outdoors. Besides being extremely hot, we had beautiful weather. The only downer to the weekend was Sunday morning's Rugby World Cup game where the South African Springbok's lost to the Australian Wallabie's in a tight 9-11 match. The entire festival crowd got up at 7am (or just never went to bed) in order to gather around a huge screen and cheer on the Boks. The South African unity and pride when it comes to the Springboks is really amazing actually and I have loved getting into the game. I have never seen so many people wearing the same green and gold jersey - no matter what age, gender, race, social status, etc. This is a pretty big feat for South Africa. 

And now I am hanging out in the Dubai airport enroute to Saint Louis! I'm taking a little 2 week holiday mostly because my aunt and cousin will be in town from Switzerland as well. I got jealous at the thought of everyone hanging out together without me... and I could really use some quality Panera time. I get in Tuesday evening and am in town through Wednesday the 19th!