Feb 20, 2011 Today I slept in a bit because my activities didn’t begin until 12:15. I got invited to go to Rhoda Kadalie’s office with a group from Student’s of Service. Rhoda Kadalie was appointed the Minister of Social Justice by Nelson Mandela at the end of apartheid, and is still very active in government and social services. For the past 11 years, she has been the editor in chief of a magazine that she founded called Impumulelo. The magazine focuses on NGOs or private entrepreneurs that are doing service in South Africa, and at the end of the year she gives several awards to groups that are doing well. A lot of the time, the UN pays attention to the awards that she gives and ends up funding the project. We walked to her office and listened to presentations from some projects that had been awarded, and afterward we had some sandwiches while we chatted with the people assembled. I ended up in Rhoda’s office with a few other people, and we ended up getting a copy of her book, signed, and an offer for AN INTERNSHIP THIS SUMMER. She was so laid back, she loves SAS students, and she told us there was no application process, just to tell her when we wanted to come and she would come up with something for us to do. I texted my mom immediately and told her I was doing it, so there’s a strong possibility that I will be moving to Cape Town for the summer. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but I’m dying to do it. At that point, I already knew that I never wanted to leave so that was the perfect offer. I came back to the ship and couldn’t find any of my friends for a couple hours, so I showered, cleaned up, and rested before we were supposed to meet for dinner. We met at about 8 and got a cab to Stellenbosch, the wine lands. We had reservations at this awesome restaurant called Moyo, which is at a winery called Spier. It’s such a festive atmosphere, with live music and drums and tons of people eating. They have these tree houses that you can eat in, but we had too many people so we had a regular table. There were 9 of us gals, and we had a great time with 8 bottles of wine and a delicious buffet. The waiters come around and paint your faces while you eat, which was really cool. After dinner we got a cab back to the Waterfront and went to a pub called Mitchells where a ton of SAS kids were drinking. Meredith and I got a pint of this beer called Old Wobbly, which meant death to whatever soberness I had left. I made friends with a Brazilian rugby player who was super cute and he took some pictures for us. We left Mitchells, after I saw my new friend Kobe, and went to a club called Mercury. It was a huge place that was playing some extreme throwbacks, like Skater Boy and some Death Cab songs. We, of course, imbibed and danced the night away, making friends with locals and the like. I found Sophie and we decided to leave, thinking we were being party poopers leaving early. Turns out it was like 3:30 am. We came back to the ship and chatted for a while in her room then I went to sleep.
