Sterkfontein Caves

So we went to the  Sterkfontein Caves this past Saturday which are like. caves. They hold some of the oldest known bones of the earliest forms of people found. It's a world heritage site which means that the site has cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. Since they kind of show the start of humanity they made it onto the list.

Before we went there was a mini display/museum type thing.  It talked about like the history of mankind and the history of the caves and the bones they discovered there. What was really cool was that they showed skulls through various times as they've change and went up all the way to today. 

Eyebrows used to stick out like crazzzzzy

We went and got to go through one of the caves. It was so cool. like so so cool. We got to go crawling around through caves. I get how some people would not be the biggest fan since it was dark and every now and then you had to kind of crawl to get through. But I thought it was awesome. Anyway here are some photos. Naturally they don't really show how awesome it was. Also it was harder then I thought when we left the cave to figure out like, what the pictures were. So some could be ceiling or wall or upside down and I really have no clue.

We got there by using cabs for women. The cabs were....quite pink.

And here we go into the caves.

 The caves!

There was this one area they called the elephant area because one of the rock formations that came from the ceiling looked like an elephant. Do you see it?

This is where the lake in the cave is. You can't see it, but there is def water where everything looks black. It is apparently very deep. It also works as natural air conditioning :)

The crazy peeps I was exploring with.

A current site where they are excavating.

The view outside the caves. Just as beautiful.

                                               

Oh yeah. I was there too. See.

Honestly

I study abroad.
Across an ocean.
A trip the takes way to much time on a plane.
Basically a day of traveling.
To another country.
Another continent.
You know, Africa.

And look who follows me there.

 

It was really nice to see them. It was a little weird that they were like, here, in South Africa. Ya know?

Anyways they saw my campus and we went and got food and all that good stuff. Now they're back at their hotel, asleep already I'm sure and off to Botswana in the morning.

Cooking in the kitchen

So this cooking thing.

Yeah.

I googled baking in a microwave, because I like to bake and baked goods are delicious. Plus my bananas were a wee bit brown so we made banana bread microwave style. For being made in a microwave it wasn't half bad. It helped that we had all the ingredients this time. And measuring cups and spoons. All of those things are very helpful. So Jenni and I went to work

Why yes, yes we did in fact use a pot as a mixing bowl.

Then it was microwave time (which took forever, the recipe said 7-9 minutes haha no. it took like 45 minutes maybe an hour. We in the international house don't have the highest functioning appliances...did I ever mention my hotplate kind of exploded? No worries though, I got a new one)

in it goes

TA-DAH

For being cooking in the microwave, it was good. It was a bit of an odd consistency/texture or something but it was yummy. As you can see it was devoured by those lucky enough to get some :)

Yes, we did eat in on the floor on outside my room, with a our hands and a lone knife.  But hey, at least we had a knife.

all that remained

National Women's Day

Here in South Africa it is National Women's Day.

So they holiday is honoring the 20,000 women who marched in 1956 protesting against the legislation that required identification passes to be carried. The passes were required of black people over the age of 16 during apartheid when they were in white areas so one could know who they were and that they were permitted to be in that area. Without the passbook they would be arrested.  National Women's day is basically saying how awesome women are and celebrating our awesomeness.

Since it's a public holiday we don't have classes. Justin, an intern at IHRE, is going back to the U.S.A for college so we are having a Goodbye Justin Braai  (or in american speak: a barbeque)  It went from like 2pm till dark. Lots of time outside in the sun just hanging out with people. It was a lot of fun.

Fun Facts

• People here move much slower. They walk slower. I am used to rushing to class and everyone takes their sweet time moving down the sidewalk.

• Speaking of, they walk on the opposite side (most of the time), sidewalks and staircases are super confusing and I am always going on the wrong side.

• They have fun juices like mango and litchi and apricot and guava.

• Cans are heavier here. Like soda cans and cans of juice. I always think I have more in the can when it's empty and its just that the cans are heavier. 

• The sockets are round. They also have on and off switches so like, you can leave stuff plugged in but turn off the electricity. That there is two sockets next to each other.

• Also, I got a student ID card. I have kept up with my tradition of awful school ID photos :)

• The classes are in no order what so ever. You could have a class Monday at 10 then Tuesday at 8 then Thursday at 3. It's odd. 

• Speaking of I have a class at 8. I have managed to avoid that my entire college career. Impressive right?  Lots of people are in it though so I should hopefully not sleep through it. 

• The books are like, not books. We get course packs, which have the syllabus and then all the readings in it. The readings are then various articles all in one place, printed and in general chronological order.

• You know google...I get google South Africa. 

 

All that I can make is PB &J

So question. I'm attempting to like, cook for myself. Does anyone have easy recipes that only need a microwave or hotplate, one pot and one pan? oh and a toaster-but the toaster only works if I hold down the push down to toast button thing otherwise it keeps popping back up, so preferably not to much with the toaster. 

I have made: peanut butter sandwiches, ravioli, tuna...yeah that may be it.

I also managed to turn my potatoes green.  Apparently putting them on a shelf was a bad thing. Now they are poisonous. oops. But everyone I've talked to had no idea either and ran off to store their potatoes in a dark place.

                                          









We did however get some fun games in such as juggle the green potatoes and play catch with the green potatoes and throw the green potatoes at our friends windows :P

Jenni Juggling

Anyways. Clearly I need help. Recipes would be much appreciated.