Quick Update

        South Africa has been a very interesting experience. At the beginning of our time here, we spent ten days living in homestays in a black township called Zwelethemba that's about an hour and a half outside of Cape Town. While living there I didn't fully appreciate the importance of that experience, but after living in Cape Town for a week and a half I see that if I had only lived around the University of Cape Town and downtown then I really wouldn't have a good understanding of the country. SA also has the highest economic disparity in the world in its population and you really do see it. That said, I'm having a lot of fun and eating some great food. I've gotten the reputation as the food guy on the trip for both how much I eat and everything that I want to try. This weekend my friends and I took a day trip to Cape Point and climbed rocks with the local African Penguins. Everything that I've seen and learned about HIV/AIDS here has been another unforgettable experience.
         At the moment we're living in homestays in the Bo Kaap, the Muslim neighborhood of Cape Town. The location is only a couple of blocks away from downtown, which is really convenient. The family consists of a mother, father, and three sons, aged 11, 16, and 18. They've hosted IHP students before and so they understand us well and give us our space. Honestly, at this point on the trip it's nice to have the space. This is the fourth homestay in a row and we're all appreciative of the hands-off approach. I really like hearing the call to prayer throughout the day in the neighborhood.

Many Apologies

I\m very sorry to everybody for not being able to update the blog for the past month. While in China, blogger was blocked by the government and I was really busy. I've been in South Africa for two weeks now, but for most of that time I barely had any internet access. Posts will start coming up again in the next few days now that I have an internet cafe nearby. Since the last few posts, I've been in Beijing, Changsha, Shanghai, and Hong Kong in China and Zwelethema and Cape Town in South Africa. We also stopped over in Dubai again on the flight from Hong Kong to Cape Town. I was really excited to eat Pinkberry in the Dubai airport and it was expensive, but really worth it.