This past
weekend was unlike any I’ve had before; we did our homestay in Ocean View from Thursday to
Sunday. I have never felt more welcomed by a family I did not know than I did
when I stayed with Chantel and her parents. From the moment we walked in the
house, they treated us like family, which we became in the three days we were
there. On Thursday night, a group of local youths taught us how to
ballroom dance and we got to see them practicing for their competition that
they had later that weekend. It was absolutely amazing that these kids decided
to spend their free time in such a productive way, and their talent was
astonishing. There were 6 year olds who were able to dance so well and they
looked dashing in their suits and black dresses.
 |
| Chantel, Meg, Molly, mom Silvia, Lily, and dad Louis Daniels |
On Friday,
we went to volunteer at a day care and kindergarten field day! It was so windy
that you had to lean forward when you walked, but the kids were still so
excited. I was a part of the red team and the children wasted no time getting
to know me; the second I sat down, there were three small children sitting in
my lap and trying to play with my hair! The wind didn’t seem to bother them,
other than the non-stop runny noses, and they kept telling me all about how they
were going to run fast. They had so much spirit and seemed to have been looking
forward to this day for a while. It was especially cute when the little little
kids were racing (2-3 year olds) because they would waddle and change
direction, even with the volunteers shouting their team color at the finish
line. They were so adorable!
On Saturday,
we went out to Spur for breakfast with our host family, which seems to be the
hot spot for breakfast in the area; we saw three of the other host families
there as well. It’s a diner-type restaurant that has a Native American western
theme with lots of buffalos, feathers, animal skins and each franchise has a
different name, such as Michigan, Apache and Sioux. We then watched lots of TLC
and chatted with our host family until it was time to leave in the afternoon.
We went with another host family to the Carnival Parade in the city center
because the host’s sister works in a tall office building that has a balcony
overlooking the parade. We had dinner on the balcony and watched all of the
floats and dancers go by. It was such a beautiful view and the parade was
amazing. There was an interesting collection of floats, such as a space ship
and one with a giant string puppet. There were many different groups of people
in the parade, such as women dancing with only body paint on, skateboarders
showing off their tricks, bodybuilders and shirtless fire fighters, groups of
youth dancers, marching bands and more. Cape Town has amazing things going on
all the time.
It was so
sad to be leaving on Sunday, but we learned so much in our short amount of
time in Oceanview. The community is tightly knit; everyone knows everyone and
takes the time to stop and say hello and check in. People really seem to look
out for each other and want the best for everyone. You can really feel the
sense of family that the community has, even as accepting as the kids were that
taught us to dance. They were asking so many questions about what we like to do
and where we are from, while also telling us about their experiences and such.
We had a lot of conversations with a variety of people about the state of the
country right now, which is always interesting to hear about. I absolutely
loved being there with Chantel and her family and wish I could have been with
them longer!
The most
frustrating thing was when I was at my internship today and I said I had stayed
in Ocean View for the weekend and someone asked, "weren't you scared?"
I proceeded to talk about what an amazing weekend I had and that with such a
heartfelt community around me, I felt cared for the entire weekend. It's hard because
people hear the name of a place and make associations, even though they know
nothing about the amazing people that live there.
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