10/3/10 ARRIVAL IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

We have arrived in Capetown, South Africa. Emma and I stumbled up the stairs with our eye half closed because we only got a few hours of sleep. We were headed to the 7th deck to watch us pull into the port. I cannot even begin to explain how gorgeous the view was.

Lions Head and Table Top Mountain were to the right. The sun was rising from behind the mountains. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! I was shocked at what I was witnessing. It looked like we were in San Francisco. It looked like a first world country, but I knew we were really in a third world country. I am still puzzled out how this area is so beyond nice, with Apple,Guess, and MAC stores in the mall. (I'm in heaven...LOL)  Then you drive 20 minutes and you are in the township homes. When I got off the ship and looked around EVERYONE was white. I did not understand if I was in South Africa why did I see so many whites. I did not think this was right since South Africa is only 11% white. Whites rule here. Whites are the superior ones. There are tons of racial conflicts that still are happening here. Whites are still very rude to the Africans. I never imagined that people were still treated like this.

Before we were aloud to get off the ship we had to go to a meeting. This is where the ambassadors come on and talk about the city we are in. The speaker scared the living begezers out of us. We were so scared to even step foot off the ship. He ways saying things like you will get raped. “This may look like a first world country but after you scrap the first layer off you will see this is a third world country”. He had nothing positive to say. He also said, “ I am sure you will be using the ATMs... he giggled and then continued and said you are stupid to. You will get ripped off without a doubt. Do not walk off the ship with any cell phones, cameras, laptops, money, jewelry, or anything. This is a dangerous country and you will become a victim.” I can continue on for hours on what he said. I was thinking to myself why are you saying this, shouldn't you talk positive about your country. Yes, I am extremely careful when I get off the ship and I do not walk around with things I do not need, but it is nothing like he said. Even the Dean was like okay.... that is enough...they are not going to step one foot off the ship if you continue.

The announcement came on overhead and said, “The ship has now been cleared you may get off.”  Emma and I looked at each other and we were like are we sure we want to do this?  hahaha. We headed up to deck five starboard side to get off the ship. We headed straight into the mall which is literally 3 minutes away. We stopped at the bank and got money out. Then we ran into a book store and a coffee shop. We grabbed a coffee and looked at a few books. We were trying to kill time because we were meeting our tour guide at the aquarium to head off to SKYDIVING! It was now 10:20 we thought we should start to find the aquarium.

We found it with no problem and sat on the bench and waited. We decided we should go use a pay phone and call the company and make sure the weather was okay. Sure enough they said the weather is perfect and our driver should be there in about 15 min. We headed back to our bench and sat and waited. We would keep turning to eachother and saying, “I cannot believe we are going to be jumping out of a plane in an hour!” It was so beyond crazy. It really never sunk in until after.
We arrived at the place and I was not even that nervous. They got us all ready and geared up. A guy told us to follow him. He took us out to the runway where our plane had just landed from a previous skydive. They re-checked our gear and opened the door of the plane. OMG! I cannot even tell you how small this plane was inside! Six of us had to fit in there and the pilot. It looked like a 3 person plane max. There was only one seat, and it was for the pilot. My guy crawled in next to the pilot and then he waved to me to get in and pointed in between his legs. He was wanting me to sit there. I thought to myself, are you serious?  I was excepting a small plane, but a small plane with seats! Haha Next thing I knew all seven of us were in this plane and we were taking off. MY heart began to race and I could barley hear anything and my guy was talking into my left ear.

I just kept nodding my head and saying yes yes I had no idea what he was saying. Then I heard him say something like, “ Stand up so I can buckle you to me, then sit on my lap. But do not grab....”and pointed to the pilots seat. I did not know what he meant. First of all there was no room to move, let alone stand. The pilot says, "do you want to drive?” I said, “drive the plane?” He replay, “yes.” Mind you my back was toward the front of the plane. I grabbed the steering wheel with my hand and drove the plane without seeing where I was going. Then he yelled, “take us back home.” I turned the plane instantly and we almost flipped. He was like whooa pull back. All of a sudden I felt my guy give me a shove. He was trying to tell me it was time to stand up. The first thing I did was grab the pilots seat whoops. He ways like “no, grab here.” I looked up and Emma's camera guy was holding on outside of the plane. Waiting for Emma and her guy to get to the doorway. Then seconds later Emma was gone and so was the camera guy. My guy yells out lift up your legs! I thought to myself, I am sitting on this guys lap who is my size and my height, how is he going to scoot us over to the door. But sure enough, after a few scoots, my feet were dangling outside of the plane and my camera guy was hanging on the side of the plane like in movies. I heard someone yell, feet curl under the plane and head back on my shoulder. The guy began to rock forward then backward I thought here we go....... But no he went froward and then backward again. Next thing I knew I was tumbling in the open air. 

My eyes began to water and It never crossed my mind that I was free falling until the parachute opened up and jerked us back up 10 feet. OMG! did that hurt. For one, I was not expecting that and two I thought our parachute was already out. After it came out I was able to view the scenery. We did flips and circled around. He also loosened my gear and loosened my goggles. He was trying to make it more comfortable but the leg straps and stomach strap was extremely tight. I could feel my skin being pushed everywhere and my face was so numb, I could not even feel my nose and eyes running. My guy talked to me the entire time and pointed out Table Top Mountain and Robbins Island and all of the cool spots. We were headed straight toward a building. I was like ohhh nooooo, but then we turned around and started heading toward the sand. I watched Emma land. Then he said pull up your knees don't put them down till we land. Well, as the cheerleader I am, I drove my knees quickly to my chest and bam I fell to the ground. I almost made us flip. It was crazy insane. After I was on the ground it still had not hit me that I just jumped out of a plane.

EMMA AND I

Emma and I headed back inside the warehouse and sat on the couch. We were waiting for our video to be made. We both watched the video and it finally hit me that I just jumped out of a plane. This experience was amazing and I would definitely do it one more time so I could really enjoy it. Maybe I will do it in Hawaii....

We went and grabbed lunch at the food court in the mall and ate outside. We headed back to the ship so we could hurry up and get ready for church, we had 15 minutes. We threw on some nicer clothes and brushed out our tangled hair. We meet on deck 5 and waited till everyone got there. It took us 30 minutes walking to get to the Hill Song Church. The church was in the Cape Town Convention Center. I was really shocked, I was excepting a gorgeous building. After the service started, they played a video and it was to announce to the church community that they were finally able to raise enough money to sign a rental agreement for 5 years. This church has had service in the movie theaters, schools, parks, you name it, they have probably held a service there. There were also 14 people that got baptized.

We stopped at a very elegant restaurant and had pizza and some pasta. Emma and I decided to order a drink. We felt we deserved it. We had an amazing girls night out and headed back to the ship.

This port is by far, completely different then the other ports, but I still love all the other ports for different reasons.



6:00am my alarm goes off I am extremely tired and thought to myself I just want to go back to sleep. I was like oh wait I am in SOUTH AFRICA!!!!!! Get your butt out of bed and go build a house for a family. I will continue the rest later

Today was habitat for humanities and I was extremely excited. We were on the bus and on our way 30 minutes later we are in the middle of a very rich area and a mall. OUr bus driver pulls to the left and says its right behind the buildings. We said, there is no way we are in the right spot. He said no this is the address. It turned out SAS had given the wrong address to the bus driver.