Today...

was amazing!!!!

So we all woke up this morning at like 530 AM to go see Desmond Tutu at 7AM at Saint Georges's Cathedral downtown. (The Anglican church) We attended a small service/prayer thing/ I don't know what its called because I don't know anything about religions but it was quite small and there was prayers and people took communion. Anyway, so we attended that, got to shake hands with Tutu, got to talk to him and take a group photo with him, and then were invited out to coffee with him. I didnt get to talk to him much, but I did say hi for you mom :) Also, I can say that from what I did get to experience of him, he was a really really down tow earth, kind, and surprisingly funny man. Pictures:inside St. George's

our group with Tutu

So after the coffee, Doogs (the guy from the DACPM that organized all of today for us) had arranged a tour of the National Parliament with one of his friends for us. It was not the most exciting experience ever, but it was definitely one of the most informative things that we have done. I had no idea how their two parts of parliament were set up! Anyway, a few pics from parliament:

Inside one of the corridors. The floors and some of the marble in this area date back to the late 19th centuryInside one of the two houses of parliament. In this house, each province gets to have 10 people representing them. People vote for the party that they want representing their province, and then the party choses people to sit here. Great thing: the party can chose to pull anyone anytime that they put in these seats if those serving are not following the party/peoples wishes. Also, 3 of the 10 seats for each province are rotating. So, any given day depending on what is being discussed different experts come in. I.e. during the recent sessions dealing with the current energy crisis different people who know about electricity and the power stations, etc. filled those 3 seat for each province.Inside the National Assembly part of parliament. These are 400 positions total filled be people electing who they want to represent them as a nation. It is possible to vote for one party for the provincial representatives and another party for the national ones. Also, the president has no veto power in their government, and the two parts of parliament are considered equal in power. View of part of the downtown from right outside parliament.

After parliament we walked over to the Cape Castle. This is the fortress/castle that was built by a combination of Dutch and British over time. We went on a tour, but the history they gave was very one-sided. They did not really mention that it was slaves that were forced to build the castle and that continuously through history it was used to house prisoners and torture some of them. As a group, we actually confronted the tour guide and her manager about it after the tour. It was an extremely intense meeting to say the least. My head actually hurts thinking about it right now. Anyway, after all that, we went out to lunch (we were starving!!!) Then some people stayed downtown- I chose to head home.

Tomorrow we are going to a bursary ceremony held by the DACPM. It is a ceremony giving scholarships to mothers of people lost in the freedom struggle for use with their surviving children. After that, we are making the trek to Spier winery in Stellenbosch for a poetry/hiphop/art festival that is going on all weekend. We're so excited! We expect to arrive home at midnight to 2am that night.

After all that, Sunday we are headed out for the several hour drive to Paarl. Doogs, the guy from the DACPM who has arranged all of this amazing stuff for us, is from there and showing us around. We are going to a wine and cheese tasting at an all-black run winery that some of his friends own. Additionally, we are meeting up with some of the former leaders of the ANC from the 1950's. We are also possible talking with former trade union leaders, and two men who were political prisoners at Robben Island for 30 years.

I'm gonna need a break after my weekend!!!!! Also, Thursday at 7am is when we leave to go to Port Elizabeth. I dont think we're gonna have a break for at least 10 days here! Now I'm off to go try and rest up for the rest of our weekend!