the lesbian retreat in the woods

So here's a thing that happened on Friday: I sent a message to a lady on couchsurfing.com who listed herself as a queer person in Cape Town to contact and asked what she was up this weekend, she said she wished she was going on the Cape Town Lesbians retreat, and poof! Fifteen minutes later I was going on the Cape Town Lesbians retreat. So I just got back from camping with 100 lesbians for a few days, NO BIG DEAL. Here are my updates:

1. Many people speak a lot of Afrikkans here! Which makes me unbelievably popular. I would sit there, nursing a beer, and nervously laughing at the correct places in some group situations. Oh foreign travel.
2. Some people do not like Americans abroad! I had one lady (who was, to be fair, INCREDIBLY drunk) tell me that I did not appear to belong there, and then later say something about how she wasn't "like a stuck up American bitch/bastard." I responded to this by staying far away from that one lady for the rest of the retreat which completely solved the problem. The reaction appeared to be due to a combination of things though, including my inability to communicate in Afrikkans (see above) and my unpopular lawyer status.
3. HOWEVER, being a lawyer is popular with some people, read, amazing law-studying activists from UCT! Who I met some of.
4. ALSO, overall this community was super super welcoming and fun and awesome. I probably shouldn't have started with the downer. I headed in to this weekend bearing nothing but water and granola bars and was promptly fed, liquored, and smoked out for three days straight. There was swimming in the river. There was swimming in the pool. There was much dancing to Rihanna. There was a wet tshirt contest and a talent show. It was pretty much everything you would hope for a lesbian retreat in the woods.

AND, Cape Town for the win!

Renewed relevance!

I arrived a few hours ago in one of the southernmost countries in the world, namely South Africa. Suddenly this blog is once again appropriately named! So here goes my triumphant return to blogging.

I sat on the plane to Frankfurt next to a girl from Caro, Michigan who had never crossed the Atlantic before. We exchanged pleasantries about what we were doing with our lives. She was going on a week-long trip to Berlin before heading back to Caro and her boyfriend who is "the" elementary school teacher there. This was probably her one trip--the big trip!--to a foreign land. I guessed her age incorrectly because she hadn't gone to a four year college and was subsequently overwhelmed by privilege.

My new apartment is in Obs, the trendy mixed race neighborhood near the university. Since I don't have a key yet I have left only once, to visit the grocery store with my roomie. This particular roommate is actually moving out for unclear reasons but it appears to have something to do with him being 20 years old and not washing his dishes. My other roommates will start appearing progressively--one gets in tomorrow, and one next week.

My main adventure so far is that I bought Rooibus flavored yogurt! And I am happy to report it is delicious.