Day 26: I do what Oprah says

For once, we had no mandatory plans this morning. So, a large group of us decided to try Oprah’s favorite bakery, Charly’s Bakery. Yum! This lady knows what she’s talking about! I had a chicken pot pie pastry for breakfast and the largest piece of cheesecake of my life for a midmorning snack. Pictures of their famous cakes filled the walls such as Nelson Mandela’s seventy fifth birthday cake and the anniversary of the ending of the apartheid. Not that I cared at all but I learned that they use natural sugars that don’t tend to taste as sweet as our American sugars. A healthy-ish red velvet cupcake? Yes, please.

The small world story of the day takes place at our favorite Pick and Pay grocery store. As I wondered down the aisles looking for cookie dough to make goodies for my host family, a man passed me wearing a Georgia sweatshirt. Initially, I didn’t think anything of it, and then realized, “Hello, Carrie! You are in South Africa! This is not normal!” After my double take, I asked the man where he got his sweatshirt to which the man explained that he has a friend oversees that lives in Georgia. Interestingly, he did not realize that his sweatshirt actually related to the university and not the state. Regardless, it triggered Disney’s “It’s a Small World” song to rest in my head for the remainder of the day.



Again, we drove out to Sir Lowry’s Pass for more kiddie time. In these communities, the members lack hope. Honestly, I think it’s a disease. Because for generations they have been unsuccessful in changing their lives, they do not have a sense of hope. In a small way, we aimed to restore some of that feeling through paper hope chains. The students wrote their aspirations on strips of paper and then attached them together to make chains of dreams. Sadly, I met children who did not even know what the term “hope” meant. HOPEfully, we played a small part in helping these students realize their dreams.



As usual, I returned to my host family’s home after school. For the past several days, I spent time talking with each of the older children and needed to complete the pattern with the eldest son. What an enlightening conversation! This brilliant kid attends a nearby college and just wants to know about everything in regards to America. Within just a few minutes, I answered Nicholas’s questions on Obama, my experiences with 9/11, and other political issues. I tried to teach him, but I think I got the better end of the stick. Nicholas offered his personal insights on the South African government and his experiences with the apartheid. Interestingly, he characterizes himself as “colored,” not black. We told a story of how he used to walk five kilometers to swim in the “colored” pool. One day, he accidentally fell into the “black pool” and his family had to rescue him before the black swimmers attacked him. Fascinating!



After our memorable night at Balthezar’s last night, we held a group pot luck dinner. Good food. Good company. Good times.



Funny story: We all wanted to make goodies for our host families to thank them for opening their homes to us. For some sad reason, Pick and Pay does not sell cookie dough. The boys asked the store bakery for cookie dough, and they got a large block of plain bread dough. Shockingly, they did not have a clue as to what to do with it. Watching them poke and prod this dough like it belonged on another planet made tears shoot out of my eyes as I laughed. Believe it or not, they did a superior job! Nutella bread for a midnight snack!