Sharks, Sea Turtles, Starfish oh my!

Lately I've been trying to keep myself super busy and enjoy every minute of living in South Africa as to not get too caught up in the excitement of going home in less than a month. So here's an overview of what I've been doing with my life.

Thursday: After doing some basic tasks (such as numbering raffle tickets) at CANSA, I went to the Aquarium at uShaka Marine World. It was pretty awesome. They had tons of sharks and we got to watch a shark feed. Pretty cool stuff. uShaka had all the typical aquarium residents: starfish, jellyfish, tropical fish, etc. What was awesome was the fact that the majority of the creatures at the aquarium are native to the waters off the coast of South Africa. After checking out the aquarium we went to a super cheesy dolphin show. It had something to do about King Shaka not approving of dolphins and the trainer dressed up as a Zulu woman telling him that dolphins are awesome. We also got a chance to see the penguins which made me even more excited to see the wild penguins in Cape Town.

Friday: We went to the City Hall art museum and natural history museum. It was the first time I checked out the natural history museum. It housed animals native to South Africa, meaning it had elephants, lions, leopards, pangolins, and other "exotic" animals. So weird to think I'm living in a country where elephants can live in their natural habitat. The art museum had a new exhibit called the body politic. One of the sculptures was about HPV and cervical cancer! How perfect for my project! So I emailed the artist, hopefully she'll get back to me and I'll be able to interview her on her work and her perspectives on the two disease.

Saturday: Went to Suncoast Casino to watch a movie with my roommates. We ended up choosing "You Again" which is an American movie. It was a cute romcom, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Sunday: My roommates and I decided to go to the BAT Center and Wilson's Warf on the harbor. The BAT center is an arts trust that provides workspace and galleries for artists in Durban. We saw some really cool work by local artists and got a chance to check out the space. We then walked to Wilson's Warf where we got to see all the boats going out to sea. Durban is the biggest port in South Africa, so there's a lot of big cargo ships going in and out of the harbor. We went out to lunch at this AMAZING Thai restaurant and got to admire the beautiful scenery. After the warf, we took a taxi home and went to the market across the street from our house. Overall it was a pretty awesome day.

This week should be hectic: CANSA on Tuesday and Thursday, UKZN on Wednesday and Friday to interview students and to conduct my focus groups. Only 2 weeks left of ISP! I'll be back in the USA in 31 days... crazy! miss you all!