Howzit!

Hi all! and yes, thats how everyone greets each other around here - like 'how's it going" but way cooler.

Capetown is incredible so far. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been on - this basin surrounded by mountains and ocean - incredible. And its such a crazy party town - I've been going out with all these random international students I've met every night, and they party hard here. Maybe not drunken twister hard, but everything absolutely goes until 4 in the morning - and they start at like 7 PM too.

My job is way cool too - I'm volunteering at two children's hospitals, so I play with sick kids all day. The one in the morning is a really legit hospital - so its really depressing there because everyone is hooked up to IVs and really frail, etc. - but the one in the afternoon is like a pre and post-operation home, so I can actually take the babies out of their cribs and play with them. It's just so sad to know that they all have HIV or AIDS, but there's also something so wonderful about how innocently happy they still can be when they receive a little attention - which makes what I'm doing with them so worthwhile.

But seriously, I'm having the craziest time here. The thing about this city is it's like a mecca for everyone around the world to visit, so there are so many kids from all over. And people here are so friendly - you meet a friend of a friend at a bar one night, and immediately you hear their life story and decide to meet them for dinner the next night. I met these two guys from the Naval Academy my first night at a bar, and wound up riding around with them all weekend on the back of their motorcycles that they rented - we just rode all around the winelands that surround Capetown. It was so fricking awesome!! I thought I'd never do anything like that in my life, but it was so exhilarating and completely unbelievable. I'm so converted now - and they promised they'd teach me how when I meet up with them again in August haha.

I miss you all so much though - the kids here are all really cool, but there is nothing quite like you guys...

hit me up on skype if you can - I'm 6 hours ahead of EST...

love
Dee Dee