allyson and bryan

Now that you have a general idea of our days at the orphanage, I'm sure you've spent sleepless nights wondering to youself, "Whatever do those three crazy kids do on their days off?" Well, at last, your answers are here. First, we generally declare one of our three days free of activities as to catch up on stuff like e-mail, blogging, laundry, food shopping and The O.C. on DVD. On the other days, we take advantage of Aviva-organized tours or explore Cape Town on our own. Last Monday we indulged in a day-long wine country tour, enjoying the company of other volunteers and the silly puns of the Fairview winery. Today, a Sunday, we visited a few different townships -- Langa, Crossroads and our own, Khayelitsha, --- to tour a witch doctor's office, a local pub, and weekend church services. Both were interesting, uniquely South African experiences.

Though we've been putting off the hike up Cape Town's famous Table Mountain (I mean, Kili was still less than a month ago! We're allowed), Jen and I did figure out how to get to a yoga class this past Friday. It was well-worth the 80 rand for both a) the first time my back has felt pain-free in ages and b) the giggly joy of a crazy-haired, short-shorted South African yoga teacher with a vaguely German accent commanding us, "seet! stahnd! seet!" and "I am breezing! I am tweesting! I am breezing!" at rapid-fire pace for 60 minutes.

On the social front, last Thursday night we threw a little stir-fry-and-waffles-party for the four volunteers on our shift that are leaving for home this weekend. We'll miss Jayney especially -- she of beautiful photo gifts and endless orphanage know-how. We also went to dinner at the touristy must-do Mama Africa, where the music was much better than the food. And though Bryan, Jen and I have yet to venture out to Cape Town's clubs, we partook in a super-fun game of homemade name-that-tune at our lodge, showing the young 'uns that being a bit long in the tooth comes in handy when you need to identify Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" in just three notes. Go Team Krieger.

Tomorrow we're headed back to Khayelitsha for the third of our five orphanage shifts. We'll be the veterans this week, training four new volunteers on how to disinfect bottles and do the hokey pokey. Still yet to come during our off-hours are the aforementioned Table Mountain, a visit to Robben Island, and at least one more hour with the yogamaniac.

Up next week, for your viewing pleasure: Photos of the kids!

stars, they're just like allyson @ 8:58 AM