heyheyhey

so i arrived in cape town on thursday and i've just been settling in with my new family and getting to know all of the other kiddies and what not. my host family is really great and my roommate (different rooms) is really neat-o. our host brother, johan, has been taking us around town and introducing us to all of his friends so we can kick it with all the young people over here, haha.

cape town is absolutely beautiful and i wish everyone could be here to see it. it's hard to get my computer hooked up to internet so pictures will probably be sparse but as soon as i get the chance i'll show you guys some.

we took a tour of the campus today and it's really nice and quite big. tomorrow we start class. all of the students live in the same neighborhood and someone comes to pick us up in a little van every morning. five students live next to each other on one street and the van pulls up and honks and one kid gets out and gets in, and then the van pulls up about 2 meters and honks again and another kid gets in and so on. it's all very cute and leave-it-to-beaver-esque, somehow.

so far my aunt has been very kind and taking me around all over capetown which is really nice. there's so many places to see and things to do that i think the time is really going to fly here. there's also lots of activities to do so hopefully sky diving and bungee jumping and ostritch riding and all the rest will be in the near future. my brother is hopefully going to teach me stick shift too.

i hope this update hasn't been too boring. i feel like i probably left out a bunch of stuff but anyways. overall everything is pretty hunky dory but of course i miss everyone so let me know how you are all doing.

also if you get skype you can call me for 5 cents a minute which is practically nothing so you know.... *hint hint. SA is 9 hours ahead of cali and 6 ahead of new york so do the math and pick up the phone. =)

okay love s kisses for now.

Howzit

hello all

i'm currently at my uncle roger's work using his internet which is much quicker than the one at home. i've been having a very nice time here seeing family and being fed like... i don't know, some sort of animal that people plump up before slaughtering. but instead i think they are just going to send me away to Cape Town. last night we had a poker night and yours truly came out on top. heyHEYhey. tomorrow night we are going to see the Lion King and then on wednesday i get to go to the opening of South Africa's Fashion Week here, because my uncle is involved. hoorah.

i'm excited for Cape Town and to meet my new family, the van Niekerk's. I will be staying at their home with another student in the program. As soon as i have my address i'll let you know but sending things here is a little unreliable so i don't know.

hopefully i'll be able to skype, if so, my skype name is just my name, look me up.

i also have a cell phone here that you could call with an international phone card if you so desired, if you want the number just e-mail me.

missing everyone,
me.

after 30+ hours of travel arrived safely in johannesburg saturday evening and was promptly stuffed with food and cake and even some booze. internet available but kind of slow. which is why i guess i'm typing this like it's a telegraph. who knows. better updates to come! love love love. --Talisa

Random Summer Pics

quite a small dog

pete, we're not leaving until you finish those ribs.

katamari much?

Don't Stop Me Now

More home--

bubbles (jen's pic)

bistro

birthday

bash

Sea Legs

home in cali again and gone before you can blink.

as of late:

unpacking, packing, repacking

YAT reunion

family birthday dinner

lil jen =)

full of yogurt land...

things i miss already:

friends

roomies

this one

the laundry room on the other side of my wall, sounding like a heart beating as i'm falling asleep.

i leave for cape town for four months this friday, followed by a brief holiday interim in california and then paris for the spring semester.

keep up with me here and get skype already, jeez.

so... i just discovered video messaging on facebook (thanks to claire). and it's pretty cool. i can't promise that it won't turn into some video blogging. but i'll probably spare you.

anyways, here are some pictures (mostly of me and my cousins) from our family camping trip to big sur. i think we take some pretty good shots. see if you can spot one where everyone is paying attention...