reaching the point

sunday. last day in cape town. i was woken around 8:30 by michael
pulju (fellow rd and programming buddy. his last name is pronounced
"pull you" the opposite of "push me"). it felt REALLY early after
having been out late the night before, but i was secretly glad to
make the most out of this last day. the plan was to do our own thing
in the morning and then to meet up at 1pm to take our hired driver
down to the cape of good hope.

i met up with karen, and she and i headed out to breakfast. at
breakfast, we ran in to lisa (the director of student life) and
melissa, and lisa had big news for us. as we were sitting there,
three students from the voyage were being told that due to their
violations of the code of student conduct, they were being dismissed
from the semester. all three students were students who had been
repeat offenders, so it wasn't really a surprise that they were being
sent home, but it was a surprise because it seemed to happen so
suddenly. i kept trying to put myself in their shoes, imagining what
it would feel like to be packing my bags and realizing that the ship
was going to sail without me. it was really something i could
fathom, and fortunately, i won't have to experience it either.

after breakfast, we wandered around the flea market that is set up
every sunday at the green point stadium (different than the green
market square). as you've probably figured out, walking through
street markets was a large part of my time in south africa. before
we were there too long, it was time to meet michael, michael and
megan (all rds) to go down to the cape point.

our driver's name was dan, and he is a taxi driver that michael p.
had met earlier in the week. michael had negotiated a good price for
the day, which is how we were able to afford to hire a driver for the
day. on our way down to the cape, we stopped at simon's town, which
is home to hundreds and hundreds of penguins. in addition to
spending some time with the penguins, we made a couple of stops along
the way to take pictures of the beautiful landscape and coastline.

when we reached the point, dan pointed out a white spot in the middle
of the oceans. this is the location of a reef that causes the waves
to break in the middle of the water, but dan also said that it is
considered the meeting point of the two oceans. karen, michael and i
walked out to the end of the point. cape point is popularly
perceived to be the meeting point of the two oceans, but in
geographical actuality, the meeting point is at a cape (whose name is
currently escaping me) slightly to the east of cape point. even
still, it was very cool to be standing on the edge of africa looking
out at a blend of the indian and atlantic oceans.

as we headed back to cape town, we took chapman's drive. this is a
coastal road that is so beautiful (rivaling the coastal highway in
california), and it is frequently used in car commercials. you know
those commercials that show their cars whipping around that curvy
road, with cliffs to one side and water to the other? well, that's
chapman drive. beautiful.

when back on the pier, we only had an hour and a half until we had to
be back on the ship to assist with embarking the students. karen,
michael and i had dinner at the mexican restaurant on the pier and
watched the students sitting outside drinking large bowls (literally)
of alcohol. among those students were the three who had been
dismissed. at that point, they were already officially off the
ship. we had been told earlier by the administration that the
students were in shock when they were told. none of them thought
they would ever actually be dismissed from the program. as they were
standing outside of the mexican restaurant, gulping down alcohol with
their former shipmates, they didn't look shocked. i think they were
all mustering up some bravado to save face in front of their peers.
between the loss of credits, the semester, money for the trip and
money for future trips for which they had signed up, these students
easily lost $20,000 due to their behavior. none of them chose to
call their families, and instead the executive dean had to do it.
their families were embarrassed and disappointed, and all three of
the students were terrified of facing their families upon their
return to the states.

once the rest of the student body was back on the ship, it was time
for us to depart south africa. it was sad to watch us pull away from
the dock, a berth that had been our home for seven days. just as
when we left brazil, everyone was raving about how much fun they had
and how much they loved cape town. it is definitely a place that
everyone wants to visit again.