Abhishek's blog

JBlog 8/11/15
Waking to the crowing of a distant rooster at the crack of dawn. This was how I pictured every morning would begin throughout our stay in Sueto. To my surprise, I woke instead to the piercing ring of Michael's church bell I phone ring tone. My head throbbing from the previous late night I attempted to drift back to sleep. That is, until I noticed Father Bruce staring down at our mats looking amused by our American laziness. 

Realizing that sleep was impossible I looked around noticing that one especially excited member of our group was missing. Indeed today was Ethan Viera's big day. He was finally going to be cured of his serious, long term ailment: roller coaster withdrawals. We were going to visit an amusement park! After freshening up we sat for a scrumptious and plentiful bounty prepared by father bruce. My surprises for the day were far from over as our plans changed at the last minute. We decided instead to spend the day in a more productive manner, touring Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, and visiting the Voortrekker museum.

Our first glimpse into Pretoria was of a suburban neighborhood resembling those found in the Bay Area. It is home to the second largest concentration of foreign embassies outside Washington D.C., and we passed numerous countries' embassies with residential, homely facilities. To no one's surprise, the US embassy interrupted this sprawling neighborhood with a giant modern corporate structure covering an entire city block. Upon arriving at the Voortrecker museum, we were greeted by a grand structure with intricate artwork engraved on the vast stone edifice. Willy, our tour guide, explained the bloody history of native interactions with European colonists. It didn't take long for our group to draw parallels to our own nation's bloody past. 

At this point we were all getting hungry so willy drove us to a gas station. Assuming we had stopped for 'petrol' as willy calls it, imagine our surprise when he told us to get out for lunch. A nearby door led to an escalator which we took to a restraunt overlooking the freeway. The view through the giant glass window of the restraint was surreal as we watched vehicles hurtle towards at highway speeds and disappear below our feet.

Our return to Saint Martin was quickly followed by a friendly soccer match between us and the local St.
Martin students. In a shocking turn of events we won the game 4-2 and quickly called it quits to preserve our monumentous achievement. After another hearty meal courtest of father Bruce, we settled in for another fun-filled night, excited for adventures to come.