Braai Night!

These were sooo good! 

Aurelie, Jen, Alina and Ryan in the kitchen 

Jen, Aurelie, Alina, Ryan, me (holding our dog Mitzy), Lizzy and Beth in the volunteer house kitchen

            Well, tonight is Ryan’s last night here at the white shark projects volunteer house with us. Tomorrow around noon the project but takes him back to Cape Town, dropping him off at the airport to return home to Wakefield, in the UK, where he’s from. Beth and Lizzy are staying a couple more days, since they arrived a few days after him, but they’re leaving soon too. We decided to have a braai tonight while we still have all the volunteers here. Most of the volunteers originally thought that a braai was just the South African term for a barbecue, but when we went shopping this afternoon with Jan, we learned that we were wrong. He’s from South Africa, and when he saw that Alina had bought hamburger patties to make at the braai, he seemed legitimately morally offended. “No.” he said. “There are very specific things that you can and cannot have at a braai. Follow me.” And we walked back into the grocery store. By the end of the shopping trip, we had ribs, several different types of steak (including something I found that was labeled “Texan Steak”),  sausages, onions, peppers, potatoes, and more.

            After returning home, we put some of the food away, then a few of us walked over to a little store about a block away that we go to all the time to get some firewood and beer. Jan and his girlfriend Jen, as well as Maarten, soon arrived at the volunteer house, built up the fire, and began to cook the meat, starting with the ribs. We finished about an hour ago, and most of the volunteers have since been in food heaven. A few of then have said that they’re thinking about going out to a nearby bar soon, but tomorrow may be a sea day so I think I’ll stay here. We’ve heard that there will definitely be one trip out tomorrow. We don’t yet know how many volunteer spots are available, but we’re hoping that we’ll all be able to get out on the water. Ryan, Beth and Lizzy said that the water visibility wasn’t great at the dam this morning, but it was still cool to see the sharks from the boat.

            Having the braai tonight with the other volunteers kind of reminded me of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming last summer, when Jesse would grill right outside our dorm for everybody. There have been a few similarities that I’ve noticed between this summer and last, although South Africa is very different from Wyoming and working with White Shark Projects is very different than working at Jackson Lake Lodge. For example, I’ve met a lot of great people from so many different places, the night sky is so full of stars in both places, now the grill nights, and there’s a view of the horizon when we’re out on the boat around sunrise that reminds me of the gorgeous Teton mountain range. I also thought it was pretty weird that May 14 of this year was my first night in South Africa, while May 14 of last year was my first night in the employee dorms of Jackson Lake Lodge in the park. It kind of makes me wonder where I’ll be at this time next summer, and what adventures I’ll be going on.

            I’ve been in South Africa for exactly two weeks as of today, and I still have to remind myself that I’m actually. Almost every time I look down to the end of our block, out to the crashing waves of the gorgeous Atlantic Ocean, I think to myself, I’m really in Africa. That adventurous little girl that grew up watching The Lion King and knowing that one day she’d be working with wildlife in Africa was right. On that note, I’ll end this post with another one of my favorite quotes: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”- Eleanor Roosevelt.