John is impressed most by the people

Coming to this trip I didn’t really have any expectations on what I was going to encounter. Aside from the amazing things I’ve heard about the program and the little research I did on my internship, I was coming in with a blind eye and an open mind. Granted I’ve been here less than a week, Cape Town hasn’t stopped amazing me at every turn of a corner.  Just by walking down the streets of this beautiful town you’ll see warm smiles, contagious laughter and wise eyes everywhere you look. I’ve never seen such loving people celebrating life everyway and everywhere they can. Capetonians have been through so much and yet keep such a positive attitude, which is one of the many things I admire about them. One of the things that has impressed/touched me the most occurred as we were leaving a restaurant and I said a simple “thank you” to the waitress, she then replied “pleasure.” I noticed instead of saying “you’re welcome,” people here say “pleasure.” We often say things we don’t mean in the states, but for some reason when this woman and the people from Cape Town say “pleasure,” I feel like they truly mean it. It almost seems like they enjoy spreading joy and happiness to everyone around them.