My birthday/I am alive!

Hi all, I made it to Africa! The flight was really long, so it was up for debate whether I would get here in one piece. We stopped off for an hour in Dakar, but I didn't get to see any of it. When I went through immigration the official wished me a very happy birthday. Today was our first full day, it was so busy that I am struggling to remember all that we did! A little things were different about my birthday - first of all it is freezing so I am wearing a coat, second we had our first speaker today so I am in school!
We went around Soweto today, seeing the former male-only dorms, former black-only townships, Regina Mundi (a church that the SA police stormed during the liberation struggle) Kliptown, a house where Nelson Mandela used to hide. It was a memorable birthday, even though I miss everyone at home. We had a guide that experienced the liberation struggle, and that was really moving because he is pretty young and it happened so recently.
Tomorrow we go to the Hector Peterson apartheid museum, which I am very excited about. I have been really tired, which makes it hard to adjust, but everyone is in the same boat and hopefully it will just get easier from here on out. Our group is really nice, and from all over the place. It has also been really nice to have Rachel here with me :)
We are staying at a guest house until Friday, where we go to our homestays with a family in Soweto. We then go up to Pretoria and Alexandra, which are further north from Johannesburg, and then on Wednesday we fly up to Namibia and our homebase.
That is all I have for now - I am missing you all very much!