Hello all!
Well I've officially been here 9 days! I can't quite believe it's been that long already...and that's not even counting the *almost* two days it took me to get here! I left from Chicago on a Washington D.C. bound flight, then I hopped on a different plane, flew 7.5 hours to Dakar, Senegal for a "technical stop" (where we were stopped for an hour and a half...and they wouldn't even let us stand up! Let alone get off the plane!), and then another 8 hour leg through to Johannesburg. (That's 17 hours on the same plane people....not ideal). From Jo-berg, I hopped on a flight to Cape Town. And of COURSE when I landed, one of my bags didn't land with me. Sooo I got to spend my first few days without some of my belongings. Ah well, such is life?
My first few days were kind of a blur, literally. It was POURING. I apparently arrived in the worst storm of the winter haha. (PS it's winter here...everyone is complaining about how cold it is. It's literally about 60 degrees every day haha). Anyway, things were very wet the first few days, but it has since dried out and warmed up even more, and now it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL.
I'm staying in the upstairs guesthouse of one of the dads of a kid I am coaching. It's in a smaller area called Capri, in a town called Fish Hoek. It's about a 40 minute drive from downtown Cape Town (over the other side of the mountain). Its crazy gorgeous here. I'm in this little valley (known as the Sun Valley) right in between two large mountains, with the sea on the two opposing sides. So imagine, if you can, being surrounded by mountains AND beaches at the same time. Literally every time you turn your head, you get this new amazing view that knocks the breath right out of you. I am trying my best to drink it all in, but I still can't get enough. I wish I could spend more of my time just taking pictures...I haven't taken nearly enough yet. (Good thing I'll be here a while, eh?)
Here's a little map that might make it easier to understand though. If you see Fish Hoek, you can see it has Table Mountain to the north, separating it from Cape Town (and Table Mountain, I have recently been told, is one of the newer Wonders of the World!), Cape of Good Hope to the South (more mountains there), and then the sea on the East and West sides.
Well I've officially been here 9 days! I can't quite believe it's been that long already...and that's not even counting the *almost* two days it took me to get here! I left from Chicago on a Washington D.C. bound flight, then I hopped on a different plane, flew 7.5 hours to Dakar, Senegal for a "technical stop" (where we were stopped for an hour and a half...and they wouldn't even let us stand up! Let alone get off the plane!), and then another 8 hour leg through to Johannesburg. (That's 17 hours on the same plane people....not ideal). From Jo-berg, I hopped on a flight to Cape Town. And of COURSE when I landed, one of my bags didn't land with me. Sooo I got to spend my first few days without some of my belongings. Ah well, such is life?
My first few days were kind of a blur, literally. It was POURING. I apparently arrived in the worst storm of the winter haha. (PS it's winter here...everyone is complaining about how cold it is. It's literally about 60 degrees every day haha). Anyway, things were very wet the first few days, but it has since dried out and warmed up even more, and now it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL.
I'm staying in the upstairs guesthouse of one of the dads of a kid I am coaching. It's in a smaller area called Capri, in a town called Fish Hoek. It's about a 40 minute drive from downtown Cape Town (over the other side of the mountain). Its crazy gorgeous here. I'm in this little valley (known as the Sun Valley) right in between two large mountains, with the sea on the two opposing sides. So imagine, if you can, being surrounded by mountains AND beaches at the same time. Literally every time you turn your head, you get this new amazing view that knocks the breath right out of you. I am trying my best to drink it all in, but I still can't get enough. I wish I could spend more of my time just taking pictures...I haven't taken nearly enough yet. (Good thing I'll be here a while, eh?)
Here's a little map that might make it easier to understand though. If you see Fish Hoek, you can see it has Table Mountain to the north, separating it from Cape Town (and Table Mountain, I have recently been told, is one of the newer Wonders of the World!), Cape of Good Hope to the South (more mountains there), and then the sea on the East and West sides.
I'm getting to know my little area more and more each day, and I've been scootering around as much as possible! (Although, just today, I got a flat tire on the way to the gym...no good!) Speaking of the gym, I started working right away the first day I got here, and I've been working pretty much non-stop ever since. I've kind of "jumped right in" I guess? But it's been great. I'm already absolutely in love with the kids, and I have some absolutely FANTASTIC coworkers. They have all been SO nice and SO wonderful in welcoming me. My first weekend here, I ended up being booked the whole weekend thanks to their inviting me along on different outings! The kids seem to find me fascinating and cannot stop asking me questions about America. I had a girl the other day quiz me with 50 different questions about tornados and what we have to do back home when one comes haha. And they definitely think my accent is amusing. I keep getting asked to say things "in American." The accent usually gives me away as a foreigner in about 2 seconds haha. There goes my whole trying-to-blend-in-and-act-like-a-local plan I guess? Anyway...ready for some pictures??!?!
Here are some photos of my new life thus far!:
Here's my bed. They had it made up much nicer for me haha. I never can seem to recreate how they do it.
My closet. I'm ABSOLUTELY in love with it. More closet space than I have EVER had in my life haha. I would show you just how big..buuut I was a little unorganized at the time this photo was taken, so very thankful I could close all the doors haha.
My living room. I will eventually end up sharing this with other lodgers I believe, as there are two more empty bedrooms in the guesthouse. But for now..I have it all to myself!
The kitchen (obviously). This will also eventually be shared. And this was also before I did most of my shopping. And before my landlord bought a little oven and hotplate combo thing. Soo it looks a little bare here. And there in the corner is a fridge, washing machine AND a dishwasher! (Fancy I know)
My bathroom. Exciting right?
My [eventually shared] balcony. IN LOVE.
The little computer/wi-fi room. (where I am sitting right now as I type this!)
The two opposite ends of my balcony....
VIew from my balcony of the back of Table Mountain..with the rain clouds...
View up my street!
Another balcony view!
Front yard. And there's Alfie!
View from the front of the house!
Views of the sea!
Too beautiful for words. Like literally.
*perfection*
I tried a panoramic shot...meh, kind of worked?
On this day it was still kind of rainy/misty, but I thought the way the clouds hung over the mountains was SO COOL.
I took a trip to Simon's Town today (see map)..and I was just minding my business headed to eat at a restaurant right next to the beach...and look what I found roaming around!
Penguin be chillin
See the little herd of penguins?!?!
More shots from Simon's Town...
See what I'm talking about? WIth the take your breath away beauty?
These crazies were swimming. The water must have been FREEZING!
I've been told that starting in mid-September you can see all the whales that come in to this bay to breed each year. CAN'T WAIT!!
The office where I spend my mornings :)
Getting ready to scoot around!!
I hope everyone enjoys the photos! I promise to try to update more regularly...
And, while most of my time so far has been a BLAST, there have been some not-so-great things about my first few days (not including the airlines misplacing my bag for 48 hours or my scooter getting a flat tire of course). The jet lag I could definitely do without, although I think I'm just about over that at this point..and it was hard hearing that our dog back home had passed away. :( And of course I miss everyone terribly! But for the most part...the first week has been fun, challenging, and exciting...and it has me REALLY looking forward to all the weeks to come! Here's to grabbing the bull by the horns and living life the only way I know how...
Until next time!
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