An African adventure

Hi peops. Here's what we've been up to this week....

Friday Day

We took a day out of Ikhaya and made our way by bus to Cape Town. There we spent the day doing touristy things like going to the Dutch Fort, District six museum and Green Square market.

Friday night

Ethiopian food

 

We went to the African dance theatre which is basically an hour-long show which shows the history of African music and dance. It was amazing and we were tired just watching the cast! Afterwards we went to an Ethopian restaurant and tried some traditional food which consisted of a meat and vegetable platter and a mountain of pancake style bread which you use as your knife and fork. Couldn't eat it all but yum! That and the jungle-like decor made for a lovely evening.

 

Saturday

Well thanks to Ryan and Karlie (my bro and sis-in-law) we were up early to go to Aquila private game reserve for a safari. It's about 2 hours out of Cape Town and after the coach journey with the slightly stressed driver (the joys of African time!) we arrived where we were given a sparkling wine (never too early!!) and a buffet breakfast. After a quick nose around the resort it was time to jump on our safari truck and, armed with some binoculars, do my best Dora the Explorer impression. The elephants, zebra, ostriches, rhino. buffalo, springbok, wilderbeast were all out to play but best of all were the lions (about 100ft away, the mountain kind) One decided to pose in true Lion King style for the tourists! .

 

 We've found the South African domestic cat!!

 

After our time with the animals it was back to the resort for more food, drink and a quick relax by the pool before heading back on the coach. We can now also add the South African bus service to our transport list - timetables don't exactly exist here but thankfully we found one that would take us back to Hout Bay.

 

Sunday

 

A great service at Kenilworth Vineyard church (we love the fact it's so like our own with whoever is taking the service having to call people by name to sit down so we can start!) we some friends who were giving us a lift wondered if we'd mind going to an open house in Constantia (the wine distrct nearby). Another chance to have a glass and some food in the sun....it's going to be interesting heading back to UK winter!

 

 

Life at ikhaya le themba

 

Well we're into our last 2 weeks of teaching and a fun week before term ends. We are planning the Christmas party and helping to send off the older students who will be leaving. I'm putting together a cook book of the recipes they have been doing in their cooking lessons and I think the plan is to make some certificates and other prizes..a bit like graduation I guess. There's a real sense of wanting to make them feel special despite the fact they have a grown out of ikhaya which is great to see.Should be an interesting few weeks and we're just making the most of the time we have left. Many of the children head to the Western Cape for Christmas so there is alot of excitement about that and Mark has been asked to do the Father Christmas bit! Unfortunately his attempt at growing a moustache for Movember only lasted a couple of days so he'll definetly be borrowing a white beard if needed :). Mark has also been helping out with the grounds and along with Phila (site manager) and Bram (volunteer from Holland) dug a trench to divert some contaminated water away from the Ikhaya entrance.

 

Coming up this weekend....run on Saturday, England v SA rugby, road trip to Cape Point and Daniel Bedingfield in concert at the botanical gardens.....Think we'll be coming home for a rest :)