Cape Town is for Lovers

That might be false. But it is for us! I made an executive decision while we were driving around there that if I ever went home and then needed a new life I would move to Cape Town. That is a for serious thing. I would love to comment on everything and tell you all about the absolutely comical things that constantly happen in my life on the other side of the world, but I have so much to tell you! So I am going to try and focus on all of the events of our adventures in Cape Town.

Wednesday!
We loaded up the bus! It was a legit bus with a drive and everything. We had to shuttle people/stuff into town and it took a little longer than we thought it would. The driveway is LONG and takes like 15/20 minutes to get up or down (that might be false-I don’t wear a watch or have a cell phone so I never know what time it is unless I am in my room and my talking alarm clock announces the time) and it is like 4-wheeling and if you are in the KIA dirt comes up through the floor. Always an adventure. We took 18 of the kids which worked out to about one adult per child (actually I think we had more adults then children) so there were two kids and two adults in each room. Almost everyone on the trip had never stayed in a hotel, so that was a really cool thing for them. Rita (the director) and I shared a room with Asekona and Sikelelwa (two of the older girls) so it was just like a slumber party every night! We spent the night in a place called Wilderness just exploring the hotel and being goofy. Also after the girls went to bed Rita and I made like….60 ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch the next day. I enjoyed that time because we just spent it chatting about the kids/life here/life in general.

Thursday!
We got up early in the morning and walked along the beach for a little while. At one point I wrote ‘The Beach’ in the sand and took pictures and about five minutes later I walked a little further and saw multiple attempts at the words ‘the beach’ written in the sand by the kids. That almost made my heart explode. How adorable are they? Then we finished up the drive to Cape Town! One of the things that kept cracking me up is that a few of the older boys (mostly Luthando and Kanysa) kept asking if we could go to Cape Town now. The jury is still out on whether or not they know that Cape Town is a city and that we were there. Luthando was my bus buddy for the first half of the trip and Ayabonga (the older one) was my buddy for the rest! Love them. We went straight to Table Mountain (it’s a mountain…that looks like a table…also sometimes there is a cloud on top of it that looks like a tablecloth) and took the cable car up. The view was AMAZING and I had to carry little Thandazwa the whole time. Most of the kids are weary of change and strange experiences and she handles it by being terrified of not being held. The secret part of it is that I was glad I got to focus on her and not how freaking tall/steep our ride up/down was.

Friday!
Penguins! We went to a penguin colony. Yes. There are penguins just living along the beach in South Africa. It’s ok to think that is amazing because I do. The absolute coolest part of Friday was seeing whales so close to the shore! I have never seen a whale in the actual ocean and I saw about 6 of them on Friday. I think I was even more excited than the kids. After the penguins we headed to Cape Point. I fell asleep on the bus and when I woke up I noticed that not everyone was getting off the bus and I had no idea why so I got off, assuming that they were all just being slow pokes. The honest truth is that there is supposed to be a train that goes up there, but that it was broken and everyone knew that except for me, so I blindly followed the group up this big mountain/hill with a lighthouse at the top not knowing that there were any other options. I have no idea how long it took us to get up there but it was BEAUTIFUL. I have never watched waves crash against the shore from above and that has got to be one of my new favorite things. Also at the top of that thing a lot of random people took pictures of/gave candy to our kids and I’m not sure how I feel about all of that (which is why I haven’t written about the ‘stares’ yet). We then headed to this amazing Botanical Garden. Everyone was exhausted (especially the kids without their usual routines and naps and bedtimes) but I got a chance to explore on my own a little bit and it was so great there and to get a little breather from the 24/7 adventure with the kids.

Saturday!
Saturday was the official end of Bob’s walk across South Africa to raise money for Open Arms! We started the morning off at the Aquarium which was great and then took a ferry out to Robben Island, which is where the maximum security prison that Nelson Mandela was kept in for about..16ish years is located. We had a bus tour of the island and then a walking tour of the prison. All of the tour guides who take you through the prison were once held there as political prisoners themselves, so that is kind of intense. Outside of Mandela’s cell we had a little official end of the walk/commemoration ceremony. Everyone laid a rose in front of the cell and we all sang Amazing Grace (which the kids have been practicing for weeeeks) and said a prayer and Asekona read a passage from Matthew (which she has also been practicing for weeks) and she was awesome. The ceremony was meaningful and moving and just great. Also we almost missed the ferry on the way there and on the way back, but that’s just how we roll (how else can you roll with 18 kids in tow?) I saw TONS of sailboats out on the ocean and it made me happy! But also made me want to sail A LOT. Maybe we can get out on the water when my dad and brother come…Rita and I also made 80 sandwiches after the girls went to sleep… oh and there was some famous South African soap opera star staying at our hotel and people kept taking pictures of him. Rita and I kept telling the hotel staff that we are a pretty big deal in the US, but we like to keep in on the DL in South Africa. Funny funny.

Sunday!
The best part of Sunday was that as we were about to board the bus (at 5 am) I ran into one of the kitchen staff guys at the hotel where we stayed for 3 nights who was super nice and asked if I wanted coffee to go. The truth is that I wanted hot chocolate and I was able to get some for Rita too! It’s the little things, it’s the little things. The bus ride was manageable. We drove straight back (which took 13 hours) and I can sum up those glorious hours by saying that I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns which is a great, great book and we watched Stuart Little for the 7thish time as we were arriving back in Komga. Then of course I was riding around with Rita back and forth between Open Arms, the Location and Komga to drop off mamas, etc and we ran over some barbed wire in the big fat Quantum. Luckily the garage in town was still opened and they pulled it out and told us that it did not go all the way through, which was obviously very good news. Life here is just so comical. If you are just coming back from a 13 hour trip and you are sick and exhausted and slaphappy and you have to make tons of trips up and down a big, bumpy driveway before you can even go to the bathroom, you should just expect that you will catch some barbed wire with your tire when there are no men around and it is dark and you are in South Africa.

Random things you might like to know: my room smells a lot less like a sewer. Murray who does all of the maintenance shtuff put some sort of stink chimney (sorry I only know the technical name for it…) up behind my room and it seems to be working. Also I have not received any mail yet, so at this point we know that priority mail takes at least 2 weeks…I am sick but fine. Some sort of little bug is going around with a sore throat and cough…the internet card is almost a happenin thing. Rita and I are going to be sharing the one that we have and from what I can tell it is slow and expensive and we will just have to see about that…

And that is everything! At least for now….I commend you if you read this whole thing. You should leave a comment so I know you read it and then I can see your comment and be all like ‘wow, cool, he/she is awesome. I love him/her’

You are BEAUTIFUL and I love and miss you very much!
KB