Tuesday, March 2nd 2010, was my second day in Cape Town. I had had a crazy night, because I could not sleep, it was so so hot in the evenings. But anyway, I got up since I had to meet Henrik in town. At this point, as it only was my second day, I did not have a SA cellphone yet, so I was using my Danish number to stay in touch with Henrik. Talk about expensive? Yes so I needed a South African number ASAP! In order to get an SA cellphone number, I would need a letter of residence from the lodge, since I was staying there. To register for a cellphone number is in the South African law, and the act is called the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act, or RICA. To register one needs a physical adress and a picture ID ( ie. passport). The SA government enabled this to be able to track down phone numbers and thus use it as a means to combat illegal activities. So RICA has to take place no matter if it is prepaid or contract simcards. Before I left this morning, I asked Bongani to make me a letter stating I lived at Deco Lodge.
Sophie, the Deco Lodge intern, and Lucy, the Deco Lodge worker, were both going to Cape Town center, so I wanted to wait for them to go, since I did not know how to get there. Henrik would be in the center by 8am. I arrived around 11am. It was all very new but interesting. Arriving at the bus station, Lucy explained to me how I should get back, which direction my taxi had to be towards. She told me, either Mowbray, Bellville or Wynberg. I tried to remember the names. So Henrik was waiting by the train station, and Lucy and Sophie went were they had to go. Henrik wanted to show me around Cape Town. First we went to Long Street, a really long street ( like 4km) with many nice shops, but clothes, old book stores, cosy street cafes, etc. from there on we went ot the garden, which Henrik said was very nice. It was just a few seconds from the street ( ie. cars and noise) but it was so peaceful in there. He said next time I come I should bring a bag of peanuts, and feed the squirrels. Haha. As we walked through the park, I noticed a crew taking pictures of a model, who was standing under a tree. Henrik said because of the beautiful scenery, models often would come to Cape Town. Interesting.
We then went to the restuarant where it was my turn to pay for the lunch. We both a burger and fries. Depending on the place, sometimes you would have to pay gratuity. This was one of those places where you paid gratuity. It was a nice place under plam trees, which gave us shade. Since my sense of the currency not was so strong yet, and I just paid with my visa, the lady asked me how much gratuity I wanted to add, where I said 2 rand, which is a ridicously low amount, like 1,4 DDK. I did not know better, haha. She looked at me weird, because typically that would mean I was very unsatisfied with the waiter, which I wasn't. Oops!
Going back towards the train station, after a few stops to get some clothes, as I did not bring much here, Henrik showed me how to get back, and asked if I would be okay with taking the taxi back alone. I must admit I did feel a little insecure, but thought to myself, there is only one way to learn it. So I walked past this bridge on my own, and tried to remember Lucy's word of the direction I should take, and were I should get off, which was either KFC or Shoprite. I found a taxi and managed to find my way back on my own, and felt proud :) The rest of the week just went with getting adjusted, and getting to know the people.
Wednesday I went to Greenmarket with Sophie, and did some serious bargaining, using some swahili skills, as some Kenyans ran some of the stands. I got some nice bracelets. :)
Thursday I left with Lucy and Sophie to figure how I would get to my workplace. Monday, Henrik and Inga told me to take the train here. So we tried that, and got terribly lost. I of course paid for all the train tickets, and Lucy said I should by tickets for the first class, as that would be safest. The train we a weird experience. We did not have time to go to the first class, as the trains stops for short time, but Lucy just told me to look for the blue seats. Going on 3rd class was okay, but I did not feel so safe. Mostly men were on the cart, and I was imagining me taking this trip alone. We got soo lost, but after getting directions a few times, we finally found the place, and just took a taxi back, which in my view was so much better. So I was ready to come to work on my first day, Monday March 8 2010. We all cooked dinner this evening.
Friday, Susan and I checked out some shops here in Woodstock where I live, like I said, I did not bring that much. I just got some basic stuff.
Saturday, Lucy, Susan, Sophie, and myself, went to the beach. It would be the first tome for Sophie and I, so Lucy showed us how to get to the beach. She said her favorite beach to go was Clifton's 4th. The most popular beach in the area is Camp's Bay, but that is also where most of the people are. There are 4 beaches by Clifton, ie. Clifton's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. It was very hot this whole first week, like 35 degrees. Loved it :) The beach was a lot of fun, and we saw these two guys who most likely were football players, as they had ridicously fit bodies... and they were playing with a football. Suzan, as crazy as she is, takes their ball, and start playing with it. One of the guys had green shorts, and Sophie and I named him
green shorts now, as that is how we recognize him when going to the beach. We have been by the beach on the same day ever since, and he is still playing with his football. And one of the last times we think one of his friends offered us a ride, but we were not sure, since they were far away.. we thought, next time! Haha. It was nice being all girly by the beach this day. I did not get in the water, but the other three tried, haha. Or Susan was trying to pull Lucy into the water. We also go a few invites to parties from guys passing out fliers on the beach. Oh on the way there, in the taxi, we met some American students, whom we talked to a little, they asked where we were from etc., and we bumped into them later on the beach as well. We were talking about were to party, haha :)
Sunday I just stayed at the Lodge and relaxed - as the pictures reveal :) It had been a busy week, in a good way! I felt like I had already been in Cape Town longer than a week, and had to remind myself, that I had not, and I still feel that way, even though I am getting close to a month now... =)
That is it for my first week in Cape Town, which, as you can tell, was pretty eventful! I will post you on my second week here soon, and keep you updated of course! Since I am at work again, I do not have the pictures here, but I will post them soon!
Thanks for reading my posts, and have a great weekend!
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