When we last left off, we had acquired some good vibes from people, some jewelry, and some general love.
Next, Jill and I headed to Jeffrey's Bay where we took surfing lessons with a fortyish year old man with sun bleached hair, a wonderfully permanent weathered tan, and a name to match his persona: Andrew Moon. YES.
He looooooved teaching us to surf, which meant that we loved taking lessons from him. We didn't really stand up on the boards (well, Jill got up once with a triumphant YES! before going down:)
Later that night, while wondering around the hostel, sand covered and sunburned, a walk out of my room, eyes blurry, wandering to the shower when there, in front of me is....
MERLIN. (See Windhoek post) My thatched roof idealistic French nemesis. Dun-DUn-DUN.
"Small world, eh?" he said. We hugged as I planned his demise, and by demise I mean nothing at all. But it was pretty random.
After Jeff's Bay/surfing, Jill and I had 2 travel days involving a trailer park in Bloemfontein, a bug flying INTO my eye and staying there for five minutes, and then we headed to Lesotho which involves combi adventures, peacocks fighting on a tin roof above our lodge, and our local pony guide trash talking Bush as we climbed a mountain in the middle of the Malealea hills.
Stay tuned. :) Howev, we are currently in Jo'burg with Gino and Sandy. And we just made pizza. Holla.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
full of human goodness like a belly full of cake
I wasn't really sure how you could have success on a wine tour until a Chilean girl gave me her necklace, and a couple in Jo'burg offered to let Jill and I stay at their house there for a couple o'days , drive us around, and show us the sights.
In short, New Year's Eve day was lov-e-ly. The wine tour started off good. We toured four wineries, stopping at each one to sample 5-6 wines, and pretend we knew what we were doing. Along the way, Jill and I made friend with Gino and Sandy, and Italian-Afrikaans couple living in Jo-burg.
''Oh! We're going to Jo'burg!'' I told Gino. "But we're nervous because we hear it's kind of unsafe and we don't really know our way around...'' I trailed off, a little hoping for an invite, but also genuinely nervous about Jo'burg, as it doesn't have the best reputation.
Gino invited Jill and I to, what sounds, like a little bit of a fancy-pants house, and Sandy told us she hopes we like dogs because they have a bunch.
I guess the point of writing this is in the last month I have stayed with one family that barely knew me and was treated like their daughter, and have now been invited by another very kind family to do the same. The open generosity and kindness I have experienced in South Africa this past month has been overwhelming, and really made me feel the need to pass it on, and to do something for someone else like these families are doing for me and claire, and now me and Jill.
Also on the tour I complicated a Chilean woman, Claudia, on her necklace.
"Really? You like it?"she asked, surprised. ''I made it myself with some beads and wood from home.''
"I love it!''I informed her. And I did. It had a really neat bead and wood pattern, then Ved in the middle into a loop with one wooden bead in the center.
''It's yours,'' Claudia said, starting to undo the clasp.
''No!'' I started.
''Yes!'' she answered, standing up and putting it around my neck.
So currently, my feelings on the goodness of humans has gone way way up, and I feel like a happy little fat kid that people keep giving cake to. They're not sure I need the cake, but it's so good they gotta hand it over. Heh. I'm just continually shocked by how open and generous people have been here. Just think about how weird it would be to invite someone you've known for twenty minutes to stay at your house, but this has happened twice now. Crazy-daisy-blah.
Pay it forward, what what.
Later on, Jill and I became friends with Claudia who spent New Years with us. She and her boyfriend are currently working as farmers in Australia, which I thought was cool.
Now at Jeffrey's Bay with Jill, and we took surfing lessons today which was hilarious.
All I have to say is, I'm warm and fuzzy from all this love, and I'm going to send some your all's way, I promise.
That is if I have extra cake.
In short, New Year's Eve day was lov-e-ly. The wine tour started off good. We toured four wineries, stopping at each one to sample 5-6 wines, and pretend we knew what we were doing. Along the way, Jill and I made friend with Gino and Sandy, and Italian-Afrikaans couple living in Jo-burg.
''Oh! We're going to Jo'burg!'' I told Gino. "But we're nervous because we hear it's kind of unsafe and we don't really know our way around...'' I trailed off, a little hoping for an invite, but also genuinely nervous about Jo'burg, as it doesn't have the best reputation.
Gino invited Jill and I to, what sounds, like a little bit of a fancy-pants house, and Sandy told us she hopes we like dogs because they have a bunch.
I guess the point of writing this is in the last month I have stayed with one family that barely knew me and was treated like their daughter, and have now been invited by another very kind family to do the same. The open generosity and kindness I have experienced in South Africa this past month has been overwhelming, and really made me feel the need to pass it on, and to do something for someone else like these families are doing for me and claire, and now me and Jill.
Also on the tour I complicated a Chilean woman, Claudia, on her necklace.
"Really? You like it?"she asked, surprised. ''I made it myself with some beads and wood from home.''
"I love it!''I informed her. And I did. It had a really neat bead and wood pattern, then Ved in the middle into a loop with one wooden bead in the center.
''It's yours,'' Claudia said, starting to undo the clasp.
''No!'' I started.
''Yes!'' she answered, standing up and putting it around my neck.
So currently, my feelings on the goodness of humans has gone way way up, and I feel like a happy little fat kid that people keep giving cake to. They're not sure I need the cake, but it's so good they gotta hand it over. Heh. I'm just continually shocked by how open and generous people have been here. Just think about how weird it would be to invite someone you've known for twenty minutes to stay at your house, but this has happened twice now. Crazy-daisy-blah.
Pay it forward, what what.
Later on, Jill and I became friends with Claudia who spent New Years with us. She and her boyfriend are currently working as farmers in Australia, which I thought was cool.
Now at Jeffrey's Bay with Jill, and we took surfing lessons today which was hilarious.
All I have to say is, I'm warm and fuzzy from all this love, and I'm going to send some your all's way, I promise.
That is if I have extra cake.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Stellenbosch!
Currently in Stellenbosch for two days with Jill. Quaint little wine town with dutch architecture stumbling around, and quiet cobblestone streets interrupted by some new bars that I wish were old bars to fit in with the decor.
Much quieter than Cape Town, and I like walking around so freely here.
Ran into a bunch of Zambian PCVs last night who were really nice, and a couple from Belgium. It's fun to be touring one culture already, and then meet some others along the way.
Ok, going to go get ready for wine touring! Cheers.
The Hills are alive....
Jill comes to CapeTown! This is a picture of my friend, Jill, at The Botanical Gardens in Kirstenbosch. The small mountain on the right is called Lion's Head, and is a popular parachuting/paragliding place.
Onrus +CapeTown
Three months ago, I was sitting at Bethanie Coffee Shop when I met Philip and Kato, a fiesty, middle aged couple from Hermanus, South Africa. After talking to them for about 2 hours, trading beers way too early on a Saturday morning (heh), and general smal talk, they asked what I was doing after Peace Corps.
"Well, I finish the 10th, but then I have two weeks before my friend Jill comes, "I said.
"Well, that's not going to work, " Kato remarked, eyebrows raised. "Come stay with us in Hermanus!"
As a Peace Corps volunteer, I'm quite interested in free rides, free food, and more than anything, free place to stay with truly awesome people, one of them (Philip)being a cellar master and winemaker of a local winery, Tuitskloof. So my answer was what any self respecting PCV would've said.
"Are you serious? Because I'll come."
Philip's response was, "Great, bring a friend!"
So I did. Heh. And that's how Claire and I ended up being picked up 3 months later at the Paarl bus station where we were driven into wine country, and treated to about a week's worth of sheer fanciness.
We stayed on the winery for a couple of days and were fussed over in the best possible ways, before we went to Onrus where our friends had a summer home. Wha? Claire and I kept staring at each other, like really? Is this really going on? However, both of us tried to be cool, and pretend that we, too, were fancy. I even showered on a daily basis. Big step for a dirty hippie.
Onrus is right on the beach, and Philip's friend George frequently goes diving for crayfish in the morning. Below are the photos of the crayfish his friend caught. After these photos were taken, those little guys had to walk the plank though into the bubbly boiling water of doom. Alas, alas.
George was also a winemaker, and kept giving us white wine samples of everything.
Sampling=good. Too many samples=out of control. I think white wine is just kind of delicious and tastes too sweet to actually make you drunk until bum bum bum it is TOO LATE.
After our seafood midday drunk party day, Kato and Philip took us to stay at Philip's mother's old apartment which is in a retirement village in Gordon's Bay, which was hilarious, mainly because I felt like young people invasion of the retirement home. So it was nice to have our own flat for a week, but mainly hilarious to have infiltrated the retirement community.
We stayed there a week, just did CapeTown for four days, picked up my America-pal, Jill, and am now in Stellenbosch getting ready for wine tour time. Holla! All for now, hope all's well.
"Well, I finish the 10th, but then I have two weeks before my friend Jill comes, "I said.
"Well, that's not going to work, " Kato remarked, eyebrows raised. "Come stay with us in Hermanus!"
As a Peace Corps volunteer, I'm quite interested in free rides, free food, and more than anything, free place to stay with truly awesome people, one of them (Philip)being a cellar master and winemaker of a local winery, Tuitskloof. So my answer was what any self respecting PCV would've said.
"Are you serious? Because I'll come."
Philip's response was, "Great, bring a friend!"
So I did. Heh. And that's how Claire and I ended up being picked up 3 months later at the Paarl bus station where we were driven into wine country, and treated to about a week's worth of sheer fanciness.
We stayed on the winery for a couple of days and were fussed over in the best possible ways, before we went to Onrus where our friends had a summer home. Wha? Claire and I kept staring at each other, like really? Is this really going on? However, both of us tried to be cool, and pretend that we, too, were fancy. I even showered on a daily basis. Big step for a dirty hippie.
Onrus is right on the beach, and Philip's friend George frequently goes diving for crayfish in the morning. Below are the photos of the crayfish his friend caught. After these photos were taken, those little guys had to walk the plank though into the bubbly boiling water of doom. Alas, alas.
George was also a winemaker, and kept giving us white wine samples of everything.
Sampling=good. Too many samples=out of control. I think white wine is just kind of delicious and tastes too sweet to actually make you drunk until bum bum bum it is TOO LATE.
After our seafood midday drunk party day, Kato and Philip took us to stay at Philip's mother's old apartment which is in a retirement village in Gordon's Bay, which was hilarious, mainly because I felt like young people invasion of the retirement home. So it was nice to have our own flat for a week, but mainly hilarious to have infiltrated the retirement community.
We stayed there a week, just did CapeTown for four days, picked up my America-pal, Jill, and am now in Stellenbosch getting ready for wine tour time. Holla! All for now, hope all's well.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
wineland!
Fast update.
Claire and I have made it to Paarl, where we are staying with my friends Kato and Philip who are AWESOME. Jogged through the vineyard this morning which is draped by mountains on every side. Lovely lovely. Heading to Hermanus Bay today with Kato and Philip who are lovely and so welcoming. More on all this later. Must go pack 40 bottles of wine onto the back of a truck . :)
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