View from our stoep

Stoep = Afrikaans word for front porch

A Friday morning view of the amazing clouds coming over Devil's Peak and part of Table Mountain. This is from our front steps - well, actually, Jim took it from the floor above us (we're on the ground floor) - you can see the red roofs of UCT at the base of the mountain. The area where we live is on the eastern or back-side of Table Mountain, so the 'classic' view (like on the header of our blog) is as seen from the west. Isn't this beautiful?!

Slacker's Camp with the Student Y

Two weekends ago was the Student Y’s annual end-of-school-year “Slacker’s Camp”, and we were able to join them for part of the weekend. The group rented a few cabins on the coast, near a town that is about a 45 minute drive south of our place, on the southeast side of the Cape peninsula. UCT is finished with classes and exams, but there are still two more weeks until graduation, so the Y had this four-day camp for students to relax together and celebrate the close of another year. [Reminder: the Student Y is the Christian campus ministry at UCT that Fritz is the director of, and that we have joined for a few activities this semester.]

Cape Town is situated on the southwestern edge of the country (and continent!), and it is also on a peninsula that has the Atlantic Ocean on the western coast and the Indian Ocean on the eastern coast. Thus there are miles of coastline to enjoy and explore, a mixture of sandy beaches and rocky coastline, and there are many small towns along the edges.



Two photos (above) of the small beach next to the cabins where we stayed. These three students put in some impressive work to create a sand sculpture! (sorry the photos seem to be a bi dark)

Yes, there really are PENGUINS here! There is a colony (right word?) of jackass penguins, protected by a national park located in the town of Boulder's. During an early Sunday morning walk, we watched six of them climbing around on the rocks and swimming around. There are quite small, only about 2-3 feet tall.

Since it's Slacker's Camp, much of the weekend was spent either on the beach, or sitting on the lawn near the cabins, telling stories, sleeping, kicking around the soccer ball, etc. In the photo above, Gerald (an international student at UCT, from Zimbabwe) was describing to us how to prepare a couple of traditional Zim dishes.

QUIZ: What's a geezer?

Question: Is this a geezer? …

Or is this a geezer?

Answer: Both! The first one is a Gieser (pronounced ‘geezer’), and the second is also a geyser (pronounce ‘geezer’ here in South Africa). And yes, our geyser is attached to the ceiling in our bathroom, above the bathtub. Just in case we need the reassurance of its mass.

When meeting people for the first time, we used to say, “Yes, it really is Gieser/geezer, like the old man.” Now we say, “It’s Gieser, like the hot water heater.” And people smile. Still. And no one mispronounces it ‘gyz-er’ or ‘guys-er’ anymore, like Americans often do.

(Note on the irony: The very word that we use here to help people learn the pronunciation of ‘Gieser’ would be the exact wrong word to use in the US. South Africans pronounce ‘geyser’ as ‘geezer’, while Americans pronounce ‘geyser’ as ‘gyz-er’. Oh the dread of the ‘gyz-er.’ Either way we’re still the geezers.)

Kite Boarding

Kite surfing/boarding is a very popular water sport here, and in driving along the coast and through some towns along the peninsula we frequently see guys out catching the wind. Because of the strong winds here, they really pick up speed and get huge air when they jump waves and do tricks. It’s fun to watch! Seems like these surfers stay in shallower water than regular surfers. Jim has decided that this sport is his new aspiration, but a Capetonian friend said to him, “Well, it’s really difficult. Requires leg, back, arm, and abdominal strength, and proper coordination of the kite, the wind, the waves, and the board. You need to learn to surf first.” So that’s the starting point. We’ll keep you posted on that one…

We watched the man in this photo, as well as three of his buddies on their own boards, one recent Sunday afternoon. It was sunny but very windy and chilly, thanks to the southeaster wind current. You can see part of Table Mountain behind him (rising to 3500 feet), as well as downtown Cape Town, Lion’s Head and Signal Mountain. The city is actually in a bay (Table Bay), and its harbor is one of the busiest in Africa. (We also sat and watched huge container ships coming in and out of the bay.) Our apartment is off to the left side of the photo, a 10 minute drive from this beach. Wow, a nice transition from the Midwestern prairie, and we hope to enjoy the coast more now that the weather is getting warmer!

Neighbor's Driveway

Yes, it's spring here. Isn't this gorgeous?! (I'm talking about the flowering bush, not the handsome husband.)

Update on Jul's Job

[First of all, apologies that we haven't been able to do much updating recently. We can only access blogspot at a couple of locations (coffeeshops with free wireless), as neither of us can access blogspot from work.]

...Two months ago I was hired to fill a temporary teaching position at a nearby public high school, Pinelands High School. (Yikes!) We are now nearing the end of the school year and fast approaching the summer holidays, so actually I’m only on staff for 9 weeks of teaching and 3-4 weeks of exams (during which time I help do marking/grading, proctoring of exams, and organizing for next year). It’s been three years since being in the classroom, so I have felt rusty at times, and it’s been hard to jump into a spot that has seen four other teachers come through in this year alone. Tough on those students, too.

At the same time, I feel privileged to be an ‘insider’ at the school – getting to know their systems and school culture, learning about education in South Africa, and meeting a wide variety of students and staff. The learning curve has been steep (trying to keep up with the rules about the uniform code, for example, and learning the school’s language and procedures) and learning the names and faces of my 300 students in grades 8-11 has not been easy. But I do enjoy becoming part of a new place, trying to understand different accents, and even – dare I say – being faced with the challenges of my own weaknesses as a teacher and coming to realize how much room for growth I have. Last week Jim and I went to the school’s annual one act play festival, and I had a sense of pride in seeing those students that I teach up on stage in their scenes (as if I had anything to do with it). Guess that means I’m feeling like a part of the community!

The school year ends on Nov 30, so I have only a few more lessons to teach, and then three weeks of helping to proctor (or “invigilate” as they say here) exams, and summer break will be here! The students are all excited for the holidays but anxious about exams, so actually everyone is working pretty hard right now to end well.

So this year, in the southern hemisphere, we’re approaching Christmas and summer break at the same time. Looking forward to both!