Good Bye, Rachel!

Last Thursday we said good-bye to Rachel, and she heads back to Fort Portal, Uganda, to continue her ministry and teaching there. It was a privilege to be together over the Christmas holiday.

Few highlights: exploring some nearby beaches together and jumping into the very cold waves; sharing daily life (going to Wash ‘n Web to do laundry and internet; frequent trips to Pick ‘n Pay for grocery needs); jogging around the neighborhood and Rondebosch Common; eating foods Rachel can’t get in Uganda (like cheese and pizza and wine and fresh farm peaches); hiking up Table Mountain on a blazing hot day; and being weird and laughing – a lot – together.

A few favorite shots...

Before Rachel left we made sure to get MacDonald’s. Yes, the fries taste the same but the ice cream is even better.

Cape of Good Hope

On one of Craig and Rachel’s last days, we drove down to the tip of the Cape Peninsula (about an hour away), to stand on the most south-western point of the continent. The Cape of Good Hope is where the cold Benguela current (Atlantic ocean) and the warm Agulhas current (Indian ocean) meet. Portuguese explorers were the first to come here by ship: Bartholomew Dias arrived in 1488 and named it “Cape of Storms”, and Vasco de Gama rounded it in 1497. (Wow, that's a long time ago.) Along the rocky coastline of the cape there have been 23 known shipwrecks, and remains of several can still be seen. It was later – in the excitement of trade and exploration, perhaps – renamed by the King of Portugal to “Cape of Good Hope”.

The Cape Point Nature Reserve covers a huge area, and one can spend days hiking along the trails and up the many peaks near the cape. It is also a very popular tourist destination! But you do have to watch out for the baboons – they are protected on the nature reserve but can get pretty aggressive demanding food from tourists. One sign said, “Do NOT roll down your windows.” We were amazed to see so many people there, but it was beautiful and impressive nonetheless!





Here you can see the sign that shows we are twice as far from New York (12,000+ km) as we are from the South Pole (6,000+ km)!

Christmas Day, 2007

Our lovely breakfast: cinnamon rolls made with potato dough, curtesy of More-With-Less cookbook, both of which are a Hawkins’ favorites. Of course Craig and Jim loved the rolls, too!!

Our lovely little Christmas tree/plant with gifts from Santa aplenty.

On Christmas afternoon we spent some time tossing the Frisbee in our neighborhood park. Julianna and Rachel were a bit goofy...

A hike, a swim, and dinner with the Gauthiers, 22 Dec 2007

We spent Saturday with Randy and Heather Gauthier in Noordhoek, hiking up Chapman’s Peak and enjoying the beach that is just down the street from their flat. Believe it or not, but the Noordhoek Beach is 6 km/4 mi long!

Welcome to Cape Town, Craig!

On 16 Dec we gained a second houseguest: Craig Frey. Craig is a friend of Rachel’s working as a missionary in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. They met and became friends through a missionary training conference in December 2006. We’re glad to have him here over the Christmas holiday! Julianna served a traditional South African breakfast for Rachel and Craig: bangers (or sausage; we enjoyed ours made from ostrich meat) and mash (-ed potatoes), plus caramelized onions, fried eggs, fried peppers, and fried tomatoes. Of course we also included toast!


The next night Craig made Stromboli for us (a Frey specialty). It was amazing!


A few days later we enjoyed dinner and the view from atop Signal Hill, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Three days in Tulbagh, entry #2: Activities on the farm and in the area

We visited several vineyards in the valley, toured a sparkling wine (“champagne”) cellar, and splurged on ‘gourmet’ chocolate and coffee at a chocolatier’s factory located on a traditional Cape Dutch farm, the buildings of which are dated from 1795. Every building lining Church Street in Tulbagh proper is a historical monument, most of them dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Three days in Tulbagh, 17 – 19 Dec

One goal of ours during Rachel’s visit was to rent a cottage somewhere in the mountains around Cape Town. We decided on Isle of Sky, a farm which produces plums, pears, and grapes and is nestled in the corner of a gorgeous valley about 2 hours from the city. We relaxed, read our books, wandered around the farm, and did a few wine-tastings at several vineyards in the valley. There are only two ways to reach Tulbagh, both of which require traversing narrow mountain passes. Along the way we had to stop for a passing troupe of baboons…



Tulbagh is nestled in a valley between the Witzenberg and Winterhoek mountain ranges.

A small Wheaton Academy reunion, 3 Dec

One evening in early December we enjoyed a mini-reunion of Wheaton Academy graduates: Jim ’97, Lindsey Henley ‘96, and Doug Scott ’95. Lindsey has been working at a home for young men here in Cape Town for several years. She is a dynamic, warm person who is one of the central leaders at this ministry. During those first insecure years of high school Doug was an important model for me; he often sought to help me feel comfortable and included. Now as a videographer for Willow Creek Church in Barrington, IL, Doug was concluding a shoot in Malawi and decided to stop in Cape Town for a few days. I had seen neither of them since high school (10 years ago!). It was a great to spend an evening with such wonderful people.

As the guest of honor, Doug requested gatsbys for dinner. What is a gatsby, you ask? Well, it’s something many of us might never consider creating but which slides down rather easily, settling itself firmly in the bottom two-thirds of one’s belly. It consists of a large sub-sandwich type roll filled with a heavy layer of soggy French fries, thick slices of polony (bologna) or split russians (a type of hot dog), and topped with lettuce and tomato. Yum-yum. I think I can handle maybe one of these every six months…