Week 1 Part 1
Week 1 Part 2
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6 Part 1
Week 6 Part 2
Week 6 Part 3
Week 7 Part 1
Week 7 Part 2
Week 8
Week 9 Part 1
Week 9 Part 2
Week 10 Part 1
Week 10 Part 2
Arrival
2008/09/22
2008/09/22
It was 5 o'clock in the morning, when my plane landed at Cape Town Airport. I'd been in Italy the week before and went via Rome and Frankfurt to South Africas tourist capital. Due to the early check in at 5 am, I hadn't gone to bed at all on Saturday afternoon and tried to sleep in the plane. On the way to Frankfurt, however, my suitcase went lost and then I was travelling only with less than the half of my luggage. My plane arrived quite early and the passport control didn't take long, that's why I came first time in
contract with the South African ‘punctuality’. "Don't take a taxi or a bus, if your guide is late" the introduction letter was telling. Actually, my contact person was late and I was waiting about twenty minutes to get picked up. I was a little bit unsure while I was waiting at the airport. But a quick phone call helped.
Hermanus
2008/09/24
2008/09/24
My first week was a short one. Having attended the school only for two days, I had my first holiday called 'Heritage Day'. This is a public holiday to remember the affords and losses of former decades to get ride of the Apartheid system and to change South Africa into a democratic country. However, I didn't recognize much of the holiday despite some headlines in the news. I spent the day with the rest of students of my school travelling to Hermonus, the most famous area for watching whales. There are loads of possibilities of entering a boat to go whale watching. But in Hermanus you didn't need a boat at all.
We were picked up early in the morning at 7 am and travelled to Hermanus in a kind of minibus. Unfortunately it was a rainy day, that's why we spent most of the time in coffee shops and restaurants. Having breakfast while watching whales was a nice possibility in
Finally, I managed to meet him and was taken to my host family - consisting of Ingrid, the one and only member of her family still living in Cape Town - and Daniela, another student of another language school coming from Switzerland. I was welcomed at the early sunrise by Ingrid and got an fantastic view up to Lion's Head, which you can see at the picture beside. Having taken a shower and a short nap, I got breakfast, consisting of rise cookies and peanut butter. Unfortunately my host mother hadn't been given the right information about the difference between gluten free and wheat free bread. That's why she bought a 100 per cent wheat free rye bread.
At 9 o'clock the school started. Expecting a classroom full of students I was totally surprised when I saw that I was the one and only person in class. What's more, there were only three students studying at school. Two others went on a fortnight holiday. Being the only student in class meant having private lessons, which was quite tiring, but also very helpful. At least there was the certainty that there would be more students in future.
Having lost my luggage was not a big problem because I'd sent some clothes to Frankfurt before, that's why I had some clothes with me. The bigger problem was, that I needed gluten free bread, I didn't know where to buy it and I'd lost my rescue portions I'd taken with. My information about selling shops of gluten free bread were quite rare and the announced shops didn't sell without a special order some days in advance. Luckily it was quite easy to buy well-tasting ham and cheese in South Africa.
At Tuesday - after two days without luggage - I got a call that my luggage had finally arrived at Cape Town Airport, which was why I went to the airport and got my suitcase undamaged back. On the way back I asked my taxi driver where I could find a health food shop and recognized that his mother was working at one. That was my key to my first gluten free bread. (see also info about gluten free bread in South Africa).
the morning. Later on we tried to get a cup of coffee in another coffee shop but after half an hour of waiting, we cancelled the order to reach our bus back in time.
However, I already saw my first whale on the way to Hermonus which was when we were driving along the coast route. During the day the weather became better and we spotted many more whales in Hermonus. Although it was quite hard to catch them with the camera. A fair with music bands, carousels, snake bars and a huge souvenir market was being held while we were there, so that we could enjoy some music and buy extracts of typical African art.
On our way back, we took the mountain route instead of the coast road and we stopped at a viewing point having a nice view with the late sunshine over Cape Town. On the mountain it was chilly, so we decided not staying to long.
Actually the week is not at its end but my website requires a new site. So lets continue there.