Firsts

Wow the last 3 weekends has been pretty crazy! I have gotten to do a lot of firsts in the last few weeks. A couple weeks ago, it was Emily Woo’s 30th birthday and we drove down to Bettys Bay and Hermanus for the weekend. The ocean scenes were absolutely stunning! During that weekend, my firsts included staying at my first hostel, saw the Milky Way stars, saw a red grasshopper, first official hike in Cape Town, tasted my first braai (BBQ,) watched people make Poijke (kinda like a stew cooked on the grill,) and swam in both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. My favorite parts of the trip included Grotto Beach and clam digging with Emily and the locals. I also had my had my first stick shift driving lesson! I found that shifting gears wasn't too difficult, but the slopes are what got me. I either kept stalling or rolling back, YIKES! I asked the teacher if I could just put a sticker in the back that says Car will roll bc American is driving and then we would be good. She laughed. Last weekend I went to the World Soccer Cup Stadium and got to watch a game which was another first here. The stadium is beautiful and I can't imagine what it would have been like during the World Cup! Last week was also when I got sick for the first time here in Cape Town and got to discover the amazing delight that I had bed bugs in my flat…REALLY?! So this week was by far the longest week of my life so far in Cape Town. I called in sick from work on Monday yet couldn’t rest as I was getting bitten and was extremely uncomfortable. Wednesday, the exterminators came late which also meant I now had to work late and I missed part of my meeting at work. When I got home at 10:30pm, the flat still smelled of pesticides so I had to go out for dinner to try to let it air out. I was so sick, tired, and looked absolutely awful but probably looked good for the bar scene, haha. Thursday night I spent 3 ½ hours bleaching my whole apartment as the exterminators left footprints all over the place and the thought of all the dead bugs on the floor was disgusting. I scrubbed everything including all the baseboards. Hope this was the first and last time I ever have to deal with bedbugs. I am believing that they are gone forever in Jesus name! This weekend, I got to buy my first car in Cape Town and my first stick/manual drive. I bought a 2007 Opel Corsa and will be able to pick it up by the end of the week. I will post pictures once I get it and have a name for it. It is no Jasmine, but I believe this boy will be fantastic for my time here!