As I sit here infront of my machine, the wind boldly blows outside and the sun shines, there are blue skies and Table Mountain sits happily in the background. Cape Towns beautiful! I consider myself fortunate to be here and think of those in Queensland, in particular Brisbane right now surviving the floods...an experience that they will surely come through with new insight and appreciation for the simple things in life. Mother nature is striking out at certain places and no amount of technology will alter her course...floods, bush fires, drought, tsunamis, earth quakes etc...they're there some where in the world and the everyday existence of those present is altered!
Cape Town has been a pretty wild experience so far, I arrived last Sunday after a long flight and a few hours in Transit in Windhoek, and went straight to my cousins wedding, where all of my family were gathered....it was wonderful to see them all and also a bit overwhelming. I then hopped in a car with my brothers and headed to a hens night for my brothers - now wife - then fiance - and we set off to a botanical garden where thousands were gathered to see a South African rock group. There was lots of champagne drunk and lots of fun and laughter...then when the gig was done, we decided to go to a bar for one drink and then head out for dinner with more family.....one drink turned into ten and at 3 in the morning after pole dancing and lots of hugging and "I love you's!" we stumbled our way home and fell into a drunken slumber...which lead to a drunken recovery next day....and a painful one at that!
(Tuesday) That day was a wasted day! And the next day spent shopping for a bridesmaids dress and some shoes to go with it...I found a lovely simple one after wandering the shops for hours. On Wednesday was my birthday, spent first of all lining in a queue for four hours in order to put in an application for my South African passport...it was a colourful experience, there were the many faces of South Africa in the Home office, some, like me, applying for their passports, others registering marriages and other registering births. There were Black Africans, White Africans (of both British and Afrikaans heritage), there were Coloured Africans, Zimbabweans, Nigerians etc....and I saw an image of the New South Africa, the rainbow nation that is hard to see in such close confines on a daily basis. Together we suffered the banality of bureaucracy and rejoiced when our mission was accomplished! I then got some other administration done like getting a south african number and finding a dentist. I had a delicious barbecue with my immediate family and then away into slumber I ventured again!
Thursday saw the family reuniting once again for a wedding rehearsal and then a nice sushi lunch, laughs and good vibrations...Friday I spent 3 hours in a line applying for my Learners licence and had a wee scare because I fainted in the line....they called the ambulance and I discovered that I have a very low blood pressure and that heat and lack of salt may result in my fainting in public....oops! I got my application in which was wonderful and then went shopping with my little brother to get him some clothes that fit him because he is growing like a sunflower in the perfect conditions, he was easy to shop for as he knew exactly what he liked and did not like which made the experience a glorious one.
Then Saturday came and that was the wedding day...and it was Perfect! Simple and smooth, fun and touching, funky and traditional! There were so many beautiful and amazing people that have been a part of My Brother and his Wife, Taryn's lives gathered to celebrate their joining. The speeches were short, quick and humourous and the grooving was funky too....when they departed, we partied on till about 5 in the morning and once again I found myself waking up feeling awful due to too much booze yet blissful for all the fun and laughter that was experienced. Sunday however was not a wasted day, we had a barbecue and more family time as my dad was due to leave the next day to head back to Mozambique...and the last few days i've spent just trying to get my head around the whirlwind of activity that has passed...yesterday I spent the day in bed, so happy to just lie down and have absolutely nothing that I had to do.
Next Are the explorations of how to get to and from uni in one piece :)
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