All work and no play makes Thomas a dull Missionary

So, the post everyone is interested in. The “adventures” I have been on so far. I may have only been in South Africa for a little over three weeks, but I have still been able to have some good times.

The first one I should mention occurred the first weekend I was in Cape Town. One of the other workers at HOPE, Jenny Dick, invited both Lacey (the other YASC intern) and I to a braai (known as a barbeque in the states) on Sunday, October 4^th. It was wonderful to attend, as we got to meet her husband, her brother, her sons and her daughter as well as her grandchildren and some family friends. They were all very wonderful to us and we had a great time getting to know them and enjoying some delicious food. I’ve never really been one to enjoy the spot light, so it was nice to be able to share it with Lacey. We were always asked to take the first share of each dish, which is something I hate doing, because I never know how much to take. The braai also turned into an early birthday celebration for Jenny and I, since we both share a birthday on the 8^th of October (she discovered this on my first day in Cape Town and we immediately became “Twins”). Overall it turned into a wonderful Sunday afternoon spent enjoying the company of a very loving and caring family that accepted us into their home and made us feel welcome.

The next event worthy of note would have to be my actual birthday. Besides the birthday celebration we had in the office (luckily the responsibility for lunch and cake was shared between Jenny and I) I was able to visit Table Mountain. Table Mountain is the ever present watchman of Cape Town. It literally overlooks the city, and is the most prominent landscape feature in the immediate vicinity, with the city sprawling around and out from its base. It stands roughly 1,086 meters (3,563 ft) high at its highest, and the mostly flat plateau from which it derives its name stretches approximately 3 kilometers (2mi) from edge to edge. It turns out that South African citizens get a free ticket up the Table Mountain Cable Car for their birthday, which can be used at any time during their birthday or the 7 days that follow, and Jenny regularly goes up to the top every year. Luckily for me she knows someone who was able to get me a ticket as well. We left the office shortly after lunch and traveled to the cable car station and took the ride up to the top. Talk about beautiful views. I ran my phone battery dead trying to capture the amazing views of Cape Town, the sea, and the surrounding area. Trust me people, the pictures do not do it justice, not in the slightest. We spent a few hours walking around, taking in the sites, hiking and jumping over rocks, and generally just en


joying the beautiful views and weather. At one point we witnessed a double rainbow in one of the ravines. I highly recommend to anyone who visits Cape Town, or South Africa in general, that Table Mountain be on your list of things to do. You can take the cable car ride to the top or hike up one of its many paths, which I look forward to attempting one day.

After my first week in Cape Town, I changed residences from the Schoenstatt retreat center to Ann House, which is a student accommodation house offered by the Anglican chaplaincy and run by St. Paul’s in Rondebosch. This is where Lacey is living for her year with HOPE. The combination of now having a person I knew that was also from the States, as well as having access to more things to do, meant an increase of possibilities. Ann House is located right next to the middle campus of UCT (University of Cape Town), and there were many more opportunities than there was at Schoenstatt (which had lovely surrounding areas, but not much to do within walking distance). The next week or so found Lacey and I, accompanied by either Coworkers or other residents in Ann house, exploring the area and trying different restaurants usually suggested for their selection of craft beers (Lacey is a self-professed beer snob). One place, the tap room, had an amazing IPA as well as the best lamb burger I have ever had. Another place had a nice outside eating area where we were able to watch the US rugby team get absolutely steamrolled by the South African Rugby team in the Rugby World cup. Wandering around the UTC campus was interesting as well.

The most recent excursion that was undertaken was my last Saturday in Cape Town. Ignatius (Iggy) France, another member of HOPE, had tipped us off about a craft beer festival occurring in his town of Stellenbosch on the 17^th of October. We traveled out there and met up with him his girlfriend and went to the festival. It was great. There was a variety of interesting craft breweries there with some really great wares. My favorite had to be either the Wild Beat stout or Everson’s mulled cider. To top off the day the

festival showed the South African rugby team playing the Wales Rugby team. Imagine a ton of slightly tipsy to roaringly  intoxicated (the group next to us) South African fans and a few wales fans (only one of whom had their jersey on) all watching the game together on a giant screen under the sun just enjoying each other’s company, some good beer, and life in general. It was great. To make it even better, the Springboks won.

Only three weeks in, and I’ve had a great time. I can’t wait to see what I will get up to now that I’m in beautiful Hawston, with a world renowned whale watching village, Hermanous, nearby.