So, I went "down" to the beach....

Yes, that's right, I already managed to practice my grace and poise on the steep hills of Camps Bay by taking a tumble on the sidewalk on my way "down" to the beach yesterday. I thought about posting a nice picture of my battle scars but I figure for those of you who know me, you've seen enough of those throughout the years, that there's no need to waste the space on something so familiar and unsightly!

So, at the bottom of this blog is a slideshow of some of the beautiful scenery from my first week here in Cape Town, or if you click on the link to the right that says La Shona's PicasaWeb, that will take you to another website that will post all of my photos. I apologize for not having names under all of the pictures, but many of them were taken through the car window, or on a very quick drive around, and so what I have done is put the name of the place at the beginning of the many pictures of place, and then when it changes (or I can remember the name of the next place) I list it. As you can see, there are some beautiful spots here.

Last night we had a blackout. There have been "rolling blackouts" that have been scheduled in different areas to conserve electricity, because there just aren't enough power plants to handle the load. But last night this area was hit due to another problem that left us without power from 8:45 PM until about 10:30 AM.

I still am with my host family. Still need to find a place to live and buy a car. I have my cell phone, AA (like AAA minus the "American", except for this little American I guess). Got my bank account set up today--Yeah!!! That is a huge relief, as it took us 3 trips to the bank, and on the 4th try was able to get the account set up. But that doesn't mean my scholarship money is here yet, so I'm not celebrating too much yet. And because I'm "over 25", I don't get the FREE student account, so I have the account that costs $$$$ every month, which hurts abit, because that takes away from my scholarship---plus I didn't get the free movie tickets and all the student discount package. I never thought I would feel age discrimination at 42, but I'm feeling it!

I'm thinking I will probably become a much healthier person by living here. The eating habits of my host family are healthier. Drive thrus--not common, except Kay said at McDonald's--Imagine That! Kay took me downtown to the bank today, and after our errands we sat down for a rest at an outdoor place at St. George's Mall and ordered something from Wimpy's. Kay ordered hot tea, which she drinks often---no matter the temperature outside.

I ordered iced tea and a Tuna Mayonnaise sandwiche. The iced tea is not like home, but rather comes often from a can is usually lemon or peach flavored--with a pretty strong flavor. The Tuna mayonnaise, was just that, like our tuna salad, but with tuna and mayonnaise only. I shared with Kay the ways in we prepared tuna salad---she thought it sounded like an awful lot of work! I laughed about that, and had to agree. But I told her that my mom always told me that it made it go farther by adding the eggs and celery and onion.

Going back to the tea. Andrea, Kay and John's youngest daughter, and I were discussing tea the other day. She was laughing about how she and her family drink hot tea all the time no matter the weather and hot it may be. And I laughed and told her we are the same with iced tea and we will drink it no matter how cold it may get ouside.

I see Brittish influences around in some of the customs, foods, words and certainly in the accents a bit.

Okay, enough rambling on for now. I must get some rest as I have a big day ahead tomorrow. I will be participating in a Rotary event with some other scholars to help raise $ for Habit for Humanity. It is an outdoor concert, somewhere! And I have no idea what I will be doing, but it doesn't matter, it will just be nice to meet some of the others I've been emailing.

But, first John is going to take me to look at cars before we go!

Enjoy the photos and I'll chat again soon!

L