Surprise Visitors

The funniest thing happened last week... a friend of a friend from Auburn was headed to South African on vacation and my friend told her friend that she had a friend living here. So, we corresponded and we set up a time to meet. The woman visiting was Gina Layton, an Alaska Airlines employee from Auburn, and she was traveling with her two daughters and her mother.

We agreed to meet for dinner at a jazz club on the Victoria and Albert Waterfront in Cape Town, kind of the main hang out where all the chic restaurants, bars and tourist shops are located. This particular place, the Green Dolphin is the longest running bar in South Africa with live music played 7 days a week. It was a wonderful choice that Gina had made, and I'm the local one!

We had a wonderful evening talking about different things when the conversation turned to tennis. Gina is an avid player at the Boeing Club in Kent, and I know one of the pros there. In addition, she was visiting with another friend of a friend here who used to be the assistant women's coach at WSU back when son, Clay, was at the school. The funny thing was that I knew the girl (now woman) as I had placed a Brazilian player on the team there and knew the head coach, Cari. So, the next day Gina was meeting with her and her new husband meaning I had another friend here in Cape Town!

I love getting together with folks like that from home, so if you ever get close to this part of the world, let me know and we can meet up for some tourist activities or dinner or something. There is a lot to offer in these parts! The only thing I request is that you bring something from home for me...

Franschoek, Western Cape, South Africa

The town of Franschhoek is an absolute gem hidden in a valley in wine country just northeast of Cape Town, South Africa. Most people are not aware that South Africa is the 9th largest wine producer in the world. Of course, France is the largest producer, but South Africa does provide 19% of the world's production, and many of the finest wineries are in the Franschhoek Valley. It is the hearts blood of the Afrikaaner part of South Africa with the old Cape Dutch architecture prevalent in the sleepy towns and wine farms alike. The town's history is amazing:

After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France in 1685, when Protestantism was outlawed, hundreds of so-called Huguenots fled their homeland, 277 of them arriving by ship at the Cape of Good Hope. Many of them were given land by the Dutch colonial government in a valley called Oliphantshoek (Elephant Corner) - so named because of the vast herds of elephants that roamed the area. Soon after they settled here, it become known as Franschhoek (French Corner). By the way, the last elephant left the valley in 1850, but you can sure see why they loved living here!

This heritage lives on today with the Huguenot monument standing proudly at the end of the main street. The museum nearby chronicles the history of those brave pioneers, with each of the original Huguenot farms having its own fascinating story to tell. And, behind the monument is the pioneer's cemetery where many of the grave markers are visible of the original pioneers.

The wineries are absolutely fabulous, and they offer attractions ranging from car museums to the very best restaurants in the country. There are a number of wonderful cottages and rooms to rent that are situated in buildings a couple of hundred years old with floors made of yellow wood and authentic antique furniture. Most have courtyards with swimming pools, hot tubs, and verandas where, on warmer days and nights, you can sit outside and have a glass of wine and watch the sun set. The stars were so bright and vivid and you can see all the southern constellations so clearly that you think you are in the middle of nowhere.... and you kind of are! The town is only 13,000 residents, and it is quite a ways away from the nearest towns of Stellenbosch or Paarl.

So, back to the wineries... the biggest attraction here. The wines are the best I have ever tasted, and there was a Chardonnay at La Petite Ferme that was THE BEST EVER! I had dinner at a table in the tasting room (the restaurant was full as people make reservations here many weeks in advance), so they took a little round table, threw a table cloth over it right in front of the fireplace with a real fire in it (it was winter after all!). I had a squid and mussel thingy that was truly delicious, but the Chardonnay really set it off. The view was from the Franschhoek Pass overlooking the valley (it is a box canyon type of thing with a switchback road rising to over 1,800 feet above the valley floor). It was a sunny day and extremely stunning. After lunch and a cappuccino, I went outside and sat on a park bench and just enjoyed the sun and the view for almost an hour. There were some Mexicans at the table next to me (a rare chance to speak some Spanish), and folks from all over the world having lunch at this apparently famous place.

This is just one of the many wonderful restaurants at wineries, but there are some great ones in the little village as well. There was a place called the Elephant and Barrel that was an old English pub atmosphere with great beer, wine, and nachos? Bizarre but very good. When we were here before we ate outside of a restaurant called the French Connection that has the best club sandwich I have ever eaten (Clay really loved it!). There was a lot of opportunity to buy art of all kinds from stone sculptures to oil painting and metal working and everything in between. But, I will save my money and just have son, Greg, carve me a stone sculpture as he is pretty darned good at that sort of thing.

I really needed this break as I have been hitting the research trail pretty hard lately. And, of course, Reese left this week and I was pretty lonely as well. Franschhoek was definitely the tonic I needed... well, combined with sun, excellent food and exquisite white wine. I was invigorated enough to go back to Somerset West and hit the books again. I have an important meeting with my professor this week as well, so must be prepared!

Days 26 – 30 Our first complete week in Cape Town

The first week here was a blur. Reese was in school all week and I was busy sorting out our lives… including getting wheels, a heater, buying more groceries, etc. Setting up house anywhere takes a while and it sure has taken us the entire week to get organized. Meanwhile, Reese has been attending his TEFL school at TEIS in Somerset West. He goes on through the 17^th of August before deciding which country he wants to go and teach in for the coming year. I am so proud of how brave he is about the whole thing, but why wouldn’t he, he has been raised in an international environment his whole life. And, he wants to follow in his mentor’s footsteps, middle son, Greg.

Reese is in a dilemma over his love life here. South Africa is full of beautiful young women and it appears there are two in his class…. one Afrikaans and one English South African. I’ll keep you posted as he figures out which one to date without blowing it with both. That will keep me entertained following his trials and tribulations!

Friday night Reese had plans so I was invited over to the Coxwells for a typical dinner party here in South Africa. It reminds me where we honed our skills as hosts while living here back 30 years ago. The long lost art of entertaining without having a movie or television was still in play, as was heated intellectual conversation about the economy and politics. There were two other couples there besides the Coxwells, and it was perfect. We enjoyed some wonderful South African wine and good company! That was definitely the highlight of my week!

Day 25 – Our First Weekday in our new home

The bid deal for today is it is Reese’s first day of school. He said he had to be there by 08:00, so I set the alarm and he was ready on time to head out. We made it almost 10 minutes early, only to find out it actually started at 08:30. I left and went searching for Laundromat to take our dirty clothes as they had been accumulating at a rapid pace. I finally found one two blocks from Reese’s school in an “arcade”, which is what we would call a strip shopping mall. They charge based on weight, so I gave them a bag of clothes (about a week’s worth from us both) and it ended up costing us about $3.90 to wash, dry and fold it all. We can’t buy laundry detergent for that little back home, so we’ve discovered our new method of washing (as we don’t have a washer or dryer in our flat).

I also went by the mall again to buy a printer as ours was broken in shipment. It was just as well, as the old printer was only a 110 volt/60 cycle capable one, and they used 240 volt/50 cycle here. I purchased a new printer/fax/copier/scanner for about $155, and so we were ready to roll. The paper sizes are different here as well (A4 size instead of 8 ½ by 11), so I picked up some of that as well.

I then drover to Stellenbosch again just to get the lay of the land so I wouldn’t get lost the next time I tried it. I continue to be amazed at how close it is. Behind our flat is the Helderberg mountain, and the other side is Stellenbosch. It isn’t as easy as that to get there, but as the crow flies it is just about 3 or 4 miles. It is a beautiful old Cape Dutch style town, the second oldest town in South Africa, and the one

Day 24 – Sunday in Cape Town

Not much went on today. We ate cereal for breakfast (the milk was much better here than in Brazil), and I had Raisin Brand while Reese had Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. Some things are universal!

For lunch Reese fixed us some salad with cooked chicken strips on it and it was quite good. We have all the pots and pans we need, but there is no dishwasher and only a single sink with a side for putting dishes to dry. It reminded me of cleaning up back in the late 50s or early 60s in the States and I was a bit indignant that I had to do more than load it into the dishwasher! But, I developed a methodology and kept at it until it was done.

We have a lot to get used to and a lot to organize yet for ourselves. People that have not moved much, especially abroad like this, don’t really appreciate all the hassles involved in getting things to the point where you feel comfortable. It used to take me up to three years, but now I can expedite it in a few months. The advent of technology has helped a lot in this endeavor, both by having cell phones and Internet availability.

We are 9 hours ahead of Seattle in terms of time zones, so we called home that evening to speak with Susan. She had gone to church and personally filled out a donation form into which she placed the $50 trillion bill we got in Zimbabwe. She told him that she wanted Pastor Joe to know that the Ishmaels have now given the largest donation ever to the church, and Pastor Joe told her that he thought for a minute he was talking to Barrack Obama when she started throwing around trillions of dollars!

We use Skype to call the States. You sign up, get a screen name, and buy some airtime from which each call deducts a bit. If both people have Skype it is completely free, but if we have it and call a regular phone number in the States, it has a cost attached. However, we can talk for up to an hour for under $1 US, which is unbelievable! That sure makes things easier.

Reese was supposed to complete some homework before his first day of school tomorrow, so he spent the better part of 6 hours learning his material and answering it. We don’t have a printer (ours was broken in transit), so he had to write everything in long hand. By the time he was finished it was time to go to sleep.

One of the things I discovered when we got Internet was that my motorcycle was never shipped from the States. The company I had employed dropped the ball and it is still sitting there, so I have to come up with another alternative. Darned! What to do?????

Day 23 – Our First Day of Life in the Cape

Our two bedroom flat is really an attached cottage to a main house with a full kitchen, a living/dining room combination, and one bathroom with a shower/tub combo. The back yard has a nice sized pool and a braii (South African word for barbeque grill). We had some coffee, some milk, and some water. Other than than that, our cupboard was bare (except for plates, pots/pans and cutlery). So, today was designed to get some errands accomplished except that we had no vehicle! Enter our landlord, Franz, and the problem was solved quickly.

He organized for us to borrow a nice late model Mercedes Benz from a friend of his, and he had a nice “cruiser style” Korean motorcycle. I got the car and Reese the motorcycle so he could have a way to school that is about 3 kilometers away. Franz took us to Stellenbosch to get the rest of our luggage we had left there when we headed out to Durban, and he has a pick up (called a bakke here) so it worked nicely. We ended up with a lot of stuff, so we pretty much filled out his pick up bed. I had also pre-purchased a couple of cases of chardonnay from Lanzerac, so I had to pick that up as well. While at it, Franz ended up buying 5 cases for himself! There was a sale on and the bottles cost R12 each, or the equivalent of $1.55 US, and it was very high quality stuff!

We also went to the mall in Somerset West (it is literally 15 minutes to Stellenbosch), and I ended up buying us cell time and internet time there. We went to Pick n Pay and bought groceries, had lunch at the Spur (the same chain we ate at in Durban where a steak costs $12.00). Then we came home and collapsed.

There is a TV in the place, but the cable wasn’t working. Franz said he would organize it for Monday, but this is still a developing country so it ended up being more like Wednesday or Thursday. In the interim we had some good books we wanted to read, so we really did not miss TV much. After all, if we needed anything we had the internet by USB modem on our cell network.

Our beds were simple but firm (my favorite) and had a bottom sheet and a duvee. It is winter here and they do not insulate their homes here for the most part, but the duvee did its job and we both slept quite soundly as Reese was not feeling well. I think the reality of our being here for a while and facing some of the unknowns was starting to set in by now.

Day 22 –Johannesburg to Cape Town

Our flights out were not until around 6 PM, so we had a leisurely day. We got ready, repacked, had breakfast and took off around 11 AM. I wanted to scope out some things before we left, so we headed off to Benmore Gardens and Bryanston. In the latter we stopped and had a marvelous Indian lunch at a place where our favorite Indonesian restaurant used to be, the Oude Batavia.

Afterwards we went by the Sandton Medical Clinic where Greg was born and took some photos before heading down to Rosebank and the Wanderer’s Club. From there we followed Rivonia Weg (Road) up to the NI and got on. Rivonia used to be upscale (once called the Mink and Manure Belt because of all the rich homes and horse estates), but had slowly settled into being somewhat seemly with bars and strip joints. The landed folk had moved further north to walled communities around golf courses.

From there we headed to the airport and arrived right at 4 PM, just the correct amount of time to get Susan checked into her flight back home and off through passport control. It was a sad and tearful parting, but she was a trooper and kept on going. Only I knew that she would find the big curio shop inside where she was to buy a guinea fowl do-dad, so there was method to her madness!

Reese and I had another hour and a half, so we found a local version of Starbucks (Mugg and Bean) where we plopped down and used the free WIFI connection. We soon found out that it was only available for free for a short time, so within about 30 minutes we were off again to go through security and onto our gate. While there we met a young Texas girl from Galveston who had graduated from Stanford and was a Rhodes scholar in England. She was in South Africa working on an internship in economic development, so we had a nice talk with her before leaving.

We flew a low cost airline similar to Southwest in the US called Kulula Airlines. School started on Monday and this was Friday evening, so the flight was full of students heading back to school. The upscale vacation was over and Reese and I were getting into our new roles as students, so it was quite fitting. Reese was a bit upset that we had to pay for soft drinks and food for the first time.

In the end, we arrived into Cape Town on time and with no problems. Our luggage was there waiting for us, and so we got a cart, loaded it up and went outside to meet our ride. We had rented a flat through Reese’s school in Somerset West, so the owner, a German citizen named Franz Popoff, met us and took us to our new home. It was a mother-in-law suite off the garage from the main house. It was cold and late and so we turned on a propane space heater and fell asleep in our individual bedrooms, thoroughly exhausted and a bit overwhelmed by the reality of finally being in the place where we were to stay for the coming month(s).