So. A lot has happened since our last blog entry (we’re working on updating with more regularity…but let’s be serious…)
Carma
Is the name of a beloved new addition to our adventure team. She is an ‘84 bronze mercedes and easily the nicest car either of us has ever touched in our entire lives. See picture below. We have been tooling around the countryside for the past month or so in style—she’s taken us places we never in our wildest dreams imagined we could go. Like Cape Town. And the beach. Winecountry. Friends’ houses. The grocery store. Who knows just where she’ll take us next?
Birthday Bonanza
As many of you know, the anniversary of Casey’s arrival on this earth was about a month ago. And boy did we celebrate. On her birthday eve we attended an all day wine festival called Ommiberg where we spent the day busing around to different wineries in the coutnryside tasting the newest wines of the 2011 vintage. The next morning Casey awoke to an extravagant birthday breakfast of pancakes with yogurt, whipped cream & rhubarb, borewors (south african lamb/beef sausage that is to die for) and delicious (real!) coffee. From there we embarked upon a roadtrip down the eastern coast to a town called Hermanus, known for whalewatching. Though we saw no whales, we did find snazzy sunglasses, gelato, and South African penguins! We spent the late afternoon watching the sun go down on one of the most beautiful beaches in the entire universe. Definitely a day for the memory book.
*Note the language in the picture of the South African Penguin sign: “comical but vulnerable.” If you find this a little bizarre, then you too would find Afrikaans English to be the same—comical, but vulnerable. With its strange phrasing and slightly inappropriate vocabulary as well as creative grammar, Afrikaans English never ceases to entertain. Take this bowl for instance (picture below). It is a very serious fixture in the home of one of our dear friends. Or the billboard advertisement for pork that can be found in downtown Cape Town. “A tasty treat for the silly season.” No matter how many south africans we ask, no one seems to know to what “the silly season” refers. I’m sure there will be more to add to this list as our time here continues. Stay posted.
Rozendal
The wwoofing farm where we have resided for the past month still feels too good to be true. It is the ideal situation. We work from 7 am-1 pm every weekday and have two primary responsbilities: the dairy and the gardens. We milk the cows and make yogurt, butter, and cheese. We have gotten pretty good, but we do encounter the occasional mishap (like when Casey dropped an entire pound of butter into a dirty bucket of old whey). We fed that butter to Truffles, Caleigh’s beloved pig. She is so fat she can’t see. The day we first saw her get to her feet we were shocked because movement didn’t seem to be an option for her (see photo). We are planting and harvesting lots of vegetables which we eat at every meal. We also feed the two lovely Arabian horses named Shulwon and Fielu.
So I know you all are wondering, if you only work until 1, what do you do for the rest of your afternoon? Well, one of the reasons we were so thrilled at the prospect of half work days was because hoped to make some under-the-table cash while we’re here. Our busy social lives have transformed our wwoofing budget. So we were naturally quite please with ourselves when we found a waitressing gig at a faux-Cuban restaurant/night lounge. Besides the indentured servent-esque wages, the questionably legal extortion from our tips, the ridiculous hours, the sleazy people, the thick smokey air, and the shitty (and expensive) uniform, it was kind of fun…for about two weeks. We did really enjoy the waitstaff and kitchen staff with whom we worked and hope to keep in touch with many of them. But we decided that getting home from waitressing at 3 AM to then get up at 6:30 AM to milk cows was not a sustainable lifestyle. Agh shame.
Fun
We have discovered the best thing. It is called the “longarm” and it has transformed our expectation of dance culture. No longer will we accept the bleak prospect of the sweaty and awkward “bump and grind.” Oh no. Here in South Africa, good ol fashioned two steps still thrive. Our jaws dropped the first time we saw the Afrikaans couples of twenty-somethings floating, dipping, and spinning their way across the dance floor. We’re learning and oh my gosh it is SO MUCH FUN. American boys, beware. Our standards have risen significantly.
Now we must hurry to meet our our friend/farm manager Graham for the farm fresh dinner we promised to cook him. Tomorrow we will witness our first professional rugby game. Go Stormers go! We will definitely keep you updated on that. Until then…
