My first weekend

Hello and sorry for the delay, I am told that the blog is generating some interest which is great. Hello to everyone new. Unfortunately I cannot update it at weekends as I have no internet access.

I have lots to report though. On Thursday I spent the day with Mr Scheepers again before going out to a nice Jamaican restaurant called Banana Jam Cafe. On Friday I had a much better day at school, joining the Grade 4s with Ms Fortuin. These kids are 10 and I was very surprised to discover that none of them can add or subtract, despite all of them being adamant that this work had been covered in the past. They are unable to expand brackets and do simple times tables. As a result I spent the whole session individually helping them with every single sum they were given. I'm not sure what is going on at this school. Either they are not assessed at all, or the assessments are made and the work is just forgotten by the time they come back after the summer break. The main issue is the fact that they cannot stay quiet. I'm not sure why this is because all of the teachers are very strict with them. After the lesson I was given time to speak to the class about myself and about England, and the children had time to come and talk to me.

I was released at 1pm on Friday and I went to Newlands to meet Callum. We had lunch and then looked in some shops before heading to Muizenberg and the beach where the surfers work. Here it is:



Muizenberg is also home to the famous and very colourful Victorian beach huts:



Friday was Jannes's last day so by way of tradition we all went to a steak house called Pirates. What I thought would be a quiet meal turned into an all-nighter. Reports of me dancing with Mrs Bagley are unconfirmed.

On Saturday I went back into the city to walk around Company's Gardens. This is the main park in the city and originally belonged to the Dutch East India Company, hence its name. It's a beautiful area and contains pathways lined with trees and grassed areas with a large cafe in the middle that is sheltered by the canopy. Here are two pictures of Company's Gardens, with table mountain in the background on the second one:





Following this, I walked back to the station via Long Street. This road is the main nightlife spot in the city. In the day time it's quite relaxed, but you still need to keep your wits about you as there are many people who approach you ultimately looking for money. As a result, I couldn't take many pictures but here is one showing the Victorian architecture that is common here:



Sunday was probably my favourite day here so far. I have been spending a lot of time with Callum. Now that Jannes has left, the German girls in our house seem to do their own thing. We hired a cab for the day and went to Simon's Town and Boulders Beach, the latter being famous for its colony of wild African penguins. At the visitors' centre we walked down a wooden walkway to the beach and although you can't go onto the beach you are able to get some good photos. Sorry Annette, I couldn't bring one home with me. It was amazing to see them in the wild, jumping out of the sea and waddling around a huge beach. They are so enchanting that I could sit here all day uploading pictures, but here are just a few:









Following this we headed to Cape Point, the most south-western point of the African continent. We had lunch here at a restaurant on a cliff edge and then walked over a treacherous mountain path towards the Cape Of Good Hope:



Along the way we encountered lizards, baboons, a rock hyrax and a lonely ostrich. In a typically British way we were unequipped, burned by the sun and both wearing silly and inappropriate flip flops for the walk:



But with strength of loin and a stiff upper lip we made it to the finish: