I have arrived...

Well I'm sure we all felt it would never happen..but here I am in South Africa!

Cape Town is beautiful - I have always wanted to be surrounded by water and mountains. However, I was hoping for the ability to come and go as I please but you can't have everything. My neighbourhood is relatively safe in the day but nowhere really is after dark.

If you haven't seen a picture of Cape Town before, you must. And here, I'll make it easier for you,

http://www.tropicalisland.de/south_africa_cape_town.html

Google “Cape Town Picture” you’ll find some more great aerial views.

I haven’t had a chance to sight-see so far. Got in midnight yesterday after 25 hours of flying (brief stops in Dakar and Johannesburg) and slept till noon today. My host family is a young doctor (Ryan Janks) from J’burg, his wife and their 2 year old son Jamie who had his face glued to a show called ‘Wiggles’.** ^{see below}

Ryan (also director of the Grassroot Soccer program in Cape Town) took me to the office today to get familiar with the layout. That took 0.5 seconds as it is a small rented room about 10 feet by 6. At least there’s none of that bothersome excess “space” for things to get lost in. I helped out with some admin before going out to purchase a cell phone and test out my BMO ATM card. It worked. Very, very good.

Other than that I had dinner with Ryan and Dani (his wife) this evening. We had falafels and no, mom, falafels are not South African, they are a middle-eastern food. I’m sure I will taste the finer delicacies of this area soon.

So that’s it for 24 hours in “the Dark Continent”. Disappointed? You shan’t be soon; I will have much to write about in coming days including my trip to Port Elizabeth this weekend to see the Grassroot Soccer program in full swing.

More to come…

**First thing learned in South Africa: ‘Wiggles’ is a bizarre song-and-dance group from Australia comprised of 4 men, all an estimated 40 years of age in goony outfits with oddly exaggerated facial expressions. It is wildly (and inexplicably) popular in Oz and apparently sells out to stadiums of people. Said foursome previously made many attempts (and I’m assuming this was some time ago) to become a “boy-band”, eventually foregoing these dreams by deciding to put on some goofy suits, come up with a silly dance and renounce their dignity forever. And thus they were henceforth known as “Wiggles”. At this point, you may be thinking that the children’s program ‘Teletubbies’ was perhaps more peculiar than these four fellows, and you would be correct. However, the career choice of these men and their subsequent stardom surely rivals the incoherent prattle and tripped-out nature of those giant pear-shaped martians in terms of absolute weirdness.

I didn’t say first thing learned of South Africa…