Moving in to see sea views

Hello, Bonjour and Molweni from Cape Town where I live and work for two years. Due to the ongoing pandemic, I have arrived about 9 months later than planned. But I think all of us have realized by now that planning and COVID-19 are not much compatible.

I have started my work by now, so my adventures are concentrated to the weekends, next to buying all items you need to have to sleep well, make your life easier and drive around town. One weekend, I visited Camps Bay and ended up in the Chinchilla roof bar. Incredible how empty the restaurants are, I was basically the only customer. I remember the time when I had to book a table to actually be sure to have a seat in the restaurants, COVID definitely changed a lot.

I walked to Camps Bay retreat to enjoy a drink with the view, but I had to learn that with COVID now you must make a reservation in this place to be able to enter, so this one has changed as well.

The parking situation is quite relaxed at the moment plus you can park now most of the time without paying, this used to be different. So there are also some positive changes with this ongoing pandemic, even though I must admit I would rather go back to the old normal than enjoying these new privileges.

With my horse lease, I try to be in the stables three times per week. It’s just gorgeous there, a lovely and well managed place with a fabulous jumping horse I ride and lounge. We also started with some dressage lessons that I enjoy a lot. Plus the views towards Table Mountain are magnificent from the stables.

Africa is an extraordinary opportunity at the moment

David Adjaye

I have finally found a longterm rental apartment where I am living at now. And can’t wait to settle in finally with my own proper furniture to feel like home. However, only a few things will come via sea freight but this keeps being postponed and postponed. It should have been arrived a month ago but I still get the same stories that the weather and wind is too terrible in Cape Town.

In the meanwhile, another short hike, waited for my on the edge of Signal Hill. The path goes along the side of it and would eventually lead to Lion‘s Head. However, I didn’t hike the whole path as security is always a topic here and I am not confident the whole trail is secure. This topic is unfortunately a downside in this magnificent country, so many epic places but one must always be aware that not everywhere is a safe place to wander around. This is still something I must get used to it, if I ever will. But I already understood why cars will always leave a good amount of space between them and other cars when waiting at a robot. You should always give yourself the extra space in case of emergency and you need to take off.

My newest lessons learned in my new home town:

  1. Free parking – during the ongoing pandemic the parking is free in town;
  2. COVID changes – inform yourself which restaurants require a reservation upfront due to COVID-19 & 
  3. Safety First – leave some space between you and other cars when at a robot, so you will have an emergency exit if needed !

Cheers to wandering the world and exploring my new home town – bye bye, salut and hamba kakuhle ∞

Between hikes, horses and loadshedding

Hello, Bonjour and Molweni from Cape Town where I live and work for two years. Due to the ongoing pandemic, I have arrived about 9 months later than planned. But I think all of us have realized by now that planning and COVID-19 are not much compatible.

Every now and then it happens that I don’t have any electricity anymore. This doesn’t happen only to me but to everyone in South Africa, it’s commonly referred to as loadshedding where Eskom the supplier cuts off electricity for some hours in some areas. There are schedules in place to check when your neighborhood won’t be supplied with electricity. Shortly explained: there is not enough electricity to supply the demand of everyone, we don’t need to go further into the details of corruption and mismanagement…

I learned to be more aware of the loadshedding schedule as some restaurants can’t serve food, you won’t be able to pay with card and during evening time you find yourself in the dark. Loadshedding is a concept one must integrate into life here!

I still enjoy very much my horse lease as well as the lovely views from the stable onto the Table Mountain National Park. It’s gorgeous every single time.

So far, I still haven’t found a final longterm rental apartment place but I hope by next week I will. Can’t wait to settle into my own place with my proper furniture to feel like home. We will see what the time will bring.

Another short hike waited for me along Signal Hill. The path goes along the side of it and would eventually lead to Lion‘s Head. The views from here offer the epic Lion‘s Head view and also the ocean side with Sea Point, Fresnaye and Bantry Bay along the Waterfront to be spotted.

My newest lessons learned in my new home town:

  1. Cold and dark – be organized for loadshedding or you must eat cold food,
  2. Free space – parking lots are free of charge and plentiful during COVID times &
  3. Be fast – if you want to eat out, order before 6.30pm or you won’t be served due to the current curfew!

Cheers to wandering the world and exploring my new home town – bye bye, salut and hamba kakuhle ∞

The mystery of things disappearing in Africa

Hello, Bonjour and Molweni from Cape Town where I live and work for two years. Due to the ongoing pandemic, I have arrived about 9 months later than planned. But I think all of us have realized by now that planning and COVID-19 are not much compatible.

Saturday morning is market day at the Oranjezicht farmer‘s market that I visited. I was amazed how many people they let in during COVID-19 times with cases going up here these days. The market was very crowded, at least in my opinion. However, it’s a beautiful one and I thought to be in paradise. They even had Flammkuchen!

Even though I am 13.000 km away from home, there are many people that speak German here. When I said in German „this is paradise for me“ a random girl just answered in German „for me as well“, so always watch out what you are talking about in any language here 🙂

Besides apartment hunting, I went for a hike in Kirstenbosch. It was planned to be a short hike before an apartment viewing but turned out to be three hours walking up and down on the edge of Table Mountain. I had to run every now and then just to make sure I will be on time for the next apartment appointment. The silvertree trail surely turned out to be not so easy as I wished for, but some of the views were gorgeous. I could almost see until Muizenberg!

While being amazed, I suddenly heard the noise that is the only one that will always give me a freight: bee sounds, many. I just walked by a tree that was home for a bee hive, there must have been so many that I was too afraid to actually turn and look at them, I just ran past by. Luckily they didn’t follow me. Now, I had enough of this hike and just wanted to be back in Kirstenbosch, after crossing rocks, small waterfalls and another few bends hiking up and down again along the Table Mountain I finally found the parking lot. I will surely come back to view more of the garden and do other hikes.

„There is always something new out of Africa.“

Pliny the Elder

I moved to my new temporary self-catering home at the V&A Waterfront in the Marina or also called Fort Knox by me; it takes time to get in and out, even with appropriate badges and keys. The views from my new home are magnificent though, palm trees and the canals just in front if my windows! Every morning I wake up to the calling of the seagulls, it’s lovely. Nevertheless, here are too many mosquitoes that sometimes turn my nights into days.

From the gym class, I can watch and hear the seals playing in the ocean just in front of me. This is about the best view I can get when exercising. Definitely something to be enjoyed as long as I am here!

My first grocery shopping in Cape Town was on my list as I have to stock up food. It ended up to be a bit of a desaster. First, I realized that I was running late, by 6 or 7pm many of the stores close and it was already 6.30pm. Then, I was feeling not so comfortable to park on Main Road and to jump into Woolworths, so I just drove by without buying anything. Lastly, I parked in the V&A Waterfront to be looking in this huge mall for a Pick‘n‘Pay. I finally found it and ran through the supermarket, grabbed everything that I thought would be helpful to cook a decent meal. But I had time running against me. In the end, I didn’t buy much and had to realize at home that some items I put in the trolley hadn’t found their way into my kitchen. 

I don’t know what it is in Africa but it’s always here where things just disappear that I know exactly I had placed into my trolley or vehicle. It reminds me on the life saving jackets that were in the car in Joburg but were never to be found again or the pump that I used to deflate my tires on a gravel road in Mozambique that I had put in the car but also was never to be seen again (read the border crossing into Mozambique). It seems to be my story with Africa.

Again, in this new incident no root cause analysis is possible as I just don’t know how this could have happened. I know exactly that some of the items I placed them into my trolley but for whatever reason they were just no where to be found at home. To summarize it up, it was just a big fail and next time I got to plan this grocery shopping thing to hopefully find food I like in my kitchen. Things are surely running not as smooth as back home.

My newest lessons learned in my new home town:

  1. Grocery shopping for pros – make sure all grocery items in your trolley find their way over the cash counter,
  2. Names, names, names – familiarize yourself with the names of the housing blocks when hunting for apartments as the street name is rarely mentioned &
  3. Bee alarm – you might find a bee hive in the tree next to you closer than you would like when hiking in Kirstenbosch!

Cheers to wandering the world and exploring my new home town – bye bye, salut and hamba kakuhle ∞