There Will Be Penguins

I have found my new place. An internet café in Rondebosch, about 5 minutes from my house. It’s called CocoWawa, and I have a feeling I will be spending a lot of time here during the semester. We all know how I love caffeine.

The weather is warm and sunny, as usual. I have a feeling I will be spoiled with warm temperatures and sunshine before long. It’s also very windy, which cuts the heat nicely.  At night, windows slam shut from the intense wind coming down off of the mountain. I can’t wait for my first rainstorm here; I bet it’s going to be awesome. 

Let’s see, the past couple days.  Lots of beaches. On Sunday, we went to Camp’s Bay, which is a trendy beach with lots of clubs and fancy restaurants. It was really windy, and as I walked out into the ocean on some rocks, I braced myself so as not to fall off.  Sunburned and sandy, as per usual, we took a crazy cab ride up to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, where a summer concert was just getting under way. It was so beautiful there, right towards the top of the mountain.  The music was hilarious, some kind of German band singing Billy Joel covers. Whatever. It was fun to sit on the grass and listen to music.  We walked back, a good hour and a half, and made a group dinner from all of the various items that we had picked up in our trips to the grocery store. My roommate Matt is an excellent cook, which is good, since I’ve got grilled cheese down and that’s about it.  I’m lucky to have met a group of friends that has been pretty awesome so far. Everyone comes from very different backgrounds and has traveled a lot.

Monday was a get-stuff-done kind of day. I finally set up my bank account and went shopping with Sophie in Cavendish, a trendy and expensive mall nearby. It was nice to go shopping, I’ve felt underdressed since I’ve been here.  Capetonians are an attractive people who know how to dress. We had another community dinner that night. Pasta with sausage. Delicious.  We went to a hostel on Long Street that night and it was a lot of fun to meet people from all over the world just traveling to travel.  We drank Heineken and Windhoek (a Namibian beer) on a porch overlooking Long Street.

Yesterday was Matt’s 21^st birthday, so naturally, we went to Simon’s Town, the famed home of a colony of about 3,000 African penguins. At first, it was really touristy and full of old people with binoculars and fanny packs gazing off of wooden boardwalks. Not quite what we had in mind.  A little ways back was an isolated cove that seemed pretty empty. We set up camp there and were then greeted by a bunch of penguins. We made friends with them, hung out, and had a photo shoot. If you look at my pictures, you’ll see that I went a little bit overboard with penguin pictures. But hey, I was excited to swim with penguins.  And I think you would be, too.