SEALS!! If only they were balancing balls on their noses... :)

Finishing up another awesome weekend, and really settling in and feeling right at home here in Cape Town! :) Yesterday, the five girls from my summer project loaded up the van with our driver, David who is from Hout Bay, which we had driven through last weekend on the Chapman's Peak drive. He wanted to show us his hometown, and we were all in! Despite the off & on rain and crazy cold wind, we boarded a boat to Seal Island. It was quite a spectacular site as yet another incredible rainbow stretched across the sky and we could see it crystal clear, from end to end. As we bundled up and cuddled on the boat for warmth, it was difficult to imagine how incredibly cold the seals must have been swimming in that water!! After the boat ride, we headed to an indoor market that is only one year old and open every weekend in Hout Bay. It was incredible and I had not brought enough money to buy all that I wanted, so we will have to make a return trip! :) But they had an incredible food area, clothing and fashion area, as well as an upscale souvenir area, where I made a couple of small purchases...the best part though was lunch, when David took us across from the market to a place called "Fish on the Rocks" where I had the best fish & chips that I've ever had in my life, and it was SO cheap!! I was such a happy girl...can't you tell?? ;)

After our fish & chips, we of course had to go back to the market for dessert! Katherine and I happened to stumble up to a sweet place where a local woman had brought a huge tupperware container of her own to fill up with goodies from this one bakery booth, and she told us this was the only place in the market worth buying sweets from! SOLD! Katherine got a huge slice of chocolate mousse and ganache cake, and I got a slice of baked vanilla cheesecake that was so dense and divine!! David was thrilled that we were falling in love with his hometown...we were already discussing when we could make a return trip in order to stock up on more souvenirs! So I'm pretty sure we decided to go back on a Friday night so that we could go for dinner and live music, as well as see the village lit up at night...needless to say, I'm certainly looking forward to it! Later that afternoon, we went to a rugby game and that was a cultural experience! People get so into it, maybe even moreso than American football?!?! Anyway, it was interesting to somewhat learn the rules and follow along, but I was so concerned that these giant guys would hurt one another since they don't wear pads and just go at it with full force!

Then last night, my three wonderful roomies and I cuddled up on two of our beds and watched the Jennifer Lopez chick flick "The Backup Plan" as we ate popcorn and peanut M&Ms. It was just what I needed after our long day full of adventure! We loved having our girl time and I definitely lucked out with some awesome roomies...Katherine is a rising Junior at Samford University in Birmingham, AL; Berrit is a rising sophomore at Gordon College in Boston, MA but was raised in London; and Becca just graduated from UAB in Birmingham, AL. Above is a pic of us last weekend at the Hout Bay overlook - a quick favorite of all of ours!

The plan this week changes up a bit since holiday club is over and the kids are back in school. I will be working at Living Grace, which is the homeless ministry one morning each week, then with Living Care in the In-Patient Unit one morning, planning in Red Hill with the LSE's on morning, working in a project at the main office another morning, then I'll be in Red Hill every afternoon for kids club and teens club. I feel so fortunate to have had so much time with all the kids at the very beginning in order to build relationships and now know them when seeing them for only a couple of hours every other day (kids M/W & teens T/Th). Stay tuned for another blog post late next week, then again next weekend and thanks for staying interested in my journey! :)