30/5

We woke up and walked to Muizenberg train station where we were to meet one of Brittany’s high school friends, Sheebs, from Kenya but studying abroad at UCT. She was running a little late, so we had time to sit and enjoy the beach. While we were watching the surfers we noticed a seal not far down the coast a little, so we followed him to a rocky area where we spent a little over an hour. It was a gorgeous setting, made only more brilliant by a rainbow bordering the mountains. Once Sheebs arrived we hopped on the train toward Simon’s Town. I was pretty nervous about the train ride because of the horror stories I have heard from Thandi, Bongi, the people we met at UWC, and basically everyone else. Here’s one that Sheebs decided to tell us while we were on the train: Her flatmates who go to UCT were taking the train last week, and were in a car with about 5 other women and 3 other men (so you would assume it was relatively safe), when 3 guys got on and held everyone at knife point, making them all open their bags and taking what they wanted from them, then jumping off at the next stop. They took their cameras, money, cell phones, calculators, and I-Pods. After that story I put my money into my socks and my camera in my coat pocket (everything else is replaceable, but I would have been devastated if I lost my camera!) We made it safe and sound, but I was pretty on edge the whole time. The ride itself was right along the shore with gorgeous views the entire way.

Once we arrived at Simon’s Town we hopped in a Rikki (a private hire mini-bus taxi) and had him take us to Boulder’s Beach, home to the infamous African penguins. There is a boardwalk that leads to the ‘park’ where you then have to pay a little to get up close and personal with them. But, where else besides the zoo would I be able to see penguins up close?!?!?! So of course we paid the 20 Rand (That’s not even $3…) and went in. I was soooooo excited, jumping up and down, running ahead then back, I felt like a little kid at Disneyland for the first time. Looking back now it was probably not the best way to react, but they were so cute and were nesting and had furry grey baby penguins and did I mention they were cute?

Brittany went with Sheebs back to UCT to spend the weekend with her, but to give them alone time I stayed at Thandi’s. So when I got back I did some research for our work next week, and created a mini-timeline to give myself a rough estimate of what I need to accomplish each week.