First days

This is my first post in Cape Town, South Africa. So far, it has been fantastic! When we arrived on Monday evening, after a long flight, we were welcomed warmly by all the parents and of course our exchange sisters. It was so nice to see how much effort my exchange family took to prepare my room. After talking into late at night, we all went to sleep.

The next morning I was awoken by the great sound of a lovely animal. You know what I’m talking about: the bleating of the sheep, of course! Yoda and Popcorn (yes, they have names) are the pet sheep of the family, and they are adorable!

We had breakfast outside, in the already scorching sun.  I was so amazed by the view and the light that shone on Table Mountain. The colourful flowers and bright green bushes were the finishing touch to what I call ‘The jaw-dropping view’.

Next, we did some grocery shopping, and Emma and I went to the famous Waterfront to meet a whole bunch of other really nice, excited and open exchange students. We spend the rest of the day together; we visited an aquarium that contained lots of beautiful, but also creepy sea creatures, walked around in the shopping mall at the Waterfront, we had some lovely lunch and went on a boat tour which exposed the massive and impressive Table Mountain. Not to forget: we also had some delicious ice cream!

This great day ended with a refreshing swim in the pool at home, a YUMMY ‘braai’ (barbeque), and preparations for our first day of school.

This morning started off with a hectic run around Herschel, while wearing the wrong shoes, and meeting hundreds of future best friends. It’s difficult to remember all those new names and faces when everyone is wearing the same clothes: our Herschel dress, a.k.a. the blue curtain.

You can tell really easily that the ‘Herschel family’ is a close, bonded group of girls that are so sweet and helpful, for example with showing you the way around when you got lost yet again. During the classes I had today, which included Drama, English, Maths and Science, I experienced how strict the teachers are, and how they are also really demand respect from the students.

I especially liked the science class, possibly because that was the only classroom with air-conditioning. The break times are awesome as well, we all just sit outside on the grass chatting and laughing while eating some lovely ‘biltong’ (dried meat sticks).

As soon as we finished school, I went together with some of the exchanges to Cavendish, a huge shopping mall a few hundred meters away from the school, where we had a nice cup of coffee and relaxed for a while. Being charged again, we had the energy to shop around and went into various shops until our moms picked us up. Yet again, this is a huge different compared to life at home. For us it’s a common thing to just get your bicycle and go to wherever you want, but here in Cape Town you cannot undertake anything on your own; you are very dependent on your parents. Emma (my exchange partner) even calls her mom ‘Taxi’!

This day full of culture ‘shocks’ ended with a lovely dinner: Boboti, which is an oven dish consisting of some kind of minced meat combined with raisins and dried fruit, with rice.

The sun has set, the night skies are filled with bright stars and tomorrow is waiting to begin.