Under my UMBRELLA...ELLA ELLA

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HAHA- well that title only makes sense to one person. But standing under an umbrella was something I didn't do any of this weekend....PRAISE THE LORD!!! For some reason the weather has cooperated wonderfully with me. During the school week- it rains...sometimes pours. During the weekends, however, I have had nothing but beautiful weather.

This weekend was no exception. On Friday night Georgina and I decided to try our luck on going to a movie. Let's just say some things in life just don't change when you are travelling between fairly developed countries. Because, no matter where you are, you can always find teenagers hanging out at the mall. I mean lets just take Crestwood mall and step it up about 10 notches (this mall is not as sketchy). There were loads of groups of teenage girls and boys dressed to impress and waiting for who knows what, maybe for their parents to pick them up...ha. I just love people watching sometimes.

Anyway, that was quite a tangent but I thought it was an interesting similarity. Georgina and I went to the movie Lisence to Wed with Mandy Moore and Robyn Williams. It was really cute, but the romantic comedy aspect of it made both of us sad....haha.

On Saturday we went to the Waterfront and walked around before going to Robben Island. Robben Island used to have several purposes. First, it was a lepor colony, then it was used for military purposes, and then it was a prison. It is most commonly known as the prison where Nelson Mandela stayed for 18 years. Now it is a museum. The tour was extremely interesting. An ex-political prisoner was our tour guide and he told us stories of life in prison. The black prisoners where treated extremely harshly, and the coloured and asian prisoners weren't that far off. Prisoners such as Nelson Mandela lived in a 2m by 2m prison cell where they carried buckets around all day long. The buckets were their toilets. They even had them when they ate. WOW. They had no beds and one blanket each, even during the winter months.

Yesterday, Georgina and I headed up Table Mountain. It is called Table Mountain because it is flat at the top like a table. The mountain is quite deceptive because it looks so easy to hike, but there are several tourists that die each year attempting to hike up and down. The fog at the top makes it extremely dangerous. SO.....Georgina and I decided to take the safe route, the cable car. We really wanted to hike, but we didn't have someone who had hiked it before and it was extremely foggy. When we got up to the top we couldnt really see much. Intermittantly, the clouds would clear long enough for us to see, but by the time I opened up my camera and turned it on...it was too late. Thankfully after about 45 minutes of this weather, the clouds cleared and we had an amazing view. We took some amazing pictures of the sun setting over the ocean. If you haven't gathered by now, Cape Town has some of the best landscape. it reminds me of California only the mountains and the ocean are in much closer proximity....like 15 minutes. It is the most beautiful country I have ever seen.

Today I am teaching Limericks to another section of Grade 6 students. They are an especially rowdy bunch so we shall see how it goes. Well I am off. I can't believe that I leave in less than two weeks. This has gone by way too quickly.

Peace and Love,
Jill

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