What I've Been Up To

I'm afraid I've been quite lazy at keep you all updated. I'll do my best but the computer is often in high demand, I've just now managed to snag it at work. I started work at Garys Surf Shop last monday and have been surfing almost every day since. He is very firm about us being in the water if we have nothing to do, its a hard life! We arrive at 9am and help turn the wetsuits out, hang them out to dry, sweep the shop then head out for a surf. I'm still being rocked by the waves on the main part but I've managed to ride a few awesome waves. During the day we either surf, sit in the sun, do errands, rent out equipment or work on various projects. Theres a load of street kids around here which we're looking at trying to house. Theres a large plot of land just down the road from us infront of a slum that has a day care on it already. We've been taking turns in the mornings to go help out at the day care as we're hoping to place some housing on the land for the kids as well. The plan is to take one corner and put two shipping containers on it and turn them into houses, add a jungle gym and skate park eventually. We're all currently shipping out letters and such to try get all the materials required. During the afternoons we have groups of about 10 school/orphanned children that come in and we teach to surf. We then follow their progress each week and eventually we seed out the good ones and place them in Garys Extreme Surf School. He helps disadvantaged kids with life skills and their surfing giving them hope for a future. We're finished any time between 4-5:30 then we (all 10 of us) return to the volunteer house just up the street to lounge, eat and make merry. Its been rather low key for 10 girls in one house admittedly, very relaxing. We have a pool which we're currently trying to get cleaned. The weather has been dreary lately but still warm of course. Otherwise the Muizenberg area is quite windy, well of of Cape Town really. I'm sorry this is all over the place, its coming out as I remember. 3 of us hiked Table Mountain the other evening hoping to watch the sunset then catch the cable down. We arrived at the top 1.5 hours later to discover the cable car wasn't running as it was far too windy. So we turned around and hiked all the way back down before it got dark. Terrible walk down as it was so blusturous we kept almost getting knocked over as we tried to shakily hop down the mountain. The second day I was here we went on a tour of the Cape Peninsula and saw Penguins! I'll try to upload my photos another day. For now I believe that sums life up here in Cape Town for me. My roomie, Rachel, are living in Harry Potters closet at the moment but are happy to announce we shall be moving by saturday!! Love to all and hope to see many of you within the next few months.

Suzanne