Diaz Beach

Despite all the studying Martin still has to do until his tests next week we had to go shopping yesterday. We hadn’t gone for quite a while and the list was bursting and the fridge and cupboards were nearly empty. We drove down to the Langeberg Mall in Mosselbay and started cancelling items from the shopping list, while piling them into our trolley. Before we realised one and a half hours had passed..
Before driving back home Martin wanted me to see Diaz Beach. This is the tourist area of Mosselbay. There are huge hotel complexes and there is a beautiful beach. We sat down on a lawn to enjoy the sea. Kids were swimming, even though the wind was blowing quite strongly. Martin pointed out an island to me, called Seals Island. The island is really crowded with seals. This is the reason why swimming in this bay is more relaxed than at any other place in our area. The sharks eat the seals here and don’t come to the shore where people swim. Pilots don’t swim in the ocean in this area because one can see the sharks so clearly from above. Sitting there watching the sea and all the holiday makers made us feel like being on holiday ourselves…

Rain and a wonderful schoolplay...

It has been raining for two days and nights without a stop. There is a strong wind that also brings sand from the beach and creates a very thunderstormy atmosphere. The weather has changed from one extreme to the other. Last week helicopters flew around like crazy carrying huge water bags to the area where the fire threatened to burn of the whole vegetation and now we are close to a big flood! This is really unbelievable. Martin just left for his lectures and I really hope he comes back safely. On our way to George there is the Great Brak River, a broad, meandering river that is on sea level. The houses and streets are nearly on the same level as the river and when it rains a lot, this region floods very quickly. If this happens tonight, Martin won't be able to cross it. This river is also very important to Martins flying, as a matter of fact. Since one can see it so clearly it has been defined as the border of the radio controlled area of the tower of George. So when Martin flies over it he has to report to the tower.
On Tuesday we had our Christmas concert at the playschool. All the girls wore bluish dresses with headscarves and the boys wore brown tunics. The older kids told the bible story "the loaves and the fished", after that they all got up, stood in a circle and sang a few songs. They were really good! The small playschool was packed with parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters! Luckily the rain didn't start jet, even though the sky was pitch black and announced it. So Father Christmas came and gave presents to the kids and sweeties. The families had brought picnics along with them, so we just sat there peacefully for a while.

Perfect weather...

Today is the third perfect day in a row. Previously it had always been very sunny at times, but then it rained, was foggy and windy in turns. Now the summer has really come to South Africa. The sky is bright blue each morning when we wake up and the sun shines the whole day. Perfect weather for the beach. Still we are staying at home at the moment to give Martin the oportunity to study very hard. He will write his exams in two weeks time already! After that we will start exploring the country by plane. We look so much forward to that!
Yesterday in the afternoon I had Nita come for coffee. It is so nice to talk to her. It is really nice that I get along with her so well, she is so out-going and fun to chat to.

Typical South African

When one stays in a country for some time, one makes observations that a tourist might not realise. In South Africa, there are no park benches, so there is no possibility to just sit down somewhere. Either you sit on the grass or on a wall or you take a seat in a café.
It’s amazing to watch people “work”. If there are ten guys working, one actually shovels and the nine other watch him do it. Still houses are finished in no time and the region where we live will be full of houses until we leave South Africa again.
When you go shopping, you don’t have to pack your groceries into bags yourself, there is always somebody, who does this for you and puts it back into a trolley so that you can pack them into your boot without much effort.
At a petrol station you don’t have to get out of the car. You just tell the guy how much petrol you want or for how many rands he should fill up your tank and he does it for you.
The last three examples all show how this country tries to occupy as many people as possible. We have the feeling that a lot of people building houses just come there in the morning and ask for a job.
You should see how people are transported. On the back of a rover there are usually several people, without belt or anything. The police doesn’t stop people from doing that, so we suppose that this is allowed.
One thing that one can’t experience in Switzerland are the skies! They are always so magnificent. During the day one sees it clustered with various clouds at the same time. Sometimes one side is pitch black and the other is light blue. On one side we have the sea and on the other side we have a mountain range, so there are days where there is a strip of cumulus clouds just above the mountains. The sunsets are always so special; they fill the whole sky with pink clouds and create such a magnificent atmosphere. Trees show their black silhouettes in front of the red sun. The mystical play of the sun rays is mirrored in the ocean. The evenings here really are fantastic.