Merry Christmas!

For Martins birthday I had planned a little trip down to Mosselbay. Our first stop was at the harbour, where we rented a jet ski. Martin couldn’t believe how fast this little scooter accelerated! We jumped over waves and due to me leaning to the wrong side, we even fell into the water, which was very warm though. When we rode back to the shore I was so afraid, because I thought I had seen a shark! When something jumped out of the water again, we realised it was a seal. We then drove to “The Point”, which is the peak that goes farthest into the sea and thus has the light house on it. We hiked up the steep path and couldn’t believe our eyes; the whole hill was full of marmots and they weren’t afraid of us at all. On a wooden bench, with a beautiful view of the sea, we opened some nice champagne and clinked glasses to Martins 21st! We hiked for about an hour on the path along the cliff and found a rock where we enjoyed the sun for a while. To refresh ourselves we had a seat at the bar of the aquarium, which is situated on the beach and had a funny drink. It was like a little aquarium that one uses when one buys a fish at the pet shop to carry it home in. The drink was bright blue, had lots of ice cubes in it and two plastic pipes for the two of us. To round the day off we went to a lovely Pizzeria.
During the last few days we were very busy planning our trips. We had reserve accommodation in the lodges, find airstrips, where we can refuel. With the little Cessna 152 we have to refuel all three hours, so we have to make quite a few stops and a lot of airstrips don’t have fuel. We have figured out a nice trip now, but the preparations are very complicated. We are hoping for good weather now so we can take off on the 26th in the morning.
Today we were invited by a friend of Martins. He is about 40 and does his commercial pilot licence on the helicopter. We had a really nice time with him, his wife, his kids and a couple, who are friends of theirs with their kids. We had a braai and lots of interesting discussions.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

A beautiful flight!

Yesterday we made a beautiful flight with the Cessna 152 "Papa India Charly". Martin had actually been planning to fly to Beaufort West, but then the clouds formed over the mountain range and he decided to head towards Mosselbay. We did an unmanned airfiel procedure, a "touch and go" on the Mosselbay airfield, flew to Riversdale, where we made a circle to have a proper look at it and then flew in the direction of the ocean, because it was my wish to fly along the sea shore for as long as possible. We diecovered a magnificent beach and circled over it to lose some height. At the lowest point I fealt like I was touching the water. The water is really turquoise and it is so great to see it from so close!

A lot going on...

Martin came back from his exams on Wednesday late in the evening. On Thursday Fiona (my best friend from my exchange year from Cape Town) came to visit us with three of her friends. They had been in Plettenberg Bay and were on their way back to Cape Town. It was so nice to see her again. We talked a lot, cached up on things that had happened in our lives and had some Spaghetti. Just after they had left again, Martin and me got ready to go to George to the “End of Year Function” of the Flight Training College. It was held in a golf estate, called The Three Chameleons. We had the opportunity to either play golf or put put. We decided on the second and played with two Indians. (Just a side comment: There are a lot of Indians at the college, since the government pays them a great amount for their study, due to a lack of pilots in India.) After a speech be the director of the college, we spontaneously decided to head into town to go to the cinema. We bought tickets for We both enjoyed being at the cinema after quite a long time. On our way back we passed the Mexican restaurant we’ve been wanting to try for ages. We stopped and were spoilt by really mouth-watering nachos, pies and tortillas. It was such a nice atmosphere in this little place, there was good music and some people even danced.
On Friday we actually didn’t want to move our car, so I went to the little shop in our quarter. It is actually quite a nice shop, they even have an own bakery. When I got back the guard told me that we have to move our car from the parking space we parked it in, because the people who own it were arriving that night. We decided to go to the Lagebergmall if we had to get the engine started anyway. We got the car washed and bought a cover for it, because we really want to keep it in good condition…
On Saturday we drove to the Red Berry Farm. They have a magnificent shop of homemade jams, cheese, liquors, biscuits… and obviously strawberries. We enjoyed sitting outside in the sun and had some chips and strawberries among lots of peaceful holidaymakers.
On Sunday we just relaxed at out pool. It was a beautiful, sunny day. We made a walk in the area, down to the DVD shop and back along the railway track with the view over the sea and Mosselbay.
On Monday I had my first flight! That was such an amazing experience. We taxied from the hangar to the fuel bay, where Martin refuelled the Cessna 150 called “Foxtrot November Yankee” through the wing with a little staircase. He got in contact with the tower to get the permission to take off. We started the flight by flying exactly the route we normally drive, which was nice, because it looks so different from above. I loved being in this little plane, as I could see everything so clearly from the low altitude. We flew over our complex and then headed inlands, passed Mosselbay, saw Albertinia and Riversdale from above. It was amazing to see the landscape change from a green farmland area with lots of little lakes to a desert like ground and then the steep mountain range. After flying over a Grand-Canyon-like landscape we reached Oudtshoorn, where we landed. We took a short break and then headed back to George. Flying is so great and I can understand Martins passion for it now.
Yesterday we had our night out… We drove to Mosselbay to the cinema. We had never been there before and found out that it is a very nice place. We then drove to the centre, where I had seen a restaurant, when I drove through Mosselbay with Nita. We sat outside in a warm sea breeze and enjoyed lovely Pizza with stuffed crust. Mosselbay is so different than George, because it is much more touristy, there are lots of young couples and many little restaurants, bars and places to go dancing. We will definitely do that soon…;-)

The start of the holiday season...

Yesterday was my last day at the playschool before the big holidays of six weeks. A boy had his birthday party. After receiving lots of presents from all the kids and having to point out the boy or girl it was from, he blew the candles of his "Madagascar" cake. Kids here always get beautifully decorated rectangular cakes with a Princess or a Fairy or any kind of movie scene on it. This decoration is made out of custard, sugar or marzipan. The cake itself is a very plain biscuit. The kids enjoyed themselves playing; I talked to Brenda and Jessica, the two girls working with me at the school. Parents came to pick up their children at 10:30 already, since the school closed early before the holidays. I must admit that I was a bit sad when I left. I like being with all these kids, watching them play, doing play tough with them or puzzles, helping them to eat their lunch, making them feel better when they cry, hearing their stories...
I drove to a shopping centre where Martin guessed they could help us with our computer problem. Our laptop hadn’t been working anymore for a few days because it wouldn't charge anymore. There was no contact from the cable to the computer. I left it at the shop to have it tested and drove to the gym to do some cycling. Fortunately they were able to figure out the problem, I had to buy a new power supply unit and drove back home to Martin.
He had been studying all day for his upcoming exams next week Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He was glad that I came back with the fixed computer, since he has exam questions and mock exams on it that are extremely useful for his studies. While he went through them, I started with the Christmas decoration. I had chosen red and golden balls, stars and cones, which I hang on our broad window in the living room. Finally we get a bit of a Christmassy feeling in our apartment...