Update - 22 May 2014 : Voting, Job and Medical Aid

May 2014
 

This past month seems to have flown past, and although I have tried to keep in touch with everyone’s news, I am sure there is still some I may have missed.  Our news update is as follows... Easter was an enjoyable holiday, although I must admit I did miss all the beautiful daffodils and the promise of new life and Spring!!  Going into Autumn here also seems weird not seeing the beautiful shades of Autumn leaves, as everything here seems to be much more evergreen.  I am gearing up for a cold and wet winter, although I doubt I will be needing my thermals as temperature wise, it still seems a lot warmer than Scotland -  So it is back to remembering how to dress in layers so you can peel off like an onion during the day!!  Speaking of clothing, it would seem that the South African winter fashion is 'Tartan', so it feels like I am back in Scotland seeing all the shop displays.

As you would have noticed from my Facebook Cover banner, South African's voted recently.  Although it did not have the camaraderie spirit that I fondly remember from the 1994 elections, it was still a relief that Cape Town managed to maintain its DA support.  For those who are not familiar with the South African politics, Cape Town (Western Cape Province) is the only region that is not controlled by the President's party, the ANC.   

Work news is that my temp contract has ended, so I am back at home, relishing my free time before my next assignment or hopefully, permanent job.  Although it was a bitter-sweet feeling to leave, the job itself did lack the stimulation and people-contact I enjoy.  I cannot tell you how difficult it was to 'capture what you see', when there was obviously a typo!  But from a spiritual point of view, I think I realise why God had me work there - as I had thought of myself as a bit of a  perfectionist who never makes mistakes, so it was rather humbling to see for myself all the mistakes I did end up making, despite all my careful checking, so I guess I am just human afterall!!  The good news is that I now have a glowing reference from my boss, which I'm sure will help me find another job.  I sincerely intend on making the most of however long a break I have and hopefully will manage to get some serious writing done again, which I have been neglecting.

House-hunting is still on-going and we are still waiting to find something suitable.  Unfortunately, there just doesn't seem to be much stock available at the moment - and as soon as one is listed it is sold immediately! Aas there are many homes on open-mandates, as opposed to sole-mandate, we have at times had various Estate Agents trying to have us view the same place!

Other news is that we are finding the local news channels here not reporting on certain local events, and we have watched with interest on BBC World News of things that we are not being privy to know, which is rather disconcerting!

After much researching and comparing we have eventually joined a Private Medical Aid, which is a crucial need to have here in SA, without the NHS. Unfortunately the company, Discovery have set a 1 year waiting period before we can claim on pre-existing conditions, but we understand that this is common practice for anyone with an extended break in a South African medical aid.  In an attempt to keep healthy, Garry & I have started swimming in the morning at our complexes indoor pool, which is meant to be heated, but sadly still not warm enough for me!

Church news is that after unsuccessfully trying to visit another church in the area 3 times, I have concluded that Cape Grace is the Church where God wants us to remain.  I feel at peace about my decision to join this church and even enjoyed a great Bible Study with them last night.  I also feel confident that God has placed me at this church for a reason or a lesson, and so I look forward to seeing what that is...

Cassey is still doing great at school, although still struggling to learn Afrikaans, especially this week, where she's had to do Afrikaans Assessments on a speech and a poem, which was not an easy task, but she has done brilliantly.

Food news is that we have discovered that some foods here are also not as healthy in terms of their ingredients.  For one, the burger patties and pork sausages here have very low percentages of the actual meat in them, so we have had to try make things from scratch, in an attempt to remain healthy. This was a common practice we did in Scotland, ie checking the percentage of the main meat,  as one often does not realise how low some of these percentages can be and still be called that meat.  Just check next time when you are shopping for sausages, patties and fish cakes and you will see what I mean!

In ending, life in Cape Town is still very good and although at times circumstances will try to bring us down, we have had to remind ourselves how fortunate we are to have lived in so many countries around the world.  I truly believe that it is not a country that makes you happy, but what you bring to it, and sorry guys, but copious amounts of sunshine certainly helps too!! :)

Update - 1 March 2014 : Job, Shopping and Life

Happy to report we are still loving being back in SA - there is nothing as grand as being able to say good morning to Table Mountain every day, whether it is a full view of it with clear skies or mysteriously hidden behind clouds!! Much like Ailsa Craig... Our new alarm clock is the the sounds of chirping crickets and melodious birds, and yes, the smell of braais still continue!!

My biggest news is that I have finally landed a job - starting Monday! Yikes!! It's not the dream job and is only temporary, but it's within walking distance from where we live at the moment and at least it is a foot in the door, not to mention a great opportunity to get my working confidence back!! While I will be slogging from 8 to 5 for the next 2 months, Garry will be the appointed house-hubby, collecting Cassey from school and supervising her homework. God help us all!! The only thing he is opposing doing is the ironing, but I'm happy to at least do that.

Our new tenants will also be moving into our house in Ardrossan next week, so for any neighbours reading this, please be sure to make them feel welcome!

Some other news is that we are slowly discovering more obscure items that you cannot find here - for one, sweet microwave popcorn!! This is something we had to get use to going to Scotland, as here salty is the norm, but having tried the sweet, and got ourselves hooked, we are really missing it for our movie nights! Unfortunately even my British Emporium shop says her stockist doesn't have it!! We have tried to make it ourselves, but just not the same! It seems strange as there are other flavours galore, like cheesy, fruit chutney, salt & vinegar and even apple and cinnamon but alas, no sweet, other than the caramel ones, which we find just too sweet! And speaking of sweet, anyone know how to convert wheat puffs into Honeysmacks, as that's another thing you cannot get here...

The other discovery is that we haven't managed to find Pepperoni here for our pizza nights either! Their frozen pizzas are a lot pricier than the UK, so we thought we'd start making them from scratch, but not only can we not find pepperoni, but strangely they don't even know what it is... Thankfully though, we are enjoying having our Russians and Boerewors sausages again!

Reading this back, I have to laugh, as a lot of our news always seems to revolve around food!! Ha!Ha! Cassey & I started our gratitude list in January and there always seems to be a great food/and or meal to be thankful for!! But as we don't say grace out loud, I am quite happy with that. Interestingly, we are finding a lot of the food and drinks here very intense in flavour - even the mouthwash! Must be the great South African air and weather...

Speaking of weather, the fierce winds (no, thankfully nothing like Ardrossan) and the scorching heat has prompted me to cut my hair short - still experimenting with the style, but when I'm happy with it, I'll post a pic so you can all see it for yourself.

Other great news is that our boxes will finally be arriving mid March, if all goes well!! We got a nasty shock of another invoice to pay for the Cargo tax, which we weren't expecting and if Customs decides to want to examine it and it's placed in a bonded warehouse, there will be more charges to pay, so praying for God's favour on this one!! The reason it has taken so long is that we opted for the groupage rate, so they have had to wait for other people going to Cape Town to fill up the container. Thankfully there is not too much we have drastically missed living without...

In saying that, receiving our 2 cubic meters of boxes into our flat is going to present quite a challenge of space allocation, but thankfully we have a storeroom for the overflow, and hopefully it won't be long before we move to a bigger place.

Cassey is still doing well in her new school and has successfully made lots of friends, even a boy who fancies her - Yikes!! She was even appointed as a Grade 1 class monitor which we are very proud of - supposedly practising to be a prefect! The school had their inter-house sports day on Wednesday and it was great to see kids being encouraged to compete competitively again and hearing them sing their familiar war-cry songs to cheer on their team and to win the spirit cup. It's difficult to explain but in comparing the two countries on this one, it is all about the winning - not just to do your best, but to be the best! Cassey survived her long distance, heats and shot-put events, but unfortunately wasn't placed for a medal. Still not sure how she was picked for those teams, but nevertheless. Fortunately she only had to run with the Under 11s and not the Under 12s, as is her class age. You may find this strange, but the kids had to take off their trainers to do their running events barefoot on the grass! I did also discover that the downfall of having a male teacher, is that they don't have the mothering touch to remind the kids to keep their caps on and drink plenty of water in the heat - it was 32deg!!! Fortunately mom was there to do this! (Incase you think that's a typo yes, it's MOM and not MUM here in SA - something I could never get use to in the UK) And speaking of which, I'll need to get use to celebrating Mothers day again in May instead of March!!

The other day I asked a sales guy for a pair of trainers instead of tekkies, so I guess there is still some word-training I need to get use to again... Even like calling a light thingie a globe instead of a bulb, and a stove instead of a hob, and a robot instead of a traffic-light!

Next week is an Assessment/Test Week at Cassey's school - so lots of studying required! I've enrolled Cassey on a Study Skill course which will teach her the most effective way of studying to remember - something to do with right brain training and creating pictures instead of just memorising words. I plan to email out the promo seminar notes, so if you want a copy, please make sure I have your email address.

My driving and parking is going well - The bigger car is feeling less like a tank and I am venturing out further these days and hopefully will one day make it to the motorways! In my defence though, driving here is nothing like Scotland, although sadly, they have also introduced many roundabouts here - South African's seem to drive much more aggressively, more impatiently and an orange light just means go faster and a red light means go even faster, so it does get quite hair-raising sometimes - even as a pedestrian!!

Speaking of driving, our applications for our new SA drivers-license cards was a breeze. I did panic towards the end of the eye-test though when I had to just guess them, but fortunately we passed and should receive them soon. Luckily we got to keep our UK ones, should we ever need them again. Unfortunately we have to redo this procedure every 5 years as that's how long they are valid for!!

The petrol price is going up to R13.33 a litre, which although is less than a £, is causing quite a stir here. Speaking of prices, we still find ourselves converting everything to £s and either being delighted when it's cheaper or disappointed when it's not. But I think overall, South Africa is still the cheapest, although the prices of many things have definitely sky-rocketed from 8 years ago. Shopping wise, Dischem, Checkers are Makro are strongly becoming our preferred shops - I only wish we had an Ikea!!

My one complaint is sadly the lack of friendly customer service - especially from the tellers! My goal these days is to try and be a spreader of joy to them and most times, I can usually get them to smile in the end!!

Church news, is that I am considering changing to a Baptist one which is even closer to us. The Cape Grace is still perfect, but sadly because they operate from a Clubhouse, they are often not able to have a morning service, due to the parking problems when there is an event on. They also don't have a mid-week Bible study that is suitably located in the area, whereas the Baptist one does. Still praying it through, but I will be taking Cassey this week to see what she thinks. The other plus is that the Baptist one also has both worship songs and hymns, but there is a lot more hand clapping and hand-raising, that to me usually indicates a more spirit led church. Sermon-wise, they are both bible based and challenging, so it is a difficult decision, but hopefully God will lead me to the right one.

Anyway friends and folks, I hope our wee update hasn't made you too jealous. Just think - some of you will soon be going into Summer while we will be starting our rainy Winter season! I am so looking forward to comparing our temperatures though Ha!Ha!

Au Revoir, Ciao & Totsiens
Love the Wallace Clan
XXX

Update - 26 January 2014 : School

Well, that's Cassey finally back in a school! Yippee - as to be honest, my stint at homeschooling was becoming more and more of a challenge, although it certainly served its purpose and we have both enjoyed many advantageous benefits from it!
After all our researching of the various schools in the area, in the end we have chosen one closest to home (3 minutes by car!) and one that Cassey happened to like the best. It is called Curro and has 30+ schools all over South Africa (it is even on the stock exchange). It seems to tick most of the boxes and although it doesn't have the international curriculum we would have preferred, it is one that is very innovative in it's teaching methods and has an improved, higher standard of the usual SA curriculum. It was explained to us that the only real difference is to do with the geography and history content, which we felt was important for her to learn anyway. Also, she will have to learn Afrikaans, but will be exempt from failing for the next two years, so extra lessons will certainly be in order. The school's text books are all digital/electronic via tablets, which is one more gadget we had to buy, as it is currently only available via an android operating system. Her class size is 22 and the biggest adjustment for Cassey is that she has been placed into Grade 6 instead of Grade 5, which makes her the youngest in her class (but fortunately not the shortest!) This specific school only started last year, and is only increasing the grades each year as the years progress. Grade 6 is currently the highest grade, which effectively means that Cassey is a senior already (Ha!Ha!). She is quickly making friends and is settling in brilliantly - even enjoying the homework, which is great! Her school hours are from 7h45 to 14h20 Mon to Thurs, and then on Friday they finish at 12h40! Every afternoon there is a choice of sports to do, one of which is compulsory. Cassey has chosen Tennis and Field Athletics. So in addition to tennis courts and an athletic field, the school also has cricket nets, its own swimming pool, and even an outdoor chess board! There are also lots of clubs to choose from, which the school organises and is held there as well, which is very convenient - she's on a awaiting list for the Computer Club as the initial club was already full. Cassey's teacher is a male, Mr. Freeman, and he seems really lovely and kind. He even gives his email address to all parents incase we have problems or questions, and their is an on-line school hub were we get a weekly newsletter, homework notifications, announcements, etc so the communication is excellent!
Now that Cassey is back in school and I have my free time back, it is full steam ahead in looking for a job... Yikes!

Update - 15 January 2014 : Shopping and Life

To all my friends, especially my South African ones, who may be wondering how we are getting on, I thought I'd share a quick update...
Having a car to finally get around is such a blessing and such a necessity, although with it being much bigger than the wee Fiat 500, my parking is still going to need a lot of practice...
Shopping still seems to be the highlight of our news - the loose fruit and veg need to be weighed and priced in the veggie section and not at the tills (which is something I keep forgetting to do), missing the self checkout tills, and having to pay for your plastic bags (unless you bring your own), but great having your groceries packed for you, and petrol pumped into your car for you!
The great news is that we found a British Emporium shop quite close to us - so had a great browse of familiar brands and a stock up on things we haven't managed to find yet - nothing major, but for example, convenience stuff like tomato paste in a tube as opposed to a tin, and the instant Bisto granules, as opposed to the powder, and also orange Jaffa cakes instead of the Raspberry & Strawberry one's you can now get at Pick 'n Pay.
Another great find is the amount of China Malls that have exploded here, so doubt we will be missing the Poundland as much, which we are thrilled about!
Unfortunately there is not as much on-line shopping available here, so pricing is difficult and even a lot of eBay shops in the UK & China, won't post to South Africa. Luckily our post has been arriving, so if anyone is wanting our address, please let me know. Sadly, not all my friends are on Facebook, so I guess I will need to do some writing myself.
Going out for dinner here has such a huge selection and is also a whole lot cheaper - last week we went to John Dorys - They have a special on where you can get 2 hake (fish) fillets with your choice of chips, savoury rice or 2 hot veg (creamed spinach & real pumpkin)!! We were in our element and it only cost R29 a plate (less than £2)!! They serve it in a frying pan, which is quite quirky too. We have also been enjoying our Wimpy burgers and Cassey has also found a love for Calamari Rings (Octopus)! But I guess our favourite is a still the Spur - I still love their supervised childplay area idea!! Even at some of the Pizza restaurants here, the kids get some dough and instruments to play with while they wait. On the down side, we are finding a lack of Indian Curry places, so very grateful that Garry became so skilled in that regard! Speaking of cooking, we are actually missing our gas hob and finding it quite a challenge getting use to an electric one again! Electricity here is worked on the more you use, the more expensive it becomes, unlike Scotland which works the opposite!
I am so pleased to report that Cassey & I have also found the perfect church - It's called Cape Grace Congregational and it certainly ticks all the boxes, so are loving it and quickly making friends.
The weather has been exceptionally hot lately - we did have a so called 'cold spell', but here, that just means grey sky instead of blue, as it was still very warm. I have also found that without the wind, it can become quite unbearably hot! But we are certainly not complaining We are just grateful for our swimming pools in the complex where we can cool off every afternoon!
The only Cape Town wildlife we've encountered so far has been mozzies and Christmas beetles... and of course, some lovely looking birds!
Our TV watching in the evenings is not as bad as we had feared - we have opted for a DSTV option, which we are finding quite sufficient for the 3 of us. Really enjoying watching programs like The Amazing Race and reruns of the Oprah show.
Our wifi/broadband which is included in our monthly levy, is a whole lot faster than what we were experiencing in Ardrossan, so quite pleased about that.
Cassey's latest craze is something called Geo-cache, which seems to be a world-wide secret treasure hunt which you need to log at each place - there are quite a few in Cape Town, so she has us out and about searching for some of them. I must admit, it is quite exciting when you find one with the clues that are given on-line!
Speaking of Cassey, we still need to decide on what school to put her in, but hopefully by next week we will have seen the other two so we can make a decision. The one we've visited certainly ticks all the boxes though - they even teach with tablets as all textbooks are digital.
We are still enjoying staying in our apartment, although with it only having the one bedroom, it certainly does have its challenges, especially when it comes to using the one bathroom!
But all is good, and feeling a lot more settled with each new day of our adventure!!