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
Saturday, 1 March 2014
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!
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!!
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!!
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