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
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