Driving to the Little Karoo Friday, I partook in an incredible light show through my backseat window. At dusk, the incredibly clear layers of clouds hovering above the Du Toitskloof Mountains were astounding. Translucent blue overhead and creamy white patching over the electric vermillion clouds gleaming from behind. All the while, masses of mountain flesh looming up from the stretch of road, heaving, pulsing, writhing to the flashes of sunset light….okay, I’ll stop. Getting a little bit frantic there with my description. But to say the least, mind-blowing.
Moving out of Margie's flat has set me up with a new kind of stability - the sort where uncertainty is certain. Not meaning to sound so profound about it, that is actually how my reality stands right now.
I've had a few terrific weeks, "settling" into this new, more uncertain life of mine where magnificent Swedes sweep in for the weekend; where I get to join in family dinners (Adrian & roommate Sophia being the family); where I've woken up to 4 different views over the course of 20 days; where I have absolutely no smidgen of routine; to where I am trying to relax, as much as possible into this new way of being. It's kind of like yin yoga, where one must relax their muscles and let gravity do the rest to engage the deep connective tissues throughout the rest of the body.
In this time, I've encountered quite a few changes, so let's not put it entirely to falling off a bed onto a couch! My little Daihatsu Cuore of 1998 is giving way to the pressures of time. The clutch positively died before cresting the neck if the mountain into town - thus leaving me with a costly repair! Only 3 days later the car puttered and puffed and eventually stalled while enroute to the airport. It was a windy night and I could feel the car being battered by the wind, all the while stressing about my unfavorable perch on the dangerous N2, a stretch of road one does not want to be found on at night all alone. My epidermis responded with an almost immediate flush of bubbly eczema all over my neck, my body’s stress barometer giving me a fine rash of itch!
And so it happens that night I was enroute to fetch my father from the airport, yet another but very positive (finally!) change. Dad came to visit for 8 days and left on Thursday for Beijing. We had a very nice time together and it felt so nice to have a visitor come rescue me from myself during a somewhat stressful spell. It was extra special to have Dad in Cape Town & to facilitate different dinners and groupings with the family. After all, without me here, it would probably be very unlikely for Dad to see all my various cousins again. It was nice to be a bridge and to see Dad connect across bloodlines.
Over the one weekend Dad was here for, we traveled to Paternoster, a beautiful little fishing village up the west coast. We dined (opulently) at the local restaurant Die Strandloper, a Khoisan term used to descibe nomads who hunted their food via fishing on the beach. Their particular beach-nomadship gave way to all sorts of fish and breads cooked on an open fire. In best of style, we ate on the beach ten, no kidding, ten courses consisting mainly of fish and bread. Included was crayfish, engelvis, stompneus, and of course, mussels (aka mossels). On our own time in Paternoster Dad & I also managed to build our very own all-American braai (south african term for barbeque). True to South African form, we took about 3 hours to cook our dinner, finally eating our feast of lamb chops at about 10 pm! Please note the candlelit braai photo, our only way to see while cooking!
During Dad’s time here I was also able to share the library with him. Since school was out on spring break during his time here, we managed several very busy mornings in the peace of the childless school, getting a lot of my backing completed! Also, Dad had some more intimate experiences with meeting the school maintenance staff as we all lunched together during those days.
Alas! Another major change occurred last weekend when my cousin Georgia and her family of 3 set sail for Australia to embark on new opportunities there. Her family (including baba Rebecca, so often featured in my blog) has been my rock while in Cape Town, providing me with an incredibly important lifeline of connectivity. Their emigration of course comes as great loss, however I’ve been so lucky to have them in my first 9 months here in CT. They've enabled me to settle in so sweetly, abundant in afternoon playtimes with Rebecca and even more abundant with advice - like where to buy art supplies, the best koeksisters in town, helping me to navigate the crazy streets, etc.
On Tuesday, while Dad was still here, I started my TEFL course at the English Centre for Language. So far the learning has been fast-paced, days filled with micro-teaching to our small class of 4, observing foreigners in their English classes and speed-dialing through the grammar learned in years way past. But it’s been great and is giving me a taste for better teaching methods and ways to prepare, things I’ve had to teach myself and that I’ve felt could easily be improved upon! It’s a good step in the right direction, although I have had to let go of my baby the “library” and my students for a whole month!
So now, with Georgia, Mike & Rebecca gone and my Dad’s visit over, I am spending a weekend away with Georgia’s father and his wife, Keith and Christina, on their small farm 3 hours drive from CT. It’s located closest to the town of Montagu, at the edge of semi desert in an area called die klein karoo (or the little karoo). Low lying mountains surrounds, mating calls of birds abundantly abounding, 2 little froggies deep swimming in the spring-fed pool, I am enjoying a stupendendously sunny day, reflecting, easing out, soaking up some strong solar energy. It’s weekends like this where it feels like all will come right.
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