In the apartment

And now, in the "doesn't do it justice" category...

 

View of the sunset over the ocean from our apartment window.

Street scenes on the way to work

A weekend in rocklands

This is the primary reason that Luke wanted to move here. Bad pictures but the place was amazing

Office views

South African for wine country

A work meeting brought the family out to wine country today for lunch at one of the local vineyards. This is about 45 minutes east of town. Our first seafood here was pretty outstanding as we got a royal platter with six different delicious critters. The hang was also very kid friendly and Nora got to make some lunch friends. We will be back...

Language

It's pretty nice that English is the main language around here, but there are still challenges other than just the accents. Besides switching over to Britishisms (boot and bonnet for trunk and hood, lift for elevator, nappies for diapers, flat for apartment, torch for flashlight, etc.), there are South African Englishisms. "Shame" means "it's a shame," but also means "how cute." Oranges are called "naartjies." Bakkie is a pickup truck. After someone says thank you, instead of "you're welcome" you say "pleasure." A swimsuit is called a "cozzie," as in swim costume. Waiters are apparently called waitrons. Lekker means good. Traffic lights are called robots (on our first day I asked our doorman where the grocery store was, and his directions included going to the second "rrrrobot" with a rolled R). Then of course there's "now" which means right now, "now-now" which means soon, like in the next hour, and "just now" which means sometime in the not immediate future, like "I'll call you just now." There you have it. Now you'll sound like a local when you come visit us. See you soon!

A day about the cape

More driving practice from the right side of the car on the left side of the road.

Penguin peeping, or screaming in Ivan's case

Sea and mountains

That's Table Mountain and Lion's Head in the background (the two mountains)

Day at the park

That white apartment building all the way on the right is where we live 

That little blip waaaay in the back, to the left of the last building, to the right of the other swing, is Green Point Lighthouse.

Sawubona from Cape Town!

After 22 hours, more of less, of travel, we arrived at our apartment in the Seapoint neighborhood of Cape Town. It's crazy to finally be here, after so many months of preparation. The apartment's nice, though a little small. It's right on the ocean beach, with great views of Table Mountain and Lions Head. It's really weirdly set up, to an American. Light switches are in odd places. The bathroom in our room has a sink and shower, but no toilet. Weird! We're required to pay for weekly maid service, which doesn't cost much. That'll be tough to get used to, hardy har har. Shopping at the grocery store was different from in the states, but not too exotic. Mostly the same stuff. Groceries are cheaper. I don't have my binoculars yet, but I've ID-ed a half-dozen birds. Our neighborhood is supposed to be nice and really safe. Judging from the crowd at the grocery store, it seems to be middle class and pretty evenly mixed, racially. We haven't really made it out into the city yet due to nap schedules, lack of car, and trying to get stuff done at the apartment, like getting internet set up, etc. Also due to losing the only key to the apartment. Whoops. I did take Nora on a stroller walk across the street to the beach. There are a couple playgrounds really close by but I haven't seen any kids there and I'm not sure if they're sketchy or not so we haven't partaken yet. Nora has been sick this morning, some kind of stomach bug, so hopefully that clears up soon.

It's nice to be able to unpack after 9 weeks of living out of suitcases, but we're excited to find our permanent place and for our stuff to arrive (due in mid-July) so we can REALLY settle in and feel like we live here. We need a long-term, unfurnished rental, which apparently can be hard to find, oddly, but we'll figure it out I'm sure. 

We're sitting here listening to KEXP online at the moment. Holla! Anyway, that's all the news I've got for now. Drop a line if you get a chance!