First week

Hey hey,

You'll all probably thinking, finally, another post! Sorry for the long waiting, but we had a very busy week. On Wednesday I had my first tennis lesson after school and Lily had chorale and we both were finished at 16.15, which was quite convenient. Unfortunately for me, it was the hottest day of the week. It was 37 degrees!! However, I had a great time because the 3 other girls that I played with were quite on the same level as me; as in tennis skills AND humor. It was so much fun, the balls were flying everywhere and I think we laughed more rather than playing proper tennis hi hi. I have tennis every week now, because I chose it as my school sport. The others are doing lifesaving on Thursday, and we all participate in JUMP. This is a programme after school on Tuesdays, where we teach maths to underprivileged kids from another school. I think it will be so interesting to work with the children, because we all get one to care for every week.

On Thursday, after school, Cleo(Lily's sister) fetched us to go to Cavendish, which is a small mall near the school. We went there to buy some things for this big event on Saturday called the Met. The theme was black, white and bling, so I bought a pair of silver earrings and a necklace. You can see Hershel girls all the time at Cavendish because they usually go straight after school and don't have time to change etc. The school has this rule that the girls have to look exactly as they have to look during school. For example, you can't loosen your hair, it has to stay in a ponytail. This is done because we represent the school and we have to keep the good reputation. I think it's quite a good rule, but I can imagine that it can get annoying and that you forget it sometimes.
After Cavendish we went home and we had a braai that evening. Two of Cleo's friends came for dinner and some Dutch friends of Peter stayed for a drink. Eventually they also stayed for dinner and we ended up eating at 22.00. This meant going to bed quite late but it was worth it because I had a very nice evening.

Friday we had a very hectic and long day. After school Lil and I were picked up by Debbie and we took Lily to her beautician appointment. Then Debbie and I quickly went to the shops to buy some things. We were in a hurry because two boys from Stellenbosch(university) were going to stay with us that night. Basically the plan was that they would arrive between 15.00 and 15.30 and that I would have to meet them and stay with them until Debbie and Lily came back. They are actually Cleo's friends but she had a birthday party that night so we had to entertain them. When we got home we were delightfully surprised by a phone call saying that the guys would come later. This gave me time to shower and relax for a while. Later Lily also came back from her extra Afrikaans lesson. Debbie and Peter went out for a drink at about 19.30 and after a short while, Courts and Rudi arrived. Lil was nervous and made me all nervous as well because she thought it would be very awkward spending the whole evening with them. We all turned out to have a lovely evening, sitting in the garden(it was such a nice evening to sit outside) and just relax and chat. The guys are SO funny and we went to bed quite late as we were laughing so much. We offered them a place to stay, and they gave us free entertainment!

On Saturday we woke up much earlier than we hoped. One of the reasons was because Rudi was snoring. It was so loud that even with the door closed we could hear him. It actually sounded as he was having an asthma attack!! That day was the day we've all been waiting for since we arrived here. The day of the J&B Met...which is this huge and spectacular event in Cape town with 55.000 visitors. It is a horse race but people mostly go there to socialize and show off there outfits. I must say that I saw a lot of different and amazing outfits! One lady was wearing this really big white feathery hat and a white dress. It looked stunning, but when I walked past her I looked at her face and it turned out to be a man! That was quite funny to see. It started at 10.00 until 18.00, but Lily and I decided to go later, so we got dressed and Lil, Rudi, Courts, Tammy(a very sweet girl from our grade) and I drove to the Met. However we got lost at the end, but eventually we found it. First we went to this guy's house for a drink because he lives opposite of the Met. Lily, Tammy and I left at about 14.00 and the guys would come later on. When we arrived it was sooo incredibly hot that we sat on the grass in the shade. Then we decided to walk around. We couldn't see much of the race, Lily and I found Ash, Kyle and Nienke at around 18.30 and watched the last race with them. That's the only time I actually saw a race that day. One jockey died that day, it was on the news, very sad! We didn't see a lot of people we knew but we just walked around, chatted here and there. We left at 19.00, and then there was the question of to which after party to go to afterwards. We went back to that guy's (Ryan) "house" and just chilled there with all the boys. We had quite a laugh, it's so much fun to meet new people, especially when they make you cry with laughter ha ha!

On Sunday afternoon we had a braai at our house again. There were a lot of people: The 2 Dutch couples, an Australian couple, another couple(Peter's colleagues) and their kids. Lily and I were very tired from the previous day so we were laughing constantly just because we were exhausted. That made us even more tired unfortunately:P...Debbie also bought these 2 handmade cakes. The lady who made them is a legend. I HAD to try both the chocolate as the lemon one!! It was divine:)...The 2 boys who came were playing rugby with Tom and his friends, the adults were talking at the table and Cleo, Lily and I were just chilling on the couch. It was a very relaxed afternoon/evening, but also quite sad because we all realised that we had to go back to school the next day.

It's Tuesday today and we have JUMP after school, so I'm quite keen on trying it! It will be very interesting. Today we only have a practice lesson and next week we start with the kids.

Oops, I forgot to tell you about what subjects I'm taking. I'm taking English(very interesting, we are now analyzing poetry), Afrikaans(first language level!), Business economics(halve of the week), Science(other halve of the week), History and French. I'm not going to tell about how confusing the time tables were and how annoying it was to find out what classroom you're in because Kirs and Nienke already told you about it on their blog;-)

That's it for today!

Love,

Sandz

Picsssss

We're here!

Hi everyone,

This is my first short post from Cape Town! We arrived save and sound on Saturday night, it was a very long flight, but we managed to get through it by watching 4 movies and even some TV series:) Everything looks so different here, but it's very beautiful! The weather is very nice, but I'm surprised how well I am surviving the heat..its actually not that bad! Yesterday we had a 'braai' at the Thompson's, for those who do not know what a braai is: It's a barbecue but bigger and more meat:D. I had a lovely time with all the families.
The houses here are absolutely huge and very beautiful! They could be on the programme Cribs, because these houses are just as luxurious as celebrity's mansions. The gardens are also very big, 'my' garden is next to a forest and when I had breakfast outside the other day I had such a nice view because the house is next to a mountain.
I'm sitting in the computer room at school right now, because we are allowed 2 free periods per day to do our own work. Today we didn't bring any of our books, so I decided to check my email because Kirsten and Nienke already had their free hours. The uniform is fine, its not very pretty but quite comfortable. The shoes are very ugly ha ha! Although, they are very comfortable to walk on. I'll put pictures on later.
I think I'm going to stop now, because the second break will start in a while! I'll post a longer story in the weekend!

Xxx San