Week One - It Smells Like Seabreeze

Happy New Year from Team South Africa. We went to the waterfront in Cape Town and hungout with a few thousand other people and saw some fireworks. But I’m guessing you want to know what else we’ve been up to.

We did a whole range of things this week: explore Muizenberg, orientation type stuff, find internet connections, celebrate New Year, celebrate Chelsea’s birthday, climb Mount Muizenberg, worship & intercession, grocery shopping, football, ultimate Frisbee, play Bananagrams, get sunburnt and recover from jet lag. 

First impressions of Muizenberg: sun, sand, beach, seabreeze and security.

Muizenberg is a small beach suburb of Cape Town. It used to be a wealthy Jewish area until after Apartheid when in an effort to integrate the different races in South Africa the government moved a whole bunch of people in. The wealthy people soon left and the area became a bit ghetto. But since then wealthier people have begun to move back and Muizenberg now has a hippy surfer vibe: think surf schools, art galleries, vegan cafes and people intentionally walking around with no shoes on. Although it looks nice and shiny the patrolling security guards and barred windows tell a different story.

Muizenberg is pretty small and we’re easily identified as YWAMers. It's a bit creepy. I’m not sure what it is that gives us away as not being local – it might be our foreign dress sense, mix of nationalities and the fact they we walk everywhere in a group but maybe the people here are just psychic.

We’ve been staying in a hostel about three minutes from the beach front. For the first few days we had the place to ourselves so it felt like our house. But since then a group of Korean YWAMers from Canada has joined us so we had to learn how to share again.  

Monday was our first full team day. Tuesday we explored Muizenberg. Wednesday we headed for the park by the beach to hang out and play football and Ultimate Frisbee with whoever was around. We were joined by a couple of families which was cool.

Thursday we climbed Mount Muizenberg, where the Norwegian contingent more than proved that they are the fittest nation among the team. Not only did they lead the hike at a pretty speedy pace but they also managed to talk the entire way up the mountain. While most of us were struggling to breathe they practically ran up the trail. The view from the top was totally worth it though. Even if we were afraid that we were gonna get blown away – I’m talking gale force winds and the temptation to open an umbrella and jump.  

Thursday afternoon we were joined by our school leader Josie. She stayed for a few days and gave us the low down on what the team did here last year and on the local area. She also managed to win most rounds of Bananagrams. Now that she’s left to rejoin her team we’re all competing for the anointing of the ‘Spirit of Josie’ to lead us into Bananagram victory.

New Year’s Day was our day off so we walked along the coast to Kalk’s Bay and had some seriously good Fish and Chips. We also saw some seals that swam into the harbour to eat fish scraps from the fish market. The train back to Muizenberg was an interesting experience – we witnessed a bit of the racial tension that divides South Africa.    

There you have it: Week One over and out.