Hey my Family and Friends.... I love it here in Muizenberg, South Africa.
The people are Great. The students range from all over the world. Switzerland, Germany, Portugal, South Africa, Cameru, Canada, of course the U.S.A and the list goes on. The weather is quite cold right now but the South Africans promise that it will warm up soon. As long as my hot water-bottle heater is not far away I will be fine. I share a room with two others and we share the bathroom as well. A bit different form the accommodations in New Zealand. There is one thing that transferred over and that would be that there is once again no isolated heating in the buildings. The beauty is really something, with the mountains to look at when I wake up and the ocean less then a block for my front door... what more could I ask for. Well the ocean is a whole lot colder then the ocean I am used to at home and the whole idea of it being shark infested kind of keeps me out anyway. They have three different flags that they fly at the beach depending on what the "shark watchers" see. Yes they are called "shark watchers"... there are usually two to three people that sit on top of the mountain and watch for sharks (this is quite high tech). A white flag with a red shark in it and sirens going off means that there are sharks in the water "right now", red flag means that there were sharks in the water less then four hours ago, black flag means that they can not see clearly the water is too choppy, and green flag means you are good to go. Needless to say I will be staying out of the water unless there is a cage between the sharks and myself. There are some students who are trying to convince me to go with them some time over the nine months, but I still need to think about that. There is a local place where you can jump in a cage, out in the ocean, and watch great white sharks attack the cage you are suppose to be safely guarded in.
Classes start Monday and I am getting a little nervous over all of it but I am sure it will all go quite well. I love the students and staff. There are 20 SBS students, 20 DTC students, and 8 CPS students... which makes the school a little crowded. Did I mention that there are 80 staff. Ya 80 of them! Quite a few are married and most of them do not live on base but there are still a lot. I have yet to meet everyone but I still look forward too.
The pictures to the left are some shots of my room... I hope you like it... it is still a work in progress!
I will talk to you again very soon,
Love Lauren-Jean
