Hello Cape Town!

The first glimpses I got from South Africa were definitely not what I had expected.

I arrived at the airport at 8 AM, but there was no one waiting for me at the arrivals. I felt absolutely lost, there were only five people there, all the shops in the airport seemed closed, and by the time I had gotten my suitcase, everyone I "knew" from my flight was already gone. Everyone except for one girl. I went up to her and it turned out that she had to wait at the airport anyway and was going to meet up with a friend. I followed her around like a little puppy because she had more of a plan than I did. Quite frankly, I was just so happy to have someone to be with until things were sorted out. 

We went to vodacom and got a South African SIM card, I exchanged all the cash I had into rands, and we met up with Dave, her friend. I kept searching for someone who was picking me up, but it was a Sunday and I could reach no one. As crazy as it seems, Dave knew someone who knew someone who knew the number of someone working at the Grootbos Foundation. Finally, two hours later, we reached someone and I was going to be picked up by other volunteers. 

An hour later, Mark, Lars and Joe appeared. I said my goodbyes and thanks to my new "friends" and we headed to the car. Joe had to take a flight back to England that same evening, so we spent the day in Cape Town. We went to the waterfront, which was beautiful. It's obviously for the richer people, you primarily see white people. South Africa still struggles with equality and still shows signs of the Apartheid.

Yes, I'm tiny next to them...

The place felt a bit superficial, like a fusion between a mall and Disneyland. Pleasant and beautiful, but superficial. There was even a Ferris wheel!

The breakfast on the plane being the last thing that I had eaten, the boys knew exactly where to take me for lunch: the food market. 

It's an old factory building filled with food booths. Heaveeeen.

The building and the concept remind me of the "Marktzeit in der Fabrik" back home in Hamburg a lot.

They have pretty much everything you could want. Something fruity and juicy...

Mango Passion. I do not know what they did to make it so amazing, but it beats every juice I've ever had!

Something for your (my) sweet tooth.

This. Springbok on mash with port sauce and rocket. So delicious. I have to go back and get it!

Though it isn't so warm here at the moment, the sun was shining in trough the windows and the rays were tickling our noses.

 There was even room for artsy chandeliers.

We were craving ice cream, so we got some ice cream. Crazy caramel all the way.

I was amazed to see these exotic flowers in a normal grocery store. Aren't they beautiful?

After Joe had gotten a few last gifts to bring back to his family, we headed back to the airport.
We had a drink while looking at some airplanes take off, which is one of my favourite things. Somehow it fascinates me, I can even tell you the airplane model that is taking off, but the credit for that  completely goes to my dad and my brother.

We wished Joe a safe flight home, got to the car and drove off to my "home" for the next two months. It's in Gansbaai, two hours away from Cape Town. We arrived late in the evening, I met all the other volunteers, all of which I really like. It's going to be a nice two months, I can already tell.

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