Week 6 - 20/09 - 26/06
A bit of a patchy overview of this week....too much has happened since the beginning of that week!
Tuesday we did an arts and crafts session at the drug rehabilitation centre - the only session in the rehab centre that is a certainty on our schedule. We had some clay so got the residents sculpting their names/something to do with what they want to do when they're older/miscellaneous other..). A lot fun with the boys and the girls (they are separate for almost all activities because chaos reigns otherwise!)
The only downside was that the boys had a longer session than we planned so clay was used as ammunition and ceiling decoration(!) rather than for sculpting purposes...there were also a handful of fist fights and a incident with a chair being used as a weapon.
Tensions ran high and so the afternoon ended on a rather stressful note - but you definitely live and learn!
I went into the disability home on Wednesday with the learners (pupils) from the school.
It was nice for the learners to be there because I could run an activity without having to be everywhere all at once; which happens very easily when there are 10-15 residents all doing one task and only me (and sometimes Gail) available to help out.
So the residents made collages with the learners and I floated around a little bit. Taking to the manager and her son about possible future activity ideas in the home, chatting to a new resident about his interest in playing darts and generally helping out with the activity.
It was really good to see the learners engaging with the residents rather than just standing around or helping with the garden and the cleaning; obviously those things are important but opportunities to interact and boost the spirits of the residents shouldn't be missed.
Thursday we had a very interesting morning in the drug rehab centre.
A long, intense meeting (that really wasn't planned!) lots of talking, more emotion than you can shake a stick at and generally a very tiring day. I'm really not sure how to even begin to describe or explain what happened, my brain is still working on processing everything!
All throughout the week my family were staying in a guesthouse close to where we live so they spent the days gallivanting around and seeing the sights of Cape Town in pretty much record time! We saw them most evenings - either with them coming over to eat, us going out to eat or at least just hanging out together for a few hours, so great to have them around - even if it threw our routine around a bit!
On Friday it was Heritage Day or National Braai Day or both! A public holiday :)
Gail and I were up early and packing everything into the boot of the parents hire car :)
We (i.e. my dad :P) drove the 5-6hrs (which actually turned out to be 7-8hrs because of roadworks and holiday traffic!) down to Knysna, a town on the coast; along the Garden Route; very beautiful scenery while driving.
We spent the weekend chilling out, watching films, bike rides and canoeing on the lagoon near our house.
I say 'our house' it was actually a friends of ours in the UK - who said that we could stay there for a few days. The house was on a small, exclusive island just past Knysna - so lovely of them! Leisure Island is an amazing holiday destination!
Week 7 - 27/09 - 03/10
We were in Knysna till Wednesday as it was a week of school holiday - sleeping, shopping, eating good food and drinking good wines, going on hikes, canoeing every day, reading books, going to markets - generally just relaxing and enjoying ourselves.
Stopped by at Gordons Bay on our drive home. Ironically the day we drove home was the most consistent day in terms of hot, sunny weather - other days had a tendency to be cloudy and overcast, specially for the visiting Brits!
My family left shortly after we got back from Knysna - which made me feel rubbish for the rest of the evening :s
Luckily Thurs morning was bright and sunny - I got a text saying the fam were home safely (its soo weird to fly to the other side of the world in 12hrs!)
We went food shopping, chilled out at Mugg&Bean with S and used their internet as our home connection was temporarily indisposed.
If you don't know what Mugg&Bean is you obviously haven't been reading my blog so far (shame on you :P) ..just go and read some previous posts...
Friday was work day, that became otherwise known as laaazzeee day. oops. nevermind though it was very nice.
Saturday was the Old Biscuit Mill (marketplace). So. much. fun. Lots of cool shops and stalls; plenty and plenty of amazing, cheap(ish) food and drink (beer for 90p..yes please!), sunshine, good company, great atmosphere. Love that place!
Late afternoon was chill time and I cooked my mums mushroom lentil bake in the evening which went well and initiated many conversations on how the recipe could be played with to suit different people's taste.
Good times!
Sunday we went to Hout Bay Market again with S, C and many new friends. We love that market! Onto Hout Bay - ate the largest fish portion I've ever been served and then went home to work and attempt to prepare ourselves for Monday morning!
A great week this one :)
I love my family, I love all our friends in Cape Town, I love Table Mt!
Peace out x
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