This is winter?!

So much more to talk about about after my first full weekend in Cape Town!

Friday was spent chilling out and watching a movie so there isn't much to share there.  Although I did have one of those life-changing moments I was told I would have on my adventure:  I managed to make myself a legitimate meal.  Salmon with spaghetti.  It was one of my proudest moments.

In other news, the weather has been great lately.  Saturday and Sunday each had temperatures of around 75 and perfectly blue skies, which meant it was a great weekend to do some sightseeing and take some pictures.  I spent the first half of the day taking a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour of the city and it's suburbs.  We hopped on at the District Six Museum near Perspectives and saw the sights in Cape Town from the second level of the big red double-decker bus (which reminds me of my other cooking specialty: the double-decker pb&j).  We were given headphones so that we could hear about what we were seeing, so I learned a lot about the city.

Here are some highlights:

The city skyline with part of District Six in the foreground.  District Six is a part of Cape Town comprised of about 60,000 people of many races.  In the 1970s the apartheid regime ordered that people be removed from their homes here and, despite protest, the South African government had these homes bulldozed.  Most of District Six now looks like this.

The square in this photo was the fan headquarters of the 2010 World Cup in Cape Town.  This is where big crowds would watch the games if they didn't have tickets.  The building on the far left is City Hall.  This is where Mandela addressed his people for the first time after being released from prison.

The Cape Town City Bowl from the base of Table Mountain. 

A panoramic view of Camps Bay.  Site of my future vacation home.

After spending some time on the beach we continued on our tour of the oceanside suburbs, which were ridiculously nice, and stopped at the V&A Waterfront for lunch.  After refueling we headed to Greenmarket Square where we did some souvenir shopping.  I bought myself a South African soccer jersey which I wore proudly yesterday after work.

The District Six museum was where we began and ended our tour and I checked out the exhibits before heading back to Perspectives.

On Saturday night we got a group together and checked out a club on top of one of Cape Town's tallest buildings, the ABSA tower.  It was a pretty upscale place but with the help of some locals we got in free of charge.  The view was amazing and everyone had a great time and safely made it home.

Sunday was spent on the roof of Perspectives where we relaxed, enjoyed the sun, and had a braii.

Unfortunately, after such a great weekend I had to go back to work Monday.  Work is going well.  Lately we've been creating a communications strategy for the Sport for Social Change Network in the Western Cape.  We are piloting the whole thing and I'll be without the other intern after Thursday so it should be a good challenge.  Some of SSCN's partners are the German government, the South African Sport and Recreation Department and Nike, so I'll get to work with some pretty big communications departments.  

I've visited the coffee shop near the place I work pretty frequently since I've been here and the guy who works there already knows my order when I walk in.  After that, I feel like I've officially been initiated to Cape Town.

So as you can see, all is well in the southern hemisphere.  

Enjoy the MLB All-Star Festivities in Arizona this week and Roll Tribe.  That Travis Hafner walk-off grand slam was glorious.

- Ben