I Love My Hood

"I love my hood" is a popular phrase on bumper stickers and window signs in South Africa. Folks are trying to show pride for their neighborhood despite the urban problems that are constantly threatening folks' security.

In Saint James, Marin and Sophia have found a hood. Since it is a gated complex, they can run around the complex and play while Brooke and I chill or read or jog or nap or make dinner or hang out with other adults in the complex. It's beautiful. Anyway, here are the kids in the hood...

Jade, Joshua, Hiram, Sophia and Marin

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Bo Kaap and Noon Gun

The Bo Kaap is a neighborhood in Cape Town settled by the Cape Malay community. It's distinctive architecture includes these brightly colored houses. We just felt peaceful walking around this part of the city.

Brooke, Marin and Sophia in the Bo Kaap with Signal Hill behind them.

A view of the city from the road up Signal Hill.

We were on our way to witness the daily firing of the noon cannon.

Sophia was NOT excited about the prospect of being close to a cannon when it went off. It was quite loud. You could not only hear it but feel the concussive shock in your chest. Sophia cried.

The naval officer who gave an explanation of the Noon Gun and loaded it gave Sophia the firing cap and seated her on the cannon. She recovered from her crying quickly.

On the day we went, the noon gun had been fired 64,832 consecutive times, dating back to 1902.

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Colorado Burning and Butterfly World

Today was the day we both visited Butterfly World and learned about the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs. It was a surreal juxtaposition. It was cold and rainy here in South Africa - it is winter, afterall - and we had noticed that the temperatures have been in the 90's in Colorado. It had been an extraordinarily dry winter and, apparently, the conditions were just right for a devastating fire. It's been hard to be so far away, but amazing to see - from afar - the ways in which the Colorado Springs community, including First Congregational Church, has pulled together to help people out.

Where we are staying, near Muizenburg, is close to a township called Kayelitscha, with close to a million people living in close quarters, in shacks of varying qualities. Disasters are daily occurrences, with disease and violence a constant part of folks' reality. Accordingly, the community ties are very important. People rely upon each other daily for survival. Why does it take a disaster to help us realize how much we rely upon each other for our very survival. I'm grateful for the life-giving qualities of the communities of which I am a part.

And now, life in the midst of destruction... a few pictures from Butterfly World, in Klapmuts, north of Cape Town.

 

Glass-wing butterflies!

A local getting friendly with Ben's ear.

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Imhoff Farm

Marin and Sophia at Imhoff Farm in Kommitje.

 

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A Brazen Faith

I preached today at Rondebosch United Church. Rev. Steiner is on vacation with his family in Germany. While I've preached hundreds of times now, this was a particularly difficult one and I realize what a difference it makes to know the community to which you are preaching. I tossed and turned the night before. The sermon, entitled "A Brazen Faith," reflects upon the David and Goliath story from I Samuel 17. Here's a link to the audio found on the church's website: http://www.rondeboschunited.org.za/content/brazen-faith-24-june-2012

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Friends

We've become acutely aware of how important people are to us. In some ways, Brooke and I have felt like we are "fasting from community," which is difficult, but we've been lucky to meet some friends in our apartment complex. Here is Maru, another 3-year old, whose family is moving this week. Sophia was sad, but grateful to have made a friend.

 

Two Oceans Aquarium

Yesterday, June 22, we went to the V&A Waterfront, including the Two Oceans Aquarium. It was a cold and drizzly day, so we figured an indoor activity would be good. It's called the Two Oceans because South Africa is where the Indian (warm) and Atlantic Oceans (cold) come together.

Sculpture of South Africa's four Nobel Peace Prize winners: Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, F.W. De Klerk, and Nelson Mandela. Luthuli is the only Congregationalist ever to win the prize (unless you argued that Obama was since he belonged to Trinity UCC).

Sophia and Marin clowning around in the Nemo tank.

Marin and the ragged-toothed sharks.

Sea Point Promenade

We knew it would be winter here, and we knew it would be cold, but it has been pretty darn cold here (notice our Colorado coats). What's hard is to go places and imagine how warm and sunny and lively they are in January. Such is the case with the Sea Point Promenade. The pool behind Brooke is right up against the sea and is filled with filtered sea water and is unheated. A few brave people were swimming in it as we walked by. We were not among the brave.

Three lions roar in honor of Lion's Head behind us.

 

Simon's Town Scratch Patch

There is a company in Simon's Town (on False Bay) that produces semi-precious stones. They have a scratch patch open to children to come and pick out their own polished stones (tiger's eye, quartzite, topaz, etc.) Needless to say, Marin and Sophia had a lot of fun.

 

Silvermine Nature Preserve

Now that we're back in Cape Town, the challenge is to find things to keep ourselves occupied. We are, in a real sense, on vacation for three months. This is both wonderfully freeing (from the day-to-day grind of a family with both parents working full-time) and kind of challenging (what do you do with yourself when you don't have a routine to fill up most of your time?). We don't have unlimited resources, so we've got to budget our money and our time. We have done most of the big things to do in and around Cape Town (Table Mountain, Robben Island, Kirstenbosch Gardens, etc.), so we decided to see what else there is to do. Right behind the village where we live is the Silvermine Nature Preserve with includes much of the Table Mountain National Park. It is covered with fynbos, the low scrubby plants that thrive in this climate. Here are some pics of our hike up the Silvermine River to the Silvermine Reservoir.

Brooke and Sophia at a pond.

Benjamin with Table Bay in the background.

Marin exploring some beautiful Protea specimens (South Africa's national flower).

End of the Road

On Saturday, June 16, we returned to Cape Town from our 13-day road trip. It was quite an adventure, a bit too adventurous for a couple and two young children, but we hung in there together. We got through some difficult times and had some amazing expriences we will never forget. Yesterday, Sophia was playing "school" by herself in the living room of our St. James apartment. Brooke overheard her saying, "Have any of you seen a rhinocerous? Well, I have, a white rhino and a black rhino." Priceless.

Haggard but happy, we felt like we were returning "home" to the cape through the winelands. Here are a few shots from the road.

Snow in Africa.

 

Vineyards.

 

The Karoo

There is a large part of the interior of South Africa that looks like parts of Utah and Wyoming. Dry, vast, with scrubby vegetation and bluffs and mesas. It is uniquely beautiful. On June 15, we visited the Karoo National Park near Beaufort West.

This could be Utah, right?

There was a lot of wildlife (game, they call it here), some of which we also saw in Kruger and Parys, and some of which was new.

Black-backed Jackal. Rare sighting because it's normally nocturnal. Guess who spotted it? If you guessed Brooke, you're right.

Lots of ostrich. Here's a whole family.

Here was our favorite antelope, the gemsbock. The guy wins the prize for antelope fashion. Clean lines, unique, but not too flashy.

Marin and Sophia on the fossil trail, learning about Therapsids, who lived in this area 250 million years ago (30 million years before the dinosaurs). Take that, T-Rex.

 

Bloemfontaine

Didn't have much time in Bloemfontaine, but learned it is the capital of the Free State and Judicial Capital of the country. Here we are on the evening of June 13 at the Waterfront, a lagoon with shops and a zoological park and a stadium surrounding it.

 

Morning on the Vaal

We woke up on June 13, 2012 and it was cold. Frost on the grass. Glad we brought some proper Colorado parkas. Here we are walking along the Vaal River through pastureland.

 

Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg

On June 12, 2012, we went to the Apartheid Museum. This was an amazing thing to see, a museum depicting the rise of apartheid and the struggle to overcome it. At the entrance, you are given tickets that tell you to go through the white or non-white door. You meet up shortly thereafter, but it initiates a very visceral and moving experience, including the ceiling of nooses in a room which describes assassinations and executions and "accidental" deaths. You can visit the museum online at http://www.apartheidmuseum.org/

Renee kindly brought the kids to a casino while Brooke and Ben visited the museum. That's why we're all smiling.

 

Paradise in Parys

We had had a good number of stressful drives and days leading up to our time at Kruger. We left there on the next leg of our journey to Parys, pronounced "Puhrays" to visit Renee Hartslief, a friend of Lynn Young and many others in Colorado Springs. Renee was born in Oklahoma, raised mostly in South Africa, lived in Colorado Springs for 10 years and now lives on a nature preserve. Renee loved our kids and they loved her.

While we had a great time in Kruger, Renee's property has a bunch of animals that come to the fence just outside her home, so we got to observe them close up.

These are sable, somewhat rare and quite valuable. Horns like an antelope, strips and made like a zebra.

Two white rhino just outside the enclosure. Apparently, the main difference between black and white rhino is not their color, but the shape of their mouths, square-lipped and hook-lipped depending upon what they eat.

A baby cheetah that Renee is raising. The kids got to help her give it milk.

Brooke and Sophia on a sunset safari ride.

We slept at the CarryBlaire River Resort, a neighbor of Renee's and had our very own thatched cottages on the Vaal River. Yes, life got much better in Parys.

 

More From Kruger

Here is a species never before seen in Kruger National Park - a beautiful specimen of a driving Brooke Bell (on the right side of the car, left side of the road). Can be dangerous, but we were unharmed.

Hard to see, but that there is a crocodile on the far side of a watering hole.

Giraffe, of course, right outside our car window.

African elephant. Brooke was very good at spotting wildlife. After spotting this elephant, a fancy safari vehicle with lots of people in it drove by. The driver said, thanks for the spot!

Hippos! Apparently, these are the most dangerous of all safari animals because they are extremeely territorial. If you get between them and their watering hole, they will trample you. We remained safely on the far side.

Burchell's Zebra. Notice the smaller, greyer stripes in-between the larger black stripes.

A Windswept Sophia. A highlight of the day was getting to ride around in the car without wearing seat belts. The speed limit was 40 km and we needed all eyes looking out for "aminals," as Sophia called them.