Conquering Chapman's Peak

Today...I became a runner.  Well, I won't compromise the term "runner" by classifying myself as one, but I was one for a day!  Along with 2 of my cousins and their boyfriends, I woke up at 5 am to do a 10k "road race" (for me, a "road jog") up Chapman's Peak.  For people familiar with Chapman's Peak, the views of the ocean are absolutely spectacular, although it's definitely not designed for a leisurely excursion.  We started at the bottom, the Hout Bay side, and ran 5 k uphill, until we reached the highest point of the peak, and then ran 5 k back down again.  The wind was really howling, so much so that I probably had the running form of one of those forward-leaning 75-year-old joggers.  Going up was obviously the worst, but once I reached the top and started back down my outlook definitely improved.  My ego was dented when one of those 75-year old joggers ended up passing me on the way down, but seeing all of the people that came in after me did make me feel a little better!  I finished in 1:02, and all I really cared about was that the people running the 20k didn't beat me.  The 20k winner came in about 2 minutes after I did, but luckily I was spared that embarrassment.  Even though my calves are probably going to be angry for days, the upside is that any race I may do after this HAS to be easier.

                                                 My cousin Alison and I after we finished

Being in Cape Town has been amazing, and I really am convinced that this is the most beautiful place in the world.  Here is the view on the beach in front of my aunt and uncle's house, where I'm staying:

Last weekend I went paddle boarding with my cousins and uncle right in the spot that you see in the photo above, and it was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience because the sea was swarming with seals!  They had chased massive amounts of sardines to shore, and were playing, lounging, and eating in such large numbers that we just paddled around right next to them.  Mostly they carried on unfazed, and sometimes they turned and looked at me sideways, but never swam away.  I was a bit nervous about sharks, but figured that there was enough other food in the sea, between the sardines and seals, that they probably (or rather, hopefully) wouldn't go for me.

Since being in Cape Town, which is definitely more Afrikaans than Durban, I've been working on my pronunciation of Afrikaans words.  I can say "braai", "boervors", and "bakkie", but I have trouble with words ending in "berg".  I really struggle trying to say what sounds to me like "baaahrrjjgghhh".  Yeah.  If that word looks like it doesn't make sense, that's because it doesn't!  Usually I just make some crazy gutteral sound and hope nobody thinks I'm choking on something.  Another word I have a hard time with, and usually avoid saying, is "weg", which is meant to sound like "vaaahrgghh".  I think.  It's hard because when referring to a place with an Afrikaans name, I have 2 options.  1) I can say it with my accent, which sounds really ridiculous, or 2) attempt an Afrikaans pronunciation, which completely butchers the word AND makes me seem like I'm trying too hard.  So pretty much it's a lose-lose.   I've resorted to using alternate means of communication, such as pointing, or describing the place like "that mountain" or "that steep road".  Although I do have fun learning about very Afrikaans names, such as Kobus (kooo-a-bus) and Jacoba (ya-ko-ba), just because they are so strange-sounding to me.  When someone, poor soul, is trying to teach me something, I mimic the word, and uproarious laughter follows.  But then I usually fire back asking someone to say "hey y'all whatcha doin'?" or something, and then enjoy laughing at their generally ridiculous American pronunciation.  There are always ways to get even.  But anyway, hopefully this skill in the works will come in useful sometime in the future.  If anything else, my pronunciation is definitely horrific enough that it could become a weird party trick...or maybe not.  Maybe for my own sake I should refrain from speaking Afrikaans in public!

I just have to post this photo, it's from Durban.  I took it while standing in my grandparents' back yard- there are mother and baby monkeys all over the place, along the roads, on roofs, in yards, and they are soooo cute.

                                          Look at the baby's little ears!  I want to kidnap him.


Until next time! Totsiens :)