A Beachy Halloween

Happy Halloween! This Halloween was like none other Halloween I’ve had before. Cape Town doesn’t really celebrate this holiday although it’s just now starting to become popular because of all the American movies. Anyways…back to my holiday celebrations…..

I woke up early to go to the morning church service with one of my good friends and we both enjoyed a good cup of coffee and conversation afterwards. (Why do those two always seem to go hand in hand??) Next, we headed over to a bakery called Knead which just opened in our area of town. There’s another location on the beach, but it’s kind of a mission to get there so this new place is great! Because it just opened, they were giving away FREE cappuccinos and americanos and FREE oven fired pizzas, but wait…FREE FRESHLY BAKED BREAD!!!! We literally sat at our table sipping our free cappuccinos while they baked our loaves of bread. As soon as they came out of the oven, they wrapped them up and put them into our hands. Bread doesn’t come more fresh than this bread. Kneadless to say (sorry, couldn’t help myself) we each ate about half of our loaves of bread before heading off to our next destination—THE BEACH!

Now, I’ve always loved the beach and being from Missouri I especially treasure the hours spent in the sun and sand and water. Today was no different. We trekked down to a beach on the Atlantic side (much much colder) and set up our towels for fun in the sun. About every 20 minutes or so I would stop and exclaim… “Guys….we’re at the beach! And there’s a mountain behind us!” My poor South African friends just shook their head at my childish delight, but I didn’t care—I was in paradise. It was Halloween and I was on the beach playing paddle ball in my bikini. This doesn’t happen in Missouri. Ever.

I’ve just now arrived back at home and I think I will make a big dinner with my roommates and enjoy playing Scrabble with my Danish friends. (It’s really an unfair advantage for me, but they wanted to play so I can’t resist) In light of my last community blog, I just want to emphasize how much I’ve been blessed with such a great group of people here in South Africa. From my SA church buddies who would do anything for me to my Danish, German, Mexican, and Canadian roommates who want to play a game that deals with words in their second (or third!) language; I truly can say I am surrounded by amazing people. And that, dear friends, is just one more reason why I love this place so much J

PS- please don’t forget to brush your pearly whites tonight and tomorrow. All those sweets will catch up with your teeth!