More flowers and good views

Flowers

So Matt should really be writing about these since he is the expert, but he is out making us some money. Go, Matt! Anyways, these are some flowers that we saw on our hike up Helderberg mountain. The mostly pink funny looking flower is a protea, which is a big family or class or whatever, Matt would know. They are all over the place here. Really strange looking and fascinating, and it is the country flower.

Our Vacation in Somerset West

The past few days we got to housesit for some people that we have met here. They live about 30 minutes outside of Cape Town in the middle of the vinyards. We have been taking care of their house and their dog, which is a lab. Its been great. It has been really nice to get to hang out with a dog. I sure miss Buddha, but seeing another happy dog only brings back happy memories. We have been taking advantage of their oven because that may be the thing we miss most. Our first night we made baked macaroni and cheese and I made malva pudding for dessert. The mac an cheese was amazing, but the malva pudding is from another world. It's by far the best non-chocolate dessert I've made...ever. Its a south african dessert and it is kind of a cake drenched in caramely custard. Its also very easy to make. I would be happy to give out the recipe I used, but its pretty easy to find on the internet. It's worth your time. Seriously. Anyways, then we went for a hike up Helderberg Mountain. The hike started at this family farm and then wound you through the vinyards in the whole area and then up this mountain for these incredible views. It was one of the most unique hikes I have ever been on...really focusing on the journey and not just the destination. And there was this black lab at the farm that followed us all the way up...it was like a 5 hour hike. This dog was exhausted. People had written in a comment book at the farm that Trix was a good guide and then we realized that the dog's name was Trix. That dog lives a good life, just getting to pick his people for the day and go for a beautiful hike. Obviously, it again made me think of Buddha and all of the times he would go on hikes with me. He really loved them. It was nice to be around dogs for sure.
Then, we went fishing but you'll have to wait for the photos and the story on that one. All in all, it was a really great little vacation. Although it seems like we should feel like we've gotten a big vacation, so far it has been a lot of work trying to get settled. So it was nice to kick back this weekend.

Fly Fishing In Africa is pretty similar to flyfishing everywhere else. The fish are strong, the first one nearly pulled my rod from my hand. Stream season opens soon, and I will be exploring all sorts of waters. The job is going really well. Its been a crash course, but I'm leanring loads about the mundane details of running a business as i have essentially been running this shop the last 2 weeks.

Those little hands in the sand are from the baboons. it was kind of creepy seeing these tiny hands, but also really cool. The Ostrich there was wild, just hanging out chowing whatever they eat near the beach, quite a nice spot I'd say. He had a female nearby as well. The bird is a Fish Eagle, probably the coolest sounding bird ive heard. Its not a crazy exotic sound, just a beautiful clear call.

Members of the Cape Piscatorial Society

So I was planning on posting some new pictures, but Matt took the camera. He went off fishing this weekend and left me alone...cameraless, so I'll have to post some new pictures once he gets back. And hopefully, he will have a picture with a big fish in it. Matt is trying to make us some new friends this weekend. He met this guys at work and they are fishing up at some lake this weekend. The rivers here don't open for fishing until September. Matt's boss has sponsored him with the Cape Piscatorial Society, so now we can get in free to all the rivers...you have to rent a key that will get you into rivers here. Matt has also gotten all sorts of other job offers through the fly shop. He is apparently going to be the score keeper at the South African National Fly Fishing Championship. I asked him what you do to keep score in fishing, and he said he didn't know, but that they needed a non-national to do it, so he offered. He also is giving a couple of casting lessons soon.

In other news, we have got some basic internet at our house. We have a decent signal about 50% of the time and a super slow signal the rest of the time. BUt its better than nothing. Internet, we have found is very expensive. Everything here is on a prepaid system...internet, phone, electricity. Actually the electricity is the probably the most surprisingly expensive thing here. We are paying more for electricity here than we did at home and I have never been so frugal with my electricity. During the day, we never use lights and at night we will only have one light on at a time. When we are moving from room to room, I'll go flip on the next room's light while Matt stays back and flips off the old room's light. I read that our water heater is probably what's taking up most of the electricity, so we have started turning it off when we aren't using it. Right now its like a game to see how long it actually needs to be on before a hot shower.

Nothing new on my end. Matt is the exciting one. I have been practicing being a good housewife...although I have no children and really no house to take care of, so it doesn't seem that bad. I have been getting a little work done, but it moves really slowly here. Everything moves slowly here. Everything.

That's it for now. I will post some pictures as soon as Matt brings the camera back.

We are back!

Hello all. Bad news is that we really can't get internet at our place right now, but I can at least get it a few blocks away. So I have included some pictures of our new place. Its not the most tasteful decorations, but it is relatively spacious. The best part is the garden. That's a pool too in the picture. Matt is pretty excited about that. The main garden is actually the garden to the main house, but the lady that lives there is open to Matt using it. And its nice to look at mainly.

I wanted to let Matt put in a post about his new job, but he is busy working and since we can't get internet at home, its easier for me. So he may have some things to add later, but for now you have to hear it from me. I don't know how he does it, but Matt wasn't even looking for a job and got offered a job at a fly shop. The man that owns it, John, really likes Matt. He doesn't have any employees and it seems like he wants to take some time off to fish and just to have time off. So he hired Matt and so far this week, he has worked every day. Which is good because things here are a lot more expensive than I thought. Partly, its because the dollar is doing so poorly, but its little things that are expensive...like electricity. Which we need, but really don't use much of compared to at home, but we are still probably going to spend about $50 a month. Anyways, Matt's job....so the owner and his friend want to take Matt fishing and show him the rivers and then let him start doing some guiding. Again, I don't know how he does it. So he is in heaven. Between the gardens and the fly shop, I don't know if Matt will return home with me in 2 years. We may have to try a long distance relationship. And my gift to Matt last Christmas was that he could get a surfboard when we got here (cheap gift then, expensive now). He found a guy who custom makes surfboards which are actually relatively cheap. He is getting a brand new surfboard here for less than a used surfboard at home. So he is also pretty excited about that.

In other news, spring is starting here which is exciting. Flowers are starting to bloom. The picture I included was a picture of wild crocosmia. They grow all over here and I can't believe it. They are one of my favorite flowers. And calla lilies and hibiscus are growing all over the place too. Its just the begining...

On hold for a moment

So we moved into our new place. It is great and we will post pictures soon, but we don't have internet at our house right now. It has been a really frustrating adventure. I set everything up and jumped through all of their hoops to get internet set up. They use cell phone signals for the internet and apparently my neighborhood doesn't have any cell phone signal through this particular company. Not even a weak one. So it may be sometime before anything happens. In the meantime, I am sitting in the mall with my computer using the internet because it works here. So we may not be able to post new posts for a while and may not be reachable by Skype or email for a bit. But hopefully soon. Or I will just start talking on Skype in the mall. People already look at me like I am crazy that I am sitting in the mall with my laptop. Oh well! Hopefully we will be back soon.