Hello Everybody- Thank you all for your comments it was great to hear from everyone. I think you should all visit so you can see how incredible that mountain really is- and experience the INSANE wind (weather forecast for today: Gale force southeasterly winds reaching 65km/h or 35kt are expected between Table Bay and Cape Agulhas.) . The trees actually grow sideways here because it is so wind! Things have been going quite well since I last posted- instead of going to bed early like i planned we actually ended up going out for a drinks and dancing with the girls who work in the dorm and some of their capetonian friends which was really fun! It was nice to meet new people and the place we went was very fancy so it was fun to get dressed up and go out together. And afterwards I had a terrific sleep which I was very happy about and made for a better day. We continued to sell books with this women called Cherry who is hilarious because she is VERY stern about the dress code and the girls try valiantly to break it but she manages to catch every single bracelet, ring, short skirt, wrong tights and messy hair there is. I think as a student it would be quite frustrating but being on the other side is quite entertaining. Afterwards marina and I did some groceries including figure out my cell phone and buying a 16R bottle of wine (2.30 CND) for dinner tonight- which should be interesting (or awful according to NIna's mum). Last night was also our dinner with Nel and Nina which was very fun. Nel drove us to their house showing us all the sights on the way incluing the hospital where the first heart transplant was ever done! There house is very nice and has a pool which we are hoping we can swim in at some point.... We went to a nice small italian place on the waterfront and had huge pizzas which were very yummy both last night and this afternoon! Great to see both of them and very nice to be around a mum again- and as she is a teacher she can give us a bit of inside scoop. Today we worked with the sports department because the Jrs. did their sports trials to day (swimming, running, high jump and long jump ) because their sports day is coming up. An 11 year old girl managed to jump 4m today- extremely impressive. We got off early and so Marina and I set off to Camp's bay a beachy area on the other side of Table Mountain. It was lovely out today 30 degrees - very windy however, we were on the beach and it was like being pelted by tiny needles because the sand was blowing at us. and the water is freezing!!!!! But we had a good poke around and had the most amazing icecream at this place called sinful. Afterwards we decided to walk a bit towards the waterfront of cape town (on the other side of table mountain) until we got tired and then we could call a cab (no public transport here so we a pinching pennies a bit when it comes to cabs). So we decided to follow the water and ended up walking for 3 HOURS 10+km to the waterfront. We were just chatting and having a good time and we kept saying things like "just around the bend". It ended up being a really beautiful walk and a lot of fun plus we are feeling like we burnt off our icecream and got some physical activity. We looked around the waterfront mall for a bit (you could be anywhere in the world in that mall- much cooler shops than at home) and i tried to buy flip flops (because mine kept breaking during our adventure) but they all cost at least 140R which is wayy to much- if only they had an old navy. Finally we cabbed back to Gardens (shopping area new St. Cyps) and fought gale winds while walking up to the school (very much uphill). We made it back in one piece with lots of stories to tell. Tonight we are going to meet Nina at a club called Tin Roof and tomorrow we are planning to go to the beach for the day (a sheltered one!). Plans for Sunday are up in the air- perhaps seeing the penguins with Nina. I am very upset with myself because i FORGOT my camera :( so weve agreed to do it again to capture the amazing scenery! Hope all is well at home- stay in touch! Looking forward to calling Ottawa this weekend, it has been too long. Oh and I saw my first uncaptured Zebra!!! (they are apparently are v. common here but i freaked out like a true tourist!)

Love Heather