Weekend fun

I shall now contradict my post from a few weeks ago, in which I told you not to call me a tourist, by showing you lots of touristy photos.

A few weekends ago, I visited Cape Town to hang out with Emily and to run in the 10 km Gun Run.

I love Cape Town!  Especially when it is called 'Kaapstad' because that just sounds a million times cooler than 'Cape Town'.

On Saturday, Emily and I walked around the Company Gardens again.  It was a glorious warm day.

The Cape Town Bonsaii Festival just happened to be in the Company Gardens at the same time we were!  This was my favorite tree.

How could you NOT love this city when there are such awesome street performers?  These girls were going to town in the market square, and they were really good!

We passed a drumming circle.  Emily joined in!  So did I, but I was not nearly as good at this as Emily.  Apparently, in addition to being somewhat tone-deaf, I also have no rythm.

On Sunday, I ran the Gun Run in the morning.  This was a really great race that started from the Cape Town stadium, went through Green Point and in front of the lighthouse, and wound through the V&A Waterfront.  After the race, we took a drive down the Cape Peninsula towards Simon's Town.  We convinced Marianne, one of the Anhouse girls, to join us.

Gorgeous views on the way down to Simon's Town!

Simon's Town is a pretty little spot with some cool stores and charming cafes.  But the real reason people come to Simon's Town is to go to Bolders Beach.  What is so special about Bolders?

Yes, Penguins!

Show off.

They're everywhere, all over the rocks that give Bolders its name, under the bushes, in the water...

Bolders also has the best signage I've ever seen:

Look under your vehicle for penguins?!?  OK.  Noted.

On the way back up the coast, we stopped at this idyllic beach.  Yes, you can see mountains on the horizon there.  This is the False Bay side of the peninsula, so you are looking East, sort of towards Hawston.

The water was quite cold.

This is probably my very favorite picture of Emily.  Actually, we have a picture of my sister Amy at the beach standing in this exact position, with her hands on her hips and her shades over her eyes and her mouth in a pout.  The only difference is Amy was 5.  Sorry, Em, for putting that up on the blog, but I couldn't resist!

'YASC 2013'.  Just a little advertisement for our awesome program!

More great signage.  I got SUPER excited when I saw this one.  I looked, but sadly I did not see any sharks here.  I'm DYING to see one, mostly so I can point at it and shout 'SHAAAAAAARRRRKK!!!!'

On Sunday night, Emily and I went up to the Rhodes Memorial.  She hadn't been there yet, so I had to show it to her.  And I know I already put up a video from this spot, but I really can't show it to you enough.  It's just SO PRETTY!

On a bit of a sad note, this was the last weekend that Emily and I spent together in South Africa.  Emily has decided to return to the US.  I will miss her a lot, but I am really happy that she is making the best decision for herself, and I wish her all the best in whatever she decides to do next!  If you want to know more about Emily's experience in Cape Town and her decision to return to the US, you best hear it from her: http://theysolovedtheworld.blogspot.com/2013/10/lessons-ive-learned-important-update.html

Now for some pictures of what I do on my weekends when I'm in Hawston:

This is the Saturday morning market in Hermanus.  It's just like the farmers' market by my house in Richmond, except there are fewer veggie vendors and more craft vendors.  Also there is beer and wine for sale, so you can come meet up with some friends, enjoy a tasty beverage and some lunch, and do some shopping and people watching.

And that's exactly what I did!

After the market, I headed over to the New Harbor (pictured here) to watch the rugby semi-finals.  One of the guys I met this day happens to work at an abelone farm.  So after the rugby, I was lucky enough to get a tour!

This is what an abelone farm looks like.

These are the breeding stock for the farm.  All the abelone in this tank are female, and they're around 14-15 years old.  Whenever it's time to breed them, hormones are added to the water in the tank to get them ready.  Ditto with the male tank right above this one.  Then the male sperm are put into the female tank.  The mature male and female abelone never actually come into contact with one another. Sorry, but apparently there is no romance among shellfish.

The fertilized eggs are then transferred to big holding tanks.  At this point, they look like tiny little dots in the water, and they're free-floating.  I didn't bother to take a picture of this stage of the process, because it really just looks like a big tank of sea water.  You have to look really closely to see the tiny little dots.

Once the abelone get a little bigger, they are transferred to tanks with these little pipe and filter devices that are covered with algae.  That's on purpose; the baby abelone eat the algae.

Those tiny little brown specks above Rod's thumb are the baby abelone.  Aren't they cute?  You're right, I didn't think they were very cute either.

Once they are a little bigger, they are transferred to another tank, where they grow some more on these cones.

Eventually they're big enough to go into this type of tank, where they get even bigger.

For the rest of their lives, the abelone are just moved from tank to tank and allowed to grow.  These are just a fraction of the tanks they have here.  It takes like 5-6 years for the abelone to get big enough to ship out.  

I asked if I could touch one, and Rod responded by plucking this guy out of the tank and plopping it on my hand:

It was slimy.

It was a pretty cool day.  And I have to admit, even though working at an abelone farm means lots of cleaning and fishy smell and slimy critters, I have to admit the 'office' has a great view:

I hope you enjoyed some fun touristy photos!  I sure enjoyed taking them for you.  I will again offer the disclaimer that in between my fun weekends, I actually do work pretty hard at the care centre, as you could see in my last post.  So if you're thinking that being a YASC missionary is all about playing with penguins and abelone and going to the beach, you're absolutely wrong!  These things are just experiences I enjoy in my free time.  But enjoy them I do.  That's the beauty of YASC:  not only do you work in a very practical job, but you are also encouraged to dive in and really explore the country where you're stationed.  It is my priviledge to get to share this little corner of South Africa with you!