I'm definitely arrived

Hey boys and girls

I hope you are all ok in Switzerland. I was very busy the last days, so i hadn't enough time to write my blog. But now, I'am taking time for you.

The last two weeks here in Cape Town were awesome. My program was full, almost every day. I saw a lot of attractions and I had a really great time with the other students. Like the title of this blog is saying, I'm definitely arrived in Cape Town.

Here some highlights:

Saturday, 18. April 2015 - Neon run
What an event!! It was so great. First, we run 5km with a huge group of people. All of them was painted with neoncolour. After that, there was a big open-air-party. The athmosphere was comparable to an open air. Livebands, fantastic Dj's - it was really a perfect day.

Sunday, 19. April 2015 - Camps Bay, Hockey game
After the big party, the sunday was a relaxing day - at the beach. The Camps Bay is a fantastic place. In front of us the infinite sea, behind us the table mountain, lions head and the 12 apostel. The weather was, like almost every day, perfect - so perfect that we forgot the time in the burning sun. The result: a brutal sunburn.
At the evening we went to the grand west casino, where last week the icehockey world championsship Division 2b beeing played, with exotic hockey-teams like Bulgaria, New Zealand, Mexico, China, Isreal and - of course - South Africa.
We saw the game between China and South Afrika. The score at the end: China 7 - 3 South Africa. With this score, China won the tournament.




Tuesday, 21. April 2015 - Lions head
On Tuesday after school, we climbed on the lions head. For me this was the biggest highlight until now. Its really hard to get on the top, but the view there, is fantastic, awesome....
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset with a glass of red wine. The way down was a bit dangerous, because of the darkness and we had only one flashlight. But the way down, i think, is so impressively. On your left, you have the city with the streetlights and on the other side the dark open sea. So beautiful.
That was not my last time on lions head!!

That was a short selection of activities in the last two weeks. Of course there were more then this, but I haven't got the time now, to describe all of them. (For example, karaoke, waterfront, Mama Africa, where i ate crocodile and and and....)

Today, I'm going to watch a rugby game in Newlands Stadium (Stormers {Cape Town}  - Bulls {Pretoria} ). Tomorrow we are going to visit robben island...

I'm really looking forward to the next days and weeks.

By the way, one of the biggest discoveries here in CT. -->UBER. A very uncomplicated and cheap taxi service. You order UBER via app and within 2 - 7 minutes your taxi is here, and drives you to your destination safely. All of the students are using UBER, particularly because of the safety.

Okey my friends, you'll hear from me during the next week, I promise!

Greetins from Cape Town
Dario

My first week in Cape Town

Hey guys

So, this is my first blog in english. So please forgive me grammar or spelling mistakes.
The last seven days were very very interesting and exciting. I had a lot of impressions, i met a lot of new people and i tried every day to improve my english.

First, i feel good - really good. My host family is very nice and the meals always delicious. I'm really in good hands here. My flatmate, gambo the gecko, lives still with me and he's always trying to take away the insects from me.

school: I had a good start in the school. The students are very nice and here's always a social climate. Everybody is talking with everybody, its really cool. The students comes from all over the world. From Brazil, South Korea, Lybia, Yemen, Taiwan, France, Colombia, Germany and of course from Switzerland. I always try to speak in english, also with the swissguys but sometimes its difficult, you know:) Very funny: There was one guy (he left us on Friday) from Switzerland. After a talk with him, i realized "i know this man, I ve seen him once before in my life". And yeah, he is the man, who works in the globetrotter-filiale in Aarau, where i've booked my flights to Africa. Three months ago, he gave me some africa-prospects when i was there, in Aarau. We're living in a small world...
During the lessons, sometimes I've got problems with speaking. My problem: The vocabulary. When the teacher is speaking, I unterstand a lot, I think. But speaking ist at the moment my biggest "Baustelle". And of course grammar. I realize that my last english lesson in Switzerland is a long time ago (about five years).

city: Im here since only one week, so its difficult to tell a lot.
My opinion after a week: Cape Town is other than the citys i've seen in my life. The town is huge and beautiful. There are many sight-seeings (more --> activitys). But you can feel the history of South Africa, every day, i think. There are many differences between black and white. In Switzerland it sounds like racism when you compare black with white. But here you talk only about white people and black people. The discussion about skin color here is omnipresent, i think.
An other omnipresent thing, particularly by students, is the safety. I heard a lot, from my school, from my host family, from other students. And at the moment, it's difficult to categorize all the informations. In fact, i think you may not be naiv but also not frightening all the time. But no-go's, they everybody says: "Avoid empty or dark areas. Avoid using public transport or the MetroRail stations after dark. Do not display items like, cell phones, cameras... , After dark: stay in groups and rather use taxi. I live not in the city center (a bit outside in Rondebosch) so you must be well organized, when you want going out.

activities: the school offers a lot of activities. So i've already booked two activities last week:
- The table mountain and
- a cap-tour (inkl. cape of good hope)

Both trips were amazing. On Friday we hiked up to the top of the table mountain. It was very hard, and a lot of students had really really problems. With my Wirzweli-legs i had no problems to reach the top. The view on the top is so beautiful. You see over the sea, Cape Town, the lions Head, Signal Hill etc. - AMAZING
The cape tour was also great. We were only two students from our school, the others are visiting the school in the city centre. It was cool, so i know the guys from the other school.
The stations of our trip:
- Camps Bay
- Hout Bay (we did a boat trip and saw a lot of seals (they smells horrible)
- the cape of good hope (a beautiful place, really. Unfortunately we saw baboons only from far away)
- Simons Town, where we saw a lot of penguins.

I look forward to the next activities.


Yeah, Im feeling really good here. You'll hear more from me next week.

En Gruess usem no emmer sonnige ond extrem warme Südafrika
DARIO

Pictures:

                     On the top of table mountain!

    Cape of good hope

    Chapmans Peak Road - Hout Bay in background.

Greetings from Cape Town

Tschesse zämme

Am vergangenen Freitag um 16.45 Uhr startete mein halbjähriges Abenteuer, als ich äussert nervös aus der Wohnung trat und mich in Richtung Bahnhof, Zürich Flughafen, Joburg und zum Schluss Cape Town begab.
Die Reise verlief grundsätzlich gut - sie lief gut, aber begann schlecht. Natürlich war mein Koffer zu schwer und so landete ein grosser Teil der Kickschuhe, die ich für die Kinder in meinen Sozialprojekt mitnehmen wollte, im Abfall. Zusätzlich mussten noch Kleidungsstücke von mir daran glauben. Marktlücke: Eröffnung einer Kleidersammlung am Flughafen Zürich. Laut Infoschalter gibt es eine solche nicht...
Der Flug nach Johannesburg verlief danach problemlos. Leider war mein Screen beschädigt, sodass ich mich bei meinen beiden Filmen mehr auf den Ton konzentrieren musste. Den Rest der Zeit verbrachte ich schlafend. In Joburg angekommen kam dann ein wenig Hektik auf. Tipp bei Flügen über Joburg, die danach im Inland weitergehen: Mehr als 1 Stunde 50 Minuten Aufenthalt einberechnen. Ausser man liebt ein wenig Nervenkitzel. Denn mit Passkontrolle, Ebolakontrolle, die ich problemlos überstand, Gepäck holen, Re-Checking und Security-Kontrolle vergeht doch etwas Zeit. Mit Hilfe eines Porters fand ich zum Glück sofort die Security-Kontrolle und anschliessend das Gate. Die Passagiere waren bereits dabei, in die bereitstehenden Busse, die uns zum Flugzeug brachten, einzusteigen. Viel mehr Zeit wäre mir also nicht mehr geblieben.
Der zweistündige Flug nach Cape Town war dann wieder sehr friedlich. Ein redseliger und sehr freundlicher Südafrikaner, der zuvor eine Woche in Stuttgart arbeitete, unterhielt mich bestens. Anhand dieses Gespräches wurde mir auch klar, aus welchem Grund ich unter anderem nach Cape Town reise - um Englisch zu lernen....
In Cape Town klappte alles reibungslos. Ich wurde überschwänglich vom Fahrer meiner Schule abgeholt und er fuhr mich zu meiner Familie im Stadtteil Rondebosch. Auch da fand eine sehr warme Begrüssung statt.
Ich bezog danach mein Zimmer, welches ich mittlerweile mit einer kleinen Eidechse teile. Das Zimmer hat alles was das Herz begehrt. Bequemes Bett, schöne Aussicht in den Garten sowie ein eigenes Badezimmer. Nach dem ersten gemeinsamen supper ging ich, bzw. die Familie, welche sich bereits um 21.15 Uhr zum Schlafengehen verabschiedete, ins Bett.
Der zweite Tag stand dann im Zeichen einer kleinen Autotour. Die Route führte über Muizenberg, wo im letzten Monaten (sichtlich) ein grosses Feuer gewütet hat. Den Long Beach, wo wir am längsten und breitesten Strand, den ich bis jetzt in meinem Leben gesehen habe, einen kleinen Spaziergang mit Jake, dem Familienhund, machten. Und über die Chapman's-Peak-Road, eine wunderschöne aber äussert enge Küstenstrasse.

Zu Hause angekommen startete ich, nach einem umfangreichen Lunch, einen Besichtigungsspaziergang zu meiner Schule. Für einen Weg brauchte ich 40 Minuten.
Am Abend konnte ich meine Familie voll und ganz für Raclette begeistern. Sie konnten mir nicht genug sagen, wie lekker es sei. Dabei lernte ich sogar noch etwas. Man kann das Raclette auch über Kartoffelstock giessen :-D.
So nun ist der zweite Cape-Town-Day auch schon wieder vorbei. Ich werde mich sicherlich Ende der nächsten Woche wieder einmal melden. Ziel: In Englisch!
PS: mein ultimatives kulinarisches Highlight bis jetzt: biltong (Trockenfleisch). Da hat sogar Bündnerfleisch keine Chance. Sorry Corina ;-)

Machets guet ond bes bald

Dario