16,912 km from Vancouver!

Above is a picture of MY CAR! Yes, Meghan now has a car and a cellphone and an alarm system. What the hell? I bought this VW Citi Golf from this cute girl Christina who has now moved back to Germany. It is in the garage getting worked on so that I can get a "roadworthy" certificate in order to register it to myself. The driver's seat is on the right hand side - it cracks me up. This town is hilly, sort of like San Francisco, so I am spooked of burning out my clutch on the steep hills. I cannot believe I own a big chunk of metal that is propelled by an engine. ODD! Oh yeah, that is my car in front of my home! My bedroom is on the second floor with the balcony in front of it. Below is a detail of the coolest chandelier I have ever seen! It is made of beautiful shells and beach glass. Only R4000!

These purple blossoms are the sign of spring here in Cape Town. Reminds me of the blooming Sakuras we get on Vancouver Island.

Here is a snapshot of the ATM - take THAT Canada! EIGHT languages available here!

I love the styles that the African moms rock here... the babies in the blankets on their back are so adorable!

A sign by the waterfront, reminding me how far I am from home...

Below is the Community Law Centre, where I am doing my internship. My boss just went to the Sudan and I have to write a paper about "empowering impoverished groups" in the context of local governance on his behalf while he is away. The draft will be reviewed by an Indian Minister for inclusion in a roundtable in Delhi next year.

Here I am at this nice vinyard near "Tokai" within the city of Cape Town.

Woops - photos are a bit out of order. Here is a picture I took near the administration building of the University of Western Cape where the Community Law Centre is. The UWC has a cool history in the history of Apartheid in South Africa. Check out more here if you are interested.

Here is some classic Cape Dutch architecture. I had some drinks at this place on my birthday last weekend:

This is a piece of crap car that I rented for a month and took back within 24 hours because it stalled twice within an hour of me getting possession of it and it WOULDN'T START again unless I got stranger dudes to push it for me! A service guy was sent out, who "fixed" the carborator for me. NOT VERY SAFE for a girl like me to have a car that won't start in South Africa! That was the most stress I have ad here yet. Best Beetle sucks.

Here are the remnants of the first Braai I have experienced here. A "braai" is a South African barbecue and my first experience wasn't the best, as nothing vegetarian was grilled. I think I need to coordinate a vegetarian braai soon and show these folks what healthy, ethical eating is!