South Africa: Day 23, Strand and Simon's Town

We had a wonderful day! This morning we took care of school right off the bat. Tisetso got his fourth school sticker, so he has earned a Lego person. We’re going to pick up his mystery Lego tomorrow when we pick up groceries. Brian had a meeting with an agent to look at a flat we are considering renting while his parents are here next week. It seemed like a good fit, but was a little smaller and much less modern than the one we are in now. Brian asked the agent if she had anything else that would work, just to weigh the options.

We packed up and shipped off at 10:15 this morning. We spent an hour in the car following the bay, then headed down the Cape Peninsula towards Simon’s Town. Our mission: to see penguins in the wild! Another fun aspect to our trip was meeting some new friends who are also in-country from the United States finalizing the adoption of their 5-year-old daughter. 

The ride down to Simon’s Town was beautiful! We passed so many mountains, beaches, and little tourist beach towns. There were easily a hundred surfers at one beach. I cannot describe to you how beautiful this area is. Thankfully, I took lots of pictures. Tisetso enjoyed little of this as he was finishing up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on his iPad.

Lunch was a great time! I met Lexi on Facebook through our adoption agency. She and her husband are adopting for the second time here in South Africa. Thankfully, we are in Cape Town at the same time! We met with this great family for lunch and for some time seeing the penguins. I was glad to finally meet Lexi face to face. We’ve talked for hours on the phone as we’ve walked through the waiting, planning, and meeting phases of our adoptions. I’ve not been one for making friends on the internet and then meeting them in foreign countries, but I’ve done it twice in the last few days. Thankfully, neither meeting ended in my murder. (Pessimist to the end, here!)

Our new friends.

Brian and Tisetso had a fun photo shoot while right when we got there. Tisestso does not like his picture being taken much, so him asking to have a picture taken is an opportunity to snag!

Look at these handsome guys! Tisetso wanted to dress up for the day. 

After a delicious lunch and meeting with our new friends, we walked down to the beach next door to the restaurant. It was especially great because the crowds were at the next beach over, where there is a walkway and you can’t get terribly close to the penguins. There were penguins right on this beach, so we were able to get as close as we dared and able to see them with significantly fewer people milling around. What a dream! Playing on a beach with penguins!

Livin' the dream!

This was the closest we could get him to the penguin.

Brian and his feathered friend.

When we were done, all of us headed back up towards the parking lot. There was a little market where we could buy some gifts for our families. The market was a new, overwhelming experience. You weren’t really allowed to browse and look at the different wares. Instead, people running the booth would come from all sides and start telling you what you needed, that they would give you a good price, and then hand your 7 year-old panpipes which he immediately puts into his mouth to make shrill whistling noises. After pulling the pipes from his lips and insisting you don’t need any of these items, you move to the next booth where the process begins anew, only this time it’s drums. It’s like these people aren’t part of a family where they would hate hearing all of these noises 24/7!

After buying some postcards, we walked back to the very first stand where there wasn’t a pushy salesman. We bought Tisetso a cool leather bracelet that says ‘South Africa’ and I bought a gift for my parents. I was able to do my first bargaining, which I found fun. After that, we said goodbye to Lexi, Pete, and their girls. Our ride back was uneventful, but beautiful. We even saw our apartment building from the other side of the bay, which was fun. Tisetso started his Harry Potter movie over again (this kid!). 

This was one of the more alarming signs I've seen during our stay.

Back at our flat, Brian discovered there was another rental agent on the ground floor in our building. He ran down there just before they closed for the day and was able to find another flat very similar to the one we’re in currently and in the same building (we really like this building, and that "move" will be pretty low-impact). After that, Brian wrapped up some work and Tisetso and I had a little heart to heart. 

One thing Tisetso has vocalized many times over is that he doesn’t believe I love him. He vocalizes this (usually) because I love Brian. In his mind, it’s impossible for me to love both of them. Unsure of any new arguments I could make, I asked him how people show they love each other (thinking I could then follow his own recipe). He said Christmas. Ugh. Well, seeing as we have 11 months before I can do that, I asked if there was anything else. Nope! Christmas. He asked what we did for Christmas. I told him we spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa Malcolm’s house with his cousins and auntie and uncle. 

Feeling prompted, I also shared that in the morning on Christmas Day, I walked into his room and missed him. I told him it was silly, I know, because we didn’t even know him at that moment. I told him how I prayed he would be happy and healthy. I told him how I wished with my whole heart that he had been with us on Christmas morning. At this point, I began to tear up, because I remember vividly the pain I felt of empty arms on Christmas morning. This took Tisetso off guard. He said (and this is a paraphrase), “What’s coming out of your eyes? Why are tears coming? Get Daddy Brian!” It was pretty funny. It made me thankful he is a part of our family forever! What an answer to prayer.

Sunset from the balcony, bay side.

View from our balcony, mountain side.

With the plans in place for next week at the new flat, we made dinner and wrapped up our evening with Tisetso in bed and us sitting on the balcony. The sunset was so beautiful. I love that we’re able to enjoy these sunsets one night after another. It is a luxury we don’t have back at home. Life seems so much busier there. Here, in our flat on the beach, it feels like our biggest “responsibility” is to become a family.

South Africa: Day 22, Strand and Cape Town

This morning was a fun time. Up at 6:30, we started our day by navigating stickers and Legos. Tisetso got a new sticker and coloring book, so he was set! This kid makes up so many stories that go along with his drawings. At one point he had a sticker with a guy and a dog sled surrounded by other stickers that looked to be in pursuit. He told me the dog sled guy had stolen the dogs and the other people were chasing him to get their dogs back.

One thing Brian and I have noticed along with his creativity is his limited vocabulary. At the home where he came from, all of his Aunties spoke English as their second language. They spoke it well, but I’ve noticed that Tisetso doesn’t have a vocabulary for when he likes or dislikes something. It’s either "nice" or "not nice" or "ugly." These terms are used broadly for anything. He doesn’t want toast? It’s "ugly." He would like another cookie? It’s "nice." You get the picture. So today, when he would use one of these phrases, I would ask, “Do you mean it tastes good?” or “Do dislike that color?” I hope it’s helpful and haven’t gotten any indication that Tisetso is tired of me for asking these questions.

After breakfast, we did a quick session of school. After playing an upper-case/lower-case matching game, I discovered that Tisetso doesn’t have all of his lower-case letters memorized. We will be working on that over the next few weeks. I’m sure he’ll love it!

After school, we headed to the Two Oceans Aquarium. If you know me well, you know I love aquariums! Our drive into Cape Town lasted about 45 minutes. Tisetso fell asleep on the way, which I think helped make our day more successful. On our way, we passed miles and miles of small shacks where people live. It was a hard thing to not be moved by this view. Scattered intermittently were toilet structures, which I’m guessing everyone shares. South Africa is a country of extremes. Not far from these shacks were beautiful sprawling homes with barbed wire around the perimeters. While driving in, the mountains were covered in clouds, but thankfully things cleared up when we arrived. 

Our view at lunch. V&A Waterfront and Table Mountain

Monument to those who helped overthrow the apartheid.

At lunch there was a seagull (who we named Steven) lurking in the shadows while we ate. It provided entertainment and terror for Tisetso (he does not like when nature gets too close). From our table, we had a beautiful view of the V&A Waterfront and Table Mountain. Brian had a meat skewer (crocodile, ostrich, warthog, springbok, and other assorted game sausage) and I had springbok filets. (Tisetso had his customary cheeseburger and chips with tomato sauce.)

Brian and his giant skewer of various meats.

Brian looking nervous about Steven.

With lunch taken care of, we walked to the aquarium. It turned out the be a great decision to go! I was able to pet some sea life, we watched penguins, sea turtles, and sting rays being fed, and Tisetso surrounded himself with clownfish. As with every other animal experience in this country, I could have pet anything that wasn’t in a tank (and even some of that were in tanks)! The penguins were contained two feet away by a tiny fence. 

I think he was pretending to shoot the clown fish at this point. Boys.

While inspecting their website for information this morning, I found something they offer called the "Penguin Experience." It’s where you pay $20 and you get to hang with the penguins (including holding and petting) for an hour and a half. I’ve convinced Brian this is something I need in my life and wil be signing up soon!

My best friends.

When we were spent from hanging with the fishes, we packed up and headed back. The rest of our evening involved Cars and Peter Pan, dinner, and Tisetso stalling at bedtime telling me he was waiting for Voldemort to show up! This kid! Our plan tomorrow is to go to Simon’s Town and visit Boulder Beach which has wild penguins! 

These two sharks came right up to Brian and lingered...

Sea kelp forest.

Huge barge being repaired.

Random pirate ship on the side of the road.

South Africa: Day 21, Strand

Brian's panoramic photo of the sunset, the skyline, and the mountains.

Today was a day of firsts for Tisetso and I. In the morning, I could tell doing school would not go well, so I offered to read him the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. He got very excited. His excitement was soon abated as he realized there weren’t photos on every page and that you couldn’t just skip around and read random sections. Surprisingly, we got through two chapters before he had had enough. I definitely choked up reading this passage to my son:

“Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous…He couldn’t know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: ‘To Harry Potter—the boy who lived!’”

— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

After my moment and Tisetso getting annoyed, we headed to the mall. We had a huge list of things we needed and things we needed information about, so we went to the closest mall. While there, Tisetso got an Avengers water bottle and two washcloths (Star Wars and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Very exciting and actually on the list (not specifically the branding, but the items themselves).

After the mall and a quick lunch back at the flat, we dove into our lesson. When I thought he was not wanting to do more, he said, “More school, please.” I obliged. He did a great job with his maths (as he calls it) and I was able to assess an area we can work on at a later date.

With maths out of the way, we got down to the real work—making chocolate chip cookies. For those of you that don’t know, my family is one for baking and cooking. I have a grandma I’ve called Grandma Cookie since I was little. I’ve learned baking from my grandmas and mom, and learned to love cooking as an adult. Baking with my son for the first was a big deal to me.

Our little baker.

Not unlike other bakers, you tend to memorize the recipes you use a lot. These cookies were no different. Thankfully, we were able to find all of the ingredients. I thought we were going to have an issue finding brown sugar, but we were able to find something very close to it, which ended up working. 

Mixing!

Watching the cookies (he calls them biscuits) bake. In a tie.

Tisetso loved helping with each step. The only thing I did was scoop and level the brown sugar (which was far more unruly and stick here than I was used to). He loved that he was able to watch the cookies baking. He kept saying he was Auntie Florence (the awesome cook at the care home). It was great. In the end, they did taste different than what I’m used to, but still delicious!

After cookies, we lounged around. Tisetso playing with his stickers and Legos. I used the time to catch up with some blog posts. Brian was able to get some work done. Dinner was a delicious pepper steak pie with veggies. Unfortunately, Tisetso didn’t want to eat—he just wanted to play with his food. Determined that he should eat something, we sat around for a while before he obliged and ate.

Our bedtime routine.

Our evening wrapped up with finishing up Peter Pan, Tisetso asking to go to bed early (we thought that would be ok), us getting to watch a gorgeous sunset on our balcony, and me getting to talk to my friend, Lexi, and my grandparents (separate calls).

Last night really was such a beautiful sunset!

South Africa: Day 20, Strand

We stuck around the apartment in this morning. We’ve been trying to establish a routine which will help Tisetso feel more settled here. Sometimes he thinks he’s in America already, which we tell him will be a much, much longer plane ride. 

We did our first day of school today. After only getting 2/3 of the lesson done, we stopped for the morning. Tisetso wasn’t a fan of doing school, but I think he’ll get used to it as time goes on. Our long term goal is to have him in public school. The South African school system operates on a different timeline than the American system. In South Africa, schools typically run from mid-January to late November. Grade R (our Kindergarten) focuses on play learning, basics such as numbers and alphabet, and simple math. Because American schools have already started, Tisetso, based on his age and completion of Kindergarten, would be placed in first grade, half way through the year. We don’t want him to start off struggling and behind, so for the next 7.5 months, we will be home schooling to catch him up. My hope is that he will be ready for second grade in August.

During lunch, Brian and I decided that we would do a rewards system for school. If Tisetso finishes a lesson, he gets a sticker for his reward sheet. After collecting four stickers, he gets to go to the store and pick out a mystery Lego packet (comes with a Lego minifigure inside). It’s fun because he loves playing with his Legos, and especially his Lego people. That was incentive enough to finish his first lesson!

After lunch and finishing school, we packed up and headed to a braai. A braai is the South African version of "grilling out" at someone’s house. There is a family here who graciously offered to have us over to their house for this staple event. I met Julie through the Bethany (our agency in the United States) South Africa adoption Facebook group. She and her husband, Dan (originally from South Africa), live just 15 minutes from our flat, up the side of the mountain!

Wait for it!

Boom! Steaks, chicken kabobs, boerewors (farmers' sausage).

It was a really nice break for us to have adults to talk with and Tisetso had fun as they have three kids (and toys new to him). He especially enjoyed playing with their Captain America and Spiderman figurines. Julie and Dan’s house has an indoor braai so we were able to talk and smell the delicious dinner cooking at the same time! We loved talking with them and look forward to grabbing another meal with them soon.

After dinner we got back to the flat, watched 15 minutes of Peter Pan, and tucked Tisetso in for the night (it took a while as he was a little crazy).

The clouds looked so cool on top of the mountains. It was as if they were pouring over the peaks. Also, the tall, white building with the pointy hat is the one where we're staying.

South Africa: Day 19, Strand

The view of the mountains from our balcony (the beach is visible to the other direction)

We woke up this morning nervous about Tisetso’s reaction to going to church. We were able to secure his approval and a little excitement by letting him wear his suit coat, button down shirt, and tie. We also brought bribes in the form of gummy bears and the iPad. 

We visited a local church that was only 15 minutes away. It was different than Redeemer Fellowship in many ways, but similar in others (reformed, confessional, missional), and we were glad to be there. We attended the family service and were thankful when the children’s sermon was on Adam and Eve (the story we had right the night before and several before that). Tisetso was taking it in and enjoyed hearing something he had heard recently. 

After church, we headed to Woolworth’s Food Market to get groceries. If you’re a human, you know that visiting a grocery store in the afternoon on Sunday is a great, quiet time to go. Ha! It was insane. It was hard to find what we needed because half of what we needed didn’t exist here and the other half was mixed in with things we didn’t know existed. Thankfully, the veggies and fruit were super easy to find! It took us about 45 minutes to find enough stuff to last us a couple of days (so we thought).

After church, we made lunch back at the flat and lounged around for a bit. At some point, we walked down the road to an ice cream shop across from the beach. It was a good little walk and a nice day for it.

We ended the day by watching Harry Potter (of course).

I found this hottie at the beach.

Our view in the evening

South Africa: Day 18, Centurion & Strand

We started today by finishing up our packing. Our flight to Cape Town took off at 1:45 p.m, so we had plenty of time to get ready. The real challenge was going to be fitting our three duffels, two carry on suitcases, three backpacks, and one kid into our car. Thankfully, after much maneuvering on Brian’s part, we were able to get everything to fit.

Our ride to the airport was uneventful, thankfully. We were able to turn in our car with little hassle and got to the airport. We had our bags wrapped with a plastic akin to saran wrap to make sure they wouldn’t be messed with. It was entertaining to watch and helpful. We checked into our flight. Because our luggage is earmarked for international travel and not the domestic flight we took, I was worried we would have to pay a lot to get our luggage on the plane. Thankfully, Mango does weight a little differently. We were allotted 60kg (20kg for each bag), but our bags weighed around 75kg total, with each bag being slightly over. Instead of having to pay a fee for each bag, we paid only for the 15kg we were over. 

At security, they confiscated my needlenose pliers (which I use for cross stitch). I went through the TSA and British security with no incident, and the South African airport even allows liquids! We sat around for a little bit before grabbing a quick lunch at a cafe, getting through security about two hours before our flight boarded. That was a nice time buffer to have. Thankfully, traveling with Tisetso was relatively uneventful. Aside from him not wanting to move quickly when we needed him to (to and from the bathroom just before the flight), we were alright.

Tisetso loved looking out the window when we were getting ready to land.

This was Tisetso’s third time being on a plane. Thanks to Mommy Tahiyya, who takes her kids on holiday, he had been to Cape Town before! The other thing that made the trip easy was our big gift to him. He got his very own iPad. He was excited to check out the Harry Potter Lego app, but sadly, I think he’ll need a year or two before being able to do that one. He watched Batman, Ben Ten, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the plane.  

Getting some tips from Brian.

It was cool to see the different terrains of South Africa. Our flight only took an hour and 45 minutes, but we still covered a lot of land. Tisetso helped us land safely by pressing the right buttons (his table switch). Phew! The landscape was very different than what we had left behind. Now, instead of large rolling hills, there were huge mountains by the ocean. This is my happy place!

Tisetso takes on Cape Town!

After having to navigate our luggage carts down a tunnel and then back up the other side, I was ready for air conditioning! We picked up our car and were ready to go! The only issue Brian ran into was the turning signal was on the wrong side of the wheel. Every time he went to turn, he accidentally hit the windshield wipers. He'll probably have it figured out just in time to leave.

We made it safely to the flat that we are renting for the first 9 days we are here. It’s in Strand (on Strand Beach), which is just east of Cape Town. The flat is perfect! There’s a room for Tisetso, for us, and even an office for Brian. We have our windows open all of the time. There’s always a breeze and the sound of the waves and the smell of the salt water! I absolutely love this flat.

The gorgeous view from our balcony

We went to a restaurant on the floor level of the building for dinner. There are a few cafes and shops there as well. We enjoyed a great view of the beach activity and had a breather after a full day. Tomorrow is Sunday and church. It’ll be interesting to see how Tisetso responds this week.