Tired, full and Happy!

Its 8:07PM and the end of my first full day in south africa. I've just finished eating a fantastic home cooked meal with my trip mates and were now sitting around having a few post meal beers watching Taxi. I left home two days agao at 930 am on the 19th and arrived in Cape Town at 710 PM on the 20th after three flights; Chicago to DC(2rs), DC to Johannasburg(17hrs), Johannasburg to Cape Town(2hrs). With layovers, a total travel time of over 26 hrs, but it was well worth it! Not to mention all my bags made it(huge)!!. I was met at the airport by one of my surf Instructors/group leaders Nico, who by the way is VERY cute. He is from france but has lived in Cornwall England during the summer and South Africa during the winter(their summer) for the last 7 years. He is ranked in the top seven Longboarders in the world...number three in england!! He drove me to the house I'm staying at for the next two weeks where my group was waiting to greet me for a welcoming Braii( BBQ) since I was the last to arrive. actually, the last person to arrive is a Boy from england who is coming in two days after he finishes up his exams. The house were staying at is Beautiful. It has a big deck that looks over the hills down to the ocean with a big hot tub and outdoor shower. It seems to be a very typical home here in Cape Town. Most of the group headed for bed right after dinner but Kate, George, Ed, Will, and myself stayed up drinking and laughing for a bit longer. I really like everyone on the trip, they are all so funny, nice and really cool. Almost all the other People are from England but there is one girl from the Netherlands and one girl from a little island off the coast of france called Geurnsey. Today started off early at 8 AM with a big breakfast then we were off the Muzenburg(SP??) beach to meet the rest of our Instructors (also all very cute) and poke around the surf shop/surf club that we are going to be based at here in Cape Town. It was probably the coolest place I have ever been...Pat you would of died. The man who owns the shop is THE pioneer surfer here in South africa in the 50's he practically introduced surfing to Africa. He is said to be one of the people that has made surfing what is is today. The shop is plastered with his old covers of various surf magazines. They have two resident shapers who we watched work for a little while we explored this surfers paradise. Finally suited up, distributed boards and surfed until 130. The waves here are the smallest we'll see the whole trip..and they were still the biggest I have ever surfed!!! I am proud to say I caught exactly 21 waves(Yes, I'm very tired). When we finished up, I took a outdoor shower at the surf club and Tim and Nico drove us down to this little fish and chips spot right on the beach for Lunch. You can usually tell if a restaurant is any good when local are around, and this place was PACKED with locals. I ordered Calamari and Chips. It was indescribable, the softest freshest Calamari I have ever had. We ate outside on the dock while two old men serenaded us with guitars. We told stories, laughed and drank a few beers, it was magical. Not to mention that one of the waitresses, a very old south african women, took an interest in one of the girls in our group and proceed to try and scare her throughout out meal!!??! We piled back into the Van and headed to a local mall to buy everything we had forgotten to pack. Me and Jenny(she's from Reading) explored all the little shops for 40 Mins before we had to meet back up with the group. We drive back home, taking the long way through the mountains past the tallest lighthouse in the southern hemisphere. We finished the day chatting with a native South African women who is in charge of our community service in Cape Town over a delicious dinner of Tacos and fresh Salad(picked from our home's garden) while we watched the sun set over the ocean. Now I'm here; tired, full, happy and anxious for tomorrow!! Xoxo