Sunday, February 14
We had a really gorgeous sunrise this morning.
While driving in, we drove under a bridge. Not a foot bridge, but a hoof bridge. Someone was using the bridge to get their herd of cattle over the highway. It was pretty crazy.
With our plan to attend the 4:00pm church service, we decided to go to the V&A Waterfront to catch a ferry to Robben Island. That’s where Nelson Mandela spent years imprisoned for trying to free the country he would one day lead. Unfortunately for us, tickets were sold out for the 9:00 and 11:00 ferry. The next one available was 1:00, which would be too late for us. We were sad to have missed the opportunity to get to Robben Island, but we do plan on going back to South Africa again, so we will make it there next time.
I loved how the clouds were rolling over the mountains this morning.
With Robben Island off the to-do list, we decided to walk around the Waterfront. It was nice to have the place pretty much to ourselves. Not too long after we started walking around, it started pouring. We had to make a run for it and ran into a mall we hadn’t been in yet. We were glad we did because we found a super cute kid adventure/safari vest. Tisetso was interested, so we got that for him. After the rain stopped, we made our way to a fun playground next to the ferris wheel. Tisetso enjoyed having the playground to himself for a bit. I was Croc from Peter Pan (tick-tock, tick-tock...) and he was Captain Hook. After playing for a little bit, we decided to check out yet another huge mall that was by the playground. (Because that’s what you do when you’re in South Africa ... go to the mall.)
While walking around, we found some clothes for Tisetso and got some gifts for our family. We enjoyed looking around a bookshop, which offered books in English and Afrikaans. We found a few cookbooks to help us with our South African baking and cooking. There were so many books I wanted, but it’s easier to hold back when you realize you’re paying $100 for every piece of luggage that’s overweight.
A quote from when the South African rugby team won the Rugby World Cup in 1995.
Brian wanted to grab a couple of extra Springbok jerseys, so we walked over to the rugby museum, then decided to grab lunch. When we were at the Waterfront last, I saw a restaurant had been named the "#1 grill in South Africa" by a reputable source. We decided to grab lunch there. Unfortunately, when we got there, they weren’t open and wouldn’t be for another hour and a half! We shifted our plan and walked next door to a Portuguese grill.
The menu was huge, like 2 feet tall huge.
Tisetso was unimpressed by the giant meat sword.
It ended up being the perfect spot! The menu offered too many good things. It was really hard to decide. I ended up getting an ostrich steak with a fried egg on top. Brian got a giant sword of steak, although we didn’t know it would arrive on a sword at the time of ordering it. We also got a side of veggies and a side of Portuguese seasoned potatoes. Tisetso had chicken nuggets that ended up being a flop. Thankfully, Brian and I had plenty of delicious food to share with him.
Huge beaded elephant.
Tisetso enjoying being a pirate and watching Harry Potter/Ben 10 while driving home.
We stopped by the set to check out if they had tours.
Sadly they didn't have tours and we were waved away.
With lunch devoured, we headed back to Strand. Our afternoon was spent resting and packing. We headed to our last church service at Christ Church Waterkloof. This church has become a family away from home. We have felt so welcomed by the people and really enjoyed the services. It was hard to say goodbye, but it was exciting because we knew that in one week, we would be with our church family back in the U.S.
On our way home from church, we were talking with Tisetso to prepare him for the short flight back to Johannesburg / Pretoria tomorrow and the flight we would have in one week. We were telling him about our church, Redeemer Fellowship, and Tisetso asked if Miss Rose (our social worker here) would be at our church in America. It was so sweet that he’s connected with her on such a level he wanted her there. It was with a heavy heart I told him she wouldn’t be there. We are, however, excited for him to make new friends at Redeemer.