Bed alone, woke with 3 men..........!

Well, am here! The flight was brilliant, although I discovered that if you remove the trendy red South African Airways eye mask whilst hugging the equally trendy red blanket provided, you create little blue electricity sparks. Fun at zero feet, potentially worrying at 33, 000! And they advise you to do all these funny exercises jerking your knees around and rotating ankles. This is fun, but could appear peculiar if done under trendy red blanket!
Anyway, Cape Town...amazing. People really stop at Zebras, everyone is smily with excellent manners and they have McDonalds. So like home really!
Booked into a hostel for the first few nights The other two girls, from Sweden,(they are 21 so allowed to be girls) got a room together. I get a six bedded dorm. Just me. Joy. Snuggled under bedclothes. Slept. Awoke two hours later as a body clambered into bunk above. Bunk flimsy, so feared for safety below. Shortly afterwards, woke again aware of someone stripping off by next bed. But too tired to greet said body. Finally, a third person, about 1.30 am Oh boy, she could snore. And snore.
Next morning awoke to find had been spending night with three men, a Zambian Phd student from Cape Town University, a local barman and the unidentified snorer. He was too embarrased to stay and share his life story. Apologies all round from Hostel owners...but hey, can't let the teens have all the fun. Was promptly moved to single room. No snoring but no fun either.....

Today to a township. Just like you see on TV, but nothing can prepare for the reality of seeing people live in tin sheds. But a great sense of community, with everyone else looking out for each others children and so on. We helped to feed about 23 of them...veg soup, bread and a satsuma. For some, the only meal they'll get, their parents being too busy or out drinking to care for them. In return they demonstrated some amazing African dancing which we had to try and follow. Less said the better.
We had the chance to try our hand at grinding maize in a traditional giant stone pestle and to roll maize to make flour with a huge stone roller. Others very good at it. I nearly crushed my fingers by treating the roller like a rolling pin and imagining pastry. Was told would not make good African wife( thinks...do I even make a good English one?)

Then to visit a genuine sangoma, or witchdoctor. This conjures up pictures of dried skulls and feathered headdresses but this sangoma had a very little English and didn't have skulls. There was the chance to see her remedies, mostly herbal based and often now used in conjunction with medication from standard doctors. I think we'd understand this as complementary medicine and the idea of treating the whole person seems logical. Intrigued by fact various medicines were all stored in old Smirnoff bottles.

Also today yoga. Not a success for me. Find my brain doesn't think of nothing when instructed. It thinks" oops did I unlug the phone charger? " and "Wonder if it's rained at home yet?" And chanting ommmmmmmmmmm and laaaaaaa laaaaaaa simply made me feel slightly new aged hippy and as if needed loo urgently.

Tomorrow to meet host family. watch this space.......