1: A day in the life

9:38 a.m. Wake. P of course, has been up since 6:30 a.m.

9:45 a.m. Today we tried to make pancakes again. Since only one person (thanks dad!) responded to my question about my recipe, we tried what he suggested. We added more baking powder. They still were not fluffy enough. So we vowed to buy some measuring spoons today! Next time we have no reason to fail!

Do you know why we bought the measuring spoons? No, of course not just because of pancakes. It's because we found out that the date that we are supposed to get our things has been moved back again, from 08 April to an "estimated" 26 April. We cannot find it in ourselves to wait any longer for our other measuring spoons. Everything else, we can be patient about. NOT. We want our things! Living like this is hard. It's like living in a hotel- nothing personal or sentimental about this place.

11:21 a.m. I try to get us going (P calls is "nattering" at him) and P has a mini hissy fit yelling that he never has any personal time with the internet. I reminded him to use his words and suggest that I can leave him alone with his "internet" if he'd like.

1:00 p.m. We got lost and drove in a big circle, which included accidentally getting on the freeway. The purpose was to drive by a duplex that is for rent in Rondebosch (we have a walk-through appointment at 5:30). It is kinda far (for our preference) from the university, but the neighborhood seemed quiet, not as worried as some neighborhoods are about security (as evidenced by lack of razor wire, spikes, or electric fencing on walls) but they still have bars on windows and security systems. There is a big building across the street (a long wall with no windows)- interesting that it reminds me of where we lived in Tucson.

1:30 p.m. We went to Canal Walk and had Kentucky Fried Chicken, aka, KFC. We had the biggest language communication breakdown as of yet! P could not even understand the woman at the register, so I had to step in and order. I confidently ordered our food and repeated myself several times and added pointing to make sure she understood me. We sat down to eat and I realized that when I thought I had ordered a "single" chicken burger, I was really ordering a "zinger" chicken burger. Apparently the two words sound alike (try to do it!). I said very obviously (in my mind) "this is spicy", hoping the hubby would be chivalrous and eat it, even though he was really enjoying his first piece of chicken. Since he didn't step up, I took one for the team and kept eating. My burger was so spicy, I went through two napkins, blew a snot bubble, and my nose ring got loosened and it kept tickling my nose. I was zung (new word). I finally told him of my plight and he said that he had interpreted my comment as "ooh yummy this is spicy!"- when have I ever ordered spicy food?! P reports that the KFC chicken and fries tasted "more fresh". I noticed that the flour seemed to have more spices on the chicken than in the U.S.

We bought spandex Speedo swim shorts (mid-thigh and skin tight; they look kind of like this, but we did NOT spend that much!) to protect P's modesty at the gym's pool. Bought him a black Columbia shirt. Bought me an SPF 15 tank top. Big find of the day: measuring spoons!

Random blurry picture of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak.

5:00 p.m. We arrive 30 minutes early to the walk-through of the duplex, so we drove around the neighborhood. We really felt comfortable in the neighborhood.

5:13 p.m. P thinks that we can go to the appointment. I unilaterally nix the idea. We drive around some more.

5:20 p.m. I call the tenant, apologize for coming early, and we meet outside her house. Her dog greeted us and was so friendly! She was too. She told us that she bought a house in the neighborhood and that is why she is moving out after a year and a half- that's a good sign, right? The house meets most of our requirements. It has secured car-port parking for up to three cars with an automated gate, alarm system, and burglar bars. There is a yard on three sides and the front yard is lovely and has lavender growing. Lavender!!!!The kitchen and living room are open plan; the two bedrooms are small. The bathroom is modern, but does not have much storage. We really like it, as you can tell. The only problem is that it is unfurnished (and we did not ship any furniture) and there is no fridge or washer (so we'd have to fork over some money for them). She is going to give our number to the landlords tomorrow and hopefully they contact us. I'm hoping that the novelty of us being Americans will bring us good luck. Wish us well!

5:45 p.m. I text (here they call it SMS) guy in the guest house (granny flat) to see if he is getting a dog this weekend. We are not necessarily excited, because it is always hard to bring a new dog into the pack, and we do not have total control or influence over the situation. My biggest concern is when I leave the house to go to the gym by myself, I usually leave the dogs inside so that I can get out of the yard without fear of them escaping. What do I do with this new dog? I can't really leave it in my house. There is a small gate that separates that back to the front yard, which needs to be fixed so that it stays shut, so that would work most of the time. But if the guy comes home while I'm gone and leaves the little gate open, and I come home using the automated gate…I'm just worried. He SMS's back, saying that he has not heard anything from the rescue person about when they might come.

6:45 p.m. We wander around the Cavendish Mall area and find a sushi bar, one with those conveyor belts that has colored dishes with pieces of sushi on them. We sit on the balcony and watch the flood of people leaving a big rugby game. The sake was good, the sushi was so-so. Almost everything we ordered was salmon- executed with varying degrees of success. P ordered crab nigiri and almost had to spit the first piece out because it was nasty! We told the waiter to just take the second piece away because it was horrible and fake. The manager did not charge us for it. Good choice.

8:15 p.m. We watched the movie "The King's Speech." Loved it. Missed a call from the guy in the granny flat.

10:27 p.m. I SMS the guy in the granny flat to see what he wanted. He said that he got his dog, Maya, a Jack Russell Terrier (nee terror) and wants to have the dogs meet tomorrow. Sigh.

11: 13 p.m. P gets some good news about work in an e-mail.

12:05 a.m. Finish first draft of this blog post. Surmised that we had a very good day

12:07 a.m. Taught P something about iTunes (how to tell it to only play certain sections of a song). He was grateful.

1:15 a.m. Chose song of the day- phew that took a long time!  

1:41 a.m. Finished editing this blog post. Looked at stuff on the internet. Added a random picture I took last weekend. And published the post.

Song of the day: Da Da Da by Trio. The title is short for "Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha. " I have posted two versions of their music video. If you can stand it, watch both and tell me which one  you like best!

This next one is silent until about 17 seconds in- so give it time.