So I have been here for over a week now, i keep thinking ive only got a few weeks left...i hope it slows down im enjoying myself too much!

Friday...Kate and I adventured into Cape town city centre all alone...we headed to long street which is a very long street....all down it they have all these surfer shops and hundreds of bars and clubs and restuarants and cafes etc etc it also has loads of backpackers hostels so when we go out rather than paying r300 to get home we can pay r80 and have a good night sleep...brilliant! So on friday we shopped around...we went to a cobblestoned market called greenmarket square, where loads of traditional african art was sold and all the african tourist goodies, but it was amazing! I cant get over how cheap everything is here! So Kate and I sat down in the market and had a beer, which is also so so cheap. A bottle of african beer costs us r13 which is a pound...bargin! As we were drinking this hilarous man came up to us, with hundreds of eggs balancing on a hat on his head, and a funny costume on with bits and bobs hanging off it...later on i read that he is actually really famous and is called the 'egg man', his hat of eggs weighs 15kg and his dress is made of mirrors, beads, baskets, shells etc and his newest feature (which we saw) was a telephone! After the market we walked along the sea to waterfront and then made our way home...it was such a lovely day.

In the evening i went out to a place called 'langa' which is one of many townships in cape town. Over 250,000 people live there (which is the same population as the city centre) but the actual space they live in is 48 times smaller than the city centre, it was ubelievable what i saw and what it looks like, i cant even describe the condition these families are living in. However i was only there for a short time as i was finding out abut some projects i could do there, including another orphange programme and also voluteering in a soup kitchen or doing this art one with children ages around 13...i would only be doing it for 2 weeks but i think ill do it at the end of my stay. There is also another art project in a township called Khayleshia (which means new home in xohsa), you have probably all heard of that township its actually quite famous.

On my way back from lana, i realised how lucky we are too living in cambridge or other places in the UK, just down my road (i hadnt noticed until now) but families have made shacks out of broken advert boards, bin liners for roos, tin cans and i even saw a wheelbarrow on one of these 'homes'. But what i am getting used to is seeing about 3 of these shacks placed in between 'normal' 'average' houses here as they are using other peoples land as all the spare space here is being used for either the world cup (!) or by other townships. Its all so much i cant explain, but we are so lucky to live in houses with a roof and bricks around us.

On saturday i had a beach day, Lara, Kate, Russ (lara's boyfriend), ryan and i all headed to a beautiful quiet beach called Llandudo (which is apparantley a place in wales!), It was lovely! We went swimming (well dipped in and out) the water is sooo cold as its the atlantic but next week ill be swimming in the indian ocean hurray it will be so warm (dont worry chris ill watch out for the sharks!). Talking of sharks i was reading the newspaper today and a lady actually got attacked yesterday! Ill be super careful...

Sunday was a relaxing day, i finished off my book and just chilled, it was quite nice to finally stop.

Monday was back to the orphanage, i am finding it hard work but its brilliant. (Ive just realised i am saying brilliant quite a lot!) I am still working with 'group B' but some are being moved up to the older group so this week i am helping them with that, getting the kids ready etc and teaching them to count and colour and cut and paste! We also did hand printing which ended up being feet printing too. The kids have so much engery and they all have such brilliant personalties. Mohammed and Tyron are the naughty ones, but probably my favourites ( i know i shouldnt have favourites but these two are hilarious), a volunteer before me taught them how to sing bob the builder, but because of their afrikaans acents and the fact they cant actually speak very well because of their age, they just sing it so cutley, i love them so much! Ill have to make a video at some point. All the kids love dancing too, i brought my ipod in and one of the ladies had been given some speakers so we played spice girls and some other silly songs and the kids were literally dancing for an hour non stop!
Alesigha and Grace are the only girls in my group, alesigha is the youngest and most beautiful little girl in the world. Grace is the eldest and i love teaching her, shes very shy but teaching her colours is brilliant because everytime i see her now and im whatever im wearing she will tell me the colours in afrikaans and english. We also are learning some clapping games together. I am taking the kids swimming tomorrow, which i am looking forward too although it will be hard work!

It was 500 days till the world cup on tueday so lots of celebrations were going on...

anyway i must go, this is so long its an essay!

Hope you are all well and not missing me too much!

Bex xxxx

p.s. the weather is very HOT! xxxxxxx

p.p.s learning afrikaans!