The fact that I'm writing this in retrospect (more than two weeks after the events this blog documents) is testament to the fact that I am utterly consumed by life here in South Africa. To say I love this place would be an understatement. The fact I've fallen so hard and so quickly is in large part to do with working at Kleinberg Primary School in Ocean View, and, away from school, becoming friends with some of the local dudes (well, what else can you call people with long hair and no shoes, who live by the sea?) - two things that have given me a sense of being embedded in the community.

My first real taste of people's lives here was when we visited the township we pass every day on our way to school, Masiphumalele. I'd expected it to be a somewhat distressing experience, but was very pleasantly surprised to find (albeit between the rows of tin and wood Heath Robinson homes) people enjoying life, each other's company and yes, even their surroundings. We were told in very clear terms to NOT feel sorry for the people living there. I can't say it wasn't hard to do that, but the children at the creche (who greeted us with songs and cuddles), the resident seamstress (who, to my delight, seemed very much like the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency's Mma Ramotswe!) and a slap up meal of corn maize, carrot and bean mix, and chicken (possibly one of the ones I'd seen running about hours earlier!) at Nonny's Cafe, certainly helped.

Two days later, I clambered aboard a taxi-bus (basically a stereo on wheels, with a lot of people crammed in) for my first proper day at school, where I was reunited with Ms Franke (whose name isn't Ms Deez, as I had orginally thought - her first name is Des!) and her 42 pupils. It very quicky became obvious that I had 'lucked out', as my American room mate puts it. Ms Franke is a fantastic teacher, not least because of her love for the children, her energy and a voice that occasionally implies "Listen kiddies, I mean business now". And not only does she teach them Maths and English, but values, too - values she says their parents don't always teach them.

I feel very much as though Ms Franke is also MY teacher, and I've built up a collection of scribbled notes - copies of the sayings and life advice she's plastered the classroom walls with - in my journal. One of them says, "One day, you are going to be a memory to some people. Try to be a good one!". I hope that's one of the side effects of the radio project I've begun with the children...

After being asked if there's anything specific I'd like to do during my time at the school, I proposed splitting the class into 6 groups of 7, and making a different part of a radio programme with each group over the following 6 weeks. Ms Franke couldn't have been more enthusiastic and within 24 hours, I'd secured a small room for 2 hours each day (not easy in a hugely under-resourced school!), devised programme categories (news, sport, music & dance, fashion & beauty, problems & answers, and film & TV), talked to the kids about their interests and put them into the relevant groups.

Now, each school day consists of several 1-2-1 reading and writing sessions, 2 hours with one of the radio project groups, and then either art or yoga classes in the afternoons, or - if I need the time - editing audio and putting together my radio lesson plans. It really couldn't be any better! And the best part is, the kids seem to be as happy about it all as I am!

Nevertheless, it can be hard work - especially when a day spent sustaining the attention of dozens of 10 year olds is followed by the sort of mundane tasks that even a round-the-world trip won't see the end of (laundry, shopping, washing up...). And so, most days, when I get home I roll out the yoga mat I was lent by the cool, old, surfing taxi driver we use to get to most places (he doesn't give lifts on the board, in case you're wondering). Whether I'm in my room or outside on the decking behind the house, I face the mountain opposite, known as Elsie's Peak - an inspiring view and one which encourages me to pay more attention each time I find myself in Tadasana, rather than unthinkingly stepping into the posture during the Ashtanga standing sequence, like some sort of physical full stop.

My housemates have quickly got used to finding me in my room tangled up in rather alarming poses like Marichyasana D and Supta Kurmasana (which, fellow Ashtangis, I am doing with so much more ease - I just need to get to a Mysore class in Cape Town to get a bit of help crossing my legs behind my head!). In fact, not only are they used to it, but several have asked if I can teach them - something I'll gladly do when the sun is shining a little more consistently (Spring doesn't officially arrive until September, although we 're already getting days when the temperature reaches 26 degrees) and the back garden can serve as a communal mat.

I'm always grateful for my yoga practice, but I was particularly pleased with the physical strength it gives me when I managed to surf on my first attempt! (Maybe I, too, will some day qualify as a dude!). It might also have allowed me to keep my head as I dived under the waves where, only a week earlier, a man had been attacked by a shark!! I suppose it's only to be expected of the world's second most shark-infested area (the Great Barrier Reef is the first), but I've been told these things are rare - and it's always the ones who surf too far out who get bitten, not snacks like me, messing about near the shore.

Speaking of odd-looking creatures found on the sea shore (you can take the girl out of radio, but you can't take the cheesy conversational links out of the girl), at the end of our first week of teaching, my housemates and I rewarded ourselves with a trip to Boulders Beach, where we spent a good couple of hours laughing at the colony of penguins living there, flip-flopping from rock to rock, scurrying under the walkways, preening one another and nesting. It beat Scarborough Sealife Centre, that's for sure.

I might go as far as saying a lot of what I'm seeing and experiencing is better than what's available back in England. Chapel Allerton, move over; Kalk Bay, with its quirky shops, seafood restaurants and chilled bars is where it's at! The Three Peaks? Try Table Mountain, Lion's Head and Devil's Peak. Even the seafood soup is as good as, if not tastier, than what you get at the Poole Arms (sorry Mum & Ellie, but it's true!). But, of course, there's no better way to appreciate home and all the people there, than to be away from them.

Lots of love...x