Tour de Obz

Hello all! Today marks one month until I will be boarding the horribly long flight back to the United States. I have many mixed feelings about being sad over leaving such an awesome place and being excited to see everyone I have missed these past months. But I won't think about that now! This blog post is dedicated to a short tour of my neighborhood Observatory- affectionately known as Obz.

We'll start with the house I have been living in with 19 other people for the past 4 months. This is the Kimberly house. We just call it K-House for short.

K-House!

K-house has 9 rooms inside and 2 rooms outside (detached from the house). In the back/side is a small yard. When it was nicer outside we would sit underneath the avocado tree to read, do work, or relax. A lot of times we use the side yard for working out or yoga. We all cook our meals in a huge kitchen that gets very busy. It's loud, it's fun' it's a little bit crazy, but it's home. 

K-house kitchen and table

First stop in the neighborhood is the corner coffee shop of course! Cocoa Cha Chi has cappuccinos, coffee crushes (kind of like frappuccinos), and cake! Since they have free wi-fi, studying there is a nice change from the kitchen table. They randomly also play pretty good music. Not the best if you're in a hurry, but it does the job for a caffeine fix. Bonus: they have a rewards card!

Cocoa Cha Chi

Next on the tour is Lower Main Street. Lower Main is only a couple of blocks away from the K-house and is full of restaurants and bars. Our favorites is Panchos (the only Mexican restaurant around- yay margaritas!), Hello Sailer (yummy little cafe with great food), Stones (terrible, but wonderful bar), Armchair (bar with live music a couple nights of the week), and Honeybun (corner cafe with coffee and bakery). 

Lower Main Street

Just around the corner from the K-house is the Metrorail train station. The train station is an inexpensive way to travel, but can take a bit of time because of all the stops. Ever since the weather has cooled down we do not take the train as much. It used to take us to the beach in Muizenberg, but is not very effective if we want to go into the city of Cape Town. I've had some interesting encounters on the train, but it is an experience I treasure nonetheless. 

Observatory Metro station

Fields are a somewhat rare occurrence in Cape Town, but we are fortunate to have one near our house. Local soccer and rugby teams practice here regularly, and we kick the ball around once and awhile too. Early in April we hosted a soccer tournament for four boys teams from some of my housemates' service sites. We officiated the games, made them sandwiches, and cheered them on. We used to do sprints and other work outs on the field, but people thought we were crazy and it has started to get too cold anyway. 

Field near our house

The always surprising Obz always delivers, and this time it's a circus tent! We first noticed the deserted circus tent early in February, but recently there has been more actively around it. There might even be shows happening soon! 

Observatory circus tent

Parking lot in Obz

When running around the neighborhood we go back and forth underneath the train tracks to be able to run farther in residential areas. There's a lot of graffiti art around the train station, and it makes for a fun run. 

Artwork underneath train tracks

The artwork even sometimes appears on the outside walls of residents' homes. Like this chameleon! 

There's actually 2 chameleons in this picture…can you find the other?

The last picture I have is more of a reflective one than anything. The barbs like in the picture below are found on pretty much every single home. There are more bars on windows, barbed wire, and fences than I have ever seen. Cape Town does not have the best reputation for crime, but it makes me sad to see everyone so fenced off. It makes me wonder sometimes if it's meant to keep people out or in. I know they are all safety precautions and such, but I wish it did not have to be like that. Being someone who has a particular need for open spaces, I sometimes feel trapped in the various buildings I move through each day. Maybe it's because I grew up in a neighborhood where fences were actually prohibited. Maybe it's because I don't like feeling confined. Who knows, but for everything I love about Observatory and Cape Town there are the things like fences and barbed wire that I could do without. 

You'll find these on the tops of almost all the walls/fences around yards/homes

And that completes our Tour de Obz. Of course that is not everything in the neighborhood surrounding the K-house, but hopefully it will give you all a good sense of it at least. 

In other news- last weekend I hit up a new local coffee shop for breakfast. Queen of Tarts was as cute as it's name and provided us with a scrumptious meal. After scarfing down a yummy breakfast, I headed over to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for a walk around. All the trees, plants, and water features were so fun to explore. Even though not a lot of the flowers were in bloom it was still fun to walk around and relax on the grass. As beautiful as it was, I think I would still take Forest Park over it any day. 

Queen of Tarts breakfast!

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

                           

 Today was a grand day indeed. The rain has come to Cape Town, so we have adapted our plans from beach days to exploring other things in the city. Today a group of us ventured downtown to one of my favorite coffee houses. Origins Coffee Roasting has the most amazing coffee and quite a good breakfast too! After eating and talking for a bit, we headed over to the Labia Theatre for an afternoon showing of Wes Anderson's new film The Grand Budapest Hotel. In my opinion, the movie was fantastic. Wes Anderson has such a creative vision that he brings to life on screen throughout every little detail. I might just have to go see it again this week. 

Other than that, I am just finishing up my classes and beginning to prepare for exams. I have 2 exams, 2 papers, and 2 projects to complete before all the school work is out of the way for the semester. I am not too worried or overwhelmed. 

And on a final note, tomorrow May 11th is Mother's Day- I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mom who let me spend 5 months in another country when she wouldn't even let me attend a college farther than 6 hours away. I am sad that I will not be able to celebrate with her, my grandmother, Aunt Kim (all the important women in my life) and other family, but I hope they know that I am thinking about them! Mom- get some rest and make sure to order dad and Bouler around for the day! Love you Mommy, you really do make my life more exciting, give me the only advice I actually listen to other than my own, and have taught me endless lessons I continue to discover every day. Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there and make sure to call your mother and wish her a happy day tomorrow too! 

Me and the one and only Mama Kaz!
Happy Mother's Day!