Proudly South African Expat Catches Up With Friends

2016-01-09 | puppy1952

After she retired three years ago, my friend Margie, packed for Perth to be near her son, daughter and grandchildren. For her it was a good move but it is not without its challenges. Today our Breakfast Club met so we could all catch up with her.

Our favourite breakfast venue is Bistro Sixteen82 on Steenberg Wine Estate. “The Aussies think their Wine Farms are fabulous,” declared Margie. “They have no idea! There is nothing like this over there. And this is the first time I’ve been out for breakfast for three years as it’s just too expensive!”

Margie enjoying Mushroom Benedict at an affordable price

Margie said she didn’t realise how much she’d missed the mountains till she landed back in Cape Town. “Cape Town,” she said, “is the most beautiful city in the world.”

A wonderful ambience at Bistro Sixteen82

“You’re biased,” I laughed.

“NO!” she insisted. “Really – there isn’t a more beautiful place in the whole, wide world!” A truly proudly South African statement – and just proves how you can take the girl our of Cape Town but you can’t take Cape Town out of the girl.

Emigrating at retirement age is not easy on a South African Teacher’s pension. Margie still has to work and getting employment is not easy. She has done a number of courses to improve her qualifications, mainly to enable her to work with children with special needs. She has had to register a business in order to take on private pupils – even though she does not have many. She also does supply teaching and baby sitting! In order to work with children in any capacity she has had to get Police Clearance!

Studying in your sixties is daunting but Margie has achieved excellent results and has enjoyed the challenge. She embraces every opportunity that comes her way but still it’s not easy to get full time employment.

Yes, it’s tough living away from your homeland and she misses her friends but the rewards are great as she gets to be near her kids and to see her grandchildren growing up.

You’re looking good on it, Margie. We admire you hugely for what you’ve accomplished in three short years away from home. All the best for 2016 and may many good employment opportunities come your way!

Back with the Breakfast Friends

Celebrating 60 Years of Me

2012-11-27 | puppy1952

When you teach small girls its hard to get away with neglecting to confessing when your birthday is and also how old you are! At my school birthdays are celebrated anyway – and its hard to keep it a secret. There are three members of staff with birthdays on the same day as mine and we each received a gift voucher at an early morning staff meeting last Monday morning. Isn’t that amazing? My little girls also spoilt me with little gifts and cards and I think they were more excited than me. Two of them wished me a Happy 40th birthday! I don’t think I’ve taught them their numbers very well!

I was in the middle of opening presents on Thursday morning when the school secretary arrived at the classroom door. “There is someone here with a special delivery,”she said. I’d ordered cup cakes from Cake Creations so said, ”Oh I was expecting them at 10 ——Omigosh” And there was one of the moms with an enormous cake – iced with a picture of me on top and all the kids around the edge. Wow!

The Surprise Cake

I was spoilt with choccies and smellies, pretty necklaces and bangles and a dozen other special little things. Most of them had chosen their gifts and made their cards themselves – and that is what made it so precious.

I decided not to have a huge celebration of my coming of aged. The guest list would just grow to a proportion that was unmanageable – so instead I settled for a dinner at a restaurant with close family and friends. There were 14 of us and it was lovely.

Lovely Setting

My sister and brother-in-law – Tana and Brain

Sharon and Tony

Peter and Heather

: Chantal and me

Chantal and Jeremy

Lisa and The Lads

A toast

Jay – It’s only sparkling water!

Josh

My darling husband and me

On Saturday my breakfast friends helped me celebrate at Bistro Sixteen82. What a stunning venue. The food was excellent and service good. It was also Cheryl’s birthday – but she’s not as old as me!

Breakfast Friends

So now I am a senior citizen. And do I feel any different? No – just the same as always and long may that last!

Struisbaai Weekend With Just The Girls

2012-06-02 | puppy1952

For many years I have been meeting friends I have known since my college days (sh – way back in the 70s) every month for breakfast – We call it, predictably, Breakfast Club. There are seven of us and its one of those girlie things that keep us sane – taking a break from our normal routine of work and family and just chilling for a couple of hours in each other’s company. On our birthdays, the birthday girl gets presents and her breakfast paid for by the others! One of our number, Margie, who has now reached retirement age is planning to join her children in Australia. So for her birthday we decided to have a grand send off. Five of us left Cape Town at 4:30 on Friday afternoon and took off for our holiday house in Struisbaai. Don’t ask how we managed to get the three hubbies involved to let us go. There might have been great sulking if they hadn’t agreed to release us – wonderful men that they are! The fun began right from the start – everyone relaxed and the Caravelle was abuzz with laughter and chatter and we enjoyed the drive through traffic, dusk and finally darkness till we arrived at our destination at 7:30. Just before we arrived I realised I’d forgotten the milk but lucky for us there was one cafe open and we got to it just before they closed for the night. The catering was well under control – no effort involved – Woollies spit roast chicken, veggies in a bag and baby potatoes followed by Melba pudding and custard! Oh – and of course Champers to celebrate Margie’s 62 years. It was almost midnight when we found our beds and crashed for the night. Unfortunately it had to be a working weekend for me – my reports being due on Monday – so I was up early on Saturday and spent a productive hour working. By the time everyone was up and ready for action I had accomplished a fair amount. After enjoying a cup of coffee and a bun together we got ourselves ready to go out for breakfast – “You have three choices girls – a fancy brekkie with white table clothes but no view, a basic brekkie at the harbour – with a view or The Lighthouse Restaurant in Agulhas. Unanimously we decided that the Harbour Brekkie with a view was the only place we wanted to be. What a busy place a fishing harbour is – and so picturesque. When we arrived we noticed some police and rescue vehicles. Margie asked – What’s happening?” And we were told that a ski-boat had capsized at the 12mile bank – but all on board were safe.

From the Pelican Restaurant we were able to watch all the interesting activity the harbour had to offer. The sea was flat and lots of the commercial and ski-boats were out at sea. But the commercial, Big Blue was there offloading her catch.

Big Blue

Offloading

Gulls waiting for tidbits

Gulls receiving tidbits

Hanging on the wall in my lounge is a painting of two Arniston fishermen’s cottages. Margie instantly coveted it and said, Where can I buy some art like that!

Painting on my wall

So we went to Agulhas in search of art galleries. No problem – The Southern Wright Gallery was found with ease and we spent a long time looking at beautiful pieces by local artists. It was a bit of a problem trying to get Margie, Dot and Cheryl out of there. After selecting a few pieces that she might like to take with her to Australia Margie said, “We’ll be back – I must just think about this over coffee. And off we went to Potpourri across the road. Wow – what a lovely coffee/gift shop!

Potpourri

Our gatherer instincts kicked in and we browsed the nooks and crannies displaying beach-house decor, novelties, bags, jewelry, clothing and scarves.

The gatherer half of Hunter/Gatherer

There was a tricky moment when Margie and Chrissie vied for possession of the same scarf.

I saw it first!

In the end Chrissie said, Okay – its your birthday – you can have it.

Coffee and Cake went down well at Potpourri

It was an expensive visit and we all left with packets full of lovely goodies.

You can’t bring visitors to Agulhas without doing the tip of Africa thing – so we dutifully went to stand on the spot and have a kind young man take our portraits with each ones camera. “Don’t worry, ” he said when we tried to show him how to use our cameras – “I do this for a living.’ Then when he was done, said, “Thanks Ladies” and started walking off with our cameras. We laughed – “So that’s what you do for a living,” Luckily it wasn’t!

The Southern-most Girls at the Southern Most Point

It was a drizzly day and cool but our spirits were high as we took a drive to Suiderstrand. We saw a jackal buzzard soaring overhead and spotted several birds on the side of the road – Cape francolin, canaries, bulbuls etc.

Back in Agulhas we found the lighthouse museum closed for renovations and climbing to the top of the tower held little appeal. We did take a pic of the view though.

The dealer at Southern Wright had a glint of glee in her eye when she saw us returning. Margie has visions of marmite toast for dinner till the end of the month because after much deliberation and advice and suggestions from Cheryl and me, she made up her mind, bit the bullet and maxed out her card to invest in four delightful little paintings of parts of the country that are dear to her.

Give them pride of place in your new Aussie home Margs!

Four special paintings

We returned to Struisbaai, delighted with our day and the fun we’d had. Margie called out marks for me to enter onto our internet based system and after an hour or so it was all done and dusted and I shall be ready to print my reports on Monday afternoon.

We enjoyed another pleasant evening together and once again dinner required little preparation – Woollies’ Lasange and micro veggies, rolls and of course the obligatory glass of champers!