...In daylights, in sunsets In midnights, in cups of coffee...

What do you actually do for your birthday when you are thousands of miles away from normal? Well if you know me, I would imagine that you would guess a little run would work its way in there :) And of course you would be correct. I started out my 23rd year of birth with another early wake up, and hit the road I did. However, in a series of interesting events I 1. did not meet up with my intended running group 2. found some other lovely running guys 3. ended up running much further than expected... whoops. It was a fitting ending to my 22 years, running the 22 miles (37ks) to Fish Hoek and back via my favorite road, Chapman's Peak Drive. My new running friends even took care to buy me some food and drink at the half way point, what wonderful people.

After a good pass out and delicious PANCAKE breakfast I headed to the beach and strolled around for a bit (cutest thing, there was a sand castle competition going on!) before purchasing some things from the bead shop that I have had my eye on. Ice cream for the walk back and a little reading on the beach and I was ready for a nap. Chilled out some more before going to Trenchtown with a friend to meet up with others and listen to some awesome live music. In all, a great day... almost unexpectedly. Of course my coworkers knew it was my bday (thus the delicious chocolate cake pic! thanks guys!) but with the exception of one person, I did not interact with a single person on my bday that knew of its significance to me. It was actually kind of cool in a way. It also really made me think about what makes a birthday great. I did miss having friends and family to visit and reminisce with (although I did get a card the day before from my mom complete with loads of baby pics, one of which she posted as her profile pic, lovely :) it was interesting trying to find ways I could make it special myself.

My extended family is very close and always find a way to get together to celebrate everyones birthday, so it is kind of strange not to have that. I settled with, being in a breathtaking country, having the ocean and mountains both within reach, and the freedom to do exactly whatever I want with my day seemed a pretty good alternative to the traditional family bday (not to mention getting to wear running clothes or a bathing suit the majority of the day...this makes me extremely happy). Going to bed with incredibly sore legs, a slight sunburn, smelling of campfire and replaying the great music I just experienced made me a very thankful birthday girl. Not to mention that incredibly slow post means that cards and packages are going to be trickling in all month making the celebration last even longer :)

I've found hope and it gives me rest, I've found hope in a beating chest

Another week in Cape Town, more experiences to reflect upon. One huge load off my mind was catching the bus into town to pick up my passport and confirm that my visa is being processed! Thank goodness, I will not be living illegally here :) Another bonus, I could finally get a library card. Apparently knowing your id number is not enough, you need your actual passport and references from people living here (I swear to you Hout Bay Library, even though you tempt me with all of your out of date science books and plethora of thriller novels, I will fight the urge to steal from your book collection).

This weekend I also had a freaking amazing run. Sounds insignificant, but after a brutal week trying to recover from the trail run without a day off and simultaneously upping my mileage, a long run seemed rather unideal. However, Sunday morning I just had the urge to get it over with so in the heat of the day I headed out for Suikerbossie pass and Chapman's peak drive. Who knew this was exactly what my body wanted. I was flying by the end and having an ice cold ocean to jump into felt exactly right. Mmmm... just had to watch out for the crabs and sharks :)

Work is going well here too. Falling into a much needed rhythm after the hectic chaos of moving my life across the globe again and worrying about trivial things like visas, sleep and food procurement. I really enjoy finding a company that is legitimately working to help the world. A lot of my job is weeding around corporate responsibility reports trying to see the good among all of the required words detailing that the company was doing exactly the minimum to look good to investors. Today I was able to brief my boss on a company that was one of the good guys, and it reminded me of what can be accomplished with genuine effort.

One more bonus, my flat is starting to feel a lot more like home. I was given the curtains from the office today because the boss ordered some nice new blinds to replace them, yay! Upgrading to a much bigger refrigerator due to the prospects of having a flatmate soon makes a difference too (runner metabolism catching back up to me again). Starting to paint again and hanging things on the walls make it feel that much more comfortable in my new space. I think I am going to go read one of my 3 alloted books for the next two weeks now, thanks library :)

I went up to the mountain Because you asked me to Up over the clouds To where the sky was blue

This weekend’s theme was running, first with errands then in race form. I had one of the most productive Saturdays here, mostly in preparation for the race. See, when you register for something here, usually they want you to directly deposit the money into their bank account, something that slightly intimidated me. However, I got myself up early and walked myself down to the garden center, a mini mall of sorts, and to my amazement I found the bank I was looking for and a teller that was kind enough to show my sleepy American self how to fill out a deposit slip. Feeling so proud of my accomplishment I treated myself to breakfast at the Blue Cat Café, a place I had been wishing to go to that I always walk by on my way to get groceries. After the best yogurt/ fresh fruit/ muesli and coffee ever I proceeded to go slightly overboard getting groceries for this week. By the time I got back to my apartment at 11:30 I felt very much accomplished.

Today I ran the Constantia Valley Grape Run, aka how far up the mountain can we get them to run in 21k. It was seriously the most intense half marathon of my life. But backtrack to this morning. See, I don’t think I have had so much uncertainty going into an event. Some things that were running through my mind as I drifted off on Saturday night were 1. will the taxi come at 5:30 am like promised? (yes, he actually came 10 min early) 2. will he charge me the rate we agreed on during our phone convo the day before? (even better, he ran the meter and it actually ended up being less) 3. one of my biggest worries, did my registration/ payment get processed? (yes! and they didn’t even ask for proof of payment) 4. how the heck do you use water sachets? ( here they use water bags instead of cups, and after witnessing this in the 5k two weeks ago I was nervous to try. However they are actually loads easier than cups, the u.s. should look into this).

The course was absolutely beautiful; it started on the main road in Constantia and entered one of the most famous wineries in South Africa, Groot Constantia. There we took dirt service roads that wound up and along all of the vineyards all the way up the mountainside. At one point, we were at such a high elevation that I could see the ocean! Racing in S. Africa has made me realize that they do things much differently here in regards to race management. First, they are very polite cheerers. Instead of the earsplitting screams I get in the states, spectators calmly give you a “well done” and “nearly there”. Also, timing is a bit sketch. My last race wasn’t even timed or places recorded. This one I was given a temporary license to pin onto my shorts and at the finish I was given a laminated pouch with my place number on, that you slip your info card into and place on a huge wooden board in the slot corresponding to your place. No chips, no bib rip-offs. Strange. Also, post race refreshment of choice, coke???

Despite a gigantic blister (I’m pretty positive it formed from my foot slipping in my shoe from all the hills/ down hills) I think I held up pretty well for the type of running I have been doing here. I finished 131 out of 1500 runners, and I believe in the top 10-15 of females. The weather was perfect too, nice and cool in the morning with the sun breaking out around 10km. I’m so glad I didn’t give up on this race. The logistics were pretty crazy; I will never take for granted cars and online race registration ever lol. My friend had a great time too. She ran her first 5k with me two weeks ago and today she took 2 mins off her time! Afterward she asked me if I knew of another race in the area we could do before we leave, oh yeah she is hooked.

Things that made me happy today 1. old couple course marshalling blasting classic rock from their car. 2. raffle prizes were cases of wine! so ideal. 3. mini bus we took back to cape town was rocking out to boys II men, beyonce and neyo. 4. getting the running high I have been missing J Yay endorphins!

Settling In

It is already halfway through my second week here in Cape Town, and I feel like I'm beginning to understand what normal may eventually feel like. I mean, really how normal can you feel in a different country, but still. I have formulated a bit of a daily schedule for myself to keep on top of things that goes a little like this...

8:00am wake up and breakfast with the roommate

8:55am leave for work

9:00am arrive at work (lol I know, walking to work is GREAT)

3:00pm (or whenever I finish projects that I'm working on) leave the office

3:15pm snack time and chill before heading out on a run

5:00pm snack, get ready for dinner OR make dinner with the roommate

10:00pm TRY to go to bed, doesn't always happen

My sleep schedule was the most frustrating thing of this trip. It's super hard to fathom what a 6hr time difference feels like until it actually happens. So for the first week I just allowed myself to stay up until I was actually tired (like 2am here) and just force myself up in the morning, hoping exhaustion would eventually sink in. Worked pretty well until the weekend when I actually wanted to stay up late but my body wanted rest. Guess who prevailed... :)

My first weekend here was actually amazing. I took a trip to Boulder Beach and Cape Point. The first is famous for its penguin population and the latter is an outlook of the Atlantic ocean and False Bay, a famous spot for whale watching. The excursion also served as a great way to meet the other interns living and working here in Cape Town.

Running has been a bit of a challenge here. I have been desperately searching for other interns that could help me navigate this crazy city, and finally in the elevator on my way back from work I think I have finally found one! In my search for local running clubs I have also found out that Cape Town is hosting a marathon and 10k the weekend of the 26th... definitely considering that too. I just can't wait until I have found trails and no longer find myself hopelessly lost in post work foot traffic and street vendors.