Veerle's Big Issues

Dance Trance

Tesselaarsdal. A beautiful valley. 140 Km's out of Cape Town. The last 30 km's over a dirt road. Beetle covered in dust. 500 people, loud bleepy trance music. Fluorescent ufo's and aliens sparkle in the moonlight. Nice foodstalls to fill your tummy. Colourful cushions to sit on, relax, drink and enjoy the view. Plenty of helium balloons around to inhale, they make people forget about the real world for a couple of minutes. And heaps of happy happy people; bare foot, dancing and smiling.

I would never think of me visiting such a party. But I did and I enjoyed it. The music was not too bad at all -although I did miss the guitars so now and again- Such a peaceful setting. No violence or criminality at all. It was a relief not to watch my personal belongings for the weekend. Eventually got a couple of hours of sleep at the backseat of my car, my friend on the frontseat. We woke up, stretched our legs, enjoyed the view and drove off....Back to the real world!

-there's new pics here-

Happy in Woodstock

Heya!

It took me only two weeks to find a house and a car. Had the job already as you know. So for a week now I'm kind of settled, which feels baie lekker! I live in Woodstock -between Observatory and the city centre- in a beautiful Victorian house with five lovely cats, an amazing flatmate and a nice little garden. It takes me only 5 minutes to get to work, and the traffic is not too bad by the time I leave home in the mornings.

Work is getting quite busy now, finally. We had a staff meeting this morning and everybody could come up with their own stories. We discussed them for a bit and now it's time to work on them. As The Big Issue is a monthly magazine you got to choose your topics carefully. We have started with the production of the may issue already!

Work is nice but the weekends are even better. I started surfing and I'm kind of getting the hang of is. Still figuring out if and how I can take a surfboard on the roof of my beetle... For now I rent a board and a wetsuit in Muizenberg.

Cape Town is nice and lively but just outside the city it's even more beautiful, within a 30 minute drive you're out in the mountains, or in a peaceful fishermans town, or on you surfboard. The car makes me totally independent, if I feel like driving up the mountain to enjoy the view after work, I can! (and that's what I often do!)

I'm keen on knowing what you guys are up to. Post a message or send an email!

Bye for now!

Blue Beetle

Proud to announce that I've bought a beautiful blue beetle!!!

I drove it, I loved it and I bought it, this powder blue beetle (born in 1973). The owner will drop the car off tonight with all the papers necessary to get it on my name. Apparently I'm going to spend a full day at the travel department tomorrow to get that all done, but well..

So nice not to be dependent on others anymore. No more bargaining with taxi drivers either! Jahooooo!!!

Jahoeoeo! Cape Town!

Dear all,

Just wanted to let you know I've arrived safely in Cape Town. I'm completely overwhelmed by the heat, the atmosphere and the crowds on the markets, in the mini buses and on the streets.

Till just now there hasn't been electricity in the whole city, shopping in a pitch black supermarket is quite an experience I can tell, most of the bars closed the place down today, waiting for electricity. It was hard to get a cup of coffee but the way the people deal with it made me smile...

I'm staying in a nice lodge in Observatory, a neighbourhood which is famous because of its Groote Schuur Hospital, the University and the heaps of bars and restaurants, which is good... I have to get used to not walking back home alone, even if my bed is only two blocks away. But well, if that's the only thing...

I'm happy! Big kiss!

My first weblog

My first weblog, in English, so my French, Danish and Arabic friends won't feel neglected;-)

I'm really happy with this birthday present. (thank you Suzan!) At the moment I'm still figuring out how it works as I'm not a computer wizzard. But well, never too old too learn:-)

I'll try to update this blog once in a while and will post my Big Issue stories. Hopefully I won't disappoint you...

Untill the 21th I'll be in and around Amsterdam. (don't forget my birthday/farewell party the 10th in Pacific Parc)

If you're interested in South Africa's history (on a lazy sunday morning) you can read my Historic overview, an assignment I did for my NIZA course which I'll post as soon as I find out how it works.

Lots of love,

Veerle

Ze is vertrokken...

En dan is op deze pagina alles te lezen over Veerle's avonturen in Kaapstad. Tenminste, als Veerle daar zin in heeft. Als ze na een lange werkdag op de redactie van The Big Issue nog de puf heeft om een blogje te tikken... Anyway, ze heeft hier een podium om in een klap alle vrienden & families up-to-date te houden. En er kunnen nog foto's bij ook. Bovendien kunnen de vrienden & families hier meteen iets terugzeggen. Noem het een interactief dagboek & en een digitaal archief van wat ik hoop dat een van de mooiste periode's in Veerle's leven wordt.