Day 1 - Orientation

Sunday was our first day of orientation for the Cross Cultural Solutions program.  We spent several hours talking about rules and regulations, including how to stay safe in a city with a pretty high violent crime rate.  The program is very concerned about everyone's safety, which is great.  We had a barbecue in the back yard for lunch and then headed off for a guided city tour.  The city of Cape Town is so beautiful!!  We went up to a place call Signal Hill where we had a panoramic view of the city.  Cape Town is surrounded by mountains or the ocean on all sides. We then drove through downtown and headed for the beach. Many of the beach communities remind me so much of Laguna Beach with their white sand, palm trees, open air restaurants and surfers.  We had a gorgeous day for the tour with the weather reaching the low 70's and not a cloud in the sky.  It was then back to the house for dinner and a movie.  The house has several South African films that we can display through a computer software program onto the wall of the common area.  The one we watched last night was about a black man who grew up in the townships and was a teenager when apartheid ended.  He and his community were very hopeful at first that things would be different.  When they didn't change that much for him, he turned to crime.  It was pretty interesting.