Afternoon Tea at the Mount Nelson

This week PATA had a local forum in Tanzania. I did not get to attend, but it apparently went really well.  11 teams participated and learned about adolescent care.  Baylor was the host clinic, which is funded by Baylor/Texas.  They fund quite a few of our clinics, and those are the ones that have more resources.

My new flat mate Shevaun moved in from Canada.  She is now the seventh person I have shared an apartment with in the past 3.5 months.  That number is only going to grow because I should be moving rooms at the end of the month.  We all went to Fat Cactus for Mexican Wednesday night which was so much fun. It is one of my favorite places to go to, not only because of the margaritas but because I really like their food.  Restaurants here give out blankets to use when you are cold.  However, it turns out that homeless people keep walking by and stealing their blankets so they don’t have many left.  I thought that was really funny even though I was cold without one.

I was very excited Saturday morning because I got to eat French toast!  There is a restaurant called Knead that makes a honey version that was delicious; it is something I have been craving for months. It definitely made my morning.  Afterward six of us took a cab out to Claremont in the Southern Suburbs. Some of the girls met a group of locals (born and raised in Cape Town) who live out in that area.

We relaxed at their house for a while before wandering around and seeing the area.  Bier Fest was going on down the street.  We were going to attend, but it was right in between shifts since they had an afternoon group and an evening group.  It was hilarious to watch all of the drunken people stumbling out of the event at four in the afternoon.  We decided not to wait for the next time slot and to just go back to the house to chill. The guy who owns the house makes music and we listened to it while having a small bonfire in his backyard as the sun set.  The guys drove out to Wynberg to buy dinner to go – I had my first Gatsby.  A Gatsby is similar to a hoagie but one serves four people.  It is filled with a bunch of things; mine was chicken.  They all have hot chips (French fries) in them as well. It was massive and very good.

On Sunday the weather was absolutely phenomenal.  It hit 80 degrees!  I am trying to learn to speak Celsius, so it hit 35 degrees!  The day could not have been better.  In the morning, Skyrove internet was not working (not that uncommon) so we went to an internet café for milkshakes and Wi-Fi.  I had the best chocolate coffee milkshake while I found out that the Huskers won their weekend game. 

In the afternoon a huge group of us put on our fancy clothes and went to the Mount Nelson for high tea.  The Mount Nelson is a gorgeous expensive hotel in the city center, about a 10 minute walk from where I live. They have giant columns at the entrance that lead into the grand estate.  The tea is served on the Windsor Table in this great open area that has outdoor seating on a veranda.  We got to stroll down by the fountains and pools in between cups of tea.

I am not a huge tea drinker, but I had at least seven cups while we were there.  I really enjoyed the strawberry and vanilla Rooibos tea from South Africa, the vanilla tea, and the forest berries fruit infusion.  There was a large buffet table filled with chocolates, sweets, and finger sandwiches.  The event lasts three hours and is all you can eat and drink (tea of course) that you want. All of it was so good, that we kept going back for more despite not being hungry anymore.  The cheesecake was probably better than the Cheesecake Factory back home.  The hotel itself is pink and covers a huge area of land.  We wandered by the pool, tennis courts, fountains, and a wooden swing.  Having afternoon tea at the Mount Nelson is one of the tasks in 1000 Places to see before you die.  I had such a good time, with the sun shining and a great group of people.