Cape Town is surrounded by two oceans. The Indian ocean and the Atlantic ocean. This gives the city and it’s suburbs plenty of beaches to choose from.

Around Cape Town the Atlantic seaboard beaches streches all the way from V&A Waterfront along the north shore of Table Mountain all the way to Hout bay. The beaches are connected by Victoria Road. Clifton is the beach where people go to see and be seen. There are 4 different beaches, 1st to 4th and each are characterized by blue water with the beautiful, pristine white beaches. Next is Camp’s bay, where you can either lie on the beach, play beach volleyball or take a dip in the freezing water. Alternately you could walk or sit on the promanade, have a drink and look at all the people on the beach.
Llandudno is one of the most beautiful beaches of Cape Town, and located in exclusive neighbourhood. Next on the road is Sandy Bay, which thanks to its dunes is mostly protected for the strong winds. This is Cape Town’s nudist beach and is not as crowded as the beaches previously described. The last beach on the Atlantic Seaboard is Hout Bay, which is perfect for horseback riding and walks along the beach. With the mountain in the background you may just experience a superb sunset.

On the Indian Ocean side there are the False bay beaches. These beaches are more popular among the locals and are a bit warmer than the Atlantic Ocean beaches.
Muizenberg is a long beach and perfect for people learning to surf. Because the shallow waters extend quite far out here, this beach is perfect for paddling and learning the tricks of the trade. St James beach and Kalk Bay are both rather small beaches, but they offer a tidal pool that is great for children to play in. Fish Hoek beach is a  beach with calmer waters and is the perfect location for games, swimming and walks along the shoreline. During the season Fish Hoek beach is a great place for spotting whales, which can swim close into the bay. Glencairn beach is good for swimming and watching great white sharks. Just behind Simons Town you can find Boulders beach which is the self declared home of the African penguins. You have to pay to access the beach, but is a great beach for swimming, because the boulders on the beach protect you from the winds.

The many beaches of Cape Town provide you with the possibility to do whatever you want to do on the beach. Whether it is sun bathing, play beach volleyball, surf or go horseback riding, all is possible.

At V&A Waterfront you will find the Two Oceans Aquarium, where you will find a selection of the incredible diversity of marine life of the Indian and Atlantic Ocean. In the underwater nature reserve you will find over 3000 living sea animals, ranging from sharks, turtles, penguins and a great range of fish.

The Aquarium is great for either a family day out or yYou can visit exhibits of marine life, there is a kid’s corner and if you want to, you can even take a dive with the sharks or help feed the fish and take a look at the animals up close.

You can spend an afternoon or even a whole day in the Aquarium looking at the variety of fish and sea mamals that inhabit the two oceans that surround Cape Town.

Dear lovely Kurus Team

Thank you for inviting us to your language school here in Cape Town. Everything was so amazing. We felt so comfortable in your school and you’ve done all to keep us busy

These two weeks we saw a lot of Cape Town, climbed up to Table Mountain, communicated with people in the townships, cooked local food, learned about South African history.
Yeah… for sure we discovered a lot!!

Today is our final English lesson. We look back and already have tears in our eyes.

We hope to come back soon!

FEJO,
Andrea, Julian, Veronika, Elizabeth, Jan, Sebastian, Anja, Stefanie, Jenny, Timo, Michael, Karen, Tim.

The difference between the Language Excursions of this week, Food & Cuisine, was huge. We all know that in South Africa there is a big gap between rich and poor, and just how big it actually is we discovered during these two days.

The first Excursion was to a private apartment in Sea point, which is the home base for Lokshin’s Kitchen. Gina and Abdulmalik prepared for us a typical Xhosa meal in their modern kitchen, while telling stories about how their mothers, and mother’s mothers did and still do this. Even though we had to wait quite some time, when the chicken, pap, spinach with peanutbutter, and all other delicous food was finally served, it was well worth the wait.

The second Excursion took us to Ikamva Labantu, an organisation that provides food parcels to families who have trouble providing food for themselves. We took a look at one of the parcels, which is about ZAR 150. In the value parcel was suger, beans, maize, flower, rice, oil and other basic necesities. This was for a family of four, and should last 1 month. One of Ikamva Labantu’s projects is a creche in Gugulethu, where children of these poor families stay during the day. Their parents don’t have the means to provide enough food for their children and Ikamva Labantu helps them with this.

This week was a world of opposites, and was deeply impressive.

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens cover of 528 hectares, with 36 hectares of cultivated garden. The gardens are a showcase of South African indigenous flora and is great to take a stroll around the grounds is soak in the beauty of nature.

A great variety of birds inhabit the garden and you get fantastic view over the entire grounds from the upper slopes. It is also a great place to spend the whole day while enjoying a picnic.

During the summer time Kirstenbosch is also the setting for a series of concerts that are held every Sunday. With the beautiful view and the music, it is the perfect close to the weekend.

Mac is preparing for his 3 month fundraising tour in Europe! We are helping him to organise a trip to Johannes’ hometown Aschaffenburg and Unterafferbach in Germany. We hope that we can arrange valuable networking opportunities and at least one fundraising concert!

With thirteen students this week, the Language Excursion was South African History. It was the students first time in South Africa and this would immediately introduce them to the diverse faces of Cape Town.

On our first excursion we went to The Slave Lodge. Our guide, Lucy Campbell showed us around the different rooms of where once slaves used to sleep, eat and live. We started with a film about how slavery started in South Africa and details about the Slave Lodge. Lucy told us stories about her personal history, and why this held so much interest for her. She engaged us all in the story and showed us how slavery molded the way for the colonists to create apartheid after slavery was ebolished.

The excursion on Wednesday took us to the District Six museum, where Noor told us the story of the area of District Six. During the apartheid era, this area was declared a white-only neighbourhood where all the people of colour were removed to other black and coloured areas. Their houses were destroyed and no longer any white peope live in the area. Noor told us stories about his family and how they coped with the situation.

On Thursday, with the motto ‘celebrating our freedom’ we took the train to Langa where we had some drinks with the local people. We played some pool and heard some interesting stories about tourists coming to Langa. We took the train back where our students talked to various Capetonians and asked some interesting questions about living in Cape Town.

Also take a look at our previous South Africa History Language Excursion here!

Looking around in Cape Town, you can discover a variety of districts all with their different characteristics. There are large areas which can be considered a city in itself, but they are all part off a whole. Looking at Cape Town this way was the theme of last weeks Language Excursion: Building Cities.

On the first Excursion we took a walking tour through the city with Cape Town Partnership. Guide Richard Beesley showed us the ‘mid-town’ part of the City Bowl. Richard explained to us the city’s future plans and what they are building at this very moment.

On the second Excursion on Wednesday, we went to Khayelitsha. First we went to the look-out point, where we could see over the area in 360 degrees. You could see how enormous Khayelitsha is, with its approximately 2 million inhabitants, while the government count was a conservative 500.000 people. We also visited eKasie Backpackers.  eKasie is the second Backpackers built in a township in South-Africa. It was unique to see it. We took a look inside and the owners told us about about the challenges of having a Backpackers in a Township.

On the last Excursion we went to the informal settlement of a Township called Kalkfontein. Kalkfontein is a unique Township for several reasons. One being that it is a post-apartheid township, built after 1994. The second reason is that Kalkfontein is a mixed township, where blacks and coloured people live among each other. Jona Showed us aroud the informal settlement. We met up with Maurice, who joined us, and told us that he was involved in a lot activities in the settlement, for example a soup kitchen.In the end Jona showed us large piece of land on which they are planning on building a playground for the children. This is going well, but now they are stuck. They need poles to surround the land, for the safety of the children.

Also take a look at the previous Building Cities Excursion here!

Language Travel Magazine published an article about the South Africa and specifically about the language travel to our country. Kurus English is mentioned as a source that gives a prediction for the future.

Dowload the article here to read the full version.

Dear friends and teachers,

I was the first!…advanced student in Kurus English

I hope I’ll stay in your mind, at least for this reason. Anyway i’ll keep you in my mind. Not only as a profesional team, but also as wonderful supporters. Thanks you so much for encouraging me so lovely to improve my English. And thank you for those everlasting experiences and the patience when i was on my career to become a “paparazzi”. I hope my pictures give something back to you.

I need to come back!

Good luck for the future

Yasmin

I was thinking of how to start this note about my Cape Town experience, but it is a little bit hard, because I was deep inside this city and culture. I just opened my mind and soul to this “new” world.

Other than learning English I am so glad to have had the opportunity to discover this new place. This country and the people who I have met here, from South Africa and from all over the world. All the experiences and adventures that I have had here, have changed my vision of the world (or of my own world).

I would like to say thanks to the Kurus team, to my teachers who taught me English, of course! But also taught me about the history and the culture of this country. It is hard to describe my time here because I have a lot of nice feelings…

Cape Town will always be my psychedelic city!

Thanks! Love, love,

Camila Paz

I have to say thank you.

Thanks to the whole Kurus and Coffeebeans Routes team, for this great time. Especially to my teachers Gavin and Aaliya for their patience and kindness all the time. I will never forget you all. You have enriched my life!

In these three weeks I have learned so much. Not only have I improved my English, but in the course of time, I have made new friends and collected a lot of new experiences and impressions for my life. The Kurus team made it possible to show that a language is more than grammar and that the language lives in all parts of our lives and connects people, regardless of your culture, the color of your skin or your nationality. I have also learned to understand the meaning of the word diversity, to show people your acceptance and respect and you will get it back the same way!

The other part of my trip was to discover Cape Town. This city is a melting pot of different cultures, religions and different faces. You can feel and absorb the different vibrations, smells and noises in the streets, all the time. This has showed me also the different parts of shadow and light in this country and city. As soon as you accept this, you will find the right way for new understanding how to become more tolerant and open for a new sight in you life. You can be part of it, open your mind and you will discover a new world!

Thank you!

Stefan.

If you are interested in the polical history of South Africa, Robben Island is the place to go. This is the prison where, during the apartheid era, political prisoners such as, Nelson Mandela, were held captive.

The trip starts from the V&A Waterfront where you will take a ferry, which during the apartheid era was also used to transport the prisoners to the Island. On the way you have a beautiful view of Table Mountain. The boat ride takes about 30/40 minutes and can get a bit rough, depending on how the ocean is feeling that day.

Once having arrived on the island everybody from the boat gets on a tour bus and you set of on an interesting tour of the island. You will only be taken to see round and about 20% of the island, because the other part is a nature reserve and the bus can not get there. You will see the different prisons, churches and even a school, where children still go to this day.

After the tour, you will be brought to the political prison, where you join a tour through the prison, guided by a former political prisoner. He starts with telling his story, about his conviction and the time he served, and then continues with the way life was during years of incarceration in the apartheid era. You will learn about what the policies were, how the guards treated prisoners and the way they fought against and resisted these policies.

It is definitely worth a visit Robben Island, because you will get a sense of the history of South Africa in a captivating way.

Kind
United
Reliable
Understanding
Sociable

Express yourself
Networking
Great
Learning
Important
Self-esteem
Helpful

Culturally Crazy
Adventurous
Progressive & Psychedelic
Exciting Experiences
Touristic
Original
Welcoming
Naturally Beautiful

Written by Camila, Stefan and Aaliya during a skills class!

Please, click the links for the definition of the words!

Compared to the 2010 excursions we did the last time we had to change a couple of things. The Green Point Stadium Visitors Centre was closed due to the roof constructions and unfortunately, we also could not visit the late Joe Mthimka!
Nevertheless, we put together an interesting week. Firstly, we met Sizwe, a passionate soccer player and co- founder of the website www.thesoccerpages.com. After an interesting introduction on Signal Hill where we could see the construction of the new stadium in Green Point we went to the Sea Point promenade for a soccer clinic. Yes, after short instructions from Sizwe we played soccer according to the given tactics. That was lots of fun- even though it was hot hot… but not only Gavin and Aaliya (our teachers) were sweating…

On our second Language Excursion, we visited the District Six Museum for its special Soccer Exhibition. It linked in nicely with Sizwe’s stories from the day before. We saw lots of pictures about soccer in the early days and learned a lot about the foundation of the professional Cape Town football clubs. The next day, on our last excursion for this week, we visited Ajax Cape Town (check out their website here!) one of the two Cape Town clubs playing in the South African Premier Soccer League. We met Ajax Marketing Manager Mike Meiers and he showed us all sport facilities.

All in all, we had a great time!