Yes its true...I’m not engaged just yet since we’ve only known each other for five weeks, but I think I’m falling in love...with Cape Town! After travelling the globe the past five years, it doesn’t compare to some of my favorite cities...those where I shared spiritual moving experiences such as Chiang Mai, Bali or Tanzania, but it is one of the few destinations that I would seriously consider living in outside of California and New York. That’s not even a consideration at this point, but just wanted to give you a little perspective.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written and wanted to quickly bring you up to speed. I’ve been living in my apartment for about three weeks now. The apartment is lovely, don’t get me wrong, but I have to share with you some of the obstacles I faced upon moving in. First, I know someone was living here before I moved in but I think the last time they dusted or cleaned was the year Mandela was released from prison. Seriously, there were layers and layers of dust and mold...I did a physical and spiritual cleansing. I had to buy new towels and sheets for my bed because the ones in the closet were probably also twenty years old. Second, they only informed me that the pipe on the washing machine was detached after I put in my first load of laundry, which resulted in a minor flood. To remedy the situation I moved the entire washing machine into the middle of my kitchen, put the pipe in the sink and held it down with a pasta pot (you can see a photo of my contraption on Picasa). I got a hold of a plumber that fixed it...his name happened to be Johnny Walker. Situation gets better. I went to the city municipality to change the electric bill in my name, only to find out the bill hadn’t been paid in six months. They didn’t realize this until I arrived that day inquiring about my bill and they threatened to turn off my electricity (I’m like really, you didn’t notice for six months and now you threaten to turn it off?!). Although I’m not surprised given the guy “helping me” was falling asleep on me mid-sentence. I’m not sure if he was drunk, tired or had a condition. Side note, luckily I get billed monthly but most residents here have to buy kilowatts from their local store for electricity and if they use all of their kilowatts then woops no electricity until they stock up on more. I also buy internet by megabyte…I’m averaging 500 megabytes per two weeks. My sliding shower door is broken so it repeatedly falls of the tracks and a few times has fallen on my head…so I’ve accepted showering with the door open…who needs it. In order to turn my television, I had to wire cash into the bank account of the owner living in Johannesburg. Other than these few “minor” obstacles, I adore my apartment and again, it’s much nicer than anything I ever imagined especially in comparison with some of the conditions the other fellows are living in other parts of Africa.

The past few weeks have flown by. I am very busy at work trying to implement a budget and forecasting model. Currently they are crafting their budgets in excel for seven countries and numerous donors which are highly complex. Not only is this inefficient and unreliable, but it has also led to missed funding opportunities. I helped facilitate training on a small component of this project to over sixty people this week. Sorry for those of you who fell asleep like five minutes ago. Onto better things.

Some of the highlights of the past few weeks are:

M2M recently secured a donation from Elton John worth almost $2M, his largest donation ever made. He was in town for a two day concert and made a visit to M2M. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet him but did get to go to his concert that night which was held at the Kirstenbausch Botanical Gardens. It was a beautiful night and he ended with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”…ala Lion King. Anyone??

Annie Lennox is also in town and actually came to the office today. She has been very engaged and interested in m2m recently and made a donation...amount yet unknown. I got to meet her and speak with her. She was very humble. I also loved her look...sans makeup with a tangerine colored Indian tunic, shorts and flip flops.

Cape Argus, one of the world’s largest cycling events was held here and went right by my apartment. It’s an 80 mile race with extreme hills to conquer. Lance Armstrong raced along the likes of my boss. I participated by attending a Bicycles, Bagels and Bloody Marys party.

Two weeks ago, a group of us went to Wine Country which sounds far but luckily is only 35 minutes away. We went to three different vineyards; one of which was a wine & chocolate pairing (Pinotage with Masala Chai Dark Chocolate and Cabernet Sauvignon with Sea Salt Chocolate, yums!). I bought a couple bottles, but these were consumed during a barbeque the next day in which we commemorated Human Rights Day…not just the people’s right to freedom but also the right to enjoy fine wine.

This past weekend I spent Saturday at the Taste of Cape, an outdoor wine and food tasting which brings over twenty of the best restaurants together showcasing their menus. I tried some of the most incredible dishes…a few highlights include “pan seared scallops on saffron risotto, micro greens and burnt butter vinaigrette; miso seared black cod; cumin crusted springbok loin with smoked sweet potato and goat cheese samosas; vanilla bean crème brulee with berry chutney and salted peanut butter”…the list can go on but you get the point. Scrumpdidlyumptous.

I wrapped up the weekend with a stay in the Khayelitsha Township, but it was so powerful it deserved its own write up (see next posting).

Stay tuned for my adventures in Mozambique!! Still missing you all very much & Happy Easter!!

See pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/March2010#