When you leap...

Cape Town has always been the city of my dreams. We lived here for 6 months when I was just a little girl and I loved it. When I started going to university, I came to the Western Cape at least once a year and I always said that this would be the place I settled down in.

 But life happened and I ran away to Korea, where I was planning on staying forever and ever. I did, however, always say that if I HAD to return to South Africa, I’m moving to Cape Town.

And so I did. I returned to South Africa on June 23^rd 2011, spent a month with my family, packed everything I own (Except my cat and the 9 boxes still on their way) in my newly bought car and drove down to Cape Town, not knowing what I will do, where I will stay and who I will hang out with.

I was blessed to have 2 good friends, living nearby, offer me a room to stay in. They live in Stellenbosch, which is about 40 minutes away from the City centre. From their home I drove in every day to do interviews and continue my job hunt. In my room in their house, I sat on the internet every day and every night applying for every position imaginable.

So far I haven’t had any success. I’ve had a lot of interviews, but no job yet. Am I nervous? Yes, I am. Do I get scared? Yes, I do.  Have I cried? Definitely! But I refuse to give up. I refuse to wallow in self-pity and see this as a failure. This is an adventure. Something I will remember until the day I die.

When I decided that I was going to move here, I knew that this will be starting over. It took me a long time to heal up in Korea and I wanted to leave that girl far far behind me. I made a list of 5 things that I needed to survive this experience. 5 touchable things. The first thing was a car. I needed that to get here and get around. I had a very small amount of money and the car dealer told me that it was pretty much impossible for me to get a car, in a good enough condition to drive the 1000+ kilometers to Cape Town. But 2 days later I had my car. Perfect condition. So…LIST OF THINGS I WANT IN CAPE TOWN: 1. Car – check!

Every day is a new challenge and some days are harder than others. I know there will be more tears and I know there will be more struggles. But I also know that this adventure WILL have a happy ending. I took a leap of faith. For once in my life I followed my heart and THAT has got to count for something…..