The Taalmuseum in Paarl

Photo from Taalmuseum website

I hold a particular fascination for languages, especially if that language is as close to mine as Afrikaans. On a trip to Cape Town I got hold of an Afrikaans women's magazine called Sari which I read from cover to cover, including the ads. I had no clue who the articles where about, but that didn't matter; I was intrigued  I wanted to know more about the origins of this language. So when I heard that there was an entire museum dedicated to the Afrikaans language, I just had to go.

I understand that for South Africans it's not something on the top ten must visit things in the country. I guess it symbolises the past too much. It took a lot of begging and convincing, but I managed to persuade my friend to take me there.

The museum is located in Paarl, the largest town in the Cape Winelands with many lovely Cape Dutch houses. The house that is home to the museum once belonged to Gideon Malherbe, a wealthy businessman in Paarl and founder of the True Association of Afrikaners that promoted the Afrikaans language.

Photo from Taalmuseum website

The house is decorated in late nineteenth century style and walking around the bedrooms and parlours give you a good idea what it was like for the Malherbes to live here in that time.

The second floor holds an exhibition on the history and development of the language and this is where I spent  most of my time. The history of the language is explained in a very clear and fun way. There is even an interactive room where children can learn stuff about Afrikaans.

So what did I learn, you might wonder. Well, I will not bore you with the details, but basically Afrikaans is a hotsch potsch of Dutch and German dialects, Malay languages, with influences from English and other local languages.

Go check it out when in Paarl.

Find more information here.

Penguin Watching at Boulders Beach

Photo by féileacán

I love people watching. It’s is probably one of my favourite things to do anytime and anywhere, but I particularly like it when I am abroad. I can sit and watch people for hours: Watch what they do, what they wear and what they shouldn’t wear. But one thing I love even more is animal watching, especially when they’re in their natural habitat. One of my favourite places to do this is Boulders Beach on the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. This beach consists of a couple of small inlets that are sheltered by giant granite boulders and it’s great for penguin watching. The sandy inlets are home to a quite a large colony of African penguins that settled in Boulders Bay in 1982. At first there were only two couples, but they soon procreated and now around 3000 of their off-spring live in this bay.

Photo by féileacán

Penguins are funny animals. They laze around on the sand or a on comfy rock enjoying the warmth of the sun. They take a nap, wake up, turn over and fall asleep again. If they get too hot, they dive into the ocean, swim a couple of laps and waddle back to their spot in the sand only to repeat the process. If the lazing and the napping get a bit monotonous, they go for a waddle around the beach, have some food or strut their stuff to impress the opposite sex. 

Boulders Beach is a great place to spend a couple of hours. And you’ll come to the conclusion that their beach behaviour isn’t all that different from what humans do at the sea side, really.