Mama Africa

This week we had dinner one night at HQ – a restaurant with only one meal option of salad, steak, and chips (fries).  We tried this place because my roommate Rebekah’s boss’s mother-in-law visited while she was at work.  Her son plays in the reggae band that performs on Monday nights.  She proceeded to call and make reservations for them insisting that they go.  The steak was delicious; it is organic, free-range, and imported from Namibia.  After dinner the drum player Diago came over to talk to us.  He is from the Congo and was busy explaining where his band went each night and asking if we were free.  Basically he insisted we become groupies and he gave me his number so I could call him anytime to figure out where they were playing that night.

Last week Kenyatta was sick with a cold, now Rebekah and Emma are.  Also Vivian who I work with was feeling a little off.  So far I have managed to stay healthy, and hopefully that doesn’t change. I made sure to stay in a couple nights this week and get lots of sleep.

Wednesday I accompanied the roomies to Active Sushi where I only drank wine since I hate sushi.  Thursday and Kenyatta’s official last night, we went to Mama Africa.  It is a popular tourist restaurant because it serves a variety of African dishes.  I had the mixed grill which included venison, kudu, ostrich, springbok, and crocodile.  My favorite was either the crocodile or the springbok.  Afterward Paco took us to a bar down by Greenpoint.  There are lots of homeless people and beggars in Cape Town.  A young boy was in the streets during stopped traffic trying to get money so I rolled down the window and gave him my leftovers.  

I had an unfortunate encounter with a homeless person on my way to work on Friday.  Vivian and I got off the bus and the man approached us wanting money for food.  We kept on walking and went in to the KFC to grab some breakfast.  He followed us in.  After we ordered and were sitting down he harassed us for 5 minutes telling us he only wanted some coffee and that we were rude tourists.  Finally the police came in and got him away from us, but I was not happy that KFC let him bother us and get near us for so long.  A policy here is that you shouldn’t give money to the homeless people because it fuels the cycle instead of fixing it, especially by foreigners in the country.

On Saturday we went to the Hope Street market which is very close to where I live. It has a bunch of delicious things to buy and fresh bread and fruit.  I liked it better than the Old Biscuit Mill and will try to make it there as many Saturdays as I can.  We walked to the CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Center) where the Thailand Trade Show was going on.  We wandered around through the stalls, but to me a lot of it wasn’t that reminiscent of Thailand. 

Emma and I walked the rest of the way to the waterfront to go to the Diamond Museum.  The entrance fee was supposed to be 50 Rand, but somehow they said we could go in for free.  South Africa has a rich history with diamonds that were discovered in the Kimberly area.  The De Beers family owned the land, but so many squatters came in and wouldn’t leave that they were forced to sell their land for much less than it was worth especially considering all of the diamonds buried in the earth.  Diamonds are still being mined in South Africa today.  We then went to the District 6 museum.  We arrived 20 minutes before it closed so they also let us in free of charge!  District 6 is one of the many areas in Cape Town that was deemed white only during the Apartheid era.  All blacks were forced to leave and move to townships of their race out on the Cape Flats.  Today most of these people still live in their designated area even though the ban was lifted when apartheid ended 2 decades ago.  

Saturday night Emma and I went to the local bar to watch the Spain vs. France Euro cup match.  The food I ordered was not very good, and even after a couple drinks remained unappetizing.  The waitress asked me what was wrong and I politely said I just didn’t like it.  Somehow this led to me not paying for it, getting a free burger to go, both of us getting free shooters, and the manager and chef coming out, apologizing, and offering us whatever we wanted.  I have no idea how this came out of me not liking my meal, but South African people can be very nice.

Tonight we went to the Philharmonic Choir of Cape Town’s performance of Die Schopfung (The Creation).  It was in the Cape Town City Hall where Nelson Mandela made his first speech on the balcony after his freedom was granted.  The performance started right on time which surprised us since most things like this run on Africa time.  When we walked in the entire chorus and orchestra was already on stage about to start.  We sat down and 30 seconds later it began.  The performance was in German and really interesting to watch.  We were some of the youngest people in the crowd. 

After living in Cape Town for over 3 weeks I have learned several things:

·         To look right and then left when crossing the road because cars drive on the left here.  I do this correctly over 50% of the time now.

·         How to manage the bus system.  There was a slight hiccup last week where Vivian and I forgot to get off at our stop and had to get off at the one after it.  The good news was it was only a 5 minute extra walk to get to work.  The next morning the bus driver, who recognizes us, laughed and said we had missed our stop yesterday.  I also took one bus home that said it was going to City which is my stop.  It turns out it did not stop there, drove past, so I got out a little further from home than anticipated and had to walk extra to get home that day.

·         To call for an Excite taxi when I need a cab ride.  Every time I get in a cab that is right by me and is not an Excite taxi, I regret it.  Their meters run up a lot faster and then my cab fare is more expensive.

·         To carry my reusable shopping bag with me for grocery shopping – although I did do this in America too.  They charge for bags here at stores which is cheap but could rack up over time.

·         Stores are not open long on Sundays, if they even open at all.  The same goes for Saturdays, which creates the problem of when I can do certain things since they are only open during my working hours Monday through Friday.  This includes the breakfast place Bread Milk & Honey which I really want to go to.

Things I have not learned:

·         To greet people by saying “howzit.”  I always forget.

·         How to properly buy milk that will last more than 2 days before going bad.  The preservatives are different in the milk here and every time I purchase milk it spoils before I can use most of it.

·         To take pictures – I was doing so well and then this week/weekend I took a total of 7…