More exploring

Today, when we finally got up and got going, we took a cab up to Walmer, a suburb of PE for some shopping.  The mall sprawled and sprawled giving a very American feel to our jaunt -- except that I have yet to see a place where South Africans will not go barefoot.  (Walking around town, in grocery stores, and even at the mall.  And I am not talking like just people who cannot afford shoes, anyone would walk barefoot where ever she pleases.  Dad would love it here!)  I enjoyed the whole afternoon, but some of the best highlights were a grocery in Woolworth's, a South African department store.  The grocery had high quality, tasteful food cheaper than what we pay in the area we live for poorer quality, boring food.  I was floating on a cloud.  

Considering my already elevated state, you can imagine my vision of the golden gates of heaven swinging upon when feasting my eyes on the Fruit and Veg, a warehouse of wholesale fruits, vegetables, fruit drinks and sparkling flavored waters, nuts, marinated meats, and a bakery.  I picked up a bag of sweet potatoes for R8 (less than $1), granny smith apples, a litchi flavored water that was deeee-lish, a milk tart (like flan or dolce-de-leche in a pie crust with a thick coat of cinnamon on the top), the best focaccia bread I've ever had with mushrooms, peppers, cheese and onion baked into the top lekker (South African for cool!), and prawn garlic bread that tastes similarly to a focaccia-like (as opposed to really cheesy, greasy, buttery) garlic bread found in the US but had an added element of flavor with prawn (like shrimp) essence baked in the top.  To bring us back into the South African spirit of things, we waited about a half-hour for our cab to bring us back to the flat.  Nothing like African time, eh?

BOS /bos/ noun, adj & verb. -n. 1. deliciously refreshing organic ice tea made entirely in South Africa with enormous integrity and care. -adj.  I voted it as the most beautiful thing in South Africa 2011 by texting the competition's number on the poll I linked on my blog yesterday.  The refresh is a flavored sparkling water in recyclable container and the accompanying delicious-looking dessert is milk tart explained above.

 

Prawn garlic bread

The world's best focaccia, who thought it would be in SA?!

We were at the flat long enough to have a bite to eat and touch base with the directors.  Norma invited us over for a braai tomorrow afternoon.  We’ll have chicken on the grill, coleslaw, and some other summer salads to round out the traditional backyard feast.  We are looking forward to it!  A few minutes after accepting the invitation we headed to the Nelson Mandela Stadium (constructed for the World Cup) for a PE Kings rugby match.  We were fortunate enough to witness our first winning sporting event in South Africa.  (Third time’s the charm ;))  The Kings slaughtered a provincial Namibian team.

Watching the rugby match at Nelson Mandela Stadium.  I sat next to a Wisconsinite who likes Walker's governing, so it made for some interesting conversation.  Small world, eh?

Lining up at the end of the game.

We took a cab back to the flat to chill for a bit before the time was right to venture into night life.  After a few misfires we ended up at Barney’s, whose pub-like atmosphere with live bands every night of the week draws in a young and attractive crowd yet unseen to us before tonight.  We met our Finnish friends, Sari and Jan (Suvi went home after the rugby game for some r&r), new Nigerian and Norwegian friends, and Flo, the Austrian who came with us on Bradley’s townships tour.  We chilled the night away with great conversation, discovering the hilarities of translating simple Finnish phrases into long and exhausting English phrases in order to convey the whole meaning.  Tomorrow our group will attend the Campus Life festival together to discover how we can join university teams, societies (aka clubs), and activities to get to know some more South African students. 

Culture Question for Bruce

 This might be silly, but I can't get over the male South African hair-dos.  I inevitably see a the classic gelled on-top-to-look-like-I-just-got-out-of-bed-or-out-of-my-windy-convertible combo longish-mullet-in-the-back-to-protect-my-neck-from-the-sun, and I think, "What a bro."  I feel silly because cab drivers always drive right up to us when we call because they can pick out the Americans, and we look out of place because of our clothing (and probably our hair styles too) at class, in the night life, and around town.  Members of our group are continually questioned, "Have you just exercised?" with the most likely reply, "Nope, I just like to be comfortable."  My point is, I am the one who is out of style and goofy-looking, not guys with surfer hair.  I have an impression of how men normally wear their hair.  My Midwestern perceptions may even be challenged by the surfers much closer to home in Cali, so I should expect South Africans who are so "foreign" to be "exotic" and challenge my perceptions of "right," shouldn't I?  Well, my most sincere hope is to break down the "foreigner" walls and actually have a conversation with a dude with surfer hair, and I will see if the gelled mullet penetrates "bro-ness" deeper than skin level, jk, haha.  I have a sneaking suspicion that how one wears his or her hair has very little to do with the substance of his or her being.  It's kind of ridiculous that I had to type this whole paragraph out to reason that much, but I am one step closer to just reaching out my hand and introducing myself to a person who I previously would have received a one-eyebrow-raised "you're such a bro" look.  How's that for breaking down prejudice?  Stay tuned and maybe next week I work on the skater-brand-names-on-everything discrimination .