This weekend was another marvelous montage of beaches,
penguins, sunsets, staying out too late, etc. It also included the South
African Cheese Festival. Winning! We drove out to Stellenbosch for the day and
had tons of cheese and wine tastings, plus lounging and dancing to live music.
The best part was playing a game where we all split up and each bought an item
to R 20 to bring back to the group to share later. I bought a bottle of white
wine, it was actually R 35, but it was so good I figured I didn’t mind paying
$4 instead of $2.50. We brought back a nice spread – two bottles of wine, a
wheel of camembert, a wheel of brie, a slice of chocolate cake, and a jar of
pesto to go with the bread we brought from home. Not to shabby. Oh wait, I
think maybe the actual best part was that a lady was selling these lanyard
things that hold your wine glass for you. So you can WEAR you wine glass around
your neck. I obviously seized this opportunity immediately. Although it turns
out wearing your wine around your neck can be quite dangerous. Don’t set it
down while your sitting and then make any sudden movements. And don’t walk
around in hands-free mode if its filled up too high, or your shirt will pay for
it. Basically, I recommend only putting white wines in your wine necklace
glass. But definitely wear it proudly.
My favorite story lately comes from today though. Today, May
1, is Workers’ Day here in South Africa (sometimes known as May Day), so we get
a public holiday. Hooray! This is the first public holiday that I don’t stay
home and use as a schoolwork catch up day. Maybe I should have, but, ah well, I
have school pretty under control and I couldn’t care less about it at this
point. Senioritis. So some friends and I hatch a brilliant plan to go to a
famous braai place in a township – Mzoli’s in Guguletu. I have been wanting to
go for months but had pretty much given up on the idea, but what better day to
go than a public holiday?? So we all pile in the car and head down the N2 into
the Cape Flats (the place the guidebooks and proper/scared people tell you to
avoid like the plague).
We hang out for a bit and wait for our friend Zelda to get
there who is from Gugs (pronounced googs) but now has moved on up and lives in
Paarl, and her niece Natalie. Since we’re a little early and are not sure what
else to do, we go to the bar next door and get some beers. It is after noon by
now anyway. A guy comes around selling sunglasses, so I buy a couple of pairs –
one a pair of fake Ray Ban aviators (Roi Bans as Alison cleverly calls them)
and this cheesy pair of way farer style glasses with the South African flag
pattern covering them. I think they’re hilarious. I supposed I’ll wear them on
safari. I also decide to wear them the rest of the day in Gugs just to help
myself stick out a little more.
Anyway, so our friend shows up and the braai party begins!
Inside Mzoli’s is very much what I thought it would be: a bunch of tables under
a tent with a ton of people at them eating meat and generally getting rowdy.
But the weird part is that there is a DJ BLARING house music. So its like a bbq
place, but also a club. And not the sort of club I would have pictured, because
I would fully have expected hip-hop to be blaring. I hate house, but whatever,
I accept it. And these people make it fun anyway.
So after we claim a table, we head to the butcher to pick
out our meat. We get a ton of chicken so Ines, I want a lot of what I think are
steaks (later I think they are actually pork), we get hunks of lamb, and a big
sausage for Abe. Cherry wants everything. Ok, I want everything too. We pretty
much all want everything, except Ines who only wants chicken. Oh, but maybe I
don’t want the sausage. That stuff looks incredibly disgusting, like giant
slabs of intestines just sitting on top of each other in the meat case. All
wriggly and slimy and nasty. Picking out meat is fun! Then we take it back to
the pits for someone to cook. In the meantime, there is drinking to do back at
the table. Besides the beer we bought, Zelda has brought sparkling red wine
with her. She works at none other than Solms Delta – the winery where we had
the picnic from heaven!! I love her.
Soon the meat is ready and it turns out eating it is more
fun than picking it out. It is DELICIOUS. We eat meat on meat on meat. So much meat!
Like a HUGE platter full, 6 of us can’t finish it all. And it only cost R 220.
While eating the meat, I can’t help but bob my head up and down to the
persistent beat of the house music. What a strange and magical place. I even
eat the creepy sausage, and its pretty darn good.
More reasons to love Zelda, besides the fact that she’s
beautiful and fun and sweet, she goes way back with Mzoli. THE Mzoli of
Mzoli’s. He comes and talks to us for a bit and has us come sit at his table.
Excellent. We take some photos with him. And then its time to dance. Let me
tell you, I am so thankful I took that hip-hop dance class when I was a senior
at Tulane. It has helped me enormously to dance confidently in cultures that
value being able to move your caboose. Once again, it comes in handy. I feel
like I should write a thank-you note to my teacher. Natalie and I do lots of
booty-bumping and she shows me some dance move where you kick really high in
the air. I start showing off and kick really high and almost knock some guy in
the face. He looks a little shocked but is good natured about it. Natalie
laughs really hard and tells me to tone it down. Then Cherry points out that
someone at Mzoli’s told me to tone it
down. This is my wild life.
After we dance for awhile, Zelda wants to show us another
“posh” bar down the street. It’s a cement building with leather furniture and
elaborate crown molding plus some flat screen TVs showing a soccer match that
everyone is fixated on. Cool, posh enough for me. Room for improvement in the
bathrooms though, that’s for sure. I couldn’t figure out how to flush the
toilet. Township life.
As we went to leave the bar, someone came out and said,
“Wait, Mzoli would like to see you.” So we go back into another room where I
see a huge pig roasting in the corner. Mzoli is there and gives us all hugs and
tells us to come back. This has been an outstanding day. And then its back to
Cape Town.
I finish up my internship tomorrow. We had my goodbye tea
yesterday, which I should write about, but its sad. The ladies gave me some
gifts and a giftcard to Woolies to prep for my trip. I’m going to miss Southern
Hemisphere a lot! I leave for my safari in 4 days. Wow it really is the end
now. I’ve had a lot of nervous energy getting ready for this. I’m not ready to
leave. Can’t believe its gone so fast.
Anyway, watch this excellent Rebecca Black "Friday" parody called "Braaiday" :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLyLvCXYKUg
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