Public Holiday and Weekend

This past Thursday was a public holiday so we had the day off from school.  I started off the day with some shopping and baking.  I combined three recipes online to make cape gooseberry upside down cupcakes.  I bought the cape gooseberries in the grocery store earlier that week because I'd never seen them before and thought I should try something new.  Turns out I don't really like them plain.  So I had to do something with them.  The cupcakes actually turned out really well!  Later that day I went to lunch with all my supervisees (Catherine, Eliza, and Alice, a new supervisee from Zambia) to talk about our experiences and about behaviour analysis.  So awesome!  Later that evening I went to Cath and Li's brother's girlfriend's house for a braai (BBQ).  We had steak, boerewors, spare rib, corn on the cob, potato salad, coleslaw, and mushrooms.  Delicious!

Yesterday I went for a hike in the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve.  I've been there before but I really enjoy the hike where you get to see the city skyline.  Plus I got to see antelope and wildebeest as well!

Joburg skyline

Two antelope and a wildebeest walked into a shebeen...

Today I just got some errands done, but with the passport photos I had to take to renew my international driver's license, I got a free passport holder so I can pretend I'm from South Africa!  Awesome souvenir, plus it was free!

Free souvenir!

Also my friends and boyfriend are arriving next week and we're going to go on an amazing SA holiday!  There will be plenty of posts about it but not for a while.  Don't expect a post before April 9th at the earliest, but most likely not until that following weekend.

Saturday Family Day

Yesterday I spent the day with Catherine and Eliza's family.  First, watching their little brother play rugby and then going to their grandmother's for dinner.

We left for the rugby game at about noon, arriving just before it started at 12:30pm.  There were already lots of people there since it was the first game of the season and there was another game happening beforehand.  We were there to watch the main game though.  Cath and Li's brother Innocent is on the first team for his high school St. Stithian's (or Saints).  He's not their brother by birth (as you'll notice he looks a bit different from them!).  He is actually their helper's (maid's) son.  When he was very young (about 1 year old), he was staying with his grandparents, and he got very sick.  Cath and Li's mother and father took him in, got him healthy, and raised him.  He has lived with them as part of their family ever since and his birth mother continues to work for their family.  He is now one of the top high school rugby players in South Africa, being scouted for provincial teams as well as the national team.  He was supposed to play in the Junior Olympics in Australia this year but unfortunately he got injured.  I don't really know anything about rugby but I thought he played well yesterday and others (who actually know things about rugby) said the same.  Cath and Li couldn't be more proud of their little brother.

It was a lot of fun to see a high school sports game in South Africa compared to a Canadian high school sports game (not that big a deal) and compared to an American high school sports game (from what I've heard, probably a lot more similar to the South African game).  Both teams had a cheering section from their school all dressed in their uniforms.  Their spirit was great!  And of course, what is a sports game without snacks?  We had biltong (South African beef jerky) to snack on during the game. 

Innocent kicking the ball for a penalty

Saints spirit section

After the game was over, we headed over to Cath and Li's grandmother's house for a couple drinks and some dinner.  We had some delicious chicken, salad, and bread.  I've never had chicken spiced like that before.  I think it was cinnamon-y but I'm not the best at discriminating flavours.  We also got to talk to her about some really interesting things, particularly what it was like during the apartheid.  Particularly, she remembered the sirens at 9pm signalling the curfew for the black people and how everyone would be running around at that time trying to get home or to a bus.  She described how an Indian man got very drunk at a party one night and they had to take him home to sleep it off but they couldn't let their neighbours see them helping this man.  She later went to his wedding and she was one of the only white people there.  Her father warned her that she "would be killed" if she went to the wedding.  She also described coming to America during that time and being shocked (but not offended, just surprised) at seeing a mixed race couple.  Her stories made it apparent that there were many people uncomfortable with the apartheid when it was happening but also that there are still many racist people here (as there are everywhere I suppose). 

EDIT:  I forgot to mention one of Oma's stories.  Well I didn't forget the story, I forgot the name of the lady and therefore couldn't write about it.  Anyway, a few years ago, Oma saw Miriam Makeba (South African singer and activist, also known as Mama Africa) at one of the nearby shopping centres.  She went up to her and said "You're Miriam Makeba", Miriam Makeba said "yes", she asked "Can' I kiss you?", and Miriam Makeba said "yes".  As Oma was telling this story she started to cry.  She was so moved by the sacrifices this lady had made for her country, her rights, and her music. 

Sick Again

So I'm sick again, mostly just a sore throat this time and I'm hoping it will go away soon.  Because of this, I didn't get up to much this weekend.  I spent most of Saturday resting, reading, and watching TV.  I did try a South African remedy for sore throats though.  I'm not sure if it's actually South African, but I did obtain it from a South African so... possibly.  Anyway it consists of a cup of milk heated up, with two cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of butter, and a tablespoon of honey.  I know it sounds disgusting, but it's not actually that bad.  Mostly it just tastes like garlic so if you like garlic, it tastes fine.  It definitely does soothe the throat immediately, and for about two hours afterwards.  Still haven't tried the other suggested remedy: finely chopped onion with a spoon of sugar.  If I still feel like this tomorrow though, I might just have to. 

Randfontein Show and Fish Braai

Yesterday I went to the Randfontein show, a food and music festival in Randfontein (a western suburb of Joburg).  It is one of the few places I've been while here that most people expected me to speak Afrikaans and always started off with Afrikaans instead of English.  The show was basically a fair including rides, shopping, music, and food.  The rides were similar to what you would find in Canada or the States: a tilt-a-whirl, a little roller coaster, a ferris wheel, bumper cars, etc.  They also had a mechanical bull with little American flags around the perimeter.  It was for the kids though so not quite as violent as the ones I've seen before.  The shopping was a lot more diverse than what I've seen at other fairs.  There were clothes, jewelry, antiques, art, toys, pets, and probably even more things I'm forgetting.  I didn't hear a lot of music there and the music I did hear was either in Afrikaans or cover versions of English songs.  So that wasn't super exciting.  Although I think the more exciting musical acts were coming later in the day (but they probably would have been in Afrikaans as well).  Finally, the food.  There were a lot of different kinds of food, some traditional fair food like cotton candy and some traditional South African food.  I had some vetkoek (fried bun basically) with curry mince (beef with veggies and curry spice) for lunch and a frozen grenadilla for a snack.  Both were delicious.

After the fair I went over to Roz's house for a fish braai with her family and friends.  For those still not up on the SA lingo, a braai is a BBQ.  We had calamari, prawns, sole, and yellowtail.  We also had some delicious potbrood which is bread made in a cast iron pot.  Everything tasted wonderful!