The Cafeteria Bris
Wendy and I have had a few really busy days in Cape Town! We are staying in a hotel near the V & A (Victoria and Albert) waterfront. There is no beach near us, but since the big ozone hole over Africa makes being in the sun more treacherous than pleasant, the beachy lack is probably for the best.
Before we came to Cape Town, everyone told us how marvelous the V&A waterfront would be – I had pictured a Tel-Aviv-style beach town, with beaches and clubs on beaches and ice cream and watermelon everywhere. Instead, there are cruise ships (and a colourful Greenpeace ship I saw yesterday) and KFCs, and kitchy shops so that tourist can dock for an hour, buy a painted ostrich egg (or mini hunting spear) and tell about how they ‘did’ Africa. I wonder if a cruise would be fun or if one would feel the entire time like one is missing out on experiencing each stop. It would be neat, though, to float away, and on to the next adventure…
Sis is spending her days interviewing refugees while I find ways to pass the time. Right now I am out of ways to pass the time (and we are out of cash, since the bank machines are all not working), and so I am at sister’s work, waiting for her to finish. The cash machine is not the only thing broken in Cape Town. For some reason there are massive rolling blackouts across the city. No electricity means no traffic lights and food in the Woolworths is going bad and elevators are randomly stopping (we haven’t been stuck in one yet). It isn’t state of emergency enough to be fun, just a bit annoying.
Yesterday I walked to the Artscape Theatre (like the Jubilee Auditorium) and bought us tickets for two shows – Princess Magogo, a South African Opera, playing on a wine estate, and Imoja, an African dance show playing at the Artscape theatre. It is a very North American venue, with Cape Town’s classical station broadcasting from the lobby. I can’t wait to see the dance show. Tonight, and we are sitting in the first row!
This morning I walked to the Jewish Museum/Holocaust Museum. It was about a 20-minute walk (longer for me, since I got a bit lost and then took the long way around), and as soon as I got searched and went through the gate I noticed that SOMETHING was happening in the cafeteria beside the gift shop. There was a blanket on a table…and..eek! It was a bris (circumcision) on one of the tables of the cafeteria! That was weird, but I haven’t been to a bris since…well, since A was born, so I peeped through the postcard rack from the gift shop…sure, I might have taken a few snapshots, but everyone else there was flashing their cams right at the poor baby’s weenie! (One lady was so close I would swear she would have had to set her camera on ‘Macro!’)
In the cafeteria. On the table. Now, I like babies as much as the next girl, but it was a bit nasty in more than one way!
I only had a quick look at the synagogue and the Holocaust museum – sis and I are going back on her lunch hour tomorrow and I want it to be new for both of us.
Oh, I am in love with one part of South Africa in particular – PERI PERI sauce. Yes, in love. It is the best sauce ever. Sooo good, I want some now!
Today the High Commission in Pretoria announces the winners of the photography competition. Wendy and I both entered 4 photos, and I wonder if we won? ‘Wonder’ actually does not express the impatience that I feel. I NEED to know. We worked so hard picking cute pictures and the waiting is torture… (we don’t know what the prizes are, but that is not the point. It is the winning… unless Wendy BEATS me in every category…)
Oh, and I feel like I bruised my rib. How? Must have been on the horse somehow. I am not that delicate, but bumping and bumping and bumping…. I am ready to ride again. I wish we were riding horses right now!
Before we came to Cape Town, everyone told us how marvelous the V&A waterfront would be – I had pictured a Tel-Aviv-style beach town, with beaches and clubs on beaches and ice cream and watermelon everywhere. Instead, there are cruise ships (and a colourful Greenpeace ship I saw yesterday) and KFCs, and kitchy shops so that tourist can dock for an hour, buy a painted ostrich egg (or mini hunting spear) and tell about how they ‘did’ Africa. I wonder if a cruise would be fun or if one would feel the entire time like one is missing out on experiencing each stop. It would be neat, though, to float away, and on to the next adventure…
Sis is spending her days interviewing refugees while I find ways to pass the time. Right now I am out of ways to pass the time (and we are out of cash, since the bank machines are all not working), and so I am at sister’s work, waiting for her to finish. The cash machine is not the only thing broken in Cape Town. For some reason there are massive rolling blackouts across the city. No electricity means no traffic lights and food in the Woolworths is going bad and elevators are randomly stopping (we haven’t been stuck in one yet). It isn’t state of emergency enough to be fun, just a bit annoying.
Yesterday I walked to the Artscape Theatre (like the Jubilee Auditorium) and bought us tickets for two shows – Princess Magogo, a South African Opera, playing on a wine estate, and Imoja, an African dance show playing at the Artscape theatre. It is a very North American venue, with Cape Town’s classical station broadcasting from the lobby. I can’t wait to see the dance show. Tonight, and we are sitting in the first row!
This morning I walked to the Jewish Museum/Holocaust Museum. It was about a 20-minute walk (longer for me, since I got a bit lost and then took the long way around), and as soon as I got searched and went through the gate I noticed that SOMETHING was happening in the cafeteria beside the gift shop. There was a blanket on a table…and..eek! It was a bris (circumcision) on one of the tables of the cafeteria! That was weird, but I haven’t been to a bris since…well, since A was born, so I peeped through the postcard rack from the gift shop…sure, I might have taken a few snapshots, but everyone else there was flashing their cams right at the poor baby’s weenie! (One lady was so close I would swear she would have had to set her camera on ‘Macro!’)
In the cafeteria. On the table. Now, I like babies as much as the next girl, but it was a bit nasty in more than one way!
I only had a quick look at the synagogue and the Holocaust museum – sis and I are going back on her lunch hour tomorrow and I want it to be new for both of us.
Oh, I am in love with one part of South Africa in particular – PERI PERI sauce. Yes, in love. It is the best sauce ever. Sooo good, I want some now!
Today the High Commission in Pretoria announces the winners of the photography competition. Wendy and I both entered 4 photos, and I wonder if we won? ‘Wonder’ actually does not express the impatience that I feel. I NEED to know. We worked so hard picking cute pictures and the waiting is torture… (we don’t know what the prizes are, but that is not the point. It is the winning… unless Wendy BEATS me in every category…)
Oh, and I feel like I bruised my rib. How? Must have been on the horse somehow. I am not that delicate, but bumping and bumping and bumping…. I am ready to ride again. I wish we were riding horses right now!
posted by Melamondiale @ 4:06 AM
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