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See the movie Invictus.
Not only is it an amazing, true story about Mandela's brilliant insight into bringing a divided and violent post-apartheid country together through sport, but it also gives a very real glimpse into the South Africa we see everyday. Much of the movie takes place right here in Pretoria and at Loftus Stadium just next to the University where Jeff works. I have to say Matt Damon has the Afrikaans accent down perfectly and Morgan Freeman plays a very believable Nelson Mandela - an incredible man I think everyone could stand to know more about.
Cheers!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Settling in ...
We are moved into our new home and have the internet! This is good. Before I had to go to Jeff’s office to get online which wasn’t ideal. Now I can hop on anytime I please. This will be good for blog updates. One problem remains … you pay for the internet by the megabyte here so uploading/downloading photos and/or anything fun (Colbert Report, NPR, music, etc) could break the bank. This means I’ll have to be choosy in the photos I upload to share with you all. Maybe you’ll view this as a good thing, dear reader, as I’m sure you can take only so many photos of the African flora and fauna and Jeff in his strappy binocular/camera get-up.
It’s good to be in our new home. The place has its issues, but the good things outweigh them by a long-shot. You should see the mound of keys we have to deal with to get in and out of this place. It’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox. My dad thinks it’s funny and we feel ridiculous with our janitor’s key-ring set, but I guess better safe than sorry. There is also an alarm system that made perfect sense when the owners showed us how to use it, but now that they’re gone has us totally perplexed and a little embarrassed by the number of times we’ve set it off in the middle of the night. 24-hour armed response has now come to the gate enough times for them not to even ask for the 4-digit code signaling that everything is alright. I couldn’t even tell you if the code I have memorized right now is the one saying we’re “a-okay” or the one signaling there’s a hostage situation.
Okay, get this. They don’t do Mexican food here. I can’t even find black beans. Tortillas are like $8 for a package of 8 – Old El Paso brand. And forget about tortilla chips. Guess I’m gonna have to learn to make my own. We did find refried beans – a little spendy, but worth it. I am making it my personal mission to bring Mexican food to the small South African population that I come into contact with. That will be the imprint I leave on this continent – a rather noble cause in my estimation and it all begins tonight. Friends are coming for dinner; the menu: grilled steak tacos, homemade guac (at least avos are cheap here) and salsa and grilled corn brought up by bananas foster for a sweet finish. Wish you could join us.
The Christmas season is upon us all, but here in SA it couldn’t feel any less like the holidays. First, the weather has me all messed up. It’s 90+*s and I don’t feel like baking/eating cookies and sipping eggnog. Plus, the trees are green, the flowers are in bloom and the birdies are singing – far from a white Christmas. Another dead give-away that this isn’t a northern hemisphere Christmas is that there are no Christmas trees, people decorate a house plant instead or in our case a quasi-tree fashioned out of rusty wire. A little green and silver garland and some twinkly lights and we’re good to go.
Most S. Africans head for the coast for their holiday celebration since it’s summer and school vacation. This means that Pretoria is empty and wonderful! No traffic, no lines … lekker (nice).
Well, Mitzi and Larry Dungey have landed. My parents are here and chilling SA-style with us through January. It’s nice having them here and I sure appreciate the extra help moving and settling in, making dinner, doing dishes, etc. I wish Jeff could take a lesson or two from my tidy pop, but I learned long ago that I can kiss that happy little thought good-bye. So far we’ve gone on a weekend-long Kruger safari; seen the waterfalls, canyons, and stunning landscape of the Mpumalanga Province; been suckered in by Africans selling their crafts; visited the Apartheid Museum then got lost in Johannesburg; visited the Pretoria Union Buildings where Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected black president of SA; meditated at the bird sanctuary; hiked along the rim of the Tswaing Crater site where we were devoured by mozzies (mosquitoes); watched Die Hard 1 AND 2 (!); and that about covers it for the first three weeks on the ground – six more to go and lots more to see and do after the holidays.
Merry Christmas everyone! Sending much love and good wishes for a stunning Christmas celebration this weekend. XO
It’s good to be in our new home. The place has its issues, but the good things outweigh them by a long-shot. You should see the mound of keys we have to deal with to get in and out of this place. It’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox. My dad thinks it’s funny and we feel ridiculous with our janitor’s key-ring set, but I guess better safe than sorry. There is also an alarm system that made perfect sense when the owners showed us how to use it, but now that they’re gone has us totally perplexed and a little embarrassed by the number of times we’ve set it off in the middle of the night. 24-hour armed response has now come to the gate enough times for them not to even ask for the 4-digit code signaling that everything is alright. I couldn’t even tell you if the code I have memorized right now is the one saying we’re “a-okay” or the one signaling there’s a hostage situation.
Okay, get this. They don’t do Mexican food here. I can’t even find black beans. Tortillas are like $8 for a package of 8 – Old El Paso brand. And forget about tortilla chips. Guess I’m gonna have to learn to make my own. We did find refried beans – a little spendy, but worth it. I am making it my personal mission to bring Mexican food to the small South African population that I come into contact with. That will be the imprint I leave on this continent – a rather noble cause in my estimation and it all begins tonight. Friends are coming for dinner; the menu: grilled steak tacos, homemade guac (at least avos are cheap here) and salsa and grilled corn brought up by bananas foster for a sweet finish. Wish you could join us.
The Christmas season is upon us all, but here in SA it couldn’t feel any less like the holidays. First, the weather has me all messed up. It’s 90+*s and I don’t feel like baking/eating cookies and sipping eggnog. Plus, the trees are green, the flowers are in bloom and the birdies are singing – far from a white Christmas. Another dead give-away that this isn’t a northern hemisphere Christmas is that there are no Christmas trees, people decorate a house plant instead or in our case a quasi-tree fashioned out of rusty wire. A little green and silver garland and some twinkly lights and we’re good to go.
Most S. Africans head for the coast for their holiday celebration since it’s summer and school vacation. This means that Pretoria is empty and wonderful! No traffic, no lines … lekker (nice).
Well, Mitzi and Larry Dungey have landed. My parents are here and chilling SA-style with us through January. It’s nice having them here and I sure appreciate the extra help moving and settling in, making dinner, doing dishes, etc. I wish Jeff could take a lesson or two from my tidy pop, but I learned long ago that I can kiss that happy little thought good-bye. So far we’ve gone on a weekend-long Kruger safari; seen the waterfalls, canyons, and stunning landscape of the Mpumalanga Province; been suckered in by Africans selling their crafts; visited the Apartheid Museum then got lost in Johannesburg; visited the Pretoria Union Buildings where Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected black president of SA; meditated at the bird sanctuary; hiked along the rim of the Tswaing Crater site where we were devoured by mozzies (mosquitoes); watched Die Hard 1 AND 2 (!); and that about covers it for the first three weeks on the ground – six more to go and lots more to see and do after the holidays.
Merry Christmas everyone! Sending much love and good wishes for a stunning Christmas celebration this weekend. XO
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