Hey HEY Hey! How’s everyone doing back home? I hope you’re all enjoying your summer!
So the whole clan of us arrived back in Walvis Bay and Swakopmund on Wednesday evening. Wow, it feels so great to be back in Namibia, a place where I can call my home away from home, a place that is friendly, warm and inviting. The South African roadtrip was a refreshing experience, but there’s something about Namibia that keeps drawing one back. And no, it’s not just because of Garth! Haha! I just love the indescribable landscapes and wonderful people – beautiful in their own merit. One simply feels safe and comfortable here. Haha… unlike in South Africa where one should always be on the look out. (Recall the break-in when we first arrived in Somerset West?)
Anyway, the trip back up to Namibia was quite the adventure in itself. Most of everything was swell. Squeaky Sam seemed to have made a full recovery from all its previous car probs and was running smoothly. We got to visit Fish River Canyon and see amazing sights! Plus, we only paid the price of two people instead of four for accommodation because the hotel didn’t have enough rooms available and made a boo-boo when booking us in. All was fine and dandy until Joel fell sick. We thought it could’ve been food poisoning at first, but we all had the same thing for dinner the previous night. Then we concluded that it was a virus that has been spreading across Namibia. (Scott caught the virus too a while back.) It was nasty! Joel couldn’t hold anything down because it would threaten to come out one way or another. I felt really bad for the poor guy. He skin turned a pale grey-white color as the day went by. Things weren’t looking good. The road was not going well for him at all. So considering the situation, we all agreed that it would be wise to stay an extra night in Mariental (about 6 hours away from Walvis Bay), so Joel could recuperate. That was probably the best thing we could’ve done for him actually because he did seem better the following day, after a night’s rest. He was still very weak due to having NOTHING in his stomach, but he was such a trooper and wanted get on the road straightaway. Long story short, Joel is alive, Squeaky Sam is all better minus a very busted driver’s seat (probably due to wear and tear riding on rough roads), and the four of us made it home safe and sound after all. Phew… what adventures we had, huh!
So things in Namib are same ol’, same ol’, except Nathalie and Kaitlyn have joined us now as well. They also arrived on Wednesday on the Intercape Bus. They said their ride was 27 hours long! Holy crapola… that’d be heck being cooped in a bus for 27 hours! Good on you, girls!
The Mascatos are all doing well and are busy with rehearsals for the musical. Mrs. Venter is still as strong as ever, running like the Energizer Bunny! Jen Kinghorn and the Scottish choreographer will be arriving this weekend to further add to the excitement! Woot… things are going to be on a roll as most of everyone’s focus will be towards the preparation for the production. Yay… I can’t wait!
My blessings to all back home! I do miss everyone and can’t wait to sing in choir again! Wow, I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by. I have only 10 days before I fly back home to E-town! Crazy nuts! Gah… gotta go soak up more of Namibia pronto! Ta ta for now! ;-)
Friday, August 15, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Honkin' Blog Entry!
Man, it’s so easy to fall out of sync with blogging! Haha… I’ve been trying real hard to be consistent, friends. Erm… not too shabby I hope? Aight… so let me recap on the past few days’ happenings.
August 5th… So we climbed the Helderberg yesterday. Holy crap was I feeling sore! My legs muscles were especially feeling it today. Everyone felt the same, I guess, so we all decided to take it easy and spend a day visiting Capetown again. We planned to check out Green Market Square and Table Mountain mainly. When we arrived in the city,
After the square, we spent the rest of the day at the V & A Waterfront. We had some free time to do whatever we individually wanted to do and then met up for dinner at Primi Piatti – a tantalizing Italian restaurant. Our waiter’s name was Cash… the most energetic and poppin’ server I’ve ever met. I swear he was on Speed or something. Haha…
After din din, we strolled down a very high-end strip in the mall, where they sold only designer clothes. This part of the mall totally reminded me of Las Vegas… EXPENSIVE! Nigel found a Ben Sherman store and went haywire buying this and that. Everyone eventually ended up at Ben Sherman to see what the big deal was. Apparently they had 50% off everything in the store and the prices were ridiculously cheap compared to BS prices back home. Haha… everybody (except Kaitlyn) ended up buying something! I must admit, the store did have a pretty striking deal. Because of the sale and the currency exchange, Nigel saved himself thousands of Canadian dollars buying here than had he bought back home. Because we all were BS branded now, we thought we had to capture this moment in a photo. Haha… so the clan of us posed at the front of the shop with our shopping bags. The sales ladies were such good sports to let us bombard the store like we did. Then again… we did spend a lot of bucks overall. Haha… whatevs… high Canadian dollar = more shopping fun.
August 6th… Otay, today we finally got to visit
Now back to the story. Nigel, Joel, Naty and I arrived at Table Mountain. The weather looked really nice so we wanted to take advantage of that while it lasted. As mentioned before, the weather here is so wishy washy… sunny one moment, rainy the next, you never know whacha gonna get. We lined up to get tix and were happy to see that the line wasn’t very long as we had expected. Naty and I scored some bonus points because we had our U of A One Card with us, which knocked R40 off our tickets. Woot… though I’m technically not a student anymore, there’s no harm in milking the benefits before the card expires. ;-p
The view from on top of the mountain was breathtaking. We were 1085m above sea level and could see so far out into the distance. The water below was so still. We could see clouds hovering in the horizon. Guh… so stunning! We spent a good couple hours or so walking a loopy-loop around the mountain. Unfortunately some clouds did come in and covered a good chunk of the 12 Apostles (a series of mountain ranges), but at least we were able to clearly soak up everything else.
Dinner that night was SUSHI at Blue Waters Restaurant back in Somerset West. It was highly recommended by Tessa, so of course we had to check it out. You can imagine how ecstatic I was! YAY SUSHI!!! K, long story short… we got there, ordered, ate, complimented and left. This was probably one of my BEST sushi experiences in my life – comparable to my fave restaurant “Wasabi” back in Edmonton. The fish was so deliciously fresh. They had mouthwatering salmon flown in from
August 7th… Geocaching and scenic drive day. Scott, Nigel, Joel & I decided to spend the day sightseeing and appreciating the natural beauty in this area. We drove along the
Anyway, we arrived in Stellenbosch finally and Scott rushed to the Bloemhof rehearsal. Then Nigel, Joel and I went and got some take away from Blue Waters Restaurant. Yep… SUSHI for din din again!!! WHOOP! Seriously, I just can’t get enough. The fish was so incredibly fresh considering it was flown in from Norway. So of course I plan to take advantage of this delicacy while I’m here. It would be a shame not to. MmmMmmMmm… =D
The guys and I spent the rest of the night playing Bonanza and watching Catherine Tate comedies on DVD. The Catherine Tate Show is a very hilair British comedy series. It’s basically one woman playing all sorts of different characters. The cast is relatively small, but each person plays several roles. It’s sort of like MadTV or Saturday Night Live except… British. Haha… kinda crude at some parts, but funny nonetheless. Check it out!
August 8th… Yay! Squeaky Sam is back! We picked him up from the garage this morning and started driving out to Stellenbosch to do a hike. Not to far along the road, we noticed that the engine was revving really high and sounded funny. We even noticed a slight scent of something burning. Oy vey… NOT a good sign. Talk about an anticlimax! Scott was understandably upset because he had been receiving so much crap from the garage already, and now this happened. Sigh… so we called off the hiking excursion and drove back into Somerset West to get the car checked out. The bunch of us totally didn’t mind spending a chill day at home though. The most important thing was that Squeaky Sam got better.
Being that today was 08.08.08, the opening day of the Olympics, Joel and I thought it would be an awesome idea to change the mood of the situation and go celebrate by having lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I called Marianne for some suggestions and she told us that the Chinese restaurant right beside Blue Waters was actually very good. I took her word on it and we (aka Nigel, Joel, Kaitlyn and I) went there for lunch.
Haha… the restaurant was called Wok This Way and was actually owned by some Korean folk, but the food was amazing! The Chinese food was actually Chinese food!!! And guess what, they even had DIM SUM!! Will ya fathom that! I’ve been so often disappointed whenever I sought for and experienced Asian cuisine in
Scott soon joined us for lunch as well. Squeaky Sam was all better. Apparently it was running on 5 cylinders instead of 6 and that was the reason for all the revving and burning. Everything was fine now and Scott got a free bevvie from the garage manager out of the whole ordeal. Whoopdy-doo. (sarcasm) Sigh… I just pray that our recent bout of car probs is over now! Curse begone!
Later in the afternoon, we had a Siyacula rehearsal at Marijke’s house. Joel, Naty, Kaitlyn and I will be singing with the group at a concert this Sunday. The concert will be in Stellenbosch at the university’s fancy Conservatory, where the World Youth Choir performed last year when Kokopelli was here. We’ll be singing a bunch of African traditionals, plus You Are the New Day and Make Lemonade, which Kokopelli sang before. Dunno what to expect really, but it should be fun.
We went to see Tessa’s Pops Concert at Somerset College in the evening. I thought it was going to be like a high school talent show, but the production was actually very well put together and professional. The crowd was an interesting mix though – half the gym was set up like a fancy grad banquet for family and friends (with a four course dinner and everything) and the other half was set up with bleachers full of screaming school kids eating pizzas from boxes. Strange huh? The repertoire for the evening was very mixed, from “Mustang Sally” to heavy metal guitar playing! Very interesting indeed. Still it was all very impressive with live bands and backup vocals and stuff. I could tell a lot of time and effort was put into the organization of this event. Our very sweet Tessa performed her own arrangement of “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley and “Mercy” by Duffy. She amongst a few others totally rocked da hizzouse!! I was so proud of her. Naty will post some videos soon!
All in all, it was another full and hectic day in
August 9th… I’ve caught up with blogging y’all! Yeehaw! The whole clan of us is taking it easy today. Haha… we’re calling it “The Mall Day.” First stop, the Canal Walk Mall. It’s sort of like the West Ed of Capetown, except the mall is surrounded by canals where people can paddle boat along. There’s also an outdoor amusement park, but it was closed today so we couldn’t check it out.
Next stop, the V & A Waterfront… again! Haha… Scoot had to pick a battery for his laptop at the iStore here. So why not spend some time blogging in the meanwhile, right!
After we finish everything here, we’re going to head back to Somerset West. Naty & Kaitlyn have a girls’ night dinner date with a bunch of ex-Siyacula girls. Then the rest of us are going to meet up with them at the Somerset Mall to catch a movie afterwards. Hmm… we’re thinking “Get Smart.” I’ve heard only good reviews about the comedy, so I can’t wait to see it! Besides, I love Steve Carell & Anne Hathaway!
As for din din, I don’t know what we’re all doing yet, but I think Ima gonna get sushi again. Haha… it’s just THAT good! I’m getting my fill before we head back to
Over & out ‘til next time!
Climbing the Helderberg Mountain
August 4th… The Helderberg Mountain is in Somerset West. We can see it from right outside our front door. Scott thought it was a good idea to climb it today and to find a few geocaches of course. Considering our excessive and unhealthy eating habits as of late, I think we were long overdue for a health kick! SO YEEHAW… Ima gonna climb dat mountain yo!
We picked up Tessa, Naty and Kaitlyn and made way for the Helderberg. The thing that’s awing is that here, one can see the beautiful mountains from outside our very windows, unlike in Edmonton where you’d have to drive for hours in order to experience such splendor and beauty. Otay, so we made it into the gate, bought a couple maps and got psyched up for the hike. The lady in one of the shops told us that the hike up and down would take about 4-5 hours and she advised that we’d better hurry ‘cause the gates closed in 3 hours. Yea… we kinda started the hike a bit late in the afternoon… at 2:30pm to be exact. Haha… we had originally planned to start the hike at 9am, but good ol’ “African time” got the best of us I guess. Haha… this has been quite the habit of ours as of late as well. No time is really set in stone when in Africa. Anyway, so we only had 3 hours to do this thang. I looked up the mountain and thought, “Whooo… we are not gonna make it to the top in THAT time.” The top looked way high up yo! Scott being Scott said, “C’mon let’s get started. We can do it!” He had no doubt that we would make it and was determined to reach the very top. Whatevs… guess we’d better get a move on then.
Not too far into the hike, Scott found a geocache already. The container had a bunch of nic nacs including R2 and N$1. Scoot gave those coins to Kaitlyn as a “Welcome to Africa” token, since it was her first time here and all. Aight… no time to waste… the hike continued. The first part of the trek was a bit tough because the climb was really steep and the ground was made of a clay and mud, which was slippery to climb up at some parts. Poor Kaitlyn didn’t didn’t have hiking shoes with her so she had to wear her flowery Mr. Price slip-ons instead, so the climb must’ve been extra tricky for her. Tough as it was, we kept moving forward. Gradually the group started spreading out a bit as we all paced ourselves. Scott, Joel and I were at the front of the pack. We passed some amazing trails including one where it looked like you were entering the Amazon forest or something. We also passed by a stream of fresh mountain water, which was so cool that I couldn’t help by letting out a shout of appreciation. I LOVE FRESH MOUNTAIN WATER… THE BEST!
The views got more and more amazing the higher we climbed as you can imagine. And that was motivation enough to keep going. Guh… words can’t really express… just check out my pics for a better depiction. Nearing the top of the mountain now and only 1.5 hours into the hike, we were making good time. Unfortunately we lost Scooty a ways back due to another geocache hunt, so Joel and I kept going without him. The other peeps in the group had resorted to resting at a lookout point a ways down and weren’t going to continue the trek up. I must admit, the latter part of the climb got pretty tough with mostly rock and steep incline, but I was determined to burn some major calories today yo! Hahaha… even if it meant my legs would turn into jelly in the process.
Nigel and Tessa eventually caught up to Joel and I and the four of us pushed hard to make it to the top. Boy were we glad that we had kept going because the view from up top was spectacular… beyond description… almost heavenly! We had climbed so high up that we were above the clouds!! I was overcome with a huge sense of accomplishment… We climbed the Helderberg baby! I was so proud of everyone!
Uh oh… only 1 hour left before the gate closed. We had to cut our relaxation and admiration time short because time was ticking. Of course we made it down fine, though 10 minutes after closing time. Ooo… we’re such rebels! Haha… whatevs… at least we were able to squeeze in the full meal deal in our limited time frame. GO US!
Siyacula & Bloemhof Workshop
August 3rd… Marikje invited Scott to do a workshop with her choirs in Stellenbosch today. Siyacula and the Bloemhof Girls Choir (Marijke’s new high school choir) came together for the first time to share music with each other and to have an informal mini-concert for parents and friends after the workshop. Scott was super stoked for this event. And I was looking forward to being a part of it as well. Marijke seemed especially enthused about the collaboration of her choirs, because it had never happened before. She was so ecstatic and bubbly it was cute. Wow… I just love her energetic spirit and positivity.
Anyway, when we arrived at the school, we got to work straightaway. I led the group in stretches and then Scott took over with vocal warm-ups. Joel later demonstrated a Rajaton technique of playing with one’s voice – changing it from a brighter tone to a darker one. I think he called it the “NEOW” or some may know it as Soila’s “WHY” exercise. Everyone enjoyed that one ‘cause it was fun to make funny sounds and experiment with one’s voice.
At one point, the two choirs separated to work on different things. Siyacula went through their new piece with Scott, You Are the New Day, while Nathalie, Kaitlyn and I taught the Bloemhof girls Siyacula’s rendition of Singaba Yo. The girls caught on really quick and so we soon met up again with Siyacula again to work on Sweet Spirit together.
Later in the evening, parents and friends of the choristers and some of Marijke’s staff started to gather into the gymnasium in excitement for the show. Marijke set up the tone of the concert very nicely with a message of music sharing and appreciation. Then the show unfolded starting with a Singaba Yo procession. Each choir then took turns to perform two pieces of their own and then came together to close off the show with Sweet Spirit.
The workshop went really well. The choirs sounded great and exuded a lot of positive energy. Everyone seemed to enjoy each other’s company. According to Marijke, this was the first time such an event was arranged here – the idea of sharing music and collaborating with other people. Also it was the first time the choirs had an informal concert just to show family and friends what they’ve been up to. Marijke is making wonderful progress with both choirs and will continue going strong. I see a lot of potential for both groups. Kudos to everyone!
Anyway, when we arrived at the school, we got to work straightaway. I led the group in stretches and then Scott took over with vocal warm-ups. Joel later demonstrated a Rajaton technique of playing with one’s voice – changing it from a brighter tone to a darker one. I think he called it the “NEOW” or some may know it as Soila’s “WHY” exercise. Everyone enjoyed that one ‘cause it was fun to make funny sounds and experiment with one’s voice.
At one point, the two choirs separated to work on different things. Siyacula went through their new piece with Scott, You Are the New Day, while Nathalie, Kaitlyn and I taught the Bloemhof girls Siyacula’s rendition of Singaba Yo. The girls caught on really quick and so we soon met up again with Siyacula again to work on Sweet Spirit together.
Later in the evening, parents and friends of the choristers and some of Marijke’s staff started to gather into the gymnasium in excitement for the show. Marijke set up the tone of the concert very nicely with a message of music sharing and appreciation. Then the show unfolded starting with a Singaba Yo procession. Each choir then took turns to perform two pieces of their own and then came together to close off the show with Sweet Spirit.
The workshop went really well. The choirs sounded great and exuded a lot of positive energy. Everyone seemed to enjoy each other’s company. According to Marijke, this was the first time such an event was arranged here – the idea of sharing music and collaborating with other people. Also it was the first time the choirs had an informal concert just to show family and friends what they’ve been up to. Marijke is making wonderful progress with both choirs and will continue going strong. I see a lot of potential for both groups. Kudos to everyone!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
A Day in Capetown
August 2nd… Scott, Nigel, Joel and I got up early today to get ready for a day in Capetown. We were pleased to see sunshine gleaming through our windows. Things looked promising. We drove over to the Roos’ house to pick up Tessa, Naty, and Kaitlyn. Unfortunately they had to sit in the boot of Squeaky Sam because we had no room. In Canada, I’m sure that would be illegal, but here in Africa, there’s always room in the vehicle for another African. Next, we drove into Lwandle (a nearby township where Thulani used to live) to pick up Potloot (aka Pencil), whose real name is unknown because he has so many nicknames. He’s one of the the veterans in Siyacula. We invited him to join us for the day.
The weather was still sunny and warm as we drove the short distance to Capetown. It felt great to be in a big city again. What was even better was that everywhere we looked, we were still surrounded by gorgeous scenery – a city amidst mountains and ocean… sigh. We first went for breakfast at Harrie’s Pancakes because we were all starving. (Side note: In Africa, pancakes are crepes and the pancakes that we know are called flapjacks.) After our nice breakfast, we roamed around the V & A (Victoria & Alfred) Waterfront, checked out some shops, and also explored the mall. No major shopping done on my part, I just bought some cool African shakers from the African Trading Port to add to my music classroom. Kids love show & tell, and I love showing and telling them about the nic nacs that I pick up from my travels. I think my students will enjoy the shakers.
We had all purchased tickets earlier to visit the Robben Island Museum in the afternoon. I was eager to get a dose of African history. We all boarded the ferry at 2:30pm and made the trip out to the island, which was about an hour long. When we got to Robben Island, everyone had to transfer onto a bus where we would next be driven into the encampment. Our tour guide, Mohammed something something, was very informative and dramatic. Haha… he was also very politically incorrect… calling people on the bus “You Dutch and your cheese… You English and your collar necks and ties… You Australians and your eucalyptus trees which soaked up all the fresh water reserve on the island… etc.” He was really funny and interesting to listen to.
After the bus tour around Robben Island, we were dropped off by the prisons to take a closer look inside. Our tour guide this time was named Sparks – an ex-political prisoner of Robben Island. Mohammed had explained earlier that because of the high unemployment rate in Africa, employees’ job choices were very limited. For example, Sparks was not necessarily a tour guide on Robben Island because he wanted to be, but because that position created a job opportunity for him. Still, it was really cool and admirable to be led by someone who had been through all the hardships of Robben Island and was able to recount stories from a first-person perspective. Sparks showed everyone his prison cell and talked briefly about his experience upon his admittance. He said he was stripped physically of his identity and was given a number for a name and a yellow card of identity. Prisoners had to sleep on thin mats with no sheets or blankets, even in the winter. The windows didn’t even have glass on them so cold air and rain would enter the cells causing many people to get sick with TB and pneumonia. Prisoners’ privileges, clothing, and food proportions were also determined by the color of their skin. Often times, the colored and whites would get more of everything compared to the blacks. For example, the colored and whites got to wear long sleeved jackets, long pants and shoes, while the blacks had to wear short sleeves, shorts and no shoes. This was a way to distinguish the races. It was sickening to hear the cruelty and harsh living conditions that the prisoners on Robben Island had to undergo. Later, we also got to see Nelson Mandela’s prison cell and the courtyard where he hid his infamous book entitled, “The Long Road to Freedom.” Overall, the Robben Island tour was amazing and definitely worthwhile to the unknowing tourist. I strongly recommend that one invests time in listening to this history lesson if ever one plans to visit Capetown.
In the evening, the group of us went to City Hall to catch the National High School Choir Gala Competition. Woot… the City Hall auditorium was quite the beauty sight with balconies and a beautiful organ at the front. The high school choirs were pretty good in relation to my high school choirs back in the day, so that was a bonus. Besides some interesting cultural takes on African traditionals by very white Afrikaans choirs and questionable conducting techniques (including what we called “the wank”), it was a pleasant evening.
It proved to be quite the full day today and everyone was starting to get tired so we made the drive back to Somerset West. Since it was close to 10pm when we arrived, we invited Potloot to stay with us in town instead going back into the township. Conditions in the townships have been very dangerous due to the recent uprising of zenophobia. It wouldn’t have been wise to drive into the township at night. Potloot said that there is a 9pm curfew every night and if you are spotted on the street after that time or even approaching that time, you would be severely beaten up by other locals. My question is what gives them the right?!! Gosh, everything is so messed up and corrupt, even the police hang out with gangs sometimes. Nkosi sikele i’Africa… God bless Africa, for they need healing and help so desperately in this time of chaos. I pray things will resolve themselves sooner than later.
The weather was still sunny and warm as we drove the short distance to Capetown. It felt great to be in a big city again. What was even better was that everywhere we looked, we were still surrounded by gorgeous scenery – a city amidst mountains and ocean… sigh. We first went for breakfast at Harrie’s Pancakes because we were all starving. (Side note: In Africa, pancakes are crepes and the pancakes that we know are called flapjacks.) After our nice breakfast, we roamed around the V & A (Victoria & Alfred) Waterfront, checked out some shops, and also explored the mall. No major shopping done on my part, I just bought some cool African shakers from the African Trading Port to add to my music classroom. Kids love show & tell, and I love showing and telling them about the nic nacs that I pick up from my travels. I think my students will enjoy the shakers.
We had all purchased tickets earlier to visit the Robben Island Museum in the afternoon. I was eager to get a dose of African history. We all boarded the ferry at 2:30pm and made the trip out to the island, which was about an hour long. When we got to Robben Island, everyone had to transfer onto a bus where we would next be driven into the encampment. Our tour guide, Mohammed something something, was very informative and dramatic. Haha… he was also very politically incorrect… calling people on the bus “You Dutch and your cheese… You English and your collar necks and ties… You Australians and your eucalyptus trees which soaked up all the fresh water reserve on the island… etc.” He was really funny and interesting to listen to.
After the bus tour around Robben Island, we were dropped off by the prisons to take a closer look inside. Our tour guide this time was named Sparks – an ex-political prisoner of Robben Island. Mohammed had explained earlier that because of the high unemployment rate in Africa, employees’ job choices were very limited. For example, Sparks was not necessarily a tour guide on Robben Island because he wanted to be, but because that position created a job opportunity for him. Still, it was really cool and admirable to be led by someone who had been through all the hardships of Robben Island and was able to recount stories from a first-person perspective. Sparks showed everyone his prison cell and talked briefly about his experience upon his admittance. He said he was stripped physically of his identity and was given a number for a name and a yellow card of identity. Prisoners had to sleep on thin mats with no sheets or blankets, even in the winter. The windows didn’t even have glass on them so cold air and rain would enter the cells causing many people to get sick with TB and pneumonia. Prisoners’ privileges, clothing, and food proportions were also determined by the color of their skin. Often times, the colored and whites would get more of everything compared to the blacks. For example, the colored and whites got to wear long sleeved jackets, long pants and shoes, while the blacks had to wear short sleeves, shorts and no shoes. This was a way to distinguish the races. It was sickening to hear the cruelty and harsh living conditions that the prisoners on Robben Island had to undergo. Later, we also got to see Nelson Mandela’s prison cell and the courtyard where he hid his infamous book entitled, “The Long Road to Freedom.” Overall, the Robben Island tour was amazing and definitely worthwhile to the unknowing tourist. I strongly recommend that one invests time in listening to this history lesson if ever one plans to visit Capetown.
In the evening, the group of us went to City Hall to catch the National High School Choir Gala Competition. Woot… the City Hall auditorium was quite the beauty sight with balconies and a beautiful organ at the front. The high school choirs were pretty good in relation to my high school choirs back in the day, so that was a bonus. Besides some interesting cultural takes on African traditionals by very white Afrikaans choirs and questionable conducting techniques (including what we called “the wank”), it was a pleasant evening.
It proved to be quite the full day today and everyone was starting to get tired so we made the drive back to Somerset West. Since it was close to 10pm when we arrived, we invited Potloot to stay with us in town instead going back into the township. Conditions in the townships have been very dangerous due to the recent uprising of zenophobia. It wouldn’t have been wise to drive into the township at night. Potloot said that there is a 9pm curfew every night and if you are spotted on the street after that time or even approaching that time, you would be severely beaten up by other locals. My question is what gives them the right?!! Gosh, everything is so messed up and corrupt, even the police hang out with gangs sometimes. Nkosi sikele i’Africa… God bless Africa, for they need healing and help so desperately in this time of chaos. I pray things will resolve themselves sooner than later.
We Are Singing... Mmm Thai!
August 1st… Another wet day in Somerset West. It was really pouring today. A crazy thing about the weather here though is that it is real wishy washy. Haha… rainy and foggy one minute, sunny and beautiful the next. That’s pretty much what went on all day, with more rain than sunshine however.
We had a workshop with Siyacula (We Are Singing), one of our sister choirs, later in the afternoon. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again! There had been a pretty big turnover since last year, but most of the main choristers are still holding down the fort. Siyacula was still just as warm and spirited as I remembered them being. =)
We first looked at one of the songs Siyacula had been working on called, You Are The New Day. It was a very beautiful piece. I was quite impressed with Siyacula’s musicality and sensitivity to Marijke’s conducting and Scott’s constructive commenting. Next, we shared with the group two songs that Kokopelli had previously performed, Sweet Spirit and Raindance. They were super excited to learn both songs and picked them up really quick. With the amount of productive fun we had, the 4hr workshop just flew by (no worries, we had a break in the middle of it and were served hotdogs). And then it was dinnertime…
The Roos’ had been raving about this awesome Thai restaurant called, Wang Thai. So we all thought it would be a great idea to have dinner there together after the workshop. I was certainly looking forward to it because I have been so Asian food deprived since arriving in Africa… haha. There were a total of 10 of us there, so we ordered A LOT of dishes, like 10 main dishes, several appetizers and soups, 3 big pots of rice, and even dessert! Yep, we went a little haywire with the grub, but we managed to finish almost everything. Some of the dishes had interesting names like “Angry Duck” and “Angry Beef” (haha… mad cow anyone?). Compared to all the other Asian food that I have tried in Africa thus far, Wang Thai was by far the best. The service was very good and the food was fabulous. I’d surely come here again. But for my next hunt… SUSHI!!!
We had a workshop with Siyacula (We Are Singing), one of our sister choirs, later in the afternoon. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again! There had been a pretty big turnover since last year, but most of the main choristers are still holding down the fort. Siyacula was still just as warm and spirited as I remembered them being. =)
We first looked at one of the songs Siyacula had been working on called, You Are The New Day. It was a very beautiful piece. I was quite impressed with Siyacula’s musicality and sensitivity to Marijke’s conducting and Scott’s constructive commenting. Next, we shared with the group two songs that Kokopelli had previously performed, Sweet Spirit and Raindance. They were super excited to learn both songs and picked them up really quick. With the amount of productive fun we had, the 4hr workshop just flew by (no worries, we had a break in the middle of it and were served hotdogs). And then it was dinnertime…
The Roos’ had been raving about this awesome Thai restaurant called, Wang Thai. So we all thought it would be a great idea to have dinner there together after the workshop. I was certainly looking forward to it because I have been so Asian food deprived since arriving in Africa… haha. There were a total of 10 of us there, so we ordered A LOT of dishes, like 10 main dishes, several appetizers and soups, 3 big pots of rice, and even dessert! Yep, we went a little haywire with the grub, but we managed to finish almost everything. Some of the dishes had interesting names like “Angry Duck” and “Angry Beef” (haha… mad cow anyone?). Compared to all the other Asian food that I have tried in Africa thus far, Wang Thai was by far the best. The service was very good and the food was fabulous. I’d surely come here again. But for my next hunt… SUSHI!!!
Friday, August 1, 2008
A Rainy Day Indoors
July 31st… woke up to a dull, wet and dreary day. Good thing… we woke up alive! Haha… no sign of any break-ins throughout the night. Our area was being especially monitored by ADT Security after yesterday’s incident and now that we’re staying in the house, what with us being foreigners in South Africa and all. Oy vey… thank goodness for ADT! So anyway, what to do today? Visit the Somerset Mall!!! Haha… us Canadians have been mall deprived. But really, it was a good day to stay inside because it was raining pretty constantly thoughout the day. We started the day with brunch at Mugg ‘n Bean, an awesome restaurant for delicious grub and lovely bevies. Nathalie, Kaitlyn, and Blomy joined us too. Then Blomy and Naty departed together to buy groceries for our dinner at the Roos’ later that evening. Scott and I went to book an appointment for a haircut. Sheesh… the water and weather in Namibia hasn’t been too friendly to my hair ‘cause I had split-ends galore! So while we were getting a hair trim, Kaitlyn met up with Naty again to do some shopping for warmer clothes. Poor Kaitlyn mostly brought along tank tops and flip-flops with her, so she was understandably cold all the time. Good time to introduce her to the wonderful world of Mr. Price! Holla!
Also in the meantime, Nigel and Joel were watching the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight.
After Kaitlyn and Naty’s shopping spree, they left us to go to Marijke’s high school choir rehearsal in Stellenbosch. Scoot and I met up with Nigel and Joel again. And guess what? We watched another movie! Haha… dinner was only at 8pm, so we had time to catch WALL-E on screen. It was a pretty cute movie and funny at some parts. I dug it.
After the movie, the four of us made way to Pick-and-Pay (a common grocery store in Africa) to get some wine and drinks for our dinner. Then we headed over to the Roos’. Ooo… upon stepping into the house, we were teased with the tantalizing aromas of dinner on its way. Blomy was the chef of the evening and might I comment that he was an excellent one at that. Haha… I highly doubt our meal was low in fat however, but it was scrumptious nonetheless. It was so nice to be able to enjoy a wonderful meal together amongst good friends. Thanks to the Roos’ for hosting us and kudos to the chef!
We rounded off the night with a few rounds of Dutch Blitz (does that come as any surprise?!) and showed Naty and Tessa the ropes about the card game. Although they didn’t volunteer to take part in the intense game, they were sufficiently entertained just watching Nigel, Joel, Kaitlyn and I go at it. Haha… our obsession with Dutch Blitz is a choir thang I suppose? Whatevs… that’s my excuse anyway. ;-p
YAY! WE’RE IN SA! Night night, y’all!
Also in the meantime, Nigel and Joel were watching the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight.
After Kaitlyn and Naty’s shopping spree, they left us to go to Marijke’s high school choir rehearsal in Stellenbosch. Scoot and I met up with Nigel and Joel again. And guess what? We watched another movie! Haha… dinner was only at 8pm, so we had time to catch WALL-E on screen. It was a pretty cute movie and funny at some parts. I dug it.
After the movie, the four of us made way to Pick-and-Pay (a common grocery store in Africa) to get some wine and drinks for our dinner. Then we headed over to the Roos’. Ooo… upon stepping into the house, we were teased with the tantalizing aromas of dinner on its way. Blomy was the chef of the evening and might I comment that he was an excellent one at that. Haha… I highly doubt our meal was low in fat however, but it was scrumptious nonetheless. It was so nice to be able to enjoy a wonderful meal together amongst good friends. Thanks to the Roos’ for hosting us and kudos to the chef!
We rounded off the night with a few rounds of Dutch Blitz (does that come as any surprise?!) and showed Naty and Tessa the ropes about the card game. Although they didn’t volunteer to take part in the intense game, they were sufficiently entertained just watching Nigel, Joel, Kaitlyn and I go at it. Haha… our obsession with Dutch Blitz is a choir thang I suppose? Whatevs… that’s my excuse anyway. ;-p
YAY! WE’RE IN SA! Night night, y’all!
The Roadtrip
July 29th… Our roadtrip to South Africa officially begins! We still had to make it through a long stretch of Namibia, but we all thoroughly enjoyed the scenery that passed us. What splendid sights to soak up. Scott stopped several times to find geocaches of course. Which was cool because we all got to stretch and appreciate the area. We stopped at the Tropic of Capricorn, checked out a monument near an old church in Mariental, and even drove out to do a hike up to an extinct volcano. Geocaching really does lead one to embark on a lot of adventures and experience things that one would not normally do. Haha… one must be careful not to become too addicted to this though…*cough cough like Scott cough cough.* I had so much fun and took a tonne of pictures of the beautiful landscapes. These on-the-side geocaching endeavors were so worth the time and effort! Heehee… I guess I’m a geocacher too now, by association. ;-p
Because we spent most of the day going on geocache hunts, we had to stay another night in Namibia. It was getting dark and we didn’t want to drive then, so we settled into a hotel called Bird’s Mansion in Keetmanshoop. The place was decent and comfortable. But the décor was very tacky. Haha… Bird’s Mansion… go figure. We went to The Centre Hotel for dinner, which was down the road from us. Don’t ask why, we’re weird like that. Besides the dishes having interesting names and the service taking long, the food was good. After dinner, it was back to our abode for a round of Bonanza before we all hit the sack to rest up for the next day’s excursions.
July 30th… We made it into SA today!! It was remarkable how the topography drastically changed after driving across the river after the border. The views were amazing! There was so much GREEN! I love GREEN! There isn’t too much green in Namibia during this time of the year, that’s for sure. But you could tell that SA has been getting its healthy dose of rain. It was so awesome to see fluorescent colored wild flowers in the fields as we drove past. I’ve never seen such colors in flowers before. Highlighter colors, I thought. We stopped at one spot to do a quick geocache and admire the flowers from a closer viewpoint. Then we drove on and stopped in a cute little town called, Springbok, for lunch at Nando’s. Scott and I both bought ourselves a SA SIM card so we could make calls while we’re here. It was REALLY cheap! Only 10 rand each! Woot… like less than 2 bucks Canadian. We sure don’t get that pricing back in Canada! FYI, my current number is +27715201620 for those who’d like to send me an SMS here and there. =) Once I return to Namibia though, I’ll use my regular African cell number again.
Aight… so the lunch stop was over. Moving on. We really didn’t have much more to go before hitting Capetown. We called Marijke, the choir director of Siyacula, one of Kokopelli’s other sister choirs from Somerset West. We wanted to fill her in on our whereabouts and progress. She told us that we’d probably make it into Somerset West (neighbouring city to Capetown) by midnight. Haha… little did she know with Scott’s driving, we ended up at her place by 10:30pm! AHH… it felt SO NICE to breathe in a different kind of air. So fresh and moist. There seriously is a lot of green and lush vegetation in this area, thanks to the rain. That’s why South Africa is known for its wonderfully delicious fruits and vegetables, which I am looking forward to consuming more of while I’m here.
The reunion was jovial and warm (though it wasn’t too warm outside… brrr)! We all huddled together in the Roos’ living room and caught up for a little bit. It was quite the reunion… Marijke, Tessa, Marianne (Tessa’s older sister who’s visiting from Canada for 3 weeks), Nathalie Dugo, Francois (the housemate whom we all call Blomy), and the latest addition Kaitlyn Boomer!!! We were especially surprised to see Kaitlyn because we totally didn’t expect to see her in South Africa! Haha… plus she had just arrived today too. Wow… what a clan of Canadians we have here now! How exciting!
Anyway, everyone was pretty exhausted from the day so we decided retire early. Marijke had graciously arranged for the four of us to stay at Tessa’s dad’s house while we’re here. So nice to not have to worry about accommodation! BUT before calling it a night, Marijke reported to us about an inopportune incident that happened at the house in the wee hours of the previous morning. THE HOUSE GOT BROKEN INTO FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME! Nothing major was stolen and no huge damage was done… we just noticed some of the glass plates on the windows loosened. Marijke felt terrible about the whole thing, because it seriously had never happened before we arrived. Anyway, we spent a good hour or so booby trapping the area around the break-in spot. And we all volunteered Joel to sleep on the sofa bed in the living room, where the break-in happened. Poor Joel had to sleep with Tessa’s 3m range pepper spray and a sledge hammer nearby. That’s what it takes to be the MasKoko Exchange Member! Sorry Joel, it’s a tough job but you’re doing grrreat! I’m so proud of you. =)
Because we spent most of the day going on geocache hunts, we had to stay another night in Namibia. It was getting dark and we didn’t want to drive then, so we settled into a hotel called Bird’s Mansion in Keetmanshoop. The place was decent and comfortable. But the décor was very tacky. Haha… Bird’s Mansion… go figure. We went to The Centre Hotel for dinner, which was down the road from us. Don’t ask why, we’re weird like that. Besides the dishes having interesting names and the service taking long, the food was good. After dinner, it was back to our abode for a round of Bonanza before we all hit the sack to rest up for the next day’s excursions.
July 30th… We made it into SA today!! It was remarkable how the topography drastically changed after driving across the river after the border. The views were amazing! There was so much GREEN! I love GREEN! There isn’t too much green in Namibia during this time of the year, that’s for sure. But you could tell that SA has been getting its healthy dose of rain. It was so awesome to see fluorescent colored wild flowers in the fields as we drove past. I’ve never seen such colors in flowers before. Highlighter colors, I thought. We stopped at one spot to do a quick geocache and admire the flowers from a closer viewpoint. Then we drove on and stopped in a cute little town called, Springbok, for lunch at Nando’s. Scott and I both bought ourselves a SA SIM card so we could make calls while we’re here. It was REALLY cheap! Only 10 rand each! Woot… like less than 2 bucks Canadian. We sure don’t get that pricing back in Canada! FYI, my current number is +27715201620 for those who’d like to send me an SMS here and there. =) Once I return to Namibia though, I’ll use my regular African cell number again.
Aight… so the lunch stop was over. Moving on. We really didn’t have much more to go before hitting Capetown. We called Marijke, the choir director of Siyacula, one of Kokopelli’s other sister choirs from Somerset West. We wanted to fill her in on our whereabouts and progress. She told us that we’d probably make it into Somerset West (neighbouring city to Capetown) by midnight. Haha… little did she know with Scott’s driving, we ended up at her place by 10:30pm! AHH… it felt SO NICE to breathe in a different kind of air. So fresh and moist. There seriously is a lot of green and lush vegetation in this area, thanks to the rain. That’s why South Africa is known for its wonderfully delicious fruits and vegetables, which I am looking forward to consuming more of while I’m here.
The reunion was jovial and warm (though it wasn’t too warm outside… brrr)! We all huddled together in the Roos’ living room and caught up for a little bit. It was quite the reunion… Marijke, Tessa, Marianne (Tessa’s older sister who’s visiting from Canada for 3 weeks), Nathalie Dugo, Francois (the housemate whom we all call Blomy), and the latest addition Kaitlyn Boomer!!! We were especially surprised to see Kaitlyn because we totally didn’t expect to see her in South Africa! Haha… plus she had just arrived today too. Wow… what a clan of Canadians we have here now! How exciting!
Anyway, everyone was pretty exhausted from the day so we decided retire early. Marijke had graciously arranged for the four of us to stay at Tessa’s dad’s house while we’re here. So nice to not have to worry about accommodation! BUT before calling it a night, Marijke reported to us about an inopportune incident that happened at the house in the wee hours of the previous morning. THE HOUSE GOT BROKEN INTO FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME! Nothing major was stolen and no huge damage was done… we just noticed some of the glass plates on the windows loosened. Marijke felt terrible about the whole thing, because it seriously had never happened before we arrived. Anyway, we spent a good hour or so booby trapping the area around the break-in spot. And we all volunteered Joel to sleep on the sofa bed in the living room, where the break-in happened. Poor Joel had to sleep with Tessa’s 3m range pepper spray and a sledge hammer nearby. That’s what it takes to be the MasKoko Exchange Member! Sorry Joel, it’s a tough job but you’re doing grrreat! I’m so proud of you. =)
On Our Way to SA!
Woohoo… July 27th… my birthday! Thank you all for the bday shout outs and good wishes. I appreciate your thoughtfulness very much, especially being that I am on the other side of the world. Hey, this is the 2nd year that I’ve spent my bday in Africa. Crazy cool! Anyway, Nigel and Joel planned to leave for Windhoek midday today and stay the night to pick up Scott, who was returning from Copenhagen the next day. Since they planned to leave from Swakop, it was more convenient for Garth & I to stay over at Scoot’s place after last night’s rehearsal, so we could leave together from Swakop. While Nigel and Joel packed, Garth & I had a lunch date with his dad, Titus, in Tamariskia (within walking distance of Vineta where Scott lives) to celebrate my birthday. We had a braai and just chatted and caught up. It was a very nice lunch. What a yummy sendoff for the trip! =)
Got back to the bachelor pad, Nigel and Joel finished up their packing. We were ready to leave. Then Nigel asked, “So does everybody have their passports, kids?” At which point I stared at him in astonishment. Lo and behold… I FORGOT MY PASSPORT! And I surely needed it in order to get into SA. Haha… Garth had planned to take the taxi home after he saw us off, but now…
Nigel: “Guess we’re driving you home (Walvis Bay) after all, Garth.”
Garth: [Turns to me and says] “Thanks Hunny!”
Bah! I felt like such an idiot! I remembered putting my passport out to be packed, but it totally slipped my mind to do so in the end. So… we were on the road again to Walvis Bay to pick up my passport and drop off Garth. Since we made the 30-minute drive out there, we might as well head to Windhoek from that end because there were two alternate routes we could take. The only catch was that we would be driving on gravel road for the most part. Nigel thought it was fine because Squeaky Sam could easily handle gravel roads. Why not right?
The drive out was spectacular! We got to see a variety of beautiful landscapes and wild animals. More so than had we have driven on the main highway. We were amazed by the amount of animals spotted on this drive… almost comparable to a game drive.
Overall animal count:
Mountain Zebra – 16
Mini Bunny – 15
Ostrich – 10
Oryx – 6
Kudu – 4
Bat – 2
Bugs on the Car – 378
All was fine and dandy and we were making good time. Then Nigel made a quick pit stop for us to stretch and do our thang, when I noticed and pointed out the strong smell of burnt rubber. Hmm… not knowing where it was coming from, we shrugged out shoulders and hopped back into the vehicle. We drove not another km or so, when we suddenly heard a THUMP THUMP and thought, “OH CRAP.” Yup, upon inspection we saw that the whole left backside tire was blown to smithereens. Crazy nuts! Good thing Nigel knew how to change tires and went to work quite efficiently. Bad thing the tire had an anti-theft bolt keeping it from being removed. We searched the whole vehicle for the lock nut’s key to no avail. CRAP INDEED! So what now?!! We were stranded in the middle of nowhere in total darkness, 100km away from Windhoek, with a flat tire and no way to remove it. One major thing to be thankful for was the strong cellular coverage. My word… I was impressed. Both Joel and I were limited in our phone credit though, so we had to be wise with its usage. So of course, I called Garth to tell him about our dilemma. He in turn made most of the calls for us. We ended up getting connected to two nearby desert ranches, which was no real help to us since they didn’t have the tool to remove the lock nut. Long story short, we eventually called Tow-In from Windhoek to come and fetch us. Ooo… this was going to be pricey, but we were desperate to get to Windhoek as soon as possible. We still had to pick up Scoot in the morning remember? Yea… so 10pm we made the call. (Imagine how long the evening had been for us already… waiting for help and making calls. Seriously not one car had passed by us.) Then we had to wait another 2.5 hours for the tow truck to come. After which we had to drive about 2.5 hours back into Windhoek. Haha… we didn’t reach the Roof of Africa (our accommodation) until 3am!! All I could say to this was, “WHAT A BIRTHDAY!” - my most unforgettably whack bday ever! Sigh… at least we made it to our destination safe and sound. The three of us were so grateful to see the beds in our room! We crawled in and immediately dozed off into la-la land.
The next day, Jan (the Tow-In company’s owner) personally gave Nigel and I a lift to the airport to pick up Scott, while the garage dealt with Squeaky Sam’s situation. Ooo… what a surprise Scott will get! All in all, Scott took it pretty well and got roped into our tire bust-out adventure and we all decided to spend another day in Windhoek instead of rushing to be on the road again. This was most definitely the ideal plan because we all needed more sleep. I was looking forward to relaxing in Windhoek and chowing down at Joe’s Beerhouse – a restaurant that is reknowned for serving an assortment of wild game and *ahem* beers. Everything worked out in the end.
Got back to the bachelor pad, Nigel and Joel finished up their packing. We were ready to leave. Then Nigel asked, “So does everybody have their passports, kids?” At which point I stared at him in astonishment. Lo and behold… I FORGOT MY PASSPORT! And I surely needed it in order to get into SA. Haha… Garth had planned to take the taxi home after he saw us off, but now…
Nigel: “Guess we’re driving you home (Walvis Bay) after all, Garth.”
Garth: [Turns to me and says] “Thanks Hunny!”
Bah! I felt like such an idiot! I remembered putting my passport out to be packed, but it totally slipped my mind to do so in the end. So… we were on the road again to Walvis Bay to pick up my passport and drop off Garth. Since we made the 30-minute drive out there, we might as well head to Windhoek from that end because there were two alternate routes we could take. The only catch was that we would be driving on gravel road for the most part. Nigel thought it was fine because Squeaky Sam could easily handle gravel roads. Why not right?
The drive out was spectacular! We got to see a variety of beautiful landscapes and wild animals. More so than had we have driven on the main highway. We were amazed by the amount of animals spotted on this drive… almost comparable to a game drive.
Overall animal count:
Mountain Zebra – 16
Mini Bunny – 15
Ostrich – 10
Oryx – 6
Kudu – 4
Bat – 2
Bugs on the Car – 378
All was fine and dandy and we were making good time. Then Nigel made a quick pit stop for us to stretch and do our thang, when I noticed and pointed out the strong smell of burnt rubber. Hmm… not knowing where it was coming from, we shrugged out shoulders and hopped back into the vehicle. We drove not another km or so, when we suddenly heard a THUMP THUMP and thought, “OH CRAP.” Yup, upon inspection we saw that the whole left backside tire was blown to smithereens. Crazy nuts! Good thing Nigel knew how to change tires and went to work quite efficiently. Bad thing the tire had an anti-theft bolt keeping it from being removed. We searched the whole vehicle for the lock nut’s key to no avail. CRAP INDEED! So what now?!! We were stranded in the middle of nowhere in total darkness, 100km away from Windhoek, with a flat tire and no way to remove it. One major thing to be thankful for was the strong cellular coverage. My word… I was impressed. Both Joel and I were limited in our phone credit though, so we had to be wise with its usage. So of course, I called Garth to tell him about our dilemma. He in turn made most of the calls for us. We ended up getting connected to two nearby desert ranches, which was no real help to us since they didn’t have the tool to remove the lock nut. Long story short, we eventually called Tow-In from Windhoek to come and fetch us. Ooo… this was going to be pricey, but we were desperate to get to Windhoek as soon as possible. We still had to pick up Scoot in the morning remember? Yea… so 10pm we made the call. (Imagine how long the evening had been for us already… waiting for help and making calls. Seriously not one car had passed by us.) Then we had to wait another 2.5 hours for the tow truck to come. After which we had to drive about 2.5 hours back into Windhoek. Haha… we didn’t reach the Roof of Africa (our accommodation) until 3am!! All I could say to this was, “WHAT A BIRTHDAY!” - my most unforgettably whack bday ever! Sigh… at least we made it to our destination safe and sound. The three of us were so grateful to see the beds in our room! We crawled in and immediately dozed off into la-la land.
The next day, Jan (the Tow-In company’s owner) personally gave Nigel and I a lift to the airport to pick up Scott, while the garage dealt with Squeaky Sam’s situation. Ooo… what a surprise Scott will get! All in all, Scott took it pretty well and got roped into our tire bust-out adventure and we all decided to spend another day in Windhoek instead of rushing to be on the road again. This was most definitely the ideal plan because we all needed more sleep. I was looking forward to relaxing in Windhoek and chowing down at Joe’s Beerhouse – a restaurant that is reknowned for serving an assortment of wild game and *ahem* beers. Everything worked out in the end.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Short & Sweet
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008. “The Wannabe” musical debut is scheduled for September 4th of this year. Things are starting to come together for sure. What an exciting project! The Mascatos had their very first press conference for the musical today. A few Bank Windhoek people and the costume designers came down from Windhoek to take pictures of the group and the main characters in their costumes. Soon these pics will be made public in local news papers and magazines to start promoting the show. With Bank Windhoek backing up the whole extravaganza, this spectacle is bound to be a success. I mean, our very own Jen Kinghorn is being flown in from Canada to accompany the musical! Plus the bank is also bringing in a choreographer from Scotland to work with the choristers. It’s going to be a biggy, no doubt! I enjoyed the costume parade most of all… oh yah, and the yummy snacks afterwards… heehee. I also had fun snapping shots throughout the press conference so y’all can get a sneak peek of some out the characters’ snazzy outfits. Enjoy!
Musical Press Conference + A Beautiful Swakop Day
Musical Press Conference + A Beautiful Swakop Day
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
The Heavenly Hazelnut/Chocolate Multi-layer Mousse Cake (yes, I dubbed it myself) at the Ultra Online Café rocks my tastes buds!
Mr. Pacman concurs... CHOMP CHOMP MMM...
Yea... this is what I do to entertain myself. Sad, I know. ;-p
Holy moly, where goes the time?!!
Wowee… I know what you’re thinking. This inconsistent blogging of mine is ridiculous. Haha… no worries, I agree. Thing is, it’s not because I am so busy that I do not blog. I guess I’ve just fallen into a daily routine here in Walvis Bay and I don’t realize how the time flies. One sort of loses track of time in this place. I decided to check my handy dandy cell phone calendar today to reorient my mental clock… HOLY MAKEREL, it’s July 21st, 2008!! My apologies for the tardiness indeed. No worries, I am still alive. Haha… I just can’t believe how quickly the weeks are passing by!
Sigh… as you can imagine, a lot has happened since I last posted an entry. Most of my time is spent with my Sunshine Kids of course, but I’ll try my best to recount the other highlights that went on in these past few weeks. Do check out my pics also because I’m even relying on them to help me recall what I’ve been up to. Haha yup, it sure has been a while. Whatevs… here goes…
So the endeavor to establish a music program at the Sunshine Kids centre continues. Poppy (the music teacher) has now requested that I also teach her how to play guitar and drums. Haha… thing is, I am no instrument maestro. A jack of all trades usually, but I know my limitations. Good thing for connections though, because I soon roped Dollar into the whole shebang as well. He has been taking guitar lessons, so I figure the centre would appreciate his newly attained guitar knowledge and skills. Dollar will primarily focus his time on a select few of the older Sunshine Kids. Things have been going stellar since Dollar stepped in to help. Poppy and the kids love him. Now, who shall I persuade to teach drums? Haha…
Side note: I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Kim Chung for initiating and organizing a project back in Edmonton to help gather a bunch of books and other materials for my Sunshine Kids. She and a small group of people have pooled together their resources and funds to send a hefty package of resources over to the centre. On behalf of the Sunshine Kids, centre staff, and myself, I would like to thank you all for your generosity and time. Your kindness and compassion are much appreciated. Everyone at the centre is so grateful. They were ecstatic when they heard the good news. They wish God’s blessings upon you all. Thank you again for being such wonderful and considerate people. I am very honored to have friends like you.
On July 9th, I spent the day chilling with Rebecca Ponder, an ex-Mascato member who lives in South Africa now. For those who know Pamela Lowry who worked at MYO with Lex last year, Rebecca was Pam’s roommate and she used to teach at Hanganani. Pam was the one who introduced us to each other… over Facebook no less… haha. We thought it would be nice to meet up and chat about school related stuff, life and whatever. That day, we had lunch at The Village Café (I love the ambiance of that place!) and ate dessert at the Lightkeeper’s Cottage Gallery & Tea Garden. Hectic name eh? Well, I’ve never been to the latter, so Rebecca was kind enough to enlighten me. The tea garden also had a very nice atmosphere. The tables were situated outside where we could enjoy the nice weather and watch various birds fly/waddle by our feet. The restaurant even had a den in the back with even more birds and two tortoises. Cool! Besides that, the lemon meringue I had was absolutely delectable… probably the best I had ever! I will definitely visit this place again.
On July 11th, Scott, Nigel, Joel & I made a daytrip out to Spitzkoppe (aka Pointy Head). Ooowee… what I can recall from that day was the heat, strenuous walks and climbs, breathtaking scenery, annoying flies that buzzed around our sweaty heads, prickly bushes, a nice picnic underneath the natural bridge of rock, street side merchants selling whatever they can to make a buck (mostly gems & minerals which are abundant in the area), and children running up to our cars for candy. It was quite the full day, lemme tell ya. Scoot was the trooper who drove us three sleepy heads safely back to Swakop. Check out my recent pics to get a fuller depiction.
My my, later on that evening, Richie from Mascato was hosting an African Music Choir Concert in the Atlantic School gymnasium. A bunch of local choirs came together to celebrate the music community here in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. The show was also a tribute to Mrs. Venter who has made an especially significant impact to the choirmunity. She seemed to have started it all actually because the Mascato singers whom she has nurtured and developed over the years are now branching out beyond the Mascato Coastal Youth choir to foster choirs of their own. The circle of life? The cultivation and celebration of music. Scoot was also invited to present awards to the various choirs and Joel was asked to be the emcee. Haha… and guess who got roped in to being an impromptu co-emcee? Of course it was yours truly… MOI! Crazy nuts! I was initially reluctant to do it, but Joel gave me one of his wide-eyed “HELP ME” looks and I couldn’t say no. Haha… but imagine having climbed and sweated all over Spitzkoppe that afternoon and suddenly roll onto a stage and try to look presentable. Bleh! I didn’t have a change of clothes for the event, so I made a quick run for it to Mr. Price to find something decent to wear. Welps, the whole event was a hoot really. Quite informal and disorganized but Joel & I kept going with the flow and doing things like it did (please refer to a nearby Ebonics phrasebook). Joel & I were probably two of the most hammiest emcees ever, but I think the crowd liked us. Everyone seemed to have fun and enjoy each other’s company. Joel probably posted an even more detailed and descriptive entry about this particular event, so check out his post too ‘cause I’m moving on…
'Twas also on this day when we visited Mrs. Venter to see how she was fairing. Her beloved Belka, her German Sheppard of 13 years passed away recently. I can see that she was still very disheartened about the whole thing, but she is coping gradually. To the precious Belka, you will be missed dearly.
Aight! So some day last week, Engelhardt invited Joel & I to teach his students a line dance. Being as Canadian as we are, we naturally chose to teach them The Cadillac Ranch… YEEHAW! Apparently, Lex also taught the dance to some of these kids when she was here last year, but most of those kids looked like they needed a refresher, so we boogied ahead with the plan. The kids had a blast pretending to be cowboys and cowgirls, yeehawing here and there. The dance posed just the right amount of challenge to peak their interests and keep them on their toes. Due to the repetitive nature of a line dance, everyone eventually caught on to the moves. Another successful venture of mine and Joel’s it seemed! WOOT! Ooo… and kudos to Joel and Scoot for trying kepana for the very first time that day as well! Yep, ‘twas Fire Bar kepana again… the best in town!
July 18th. The three Swakop bachelors (aka Scott, Nigel, and Joel) have composed a to-do list of things that they would like to accomplish while being here on holiday. Today, I thought it would be nice to join them in doing a couple of the activities on that list. Scoot picked me up in Walvis Bay because he had some errands to do there. Then we headed to Swakop together. Scoot had to take Squeaky Sam in for an oil change, so after dropping it off at the service station, we decided to walk to all of our destinations. Good idea ‘cause I definitely needed the exercise. Ick… I’ve been feeling kinda blobby lately, what with my frequent consumption of bread, butter, full cream milk, Mammie’s cookies, and kepana. Not the best of diets, I say.
Anyway, our first stop was Snake Park, which wasn’t really a park. It was more like a small pet shop containing about 25 species of Namibian reptiles. Amongst these reptiles were the deathly dangerous Zebra snake and Black Mamba, and geckos and scorpions. One of the two pythons there was named Piggy. One could get a picture taken with Piggy for N$20. That was only about $3 Canadian, but none of us four were brave enough to let the python wrap itself around our torsos. I was more than happy to stand on the side and watch another lady get constricted. Yup!
We next stopped at The Village Café to grab a quick lunch. It’s becoming quite the ritual amongst us Canadians. Then we strolled down to the beach and towards the aquarium for our final activity of the day before choir practice. The aquarium was bigger than I had expected. There were a decent number of fish, sharks, and water life on display. My favorite creatures were the two huge turtles. On the second floor, we got to oversee and look into the main tank and watch the turtles come up for breath. Several times, one of them would pop up right in front of us. I got to touch one turtle’s big flipper! Heehee… not as gross as I thought it might’ve been, sorta like grabbing hold of one of those floating boards they have at swimming pools… firm and not slimy. Anyway, after the aquarium the four of us hung out on the beach for a while. The waves were awesome to watch. I eventually got my pant legs soaked by a big wave, so I thought what the heck, why not get even more soaked and have some fun, right!! So the other three just watched as I ran around making a goof out of myself. Haha… good times.
Later that evening, there was a Mascato rehearsal for the musical. This time everyone met up to do a run through of the entire musical for the first time. It was so cool to see all the individual puzzle pieces come together. I think everyone is beginning to see the big picture. That being said, their first practice went pretty well. It’s going to be a gooder, this one! Bank Windhoek is investing a lot of money, time and effort in this spectacle. Aldo Berons, the director, has been raving about the costumes as well. oOooo… can’t wait to see the finished products! Mascato has never done something of this magnitude before. Did I already mention how sucky it is that I’ll be missing the official show?!! Aiyah… they better record it for me!
Skipping ahead several days to present time now… phew, quite the catch-up post so far… I hope y’all are still with me. Haha…
Yesterday was a pretty chill Sunday. Garth and I rented “The Man” (featuring Eugene Levy & Samuel L. Jackson) and “Ice Age 2” to occupy our afternoon. Both movies were good choices. Haha… “The Man” was especially hilair. I love Eugene Levy’s acting! His facial expressions would crack anyone up! Later in the day, Garth and I went for a stroll on the beach to catch the sunset. With the weather being so nice and warm, it was just what we needed. Then we went to the evening church service. Besides the message being in Afrikaans, my first impression of the church was a good. And guess who I bumped into?? Jan, the guy who gave me a lift from my hitchhiking expedition! Crazy pants… he’s the sound guy for the worship team. Haha… small town, I guess.
This church provides a lot of outreach programs and ministries. One project that particularly peaked my interest was the JCK Project. The project’s mission is to serve food to the children in the Quisebmund community during the week. The organizers told me that they serve an average of 150-200 kids a day. This project is actually nationwide and has support and sponsorship from local businesses and donors who provide and fund the meals. The project even receives goods from the United States apparently. Wow… good to hear that it is well supported.
I went to visit the spot where they serve the food this afternoon. Wow… all the happenings occur within and around one long container… like a narrow portable classroom. No electricity, no water. Sophie, the young lady who cooks the food, arrives at the container at 10am every morning to prepare everything. She uses portable gas tanks to cook the food. At that time, there are usually 10 or so toddlers hanging out with her until lunchtime. She feeds them nutritional cereal while they wait. 1pm, the rest of the children arrive, wash and dry their individual plastic buckets and spoons, and wait for the food. 1:30pm, about 4-5 school boys come to help Sophie out. They all get busy in the container, dishing up for everyone. The kids eat outside. It’s important to keep an eye out for the older kids who sometimes steal the younger children’s food. See, the meal they eat here is usually the only one they get for the whole day. It’s quite unfortunate because most of these children are obviously malnourished, with swollen stomachs and skinny limbs. Children aren’t allowed to take food home as well, because their parents will eat it and leave them hungry. Sadly these grown ups are illiterate and can’t speak English or Afrikaans which means they will never be able to find jobs for themselves. They typically rely on fishing to survive.
I am so thankful that I found out about this project because I was yearning to do more in my day-to-day life. The slow pace of life here was starting to get to me. Being the busy person that I am, I can’t stay idle for too long without getting antsy. This is a worthy project to invest my time in and I am honored to be able to serve the needy Quisebmund community.
In other new news, Scott is in Copenhagen with Katy & Bruce right now. The three of them are participating in the World Symposium on Choral Music. Man oh man, those lucky ducks! I loved Scandinavia when I went with Kokopelli back in 2002. Sigh… I most definitely plan to revisit those countries someday.
Joel & Nigel are also away currently. They went on a camping road trip up to Etosha National Park for a few days. Pretty sweet, eh!
As for me, I’m stuck in Walvis Bay for another week and then… the whole gaggle of us Canadians (plus Dollar) are heading down to South Africa!!! WEEEEE! I am looking forward to the change of scenery and activities fo’ sho! I can’t wait to see all the Siyacula peeps again as well! And so the countdown begins…
Welps, congrats on getting through another catch-up blog post of mine. I hope it wasn’t too all over the place for y’all. Til next time… PEACE, JOY & LOVE to all back home! =D
Check out my newest photo albums:
Day to Day Stuff
Spitzkoppe & Emcee-a-thon
Une Mélange de Photos
Sigh… as you can imagine, a lot has happened since I last posted an entry. Most of my time is spent with my Sunshine Kids of course, but I’ll try my best to recount the other highlights that went on in these past few weeks. Do check out my pics also because I’m even relying on them to help me recall what I’ve been up to. Haha yup, it sure has been a while. Whatevs… here goes…
So the endeavor to establish a music program at the Sunshine Kids centre continues. Poppy (the music teacher) has now requested that I also teach her how to play guitar and drums. Haha… thing is, I am no instrument maestro. A jack of all trades usually, but I know my limitations. Good thing for connections though, because I soon roped Dollar into the whole shebang as well. He has been taking guitar lessons, so I figure the centre would appreciate his newly attained guitar knowledge and skills. Dollar will primarily focus his time on a select few of the older Sunshine Kids. Things have been going stellar since Dollar stepped in to help. Poppy and the kids love him. Now, who shall I persuade to teach drums? Haha…
Side note: I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Kim Chung for initiating and organizing a project back in Edmonton to help gather a bunch of books and other materials for my Sunshine Kids. She and a small group of people have pooled together their resources and funds to send a hefty package of resources over to the centre. On behalf of the Sunshine Kids, centre staff, and myself, I would like to thank you all for your generosity and time. Your kindness and compassion are much appreciated. Everyone at the centre is so grateful. They were ecstatic when they heard the good news. They wish God’s blessings upon you all. Thank you again for being such wonderful and considerate people. I am very honored to have friends like you.
On July 9th, I spent the day chilling with Rebecca Ponder, an ex-Mascato member who lives in South Africa now. For those who know Pamela Lowry who worked at MYO with Lex last year, Rebecca was Pam’s roommate and she used to teach at Hanganani. Pam was the one who introduced us to each other… over Facebook no less… haha. We thought it would be nice to meet up and chat about school related stuff, life and whatever. That day, we had lunch at The Village Café (I love the ambiance of that place!) and ate dessert at the Lightkeeper’s Cottage Gallery & Tea Garden. Hectic name eh? Well, I’ve never been to the latter, so Rebecca was kind enough to enlighten me. The tea garden also had a very nice atmosphere. The tables were situated outside where we could enjoy the nice weather and watch various birds fly/waddle by our feet. The restaurant even had a den in the back with even more birds and two tortoises. Cool! Besides that, the lemon meringue I had was absolutely delectable… probably the best I had ever! I will definitely visit this place again.
On July 11th, Scott, Nigel, Joel & I made a daytrip out to Spitzkoppe (aka Pointy Head). Ooowee… what I can recall from that day was the heat, strenuous walks and climbs, breathtaking scenery, annoying flies that buzzed around our sweaty heads, prickly bushes, a nice picnic underneath the natural bridge of rock, street side merchants selling whatever they can to make a buck (mostly gems & minerals which are abundant in the area), and children running up to our cars for candy. It was quite the full day, lemme tell ya. Scoot was the trooper who drove us three sleepy heads safely back to Swakop. Check out my recent pics to get a fuller depiction.
My my, later on that evening, Richie from Mascato was hosting an African Music Choir Concert in the Atlantic School gymnasium. A bunch of local choirs came together to celebrate the music community here in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. The show was also a tribute to Mrs. Venter who has made an especially significant impact to the choirmunity. She seemed to have started it all actually because the Mascato singers whom she has nurtured and developed over the years are now branching out beyond the Mascato Coastal Youth choir to foster choirs of their own. The circle of life? The cultivation and celebration of music. Scoot was also invited to present awards to the various choirs and Joel was asked to be the emcee. Haha… and guess who got roped in to being an impromptu co-emcee? Of course it was yours truly… MOI! Crazy nuts! I was initially reluctant to do it, but Joel gave me one of his wide-eyed “HELP ME” looks and I couldn’t say no. Haha… but imagine having climbed and sweated all over Spitzkoppe that afternoon and suddenly roll onto a stage and try to look presentable. Bleh! I didn’t have a change of clothes for the event, so I made a quick run for it to Mr. Price to find something decent to wear. Welps, the whole event was a hoot really. Quite informal and disorganized but Joel & I kept going with the flow and doing things like it did (please refer to a nearby Ebonics phrasebook). Joel & I were probably two of the most hammiest emcees ever, but I think the crowd liked us. Everyone seemed to have fun and enjoy each other’s company. Joel probably posted an even more detailed and descriptive entry about this particular event, so check out his post too ‘cause I’m moving on…
'Twas also on this day when we visited Mrs. Venter to see how she was fairing. Her beloved Belka, her German Sheppard of 13 years passed away recently. I can see that she was still very disheartened about the whole thing, but she is coping gradually. To the precious Belka, you will be missed dearly.
Aight! So some day last week, Engelhardt invited Joel & I to teach his students a line dance. Being as Canadian as we are, we naturally chose to teach them The Cadillac Ranch… YEEHAW! Apparently, Lex also taught the dance to some of these kids when she was here last year, but most of those kids looked like they needed a refresher, so we boogied ahead with the plan. The kids had a blast pretending to be cowboys and cowgirls, yeehawing here and there. The dance posed just the right amount of challenge to peak their interests and keep them on their toes. Due to the repetitive nature of a line dance, everyone eventually caught on to the moves. Another successful venture of mine and Joel’s it seemed! WOOT! Ooo… and kudos to Joel and Scoot for trying kepana for the very first time that day as well! Yep, ‘twas Fire Bar kepana again… the best in town!
July 18th. The three Swakop bachelors (aka Scott, Nigel, and Joel) have composed a to-do list of things that they would like to accomplish while being here on holiday. Today, I thought it would be nice to join them in doing a couple of the activities on that list. Scoot picked me up in Walvis Bay because he had some errands to do there. Then we headed to Swakop together. Scoot had to take Squeaky Sam in for an oil change, so after dropping it off at the service station, we decided to walk to all of our destinations. Good idea ‘cause I definitely needed the exercise. Ick… I’ve been feeling kinda blobby lately, what with my frequent consumption of bread, butter, full cream milk, Mammie’s cookies, and kepana. Not the best of diets, I say.
Anyway, our first stop was Snake Park, which wasn’t really a park. It was more like a small pet shop containing about 25 species of Namibian reptiles. Amongst these reptiles were the deathly dangerous Zebra snake and Black Mamba, and geckos and scorpions. One of the two pythons there was named Piggy. One could get a picture taken with Piggy for N$20. That was only about $3 Canadian, but none of us four were brave enough to let the python wrap itself around our torsos. I was more than happy to stand on the side and watch another lady get constricted. Yup!
We next stopped at The Village Café to grab a quick lunch. It’s becoming quite the ritual amongst us Canadians. Then we strolled down to the beach and towards the aquarium for our final activity of the day before choir practice. The aquarium was bigger than I had expected. There were a decent number of fish, sharks, and water life on display. My favorite creatures were the two huge turtles. On the second floor, we got to oversee and look into the main tank and watch the turtles come up for breath. Several times, one of them would pop up right in front of us. I got to touch one turtle’s big flipper! Heehee… not as gross as I thought it might’ve been, sorta like grabbing hold of one of those floating boards they have at swimming pools… firm and not slimy. Anyway, after the aquarium the four of us hung out on the beach for a while. The waves were awesome to watch. I eventually got my pant legs soaked by a big wave, so I thought what the heck, why not get even more soaked and have some fun, right!! So the other three just watched as I ran around making a goof out of myself. Haha… good times.
Later that evening, there was a Mascato rehearsal for the musical. This time everyone met up to do a run through of the entire musical for the first time. It was so cool to see all the individual puzzle pieces come together. I think everyone is beginning to see the big picture. That being said, their first practice went pretty well. It’s going to be a gooder, this one! Bank Windhoek is investing a lot of money, time and effort in this spectacle. Aldo Berons, the director, has been raving about the costumes as well. oOooo… can’t wait to see the finished products! Mascato has never done something of this magnitude before. Did I already mention how sucky it is that I’ll be missing the official show?!! Aiyah… they better record it for me!
Skipping ahead several days to present time now… phew, quite the catch-up post so far… I hope y’all are still with me. Haha…
Yesterday was a pretty chill Sunday. Garth and I rented “The Man” (featuring Eugene Levy & Samuel L. Jackson) and “Ice Age 2” to occupy our afternoon. Both movies were good choices. Haha… “The Man” was especially hilair. I love Eugene Levy’s acting! His facial expressions would crack anyone up! Later in the day, Garth and I went for a stroll on the beach to catch the sunset. With the weather being so nice and warm, it was just what we needed. Then we went to the evening church service. Besides the message being in Afrikaans, my first impression of the church was a good. And guess who I bumped into?? Jan, the guy who gave me a lift from my hitchhiking expedition! Crazy pants… he’s the sound guy for the worship team. Haha… small town, I guess.
This church provides a lot of outreach programs and ministries. One project that particularly peaked my interest was the JCK Project. The project’s mission is to serve food to the children in the Quisebmund community during the week. The organizers told me that they serve an average of 150-200 kids a day. This project is actually nationwide and has support and sponsorship from local businesses and donors who provide and fund the meals. The project even receives goods from the United States apparently. Wow… good to hear that it is well supported.
I went to visit the spot where they serve the food this afternoon. Wow… all the happenings occur within and around one long container… like a narrow portable classroom. No electricity, no water. Sophie, the young lady who cooks the food, arrives at the container at 10am every morning to prepare everything. She uses portable gas tanks to cook the food. At that time, there are usually 10 or so toddlers hanging out with her until lunchtime. She feeds them nutritional cereal while they wait. 1pm, the rest of the children arrive, wash and dry their individual plastic buckets and spoons, and wait for the food. 1:30pm, about 4-5 school boys come to help Sophie out. They all get busy in the container, dishing up for everyone. The kids eat outside. It’s important to keep an eye out for the older kids who sometimes steal the younger children’s food. See, the meal they eat here is usually the only one they get for the whole day. It’s quite unfortunate because most of these children are obviously malnourished, with swollen stomachs and skinny limbs. Children aren’t allowed to take food home as well, because their parents will eat it and leave them hungry. Sadly these grown ups are illiterate and can’t speak English or Afrikaans which means they will never be able to find jobs for themselves. They typically rely on fishing to survive.
I am so thankful that I found out about this project because I was yearning to do more in my day-to-day life. The slow pace of life here was starting to get to me. Being the busy person that I am, I can’t stay idle for too long without getting antsy. This is a worthy project to invest my time in and I am honored to be able to serve the needy Quisebmund community.
In other new news, Scott is in Copenhagen with Katy & Bruce right now. The three of them are participating in the World Symposium on Choral Music. Man oh man, those lucky ducks! I loved Scandinavia when I went with Kokopelli back in 2002. Sigh… I most definitely plan to revisit those countries someday.
Joel & Nigel are also away currently. They went on a camping road trip up to Etosha National Park for a few days. Pretty sweet, eh!
As for me, I’m stuck in Walvis Bay for another week and then… the whole gaggle of us Canadians (plus Dollar) are heading down to South Africa!!! WEEEEE! I am looking forward to the change of scenery and activities fo’ sho! I can’t wait to see all the Siyacula peeps again as well! And so the countdown begins…
Welps, congrats on getting through another catch-up blog post of mine. I hope it wasn’t too all over the place for y’all. Til next time… PEACE, JOY & LOVE to all back home! =D
Check out my newest photo albums:
Day to Day Stuff
Spitzkoppe & Emcee-a-thon
Une Mélange de Photos
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
First-time Hitchhiker
Monday, July 7th, 2008. Sigh… another week in good ol’ Walvis Bay. What to do today? Sleep in! Haha… everyone usually gets up REALLY early and so do I, but because there’s nothing for me to do, going back to sleep seems to be the best option. Most of the time I just toss and turn until about 9:30am or 10am (which is the max time my body will let me toss and turn for) and then get up and go about my ways. Granny has been complaining about the car’s usage lately, so that has created a kind of awkward situation in the house. Something about the wear and tear? But it’s a 2006 vehicle in excellent condition… meant to be driven right? Anyway, Garth says there’s no point in arguing so has now resorted to carpooling to work with Theo. I no longer feel comfortable asking Aunty J to drive me around to places either. I wouldn’t want to be a bother or fuel any tension, so it looks like I’ll just have to cab it everywhere from now on. Sigh… I’m beginning to understand Garth’s apprehension about Granny visiting us. Haha… tough love?
Anyway, I had a quiet brunch then made the walk to returned the DVD, which was good by the way. You should rent it if you’re up for a feel-good faith booster.
After dropping off the DVD, I thought, what a nice day for a walk. I was already at the edge of Narraville which is close to the highway, so why not make the trek towards Dolphin Park – a fancy resort about halfway between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. In driving it seemed not too far away so I thought it was totally walkable. I first bought a Lemon Twist soda from the local grocery store and then headed for my destination. The sun was bright but there was as light breeze to keep me cool, so I was not worried. I walked in the dunes for a bit and then made the climb to get onto the main road. I didn’t walk for too long when a gentleman on the side of the road greeted me. He was friendly enough and I asked him how far was it to Dolphin Park. He said 15mins… by car… 1 hour by foot. Whatevs… I had all the time in the world, didn’t have go to the washroom, had my iPod with me, and had a hydrating soda in my hand… set to go, I’d say. But he reassured me that I wouldn’t have to walk far because someone will give me a lift. That’s what people do here. I shrugged my shoulders, said thanks, and off I went. I walked about halfway and was feeling sweaty but not too shabby when a small truck stopped in front. He asked where I was headed and said that he’d give me a lift ‘cause he worked construction just across Dolphin Park. I saw all his name badges and stuff on the dash and my instincts were not on the defense, so I thought, ok why not. During the short drive we talked about Canada and what I was doing in Walvis Bay. He told me a bit about what he did (electrical engineer) and also told me that there was a Canadian company that was fishing here as well. Cool, I didn’t know that. Anyway, I arrived at my destination sooner than I had originally planned and thanked, Jan (pronounced Yon), my random stranger friend. I took a little rest on the deck by the resort and simply basked in the sun and enjoyed the fullness of the ocean. Then I decided to check out the neighboring Langstraand (Long Beach) community, where Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt made famous by staying there during their visit in Namibia. I made the walk across more waves of sand and into Long Beach. Only the rich people can afford to stay here. The housing apparently costs millions of dollars… Namibian of course. Anyway, I walked around and oooed and awed at some of the houses, then walked back onto the main street to head back home. There was an Ovambo lady waiting all by her lonesome for a ride so I said that I would wait with her. Maybe this way, a car would stop for us sooner. Not too long after, a combi did stop for us and two German (business men it seemed) offered to give us a lift back to Walvis Bay. SCORE! I must say, my first hitchhiking experiences in Namibia were successful ones. I had fun doing it actually! One surely gets a feeling of freedom and born-to-be-wildness when hitchhiking. Don’t think I would be too keen to hitchhike back home on our highways or in South Africa. But hey, while in Namibia, do as the Namibians do. Next time… to Swakopmund!! WOOT!
Anyway, I had a quiet brunch then made the walk to returned the DVD, which was good by the way. You should rent it if you’re up for a feel-good faith booster.
After dropping off the DVD, I thought, what a nice day for a walk. I was already at the edge of Narraville which is close to the highway, so why not make the trek towards Dolphin Park – a fancy resort about halfway between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. In driving it seemed not too far away so I thought it was totally walkable. I first bought a Lemon Twist soda from the local grocery store and then headed for my destination. The sun was bright but there was as light breeze to keep me cool, so I was not worried. I walked in the dunes for a bit and then made the climb to get onto the main road. I didn’t walk for too long when a gentleman on the side of the road greeted me. He was friendly enough and I asked him how far was it to Dolphin Park. He said 15mins… by car… 1 hour by foot. Whatevs… I had all the time in the world, didn’t have go to the washroom, had my iPod with me, and had a hydrating soda in my hand… set to go, I’d say. But he reassured me that I wouldn’t have to walk far because someone will give me a lift. That’s what people do here. I shrugged my shoulders, said thanks, and off I went. I walked about halfway and was feeling sweaty but not too shabby when a small truck stopped in front. He asked where I was headed and said that he’d give me a lift ‘cause he worked construction just across Dolphin Park. I saw all his name badges and stuff on the dash and my instincts were not on the defense, so I thought, ok why not. During the short drive we talked about Canada and what I was doing in Walvis Bay. He told me a bit about what he did (electrical engineer) and also told me that there was a Canadian company that was fishing here as well. Cool, I didn’t know that. Anyway, I arrived at my destination sooner than I had originally planned and thanked, Jan (pronounced Yon), my random stranger friend. I took a little rest on the deck by the resort and simply basked in the sun and enjoyed the fullness of the ocean. Then I decided to check out the neighboring Langstraand (Long Beach) community, where Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt made famous by staying there during their visit in Namibia. I made the walk across more waves of sand and into Long Beach. Only the rich people can afford to stay here. The housing apparently costs millions of dollars… Namibian of course. Anyway, I walked around and oooed and awed at some of the houses, then walked back onto the main street to head back home. There was an Ovambo lady waiting all by her lonesome for a ride so I said that I would wait with her. Maybe this way, a car would stop for us sooner. Not too long after, a combi did stop for us and two German (business men it seemed) offered to give us a lift back to Walvis Bay. SCORE! I must say, my first hitchhiking experiences in Namibia were successful ones. I had fun doing it actually! One surely gets a feeling of freedom and born-to-be-wildness when hitchhiking. Don’t think I would be too keen to hitchhike back home on our highways or in South Africa. But hey, while in Namibia, do as the Namibians do. Next time… to Swakopmund!! WOOT!
Catching Up
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008. We had another Mascato performance at Pelican Bay Hotel this evening. Joel & I had a blast winging it for the most part! WEEEEE! I’ve heard Mascato perform most of these traditional songs before, but I’ve never performed them myself. I especially enjoyed the Damara (the language with clicks in it) and movement pieces. Joel stood directly behind me and every time we successfully made it through a piece, we’d low-five each other. Hahaha… I also kept turning around to give Joel one of my “let’s do this” grins at which he’d return with his wide-eyed “uh… here goes nothing” facial expression. Hahaha… I wonder if the audience could tell that we’ve never done these songs before. But still… I danced, I sang, I dressed like a Mascato… heehee… I must’ve at least looked the part. ;-p Winging it was SOOO FUN!!! Gotta keep this up fo sho!
Friday, July 4th, 2008. After my usual bout at Sunshine Kids, Aunty J picked me up and we strolled around town for a bit to run some errands. She then took me to visit a friend of hers named, Aunty Meata, who is a very skilled seamstress here in Walvis Bay. She is currently busy with sewing graduation dresses for many girls who are going to the Matric Farewell (equivalent to high school graduation banquet). After looking at all her projects, I must say that she is very good at what she does. Haha… and I kept getting the hint from her that she wanted to sew my wedding dress. She kept giving me bridal magazines to look through. Oy vey… and I haven’t even made any wedding plans yet, so I was like… “Uh ok… I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks for the offer.” =p Haha…
After picking up Garth from work that evening, we bumped into Dolfie in town and gave him a lift home. He literally lives a few doors down from Garth’s house. We had to cut our catching up short though because the combi (mini-van) was waiting for Garth & I to take us to the Mascato rehearsal in Swakop.
At the rehearsal, we were greeted by Nigel. YAY! He has arrived! He stayed for a short bit and then left to take a nappy nap – catching up from jet lag no doubt.
The Mascato rehearsal was pretty productive. We sang all Karl Jenkins music in preparation for the musical. I dig Jenkins music. Things are starting to sound promising.
Wow. It was so great to sing in front of Scott again. I missed him and his conducting. I couldn’t seem to wipe off the grin on my face throughout the entire rehearsal. Looking forward to the next rehearsals.
Saturday, July 5th, 2008. Had another Mascato rehearsal this afternoon. You guessed it… more Karl Jenkins music. At one point in the rehearsal everyone started glazing over… haha… Scoot said that everyone seemed to be going through Karl Jenkins overload. We had a quick break then went back at it. Mascato is known to have a lot of long practices… especially so depending on the magnitude of the performances. This musical is going to be a huge sponsored event, so it’s no surprise that Mrs. Venter and Mascato are working so hard. I am sooooo sad that I’m going to miss the actual spectacle. =( Sigh… but at least I get to experience the behind-the-scenes making of this musical with them.
Garth & I went to visit his dad, Titus, after the rehearsal. His birthday was on July 1st, so we came to see how he was doing.
Then we got dropped off at the Taxi Rank to catch a cab back to Walvis Bay. Before doing so however, Garth took me to a nearby kepana spot (where they sell street food like braai meat and vetkoeks – aka fat cakes… aka deep fried bread balls… mmm) ‘cause he knew how much I enjoy it. Anyone who plans to visit Namibia must get the kepana experience. The food is cooked in front of you and you eat with your fingers. It’s so uber scrumptious. But yes, one should be careful as well. Sometimes the food could have sat out all day as well, so make sure to check for that before downing your vleis (meat). For me, I’ve had no probs thus far so Ima gonna keep enjoying kepana.
Now the taxi experience itself is another story. Cabbies at the taxi rank fight for their customers. They’ll pull you this way and that towards their individual cabs. They are very persistent and would often get into arguments with each other. When there are four passengers to a cab, only then will they depart. Sometimes the cabby will get one of his buddies to sit in his cab as a pretend passenger just to get the cab filled faster. When there are three people in, the buddy would get out and help the cabby find a fourth passenger. Haha… it’s a dog eat dog world at the taxi rank, I guess.
Sunday, July 6th, 2008. We made another trip out to Swakop again. This time the Mascatos had to get fitted for the musical costumes. I got to see some of the sketches and they look really cool already. I looked for the Oracle’s costume sketch (which is Garth’s role) and was surprised to see a very feminine Greek goddess-esque dress. I gave the designer a “what the?” look and she said that she wasn’t aware that the Oracle was going to be played by both a male and a female (aka Romancia). Well, back to the planning board for Garth’s costume it looks like.
After the fitting the bunch of us Walvis Bayers went out for some more kepana!!! YAY! Oh my goodness, I just can’t have enough. I told the group about my previous kepana experiences and Melissa & Rozain from Mascato just shook their heads. They guaranteed me that the place where we were going to get it today was the best in town. “Nay man! Firebar is the best!” they say. Ooo… my mouth was watering in anticipation. Well, we got there and saw the lady cooking up some freshly marinated steaks. OMGOSH… it smelled so good. We all bought our vetkoeks and Dollar, Garth & I shared a honkin steak. We ripped off a piece of our vetkoeks, spooned on a dollop of chilli onion sauce and wolfed it down with a piece of steak. MMMMM… that bite was soo delicious. Freshness makes all the difference yo. The deep fried fat cake was fluffy and the meat was juicy. (Sorry to all the vegetarians reading this post). Indeed Melissa and Rozain were right. Firebar kepana is the best! And it’s located right by MYO! Now I know where and how to get it on my own. ;-p
On the way back to Walvis Bay, we passed by a family who’s car had veered off the side of the road and was stuck in the sanded. They were struggling, so our combi of 10 MasKoko peeps came to the rescue! At the scene of the incident, I saw that it was an Asian family! Cool! Haha… everyone was like, “Let’s Michelle talk to theml.” But lo and behold they are from Korea and I don’t speak a lick of Korean. Anyway, the macho men gathered up their strength and worked together in pushing the car out of the sand. Sound familiar, anyone? If you’re thinking Dina Koloi, then BINGO for you! Hahaha… the whole time, us girls cheered on the sidelines by singing Dina Koloi which is a song frequently sung by Mascato about a car that had to be pushed because it was so old. Haha… though this car wasn’t old, the fact that Mascato men were pushing the car was funny enough for me. A Kodak moment. =DWhen we all finally got back to Walvis Bay, Garth & I wanted to chillax and enjoy a nice quiet evening together before he has to start another work week tomorrow. So we thought how about a movie? We rented the movie Faith Like Potatoes. It’s a true inspirational story that took place in Africa. We heard a lot of good reviews about it so we thought it would be a good choice for the evening.
Friday, July 4th, 2008. After my usual bout at Sunshine Kids, Aunty J picked me up and we strolled around town for a bit to run some errands. She then took me to visit a friend of hers named, Aunty Meata, who is a very skilled seamstress here in Walvis Bay. She is currently busy with sewing graduation dresses for many girls who are going to the Matric Farewell (equivalent to high school graduation banquet). After looking at all her projects, I must say that she is very good at what she does. Haha… and I kept getting the hint from her that she wanted to sew my wedding dress. She kept giving me bridal magazines to look through. Oy vey… and I haven’t even made any wedding plans yet, so I was like… “Uh ok… I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks for the offer.” =p Haha…
After picking up Garth from work that evening, we bumped into Dolfie in town and gave him a lift home. He literally lives a few doors down from Garth’s house. We had to cut our catching up short though because the combi (mini-van) was waiting for Garth & I to take us to the Mascato rehearsal in Swakop.
At the rehearsal, we were greeted by Nigel. YAY! He has arrived! He stayed for a short bit and then left to take a nappy nap – catching up from jet lag no doubt.
The Mascato rehearsal was pretty productive. We sang all Karl Jenkins music in preparation for the musical. I dig Jenkins music. Things are starting to sound promising.
Wow. It was so great to sing in front of Scott again. I missed him and his conducting. I couldn’t seem to wipe off the grin on my face throughout the entire rehearsal. Looking forward to the next rehearsals.
Saturday, July 5th, 2008. Had another Mascato rehearsal this afternoon. You guessed it… more Karl Jenkins music. At one point in the rehearsal everyone started glazing over… haha… Scoot said that everyone seemed to be going through Karl Jenkins overload. We had a quick break then went back at it. Mascato is known to have a lot of long practices… especially so depending on the magnitude of the performances. This musical is going to be a huge sponsored event, so it’s no surprise that Mrs. Venter and Mascato are working so hard. I am sooooo sad that I’m going to miss the actual spectacle. =( Sigh… but at least I get to experience the behind-the-scenes making of this musical with them.
Garth & I went to visit his dad, Titus, after the rehearsal. His birthday was on July 1st, so we came to see how he was doing.
Then we got dropped off at the Taxi Rank to catch a cab back to Walvis Bay. Before doing so however, Garth took me to a nearby kepana spot (where they sell street food like braai meat and vetkoeks – aka fat cakes… aka deep fried bread balls… mmm) ‘cause he knew how much I enjoy it. Anyone who plans to visit Namibia must get the kepana experience. The food is cooked in front of you and you eat with your fingers. It’s so uber scrumptious. But yes, one should be careful as well. Sometimes the food could have sat out all day as well, so make sure to check for that before downing your vleis (meat). For me, I’ve had no probs thus far so Ima gonna keep enjoying kepana.
Now the taxi experience itself is another story. Cabbies at the taxi rank fight for their customers. They’ll pull you this way and that towards their individual cabs. They are very persistent and would often get into arguments with each other. When there are four passengers to a cab, only then will they depart. Sometimes the cabby will get one of his buddies to sit in his cab as a pretend passenger just to get the cab filled faster. When there are three people in, the buddy would get out and help the cabby find a fourth passenger. Haha… it’s a dog eat dog world at the taxi rank, I guess.
Sunday, July 6th, 2008. We made another trip out to Swakop again. This time the Mascatos had to get fitted for the musical costumes. I got to see some of the sketches and they look really cool already. I looked for the Oracle’s costume sketch (which is Garth’s role) and was surprised to see a very feminine Greek goddess-esque dress. I gave the designer a “what the?” look and she said that she wasn’t aware that the Oracle was going to be played by both a male and a female (aka Romancia). Well, back to the planning board for Garth’s costume it looks like.
After the fitting the bunch of us Walvis Bayers went out for some more kepana!!! YAY! Oh my goodness, I just can’t have enough. I told the group about my previous kepana experiences and Melissa & Rozain from Mascato just shook their heads. They guaranteed me that the place where we were going to get it today was the best in town. “Nay man! Firebar is the best!” they say. Ooo… my mouth was watering in anticipation. Well, we got there and saw the lady cooking up some freshly marinated steaks. OMGOSH… it smelled so good. We all bought our vetkoeks and Dollar, Garth & I shared a honkin steak. We ripped off a piece of our vetkoeks, spooned on a dollop of chilli onion sauce and wolfed it down with a piece of steak. MMMMM… that bite was soo delicious. Freshness makes all the difference yo. The deep fried fat cake was fluffy and the meat was juicy. (Sorry to all the vegetarians reading this post). Indeed Melissa and Rozain were right. Firebar kepana is the best! And it’s located right by MYO! Now I know where and how to get it on my own. ;-p
On the way back to Walvis Bay, we passed by a family who’s car had veered off the side of the road and was stuck in the sanded. They were struggling, so our combi of 10 MasKoko peeps came to the rescue! At the scene of the incident, I saw that it was an Asian family! Cool! Haha… everyone was like, “Let’s Michelle talk to theml.” But lo and behold they are from Korea and I don’t speak a lick of Korean. Anyway, the macho men gathered up their strength and worked together in pushing the car out of the sand. Sound familiar, anyone? If you’re thinking Dina Koloi, then BINGO for you! Hahaha… the whole time, us girls cheered on the sidelines by singing Dina Koloi which is a song frequently sung by Mascato about a car that had to be pushed because it was so old. Haha… though this car wasn’t old, the fact that Mascato men were pushing the car was funny enough for me. A Kodak moment. =DWhen we all finally got back to Walvis Bay, Garth & I wanted to chillax and enjoy a nice quiet evening together before he has to start another work week tomorrow. So we thought how about a movie? We rented the movie Faith Like Potatoes. It’s a true inspirational story that took place in Africa. We heard a lot of good reviews about it so we thought it would be a good choice for the evening.
Friday, July 4, 2008
"You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks”... that easily.
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008. So teaching the Music teacher, Juffrou (aka Teacher) Poppy, was definitely a hoot today. Poppy is a lady in her late fifties who has never played music before. Still she seemed very determined to do it. Haha… even before I wrote out all the notes for her, she showed me her mini keyboard and said, “You must only teach me songs between these notes.” So all the melodies I wrote out were only in the keys of C or F. Should be simple enough. First, I helped her to properly re-label the keyboard with sticky notes because they used to be labeled “1-2-3-4-5…” If she wants to learn to play these tunes, she should learn them the proper way, right. I had originally planned to look at a few songs from the nursery rhyme book with her, demonstrate how to play them, and then have her try plunking out some notes, but seeing how much she struggled with the first song, Baa Baa, Black Sheep, made me realize that I needed to take things slow and easy. So my assignment for her this week is to familiarize herself with the labeled keys and practice playing and singing Baa Baa, Black Sheep simultaneously. Step by step, day by day… she will learn to play. That’s my rap motto for the day. Word. MishLio out. ;-)
AS-SALT!
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008. HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! I hope the festivities were fun and exciting!
Went to the Internet café this morning. That’s when I found out my teaching placement for this upcoming year. I’m going to be a MUSIC TEACHER. Wow. That’s pretty cool. I’m looking forward to my first professional teaching assignment. Though Scoot warns me that it is a very high-stress job, I’m not too worried. Besides, I have good people on my side to support and guide me throughout this year. Haha… staying positive and keeping my fingers crossed for all the best. ;-)
Scott & Joel came to visit me from Swakopmund later. We had lunch together at The Raft restaurant. The restaurant is located by The Lagoon and rests on stilts above the water. It’s quite a nice setting. We ate and sipped our Apple/Grapetisers whilst looking out into the waters. Though the day wasn’t too sunny and threats of fog looked likely, we still were able to spot tonnes of bright red jelly fish and diving dolphins. I loved it!
Then the three of us had a mission to accomplish… to find a GEOCACHE! Both Scott and Joel are avid geocachers and I was the tagalong for the day. This cache was located on Pelican’s Point where there stands a lighthouse and an abandoned three-story house. oOooo… sounds adventurous eh? It was. Haha… and probably the most adventure I’ve had since being here. Anyway, we had to drive past the salt works (salt refining factories), along the ocean, and across soft desert sands to reach this particular cache. Lemme tell ya, I wasn’t feeling too perky sitting in the back of Squeaky Sam (Scott’s 4 x 4) during the excursion. Hah… driving in the dunes ain’t a particularly smooth ride. I wasn’t about to hurl or anything, but I did feel my stomach almost reach the brink of queasiness at several points. Whatevs… we finally got to our destination, found the cache (a plastic film container which had a tiny plastic soldier in it), heard and saw a seal colony in the distance, then backtracked our way out again. The ride back was a bit sketchy at first because it seemed that we were going away from our destination for a while. The view was great though. We got to drive so close by the ocean and witness seals swimming and lots of birds taking flight (probably ‘cause we scared them away). Eventually we got on the right path and was able to get out of the area. Haha… geocaching seems really fun. Perhaps I shall accompany the guys on more geocaching adventures. =)
Before dropping me off at home, the three of us swung by Garth’s work, Standard Bank, to wave hello and give him some signs of hope… haha. It’s the end of the month which means that the bank gets UNBELIEVABLY BUSY. I visited him once during work hours this week to find customers jammed inside and overflowing out the front doors. YIKES! The thing is majority of people only get paid by cheques here. They don’t like to do direct deposit or Internet banking because they are unfamiliar with those ways. So at the end of the month when everyone gets paid, the banks are always bombarded with clients. Garth had been working from 7:30am to 7 or 8pm this week. With no lunch breaks. It’s crazy! And get this, only recently did the bank start paying for overtime hours. Before, employees had to work at least 15 overtime hours to qualify for pay. Meaning, if they worked 14.5 hours or something, those overtime hours wouldn’t count. That’s simply absurd. Things like this wouldn’t be allowed in Canada, that’s for sure.
Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon at home plunking notes on Garth’s keyboard and writing out the melodies of common nursery rhymes and children’s songs for my Sunshine Kids. I plan to help the Music teacher at the center learn to play these songs. She’s never played the keyboard before or studied any theory, so I’m just gonna keep things simple. We’ll see how things go tomorrow.
Went to the Internet café this morning. That’s when I found out my teaching placement for this upcoming year. I’m going to be a MUSIC TEACHER. Wow. That’s pretty cool. I’m looking forward to my first professional teaching assignment. Though Scoot warns me that it is a very high-stress job, I’m not too worried. Besides, I have good people on my side to support and guide me throughout this year. Haha… staying positive and keeping my fingers crossed for all the best. ;-)
Scott & Joel came to visit me from Swakopmund later. We had lunch together at The Raft restaurant. The restaurant is located by The Lagoon and rests on stilts above the water. It’s quite a nice setting. We ate and sipped our Apple/Grapetisers whilst looking out into the waters. Though the day wasn’t too sunny and threats of fog looked likely, we still were able to spot tonnes of bright red jelly fish and diving dolphins. I loved it!
Then the three of us had a mission to accomplish… to find a GEOCACHE! Both Scott and Joel are avid geocachers and I was the tagalong for the day. This cache was located on Pelican’s Point where there stands a lighthouse and an abandoned three-story house. oOooo… sounds adventurous eh? It was. Haha… and probably the most adventure I’ve had since being here. Anyway, we had to drive past the salt works (salt refining factories), along the ocean, and across soft desert sands to reach this particular cache. Lemme tell ya, I wasn’t feeling too perky sitting in the back of Squeaky Sam (Scott’s 4 x 4) during the excursion. Hah… driving in the dunes ain’t a particularly smooth ride. I wasn’t about to hurl or anything, but I did feel my stomach almost reach the brink of queasiness at several points. Whatevs… we finally got to our destination, found the cache (a plastic film container which had a tiny plastic soldier in it), heard and saw a seal colony in the distance, then backtracked our way out again. The ride back was a bit sketchy at first because it seemed that we were going away from our destination for a while. The view was great though. We got to drive so close by the ocean and witness seals swimming and lots of birds taking flight (probably ‘cause we scared them away). Eventually we got on the right path and was able to get out of the area. Haha… geocaching seems really fun. Perhaps I shall accompany the guys on more geocaching adventures. =)
Before dropping me off at home, the three of us swung by Garth’s work, Standard Bank, to wave hello and give him some signs of hope… haha. It’s the end of the month which means that the bank gets UNBELIEVABLY BUSY. I visited him once during work hours this week to find customers jammed inside and overflowing out the front doors. YIKES! The thing is majority of people only get paid by cheques here. They don’t like to do direct deposit or Internet banking because they are unfamiliar with those ways. So at the end of the month when everyone gets paid, the banks are always bombarded with clients. Garth had been working from 7:30am to 7 or 8pm this week. With no lunch breaks. It’s crazy! And get this, only recently did the bank start paying for overtime hours. Before, employees had to work at least 15 overtime hours to qualify for pay. Meaning, if they worked 14.5 hours or something, those overtime hours wouldn’t count. That’s simply absurd. Things like this wouldn’t be allowed in Canada, that’s for sure.
Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon at home plunking notes on Garth’s keyboard and writing out the melodies of common nursery rhymes and children’s songs for my Sunshine Kids. I plan to help the Music teacher at the center learn to play these songs. She’s never played the keyboard before or studied any theory, so I’m just gonna keep things simple. We’ll see how things go tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Past Few Days
Friday, June 27th, 2008. Aunty J & I visited my Jonah House today. It’s a non-profit organization that seeks to nurture these orphans until they are of age to be independent or until their rightful mothers are capable of taking care of them - a refuge for orphan children. There currently are 18 kids living there. When I arrived, I didn’t expect the welcome we received. The kids were so excited to see me again! My goodness how some of them have grown! I mean, one child was a baby when I met him last year and now he’s a walking mischievous toddler… haha! Crazy how fast kids grow yo.
Later that evening, Mascato was opening for the Pretoria University Youth Choir concert. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again. They did a commendable job and looked very sharp in their Ethiopian uniform tops. The Pretoria Choir was awesome in their own merit. For a youth choir, their unified sound, musicality, and volume was definitely praise worthy. Haha… Scoot kept point out this short guy on the stage who looked like Eric Meen when he sings. He actually did too! Haha… so funny! I got to see the Namib Marimbas perform live for the first time too. They were captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed their rhythms and groove. So good. One simply can’t sit still when they play. =)
Saturday, June 28th, 2008. There was a Mascato rehearsal today at Namib High. It was to prepare for our morning performance on Monday for the Teaching Ministry here. I was relieved to know two out of the five pieces. Haha… we didn’t really practice all the pieces. We just sung through each one once or twice. Eeek… nothing like being on the fly. As everyone was singing away and I was trying to ad lib the African lyrics, Mrs. Venter kept whispering to me, “Don’t worry. Garth will help you.” Ok then. We’ll see how Monday goes.
After rehearsal, the bunch of us drove out into the dunes to participate in a drumming circle with the Pretoria Youth Choir. For those who have been to the dinner in the dunes in previous years can imagine the setting. The only difference with this social gathering was that there was no tent… we all just sat around bonfires under the star-filled dark sky. The pathway to the enclosure was romantically lit with candles. The drumming space was a big circle of chairs surrounding four blazing bonfires. Thanks to that, we were warm. Otherwise, the dunes are known to be very chilly at nighttime. Anyway, we were all served some lovely stew for dinner. During that time we also got to walk around and socialize with everybody. Then we all broke up into instrumental sections (i.e.: djembes of different sizes, sticks, and wooden horns). The Namib Marimbas conducted the drumming session and the rest of us had fun making a ruckus! Good times.
Sunday, June 29th, 2008. Afroshine, Joel, Megan & I made the trip up to Windhoek again today. We left Swakopmund early in the morning and arrived at our destination at around 11:30am. Hah… because of Garth’s speeding tendencies, our car naturally arrived in the city first, so we made arrangements with the other car to grab lunch in our separate ways. The practice with Afrodisiac was at 1pm, so we didn’t have too much time.
Garth & I had lunch at Spur – a scrumptious place for a hearty burger. It’s actually a pretty cool restaurant with a First Nations theme. Interesting huh. When we finished our meal and made way to leave one of the waitresses approached Garth and asked him for his autograph. Wow, I almost forgot that these Afroshiners are famous here in Namibia! So surreal to be dating a popular musician, but hey, Garthy will always be Garthy in my eyes. I took the opportunity to encourage the waitress to check out the evening’s show and to invite all her peeps. Heehee… I’m making myself the marketing manager of the group while I’m here… yup! Anyway, off Garth & I went on our merry way.
So fast forwarding the day now… practice session over, sound check over, dinner time. We went to KFC for dinner. Freakin’ crazy pants… when we got there, the lineups were so long and slow moving. When I finally got to the front, Garth & I had a hoot trying to order our stuff. The items that we first wanted were not available, then we were told that our next choices would take 5-10 mins to prepare. Oy vey! We went ahead and ordered anyway and decided to wait. My goodness, almost a whole line went through and we still didn’t get our food. Seriously, from line up to the time we got our din din, it must’ve taken over half an hour! Note to self: fast food restaurants in Africa and not typically fast. How ironic. Whatevs… at least we got two free ice cream cone out of the ordeal. Heehee… and that was compensation enough. Oh such an easily pleased kid am I. ;-p
The Afrodisiac/Afroshine show in general was stellar! Never minding the fact that the Warehouse did a poor job with advertising for the event, the performers still busted out some rad vocal chops and upped their stage performance. The crowd really enjoyed these guys’ energy and charm. One woman in the audience actually drove all the way from Walvis Bay to see Afroshine perform live! Now she was an avid fan. Sigh, I was really impressed and proud to be associated with the group. And kudos to Joel and his reggae-man roots yo! He did a stellar job bustin out the tunes on his guitar. Woot! Go Joel, our Canadian guy!
The event ended at 10pm. Urg… and we still had to make the drive back to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay! Now that sucked! Megan and I did most of the driving in this part of the trip because we wanted the guys to get some rest after the show. Plus Garth had to work in the morning. I must admit that I had heck of a time trying to stay focused and awake. Haha… my Asian sleeping genes came back! Yep, I even have the power to fall asleep at the wheel. But no worries… I didn’t this time around (ahem… though I did swerve off road during a few of my zoned out episodes… eish). The threat of wild animals running onto the rode pretty much kept me alert. And when I felt myself dozing off, I just kept slapping my face and pinching myself all over. Haha… and I fidgeted a lot. My my… I must’ve looked like quite the driver. Anyway, Joel & Megan arrived in Swakop by 2:30am. All of us Walvis Bayers got home at 3am. Oy vey… Garth works in the morn and I must perform with Mascato as well at 7:30am. TIRED! To bed we go!
Monday, June 30, 2008. Garth & I obviously had a heck of a time getting up this morning… with less than 4 hours sleep! But whatevs… the sun was up and bright, so that helped. We quickly got ready and off we went on our separate ways.
The Mascato performance for the Teaching Ministry was at the Pelican Bay Hotel. We were there at 7:30am and didn't finish until after 10:30am or so. Haha... and we only sang 6 songs. Most of the time was due to waiting. But whatevs... it was still cool to chill with the Mascato peeps. Apparenly, I made Mascato history today in being the VERY FIRST ASIAN TO SING IN MASCATO!!! WOOT WOOT! *Sound the gongs!* Represent yo! Haha... you should of seen some of the faces in the audience gawking at me as I sang in their African languages and danced along with the Mascatos. They probably thought, "African... African... Asian... African... wait a minute... wha?" Since Joel had already left to see Megan off (she's heading to Spain next), I naturally stuck out like a sore thumb. Haha... I enjoy shocking people apparently.
At noon, Aunty J went to pick up Granny Joel at the bus station. We all call her Mammie. Haha... Garth is going to be so stoked to see her... heehee... or not. I always tease him saying that she's strict because she cares and that he's really her favorite grandson. Haha... he says, "Yea right!" I like Mammie anyway. She is strict but she's very wise. And she has a naturally tendency to rhyme all the time. Haha... perhaps I should try rapping with her some time. ;p Nothing like quality bonding with Granny.
Anyway, that should be all for now. I hope I'm not boring y'all with all my daily happenings. Heehee...
I hope all is well back home in E-town!!! LOVE LOVE TO ALL!!!
and HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!
Later that evening, Mascato was opening for the Pretoria University Youth Choir concert. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again. They did a commendable job and looked very sharp in their Ethiopian uniform tops. The Pretoria Choir was awesome in their own merit. For a youth choir, their unified sound, musicality, and volume was definitely praise worthy. Haha… Scoot kept point out this short guy on the stage who looked like Eric Meen when he sings. He actually did too! Haha… so funny! I got to see the Namib Marimbas perform live for the first time too. They were captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed their rhythms and groove. So good. One simply can’t sit still when they play. =)
Saturday, June 28th, 2008. There was a Mascato rehearsal today at Namib High. It was to prepare for our morning performance on Monday for the Teaching Ministry here. I was relieved to know two out of the five pieces. Haha… we didn’t really practice all the pieces. We just sung through each one once or twice. Eeek… nothing like being on the fly. As everyone was singing away and I was trying to ad lib the African lyrics, Mrs. Venter kept whispering to me, “Don’t worry. Garth will help you.” Ok then. We’ll see how Monday goes.
After rehearsal, the bunch of us drove out into the dunes to participate in a drumming circle with the Pretoria Youth Choir. For those who have been to the dinner in the dunes in previous years can imagine the setting. The only difference with this social gathering was that there was no tent… we all just sat around bonfires under the star-filled dark sky. The pathway to the enclosure was romantically lit with candles. The drumming space was a big circle of chairs surrounding four blazing bonfires. Thanks to that, we were warm. Otherwise, the dunes are known to be very chilly at nighttime. Anyway, we were all served some lovely stew for dinner. During that time we also got to walk around and socialize with everybody. Then we all broke up into instrumental sections (i.e.: djembes of different sizes, sticks, and wooden horns). The Namib Marimbas conducted the drumming session and the rest of us had fun making a ruckus! Good times.
Sunday, June 29th, 2008. Afroshine, Joel, Megan & I made the trip up to Windhoek again today. We left Swakopmund early in the morning and arrived at our destination at around 11:30am. Hah… because of Garth’s speeding tendencies, our car naturally arrived in the city first, so we made arrangements with the other car to grab lunch in our separate ways. The practice with Afrodisiac was at 1pm, so we didn’t have too much time.
Garth & I had lunch at Spur – a scrumptious place for a hearty burger. It’s actually a pretty cool restaurant with a First Nations theme. Interesting huh. When we finished our meal and made way to leave one of the waitresses approached Garth and asked him for his autograph. Wow, I almost forgot that these Afroshiners are famous here in Namibia! So surreal to be dating a popular musician, but hey, Garthy will always be Garthy in my eyes. I took the opportunity to encourage the waitress to check out the evening’s show and to invite all her peeps. Heehee… I’m making myself the marketing manager of the group while I’m here… yup! Anyway, off Garth & I went on our merry way.
So fast forwarding the day now… practice session over, sound check over, dinner time. We went to KFC for dinner. Freakin’ crazy pants… when we got there, the lineups were so long and slow moving. When I finally got to the front, Garth & I had a hoot trying to order our stuff. The items that we first wanted were not available, then we were told that our next choices would take 5-10 mins to prepare. Oy vey! We went ahead and ordered anyway and decided to wait. My goodness, almost a whole line went through and we still didn’t get our food. Seriously, from line up to the time we got our din din, it must’ve taken over half an hour! Note to self: fast food restaurants in Africa and not typically fast. How ironic. Whatevs… at least we got two free ice cream cone out of the ordeal. Heehee… and that was compensation enough. Oh such an easily pleased kid am I. ;-p
The Afrodisiac/Afroshine show in general was stellar! Never minding the fact that the Warehouse did a poor job with advertising for the event, the performers still busted out some rad vocal chops and upped their stage performance. The crowd really enjoyed these guys’ energy and charm. One woman in the audience actually drove all the way from Walvis Bay to see Afroshine perform live! Now she was an avid fan. Sigh, I was really impressed and proud to be associated with the group. And kudos to Joel and his reggae-man roots yo! He did a stellar job bustin out the tunes on his guitar. Woot! Go Joel, our Canadian guy!
The event ended at 10pm. Urg… and we still had to make the drive back to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay! Now that sucked! Megan and I did most of the driving in this part of the trip because we wanted the guys to get some rest after the show. Plus Garth had to work in the morning. I must admit that I had heck of a time trying to stay focused and awake. Haha… my Asian sleeping genes came back! Yep, I even have the power to fall asleep at the wheel. But no worries… I didn’t this time around (ahem… though I did swerve off road during a few of my zoned out episodes… eish). The threat of wild animals running onto the rode pretty much kept me alert. And when I felt myself dozing off, I just kept slapping my face and pinching myself all over. Haha… and I fidgeted a lot. My my… I must’ve looked like quite the driver. Anyway, Joel & Megan arrived in Swakop by 2:30am. All of us Walvis Bayers got home at 3am. Oy vey… Garth works in the morn and I must perform with Mascato as well at 7:30am. TIRED! To bed we go!
Monday, June 30, 2008. Garth & I obviously had a heck of a time getting up this morning… with less than 4 hours sleep! But whatevs… the sun was up and bright, so that helped. We quickly got ready and off we went on our separate ways.
The Mascato performance for the Teaching Ministry was at the Pelican Bay Hotel. We were there at 7:30am and didn't finish until after 10:30am or so. Haha... and we only sang 6 songs. Most of the time was due to waiting. But whatevs... it was still cool to chill with the Mascato peeps. Apparenly, I made Mascato history today in being the VERY FIRST ASIAN TO SING IN MASCATO!!! WOOT WOOT! *Sound the gongs!* Represent yo! Haha... you should of seen some of the faces in the audience gawking at me as I sang in their African languages and danced along with the Mascatos. They probably thought, "African... African... Asian... African... wait a minute... wha?" Since Joel had already left to see Megan off (she's heading to Spain next), I naturally stuck out like a sore thumb. Haha... I enjoy shocking people apparently.
At noon, Aunty J went to pick up Granny Joel at the bus station. We all call her Mammie. Haha... Garth is going to be so stoked to see her... heehee... or not. I always tease him saying that she's strict because she cares and that he's really her favorite grandson. Haha... he says, "Yea right!" I like Mammie anyway. She is strict but she's very wise. And she has a naturally tendency to rhyme all the time. Haha... perhaps I should try rapping with her some time. ;p Nothing like quality bonding with Granny.
Anyway, that should be all for now. I hope I'm not boring y'all with all my daily happenings. Heehee...
I hope all is well back home in E-town!!! LOVE LOVE TO ALL!!!
and HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!
Sunshine Kids
Thursday, June 26th, 2008. Today was a quiet day. I decided to visit my Sunshine Kidlets again. It’s always a joy to be around these kids. They’re so friendly, eager, and curious. When I got there, I quickly got roped into reading a story. Now realize that most of these children don’t even speak Afrikaans yet, let alone English. What am I to do now? Give it a go anyway, of course. I perused the selection of books to find that there wasn’t anything really age appropriate for them… the English books anyway. They weren’t in too good a shape either, most books missing pages and what not. Sigh… I eventually picked the one that looked the most interesting and simple to understand. Still, I found myself acting out the story more than reading it. Haha… the kids totally looked glazed over. I don’t think they really got the story and I probably looked really silly to them what with all my gestures and facial expressions and occasion Afrikaans word. But hey, I gave it a try. ‘E’ for effort?
Sigh… then we went on to coloring. But they didn’t even have paper for the kids to color on. The crayons were lacking and broken and the coloring books that were available had been colored in already. Note to self: get paper and coloring books for the kids.
I then visited the Music room and the Sign Language room. Get this, the music teacher doesn’t know a lick about music (what the heck do they do in music class then??) and the sign language teacher doesn’t know how to sign nor does she have the resources to learn (she said she typically just plays with the kids and teaches them how to put on their clothes). My goodness, can you imagine how frustrating it would be to teach something that you’re not qualified or knowledgeable to teach? I was a bit disheartened by the lack of resources available to the children and the staff. I commended the teachers for doing their best with what they had. So now I’m in search for various resources in town and on the Internet that could possibly be of assistance to the Sunshine Kids program.
I just hope I can help them out while I’m here. Too bad I’m so far away from my own resources from home. Sheesh… I should’ve just shipped some of my teaching resources here as well. That would make things so much easier. Haha… it’s not actually easy to find good teaching materials here in tiny Walvis Bay. Even if there were, where is the money to get these things? This is something that a lot of the educational institutions here struggle with every day. We in Canada are privileged to have what we have. We should not take our blessings and resources for granted.
Sigh… then we went on to coloring. But they didn’t even have paper for the kids to color on. The crayons were lacking and broken and the coloring books that were available had been colored in already. Note to self: get paper and coloring books for the kids.
I then visited the Music room and the Sign Language room. Get this, the music teacher doesn’t know a lick about music (what the heck do they do in music class then??) and the sign language teacher doesn’t know how to sign nor does she have the resources to learn (she said she typically just plays with the kids and teaches them how to put on their clothes). My goodness, can you imagine how frustrating it would be to teach something that you’re not qualified or knowledgeable to teach? I was a bit disheartened by the lack of resources available to the children and the staff. I commended the teachers for doing their best with what they had. So now I’m in search for various resources in town and on the Internet that could possibly be of assistance to the Sunshine Kids program.
I just hope I can help them out while I’m here. Too bad I’m so far away from my own resources from home. Sheesh… I should’ve just shipped some of my teaching resources here as well. That would make things so much easier. Haha… it’s not actually easy to find good teaching materials here in tiny Walvis Bay. Even if there were, where is the money to get these things? This is something that a lot of the educational institutions here struggle with every day. We in Canada are privileged to have what we have. We should not take our blessings and resources for granted.
Quad Biking
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008. Ooowee… 10:30am… Joel, Megan, Scott & I met up at Desert Explorers to do quad biking on the dunes! I was so psyched, but also a little nervous since I’ve never been quad biking before. Still, more stoked than nervous. ;-p When we arrived, the show started rolling immediately. We all got fitted with helmets then picked out our quads. We had the choice of riding an automatic, semi-automatic, or manual one. I chose the automatic one of course… haha… no need to overthink my first time around. The instructor dude gave us a quick run down of the bike and then we were off.
One by one we followed the instructor. There was him, the four of us, and one lady named Jill from the U.S., who followed behind me. The whole excursion was pretty exciting for me because I’ve never experienced it before. We raced up the dunes, did loopdy-loops going down, and charged as fast as we could down the slopes. I especially enjoy riding over the rougher terrain, which cause me & my bike to go air borne at time. SO FUN! Everything was pretty swell in general, except for when we all had to stop and wait for Jill. Poor girl. I think she was scared. She kept lagging way behind and all of us had to constantly pause our fun for her. Haha… I could tell the others were starting to get frustrated because we never did get to the climax of our adventures. Every time we started to get into the thrill of things, we had to stop. So you can imagine the anticlimax in that. Whatevs… I still had a fantabulous time. Still, looks like the group of us are going to do quad biking again once Nigel gets here. Next time were going to make sure that the group going with us will be up for speed and adventure! ;-)
Later that evening, Joel, Megan, Garth & I met up again to check out this new Asian restaurant I town. It was called Cai Tai Thai. Naturally, I assumed it was Thai cuisine… mmmMMMmmm. When we got there, we were greeted by… AN ASIAN MAN (from Tibet, I later found out)! Whoop! That was a good sign. (Side note: Garth & I went to a Chinese restaurant last year that was run by African people. I asked if the cook was Chinese and he said ‘No, African, but taught by Chinese.’ Heehee… that was interesting.) Anyway, we perused the menu to find a decent mix of Chinese/Thai food. We ordered seafood soup, chicken spring rolls, chicken green curry with rice, Szechwan beef stir fry, and Singapore fried noodles. Joel in passing by the kitchen to go to the washroom, confirmed that the food was indeed cooked by that same Asian man who greeted us, so I was pleased to hear that. The food arrived and we all gave our individual ratings. Haha… Garth was the most cautious about all the dishes… sheesh… Africans! His favorite was the beef stir fry of course (you gotta understand Africans and their love for meat, you see). All the dishes were pretty sketchy for me actually. I mean they were all right, but they totally didn’t meet my Chinese taste-bud standards. Still, I suppose they were satisfactory. Definitely good for a quick fix if you have a craving. We’re thinking that we’ll give it another try some other time and check out some different dishes on the menu. Yay for Asian cultural experience in Namibia!
After our meal, we all met up with Scott. We went for a nice walk around Vineta (this ritzy neighborhood in town where Scott always runs through). The late evening stroll was very enjoyable thanks to the very mild and nice weather we had throughout the day. We stopped for some beverages at this cute little restaurant which stayed opened later just for us. Then we made the walk back to Scooter’s house. And Garth & I headed back to Walvis Bay. It was fun filled day among friends indeed. =)
One by one we followed the instructor. There was him, the four of us, and one lady named Jill from the U.S., who followed behind me. The whole excursion was pretty exciting for me because I’ve never experienced it before. We raced up the dunes, did loopdy-loops going down, and charged as fast as we could down the slopes. I especially enjoy riding over the rougher terrain, which cause me & my bike to go air borne at time. SO FUN! Everything was pretty swell in general, except for when we all had to stop and wait for Jill. Poor girl. I think she was scared. She kept lagging way behind and all of us had to constantly pause our fun for her. Haha… I could tell the others were starting to get frustrated because we never did get to the climax of our adventures. Every time we started to get into the thrill of things, we had to stop. So you can imagine the anticlimax in that. Whatevs… I still had a fantabulous time. Still, looks like the group of us are going to do quad biking again once Nigel gets here. Next time were going to make sure that the group going with us will be up for speed and adventure! ;-)
Later that evening, Joel, Megan, Garth & I met up again to check out this new Asian restaurant I town. It was called Cai Tai Thai. Naturally, I assumed it was Thai cuisine… mmmMMMmmm. When we got there, we were greeted by… AN ASIAN MAN (from Tibet, I later found out)! Whoop! That was a good sign. (Side note: Garth & I went to a Chinese restaurant last year that was run by African people. I asked if the cook was Chinese and he said ‘No, African, but taught by Chinese.’ Heehee… that was interesting.) Anyway, we perused the menu to find a decent mix of Chinese/Thai food. We ordered seafood soup, chicken spring rolls, chicken green curry with rice, Szechwan beef stir fry, and Singapore fried noodles. Joel in passing by the kitchen to go to the washroom, confirmed that the food was indeed cooked by that same Asian man who greeted us, so I was pleased to hear that. The food arrived and we all gave our individual ratings. Haha… Garth was the most cautious about all the dishes… sheesh… Africans! His favorite was the beef stir fry of course (you gotta understand Africans and their love for meat, you see). All the dishes were pretty sketchy for me actually. I mean they were all right, but they totally didn’t meet my Chinese taste-bud standards. Still, I suppose they were satisfactory. Definitely good for a quick fix if you have a craving. We’re thinking that we’ll give it another try some other time and check out some different dishes on the menu. Yay for Asian cultural experience in Namibia!
After our meal, we all met up with Scott. We went for a nice walk around Vineta (this ritzy neighborhood in town where Scott always runs through). The late evening stroll was very enjoyable thanks to the very mild and nice weather we had throughout the day. We stopped for some beverages at this cute little restaurant which stayed opened later just for us. Then we made the walk back to Scooter’s house. And Garth & I headed back to Walvis Bay. It was fun filled day among friends indeed. =)
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