Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

Woke up early and left for town with Garthy today. I wanted to check out this relatively new Internet café in Walvis Bay called, The Ultra Lounge. According to Garth, they have the most reliable Internet service here, which means a little more money, but I’m willing to splurge. Haha… perhaps this will encourage me to be consistent with my blogging, since the typically slow Internet connection in Africa was what deterred me from blogging during last year’s Africa tour. So far so good though.

Next, I went to watch my Sunshine Kids perform at Walvis Bay Interschool Music Festival at the Civic Centre. It was a show organized by Mrs. Holst, who also works with Mrs. Venter and Mascato. The concert was very casual… more like a sharing session. It involved all the primary schools here in Walvis Bay. (All the secondary schools will perform at tomorrow evening’s concert.) My kidlets went first. They were oh-so-cute, but also very nervous. Haha… still they were able to win the crowd over with their effort and radiance. Ganbow, one of my sweet Sunshine Kids, busted out some moves near the end of the song and made the audience go wild. Haha… I laughed my butt off too because he’s such a tiny little shrimp for a 5-year old. But hey, never underestimate this guy’s mad skillz yo! Heehee…
It was also nice to bump into Mr. Doller Brand, Tiophilia & Vera (Mascato’s accompanist) at this event as well. Yup! I’m in Walvis Bay for reals! Haha…

As I was heading towards Standard Bank to meet up with Garth during his lunchtime break, I caught sight of this cool Asian-esque top through the window of Truworths, a clothing shop here. I had half an hour to kill, so why the heck not right?! The top costed N$250, which is expensive by African standards, but only costed CAN$35 for me. So I bought it of course. Do I hear impulse shopper?! YES! My goodness! And yesterday, I was supposed to accompany Tania to Mr. Price (a favored clothing store amongst us choir peeps) for her to pick out some items. We went there and they didn’t have her sizes, so we left the store… Tania empty-handed and yours truly with two bags in hand! Hey, I had an excuse… I needed teacher clothes for the Fall yo. And why not invest in clothes here where the prices work out to my advantage. Still, I gotta start being very careful with this shopping habit. Haha! WHOA! Tangent! Yea, so obviously I got a call from Garth asking where I was because I totally lost tracking time trying on clothes and what not. He met me at Truworths instead and then we went for a lovely stroll in the park. My my, we sound like such an old couple… heehee… first walks on the beach, now strolls in the park. Whatevs… I LOVE IT!

Aight! So I caught a taxi home after our rendez-vous in the park. Garth was all worried that I might not know how to find my way home. Haha… I told him I got it down yo! And if not, I would walk my way home. He looked skeptical but said, “Ok.” So I stood on the street waiting for any mini car that went *beep beep* to stop for me (that’s how cabbies get clients… honking their horns until they fill their taxis, otherwise the trip for one/two people wouldn’t be worth it). Side note: I asked Garth the other night how much it would cost to fill up a whole tank of gas here (‘cause most people only fill up a little bit at a time), and he said around N$400. He said that’d be like CAN$80! I guess gas prices are soaring all over the world, huh. Anyway, I had an interesting time directing the taxi driver since he couldn’t really hear me properly over his music. Then he realized that and turned it down. DUH-UH! See, cabbies here don’t usually know addresses unless the destination is a prominent building name/store somewhere. Residential addresses require step by step direction. My taxi experience so far ain’t too bad though. I like it. =)

Garth & I went to visit Cappi (Romano’s girlfriend) after he got off work. Cappi & Romano have a daughter named… *drum roll please*… MICHELLE!! Wow, I love that name for some reason. She is Garth’s goddaughter. Baby Michelle was resting when we arrived at the house. Poor child was sick with the flu, but Cappi still brought her out to visit with us. Aww… she was SO ADORABLE… even if a little under the weather. And she looks so much like Romano! She has his nose and his eyes fo’ sho! Anyway, I showed Michelle her baby bling! Heehee… just a few outfits I picked up for her when I was on the East Coast with Kokopelli. SO CUTE! She’s going to model them for me when she feels better. =)
Later that evening, there was an Afroshine rehearsal at Garth’s house. They were continuing to practice their tunes for the Windhoek show. As much as I wanted to stay up and watch them do their thang, jet lag still got to me so I retired early to bed. Still, it was nice to fall asleep to the sweet harmonic sounds of Afroshine singing Paradise Road. Mmm… sweet dreams.