January 2012
1 post
December 2011
1 post
Thuly
Our household suffered another sad loss this month.
Thuly has worked in this house since long before I came on the scene. Twice a week, with great kindness, she made our home tidy and our lives comfortable. When I moved here the idea of having a maid/housekeeper/domestic worker/helper sounded indulgent, exciting, and totally foreign. For the first few months it felt awkward to have someone in...
October 2011
2 posts
10 Notable South Africanisms
With each passing day South Africa feels less and less foreign. While there many differences that I have long since gotten used to, there will always be little behaviors, words, and phenomena reminding me that I’m a stranger in a strange land. Here are a few for you to ponder:
10. Corollary and Capillary First, say these words to yourself: Corollary. Capillary. Now say them as a South...
September 2011
2 posts
I miss(ed) you
Maybe it was the cold Joburg winter with its bleak brown expanses and bone-chilling nights, or homesickness that set in after a wonderful fun/family/friend-filled trip back home, or a combination of the two. Whatever the reason, the end of winter in Joburg was not my best season in this place. Fortunately though, the temperature has risen and the tide has changed. Spring is here in full force, and...
August 2011
1 post
Back in the real world, Part 2
I bid farewell to the delights of Italy- and also to Gabor who continued on to London- and boarded a plane to Seattle, which was a bit of a story in itself. I connected in Frankfurt and went through a long disorganized security check outside of my gate. Once I finally made it around the corner to the actual gate I found a table full of free food and drinks, an airplane shaped cake, a prize wheel,...
July 2011
1 post
June 2011
1 post
May 2011
3 posts
Thembelihle
Last week was a hard one. We lost my colleague and officemate, Thembelihle. Thembi was only 28 years old and has two lovely daughters ages 9 and 2. Thembi was loud and energetic, she and I shared an office for 6 months and it seemed that nearly every person on the floor popped by regularly to chat, gossip, and be on the receiving end of her big smile. Quite suddenly last February she got ill and...
WatchKathleen and I took a trip to a typical South African car wash.
This is an example of a local service that seems so normal to me now that I forget it’s an oddity for a lot of people. But here in Johannesburg there is a shop on nearly every corner.
Remind me, in the absence of long-necked land mammals what do the folks back home use to wash their cars??
April 2011
2 posts
March 2011
4 posts
Last Hurrahs
Since February we’ve had the good fortune of having a rad Canadian/American couple living in our back house. When Joanna arrived in Joburg 6 months ago we got connected through a mutual friend from the homeland, and her husband Casey joined her in December. When they were in need of housing a month or so ago we made the easy decision to offer that they shack up at our place for the remainder...
February 2011
3 posts
WatchThis weekend we went to the wedding of Gabor’s former coworker, Neo. It was a joyous song-filled occasion. The whole thing was in Tswana, so I didn’t understand a word, but the messages of celebration came through loud and clear.
Never Have I Ever
In a bored moment browsing through my phone I discovered that I have amassed quite a collection of odd photos on my camera phone. They were all snapped in a moment of shock, laughter, charm, or after the triggering of a good old WTF?! As a collection, these fuzzy little gems give a glimpse of the everyday novelties that keep me on my toes here in South Africa. Enjoy.
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This is the bathroom...
Kamberg
This weekend marked the first official weekend getaway (mini-break holiday, anyone?) of 2011. Of course, LA and Paris don’t count—they’re far too minor cities and destinations to bother adding to my running list. No, this list is reserved for special places like Kamberg, South Africa.
Kamberg really is a special place tucked into the rolling hills about 4 hours from Joburg....
January 2011
1 post
December 2010
2 posts
Thanksgiving 2010
Last year’s Thanksgiving taught me two important lessons: 1) After many years of eating and assisting with my family’s Thanksgivings, I had acquired the skills to pull one off on my own—even for a big crowd; 2) All the fixins and big crowd around the table does not automatically make for a superb TG. So this year we downsized Thanksgiving and I had a marvelous time. Once again I...
November 2010
4 posts
October 2010
5 posts
How are you? I am fine.
It was almost a year ago that I mentioned South Africans’ formal email prose. Today, I’m focusing on telephone etiquette. I have been making more and more phone calls at work and South African phone introductions are something that never cease to amuse me.
90% of my phone conversations at work start like this:
Me: Hello Caller: Hello Moira. How are you? Me: I am...
One Year
Last week I slipped easily from my first to my second year in Johannesburg.
One year. What a milestone. As all milestones, when I look back it feels in some ways like I just arrived, and in other ways like I stepped off the plane only a couple of weeks ago.
Recent changes in weather—the arrival of spring and summer and the return of the rains have already done much to jog my memory and...
September 2010
3 posts
Magic Mountains
Friday was a national holiday in South Africa and it could not have come at a better time. Work has been nonstop craziness since the day my parents left. My days have been starting too early and ending too late, and although the work is really interesting and I am enjoying doing it, it’s been wearing me out. So this long weekend was oh so welcome. We jumped in the car on Thursday afternoon...
More From an Epic Family Vacation
It was less than a week ago that my parents boarded their plane for their loooong journey home. Already it feels so long ago that we were all gallivanting around South Africa hanging out with leopards in the park and ostriches on the beach.
Our 3-week South African tour was truly wonderful. I wanted to show them why a person like me who enjoys her family and home so much would choose to live so...
WatchReason #436 to love Mozambique: You’ll never have to dance alone. Whether you’re at a bar or in line to cross the border, the people of Moz will always be there to join the party.
That and the world’s best chicken are more than enough reasons to go back tomorrow. Now I’m just waiting for my sister to come back and teach the rest of us the choreography…
August 2010
4 posts
What We've Been Up To
My family and I have seen so much in the last few weeks. Here are some glimpses:
One the boat to Xefina Island, Mozambique
Passing time in a long and painfully slow border line
Beach!
Catching up with Lady Gaga in the Swaziland bush
Impala
Buffalo
Expert trackers
Lioness
Leopard. 5 feet from our car. Absolutely amazing
Monsters
Pretty lady
The Get Along...
The Beerys Have Arrived
Watch out, South Africa. The Beerys are here and fun is on the agenda.
Sister sister
My sister is here!
Me and my #1 favorite sister/friend/travel buddy are off today to Mozambique, followed by a road trip to Swaziland, then back to the beaches of Mozambique. Life is so very good.
Bon voyage!
All in a day's work
Since February I have been working at Wits (official name: the University of the Witwatersrand), one of South Africa’s main universities. In the Wits School of Public Health a professor and former dentist became committed to health promotion, and then to food security, and eventually started the Siyakhana food garden, an organic urban garden in Johannesburg. The food grown in the garden is...
July 2010
2 posts
The Final
One of the best things about my aforementioned birthday was the present I got from Gabor—tickets to the World Cup Final Game. Amazing!
Let’s be honest, I know nothing about soccer. Prior to the World Cup the only professional soccer game I had ever watched was world-famous Wilstermann play in Cochabamba, Bolivia. My interest in soccer, and particularly the World Cup, stemmed from my...
4 tags
June 2010
4 posts
WatchThe most amusing scene I’ve watched so far at the World Cup was the warmup at the Brazil v. North Korea game. In my mind it was the perfect athletic display of communism vs. capitalism, control vs. liberty, Kim Jong-il vs. Lula.
Game on.
WatchThe sights and sounds of the World Cup.
The sights of the 2010 World Cup are varied: new plays, new players, new stadiums, new uniforms. The sounds are not. Anyone watching the games on TV is probably all too familiar with South Africa’s most infamous contribution to the world of soccer— the vuvuzela. A friend on Facebook recently described it as “watching a soccer game in a...
Home Again
Ahh, home.
I will ignore the fact that I find it hard to say where home is. Seattle? Yep. LA? Indeed. Johannesburg? For sure. I am content to cite context as my excuse and claim all three. Lucky me.
There are simply too many great memories from my recent trip to the US to mention them all, so I’ll focus on three categories of distinction. Family, friends, and food.
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FAMILY
...
May 2010
2 posts
There's No Place Like Home
Shenandoah, Virginia
Beerys + Harrison/Chodos. ♥
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Ian, Erin/Sis, Becca
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Seattle!
Dad’s sweet ride
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West Garfield Street
Lindsey, Piper, Cara - amigas for 25 years. 25!
(We miss you, Liz!)
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Home.
A Break
I got to take a little break from this extremely strenuous life that I lead to entertain the lovely and charming Lauren Hill for the last two weeks! Lauren is one of my very best buddies from LA, we lived together our first year out of college and have been fast friends ever since. Her visit was inspiration to revisit places I love as well as scout out some new favorites.
Lauren, Sarah, and I...
April 2010
3 posts
Local Flavor
One of my favorite things to do when I travel is peruse local grocery stores or markets and see what kinds of foods are available. Instead of taking you on a tour of a local Checkers, Pick ‘n Pay, or Woolworths, I’ll share some tasty South African gems from our pantry.
Although our household doesn’t consume a huge amount of chutney, it is a very popular condiment here. And...
A milestone
6 months. Half a year. 182 days. That is how long I have now been in Johannesburg.
Here is how I spent my half-year anniversary: I worked in the morning. Answered emails, read a proposal, worked on converting a masters thesis into a journal article. You know, work. Then I got haircut. Then I met my lovely friend Sarah for lunch. I visited my favorite drug store where I stocked up on meds to help...