Weekend Wrap Up (AKA SA Wrap Up)

Sniff.   This will be my final post in the Weekend Wrap Up series as I have left SA and returned home to Chicago.    But don't fret... I will still be posting about travel, Chicago, running and other fun stuff.

This is actually a wrap-up of my last weekend in SA.   I've been back in Chicago almost a week, but I unexpectedly am having a much harder time adjusting and re-patriot-ing then I had anticipated.   Surprisingly I wasn't jet lagged at all (thank you liquid melatonin) but I've been really thrown off and depressed about everything that changed without me in the last 6 months.     And missing all my friends and co-workers back in Johannesburg.  I had an indescribable life experience that I will forever treasure.  It is difficult transitioning back from a place I wasn't ready to leave.

Goodbye Jozie Skyline

So  taking you back in time to last week...

Where did all this stuff come from??

The work week was a short one due to Monday being another public holiday.   I spent most of the week wrapping up work projects and saying my goodbyes.    I had really wanted to get out a bit more, but I was really fighting with my luggage (my clothes reproduced ) and my emotions ( I really couldn't go very long with out tears).

Goodbye weird hotel apartment

I did manage to plan a goodbye pizza party for the R&D team (I totally forgot to take pictures), I wrote about 30 personal goodbye notes and had a farewell dinner on Friday with two of my R&D friends.   We were going to go out one last time, but I'm glad we decided against it.  Last minute hung over packing on Saturday would not have been fun.

Goodbye Penny... I'm sorry.

On Saturday, I drove to the airport... the whole time I was praying that I would not hit anyone or anything right before I left.... and I side swiped the pole in the rental return as I was pulling up to the agent.  DOH.    On a side note, I was pretty surprised that Phil was really not phased by the whole story, until I came home are realized that he had just done the same thing to our car in our garage.  I don't feel too bad now.    

Hello champagne

I was really anticipating issues when at the airport, because I find it really difficult not to have customer service issues.  This trip was my first experience with Virgin Atlantic.   I'm normally a American Airlines loyalist, but due to changes in their reward program this year, I've decided to show Delta some love too.   Virgin Atlantic is a Delta partner.

hi little chair

The check-in process was seamless.  No lines at all for Upper Class check-in.  The staff were friendly and efficient and by some miracle, none of my bags were over weight.   My 3 bags were tagged and sent on their way in minutes.   I was directed to the VA Clubhouse, but needed to clear security first.   Here the lines were long, but moved quickly.   I was in the VA Clubhouse in no time.   I intended to buy a couple last minute gifts but I was shaking from the run in with the pole and my back pack was so heavy it was knocking me backwards.   Upon entry I was promptly checked in with a smile and the immediately greeted by a staff member.   He took my bags and showed me to a comfy chair.   He brought out bottled water, champagne and crisps as well as a full cocktail menu and wine list and a dinner menu.  All included!   One glass a champagne wasn't going to stop the shakes so I order one of VA's signature drinks a Virgin Redhead as well as a veggie flat bread.  Both were delicious.  It was soon time to board.   The flight was called and there was no line at the gate, so I was able to hop right on and settle in to my little pod.   The seat was a bit narrow, but the footrest  doubles as a little chair, which is cute and functional if you are not traveling alone.

Second flight prep.

The trip to London was about 11 hours long, but uneventful.  The service and food was fantastic.  My only issue was that the seat needs to be flipped in order to be used as a bed.  It's not that bad, it is automatic and the flight staff is happy to help if needed.    PJs and bedding are provided.   I love airline PJs  (I'm actually wearing them now as I write this).

swing~

In London, it took me a bit to find the lounge and I kept getting literally knocked backwards by the weight of my back pack.   I had been so excited about the spa services, but when I finally found the Virgin Club house and saw the basket swings, all I wanted to do was swing and cry.  Yea.  I'm that weirdo crying in the swing.

Gnocchi and sun-dried tomatoes 

The second flight (9-ish hours) was also pretty uneventful.   The food was decent, the movie selection was okay-  my favorite was The Room.  I was told that it is also a book... the book is probably better.    Speaking of books, I finally finished Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom.   Ok, honestly  I essentially finished it awhile ago, but I had started it on the flight to SA, so I wanted to save the last chapter for the way back in a symbolic gesture of closure.    It's a long, but great read.  I highly recommend it.

Chapter closed.

And that wraps it all up.   I arrived to flowers and signs and a super ecstatic husband, despite my crabbiness and irritability.  We celebrate with a run around our neighborhood, geo-caching and tacos and margaritas in Pilsen.    

I'm a little startled about how much I miss SA and my friends.  and I'm startled on how lost I feel being back.  It's a process and little by little I'm sure it will improve.    

I will be back soon, will more travel insights (including Victoria Falls) and fun stuff in general. 

:)

Hello Chicago.

Hello strange geo-caching husband.

Weekend Wrap up: Science and Cocktails and Soweto Adventures

As I'm nearing the final count down this week has been a week of more "lasts" and a mad dash to pack. There's been quite a lot of tears and almost tears as I swing between missing my husband and wanting to teleport home and wanting to stay in my new home.

I had two great adventures this week as I begin to tie it all up here.

Cosmos Cocktail

My last Science and Cocktails at the Orbit.   I absolutely LOVE this monthly event and wish I could figure out a way to bring it to Chicago.  Do I have any readers with University affiliations that could help me make this happen (direct message me!).    The event is hosted at a jazz club once a month with a different science topic.   A professor or two gives a lecture, while the crowd sips bubbly science themed cocktails.  The lecture is followed by jazz.    This weeks lecture  was on the Cosmos and Project Spider and was given by  Dr. Cynthia Chiang. The project had UIUC affiliation. Go Illini!! It was both interesting and entertaining and at a level I could follow.  I'm also excited that I've now turned friends onto the event.  

After a little jazz it was off to Mash for a farewell party with the finance and marketing teams.  Time ran away from me again and before we knew it, it was three AM.  Oops.

I look like such a creeper.

So I was a little tired when my friend picked me up at 9am to celebrate Freedom Day by touring Soweto.  Freedom Day celebrates the first day all Africans were allowed to vote in the elections.

We first drove through the township avoiding the cows, chickens and goats in the road.  My friend is awesome, she kept pulling over so I could be a tourist and take pictures.

hey random goat

We headed to the Hector Pieterson museum first to visit a vendor that my friend regularly buys from that  sells beautiful traditional jewelry. I bought way too much but she had some beautiful and unique pieces.  

Next it was to the museum itself where we took a guided tour of the outside and learned the history and significance before doing a self guided tour of the inside.  The museum commemorates the Soweto Uprising where students marched in protest of unfair school laws. As they approached the site in which the museum now stands police opened fire on the children, killing at least 146, but some sources cite up to 700, including Hector.  His picture of being carried out with his sister at his side made international news and marked a turning point in the apartheid struggle.  It was an emotional experience and I cried.  

Next it was off to Soweto theater to see Africa Umoja- the Spirit of Togetherness.  It was amazing!   It told the history of South Africans in dance and song... starting with traditional tribal dance and coming to present.   The crowd interacted cheering and shouting and clapping.  You could just feel the energy and excitement vibrate through the room.  I'm so lucky that there was a performance in Joburg before I left. I'll be checking their website often, in anticipation of their USA tour dates.   Although I'm sure it will cause me to miss Africa and I'll cry the whole time and I'm sure it will be a completely different experience than seeing it in Soweto on Freedom Day.

good advice

Our next stop was Vilakazi street in search of a shebeen.   We asked around at the vendor stands and found the Shack. While the Shack is traditional Shebeen, they must get a lot of tourists (although I was the only one at the time)... it even has its own Facebook page. We asked for  umqombothi, or traditional beer and received a whole demonstration and history lesson.  The beer is made from sorghum and maize and is low alcohol and though to have all kinds of healing properties including fertility (South African Viagra). It is served in a large clay pot which is passed around and shared. My friend said she drank a lot of this in her varsity days.  Everyone kept asking me what I thought (I don't think many people actually drink it anymore).  I actually quite liked it... I like sour, unfiltered styles of beer.   We took our pot into the main room to chat with the locals. They told us stories of the neighborhood and growing up in Soweto and my friend shared her stories of village life.  We finished up the night with dinner at Skaumzi.  We both got the buffet this time.  It was okay, but not really worth the high price tag, especially for me, being a vegetarian.  The service was much better than the last time though... probably because one of our new shebeen friends is friends with the owner.  The night ended with a quick stop a Shova, the art gallery across the street.  The manager's selling point was "I just sold one of these to Tiesto...you can have the same art as Tiesto!!"  Um.  No thanks.

I finished up the week by hopping on a plane to Zambia!

Look for my travel blog on Zambia, Botswana and Zimbawe coming soon! 

Bob update-

So I had a scare on Thursday where Bob was happily munching away one minute and then gone the next.  I searched the flowers and surrounding areas but no Bob.  I figured he ran away.   In the morning there he was perched right on top on a flower!  Silly Bob!

The end of the Garden Route Adventure- Days 5-7.

Almost Tip of Africa

Welcome to the final installment in the Garden Route Series!  Congrats if you made it this far.  You can find Day 1, Day 2,  and Days 3/4 hyper linked here.    Day 5 brought the longest drive in our journey, but some of the most scenic views.   We woke early and left Mossel Bay and headed to Cape Point.   We passed many coastal towns and one of the largest and most famous townships in South Africa, Khayelistsha.  It is the second largest in South Africa, with a population of over 400,000 people.

Khayelitsha Township

Cape Point

The Cape of Good Hope is located in the Table Mountain National Park.   We made our way through the park, stopping at several points to take pictures, our ultimate goal was the Cape of Good Hope.   It was incredibly windy, it felt like we'd be blown into the ocean.   Luckily, we arrived right before 2 tour buses and didn't have to wait long to take picture in front of the sign.

Leaving the Cape of Good Hope, Phil decided to ignore Google and "take a short cut".   This short cut in fact was a pretty intense mountain pass.  Luckily for us, it was two lanes and tar.  It could have been worse.  The views of the bay from the pass were absolutely amazing.

We checked into the Vethos Villa in Camps Bay.   On a previous trip, I had stayed in the business district close to the wharf.    I guess it depends on what you are into, but I would definitely recommend Camps Bay over the business/wharf area.    There is more restaurants, a grocery store (and the beach!) within walking distance, there's a red bus stop right there and a short Uber to Table Mountain and the Wharf.     I felt that in Camps Bay we had more access to activities and night life and it felt safer:  there was just a whole lot more people around and shorter walks to points of interest. Vethos Villa is nice, more of a small hotel/lodge.  The hostess was nice, the rooms were clean and stocked with beach towels and a full bar.  The bathroom door was clear glass, which was a little strange, but fun to harass Phil when he was trying to have private bathroom time.  There was a large common room that always had coffee service and light snacks.  The only complaint was that there was supposed to be parking and we were told all the spots were taken.   There was ample street parking, so it really wasn't a problem.

The first night after check in, we walked down to the beach to play in the surf and watch the sunset. Dinner was on the promenade at The Raj.   The Raj had fantastic  service which we have found hard to find in South Africa as a whole.  There was a large and diverse selection of food (including a large vegetarian selection) and cocktails.

After dinner, it was an Uber ride over to Long Street to check out the night life and a DnB event.   The club had a balcony over Long street, which allowed for some great people watching.  There's a lot of opportunistic crime on Long street.   From our vantage point we could see all the pick pockets walking around... the are pretty obvious from above.  Almost all have backpacks and either walk back and forth or hang out in the shadows.   There was also a TON of police but it wasn't really clear what they were doing.   They seemed to be checking bars, but maybe not.

Our morning began fairly early, taking an Uber after breakfast to Table Mountain.   We had purchased our cable car tickets in advance, but there as a still approximately an hour wait, even though we arrived shortly after opening.  We had considered hiking up the mountain- but heard/read varying reports of time and difficulty  I think we still would of tried, but I wasn't feeling so great when we woke up.   There are some trails on top of the mountain, so we did hike around those... which offered some great views and picture ops, that I hadn't gotten to see the first time.  

After Table Mountain it was off to the V&A Waterfront, which is incredibly crowded and touristy.   We needed to do some souvenir shopping and the V&A Waterfront has a market with upscale Arts and Crafts.   I had eye'd a vendor the first time I was at the market and was happy when Phil also picked the same artist, without me pointing her out.   The vendor we chose sells art made in the townships from recycled materials.   When we can we try to support independent artists or groups supporting the community, rather than just buying something mass produced from a tourist shop.   We also bought some small gifts for our co-workers and some carved animals for our living room.

Dinner was at the sushi place on the strip, which was okay, followed by gelato and a walk on the boardwalk.

Our guide was a political prisoner in the '80s.

In the morning we were off to Robben Island by ferry.   We were treated to views of whales breaching and the African penguin colony that lives on the Island.  The island houses the prison that held political prisoners, including Mandela, during Apartheid. Our guide was an ex political prisoner who was imprisoned in the '80s.   I read the Long Walk to Freedom, so it was especially interesting to see the places that Mandela had described in such detail.   Having read the book, I was able to whisper- fill in details to Phil.   An aside, I highly highly recommend this book, especially if you are coming to South Africa.   I gained deeper understanding of South African culture and history. I think it allowed me to really connect on a deeper level and thus enhanced my experience here.  It also gave me a good jumping off point in beginning conversations on the Apartheid.

After Robben Island it was lunch at the Waterfront before heading off to the airport.

And this ends our trip on the Garden Route!

Stay tuned for my reviews of Chobe National Park (Botswana), Livingstone, Zambia and Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

And always feel free to leave comments or direct message me!

Weekend Wrap Up: OMG only 2 weeks left

hike awesomeness

ACK!   This is my last full weekend in Joburg.   I'm alternating between being so sad that I'm crying in the back of my Uber and being almost  kind of ready to start the next exciting chapter of my life.   I've been living it up, trying to get in as much friend-time as possible and trying to do all my favorite things one last time until next time.

Dark team lunch pic.

My mentor and I.  Sniff.

This week we had a little combo work going away party/ groom's party at the restaurant in our office park which was fun and incredibly thoughtful.   My mentor gave me a sparkly journal with a back-story about my professional development that made me a little teary eyed.   She also gave me a cat bag... she knows me too well.  My co-workers also picked out a super cool red African influenced purse that perfectly matches my red power pumps.  Score.

Cat bag!!!!

 Then began a string of "lasts".

Pre-crowds at the night market

My last night market at the Full Moon Market with my friend and her man.  The full moon market is a smaller version of the Art on Main Market that is held on Sundays in Maboneng.   Maboneng is my absolute favorite area of the city.   It's an up and coming area that so many art galleries and public graffiti/murals and craft breweries and cafes, all while still keeping it's grit and urban-ness.  The garden and hall is open on night market days and is packed with unique food vendors.  I knew I was coming back on Sunday, so we just relaxed on the roof top patio with cocktails, people watching and listening to the latin music of the salsa night.

Jozie skyline from top of the hike

There's animals down there!

Saturday brought my last hike with my hiking group at Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve.    The beginning of the 9k (a little less that 6 miles) hike was a real challenge.   It was rocky and at a sharp incline.   We were also going at a pace that made me start to believe that I might be asthmatic.  Our hike leader this round was an incredibly fit, no-bull shit drill sergeant who had us going at a near jog and kept shouting "you are all lazy.  push harder.  this is not a picture taking hike".    It got easier once we got to the top and she seemed to back off a bit after our lunch break.   She even let us stop to watch the zebras and the wildebeest.   (Last random hike zebra.  sniff).  Our group was fantastic this hike (it's never not) and we had great conversations.   Even more sadness that there isn't more time to hang with my new friends.    

My last time having Hipster cocktails in jars Bryanston.

I did sneak in one new friend drink night, with a brand new expat from Belgium, who is also doing a 6 month stint.   The ladies I met suggested drinks at The Social on Main in Bryanston, which is a very hipster craft cocktail  bar near Sandton.   There's cocktails in jars.  The girls ended up bailing, but it was fun sharing all my stories and advice and in return learning a whole lot about Brussels and EU politics.   It's a rare occasion that I actually feel smarter when I leave a bar.

Market on Main

Today I was supposed to go eat waffles with co-workers at a market next to my favorite hiking spot, but its over an hour drive each way, so I wasn't particularly feeling it because my priority was to make it to my favorite spot one last time for one last Arts on Main. (until I come back, of course).  


 It was the right decision.  I had a fantastic afternoon... the weather was perfect- warm and sunny, the market was packed and vibrant.  I ate lunch (my last Durban bunny chow)  with an older women and her two grown children and they told me all about township wedding traditions  (they were hunting down some needed items for an upcoming wedding).

Bunny Chow

Street Art Vendors

I wandered around all the galleries and vendors sipping on craft brews from Smack Republic Brewery , this little microbrewery that's tucked in between the galleries.  After a very long texting session with Phil, we decided on 2 prints from Iwasshot in Joburg :).  Iwasshot is an organization that gives street kids disposable cameras to photograph street art in order to generate an income and get them off the street.  They also have a gallery, a work shop and a skills development lab.   Pretty rad.

New canvas art for the "Africa" shelf

A main part of the market is roof top salsa.   I met the gentleman, Sam, who founded Rooftop salsa 4 years ago.   He is a retired journalist from the US.  He came to South Africa 14 years ago on assignment and never left.    I feel you, Sam.  Having to leave Jozie is breaking my heart.  Jozie you have official beat Tokyo as my favorite city that is not Chicago.

Gallery Beer 

And because you were all wondering... Bob is doing wonderful.  We had a little scare this week, where he stopped eating and got very pale, but he's back to snacking on his flowers  and his color has come back.    He currently likes hanging upside down, pooping a lot, inching between flowers.  He dislikes flowers that are not Gerber Daisies and being interrupted from naps.     Speaking of Gerber Daisies I need to find more ASAP.   He's destroying the two I have left and the flower market didn't have any in stock this weekend.   The red flowers that sort of kind of look like daisies aren't cutting it.

Bob