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!

CRUNCH

I'm a little frazzled here in Jozi.   It's not necessarily a bad thing, but things are definitely a little more hectic than I am used to.

I'm at the half way point in my rotation, with only 3 months left-  I'm in full scramble mode both professionally and personally.

My projects, which started a bit slow while I  caught up and was trained in my new role are now full speed ahead.  So I essentially, have 3 months to do 4 different projects.   Challenge Accepted.   I'm having a great experience working well out of my comfort zone.   I'm learning a whole new way of working, that I'm not used to.  In my nutrition role, I'm global.  I'm the only one on my team in my office.   I spend all day pretty much alone emailing and listening in to meetings on the phone.    Here, my days are 90% interaction-  face to face meetings, one on ones, people stopping by all day long.   I didn't think I would enjoy it, all this relationship building, but I really am.   I think I'm going to be lonely when I go back home.  At least Mary will be there and I can bug her all the time.

On the personal side, I'm running around trying to get to every corner of Joburg that I can, meet as many people as I can and experience as much as I possibly can.   Meetup.com and Inter-nations have been my best friends-  Meetup a little more than the Inter-nations.    My list of places I need to go and things I need to see is pages long- and that is just for Joburg!!   That doesn't include the 3 weekend trip T and I have left or the travel with Phil and Dil.   HA!   I just realized that sort of rhymes.

Meet-up led me to Science and Cocktails on Tuesday.   It was pretty fabulous.... a bonus, it was at a Jozi hotspot that I wanted to check out-  The Orbit.     The bartenders were all wearing lab coats, the bar was decorated with smoking flasks and the drinks were themed for the occasion-  I had a Fire and Ice, which was literally served on fire.    The highlight was the talk-  set up in the style of a TED talk a Professor gave a lecture on climate change and how it relates to South African weather.  A little over my head at times (it was 9pm at night), but very interesting, especially the lively Q&A session after.   I learned a lot about El Ninos.   I didn't stay for the Jazz part of the evening- early meetings on Wednesday, but I plan to next time.   Like usual, I made some new friends and I  picked up a couple of travel tips for Phil and I's Cape Town trip.  Looking forward to next month's talk on Eyes and Visual perception.  Woot Science!

To combat some of the stress, I've started a home yoga program, Yoga Camp with Adriene.   I highly recommend it.  It's for all levels, it's stretchy and relaxing and Adriene is funny.  I hate yoga and I'm enjoying this.

There's also been a whole lot of doodling... I guess it's my version of adult coloring.

All this craziness is resulting in me losing my mind... I spent the last two months working on a surprise Valentine's Day gift for Phil...when I was finally ready to buy it today, I was trying to beat the clock on the sale price and didn't notice that Phil's credit card was saved in the account and not mine.   So he bought his own present and I ruined the surprise.  :(


I have several things planned for the weekend- lots of reviews and pictures anticipated, so I thought I'd break it up a little this week.  :)  Have a great rest of the week everyone!