Marie-wind! Take Seven

Fun, Facts, and Follies From the Last Few Days...

• I've joined a book club! There are eight of us and we meet on the first Wednesday of every month. March was my turn to host and I had a blast catering for all the girls. The best part: the hostess gets around 600R ($80) to buy new books for the group! An English nerd's dream! In all seriousness, it has been a lovely way to meet new people and enjoy good wine & female company (for a change!). P.S: If you're looking for a new book to read, I fully recommend The Help by Kathryn Stockett. 

• Smoking cigarettes in restaurants is still legal here. Most restaurants have a smoking section and at bars, it isn't uncommon to turn around and walk into a cloud of blue smoke. Coming from a country that is so smoker-unfriendly, it has been quite an adjustment to revert back to answering "Hello miss - smoking or non?" and being greeted with stale cigarette hair the morning after a big night out.

•   ...and while on the topic of going out, on Sunday I had the pleasure of drinking and playing pool with a few firemen. Not the best of ideas considering I am such a lightweight drinker. 7 shots and 3 drinks later, it was 6am and I hit the pillow hard. 

• After being here for 7 months, the magical oral quality of the South African accent has sort of begun to fall on deaf ears. I'm around it 24/7, after all. But there still remains three words that never fail to make me smile when they escape the lips of an South African: banana, can't, and youtube. The first two sound incredibly posh whereas "youtube" sounds straight-up comical. I can't truly express how it sounds via this blog post, but it goes something like this (say it outloud now!): 
• Yuu cah-n't eat a bahh-nah-nah whilst watching yuu-choob :)

• Didier and I went to see Cirque du Soleil on the 16th. The athleticism and showmanship was incredible! It's a definite must-see for anyone who hasn't been.

• In comparison to Canada, fresh flowers are priced so reasonably here. You can get a pretty, small-ish bouquet of flowers for around $5-7CAN. Bunches of single types of flowers, such as lillies or daisies, are even cheaper. This extra large collection of flowers that Didier bought for me was only $15CAN!

 

• Corn is called "mealie" here. As in, "we are going to have some mealies for dinner tonight". Am I the only one who finds this word totally revolting? Mealie. Ew. Something about it just sounds...gross. 

• One of Didier's best friends, Darvey, stayed for six days with us last week. He's a pilot and flew in from Mossel Bay. His sister, Leah (from Cape Town), and his grandmother (from Mauritius), were also in for a visit so we certainly weren't short on good company and things to do! One afternoon Dids, Darvey, Jonno, and I set up a gourmet picnic in the garden. It's so nice to have such stunning weather at this time of year. I can feel the jealousy seeping from the chilly pores of you Canadians from here ;)