Not much of a Valentine's Day celebration here in South Africa - other than a very small section of the drugstore devoted to cards / candy and radio advertisements for Valentine's Day themed events at bars, not much mention of it here. Radio DJ's talked about it, but they talk endlessly about anything they can think of rather than play music - seriously, it's worse than it is in the US.
It's really weird having a traditionally Winter holiday here when it's 75 degrees and sunny outside. It makes the 'holiday' seem that much more pointless when the familiar stereotypes are not applicable - big fancy dinner, bundling up to go outside, being cozy inside, etc. I couldn't imagine what Christmas here would feel like.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Montecasino
Still depressed that I'm missing my semi-annual Vegas trip, I tried to drown some of that with exchange-rate-adjusted gambling losses at Montecasino - "Gauteng's premier entertainment destination."
I knew it wouldn't be Vegas, but it actually ended up being a lot like Foxwoods - the feeling of walking around a small town of shops, kiosks, and restaurants with facades and faux blue skies with faux clouds that make it feel like 3 PM 24 hours a day. The restaurants, 1 per ethnicity, added to the sense that I was walking around the international part of Epcot Center except with gambling here and there. As far as the gambling goes, it's hard to beat $5 min blackjack tables. It made my losing money take a lot longer than it would have at pricier gaming establishments.
We also tried to go to a karaoke bar while we were at Montecasino. However, we weren't able to go inside because the music was at a physically painful volume level. I could feel the individual tiny bones in my ear shaking as we walked past. Let alone the awful, awful karaoke-ing going on that produced the sounds themselves.
I knew it wouldn't be Vegas, but it actually ended up being a lot like Foxwoods - the feeling of walking around a small town of shops, kiosks, and restaurants with facades and faux blue skies with faux clouds that make it feel like 3 PM 24 hours a day. The restaurants, 1 per ethnicity, added to the sense that I was walking around the international part of Epcot Center except with gambling here and there. As far as the gambling goes, it's hard to beat $5 min blackjack tables. It made my losing money take a lot longer than it would have at pricier gaming establishments.We also tried to go to a karaoke bar while we were at Montecasino. However, we weren't able to go inside because the music was at a physically painful volume level. I could feel the individual tiny bones in my ear shaking as we walked past. Let alone the awful, awful karaoke-ing going on that produced the sounds themselves.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Reference-free Communication
It's not that easy communicating with the international folks here. They all speak great English, and no, it's not the accents or British spelling or having to the difference between America for the past 8 years vs. America now - it's having to communicate without a palette of pop-culture reference. Life here isn't a stream of movie quotes and 80's tv plot references and beer ad campaigns. While it's true that a lot of American movies and tv shows and whatnot have made it around the world, it's inconsistent from country to country and can't be depended upon. As a creature of analogy and methaphor, it's not always easy for me to express myself from the ground up. It's taken some getting used to, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. But still, whenever I hear the word 'playoffs', in the context of soccer or cricket or whatever, only one thing comes to mind...
PLAYOFFS?!?
PLAYOFFS?!?
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Malls, Malls, Everywhere
When I lived in Boston, I lived across the street from one mall and a block away from another, and I worked across a fake pond from another mall. In Chicago I'm not as confronted by malls on a day-to-day basis, but there are a staggering number of places to spend money in a very short distance from me. I thought I'd get away from that by coming to Africa. Not exactly...
Since Johannesburg CBD (which basically means 'downtown') is less than safe, good old white flight 15 years ago led to an emigration to the suburbs. As a result, virtually anywhere you would go to buy something here is located in a heavily fortified, enclosed mall. Restaurants, grocery stores, clothing boutiques, barbers, department stores, etc - they're all in a mall. You go into the underground guarded parking garage and come out and you're suddenly in an area that you can hardly tell is enclosed and guarded by walls and barbed wire and armed guards. Basically, instead of the government securing the whole city, private companies built little secured privatized areas and then developed little towns inside with self-supporting economies.
The closest one to me is literally two blocks away - Killarney Mall. It would be really convenient if not for the hours. The grocery store closes at 7 on weeknights and 2 on weekends. The rest of the shops are worse - most close at 5 on weeknights and don't even bother opening on Sundays. But, when things are open, there is a lot of commerce going on.
The place we end up going to most often for dinner is Melrose Arch. It's all of 5 minutes from the office or from the apartment, and I can get to it without a GPS. All big plusses.
There is also the recently renamed Nelson Mandela Square, featuring a 50' tall statue of the man himself in the middle of the square. This one is 15 minutes from me. There's also Rosebank, which is 10 minutes from me, which is actually two malls in one.
So yes, there are plenty of malls around. I cannot escape them, even in Africa.
Since Johannesburg CBD (which basically means 'downtown') is less than safe, good old white flight 15 years ago led to an emigration to the suburbs. As a result, virtually anywhere you would go to buy something here is located in a heavily fortified, enclosed mall. Restaurants, grocery stores, clothing boutiques, barbers, department stores, etc - they're all in a mall. You go into the underground guarded parking garage and come out and you're suddenly in an area that you can hardly tell is enclosed and guarded by walls and barbed wire and armed guards. Basically, instead of the government securing the whole city, private companies built little secured privatized areas and then developed little towns inside with self-supporting economies.
The closest one to me is literally two blocks away - Killarney Mall. It would be really convenient if not for the hours. The grocery store closes at 7 on weeknights and 2 on weekends. The rest of the shops are worse - most close at 5 on weeknights and don't even bother opening on Sundays. But, when things are open, there is a lot of commerce going on.
The place we end up going to most often for dinner is Melrose Arch. It's all of 5 minutes from the office or from the apartment, and I can get to it without a GPS. All big plusses.
There is also the recently renamed Nelson Mandela Square, featuring a 50' tall statue of the man himself in the middle of the square. This one is 15 minutes from me. There's also Rosebank, which is 10 minutes from me, which is actually two malls in one.
So yes, there are plenty of malls around. I cannot escape them, even in Africa.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve
The Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve is a game reserve on the Cradle of Humankind, about 45 minutes from Johannesburg. It's got tons of animals wandering around, including brown and white lions, gazelles, antelope, zebra, lots of birds, warthogs, etc. and a convenient system of trails to drive around on. There are also rhinos, but we didn't see any when we were there.
The real highlight for me though was the opportunity to play with baby lions and tigers. There were 3 enclosures with them - 6 month old lions, 6 month old tigers, and 2 month old tigers. They also let us in to 'play' with a full-grown cheetah, which I'm not sure is actually a part of the normal set up. It was $2 to spend 5-10 minutes in each enclosure, so we did it 7 times. The second time we play with the baby lion cubs a couple of park workers were walking in with baby bottles full of milk, so we nervously asked if we could help - YES. Top 10 life experience, despite the full complement of scratches and bite marks on my hands and arms and legs. Check out the pics in the slideshow below - click on it to see them full-screen...
The real highlight for me though was the opportunity to play with baby lions and tigers. There were 3 enclosures with them - 6 month old lions, 6 month old tigers, and 2 month old tigers. They also let us in to 'play' with a full-grown cheetah, which I'm not sure is actually a part of the normal set up. It was $2 to spend 5-10 minutes in each enclosure, so we did it 7 times. The second time we play with the baby lion cubs a couple of park workers were walking in with baby bottles full of milk, so we nervously asked if we could help - YES. Top 10 life experience, despite the full complement of scratches and bite marks on my hands and arms and legs. Check out the pics in the slideshow below - click on it to see them full-screen...
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve - Preview
More complete post tomorrow, but here are the cell phone pics for now...
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