Postcards from South Africa 03.15.11

...VEGETARIAN ALERT: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN VEG-INAPPROPRIATE MATERIAL...

We visited a Lion Park near Johannesburg a few weeks ago with our Dutch flatmates. This park is pretty phenomenal because you are able to drive around an expanse of land gated and fenced into different zones (multiple lion zones, a cheetah zone, giraffe zone, etc.) and idle just feet away from magnificent creatures in an almost natural habitat.

We affectionately named this male Mufasa... Roar! They appear surprisingly larger and stronger in person than we had imagined. These are not your average zoo lions.


One of the guards tipped us off to the fact that we just so happened to have come on FEEDING DAY!! We sat by our pride of choice (headed by Mufasa, above) until 12pm, when a pickup truck came into the enclosure stacked with what can only be described as "really large chunks of dead animals." A man standing in the bed of the truck threw these "chunks" around the area and the lions went crazy, sprinting alongside the truck (I would not want that man's job!) and fighting over slabs of meat. We watched the lions work on their "killings" for the next 30 minutes, amazed.


Umm... Miss, I should tell you that you have a bit of blood on your nose.

Postcards from South Africa 03.14.11

Returning to Pretoria, we had a lot of laundry to wash and a ridiculous amount of work to get caught up on. Boy was the rest of that week busy, featuring a number of 16- & 17-hour work days. I've never been so glad to welcome Friday and our weekly braai (=South African BBQ), even though I knew I'd need to wake up bright and early Saturday to continue playing catch up.

For your viewing pleasure, we present our charming side yard, where we braai (to the left) and get work done under the cabana (to the right) when we're itching for a new work station. The roof of the small house in the back left of the photo is our flat, which we share with our dutch flatmates (they've become "the dutchies" around here).

Postcards from South Africa 03.13.11

While at the University of Stellenbosch, we came across this sign on campus, reminding us after a day of extravagant wine tasting that, paradoxically, we are very much still in Sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa is a country where the rich of the rich and the poor of the poor are trying to figure out how to do life together. AIDS is a very serious problem here and, only a few years ago, President Zuma foolishly announced to the United Nations that you can protect yourself from AIDS by taking a shower after sex. There are many urban legends about AIDS here and much education is still needed. It is truly striking to see a sign like this on one of the most beautiful college campuses we have ever seen, not to mention, a college campus surrounded by expensive wine estates, luxurious restaurants and stunning mountains.

Oh, South Africa, you are such a paradox.

Postcards from South Africa 03.12.11

Goodbye, Harry!

This man is inspirational in his generosity and truly lives out his convictions, making a difference in Cape Town and its surrounding townships. Thank you for an amazing week!

Postcards from South Africa 03.11.11

Believe it or not, we have not spent ALL of our time in the affluent parts of South Africa. Our dear friends, Jesse and Britlese Thomas--who were engaged and spent their first 4 months of marriage here!--set us up with an incredible visit to a ministry called The Warehouse in Cape Town. The Warehouse is a dynamic ministry that strategically partners with local churches in a variety of ministries, including, but not limited to, working with youth in gangs, AIDS victims, orphans and distributing resources from rich churches to poor churches. Their work predominately focuses on facilitating ministry in the townships. We had the opportunity to eat lunch with The Warehouse's founder, Craig, who introduced us to a memorable Braai in a neighboring township. This is an astounding ministry. (For those unsure of what townships are, see the Wikipedia article. Essentially, these were very underserved areas specifically designated for blacks and coloreds under the Apartheid government. A photo of Gugulethu, one of Cape Town's many townships, is posted above. Although Apartheid is no longer in place, the sprawling--and mostly very poor--townships remain.)

While in Cape Town we also visited Kanisa Church in Gugulethu with our host, Harry. Kanisa Church is my idea of the Kingdom of God on earth, consisting of a community of blacks, browns and whites (a rare site in SA). We would love to send a delegation from our church in Chicago to visit Kanisa as we, too, are trying to be a people of many nations in Chicago and would have much to learn from them. Kanisa's worship songs and sermons were translated either into English from Xhosa or vice versa and this all went very smoothly. After church we were invited to have lunch and a "cool drink" (=South African English for soda) in a black "mama's" house (yes, they are called mamas!). Mama Pumi treated us to potato salad, beets and ice cream, showing extraordinary kindness that clearly reflected her respect for Harry, who leads her weekly Bible study.

We were both inspired by these ministries and hope to visit again in the future.

Postcards from South Africa 03.10.11

On our final night in Cape Town, Harry treated us to a magical picnic at Landudno beach. We sat here for a few hours, watching the sun set amidst two ongoing photo shoots, dozens of families playing in the waves, and others enjoying similarly well planned picnic dinners.


This was definitely an evening to remember. It provided us with a good, calm atmosphere to process all we'd seen, including:

beautiful beaches
townships
churches
ministries
mountains
injustice
generosity
sunsets
penguins
history
...and so very much more.

On a lighter note, the famous "Sandy's Beach" was just next door. Clothing optional. Just sayin'.

Postcards from South Africa 03.09.11

We wouldn't be the Straits if we didn't make a point to visit every major university in our touring vicinity. We enjoyed a stroll through University of Stellenbosch's campus prior to eating dinner downtown on our last evening in wine country. The views are spectacular, and we can't imagine how students get any work done with so much to do within a 20 minute radius.

Given how cheap bottles of wine are here, we figure that hosts provide wine vats instead of beer kegs at parties. Seriously. Just a few dollars a bottle, in many cases, and it tastes leagues better than two-buck chuck!

Postcards from South Africa 03.08.11

Wine tasting, round two! We visited Fairview Wine estates, which was located between Wellington and Franschhoek. It is known for both its wines and its cheeses--especially goat cheeses. We signed up for the wine and cheese tasting, and Drew was a little excited by the end... those little sips of wine can really catch up with you!


We purchased a few bottles before leaving and can't wait to share them Stateside. It's a good thing you can only take four bottles through customs or our suitcases would be precariously full.

Postcards from South Africa 03.07.11

As mentioned in a previous post, the whole camping idea didn't work out so well for us... it's actually a pretty funny story when told in person... but we were so blessed to get an amazing deal at a bed & breakfast in Wellington, a total hole-in-the-wall town in wine country. After a long and sweaty car ride, we were absolutely jazzed to be able to take a shower, eat dinner at a nearby pub and float in a backyard pool under the bright southern stars, all while being kept guard by a huge (though snuggly) German Shepherd.

For your enjoyment, just a few shots of our balcony (the room being through the visible door).






And this is how Drew likes to spend his "time off." You can usually hear Dana whining in the background: "Can we PLAY yet??!" I'm so proud of my hard working guy!

Postcards from South Africa 03.06.11

We spent a lovely handful of hours wandering around Franschhoek, a romantic town in wine country known for its high-end restaurants and beautiful scenery. We may not have frequented the restaurants, but we did enjoy a satiating espresso. Believe it or not, we got a bit of work done while sitting in our cafe of choice.


Beautiful, no??

Postcards from South Africa 03.05.11

We took two days to explore the wine country and mountain passes just east of Cape Town. That first day featured driving through random towns in a valiant effort to secure a campsite before dark. We failed miserably and ended up begging for a room at a Bed & Breakfast, but enjoyed the drive through vineyards and up Bainskloof Pass, which we happened to enter right at sunset. We had no idea that there were such striking mountain passes here! The next morning we bought food for a picnic and returned to the pass to breathe in the mountain air and enjoy the view.




It was SO HOT! We quickly understood the importance of these "stop for shade here!" signs.

Our picnic, overlooking the valley and tiny town called "Wellington" (where we stayed overnight).

One of the historic plaques at the top of the pass explained its story. Pretty amazing, actually. The current road has been unchanged since its original construction back in the 1800s other than repaving.

Postcards from South Africa 03.04.11

We drove up Signal Hill one night to enjoy the sunset. We found a little spot away from the rest of the tourists to enjoy the stunning view of Table Mountain and the sunset progression. Just to our right lay Robbin Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned during Apartheid.

Postcards from South Africa 03.03.11

Harry took us to Moyo's, a cultural restaurant in Stellenbosch, for a lazy Saturday lunch. This place was great, and prior to eating you get your face painted with traditional Zulu face art. The food was buffet-style and offered pretty much every crazy meat that you can imagine.

Afterward we went next door to the cheetah preserve and were able to actually PET one! These animals are fascinating (they date back to pre-ice age, being one of the most evolutionarily ancient mammals on earth). The preserve works hard to increase cheetah health and population in South Africa and beyond.

Postcards from South Africa 03.02.11

Just a day driving around the Cape.

It took Drew a number of times out on the road to get used to driving on the "wrong" side. Shifting with his left hand is smooth now, but we still look both ways multiple times before pulling out into a busy intersection!

We didn't have a GPS in Cape Town so spent the week navigating maps. At first I had no idea what to do with the blasted things, but by the end of the week I was ready to trade maps in for GPS systems, hands down. Drew appreciated my new-found navigational confidence, as we didn't get lost once!

These baboon signs were everywhere, and for good reason. Our friends saw a baboon get mad at a group of Japanese tourists and hop in their car, locking the doors behind it and laughing hysterically. They're smart creatures, all right!

A typical passenger's seat view. "What a privilege," we kept saying, "that we get to experience this!" We felt blessed all week long.



At the end of this day we drove by the main World Cup stadium in CT (where the opening ceremonies were held).

Postcards from South Africa 03.01.11

One of our favorite mornings in Cape Town was spent with our host, Harry Beyleveld, at Groot Constantia, a historic wine estate founded in 1685. We did a full tour of the winery, which included a tasting of five different wines. What a delight!


Dana and Harry getting ready to taste.

The wine estate is surrounded by Table Mountain National Park. Incredible!

Driving through the wine fields of Constantia.