VISITORS

Speaking of visitors, Adrianne, my friend (little sister) who is a missionary in Joburg with her husband, was visited by her family, long time friends, the Showalters—Seth, her brother, and her two parents, David and Karen. It was super excellent to see them. I really enjoyed it. They rented a car (I offered to get one for them as it can be difficult to see Cape Town quickly without one). They spent a week in Joburg and a week in Cape Town and are now back in Joburg, today (Monday the 10^th of March) visiting the Apartheid Museum there. They did Kirstenbosch Gardens, Table Mountain, Camps Bay, Hout Bay, Stellenbosch and the vineyards, the Waterfront, Century City and Madame Zingara’s, Africa Café, Simon’s Town and the penguins, the Aquarium, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Whew! They worked hard. David even read Mandela’s historical “Long Walk to Freedom” while here (wow!); Adrianne has been reading it (she always corrects inaccuracies with my e-mail; she’s a sociologist). Unfortunately when the day came for them to go to Robben Island, the Robben Island tour boat trips were canceled (the 9, the 11, the 1, and the 3 o’clock). It was super sad. I think they would have enjoyed that as a highlight of their trip because they were very interested in the social dynamics, history, and the human geography of this country.

My friend Mark Little, who classifies beard (beard toxicologist), would definitely call Seth’s beard 3-dimensional. He could tickle you from across the table and never lift a finger. It was good to see him. He has a new real estate company he’s running. And he’s looking for a good agent.

A(u)dri asked me to invite some friends because they had booked too many seats for Madame Zingara’s restaurant. I did. Little did I know that it was a dream come true for Takalani and Bronwyn. Bronwyn was just telling her mom that all she wanted was just to go out for an amazing time and eat some amazing food in a really nice restaurant. And then I called. Takalani couldn’t believe he was eating in a restaurant listed in Top Billing (TV show about fancy stuff) as one of the top 10 places to eat. It’s a cool restaurant, and I would love to work there with proper time and transportation. It’s like a mini-Cirque du Soleil with dinner held in a tent. The restaurant burned down about two years ago (I think), so with some help of friends and another company they created a tent, and this tent travels between Joburg and Durban. They were supposed to leave in January/December, but they extended the Cape Town part through May. So if you come, make sure you check it out while you can. So it was a great time with great food. Jeannie thought my breath was foul (it was this thick lamb sauce that sticks in your mouth I promise) so she gave everyone breath mints. I took mine with gusto relishing in the hint.

The acts were dazzling and one was comedic. It was fun. At the end it turned into a great big dance party. Adrianne and I went to the center for everyone to watch the Americans "show ‘em how we do it.” They thought I was Montell Jordan (is that his name?).

So the Showalters were very generous the entire time and included me like family when I could meet them up. So I enjoyed it thoroughly. We laughed SOOOOO much. And I always enjoy that and miss that when I’m with people that don’t laugh so much. I’ve included some pictures of our time.