a birthday

... when roddy asked if there were any request on where we should be for my birthday, i said ' i'd like to be either somewhere i can go out hiking in the morning, or somewhere with internet so i can call home'. i got neither... i got a afrikaner's club/resort out in the middle of no where. i was surrounded by tons of greying caravan-totting, heated- pool-loving, white south africans. it was a cultural experience to put it lightly...
 

example: rachel and i politely chatting to someone at the heated wading pool...
man: ' you're all from cape town?'
rachel: 'yes- it's a great place'
man: 'i have friends that say it's getting really bad there now...'
rachel: ' ...bad how?'

man: 'they say it's getting really gay.'
me: 'terrible!'

but with two little girls that love preparing 'secrets', and rachel excited to prepare me for life back in the states, what more could i ask for?? ...and really, i don't have anything against afrikaners (even if the men walk around in speedos meant for smaller-shaped bodies and the women have 'flattop' haircuts). the old couple staying next to my tent were amazing- when they heard 'happy birthday' being sung to me in the morning, the wife rushed over with some home-made chocolate romany creams. if she knew how to cook anything without meat at the center of it, i'm sure she would have wanted to make me a full meal!



so for my birthday, i was kitted out with garlic peri-peri sauce, two different types of marsala spices, and a set of enamel bowls and coffee mugs (very much like these). we had scones, yogurt and fruit salad (and chocolate romany creams) for breakfast, and ice cream and a chocolate swiss-roll covered in mashed bananas and strawberries for cake after lunch. i should also add the two-liter jug of tussenberg's wine (aka 'tussies', the mix of left-over wines of wineries poured into one jug) to the list.



my gift to myself was watching the pirated copies of 'fantastic mr fox' and 'up' that i got in nairobi. if you haven't seen both of these films, do so now.... right now.
 

and thank yous out to my family and many friends that emailed, facebooked, called, or otherwise sent me messages on my birthday... i owe you all the world.
 

and if you want a little video fun, give a look to the video i made for a friend for her birthday (in response to her video for me)



now in johannesburg, and i cannot believe how little of the grand adventure is left. but between jo'burg and cape town, i still have a lot of ground to cover and things to do!!!

cheers to 44 days!

hope all is well,

tbk