The morning view as I drew open my hotel room curtains was one of a very grey looking sky. It wasn't raining, but looked like it could at any moment. I got ready to go for breakfast, grabbing the bag of birthday goodies that I had purchased before, at Checkers, the nearby grocery store chain. Today was the day that two of our team were celebrating birthdays! Upon getting to the dining room, most people had arrived before the guests of honour, so I handed out party hats while Marilyn put candles on the two cakes for the birthday boys, and we prepared for the celebration.
Jose was the first of the honourees to appear, so we put a hat on his head, and we all broke out into a boisterous singing rendition of "Happy birthday", while he blew out the flaming candles and we pelted him with streamers. Jose was very surprised, which made the whole thing even more fun.
The next birthday boy, Joedy, appeared shortly after all of the first commotion. We quickly repeated the serenade of "Happy birthday", and managed to surprise him also. The guys he was out with the night before got a bit of a lead on congratulation Joedy, by waiting till midnight to celebrate, but Joedy had no idea that the whole group was going to throw him a birthday breakfast party. It was also funny that neither Joedy nor Jose knew that their birthdays were on the same day.
This day was not only a double birthday, but was also Good Friday, and the beginning of an extra long holiday weekend. 9 of us were going to fly to Cape Town in the afternoon, and the remaining 4 were planning multiple day trips from Bloem over the next 4 days. I returned to my room to pack my knapsack to be ready to head to the airport in Bloem. We were booked in to take a Mango flight, and Paola and I were going to share a room. We had booked tickets for Table Mountain and Robben Island, two must-see attractions, and we were very excited about that.
At the Bram Fisher Airport, there were some interesting tiled sculptures, of people and also a lizard, that I really liked. Even the sculpted suitcases strewn around the sculpted passengers were tiled.
After getting checked in at the airport, the next task at hand was to wait, chatting with a Mugg and Beans coffee. Their sizing is a bit different from what we have in Canada; instead of small, medium, or large, their coffee sizes were Short, Easy, and Serious. While I am a 'short' coffee drinker, we had some takers that were 'serious'.
We got comfortable on the lounge chairs they had there, with the typical scene of a room filled with people, all checking their mobile devices or talking on their phones. Of course there was conversation and laughter also, but most people had their phone within quick access, a sure sign of the times.
The flight wasn't too long, although there was some turbulence, which is always a bit unnerving, but we made it safely and that is ultimately the measure of success of flying.
We reached the hotel, The Southern Sun Cullinan, and it was most grand! Outside were blooming bird of paradise flowers (I love the vibrant and deep colours!), and inside was a beautiful foyer, with generous bowls of chocolate Easter chicks, fancy triple layered juice mocktails, and a welcoming staff, ready to check us in.
Paola and I were on the 15th floor, the top, and the view was spectacular. The view offered wall to wall sunshine and clear skies over a very busy urban city centre, surrounded by majestic mountains covered with low shrubbery, with the exception of a few clusters of trees here and there.
We all checked in, and agreed to meet shortly in the hotel courtyard. The courtyard had a small dark-blue tiled pool, and tall palm trees that reached high into the deepest blue sky ever.
What a lovely spot to wait. I could feel relaxation settling in nicely. Ah!
Mark, Joedy, and Mani decided to test the courtyard lounges... that looked like a very tough job (not!).
Once we all gathered from our respective rooms, the first order of business was to walk the short distance to the waterfront.
It was easy to find, with a tall ferris wheel serving as a 'North Star', to guide us. We stopped for a 'quick' beverage at one of the pubs at the waterfront, although 'quick' was not really what it turned out to be. This was yet another reinforcement of the lesson for us to understand that time in South Africa is a bit different, and takes more time, especially for our meals and service. It was pleasant service, just not fast.
Nonetheless, this gave us more time to people watch, and the waterfront was a great place to do that. Talk about hustling and bustling! There were lots of people, lots of characters too, I might add, and lots of bikers, who had parked their motorcycles everywhere.
My beverage of choice was a ginger beer... they didn't have the dragon one that I tried last night, so I chose Crabbie's, which the bottle said was from Edinburg.
It was quite different, very gingery as promised, and had an elephant on the label, which was a nice touch. After we finished and paid for our refreshments, and we left to explore other areas of the waterfront, including a very busy indoor food market which was packed with vendors selling all kinds of food, from Chinese, to Dutch, to African, of course! We checked out all that was offered, and decided to see what else was available elsewhere before deciding on supper. We exited the food market, out onto the busy waterfront complex of shops and restaurants.
My husband, who was back at home taking care of our dog while I was on my project here in South Africa, he had decided to start his own blog "While Deb's Away..." and he was posting pictures of him trying out new pickup trucks, and trying to decide on which model to buy while I was away. All this was done for my benefit, of trying to make me nervous about his potential big purchase while I was not around to stop him.
Not to be outdone, I hammed it up at the waterfront, posing for pics with new expensive sports cars, a huge boat, and a fabulous hotel, with the understanding that if HE was going to buy a new vehicle, I could also do my fair share of big ticket item shopping too!
As we continued to explore the outdoor offerings the sun began to set, with the cooler night air putting a chill in us, so that helped us to decide on a restaurant with an outdoor patio with heat lamps. There were so many heat lamps, that we joked about putting on sunscreen and sunglasses, as we were sure to get a tan while eating under those bright lights! Some of our group decided to seek out a vegetarian eatery instead, so it made things easier for the rest of us to get into this one, which was quite busy. The funny thing was, that Andrea from our group had phoned earlier to try to get a reservation at this very place, and was told that the place was booked solid. Lesson learned: try anyway, in person, even if you were told no on the phone.
We were seated under the red glow from the lamps, and started perusing the menu. We decided on appetizers, and beverages (sparkling water for me), and there was a lot of discussion over our main course decisions. I decided to get brave, and order some eland as my main course.
Eland is one of the native deer-like animals in this wonderful country, and I figured that I may as well try some native meat while here. Paola asked if she could try some, and I was happy to agree to that.
Dave ordered a beer called "Bone Crusher Darling Brew", which the label described as being inspired by the Spotted Hyena, a misunderstood creature. It went on to say that it was a Wit beer with a candy nose aroma with hints of coriander and orange peel; with that description I was tempted to try one, but stuck with my sparkling water.
Time was passing, as time does here, slowly, and we were enjoying conversing and laughing in the warmth of the heat lamps, and happy to not be directly in the cold, and now dark night air. Then suddenly without warning, we found ourselves suddenly in darkness, and everyone stopped talking for a split moment, trying to comprehend what happened. What happened was that the power went out!
It started to get cold right away, and as we sat there wondering if our meal was going to be served in the darkness, the waiter came over and said that the kitchen would be closing, and no more food would be served. Oh, and could we please pay for our beverages and appetizers before the wireless credit card payment machines lost power. The waiter said that when this happened, loss of power, there was no guarantee of if or when it would come back on, so their policy was to just shut down until the power came on again.
Some of our group had ordered a bottle of wine, and still had a lot left in the bottle, so they decided to recap it, and take it with them, after all, they had paid for it. It was getting late, and we were getting quite hungry, and miraculously much of the main building of restaurants still did have power, so we decided to go for one of those, and settled on Ocean Basket. We made our way through the crowds in the mall-type building, and went to the second floor only to approach the restaurant just as it was closing! Oy! Now what?
Our group split off with some people going for a fish and chips place, and I, along with some others ordered some rice and chicken from Simply Asia Thai Food. It seemed to take forever yet again (minutes on an empty stomach can seem like hours), and we waited for the lights on our notification gadget to light up. A couple of our group who ordered right after me were told to not leave the counter area, as there was no light buzzer that worked, to give to them.
Eventually we all got our food (the last two orders we thought would never get here!), and we assembled with our respective 'fast' food meals at a high counter with stools. Not to miss out on the wine that had been opened back at eatery #1, out came the bottle, the wine was poured into a couple of paper Coke cups, and there was a friendly and relieved toast made to our improvisational, and definitely not eland supper, while some of us had soft drinks and others enjoyed their red wine.
Not lingering too much over our 'food', we headed back to the hotel in a cab, to call it a day. Now here's the thing. We were staying in the Southern Sun Cullinan. Just behind this hotel was the Southern Sun Waterfront. One of our group called out to the driver that we were at the Waterfront hotel, and as we made the 5 minute drive there, upon turning into the hotel, we all recognized that this was not the right one. The driver obliged, and drove us around to the parallel street to leave us at the front door of the Cullinan. So a good rule to go with is to always know exactly which hotel you are staying at... know the full name of the hotel that is... in case there are two named similarly. And before you go thinking that would never happen anywhere else, I had this very same experience last summer when my husband and I vacationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They have two hotels by the same chain within 10 metres of each other. Hopefully I will wise up for the next time I stay at a hotel, and ensure that I know the correct name and exact location.
We said our goodbyes in the lobby, and I went to my room, tired from the day's adventures, but very happy to be doing all of this fun stuff, with awesome people, in this incredible place. It still seems surreal that I am here in South Africa.
With one final look at the pretty city lights in the night, I closed the curtains, and snuggled down in my bed with a full tummy, to dream about what adventures we would have tomorrow.
Today, after work, we agreed as a group to arrange for a driver to take us to see some of the local sights here in Bloemfontein. One of the recommendations was to see Naval Hill, a beautiful large park that has free admission, that allows you to walk all over a hilled park that is quite large (250 hectare) and is also a game reserve. As we drove into the park, and up the narrow paved road to the top of the hill, our driver pulled over and stopped when we came across two beautiful giraffes close by. We piled out of the van, and thoroughly enjoyed getting as close as we could to them, taking selfies, individual photos, and group photos.
This was a truly magical moment that I had not anticipated, which made it even more special. As I write this at the end of the day, I am still marveling at being so close to them in an open area, with no fences restricting them from us. As we inched closer, they started to move away; I suspect they would have appreciated some fences, as we tried to move next to them, slowly. They were having none of that, and so we followed them for a bit, walking with the giraffes, until they moved far enough away that we decided to stop following, as they were clearly wanting to keep some space between them and us. It was so nice to experience that walk, even if it was only for a short time.
We made our way back to the van, and continued driving up the hill, to a huge 8 metre high statue of Nelson Mandela at the top.
This monument is really huge, and is by the same artist as the one in Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg. Of course there were many people there, also taking photos of this wonderful statue, and I was able to do the good deed of taking a couple of photos for a young couple who were there at the same time as our group. I thought at first, that they wanted me to get the whole statue in, with them, but it is so very big that you could not see them very well. I called them to see the first photo I took of them, and the gentleman wasn't thrilled, I could tell. (We did not speak the same language.) He focused his camera on his girlfriend, standing at Mandela's foot, and then he handed me his camera, and ran to her to pose while I clicked a few more shots. He was much happier with the second round of results.
Where the statue is, you can look out in all directions, upon the city of Bloemfontein which is quite expansive. We had a clear view and could see as far as the eye could possibly see, and we watched as some very distant clouds were beginning to move in on our beautiful blue sky. The temperature was very pleasant; I only had short sleeves and capris, and I was very comfortable.
We began walking down the hill, along the park road, and saw many other interesting sights, including a tiny gekko, some saw a scorpion, our driver looked for a snake, and I enjoyed the varied plant life, including a large bush that looked like rosemary, another with huge spiny thorns, and some tiny wild flowers sprinkled around.
We eventually came across some gnus, zebras, and some sort of an antelope or gazelle, standing in a herd nearby. We started walking across the field towards them (of course!) to get some photos. They only tolerated a certain proximity, which of course was not the same proximity as what we wanted, and as we slowly walked, so did they.
As we walked through the short grass and brush, I could feel the tops of my feet feeling prickles, like someone was lightly picking the tops of my feet with pins. A few others also experienced a similar sensation, and on people's dark shoes, we could see that there were tiny fragile burrs of different shapes. They seemed to get picked up as we walked through the grass and other plants, and they worked themselves directly in through the shoe surface. My 'prickles' soon stopped as I walked (perhaps my feet became numbed); later in the evening when I was back at my hotel room, I carefully examined my socks and runners, and pulled several burrs from them. It is amazing that such fine and delicate structures could be so strong and cause such discomfort. I snapped a quick pick of some of the collection on my desktop surface, for posterity.
Continuing our walk through the fields, we carried on in our exploration of the park, slowly moving, and occassionally stopping to enjoy the wildlife that was so close to us. At one point, the animals seemed to be getting a bit more comfortable with our presence, and a couple of zebras started to romp around, playing (or potentially wanting to mate or fight... we weren't sure). It was a joy to watch them. One of the great bonuses of being in this park, was that we could be so close to these animals and not worry about lions, or other predators, as there were none around with this reserve's confines. When coming for this trip to South Africa, it looked like I would not be able to do a safari, and I was disappointed about that, but to me, this was even better, being able to walk among animals like this, and even better, do it safely.
Eventually, we could see lightning and dark clouds getting closer, and I could smell the rain. We decided to head back to the van, and check out another place that we were told about. The sky above the planetarium at Naval Hill Park looked quite ominous.
En route, we passed through a section of town that would have been very interesting to walk through, but we were not permitted due to our work assignment rules of where we are allowed to go, as this was in a market area of downtown, and was packed with vendors and people shopping in the market. There was a shoe maker, for instance, making shoes in the street, fruits and vegetables, all kinds of goods and wares, and seemed to be very popular with the local people. And, of course, lots of pickup trucks loaded with people riding in the back.
We eventually made our way to the National Women's Memorial, which is the first monument in the world that is dedicated to women and children. Thousands of blacks and whites died in the concentration camps, mostly women and children. The main monument is a plinth which is similar in appearance from afar to the Washington Monument in the U.S. Also on the grounds was a commemorative Japanese memorial garden; the walkways were lined with stone walls, with the names of those who perished, engraved in granite. It was very moving to be surrounded by so many names, and think about the people whom were represented by those names, and the hardships that they went through.
After walking through the pathways of the garden, our group assembled at the main monument, and then continued to explore the grounds of this very special place. The museum was closed, as we had arrived at 5, but we stopped to read the interesting information posted. Of particular interest to me was a large outdoor sculpture of a ball of yarn and giant knitting needles. The 'ball of yarn' was made from barbed wire, and was to commemorate the women in the concentration camps.
Our driver was exploring this amazing place with us, and he found a tractor, which he immediately ran to, and sat on, bouncing in the seat, pretending to be driving in the furrows of a field, oblivious to us in the distance, as he escaped to a time when he enjoyed working on a farm. He shared with me that he loved that time, working with the earth in the fields, and much preferred it over life in the city as a driver on roads. He was very engaging as he told me about how he loved to be in the fields and hear the lions roaring in the distance. I expressed surprise, and he said that it was common, and he loved that sound. When I told him that we had no lions roaming in the fields in Canada, he could not believe it. In fact, he was sure I was teasing him; how could we not have lions roaming about?!? He said he could not imagine that the world did not have lions in the fields. Isn't it incredible, how one person's 'normal' is another person's 'impossible'.
We came across an old steam engine train on exhibit, and a graveyard with commemorative cast grave markers. The grave markers have been stolen over the years, due to their value of the the metal, and so I think these were reproductions, and yes, they still continue to be stolen, and are hence surrounded in a compound of fencing and barbed wire.
We finally finished our exploration of this interesting place, and were getting hungry, so we went to a place that was recommended to us, named Seven.
It was quite interesting, and most people enjoyed the food there. I most enjoyed the ambience and the company. Oh, and I loved the beaded flower centrepieces, representative of the nation's flower, the protea.
After a fun meal, we climbed once more into our transport vehicle, and headed home. As I get ready to fall into bed, I am amazed at all that we saw and did, after a full day of work, here in Bloem. We walked in an incredible park with wildlife, we visited a thought-provoking memorial park, and we topped it off with a fabulous late dinner. And yet, I remember someone outside of our group asking us, What on earth will you be doing in Bloem?
If I could now answer that, I would say What aren't we doing in Bloem?!
What an incredible trip. I highly recommend it. What a day.
This morning I awoke to yet another beautiful sunny day, that is nice and warm and not overly hot. I would liken this weather to a typical Ontario summer day, with a lovely breeze. Although rain was nearby, and the clouds did roll in during the afternoon, the rain did not fall in our location.
Breakfast at this hotel, is a generous and diverse offering; this morning I had oatmeal with banana chips and coconut flakes, a sausage, a slice of French toast, watermelon slices, and wonderful coffee.
The hotel staff are very friendly and keep things plentiful at the buffet. After an enjoyable breakfast, our team met in the hotel lobby, and I noticed that the man with the gun was gone. One of my colleagues mentioned that there may have been a dignitary staying at the hotel, and that was likely the reason for the dangerous looking guard.
Our group was safely loaded onto a van to drive us to our first hotel in this city, to work in that conference room again, as there was no availability at our current hotel. We were all within 5 minutes of our agreed meeting time, and off we went for our short ride, to the same conference room where we had been before. (For more details on our assignment, I encourage you to visit my other blog: https://debtempleton.wordpress.com).
Here, we researched all day, and had periodic discussions to share our findings.
At the hotel where we were for the day, there was a display in the lobby about raising money for buying shoes for students who cannot afford them. The shoes are made here in South Africa, and were to benefit the local students, and our team was very happy to be able to contribute enough funds to buy 10+ pairs!
We were pleased to be able to support the community children, and at the same time, support a manufacturer in this country. While not part of our assigned project, it felt good to be able to do this.
At the end of the day, 5 p.m., we were about to load onto the van, but the group really wanted to walk the 1 km back to the hotel. Marilyn generously rode in the van with our heavy laptop bags, while the rest of us enjoyed our short walk back to the hotel. We do not walk alone (one of the rules we must follow), and were quite safe as a group of 12 in the afternoon for the short walk. The greatest challenge for me was to ensure that I looked multiple times before crossing the road intersections, as traffic comes at me from the opposite direction than I am used to. A physics teacher I had in high school had retired, and traveled to Isle of Man, and was killed when crossing the road, due to not looking in the correct direction, as he was used to traffic coming from the left, not the right. That was sad to have died shortly after retiring, because of crossing the road. RIP Mr. Crozier, I will fondly remember you.
When we arrived at the lobby entrance, we stopped to briefly discuss who was doing what when for supper and the evening, and also discussed meeting at a time before breakfast to go for a run. For dinner, some wanted to meet at 7 p.m. but that is too late for me, especially having had so many late late dinners since arriving here. Three of us decided to meet in 20 minutes to go to the Mimosa Mall, and check out the grocery store. We made our way first to a telco shop, and while my colleagues were there, I meandered to the Games store next to it. It was like a department store, with everything from small appliances and bedding, to sports gear and toiletries. While there, I got a yoga mat that was on sale for 100 rand, which is less than 10$ CDN. I got some hairspray, and got something like Oxyclean, for my colleague who had given her laundry to be done, and had her nice white blouse returned with denim blue spots on it. It seemed like all her laundry was thrown in together (whites, colours), and her new denim jeans leached some blue onto other items. That made me glad that I had done my own laundry, but I felt bad for her having that happen. I rejoined them in the telco shop, then we proceeded down a level in the mall to the grocery store. I picked up a small greek salad, and a delicious spicy samosa that I will gladly order again. We took our food back to the hotel, and went to eat on the terrace outside, near the pool.
As it was sunset, and the evening was coming, birds were coming back to the trees which surrounded the pool, and their singing was loud and delightful. It was like the trees were chirping to us.
Soon after, the trees quieted as the birds slept, and we were left to enjoy ourselves in conversation about global aspects of our jobs and share personal stories, both sad and funny alike. I am thoroughly enjoying this team of people more and more as I come to know them; I have learned so much about different regions of the world, and cultural aspects, that are more meaningful as I hear about them from the very people who live in the various countries from around the world.
After my light supper, and a nice cup of tea with a ginger snap (from the hotel room coffee tray) and a Ghiradelli chocolate from my California colleague, I bid them good night and returned to my room, to catch up on my blogs, and get ready for my run the next day. Walking across the courtyard, I stopped to hear a cricket chirping; it has been a while since hearing that sound, as back home, there is still snow on the ground.
In my room, looking around, I realized that I did not pack my running shorts which I had set out in Canada. I will have to look for an inexpensive pair here, to join in running another day. It would be pretty cool to say that I ran in Africa.
And so this day ends, later than I wanted it to, but it's all good. Let's see what tomorrow brings.
Once more, after breakfast, our day started by packing up to move to what would be our destination hotel for the remainder of the month of our work assignment. It was a quick jaunt from where we were staying, so the trip wasn't too bad, it's just all the packing and unpacking that gets a bit tedious. When we pulled up to the hotel, it looked nice enough, and as per is the norm here, it was surrounded by a strong wrought iron fence, but what was shocking was the guy with the big gun standing at the front door!
(I took the photo from inside the hotel lobby, you can see him standing on the other side of the curtain in this photo.)
It was a bit unnerving wondering why this extra reinforcement was there and needed at our new digs. I wasn't sure if I should feel safer or feel a sense of more danger because of it.
We all checked in and quickly put our stuff away (again), then made our way to a conference room that was booked for us to work in.
It was a bit challenging, bypassing the lovely pool on such a grand day, to go work in a conference room, but there was much work to be done in a short time, so to work we went! Andrea from Switzerland helped to supplement our work by loading plates with Swiss chocolates to enjoy as we hunkered down.
At noon, we walked through a skywalk from our hotel directly into Mimosa Mall, which has some stores and restaurants. Most of us decided to eat at a European style cafe, and the food was excellent.
I ordered a hearty salad, which I devoured quite quickly. As a group, we would receive our bills for the meals, and our waiter drew a smiley face on the bill as a nice personal touch.
It is still an adjustment for me to see these prices and not think Canadian dollars! We divvied up our bill, and returned to our work back at the hotel.
Two of our colleagues were going to be celebrating birthdays (on the same day, no less!), so after work, a couple of us went to the grocery store (called Checkers) in the mall to find some celebratory items. Wouldn't you know, as we were picking party hats and candles, one of the birthday boys came by and started to talk to us about what we were buying at the store! It was all we could do to quickly make up a cover story (which he fell for, hook, line, and sinker!)
Exploring this grocery store was pretty close to how a typical grocery store is back home, including being charged for plastic bags if needed.
As I had finished my purchases first, I waited on the other side of the cashiers, for my colleagues. As they came through the cash, I took their photos, and there were a couple of clerks who posed for me to take their picture to, so I did. They were adorable. The people here are very friendly.
For dinner tonight, one of the restaurants in the mall is John Dory's, which specializes in fish and chips. It was Tuesday today, and they had a special of Hake (fish) and chips for 33 rand (about $3 CDN)! They also had a light lemon beer, like a lemon shandy called Pressed Lemon Flying Fish, for 17 rand, so I ordered that as my supper, which altogether cost me about $4.25 CDN.
Mark, Marilyn, and I enjoyed this Tuesday night special, then headed back to the hotel for the night.
It certainly is convenient having a walkway linked directly from our hotel to this mall. There are many shops, like a drug store, a currency exchange place, clothing shops, and so on. It is greatly appreciated that our organizers booked such convenient and comfortable amenities for us.
I am having a wonderful time here, despite the fact that there is a man with a big gun at the front door.
Today was a moving day. We had to repack our bags and head out to the Johannesburg airport in the morning to fly to Bloem, where we would be working on our respective projects. I managed to pack my bag successfully, no longer having the bulk of the gifts of t-shirts and tea towels in my load, as they had been distributed to the group earlier. We headed off to the airport, and managed to get checked in, when I was lucky enough that someone was looking over me (Mom?), as I had left my cell phone at the check-in desk (to show my flight number if needed). I was standing with a group of my colleagues about 5 minutes after that, having passed through security, when an airport staff member approached me and in her extended hand was my cell phone! I was so grateful, and so amazed, that a) it was returned to me, b) that she knew it was mine, and c) that she managed to find me in that busy airport! I gave her a big hug and my profound thanks. The funny thing was that when I had been talking with her earlier at her counter, she had been yawning, and I had jokingly laughed and offered to go get her a cup of coffee to wake up. She laughed, but then when she delivered my cell phone, I laughed and told her that apparently it was ME who needed the coffee to wake up and pay attention. She laughed with me about that, and rightfully agreed. Talk about a close call (no pun intended), when I think about how close I came to losing my phone... so much important information is now stored on our phones! Ah, the sense of relief I had at that moment! And, how lucky that I was spared the panic of knowing that my phone was missing... that would have been even worse.
On this bright sunny day, we boarded our flight, and I was lucky enough to have a window seat, so that I could enjoy watching the diverse terrain of this beautiful country as we flew over it. I took lots of pictures with my returned cell phone, and have many ideas that I hope to use in weaving, inspired from what I saw from the sky.
We landed in Bloem and caught transport to our initial hotel, Protea Hotel Bloemfontein, where we would be staying for one day before transferring to our main hotel. The reason for this layover and move was that there was no room at our destination hotel, until tomorrow, as today was a holiday Monday in this country.
Protea Hotel is named from protea, a flowering plant that is mentioned and pictured in many places in this country, including the airports, advertisements, and this hotel chain. Before coming here, I had never heard of a protea plant, but I have since come to love its diverse presentations (different colours and shapes) and beauty.
My room was quite nice, with lots of pillows and a fluffy duvet, and the hotel gardens were nicely manicured. We dropped off our stuff in our rooms, then met for lunch and then were sequestered into a board room to learn more about our projects and start our research work.
While we were at the hotel, we met some exceptional athletes. We met one woman who won 2 gold medals that day, at the South African national championships in track and field for disabled persons, being held this week in Bloemfontein.
She won the medals for shot put; this is truly incredible to me, as I struggled with that event in school when I tried it! Some of the athletes will be using this event to qualify for the Paralympics in Rio this summer. Our group was very honoured to meet these proud, disciplined, and enthusiastic athletes, and we wished them well in their future endeavours.
Tonight, our lead host was wanting to make our first night in Bloem special, and so he arranged for us to be transported to the waterfront, where there were some restaurants. Our work day had gone on quite long, so we actually didn't head out to supper until 8 pm; this is rather late for me, as my stomach likes food earlier, but I just rolled along with the rest of the bunch, and looked forward to our meal whenever it was to come.
We were seated outside on the waterfront patio of a large and empty franchised restaurant that had a good reputation. By the time we were all seated and had menus, it was now going on 8:30 pm. When looking at the menu (which had a LOT to choose from), there were some things I did not recognize like Madeira Fillet and Peri-Peri Chicken Livers.
Our waiter 'Raps' was enthusiastic and a real character, making us laugh as he took our drink orders.
The drink orders were filled, eventually, and Raps then instructed us that this was a Monday of a long weekend, and that they were out of a lot of the food on the menu. He instructed that we could only order from pages 3 and 4. Even though Madeira Fillet and Peri-Peri Chicken Livers were on those pages of permitted food, that didn't really resonate with me, so I asked for Mediterranean Chicken. Raps took our orders, after much fuss about what was available and what wasn't, and then he disappeared into the restaurant.
The evening air was very cool, so person by person, we started filtering inside to sit at a large table where it was warmer. Raps came back multiple times to tell us they were out of this and out of that, and orders had to be changed, some multiple times. After an hour, Raps came by yet again to take our orders! Our host was not impressed, and although we all had to laugh at the complete absurdity of this (taking our orders for at least a third time, and having nothing to eat after a full hour of waiting!), we would really have preferred to have some food. Any food.
The orders finally started coming out of the kitchen after 9:38 pm, and some orders were right, some orders were not, and some orders were missing. However, the company was great and we had fun. The food was okay when it finally came, but we were totally stumped about how this place was still in business, and knew that we would likely not be back again. (They even brought out some items that they said there were none of... now how could that be?)
In the end, we were fed (my Mediterranean Chicken became a Hamburger and Fries somehow), but our host was so upset by this 'disastrous dinner' (as he called it), that he paid for it on our behalf. What a gentleman. He did not have to do that, none of this was in his control, but he hoped to end the evening on a positive note. Three cheers for Jurie!
We loaded into our van and were transported back to our hotel (for one night), and I was so tired that I just fell into bed and was out like a light, so to speak. And so ended our day of moving for now; tomorrow more moving was expected.
Oh, I should mention that our colleague from Mexico, Paola, gave us a spicy candy treat called Tamarindo; it sure was spicy to me! Not quite like the angry duck, but still on the hot side.
It is a truly incredible experience to share this adventure with so many newly introduced colleagues from around the world, as we all learn about this country and each other, together.
