Afrikanos - 11/02/2012

A beautiful African day 

Afrikanos Pool

BEN - Today was a pretty lax day at the backpacker’s.  After breakfast, Gabby and I were able to finish our mosaic table, and it looks beautiful.  It will surely be a prized artifact for backpackers to marvel at for decades to come.  At lunch time Corinne, Gabby, and I decided to go try out Lenmore’s, the local store/restaurant that is just a few minutes walk down the road.  We ordered tramazzinis, our favorite foccacia and mozzarella sandwiches, and wolfed them down hungrily.  The entire Alderman family was off doing this and that in the afternoon, so the three of us held down the fort at reception; which actually meant lazing on the front lawn in the sun and reading.  I was actually able to finish painting the final door frame before joining in the tanning session.  Eventually guests started arriving and we met two Dutch guys who had been working in Khayelitsha for 3 months, and knew of the orphanage Gabby volunteered in while she was studying abroad there.  We bonded over this and made friends with them quickly.  It turned out that it was one of their birthdays, so we decided to go to the local farmer’s bar which was notorious for rednecked, beer-bellied locals with mullets.  Corinne, Sarel, Kait, the 2 Dutch guys, the 2 German volunteers, two other random guests, Gabby and I all crammed into the small and drove to the Addo hotspot, Afrikanos.  We walked in to find a completely empty bar.  “No stress” (a Sarel-ism) we would just have to start our own party.  We hung out, had a few drinks, and played a lot of pool all enjoying each others' company and having a blast.  Eventually three locals about my age came over and started talking to me.  Two of them were pretty cool, and had actually traveled the States a bit.  The third was a pompous ass who was obviously very wealthy and could only talk about his multiple houses and seemingly endless riches.  All three of the guys were sons of, or owners of some of the big citrus farms in the area.  The Addo Valley is one of the biggest citrus producing areas in the world, but almost all of it (about 90%) is exported to Europe, making many rich Afrikaners in the valley.  After becoming sick of their douche-baggery, we decided to head back to the backpackers.  Somehow the 3 Afrikaners got invited to come along for a coconut bonfire.  We hung out for a bit before calling it a night and retreating to our white concrete palace.

Date Night - 11/01/12

GABBY - We all woke up a little worse for the wear after our Halloween night of drinking games.  What better to cure a hangover than to sand and repaint door frames.  Sarel, Kait, Ben and I began sanding each of the inside doorways in order for them to be repainted.  Cheryl said, “It’s been 18 years, I’d say it’s about time.”  We sanded, painted and rocked out to the entire CD of Mumford and Sons until we called a quits for lunch.  Ben and I decided to make a dumbed down version of our intense-avo sandwiches.  We made ones with egg, cheese, and sweet Thai chili sauce.  We continued to work on the doors for the rest of the afternoon until about 5:00.  We went with Sarel to grab some gas for the Condor.  We made it to the parking lot until Sarel shouted that we had run completely out of petrol and that he hopes we make it to the pump on the last bit.  We didn’t, so he told Ben and me to hop out and push.  I jumped out first and began pushing the truck with all my might.  Ben came to join me.  While both of us were pushing, Sarel stepped on the gas and went speeding ahead to one of the pumps.  The idiot really got us good.  There was a huge line of people waiting for the ATM, that found his trick most amusing.  We have to get him back somehow.  During the day, Ben had the idea of going on a date tonight.  We don’t really get too much of our own time here anymore, and we both miss just being together sometimes.  The only place we can really go to is Hazel’s Organic Kitchen, which is just next door.  We can’t drive anywhere because neither of us can drive manual.  It’s been a real pain in the ass to not have that skill.  Anyway, we informed John and Cheryl that we were not going to be joining the family for dinner, so we each took showers and I got into the only dress I brought.  A real treat!  I also put on some make up and looked like a totally different girl to the one who had paint in her hair, and sandpaper in her hands only a couple hours before.  We walked into the restaurant (I sneakily made a reservation before) and sat at our reserved table.  Corinne was our waitress and started us off with a bottle of wine.  We also went with the hummus and homemade sweet potato bread starter, which was to die for.   I plan on going back just to order that again.  The restaurant serves a lot of different local meats such as kudu, impala, ostrich, warthog, chicken, and springbok.  Corinne highly recommended the Thai curry, so we split that and the ostrich steak.  Holy yum city!  Hazel has a serious gift for cooking.  Everything tastes so fresh with the vegetables picked directly from their garden outside and is cooked to perfection.  The ostrich was not over or undercooked, but was tender and lean.  The Thai curry was just spicy enough for me and Ben.  We continued to gorge ourselves on the apple cake dessert.  We ordered everything for $40.00.  A bottle of wine would be that much in the States.  We enjoyed a romantic meal filled with lively conversation and frequent laughter.  It’s good to know that our date nights are fresher than ever.