Friday was a fantastically quiet day at the clinic, mostly because it was a Staff Wellness day which consisted of no clients, and staff getting free eye exams, pap smears, dietician visits, dentist, breast exams and a free pilates class in which I was volunteered to demonstrate a few poses, it was awkward, suffice it to say. We then headed to the super classy Indaba Hotel where we watched our food get cold as we participated in a treasure hunt. Participate is too strong of a word, I should probably say we “cheated/pushed/pilfered” our way through a treasure hunt which consisted of 6 teams running around the hotel grounds trying to decipher clues in the pouring rain. It sadly ended with no one winning as every group was cheating and stealing the other teams’ clues. Fantastic. It was ridiculously funny, and I walked away with a sassy new Right to Care baseball hat and an I Love You mug, so I was pretty stoked.
Saturday afternoon was spent getting scary lost in downtown Joburg as we headed to meet our BC gals, Katherine and Guerdine. Luckily we made it and although we were a bit shaken, now we know which routes not to take. We had bagel sandwiches at the Chalkboard cafe before checking out a film at the Jozi Film Festival, entitled “RFK In the Land of Apartheid”, which featured documentary snippets of Bobby Kennedy’s visit to South Africa in 1968 for five days. I’m a sucker for Kennedys so I loved it, and we hit up a snazzy coffeeshop at the Arts on Main building afterwards. It was so great to see them, especially since I’ve been worried about them and the somewhat rough area in which they’re living. Their experience seems to be rather different than ours, as they rely on the buses and local taxi’s and mostly stay in the downtown area, which doesn’t have the most pristine reputation. I’m hoping to show them some of the hotspots we’ve found thus far and to give them perhaps a different perspective of Joburg.
I’m sure you’re so intrigued by “hotpants” in the title of this post, and I don’t blame you. Lauren and I felt super popular as we were invited to a disco-themed birthday party of one of Dillon’s buds that we met at a swanky jazz night on Thursday. Clearly I made a disco play list, tried to find the most Saturday Night Fever appropriate dress, and ended up having a sheer blast. Met lots of lovely new people, saw some people I’ve already met who made me feel entirely welcome and not like the loser American in the corner by herself (that never happened, I was too busy boogie oogie oogie-ing to Bee Gee hits).
Sunday was one of those epically gorgeous days that just makes you want to pause and take thousands of mental pictures for when you’re stuck in a nor’easter waiting for the T and hating your frozen life. We somehow found the Joburg Botanical Gardens where there was a heavenly rose garden with loads of fountains and people picnicking near them, soaking up the sun. We then saw The Descendants in which I of course cried but thoroughly enjoyed.Lovely lovely weekend in the sun, basically.
This week promises to be filled with more HIV counseling, training, Valentine’s Day outings and other adventures. Woo woo!
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