The Journey Inward

It was nice to get to the end of the week and then a busy weekend! Told in pictures…

Row 1: a sweet doodle from a student, the sweet moon over my house, and I forwarded this communication from the my doctor’s office to my colleagues who have shared in my tired/impatience to validate we have a thing called February fatigue.

Row 2: I drove to Joburg to play TENNIS with my friend, Raj under a beautiful sky. We had the best time over dinner with him quizzing me on 80s songs. He would play a song and I could sing 96% of them. He said he was shocked that a white girl from the US knew all this black and colored music that he listened to growing up. Again, such interesting conversations, this time about pop culture in the 80s and 90s and how much America influenced what was popular here.

Rows 3-5: Katzy’s 80’s dj night club in Joburg. We went there after tennis and dinner and danced all night!! I didn’t leave until 1:15 am! I LOVED it there! Raj is an excellent dancer and taught me so much!

Row 5 end: G3 stayed with G2 after docking in SD and had some puppy snuggle time

Row 6: I spent so much time thinking about what to bring with me and not considering how much fun I would have buying clothes here. This orange dress was a favorite…from the color to the pattern to the fit. I also bought this fun vest that I wore to a night out at blos. And the gray blending feeling pretty good.

Row 7: Gripe Water is possibly my favorite name for a product here now, a Shutterfly 4 year ago throwback and the event I went to at blos.

Row 8: blos night pictures of Julia, Maria and Raj. Such interesting views on politics from an Afrikaner, two Greeks and an Indian. I really appreciated their sharing and comparing.

Row 9: the latest on my painting

Row 10: After the event, we went to dinner and then went to dance at a club, but there was a terrible comedian and we only stayed a bit. Billy Jean is G3’s nickname so thought she’d enjoy this video.

Starting fresh for the second part.

Rows 1-4: Walter came over to help me clean my braai (noun: grill) so we could braai (verb: barbecue). Despite the grime and rust, it came out great! The flowers were left over from my birthday and are getting a bit funky, so the picnic table was the perfect place. I hadn’t seen Walter since we went to Pilanesberg in November between my December/January travel and his Jan-March travel for work. He brought chicken and lamb and I bought some nice cuts of beef from BOMA, as well as a few side dishes, plus I made mushrooms and brussels. It was a fun day and everything was delicious.

Row 5: I burned the incense I bought at the temple. After Zooming with my siblings for an hour and a half, I hopped on a google meet call and interviewed MJ for a project my class is doing. I recorded it to show them. The snow was just starting in NJ, so she showed the kids. Liz sent a late night picture of my backyard in Flemington.

Row 6: The kids are learning about how we organize ourselves, our systems and government. I took a real life scenario from recess time and had the kids work on this in small groups. It was so fascinating! Last week I told you that I let myself into the music room after hours and play piano. This week the music teacher surprised me with an old keyboard of my own. I had nowhere to put it, but I made space with some redecorating!! I’m just waiting for a pedal.

Row 7: Bored with my solo workouts in the large training room, I went to a strength training class last Wednesday and another tonight. The instructors were both so nice. The instructor tonight came over and told me how strong I was and that made me so happy. Those are the compliments that mean something to me these days because I work so hard at it. I don’t love the classes, but I love being in a group and I love the accountability and motivation. I thought about staying for pilates, but decided to order dinner at the cafe downstairs instead!