Today's Vocabulary Word: Biltong- legendary dried meat, similar to USA Jerky
This morning the Mountain was as beautiful as ever.
THE MIRACLE
First things first. I must report that so far the miraculous recovery is nothing short of a miracle. I have lived with numbness on the left side of my face, down my neck and down my shoulder for months. The Dr. said it was trigeminal nerve neuralgia and not much to do about it. I have lived with a burning and numbness on the outside of my left thigh for years that begins as soon as I begin walking and recedes if I sit down. (Cramps my style a bit if you know what I mean) and again, I have been told it is scar tissue from multiple back surgeries and not much can be done.
I woke up this morning, for the first time in I don't know how long, being able to feel my face, lips, neck and shoulder without that numb, buzzing feeling. So far, so good.
I walked down the hall to the lift ( elevator) and again, no burning or numbness in the thigh. I had a busy, energetic day of walking all over Cape Town and neither symptom returned. I don't know how long this will last but at the moment, it is my first genuine "miracle".
As I was feeling quite "frisky", due to the recent lack of pain or numbness, I decided to see some more museums and do a little more of Cape Town. I jumped on a bus from the Waterfront and headed to the city center. There was a sweet looking young man in a long, turquoise "dress"and a white pillbox type hat who caught my gaze and smiled. Before long he was sitting next to me and it was obvious he wanted conversation. His name was Ahmed and here is his story.
AHMED
Ahmed is seventeen years old and is studying to be a "scholar". He went to the Mosque when he was fourteen and will remain there for a total of seven years. He has six sisters and one step brother. His father died three weeks ago ( age 59) and he was traveling and sightseeing in Cape Town after attending his father's funeral. He is from Johannesburg and this is his first trip to Cape Town. He said when he is finished studying he will be an accountant, scholar and lawyer. Only in the Muslim community but that is what the seven years of training will net him.
He plans to go to the US when he finishes and be a teacher in a Mosque. When I asked if he was allowed to marry he smiled and said, "Of course". ( Well, I didn't know) He said, "Every male wants to marry". He hasn't met many American men if he believed that.
What do you do for money while you are there? Do they pay you? "Oh, no, you pay them each year" he informed me. He gave a figure of thirty thousand (something) I can't remember the currency he quoted. He said his father, who was an engineer and had worked on oil leaks, had paid it every year. I wanted to know what he would do now that his dad had passed away. His sisters would split one quarter of the father's money and he would get one half because he was the only full blooded son. I am not sure what happened to the other quarter but maybe it got split up between the step mother and the half brother.
He told me he had memorized the entire Koran (which I found hard to believe) He assured me that it was so and that it only took him one year and two months whereas it usually took students three years or more to do it. I was impressed. By this time, the bus had arrived at the museum and I got off. While I was paying the entrance fee (which amounted to about two dollars US) I saw Ahmed in line behind me. He followed me around the museum just behind me reading about the exhibits. Soon, he walked alongside me and shared his thoughts about what we were seeing. I stopped to rest on a bench and he continued to tell me more about his life and where he came from. I asked him if I could take his picture and he quickly said, "No" and walked away. In a minute he came back and said it was alright. I told him it wasn't necessary and it didn't matter to me. He said, "No, I feel bad to say no to you. You are a nice person and you can take my picture". He had been walking around with his head uncovered. He had ditched the pillbox hat at some point. As soon as I went to take his picture, he put up the hood from the jacket he was wearing. I'm not sure what that was about but maybe it had something to do with a religious belief. He accompanied me for most of the day, getting on and off the bus whenever I did. I never felt afraid or uncomfortable because he reminded me of one of my own sons. He was respectful and kind and even asked me if I needed help going down a very steep flight of stairs in one of the museums. (Boy did that make me feel old) At one bus stop he asked me if I liked poetry (which I do) and reached into his bag and pulled out a book of poems by Rumi, the Sufi poet of love. There were some very interesting poems in that book. One talked about the need to take time to make decisions. It said that even a dog sniffs the meat before he will eat it. It said that God took 6 days to make the world. He could have done it in an instant but he took time to do it. Good advise, I think,. We parted when I went for lunch in Camps Bay because it was a time of fasting for him. He said he got up at 4 AM each morning and ate a small meal and then couldn't eat again until nightfall. OH MY! It was an interesting encounter and I enjoyed our conversation.
SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM
First stop was the South African Museum.
This is apparently the nation's premier museum of natural history and human sciences.
The museum's ethnographic galleries contain some very good displays on the traditional arts and crafts of several African groups.
There are casts of the stone birds found at the archaeological site of Great Zimbabwe in southeastern Zimbabwe. The natural history galleries contain mounted mammals, dioramas of prehistoric Karoo reptiles and Table Mountain (love the Mountain) flora and fauna.
There are also some exceptional examples of rock art (entire chunks of caves, sitting in the display cases).
The Coldstream Stone
This painted stone was excavated in the early 20th century, from a rock shelter near Coldstream near
Tsitsikamma area of the Eastern Cape.
The painted images and colors are exceptionally well preserved, probably because the stone was buried in a shelter and not exposed
to sunlight or changes in humidity. The painting has not been dated but is likely to be more than 1,000 yrs. old.
An elephant and her calf are surrounded by dancing figures with fly whisks like those carried by the sengi and associated dancers. The figures above the elephant are flying and have bird like heads emphasizing the supernatural experiences that rain makers have when they enter the spirit world assisted by powerful animals.
GOLD OF AFRICA MUSEUM
Since the discovery of gold near Johannesburg in the late nineteenth century, South Africa has been closely associated in the Western mind with the precious metal and the riches it represents. Gold of Africa Museum focuses on a completely different side to gold – the exquisite artworks crafted by the nineteenth and twentieth century African goldsmiths from Mali, Senegal, Ghana and the Cote d’lvoire’s. Considered one of the most important such collections in the world, acquired in 2001 from the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, it traces Africa’s ancient gold routes, and includes several hundred beautiful items, precious masks, crocodiles, birds, a gold crown and human figures. The highlight is the sculpted Golden Lion from Ghana that is the symbol of the museum.
I included this picture for my son Shawn who insists on wearing "flip flops" anytime of the year. (Now if you had a pair of these, Son, I would get off your back.)
Now this is a bracelet!!
The golden Lion is considered the guardian of the gold of Africa, the legacy of Kings, the heritage of Africa's people and the icon of Africa's future.
After the Gold Museum I headed over to Camps Bay to have a look. This is one of the most desirable places to live in Cape Town. It is bounded by the Lion’s Head and the Twelve Apostles sections of Table Mountain. (The Twelve Apostles is a misnomer because there are actually a series of gable like formations but there are really seventeen of them and no one seems to know how they got that name).
The main drag, Victoria Road, skirts the coast and is packed with trendy restaurants, often frequented by the rich and famous.
Can you imagine what a piece of real estate here would cost?
I had lunch at a little place called Oceans Blue and it was a delightful place to eat and enjoy a great view of the beach. I had calamari and baby kingklip (a delicate, mild white fish caught right off the coast) with butternut squash. The subtle flavors made me crazy! Umm, Umm, good.
This area contains some of South Africa’s most beautiful white sand beaches and is often the subject of Hollywood photo shoots. After spending some time there I see what all the buzz is about. The beaches are absolutely, the most beautiful in the world (at least in the world I have seen so far). For the most part,these beaches are clothing optional but the most famous nudist beach is Sandy Bay and is a twenty minute walk from the road.
After all this beauty and magnificent scenery, I headed home to take a break and wait for Bob. (Still no numbness in my face or leg.... Unbelievable)
Bob arrived home in a fantastic mood. The job he had come to do was done and he received high accolades for his work ( what else would we expect from "Bob the wonderful Bob"?) That means tomorrow begins Bob's first official day of vacation. Yeah!
Before going to dinner, we shared a nice glass of South African wine while standing on the balcony, overlooking the bay. Again, the mountain was seductive in her beauty and begged me to take her picture. I stood my ground and refused. She was not to be denied. She soon began to change her appearance with a thick cloud forming on top and then pouring over the mountain like a waterfall. Alright!!! I give in. Here are the pictures:
We stayed at the hotel for dinner because the menu is extensive and the food is perfection. We keep wondering what more we could want here. This is a four star hotel but I’m not sure what one more star would get us other than a larger bill.
Bob had Kingklip with roasted blue cheese on top of grilled veggies
For dessert we shared a white chocolate cheesecake (which is nothing like cheesecake but more like a mousse) with lemon citron rope and berry caviar. Oh goodness, could it have been better??
Now it’s off to bed. Here is what we are seeing.
Christine
What a thrill to experience all that beauty,i'm so happy Bobby has free time now,let the fun begin.How much longer are you guys going to be there?
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