Yuppies Delight

What do all young hipsters want? I’d bet The Rainbow Experience offers it all.
The Rainbow Experience is an organic café come bookstore, arts and craft market and trendy art gallery. It’s got it all.

Build up a thirst browsing their eclectic collection of contemporary art and ceramics, buy a some beautifully crafted earrings then sit it the open plan lounge and sip on a fair trade coffee while flicking through Dave Eggers’ latest. The Rainbow Experience is the perfect place to while away a lazy afternoon.

Find them here:
Mandela Rhodes Place
23 Church Street
Cape Town, South Africa
Tel: +27 (021) 422 1428

p.s. Did I mention they also host live Jazz stuff in the evenings.

The beauty of procrastination

There is something to be said for routine and organised time management. But a life with the freedom to procrastinate is very necessary every now and then. Just to loll, reflect, talk and generally laze around is amazing. The banalities and necessities of daily routine have a annoying tendency to stifle one’s social potential. How can they not; gotta get to practice by 2:30pm, cannot forget to do laundry tonight, supermarket run after work, finish the reading and get the essay handed in. When you are removed from your space the world is a whole new place. What it is to be free of the usual. I am experiencing a new life and with it, an aspect of myself I didn’t know was in there. A being who just wants to socialise all the time;
one who is free to, free of all the usual baggage of daily life. There is a lesson to be learnt somewhere here.

In honour of the freedom to procrastinate: Ultra Nate – Free

Vicky’s B&B

Set in the oldest part of Khayeletsha, the largest informal settlement in Cape Town, home to over two million people (about a third of the total population of the Cape), Vicky has converted her home in to a Bed and Breakfast. She claims to be the smallest hotel in Africa. Not so sure how true that is now: she started out with just two rooms in the already humble home her and her family lived in, made from corrugated iron, wood and any spare scraps found around the place. Now she’s living like a queen with a two-story hotel sporting seven guest rooms.

Her’s is a fascinating story. A local council meeting was called when Vicky first struck upon this innovative business idea and it was agreed upon that the neighbourhood would benefit from the business brought in with the tourists. While the issue of whether this type of tourism is exploitative or not remains in question for us outsiders, Vicky claims it is simply a mutual exchange. The tourists come to learn about a different way of life and the inhabitants of Site C benefit from the income generation. And they have benefited. Vicky’s standing in the community has allowed her to throw her weight around in high places. Almost all families living on the street have received government houses (simple and small but sturdy and safe) and legal right to the land they live on.

Xhosa word of the day

To compliment our recently learned, but complex, greeting "molo" you can add a little personal touch to show respect for who you are greeting.
Sisi - sister (for a person of a similar age)
bhuti - brother (same)
Mama - self explanatory (but don't use that shiz if they're just a 'big mama', apparently, that's not cool)
Tata - father like figure

the next exciting installment to come soon...

Stanford vs. UCT

Okay okay, when i arrive on Stanford's campus i thought i was the luckiest mother effer in the world. But today i saw the University of Cape Town (or UCT as the cool kids call it). Nestled in the mountainside of one of the most beautiful mountains in the world, Table Mountain, and with a view of one of the most beautiful cities in the world stretching out below before it (not to mention the ivy-covered uniform colonial architecture), I'd say UCT is up there as one of the coolest places to go to uni. Not to mention, the students get to enjoy the glorious weather, amazing beaches, great bars and clubs and just generally, not a bad lifestyle at all.



Stanford

Xhosa word of the day

The adventure has begun. It's a slow start...

HELLO - “Molo” (MOH-loh) one person. “Molweni” (mole-WAY-nee) two or more people.

The Table's cloth

Arrived in Cape Town today. The table had it's cloth on. Not quite the sight I expected but brilliant nonetheless.