Yesterday was Sunday and it was warm. Joe and I decided to go hiking. We got a late start (slept late and needed provisions from the store) so we picked Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve. It’s 45 minutes away and easy to see in a couple of hours.

I’ve been exploring Melville on my own lately.

Yesterday I walked two blocks to 7th Street – the main strip in Melville. I poked around used book stores and gift shops. I bought handmade earrings and bracelets for next-to-nothing at the bead store. I brushed off the local street hawker twice, once on either side of the street. He really wanted to sell me a souvenir giraffe.

Joe is shooting a rugby match at Soccer City this Saturday – South Africa’s reigning world-champion Springboks against the New Zealand All Blacks. It’s a rematch of the 1995 Rugby World Cup championship, featured in Invictus.

A friend requested that I post more about the food I’m eating. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

Top-right: Fruit chutney crisps. I discovered these at the Tyrone Fruiterer in Parkview, which has become my favorite place to food-shop. (Despite the awesome name, they sell more than just fruit.) These crisps are basically kettle potato chips that taste like mango chutney. Interestingly there is no fruit listed in the ingredients, just garlic powder, onion powder, and “herbs and spices.” When I bought them, Joe said I was on my own because he doesn’t like crisps. He had a change of heart when he tried one. We’ve put away half the bag in the last 24 hours.

We’ve christened the house with a name: the Lucky 5 Star. Thanks to Lucky, living here is like staying in a five-star hotel.

Lucky, whose name is actually Mashudu in his native language of Venda, had a birthday two days before I arrived. He’s 33. He has been living and working here for a decade as an employee of Horst, our landlord. Lucky’s father also worked for Horst, which is how Lucky got this job after moving to Joburg from his family’s home near the Zimbabwe border.

The seasons are turning and my second summer is about to begin. It’s still cold at night and in the early morning – especially in a house without central heat – but it’s warm enough for shorts during the day. Today was especially perfect. Crystal-blue sky and about 70 degrees in the sun.

Just before dusk yesterday, we went walking in Westcliff – an old, wealthy neighborhood adjacent to Melville. We tramped over a bridge along a busy road as rush hour traffic whizzed past. Then we crossed the street and entered another world.

Yesterday I visited Johannesburg’s two poles.

Unemployment is about 30% in South Africa and new numbers this week indicate it’s on the rise. Joe is working on some stories related to that. We left mid-morning and stopped to photograph two men pushing a cart of recyclable trash up a steep hill. These men scratch out a living sifting through garbage (or rubbish, as it’s called here) for plastic, glass, and metal that they exchange for money.

I’ve gotten ahead of myself. I should say a few words about this place where I’m living.

Johannesburg (Joburg, Jo’burg, Jozi, JHB) is the largest city in South Africa and the fourth-largest in Africa. Interestingly, South Africa has three official capital cities but Johannesburg is not one of them.