#Haloumi

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.

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.

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.

It’s my second full day in Joburg. I’m sitting on the deck of my new house in Melville, soaking up the late winter sun, admiring the small purple flowers on the potted rosemary plant, and listening to a chorus of bird calls. There’s a neon-yellow weaver making a nest at the back of the garden – it’s a bouncy ball of green leaves suspended from a vine hanging off a tree branch.