Celebrating Cooncie With Hurricane Irene

29 August 2011

Yesterday was my grandmother’s memorial celebration, held on our family farm in Ellicott City, Maryland. It was also the day that Hurricane Irene hit America’s East Coast. (Ellicott City is a couple of hours from the coast so all we got were some downed trees and power outages. But still.)

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Moonrise Over the South Coast

15 August 2011

Joe and I are in KwaZulu Natal Province, in an area called the South Coast. We’re staying in a drafty cabin less than a mile from the Indian Ocean. The South Coast is known for sunshine and humid heat, but for the last few days it’s been rainy and downright cold.

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Voortrekker: My New Favorite Afrikaans Word

10 August 2011

Joe and I woke up ridiculously early one Sunday morning. It was a beautiful day. Joe had an idea for an outing but wouldn’t tell me what it was. He ushered me into the car and we headed up the M1 toward Pretoria.

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365 Days in Jozi

07 August 2011

I moved to Joburg a year ago yesterday. Exactly 365 days ago at exactly this time, I was sitting in the sun on my new back porch, publishing my first post from South Africa. (Here’s that post, if you’re curious.)

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Talent-Scouting in Pretoria

05 August 2011

Pretoria, which sits just north of Joburg, is smaller and tamer than its neighbor to the south. Some Joburgers consider Pretoria to be a boring backwater, while many Pretorians see Joburg as a crowded, wild place that’s best avoided. (I grew up near Baltimore, Washington D.C.’s northern neighbor. A similar rivalry exists between those two cities.)

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Jozi to Pretoria at High Speed

02 August 2011

Joburg and Pretoria are about 60 kilometers (35 miles) apart. Rush-hour traffic between the two cities is legendary. If you’ve ever driven from Baltimore to Washington D.C. at 7:00 a.m. on a weekday, then you know what it’s like to drive between Pretoria and Jozi. On a bad day it can take hours. And until today, the freeway was the only option.

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