One weekend closer to Christmas
A friend who emigrated to New Zealand 3 years ago, and has spent the last 6 months travelling the world, arrived in Durban yesterday for 2 weeks, so a good chunk of the weekend was spent with him.
On Friday evening we met up with him at Joe Cools, which was having its special Facebook VIP Christmas party. i.e. "If you're not a member of our Facebook group you're not allowed on the rooftop deck, and our gruff bouncers will make sure you stay below with the rest of the plebs because you're not one of the cool kids!" Ah, gotta love elitist, exclusionary business practices. At least there was a 2-for-the-price-of-1 drinks special, and we were able to secure a table on the lower deck. And looking down on the Durban beachfront it was amazing to discover how many people still walk the promenade after dark.
Saturday involved my last voluntary mall trip before Christmas (my shopping is all done!), eating way too much junk food, and our weekly Dungeons & Dragons session - where our player trio fought a huge anti-magic ooze before entering another plane of existence and being attacked by a trio of ember-spewing ash drakes.
Saturday also involved a very interesting travel talk I attended. With the end of the 2-year Working Holiday Visa for the United Kingdom, young South Africans (without a European Union passport) just aren't going anywhere anymore for their "gap year". From processing an average of 5 Working Holiday visas a week, youth-centric travel agencies are now having to throw all their marketing weight behind the likes of American seasonal work, summer camps and time spent on super yachts and cruise liners in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.
Now I know there will be people out there who see this change in travel policy as a great chance for South Africa's youth to get involved in uplifting their own country. At the same time though they're losing out on the incomparable experience gained from visiting other places, experiencing other cultures and generally being forced to grow up. There really is nothing like it. And travel certainly makes sure that dangerously insular attitudes can't develop.
Anyway, Sunday was sunny and hot, so we had a braai/barbecue for our New Zealand buddy, giving him the chance to revisit such local delicacies as Simba's Chutney chips and boerewors rolls (I didn't know this but apparently you can't get long hotdog buns in New Zealand and good portions of South America). The rest of the day was spent just generally chilling, taking my World of WarCraft warlock to Level 73, watching American Dad! and floating around the pool.
So, yeah, that was the weekend in a nutshell. This evening we're going to a "White Trash" themed Christmas party, so a few incriminating pics should pop up soon, either on this blog or on my Facebook page.
Just a heads up - it's a public holiday in South Africa tomorrow so I'll be taking the day off from blogging. There won't be a Trailer Tuesday post tomorrow. Normal blogging will resume on Wednesday and continue until Friday. Thereafter there will be intermittent updates until 5 January.
One final thing for Monday: local lovers of satire and pop culture must definitely get their paws on this end-of-year issue of Mad Magazine.
Besides featuring one of Time's magazine covers of 2008, the content of this issue is just outstanding, poking fun at everything, including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the mid-year batch of movie blockbusters in general, Amy Winehouse and much more. Here are just 2 spot-on samples of spoofery, so enjoy:
On Friday evening we met up with him at Joe Cools, which was having its special Facebook VIP Christmas party. i.e. "If you're not a member of our Facebook group you're not allowed on the rooftop deck, and our gruff bouncers will make sure you stay below with the rest of the plebs because you're not one of the cool kids!" Ah, gotta love elitist, exclusionary business practices. At least there was a 2-for-the-price-of-1 drinks special, and we were able to secure a table on the lower deck. And looking down on the Durban beachfront it was amazing to discover how many people still walk the promenade after dark.
Saturday involved my last voluntary mall trip before Christmas (my shopping is all done!), eating way too much junk food, and our weekly Dungeons & Dragons session - where our player trio fought a huge anti-magic ooze before entering another plane of existence and being attacked by a trio of ember-spewing ash drakes.
Saturday also involved a very interesting travel talk I attended. With the end of the 2-year Working Holiday Visa for the United Kingdom, young South Africans (without a European Union passport) just aren't going anywhere anymore for their "gap year". From processing an average of 5 Working Holiday visas a week, youth-centric travel agencies are now having to throw all their marketing weight behind the likes of American seasonal work, summer camps and time spent on super yachts and cruise liners in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.
Now I know there will be people out there who see this change in travel policy as a great chance for South Africa's youth to get involved in uplifting their own country. At the same time though they're losing out on the incomparable experience gained from visiting other places, experiencing other cultures and generally being forced to grow up. There really is nothing like it. And travel certainly makes sure that dangerously insular attitudes can't develop.
Anyway, Sunday was sunny and hot, so we had a braai/barbecue for our New Zealand buddy, giving him the chance to revisit such local delicacies as Simba's Chutney chips and boerewors rolls (I didn't know this but apparently you can't get long hotdog buns in New Zealand and good portions of South America). The rest of the day was spent just generally chilling, taking my World of WarCraft warlock to Level 73, watching American Dad! and floating around the pool.
So, yeah, that was the weekend in a nutshell. This evening we're going to a "White Trash" themed Christmas party, so a few incriminating pics should pop up soon, either on this blog or on my Facebook page.
Just a heads up - it's a public holiday in South Africa tomorrow so I'll be taking the day off from blogging. There won't be a Trailer Tuesday post tomorrow. Normal blogging will resume on Wednesday and continue until Friday. Thereafter there will be intermittent updates until 5 January.
One final thing for Monday: local lovers of satire and pop culture must definitely get their paws on this end-of-year issue of Mad Magazine.
Besides featuring one of Time's magazine covers of 2008, the content of this issue is just outstanding, poking fun at everything, including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the mid-year batch of movie blockbusters in general, Amy Winehouse and much more. Here are just 2 spot-on samples of spoofery, so enjoy:
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