We've been having a time.

Howdy folks. Jonah's away this week, so I'm sure he'll have some fantastic photos to share next week! In the meantime...Midas, Mella and I have been having quite a time holding down the fort. We'll start at the beginning...

Traffic:

Little did we know that the new school year started last week on Feb 11th. We were totally unprepared for the traffic we were about to experience, despite having been warned numerous times about the horrors of Joburg traffic. As you may recall, we moved in just before holiday (which lasts several weeks, remember), so we were left blissfully unaware of and unprepared for...traffic. Bumper-to-bumper traffic moves at snail's pace during commuting hours (5am-9am; 3pm-6pm), which leaves us with an average 26 min commute. I know family & friends back home in the NE would laugh that, but we're amazed by the time it takes us to commute...we live just 4K (< 3 miles) from Wits. Here is a faraway photo of the line of traffic just to get through the boom at Wits. The others just didn't do justice to the impressive traffic jams we've witnessed. I'm still trying to capture the essence of traffic here to share with you all.

While finding alternate routes to school in an effort to avoid...dun dun dun...traffic, we stumbled upon the school busses for our local school just over the hill from us. You might recognize these snazzy vehicles as the taxis we've mentioned in previous posts. The totally road worthy, brightly colored, VW vans that careen around the streets. Getting your children to school...as fast as humanly possible.

Depending on the day's puppy-schedule, we wait out the traffic at the Post Graduate Club on campus, affectionately known as the PIG. This is the bar which you may or may not remember is located a stone's throw from Jonah's office. One of the menu items is a huge plate of fries, and, isn't it my luck!?, mayo is freely available on every table.  :)

Weather: In case you find yourself wondering "what time of year should I visit Kelsey & Jonah in South Africa?", let me help. Anytime during the Northern hemisphere's winter. It's been balmy and beautiful here, about 26C (~80ishF) each day. Every day like clockwork, there is a magnificent thunderstorm (aka boomers) that occur around 430/5pm. Lately, this has put a cramp in our puppy park visits. But don't worry, Midas, Mella & I are fast--we skillfully duck and run before lightning strikes, luckily you can see the storm coming! Here's what the sky often looks like just after a good storm. This was taken outside the PIG, where we avoided traffic.

BASEBALL STUFF!!!!

Baseball is alive in Joburg, and approximately 4000 people play country-wide. When we happened to meet a guy at the puppy park who coaches a men's baseball team right here in Melville, Jonah was pretty chuffed. Midas and Mella are still waiting for their thank you present. I'm pleased because it means my left hand won't suffer so many injuries from playing catch! We went to observe their first game of the season against the Randburg Mets. Although there was no Pop's NY Special hot dogs offered, we did have a great time chatting with the other fans.

The guys on Jonah's soon-to-be-team call themselves the Mustangs. A couple of them have played professionally in Europe. Here's a few shots I got of the pitcher. The kid could rocket the ball over home plate.

While watching, Jonah started to get itchy to play a bit. Luckily, he now travels everywhere with his glove. Here's Jonah and another new teammate tossing the ball around during a somewhat slow inning.

After the game, we stopped by Cresta (a huge mall) to enjoy lunch at a local Indian restaurant, Sitar, that was introduced to us by Blair, Jonah's grad student. Although not exactly on par with Heritage, we give it a full thumbs up. It can't be that bad, since Jonah managed to photograph me while I sheepishly scraped down the Chicken Tikka bowl.

While at Cresta, we couldn't resist snapping this gem for you all back home. You guys may have Barnes & Noble, but we've got this as our local (Christian) bookstore. Perhaps their marketing director should check out the urban dictionary. Or something.

Puppy Update: Our babies are growing up. They're morphing from pudgy wriggling balls of flub into well-built, beautiful dogs at five months old. *tear* Walks in the puppy park still take more time than anticipated because people love to stop and admire our unruly beasts. Mellie is a particular hit, with her stunning blue eye (she gets it from her mom) :) Midas is having trouble coming to terms with his 'growing up,' and the fact that he has an underbite, so he requires a lot more coddling than our sweet, even-keeled Mellie. Recently, they've become well aware of what goes on in the kitchen. Thankfully, they are also very aware of what "Go lay down NOW" means.

Jonah's Travel Log: Early last week, Jonah took a 2 day/1 night trip with his Dept Chair to Clarens. In addition to seeing awesome dino footprints, he saw some great signs, other interesting stuff?, and possibly a plant species that I'm hoping to collect! Here's some photos from his most recent Clarens trip:

Can you see the footprint?

Not exactly sure what this is...you'll have to ask Jonah.

More footprint observations.

Repeat: You WILL die.

Amen.

A church?

Would need a specimen, but I'm hoping it's Helichrysum infaustum. 

Because that means I get to go to Clarens, too!

And really, don't we ask ourselves everyday, why don't all gas stations have pigs rustling around in the vegetation?

Growth spurts

Although we see them every day, we have started to notice how fast Midas & Mellie grow. When we first brought them home, they could both snuggle in their little bed (which was purchased with only one puppy in mind). They used to squeeze into it for a nap, but now they prefer the couch. It took a lot of cheese to convince them to get into the small bed for the 18-wk photo.

Also, they look like real dogs now, as opposed to pudgy wriggly puppies.

At last weigh in, Mella was 37 pounds and Midas was 35. That was at 16 weeks. They are no longer dwarfed by their ostrich bones.

ROAD TRIP~!!!!

For the first half of this week, we visited Tyler and Cornel Faith and their lovely parents Jan and Liz in Klerksdorp, Northwest Province. 

It's the kind of town where Biltong ain't hard to find.



As you should be able to tell from the Wiki link, Klerksdorp is also a solid Afrikaans town, very different from Johannesburg in its demographic makeup. It wasn't long until Tyler and I were in full local regalia...

   

Jan was kind enough to instruct us in how to hold a gun  and a panga, or machete.

 

As you may have also surmised, braaing is a way of life in Klerksdorp. We're talking basic US-style braai (on left, a cabbage head being cooked with bacon and cream), done in a grill with charcoal briquettes, but we're also talking FULL-ON, ALL WOOD, MANTASTIC, TESTICLE-ENLARGING Afrikaaner braai, done as seen below: 

Of course, you shouldn't even think about cooking this way unless you're going to serve some serious chunks of meat...

And some legitimately old libations:

...all of which put Kelsey off to a clearly *blissful* early bedtime:

This isn't often mentioned, but Klerksdorp has a fantastic little game reserve called "Faan Meintjies," which we rode our bicycles to:

...and then hopped into the back of Jan and Liz's pickup truck (bakkie) for a game drive with refreshments.

We were joined by the Jaku and Sanet, Cornel's dear friends who recently were engaged (Sanet on right).

Being an Afrikaaner is tough, and you'd better get the right equipment. We therefore went shopping in the local farm store.

First item to grab: two tone shirt. You may have noticed how nicely they show off my beergut in the first few pictures. This little beauty has the big five on board.

Next item: sausage stuffer.

Next, the biltong slicer. Cornel is modeling this modern gem, but she also inherited the chrome masterpiece on right from her grandfather. We are green with jealousy.

  

Finally, the "potjie"! The potjie, pronounced 'poy-kee' is an absolute must if you want to ever be considered cool in Klerksdorp. The one I'm triumphantly holding is a #3, the perfect size for a small family. 

Now you can't just go out and buy a potjie and expect to be cooking that afternoon. You've got to season that cauldron, and doing so takes a coon's age. And you don't have to take our word for it. Not only did Jan give us the full course in potjie seasoning, but a guy stopped us in the parking lot of the farm supply store to caution us (in Afrikaans) that the potjie would rust unless properly cared for.

We figured we'd season ours' while making a family meal in the Van Zyl (Cornel's maiden name) pot. Here's how we did it.

Step 1: Make a fire

Step 2: Sand that new potjie, then grease it all over with pork fat

Step 3: Fire the potjie up until the legs begin to glow

Step 4: Have a cocktail (or 5), it's going to be a while:

Step 6: Nope, not done

Step 7: in the meantime, begin cutting up vegetables and meat for your other potjie. Be glad of the Van Zyl lapa, as it's raining like hell.

Step 8: okay, the new potjie looks ready. Start cooking in the other potjie

Step 9: finish with cream!

Dessert: Passion fruit. A Choiniere-Glennon first. It tastes better than it looks.

Not to be confused with a "passion gap"

Late night rat patrol: apparently CC (Cruel Cat) is terrible at catching rats, so Tyler took it upon himself.

Luckily, we've had a few rounds of target practice to hone rat-hunting skills. I abstained from rat-hunting.

A common sight on the South African roadways is the "abnormal load". This may refer to a truck with house on it, a truck full of dudes going to work, or innumerable other things that will be the subject of another post someday.

Home sweet home!