My (Temporary)
Home Town of
Oudtshoorn...
Home Town of
Oudtshoorn...
Home sweet home.
Ostrich eggs at the grocery store.
A local store in town.
July 10, 2006
We left Stormsriver Village this morning for the last of our mini road trips. Upon leaving the Eastern Cape, we were stopped to
make sure we didn’t have any pork products with us. Apparently ‘swine fever’ is going around. Just a heads-up – watch out for
South African Eastern Cape pork products. You have now been warned.
We arrived at our 'home' at the Backpacker’s Paradise in Oudtshoorn. One would think that the name ‘Backpacker’s Paradise’
is an oxymoron (okay…maybe it’s only me that sees it as an oxymoron). Oddly enough, I see a bit of paradise here. There are
several tables and chairs outside where I have already spent a bit of time reading. There is a nice lounge area. There is a pool
(well, ‘pool’ is a bit of a stretch…more like a hot tub that isn’t hot). There are laundry facilities. And for the princess that hasn’t
quite gone away in me, there is someone that actually does our laundry for us. Now you can understand the ‘paradise’ of this
place.
I went into town today and spent some ‘alone’ time there. It’s weird that I haven’t even craved ‘me’ time yet despite being
with at least five other people at all times in the past four days. But the opportunity arose this afternoon, so I took it and
looked in various shops.
One thing to note about Oudtshoorn before I go any further is that they are known for something over here. Something cute
and feathery. Can you guess? Okay, I’ll tell you. I am going to be living in the ostrich capital of the world for the next ten days!
I still can’t believe it. It’s like a dream come true. Okay, maybe I am pushing it now but oh how I love thee ostrich. Sadly, I don’
t just like looking at them. I have to admit that I also like the taste of them. For lunch today I had one in the form of ostrich
carpaccio. Mmmm… The big grocery stores sell ostrich eggs in the same aisle as regular eggs. A local shopper in the market
was even telling us that one ostrich egg is equivalent to 28 regular eggs. Wowsas! She also told us it is so hard that a person can
stand on an ostrich egg. It takes a drill to get one of those babies open. There are lots of cute little shops in town that sell some
variation of ostrich items using either its feathers or eggshells. Every restaurant sells ostrich meat. Our ‘Backpacker’s
Paradise’ even has an ‘Ostrich Braai’ (a South African barbeque) every night.
On our way into town we stopped at the grocery store to pick up groceries for the next ten days. I’m in charge of cooking
tonight and I am pretty excited about it. I haven’t cooked for so long that I see it as ‘fun’ to be able to do it.
Tomorrow morning we have an early start as it’s our first day at the Wildlife Park. We will begin orientation and find out what
our jobs are going to be for the following nine days…
************
Oh no. Two-Sip Sally came out tonight. Amy broke open her bottle of Springfield’s Whole Berry Cabernet Sauvignon to go with
the oh-so-gourmet feast of ground beef with pitas that I cooked up. I did spruce it up with sliced tomatoes and lettuce pieces.
And we can’t forget about the tomato dipping sauce (i.e. ketchup) that accompanied the feast. Basic grub aside, it was fun just
to all sit and eat and enjoy the fire that was burning barely a foot away from us.
While talking, the continent of Africa came up in conversation. This is when the wine was clearly taking affect on my brain. I
brought up the fact that the U.S. played Ghana in the World Cup and how my sister and I watched the game in Croatia. I told
them that I couldn’t believe that when my sister heard the word ‘Ghana’ she didn’t think of the word ‘gonorrhea’. Now I was
getting looked at like I was crazy. Apparently, nobody else here had that word recognition as well. It was just me. Angela was
laughing because she thought it was funny to hear that out of a well-traveled person’s mouth. I then had to inform her that
‘well-traveled’ is far different than ‘mature’…
We left Stormsriver Village this morning for the last of our mini road trips. Upon leaving the Eastern Cape, we were stopped to
make sure we didn’t have any pork products with us. Apparently ‘swine fever’ is going around. Just a heads-up – watch out for
South African Eastern Cape pork products. You have now been warned.
We arrived at our 'home' at the Backpacker’s Paradise in Oudtshoorn. One would think that the name ‘Backpacker’s Paradise’
is an oxymoron (okay…maybe it’s only me that sees it as an oxymoron). Oddly enough, I see a bit of paradise here. There are
several tables and chairs outside where I have already spent a bit of time reading. There is a nice lounge area. There is a pool
(well, ‘pool’ is a bit of a stretch…more like a hot tub that isn’t hot). There are laundry facilities. And for the princess that hasn’t
quite gone away in me, there is someone that actually does our laundry for us. Now you can understand the ‘paradise’ of this
place.
I went into town today and spent some ‘alone’ time there. It’s weird that I haven’t even craved ‘me’ time yet despite being
with at least five other people at all times in the past four days. But the opportunity arose this afternoon, so I took it and
looked in various shops.
One thing to note about Oudtshoorn before I go any further is that they are known for something over here. Something cute
and feathery. Can you guess? Okay, I’ll tell you. I am going to be living in the ostrich capital of the world for the next ten days!
I still can’t believe it. It’s like a dream come true. Okay, maybe I am pushing it now but oh how I love thee ostrich. Sadly, I don’
t just like looking at them. I have to admit that I also like the taste of them. For lunch today I had one in the form of ostrich
carpaccio. Mmmm… The big grocery stores sell ostrich eggs in the same aisle as regular eggs. A local shopper in the market
was even telling us that one ostrich egg is equivalent to 28 regular eggs. Wowsas! She also told us it is so hard that a person can
stand on an ostrich egg. It takes a drill to get one of those babies open. There are lots of cute little shops in town that sell some
variation of ostrich items using either its feathers or eggshells. Every restaurant sells ostrich meat. Our ‘Backpacker’s
Paradise’ even has an ‘Ostrich Braai’ (a South African barbeque) every night.
On our way into town we stopped at the grocery store to pick up groceries for the next ten days. I’m in charge of cooking
tonight and I am pretty excited about it. I haven’t cooked for so long that I see it as ‘fun’ to be able to do it.
Tomorrow morning we have an early start as it’s our first day at the Wildlife Park. We will begin orientation and find out what
our jobs are going to be for the following nine days…
************
Oh no. Two-Sip Sally came out tonight. Amy broke open her bottle of Springfield’s Whole Berry Cabernet Sauvignon to go with
the oh-so-gourmet feast of ground beef with pitas that I cooked up. I did spruce it up with sliced tomatoes and lettuce pieces.
And we can’t forget about the tomato dipping sauce (i.e. ketchup) that accompanied the feast. Basic grub aside, it was fun just
to all sit and eat and enjoy the fire that was burning barely a foot away from us.
While talking, the continent of Africa came up in conversation. This is when the wine was clearly taking affect on my brain. I
brought up the fact that the U.S. played Ghana in the World Cup and how my sister and I watched the game in Croatia. I told
them that I couldn’t believe that when my sister heard the word ‘Ghana’ she didn’t think of the word ‘gonorrhea’. Now I was
getting looked at like I was crazy. Apparently, nobody else here had that word recognition as well. It was just me. Angela was
laughing because she thought it was funny to hear that out of a well-traveled person’s mouth. I then had to inform her that
‘well-traveled’ is far different than ‘mature’…