1. Wellington's Sweet Chili Sauce - A delicious sauce that they lather on everything in South Africa, from pasta salad, to chicken, to sushi... I'm pretty sure sweet chili sauce could make dog food taste good. It is the most super sauce that I have come across in all 23 years of my long life.
2. 5FM's Cheese of The Day - This little tidbit on the 5FM radio show never fails to make me get my groove on in the car. For people who don't know 5FM has a nice section of the radio show where they play a supposedly cheesy song. I don't find the songs exactly cheesy but more like... amazing! HELLO. Ice Ice Baby will never die!
3. Elroy - I owe my sanity and not gaining 450 lbs during my stay to Elroy, the amazing Zumba/Kickboxing Instructor/Dance Nazi at Virgin Active. I have never in my wildest dreams imagined a man could move like that. Not only will I miss his spunk and awesome classes, but also the army of groupies in his classes (who I have given nicknames to my few favorites including The Asian, Rambo, Skeletor, The Surfer's Wife, and the Token Old Man). Any of these innocent-seeming gymmers will cut your throat if you even think about taking their spot in the dance studio.
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| Elroy- Not an slice of fat on that bod |
4. Food Lover's Market aka Fruit & Veg aka HEAVEN - I will miss F&V from the absolute bottom of my stomach. Hopefully I will be doing a blog post dedicated entirely to them before I leave because a short paragraph cannot do it justice. To those who have not been able to experience F&V and you're sitting reading this thinking "big deal, its just a grocery store", WRONG! Its a small slice of Heaven here on Earth meant to fill all of our freshest culinary dreams. So American's can understand, it puts Whole Foods to shame, seriously.
5. Wine - If my previous blog posts don't sufficiently portray my intense love for South African wine, then here we go... I LOVE SOUTH AFRICAN WINE. All of it. From the Four Cousins (make fun, but it tastes like glorious juicy-juice!) to Lourensford to Haute Cabriere, I love it all!!! I also love the experience of wine tasting here, maybe even more than the wine itself.
6. Vida e Caffe - The more fun South African version of Starbucks (granted its actually based in Europe but whatever). The people who work there are always super cheerful, sing to you, compliment you, basically make you feel awesome about yourself before you stuff your fat face with one of their delectable croissants. However it isn't the baked goods that entice me, it is the glorious Chocolate Frio (blended ice + Lindt chocolate + milk) a calorie bomb so delicious it should be illegal.
7. Jack Parow - While I might not understand 90% of what you are rapping about I still enjoy your musical stylings to the fullest extent. I will miss driving around blasting Hos Tokoloshe and singing along even though I am basically just making sounds that correlate with the Afrikaans, especially in Bellville haha. I will try to introduce you to America... I'm not making any promises though.
8. Animals - Ok so they're really aren't lions and giraffes running around everywhere, but I've never seen more amazing animals than I have here in SA. I've seen 4 of the 5 'Big Five' (no leopard :( FAIL), and elephants, monkeys, ostriches, hippos, buck, and even cows, woah.
9. The Landscape - Not to get all mushy but the Western Cape coastline steals my heart. It is so beautiful that sometimes I cannot believe that a place like this really exists and that I've been lucky enough to have spent so much time here. The way the mountains border the turquoise ocean is mesmerizing and gorgeous. I will really miss it here.
10. The Sunsets - I've found that no matter where I watch the sunset from here in SA it has always been beautiful. Whether I've been at Strand Beach watching the sun set next to Table Mountain or in Camp's Bay seeing the sun set over the open ocean it has always left me speechless.
Dear South Africa,
I'm really going to miss you.
Love, Sam
this post doesn't make me homesick at all, darryl
ReplyDeleteespecially that picture of the gym instructor hey hums
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