This weekend we plan to go to a national park to see all the big animals that draw most people to visit Africa. So hopefully our next entry will include some cool photos. But I have included a some here as well. Last Sunday we spent some time on a beach north of Durban. Jaspar collected many shells and I fed grapes to the little crabs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgID_CpOxHU. We are hoping to spend more time on the beach in the weeks to come.
A few days ago, Jaspar declared that she would officially begin calling the street we live on ‘Adelaide Tambo’. At risk of causing confusion when telling people where we live, or perhaps coming across as obnoxious to some, I will join her in this effort. It is, afterall, the actual street name. Durban has undergone waves of street name changes, from Anglo names, like Fisher Street and Williams Road, to African names like Dr Langalibalele Dube Street and Khuzimpi Shezi Road. This was a sudden and controversial move that has incited many locals, and has led the name-changing process to become a small talk topic of choice, rivalled only perhaps by the weather and the World Cup. Most of the old name signs were taken down or crossed out by the city, and replaced by the new names. Soon after this was done, the new street signs were defaced and blacked out by the angry hardliners. This made it incredibly difficult for us to find places when we first came here, because the signs were illegible, and the map we were using referred to the old names anyway. But there are other problems…er…Problem. As in Problem Mkhize. This man overcame the misfortune of his troublesome name in becoming a trade unionist and eventual honorand of a prominent road that winds through a “lekker” (cool) part of town. As you may expect, this didn’t exactly thrill business owners who became worried the association will have negative effects on the perceptions of their business.
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- Jaspar brought home many shells
