Getting used to inexpensive classiness.
Here in Namibia, there are a couple really classy eatining establishments that, compared to the U.S., are very inexpensive. The first on the list is NICE, which stands for the Namibian Institute of Culinary Education. It is a school/restaurant, and we have gotten to know a couple of the people that work there. The downstairs is a very fancy eating area with the most extensive bar I have seen in this town. The establishment is quite new, as it just opened within the last couple years. So far I have ordered the fish and chips and the NICE chicken wings. While the chicken wings were ok, the fish and chips was the best I have had since I arrived in Africa (and I order it a lot). The sauce that came with it was delicious. It was a lemon and vinegar mayonase mix and it was awesome. Upstairs from the bar is a deck that reminds me quite a bit of Stellas back home, and that contains a wine and sushi bar. Although I am not a big sushi eater back home, the sushi here is good. We ordered tuna and cajuin smoked salmon California rolls, both of which were really good. I tried sake for the first time while I was there, and I think it is a taste that is to be aquired after some time. We will see. The best thing about all of this is that between all this food plus drinks (jack and coke for me, reminds me of home) our group of 8 spent about five hundred dollars Namibian, which is about sixty USD. Not expensive at all for the quality of everything at NICE.
The other place I need to mention is a place we kind of stumbled upon. We were trying to go to this seafood resturant for dinner, but it was closed when we got there. So we decided to walk around to see if we could find something else. We had only walked a few feet and we noticed this resturant called the Gourmet tucked away behind the mall. We looked over the menu and decided it looked good enough. The place was very quiet as noone does anything in this city on Saturday. Not even exagerating, as everything closes by 3 pm and the normally busy city resembles a ghost town. Back to the restaurant, the Gourmet has a very extensive menu, so deciding on what to order was somewhat difficult. For the past few days I had been telling people that I wanted a steak as big as my face, so I went with the T-bone and chips (fries). Best decision ever. The steak was really as big as my face and was almost two inches thick. It was covered in fried onions (which I took off) and butter. Of course I ordered it cooked medium, so it was dripping with delicious goodness. It came with grilled squash green beans (which I did eat, mom) and fries, all of which were delicious. Everything about the meal and the restaurant was great, but to top it off my steak dinner and my friends calamari dinner ended up costing about N$ 210, or just over $30 USD. Craziness.
I am already getting used to this inexpensive classiness, and I better get over it before I get home, because the classiness here is a fraction of the price that it is back home for similar things.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Link to my pics
Here is the link to my web albums for my trip. The internet is a bit faulty here so i have a hard time uploading, so please be patient.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mplsun
http://picasaweb.google.com/mplsun
Thursday, February 7, 2008
evil in the air
Evil in the air
We took a trip to a monument built by the Afrikaaners during Apartheid. It is called the Voltrekker monument and it embodies everything that was and is evil about apartheid and the government that enacted it. I did not take any pictures there because i felt i could not look at that place ever again. There truely is an evil spirit in that massive building, and I could not even finish the tour. There are carvings on the inside walls of the "glory" of their trek across the continent. I am actually having a hard time reliving it writing this post. They actually have carvingsa of whites stomping out tribes and they are celebrating it. Disgusting. After Apartheid ended, the students in South Africa rallied to have the monument demolished. Nelson Mandela decided that even though it was a negetive part of South African history, it is still a part of history and should be left in place. I do not agree with this. The whole time we were there i felt that this place should have never existed in the first place. I was talking with Molefi, who was one of our guides during our time in Joburg, and he also believes that it should be destroyed. It may be a better monument if it talked about the terrible things that it represented, but it celebrates it. I hear that the Afrikaaners have a yearly celebration at the monument. Yuck. I hope to see that building fall someday, and I hope it takes the evil spirit with it when it goes.
We took a trip to a monument built by the Afrikaaners during Apartheid. It is called the Voltrekker monument and it embodies everything that was and is evil about apartheid and the government that enacted it. I did not take any pictures there because i felt i could not look at that place ever again. There truely is an evil spirit in that massive building, and I could not even finish the tour. There are carvings on the inside walls of the "glory" of their trek across the continent. I am actually having a hard time reliving it writing this post. They actually have carvingsa of whites stomping out tribes and they are celebrating it. Disgusting. After Apartheid ended, the students in South Africa rallied to have the monument demolished. Nelson Mandela decided that even though it was a negetive part of South African history, it is still a part of history and should be left in place. I do not agree with this. The whole time we were there i felt that this place should have never existed in the first place. I was talking with Molefi, who was one of our guides during our time in Joburg, and he also believes that it should be destroyed. It may be a better monument if it talked about the terrible things that it represented, but it celebrates it. I hear that the Afrikaaners have a yearly celebration at the monument. Yuck. I hope to see that building fall someday, and I hope it takes the evil spirit with it when it goes.
I made it!
Arrival 1/28/2008:
I made it!
I did not sleep.
My TV screen broke three hours into the flight.
It was hotter than hell.
Those are my complaints from the flight. It really was not as terrible as it may sound. I did have an isle seat and I sat with some pretty cool people. Really, a 16 hour flight wont be a pleasent experience, especially in coach. The first class seats did look like they would make the flight more relaxing. Someday. I did get to watch one episode of Planet Earth before my computer bit it, and I made sure it was Shallow Seas so I could watch those awesome great white shots from off the coast of South Africa. I cannot wait to go swimming. A great new feature that SAA added was a camera on the tail of the plane. Even though it was dark for a majority of the flight, the blinking light provided many hours of entertainment.
Overall the flight was alright, and I had the opportunity to get to know a couple of people from the group. Watching the plane land on the screen was pretty rewarding, and knowing that I was touching down on African soil felt oh so good.
I made it!
I did not sleep.
My TV screen broke three hours into the flight.
It was hotter than hell.
Those are my complaints from the flight. It really was not as terrible as it may sound. I did have an isle seat and I sat with some pretty cool people. Really, a 16 hour flight wont be a pleasent experience, especially in coach. The first class seats did look like they would make the flight more relaxing. Someday. I did get to watch one episode of Planet Earth before my computer bit it, and I made sure it was Shallow Seas so I could watch those awesome great white shots from off the coast of South Africa. I cannot wait to go swimming. A great new feature that SAA added was a camera on the tail of the plane. Even though it was dark for a majority of the flight, the blinking light provided many hours of entertainment.
Overall the flight was alright, and I had the opportunity to get to know a couple of people from the group. Watching the plane land on the screen was pretty rewarding, and knowing that I was touching down on African soil felt oh so good.
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