Disjointed Thoughts from the Past Few Days in Joburg

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg
October 13th 2009

Published: October 13th 2009

Since I’ve been jotting down little notes in a journal and haven’t made it to the computer til now, I’m just going to share some of my thoughts of my last 3 days I’ve been in Johannesburg, South Africa. I came over for a work trip, so a lot of my time has been spent working, between the Hyatt and the office. I haven’t gotten to see too much of the city yet, so I look forward to tomorrow, my “free” day before flying out tomorrow night. But here are some thoughts so far…

-On the flight over, I experienced what may be the “new” business class seats on Delta. These were crazy little pod seats, each individual in nature. Everyone is on the aisle (some people are on the windows too, but there is no climbing by someone to get to the restroom). When I first walked on, I thought of two things immediately: IKEA and The Jetsons. There were more movie or TV choices than I’ve ever seen on a flight. I watched ‘Sunshine Cleaning’ and ‘Burn After Reading’ - movies I’d been wanting to see, but they fall a bit on the “independent film” side of things for Dave, and I’d never had a chance. Loved them both. Amy Adams & Emily Blunt were so great, and I loved the little slice of life aspect of the film. It just sort of started and ended with no neat plot wrap-ups. I actually like that. And Brad Pitt’s goofy character in ‘BAR’ was so awesome - I don’t know what I expect from him, but he constantly surprises me which I think does make him a great actor. And Frances McDormand is always a treat. Oh yeah, and I always like looking at George Clooney for sure. Although the seats were not as wide or as cushiony as previous biz class, I think this was the best long flight I’ve ever had. I ate well several times, got to watch the two movies, slept a full 8 hours (the seats go totally flat!!), and got some work done for my trip. Good times.

-Johannesburg has gorgeous trees. Flowering trees in purple, yellow, red, white. Huge trees that line streets and boulevards that look like they’ve been there for hundreds of years. It is the beginning of summer here, and there are so many flowers in bloom, on the trees, on the hillsides, in gardens. This is not the Johannesburg I remember from my brief time here last year where all we saw was the airport and huge walls with barbed wire and razor wire. Those walls and wires are still here, but wow does it look a lot prettier with flowers and trees all in bloom.

-I love the oh-so-very African touches at the Hyatt: antler-like steel rods on banisters, cheetah-spotted rug in my room, the dark/light wood patterns on the doors.

-I had an incredibly stupid moment on my first day here. I had a work meeting at 11:00, so I got up at 8, thinking I would go for a swim. I felt pretty good for a first morning after the long flight and the 6 hour time change. So I headed up to the pool - a rooftop infinity pool and I was itching to swim some laps. I should have realized that maybe it wasn’t the best idea when the attendant at the spa said to me “Well that will be refreshing.” So I get outside and realize it is actually quite chilly - it had been warmer the night before. It was cloudy and windy on a roof. I was already in swimsuit and in the mood, so I said to myself, I’m doing it anyway. I stuck a toe in. NOT a heated pool. Had to take a few breaths and decide how serious I was. I was feeling motivated (adjectives that came to mind later were more like idiotic, ridiculous, what-was-I-thinking). I really wanted to work the kinks out from the plane and wake up, so I dove in. The cold literally took my breath away. In fact, I had to breathe every stroke because it was so cold I wasn’t able to hold my breath any longer. I kept at it. The sun almost came out. I swam some more. And after about 20 minutes, I realized that it was really not feeling good at all. So I got out and as I was drying off, an older South African man who had been inside the porch area in sweats, came out just to talk to me because he said I was “crazy” to swim and he couldn’t believe I had done it. At that point, I agreed with him, and hustled into the locker room to the hot tub. Long story short, I went from the hot tub to the sauna to a hot shower in my room, and couldn’t stop shaking with goosebumps. I spent the next 3 hours having hot and cold sweats and a very upset stomach. I tried to eat breakfast. That didn’t work. The waitress noticed I wasn’t feeling well, and was so nice - she said “such a shame” and brought me some chamomile tea insisting it would help (she had no idea why I didn’t feel well). I wanted to believe her, so I took the tea to my room, and I do think it helped. I felt fine in a few hours. What a first morning - what an idiot I am sometimes.

-Most of my waiters or waitresses at the Hyatt (and yeah, I had about two too many meals there, and will have at least one more tomorrow) say “you’re welcome” in response to everything I request. Me: “I’ll have the chicken Caesar salad.” Waitress: “You’re welcome” with a huge smile. I found it quite endearing, actually. That particular waitress’ name was Beauty. I liked that about her.

-On Monday night, October 12, I took myself to dinner at The Grillhouse, voted best independent steakhouse in Joburg in 2006, 07, 08. It was full of men. Businessmen. Groups of guys who looked like friends. A woman peppered in every now and then. Only one couple. I guess the men here like their steak - I felt like I’d snuck into the men’s grill or something. I had a delicious salad and chicken kebobs, of which I ate about ¼ of each - humongous portions. It was all delicious. Happy anniversary to me!

-Training went well. South Africa is such a different marketing arena than the US. Mobile is the way to go here, and I enjoyed learning about the Internet/mobile landscape here, as well as talking to talented brand marketers and agency folks. A cool experience overall. And I’m getting more and more comfortable standing up and talking to a room full of people for two days straight. Yay!

-The head of the team took me to dinner tonight at Moya. I was so glad she asked me. I got to see a bustling area of the city with lots of sidewalk cafes and seating, pretty lights, nice buildings. I was hoping to see another side to the city, and between the trees and flowers and this evening out, I have succeeded. When we first walked up, I felt like the restaurant reminded me of a place we went outside Cape Town when I was in SA before. I ordered a vegetable tagine dish with couscous - traditional North African fare that was delicious. We shared some traditional African bread and dips as an appetizer, and I’m proud to announce that I ate a couple bites of kudu. It is like beef jerky (I think…I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that). And yeah, it’s like a deer or something from the bush. It wasn’t very good, but I didn’t throw up either. I also tried the tiniest bit of liver pate. My, how I’ve changed with my experimentation of animal products. Not sure why, but I wanted to eat what my colleague said was good and typically African. Glad I did! Partway through the meal, a woman came up and asked if we wanted our faces painted. And I realized this place was really like the other place. I told my colleague that it reminded me of this place…I couldn’t remember the name…starts with an S. She says “Speir?” and yes! That’s it. She says “then you ate at Moya there also.” How random! I would highly recommend it to anyone though. Delicious food, awesome atmosphere. And yeah, I got my face painted. When in Africa…

Disjointed Thoughts from the Past Few Days in Joburg

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved