A long overdue update.

First, due to a lack of internet availability and some very busy days, this update is extremely overdue; so before getting into any details, sorry about that. Hopefully our update won’t disappoint! Pictures will be posted at a later date.

On June 19th, my dad took Sara and I to Klerksdorp, his childhood town. We visited the homes he grew up in, his school, and my grandfather’s medical office. We also visited with some friends that my dad hasn’t seen for close to 40 years. In the usual South African way, we were very warmly welcomed into their home despite no phone call or warning, and fed not once but twice. The most interesting part of the visit for my dad was getting a better appreciation of the work my grandfather did with the local African community and the difficulty it caused him under the Apartheid regime. For Sara and me, it was absolutely wonderful to see the places that we’ve heard about for so many years, and see the people that were a part of my dad’s childhood.

The next day, my dad’s cousin had a reunion for the Joburg family (the small side of the family with a mere 12 cousins). For my dad, many of these cousins were revelations since they’re younger than him and he didn’t know them very well when he left for Canada. Again, it was so good to hear stories about my dad, his cousins and aunts and uncles, and my grandparents, from people who were so close to them.

We managed (through some fantastic work from one of my cousins) to snag some tickets for a World Cup game, so in the late afternoon, we headed over to Soccer City for the match between Brazil and Côte d’Ivoire. Soccer City is an amazing stadium built in the shape of a calabash with a capacity of 8,800. The match up was a classic – the kings of South American soccer versus the best of Africa. Unfortunately for us, Côte d’Ivoire went down in defeat (and Brazil was a bit disappointing). The good news is that Ghana’s Black Stars are still going strong, and we’re supporting them all the way.

On June 21st, we took Joburg’s new high speed train system, the Gautrain (named after the province Gauteng) to Sandton, Joburg’s premier shopping and hotel destination. We looked around, saw a 3D show, and saw many a rowdy Spanish fan. Good times all around.

The following day, we flew to Durban, which was my grandfather’s home city, and is home to some of the most beautiful beaches anywhere. The weather here is a thousand times better (none of us were dreading getting into or out of bed, which was a definite step in the right direction). June 23rd we spent relaxing and enjoying the not-so-frigid weather, and in the evening, we took a drive and got ice cream at Sun Coast, which is basically a giant building with tons of restaurants and a casino right on the beach.

On June 24th in the morning, we did a tour of Durban by bus and saw a lot of the city. After, we headed down to the beach and one of the many fan parks to watch the Italy/Slovakia game. This particular fan park is apparently the best in SA, which I can believe: imagine watching a World Cup game on a massive screen while sitting on the sand of a beautiful beach! The boardwalk along the beach is jumping with music, arts, and some gumboot dancers (this dance originated with the indentured African labourers in the mines around Johannesburg). Funny story: as the three of us and a whole herd of family were all enjoying the sun and the sea, two men with cameras and a giant microphone came up to us and said they were doing a piece on Crisitano Ronaldo for a German T.V. station and asked us to participate. Before we could really say yes or no, they asked “what do you think of Ronaldo?”, which ended up being the most serious question; from there it was things like “is he handsome” or “would you marry him”. We were mostly grateful that no one we know watches German T.V.…

After the game, Sara and I tried one of South Africa’s uniquely famous culinary treats: the bunny chow. A bunny chow is a quarter loaf of bread with the center removed and then filled with curry (or a hamburger and fries if you’re other cities in SA). Aay, it was so delicious.

The next day, we went back to the fan park to watch first Brazil/Portugal, and then Spain/Chile. The first game was pretty disappointing, but the second game was so much fun, and the atmosphere was amazing. After the second game, a DJ came onto the stage on the beach and basically made the entire population of fans into a giant dancing unit. We stayed there until almost midnight dancing with a whole bunch of my dad’s cousins and their children, it was so wonderful!

The next morning, we took a fantastic drive down the South Coast, stopping along the way at a few beaches and interesting landmarks. It was absolutely beautiful.

We spent most of the 26th relaxing. In the evening, a group of 14 of us piled into two cars and headed into town for a hilarious one-man show called “Bend It Like Beauty”. After, we all ended up having pizza and tea together, and just enjoying being all together until late into the night. As an aside, I finally understand where my love of tea originates; I’ve been drinking so much tea and am absolutely in the right place.

So yesterday, another of my dad’s cousins took us out for the day. We went to a sort of marineworld here in Durban called uShaka. We spent the day out and around there, and it was so nice. We spent the evening at home with my dad’s cousins’ family.

Finally now we’re at today! We were out with our family all day, seeing a movie, shopping, and spending some time on the beach. Tonight we’ll be watching the soccer game all together and not too much else.

Ok so that’s all for now! Hopefully updates will be more regular now that we’re a little more settled. My mom and Adam are coming on Friday night (we’re missing them quite terribly and are mighty excited to see them), and in a week and a half we have a family reunion, where, if all my dad’s cousins and their children come, there will be about 200 guests!

- Leila, Sara, and Yusuf (aka Uncle Yusi or Yufus)