On Thursday evening I got to experience the Ethiopian cuisine, as I went to the Addis in Cape restaurant together with Serej, a Swiss colleague who has made me feel very welcome in Cape Town from the get-go. Accompanying us were Serej’s boyfriend Manuel, an amazingly funny guy, along with two of Manuel’s German relatives, who were on an impromptu visit to Cape Town, only deciding to travel the prior week.
We agreed to meet in front of the restaurant at 19:00. As I stay in the Pinelands suburb this meant I had to make a short 20-minute drive to the Cape Town city center. I had made this drive a few times already during my touristic excursions in the weekends, and I even knew where the restaurant was as I had walked past it a few times, so I did not anticipate any trouble finding it. Upon arriving in downtown Cape Town I quickly realized that getting to the restaurant might be somewhat harder than expected: the streets were bustling with pedestrians and the square where I intended to park was closed off as it was completely full (even using every opportunity to double park). It turns out that, not unlike in Belgian (university) cities, Thursday is the traditional night out, and the first Thursday of the month even more so as all the art galleries in town are free to visit. I had to drive on for more than a kilometer to find a decent parking spot, and hurried to the restaurant. I got there at 19:10 and joined my friends at their table. Manuel was still missing at that point, because like me, they had not anticipated the huge crowds and he had dropped off the rest of the group while he continued looking for a parking spot.
To eat we ordered the ‘set menu’, which contains eight different dishes, so we could sample the wide range of the Ethiopian cuisine. I had never had Ethiopian food, so I did not know what to expect, but I figured that if I did not like some part of the meal I could easily eat a bit more of the other parts. I am happy to report however that everything was delicious! Our food was served in a round platter of Ethiopian bread, and we each received rolled up pieces of bread as well. If you are not familiar with Ethiopian bread, the word ‘bread’ is maybe a bit of a misnomer as it does not resemble our typical bread, but looks more like very thin rolls of dough. To eat in traditional Ethiopian style we had to tear off strips of the bread and use this to scoop up pieces of meat. No cutlery required! We all were pretty hungry at this point and the food was very tasty, so a short while later even the bread functioning as platter had been fully consumed, and the dinner was concluded with some coffee and tea. Although I am often a picky eater, having an authentic Ethiopian meal was definitely an experience worth repeating. And next time I feel like breaking proper eating etiquette and eating with my hands I can simply claim that I will be eating according to the Ethiopian fashion.
The next evening, on Friday, again I had an interesting night out planned as I went to the Stellenbosch University Faculty of Medical Health and Sciences’ annual gala concert. The gala concert consisted of performances by students, staff, and people affiliated to the faculty, and my advisor here in Cape Town, prof. David Tabb, was actually among the performers. I had a nice chat with the retired surgeon in the seat next to me, and as I and the other people in the audience enjoyed some amazing singing, instrument playing, and dancing, I can only conclude that the university hosts some very talented people. It also turns out that a cappella singing is not only inexplicably popular in some movies, but it can also be aca-mazing in real life.
Me and prof. David Tabb at the gala concert - it is clear that I still have a long way to go to reach that professor-like level of style.
On Saturday I had planned to go to Robben Island. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the ferry gateway I was notified that the trip was cancelled due to rough weather. I rebooked my ticket for the next weekend (which trip actually got cancelled due to bad weather again, hopefully the third time is the charm), and wandered around the V&A Waterfront. Historically the V&A Waterfront was the center of the Cape Town harbor, but nowadays most shipping has moved to nearby locations. Instead, the Waterfront has been reoriented as a commercial zone containing a large variety of shops, hotels, and restaurants, and as such it is a popular tourist destination.
More interesting was the Cape Town Busker Festival that was taking place all over the Waterfront that day. This festival hosted international and local street artists, who made the rounds with a hat after their act for the audience to show their appreciation. A standout performance was the one by Dynamike, a foul-mouthed Canadian traveling street artist. His act consisted of some knife and chainsaw juggling, but his hilarious oneliners and interaction with the audience were most memorable. Other performances included a magician, a comedian (unfortunately not very funny), and some traditional singers. All in all some it amounted to an afternoon full of pleasant entertainment.
Shenanigans with Dynamike at the Busker Festival.