South Africa: The Sequel

Yep, a sequel. Not only did I travel back to South Africa for the second time in three months - I was in fact returning for some work related to a movie sequel. After a daunting 11.5 hour flight, 2 hour stop-over, 1 hour flight and a 2 hour drive, all without any sleep, we arrived at our final destination: Port Edward, a sleepy, little place west of Durban on the wild coast of South Africa.We checked ourselves into the Estuary Country Hotel (a very pretty, no-frills resort with an incredible view of the Indian Ocean), found our footing and braced for a hectic and exciting week of work.

It was amazing to spend time in such a quiet, chill and comfortable place - the kind of random place I likely would never have seen if it weren't for my work. It actually reminded me quite a lot of home - like cottaging up north, only it's the Indian Ocean and there are monkeys in the trees.

Some of my highlights of the week?

For one, I spent the week working with and getting to know some new friends and colleagues. I started the week off with an amazingly fun dinner with a visiting colleague Saundra, her lovely family, Melissa and our new South African friend Andrew that included several bottles of vino, some Lamb, pumpkin soup "(it tastes like...October") and some heavy metal discourse. And, then, to celebrate the end of our crazy week of work,  six of us North American ladies ventured out for an awesome dinner at a place called Casa Toscana. "Casa" indeed - the restaurant was actually in a home, complete with a tub and shower in the bathroom. But the food was excellent - and so was our decision to order and share all six desserts off the menu!

Secondly, I may in fact be living on the wrong side of the world. I am a sucker for a foreign accent...but, man, throw in a tan and a sense of humour and I am left defenseless. South African men are lovely. Somebody  please send a few of them to Toronto ASAP.

Thirdly, I met some really nice, funny...and very "kiff"...people who decided to school me in South African slang. This involved a very detailed cheat-sheet of sorts - which included some handy words and phrases like "now now" (in the near future), "just now" (distant future or not at all), "Wil jy naii" ("wanna get jiggy?") and my personal favourite, "Zef" ("the kind of guy who bangs his sister").  Special thanks to Jaci, De Villiers and Craig for preparing me so well for the rest of my trip. Haha.

Lastly, we had a really fun night hanging with some of our new friends at a great little bar called Sally Can't Surf. It was a very late night that may have involved some tequila ("down down")...but well worth the exhaustion on our ride to Durban the following morning at...yikes...7 am.