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The last two times I have gone to Spar (grocery store) and handed them my Visa to checkout, two different cashiers have thought my name to be rather interesting. First, the fact that I have two surnames (Scott-Tunkin) which wouldn’t be that unusual as people have trouble with that fact in the states, even in 2008. I have been trained since a young age to simply laugh it off, if people don’t grasp or find it odd that I do in fact have 2! last names
-but-
It is also my first name, Zane. Which doesn’t strike me as that unusual-however both cashiers have now commented on it, usually slightly chuckling after saying “Zane,” and looking at my signature on my card…what puzzle piece am I missing?!?
Our res (dorms) here at UKZN are self-catering, but alas we have no ovens…though I can see the argument when considering the heat merely outside the window-However, today while grocery shopping I happened upon a bakery and bought an entire loaf of Banana Bread.
It was a combination of my love for carbohydrates, my inability to so far cook a substantial meal, lack of an oven, combined with a tinge of homsickness. I slathered on the margarine (I’m not huge on butter) and took my first bite. “Emotional food release,” is what I would coin it. As I chewed with my eyes closed to savor flavor, all cares faded away.
And that is why it is known as Heaven Loaf.
Now if I only could learn how to cook some Zulu cuisine, it would be much appreciated.
Just say NO to clubbing, to house music, to cover charges, to being deaf the next morning, oh Durban where is your artistic underground? I need actual people not crazy drunks.
Woe is me.
I have fallen for Dutch settler food. Especially Boerwors. Spicy farmer sausages that you can find nearly everywhere here-from roadside stands that grill them in front of you to the meat case at the supermarket. Better than any sort of sausage I have encountered in the US (can one call a hot dog a sausage?), and absolutely wonderful with some Chili sauce, an Indian influence I believe. It is in food (ex: Tex-Mex) that cultures truly mingle.
I know when I return I will search high and low for them in the states, probably in vain.
I am sunburnt, and it hurts. But seeing and swimming in my first ocean and everything that came with it; sand, sun, and waves was worth it. I was like a little kid, I did not want to get out of the water.
Thanks, Indian Ocean.
