Bryan's highs and lows of his new experiences,

This week was filled with new experiences in different aspects from the professional environment, to the artistic side, and even the culinary side of life.

The first thing that happened was I finally received some new tasks from my organization as my last task was shelved due to lack of certainty over whether or not the organization would pursue that particular issue. So for me I think I got to experience something that happens in the professional world, but is usually not talked about and that’s not always being able to show your hard work so for me this was a new thing as I have never had a project be shelved and it was a new feeling of what do I do now and what do I do with all of my previous work do I keep it and hope it gets used eventually or do I trash the work and focus on new issues. My new tasks revolve around the Wi-Fi rollout plan issued by the city of Cape Town and the housing policies in Cape Town and the western province.

The second thing that happened was the viewing of the play Kanala in the Fugard Theatre, this was a refreshing change of pace because the last time I went to a musical/play was when I was in London last summer and saw the Lion King Broadway show which was great. This show was overall very good I believe what truly saved the show was the amazing voices of some of the actors and the comedy inserted into the show. The only problems that I had with the show was the lack of a general plot to the show. mind you it did tell the story of District Six, but it never truly gave me the sad or depressing feeling that should have come at the terrible parts where people are being forced to leave instead the show opted to show the fun side of what individuals did in District Six which included taking pictures, going to movies, and listening to music. The second issue was in order to keep the show authentic the actors would sing in English and Afrikaans, but since I only know the basics I feel like I missed out on a good portion of the play.

The third thing that happened was this week I visited Mzoli’s in Gugulethu Township. This restaurant was pretty much everything that I could want it was just a giant braai which had very little healthy green options, but a wide variety of meat including chicken, lamb, beef, in various forms from sausages to steaks and for a VERY CHEAP price. The best part about this restaurant was the fact that it tried to remain simple it didn’t try to be too fancy and instead offered the feeling of a family cookout where everyone is sitting close due to the lack of available space in the sit-down area and because of the lack of tables so most people will be forced to join a table with another group. The restaurant also offered the option for customers to dance to the live/DJ music playing through the speakers set up all around the restaurant. The only downside to this restaurant is the time we had to wait in line for an hour and it took 2 hours to get the food we ordered, so for me this was torture because I didn’t eat prior and I was starving the entire 3 hours that it took to get food.