From the Southern Hemisphere

We are a little over half packed (and a little under half baked) and getting ready to get back on a plane tomorrow midday and do that journey all over again (10 hours to Singapore, 5 more to Seoul, this time an overnight in Korea, and then the 2 hour flight back home to Vlad).

Since it's still fresh in my mind and my eyes while we are here, I figured it was wise to make an update now, rather than when we're back home, once all the preoccupations of life there take over.

[Sorry for the formatting -- I've got to figure out once and for all what I'm doing wrong. For now I need to leave this as is and fix it later.]

What we have been spending our time doing:

not sleeping (especially for the first 4 days or so)

greeting the morning with a "caw! caw!" in homage to the hadidah ibis birds that are so prevalent and which wake us when it gets light at about 4:30am)

visiting parks, botanical gardens, game reserves, and zoos

eating lots of breakfast with Loren, our fellow egg worshipper

rearranging the onions, limes, and tea boxes in Loren and Caroline's kitchen

enjoying sundowners and other cocktails in and out of the house with Caroline and Loren

sleeping (thankfully, more in the last couple of days/nights -- just in time to undergo readjustment back home!)

driving between Johannesburg, KwaZulu-Natal province's premier state game reserve, Hluhluwe-Umfolozi, and Durban

communicating with various friends and colleagues to determine whether a stay in Dushanbe, Tajikistan is really in our future

charming the pants off of people (primarily the diminutive ones in our group), especially in our gorgeous party dress at the wedding (pictures to follow on Flickr)

What we are saying:

[the vocabulary is shooting skyward so rapidly that this is of necessity going to have to start being less exhaustive than previously...]

pissi, pishi, shi-shay = fishy

pay-tay = pencil

pay-day = PJs

beow = beer and/or bear

om = down

up = up

heppah = help

koo-kay = cookie

manna = banana

soss = sauce (including ketchup)

tuh-tuh = turtle (as encountered in the bathtub)

tickah = circle and/or tickle

teba = zebra

pala = impala

toe-uh = towel

toh = toe

pee-ah = pear

ack! = egg

hadda = hadidah

yeh-rah-yeh-rah = yeah, right; yeah, right (as heard among the big people in conversation)

tade = shade

What we are listening to (a selection):

Born to Run on the road through Nongoma

Sticky Fingers in Newcastle and on the road through Vryheid

sounds of the bush (and unfortunately from time to time the whining of a less-than-interested toddler) in Hluhluwe reserve

What we are eating and drinking:

Kingklip-Prawn Jalfrezi from the Indian restaurant in Norwood

Diemersfontein pinotage (a LOT, before, after and during the wedding party)

much biltong and draewors

South African fastfood on the road from Hluhluwe to Durbs (and lots of chips/french fries all the time for the little people)

huevos rancheros a la Landau

delicious "tuk-tuk" cocktails from the kitchen of Caroline and Loren (involving passion fruit, ginger ale, and vodka, among other blended ingredients)

fruit and nut bread from Woolworth's