Woke up early today and headed over to the shopping center connected to my brother's condo complex. We were in search of someone to help me with my hair. I had initially thought I wanted it done with the ends loose, but as soon as it was done, I didn't like it. Unfortunately, the girl doing my hair (in the US before I left) had to leave to get to school, so I didn't have the heart to tell her I wanted it changed and braided all the way to the ends. Jess and I tried to do it ourselves, even smuggled a lighter into the airport to burn off the ends when we were done braiding. But... it didn't work for us. So today, our first order of business was to find someone to not only braid the hair all the way to the ends, but to find a way to seal off the ends. We found a place and ended up having four wonderful girls all braiding my hair at the same time! They did an amazing job! By the way, there was a guy getting a haircut in the chair next to me, and I just have to mention that his guy, at the end, as he was splashing him with a little cologne, actually pulled out a bottle of Aqua Velva! I didn't even think they made that anymore!
From there, we had a nice breakfast and headed over to Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton. We took some pictures of us by the 20 foot tall statue of Mandela, learned about a meat called Biltong (reminds me of jerky) and looked around in the shops. We stumbled upon a really nice little art show with beautiful paintngs in it. Unfortunately, of course, I couldn't take any pictures in there, but they were beautiful. We decided to take a drive over to Rosebank at the last minute, but we were running low on time, as we had theater tickets for this evening. We took a quick peek around the African Craft Market that takes place on Sundays only on the rooftop on the Rosebank Mall, but didn't stay long. I did, however, happen to run into an adorable little dog. The men with him informed me he was a celebrity. He was so old and gray and adorable, I bent down to give him a scratch, then asked his owner about him. Apparently, Rocky is the star of the books his owner writes: The Rocky Series. Of course I bought the latest book in the series, Rocky and the Wilddogs. I will be getting the first two books when I get home! Afterwards, we got back on the road to Mart's, as the weather was pretty rainy and lightening-y and the roads apparently get bad when it rains a lot. We didn't want to be late for tonight.
My brother has been filling us in on our drives on a lot of history and basic knowledge as we go along, such as the five provinces of South Africa (he is asleep now, otherwise, I would ask him to re-tell me! That will have to wait for tomorrow. I do know the one we are in is Gauteng). He also was letting us know why there was quite a notceable Indian population. Apparently, many people were brought over from India when the infrastructure of the country was being built and upon the completion of the project, were given the option of returning to India or staying in South Africa. Many opted to stay, hence the large population. I found that interesting.
We came home, changed into dressy clothes and headed out to Montecasino Theater to see Dreamgirls. What great seats! We were 5th row, dead center. Awesome seats he had gotten for us. I was prepared to hear the play with South African accents, but most all the actors did a fabulous job of putting on American accents for their roles. There was only one actor whose accent managed to come though whenever he talked. But the play was great, the performance of "And I Am Telling You" was fantastic! We left the play and went on the hunt for a place for dinner. We decided on a Portuguese (I think) restaurant. I ordered a kabob that ended up being delivered hanging from a HUGE metal stake in mid-air! But the food was fantastic. By this point, and after my glass of wine, we were ready for bed.
Came back to Bedford Gardens, changed out of dressy clothes and Mom and Mart chatted while I Skyped home. Another exciting day down. Tomorrow, my brother has to go to work, so Jess and I are on our own. I think we can do it! We'll see....
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