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Bachelor's...

Out into the dark night we went, to spring a few surprises for a friend soon to be wed.
Enough said...

Aan Huis By Die Joubert's

Nou onlangs had ons weer 'n heerlike kuier by die Jouberts op hul forelplaas.
Melanie het my kniege laat knak met 'n fantastiese bobotie-gereg. Dit laas in die Republiek gesmaak, skuins duskant vier jaar gelede.
Ons vroue skud ook steeds net hul koppe vir ons belaglike ou grappetjes. Tog veel leuk.

PICTURE OF THE MONTH

Want to do Africa with me?!

This awesome pic was recently taken by friend Lawrette McFarlane, as she and her sister Christa was taking some foreign friends on a road trip of SA.
(Notice the passengers anxiety as ol' Dumbledorf is approaching.)

Florida Humor

We're halfway through hurricane season and the Sunshine State's not half that bad.

Manhatten - Surprises Around Every Corner...

In Manhatten something exciting is always "happening", most of it unsolved!
We were walking through the city's famous Financial District when I came across this familiar emblem/crest, life-sized on the side of a bank building.
(I grew up in Cape Town, and it's still home.)

Air Travel and Fabulous Manhatten Rendevouz

We have come a long way since the Age of Aviation began many moons ago. A hundred years ago it would have taken us about 10 days to travel from Miami International to La Guardia Airport in New York. These days it might take up to 20 days with a mayor American airline. Travel was brutal in the old days because back then there were rarely TV's in the hotel rooms.

The airline business began when the Wright-kids, in the Carolinas, build the first simplistic flying machine, while also inventing airline food from left-over cow cud.
Thanks to improvements in technology over the past few years, air travel is safer than it has been for the past three weeks!
Honorable mention must also go to Baggage Claims: this is where you spend three relaxing hours after u'r flight watching/searching luggage - none of it your's - being coughed up by a mysterious tunnel that is apparently connected to an airport in Nagasaki.

This latest trip of ours was another adventurous fun-filled trip. It started when the flight was delayed twice and we missed our connecting flight from Memphis - Elvis's birthplace. (The king of airport security here is a man named Earl. Do exactly as he says.) Our bags were send to the Vatican or somewhere. Imagine our excitement.

I'm not sure if it's done the same eveywhere, but in the States you go through metal detectors. These machines ("Don't worry, it's totally harmless," the security personnel assured us, although you'll NEVER see them go through it.) shoots out puffs of air/invisible rays that goes through your body. Airport security cooks their lunch in this device when nobody's around. And you have to take off some of your clothes to go through it.
Of course, travellers with obvious names like Mohammed or Abdul or Osama are excempt from this fun excercise, since that would be discrimination. This is true!

Accommodation in New York:
When calculating cost of accommodation in NY, always multiply your total holiday budget by 3. This is a conservative estimate.
Our hotel, although in a very convenient, pleasant location in Queens, close to the subway, was not really worth the $'s. The rooms were pretty small - if you wanted to change your mind, you had to go stand outside in the hallway. The hotel elevator was powered by two ageing oxen.

We got our luggage back just in time for our wedding on Saturday morning and enjoyed the rest of the time enjoying the wonderful sights and sounds of New York. And the taxi drivers!

We truly love the diversity, the surprise around every corner, the people. We'd stay here in a heartbeat.

Saturday night and Sunday we spend with our good old friends Brian and Sophia Womack. Brian and I were colleagues in Taichung and the four of us attended the same church. We hanged out a lot on weekends and it was pretty special to see them again, spend some time together and renew old ties.

Big Apple Wedding

We were fortunate enough to attend Robert and Julia Manning's wedding in Westbury, Long Island, on Saturday - the reason for our trip to NY.
Julia and Sarah were colleagues and close friends back at Morrison in Taichung, Taiwan. She witnessed the early days of our relationship and "shared the road" with us, which made attending her wedding even more special.

The wedding itself was beautiful and Julia shined.
The reception was held in an old Inn, one of the first in the New York area, dating back to 1676. I wasn't even aware there were Europeans here that long ago!

Bloemfontein Currie Cup Final

NOT!
Free State 28
Blue Bulls 28

New York, New York

As Frank Sinatra used to sing in that beautiful, but horrendously overexposed hit show tune: "New York, New York!"
We're flying there today and apart from putting all our valuables in a safe deposit box in Switzerland before we step onto NY soil, we're all set and extremely excited. We'll be attending our friends, Bob and Julia's wedding and then hopefully meet up with old friends from Taiwan.

Sarah's on Cloud nine over the prospect of going back to one of her favorite places. I'm bracing myself for another opportunity to try and get around the Big Apple in their convenient, simple subway system. Unlike in Asia, where userfriendly colorcoded lines are used, in NY there are lines like IRT, BMT, the SAT, LSD, RSA, USA etc, which operate through downtown, uptown, crosstown, midtown, throughtown and those trains that only stop at alternating stations. only when it's abalone season and somtimes only for passengers holding odd-numbered transfers.

In spite of the above - we are indeed looking forward to a great long weekend!

Tito on Afrikaners

Tito Mboweni, governor of the South African Reserve Bank, made some interesting, though"controversial" (sic) statements recently at a breakfast in Johannesburg. He certainly did not do his chances of being invited to the next ANC or Black Empowerment Forum-barbeque much good, not after voicing his opinion on the Afrikaner workforce.

Click here for the article as it appeared on AOL.co.za
I'll Stick with Afrikaners.

Guesthouse Bouwer Operational

My old housemate and friend, Marius Acker, visited us from the nearby Grand Cayman Islands this past weekend.
We had a good time, and it was fun dining, shopping, playing tourguide, catching up and reminiscing about old times.

Currie Cup Semi's!

After the spectacular regulation Currie Cup matches of the past five weeks, the two semi-finals was rather an anti-climax.
W.P., my team, my home. But the Cape Town-based team still is to me like a brother in jail - you love him, but you'r to embarrassed to talk about him.
And the Sharks losing out to the Cheetahs - I mourn for them!

Ek glo egter, dat indien die Cheetahs die span uit die Noorde klop vlge Saterdag, die hele land saam met hulle sal feesvier.
I'm trading in my regular rugby chair - be it in front of the computer for Kuduclub at home, the Ninneman's comfy couch or Kalahari Bar's springbokvel-benches - in for a rugby-friendly pub somewhere in Manhattan, New York on Saturday...

Driving in Cars with Boys and Girls

I believe that a car for a man is like an extention of his personality. Men keep their cars in order, uncluttered, clean and make sure it stays in shape.
A car for a woman is just a giant purse.

The Bodies Exhibition

While we lived in Taichung, the fascinating exhibit by professor Gunther von Hagens was on display there for the better part of a month. Sarah desperately wanted to see it.
The display was then moved to the capital, Taipei, where it casued quite an uproar. Sarah wanted to se it even more. The opportunity just never came.
Two months ago, while we visited New York, this world-famous exhibit was there. However, due to "monetary restrictions", we had to forego that opportunity.

It is currently in Miami and last night I surprised Sarah with tickets. The bodies undergo a process called plastination, whereby the body tissue is saturated with special plastics, which preserves the body indefinitely.
I was a little hesitant myself, having fainted once before in the presence of a cadaver, when a bunch of friends - all medical students at the time - played a macabre practical joke on me. (The details will remain undisclosed!)

It was wondrous. The bodies are displayed with sensitivity, and yet it was obvious that elaborate planning went into focussing the visitor's attention on the intricate, delicate, miraculous wonders of the human body.
We are fearfully and wondrously made.

South Beach Sundays

Sarah and I love hangin' out at South Beach on Sunday afternoons, before strolling around the nearby cobblestoned Lincoln Road with it's little shops, stalls, artists, shows and restaurants. It's becoming routine.
The mercury was at 89 degrees Fahrenheit (around 32 degrees C.), which is lower then usual, since the arrival of Fall. Thankfully, Fall's arrival means the sometimes unbearable tropical humidity also drops.

Pic: Sunday, October 1st, around 3:30p.m.

Saturday Night Live

What better way to spend a Saturday evening then having good friends over for dinner and some games? (Sarah exceeded herself in the cooking department once again!)
Pic.: (LtoR) Megan and Grant, Mike and Melanie and Sarah. Grant and Mike are from the Republic too, both stoere Province supporters.