Shall We Dance?

This post got written two days but I've had no internet at home or at work yesterday which means I've been offline for the better part of two days. C'est la vie in South Africa.

Last night, I had my very first South African date night. With my lovely co-worker and her husband. I was a true third wheel and had a blast. They had invited me to come see this dance production called “Shall We Dance” that was playing at The Royal Theater, the largest, fanciest theater house in Durban. Two hours of watching people dance everything from the foxtrot to hip-hop? Sign me up. The Sewnarains’ know how to court you, I must say. They picked me up at my door, whisked me away to theater, bought me a pre-dinner glass of wine (and intermission glass of wine) and had me laughing the whole night away. At one point, Lee’s husband turns to us and goes, “They’re dancing to Waka Waka at the end.” Lee and I instantly and in perfect harmony turn to each other and go, “Sambinamina eh eh waka waka ehhhehhh!” Complete with perfectly coordinated dance moves. (I apologize for the spelling of the lyrics…. I just sounded out the music playing in my head.) After the show, we “went for coffee.” People do this, they go for coffee after functions or at the end of the night like some people go for drinks back home. So off we went to have some cappuccinos. Despite the 11 PM caffeine, when they finally dropped me off back home, I sleepily waka waka’ed my way to bed and fell asleep instantly. I believe that is the definition of satisfaction.

I realize what I’ve been writing about has had nothing to do with work at the office and in the hospital. Well, for starters, that’s because as I mentioned previously, I did basically only a couple hours of actual work last week. But this week, I made a resolution to attack my newest research proposal with zeal. When I got to work Monday morning, however, my co-workers excitedly whispered in my ear that the boss was not coming in so we were all taking a half day and going out to a seafood lunch. Fine.by.me. The truth is, every day here feels like a half day. By 3:30 PM, there’s literally only 1-2 people left in the office. Before I had keys made, I was “forced” to leave when the last person left….every day circa 3:40 PM. Now that I have a set of keys, I can come and go when I want. Like this morning. I drove to work early so I could park as close to the guards of the medical school parking lot as possible. The parking lot is reserved for professors and high-ranked university officials. I talked my way into parking there a couple days last week, but on Friday, the guard finally told me that if I didn’t have a permit or a letter stating my permit was in process, there would be no more parking lot parking for me. Boosauce. So now, I park on the street as close to the guards as possible, smile at them sweetly as I walk past them and mutter under my breath, “If my car gets stolen, I’ll slap you.” I should probably explain why I chose the word “slap.” It’s because people here say that all the time. “You didn’t invite me out? Oh I could slap you!” or “Did you pick up the files I asked for? I’m gonna slap you if you didn’t!” I have found this hilarious from day one so I’ve decided to appropriate it. If you guys don’t keep reading my blog, I’m gonna slap each and every one of you. Teehee…just kidding.

Jokes aside, I did want to take the opportunity to inform you devoted readers that this weekend was very successful in terms of my resolutions. I woke up at 8 AM on Saturday morning. (8 AM! On a Saturday! I just had to re-write that because, knowing myself like I do, even I myself did not believe it the first time I wrote it.) In any case, I woke up at 8 to make an 8:30 Bikram yoga class, complete with a space heater in the room to create the semblance of a hothouse. An hour and a half later, I emerged a new woman. The woman who led it just played a CD of Bikram himself leading a class. (Who knew it was an actual person! Is there a woman out there named Hatha? Or maybe a Vinyasa?) and showed us the moves so we could follow Bikram as he barked out the moves. I had never been in a yoga class quite like that one. Bikram sounded like a drill sergeant. “Bend further, further, further! Push yourself! Come on now! If you feel like vomiting then you’re doing it right!” Sheesh Bikram, it’s 8 AM on a Saturday morning….you should be happy I’m even here. But all grumbling aside, it was an amazing workout and one of the best stretches I’ve ever had. The woman who led it ended our class with 15 minutes of meditation, complete with small aromatic sandbags to place over our eyes so we could block out this world entirely and completely focus on our breathing. Or in my case, focus on taking a charming little 15 minute nap.

Other resolutions accomplished this week included: Mass on Sunday and flossing two days in a row. I know you guys are proud of me.