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This past week was nice overall. I finally went to the store and got some medicine for my cold on monday or tuesday. I also found the Passover food section at Pick 'n Pay which is surprisingly really good. They even had NesQuick for Passover. I picked up some matzo and matzo meal and matzo cake meal. I figure since I won't be home for Passover, I might as well try to make some of the good food I'm missing out on. I made choroset right away since it's my favorite. I was too impatient to peel the apples since we had no peeler here, so I just chopped them up. It turned out pretty well I think. I of course made some matzo meal pancakes. For some reason the electric stove doesn't cook them as well. I kind of wish we had gas stoves here because even scrambling eggs doesn't come out the same. Let's see, I made some toffee squares also. They have actual cane sugar as their brown sugar, so it came out a little differently than I'm used to, but they were still really good. I brought some to a braai on friday night and everyone really loved them. Last night I made some great apple matzo kugel from a recipe i found online. I think I'm going to try matzo ball soup, but I've heard making matzo balls is hard to do. So yeah I've basically been baking a lot.

At work I did some more stuff with the magazine's corporate identity guide. My boss also decided on a slogan himself, so it'll be "celebrate individuality." He made a list of campaign ideas, so I tried to elaborate on them and try to think of ways to make them more than just one ad. I have a feeling I won't really end up doing much myself with this campaign if it even happens before I leave, but at least I'm keeping busy at work. My boss also decided that he wanted to change the logo of the design/architecture company that's sort of part of the magazine. He had thought of ideas w/ the graphic designer, so I basically brainstormed some more and created them in Illustrator. I'm pretty sure my boss knows what he wants for this too, so I tend to just show him what I'm doing more as I go along so I don't waste my time.

That reminds me, CS3 is out and I'd really like to get it. Even the educational versions are pricey, so I might have to wait a bit. I'm also annoyed because the latch on my laptop is broken and it won't close all the way now. I went to the apple store in Cape Town to see if apple care covers it or exactly what I can do, but they said because an actual little piece is broken off that it wouldn't be covered. They also said it would be at least $500 to fix because the little button part at the bottom is welded to the entire inside so instead of being able to replace a cheap piece, they replace the whole inside which costs a ton. It's pretty frustrating that they do it that way. There's nothing wrong hardware wise w/ my computer, so I can't justify spending that kind of money just for the latch. I might be able to weld it back on when I get home, so hopefully that'll work out.

Let's see, on Wednesday I had to go pay rent and run some errands in the afternoon. The Slave Lodge museum was open this time, so I decided to check it out. It explained the slave trade history all over, but focused on this specific slave lodge in Cape Town. They also had an exhibit on the civil rights movement in the U.S. It was mainly about the end of segregation in the school systems. They would make points throughout about the similarities of the US civil rights movement/ the racial injustice in the US to Apartheid in South Africa. The museum had a lot of other artifacts, but the exhibits on the bottom were the most interesting to walk though. Wednesday night we went to this random farm that's at the end of military road here. The guy who owns it is an artist besides running the farm, so there was a show set up in an older building. It was kind of creepy looking at night, but it was interesting to walk through. There were a bunch of his paintings and then other studios set up where other artists work I think. There was one around back that was all sculptures done in this narrow hallway that dead-ended. We missed a dance show that was put on by some kids, but it was neat to check out.

Thursday night there was a free jazz concert in greenmarket square for the international jazz festival that's going on this weekend. We got there a little late, but it was a cool atmosphere. Friday night I got dinner w/ Kelsey at Royale since it was her last night in Cape Town. They have a ton of gourmet burgers and a lot of veggie burgers which she likes. I was stupid and had my leftovers in my hand when I walked out of the restaurant and a little boy tried to knock it out of my hands. Nothing happened besides that, but I'm going to be more careful about it in the future. Later that night a bunch of us went to a braai in Observatory where two of the interns live. Besides Kelsey leaving, another intern is leaving for a little while, so it was kind of for that. It was a pretty nice night overall, but nothing too eventful.

Saturday morning Kelsey left for the airport to go back home. It's always weird saying bye to people when you've only known them for two months, but still were part of a unique experience.

Monday night we actually had a braai also on the roof of the building for one of the interns friends who was leaving to go back to London I think. I ended up meeting a girl who graduated from Northwestern recently. She's helping start up a non-profit here that will be helping kids in the area. One main thing they do is have kids from the townships come to that farm I was at for the art show and play with them and provide a good lunch. Saturday after Kelsey left i took a rikki taxi up there to check it out. It was pretty cool actually. I got to talk to some of the kids from the Gugulethu township. Most of the time the kids were playing in the water and stuff. It was hot out, so they left a little earlier than they normally do. I think we were going to do some face painting type stuff, but didn't get around to it. The kids loved all the volunteers' cameras and getting their picture taken, so I got some cute pics. I felt a little useless there 'cause there was no specific thing to really do w/ the kids, but it was cool hanging out with them and answering any questions they had. All the kids there knew english, afrikans, and xhosa. I really wish I knew more than one language because it makes it so much harder to feel a part of the community and other people can choose when they want you to know what they're saying. I've never been good with learning new languages, but I think learning some spanish might be worth the struggle since it seems a lot more necessary at home now. Anyways, it was a fun time and I think I'll try to go back another weekend before I leave.

Last night I ended up seeing the movie 300. It was pretty neat visually, but the story itself didn't have much to it. It reminded me of how Sin City looked so it's worth seeing for that aspect of it.

Today I went to the SA jewish museum and the holocaust museum. It's actually a really nice facility. They had a locked gate w/ a guard that checked for weapons before you could get in which is higher security than any other place I've been. There's a nice courtyard/outside area in the center of the buildings. The jewish museum used to be the first synagogue here. It mainly talked about how the first jewish people came to South Africa and why they came. Sounded like they were mainly from poland, russia, and england and they came over to Kimberly during the big diamond rush there. A lot of them lived in District Six which i didnt realize. During apartheid they were displaced along with everyone else and most of the shops they owned weren't there anymore either. I think because of the holocaust a lot of the jewish people ended up helping the fight against apartheid. There's a much larger jewish population here than i realized also. Most are in Cape Town or Johannesburg within South Africa. After I went through the museums I ate at a little cafe they had there. I was hoping they'd have some matzo ball soup or something, but they didn't have any jewish food really. I got a falafel and hummas pita thing that was really good though. I tried falafel in Israel and didn't like it 'cause it was so salty, so I thought I just didn't like falafel, but it turns out I do if it's made well.

I did a lot more this week than I realized, which is good. I'm trying to get stuff in before I leave. I think tonight I'm going to the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens because it's the last night that they have their summer concerts. I don't know if it'll be any good, but it's a beautiful area and will be kind of like going to a random concert at Ravinia.

Tomorrow night I get a new roommate who will be with me the rest of my time here, so it'll be cool to meet someone new. She's a med student from New York and that's all I know right now.

I haven't been doing a whole lot lately, but I've been trying to keep busy. I had a nice holiday weekend the other week. On thursday night I went out to dinner at a really good indian food restaurant at the waterfront. After that I went to this fake balcan wedding party with my new roommate. It was kind of random, but cool. They had people breaking plates and there was band playing whatever balcan music is. There were also psychics so Chaneve and I tried it out when we got bored, but they were really bad. My person totally made up everything based on the fact that I was a foreigner visiting. She didn't even show me the tarot cards that came up. At least we tried..

Friday one of the women from work, Amelia, invited me to go on a mini road trip w/ her to Hermanus and some other town I can't remember the name of or pronouce. It was kind of a cold rainy day, but it was nice to get out of Cape Town. We basically would eat somewhere and then drive a bit until we got to another place to eat. We tried finding a beach to hike around, but it started to rain while we were walking, so we kind of gave up on that idea. There was one restaurant where we just got coffee and a muffin at, but it was so amazing. If they hadn't been booked up for dinner I definitely would have stayed.

Saturday I spent the day at the beach w/ Chaneve. We went to clifton #3 which I hadn't been to before. It was pretty nice. We went to Wembley Square to see if any shops were open, but they weren't so we just got a smoothie and went back home. A bunch of us went out on Long St. for drinks which was cool, but nothing too eventful happened.

Sunday was a pretty boring day because we assumed nothing would be open. I just read and hung around which was still better than being at work. Monday I wasn't sure if anything would be open, but I was so bored, so I called around and found out that all the malls were open. I took a cab to Cavendish Square which has some fun shops. I found a really neat/nice pair of earrings for my mom there. I also saw the movie Volver and it was really good. That night I went with Chaneve to a restaurant called arnolds on Kloof st. I ended up getting seared Ostrich that was served with a chocolate chili sauce that was amazing. I need to find some to take home. The ostrich was really good too:) I'm glad I got the chance to try some here.

This weekend I went to the Old Biscuit Mill market and it was really great. It was like a mini farmers market, but mostly had people baking fresh food for you to buy. One guy was making crepes, some were making waffles. other places had fresh falalphel and all sorts of meats. There were baked goods everywhere. I'm kind of glad I don't actaully live here because it would be dangerous how much stuff I'd be tempted to buy and take home w/ me. One stand was also selling shirts by the designer I've been looking for here. It was way cheaper than other places, so I got a top. There were other artsy stores to walk around in there too. There was this one bead shop that had everything you'd possibly need to make jewlery on your own. I kind of wish I had something like that at home. I went to Wembley Square after to look at the shops there. There was only one boutique I really liked and I found a cute top there too. Overall it was a good shopping day. Later on I went with Nick and Jon to this one beach kind of far away because Nick wanted to get some pictures of table mountain and the clouds. The weather didn't work out for his picture, but we went to a good mexican place for dinner that had an all you can eat buffet deal going on.

I didn't do a ton yesterday. I started reading The Kite Runner and it's really good so far. I also finished up a big update to my web portfolio. www.kopelsondesign.com

Oh, I'm also going on a 5 day garden route tour a week from today. It should be pretty nice. Not sure who will be on the trip, but I'll be glad to be done with work and seeing some new stuff outside of Cape Town. Garden Route Tour

This week was my last week at work, so I'm pretty relieved to be done. My last two days I worked on a double page spread for a music article about Johnny Neon. The magazine won't be put together for another month, so who knows if what I did will end up in the final version. I'm glad I got the chance though.

Wednesday I went to the Mount Nelson Hotel for their afternoon tea time. I'm not big on tea, but what I had was good. The main focus was definitely the buffet of little desserts and sandwiches etc... Apparently the family near the buffet table was giving us looks since we kept going up so much, but we weren't there to be proper. I think if i were to go again I'd go for the full time, so at least there would be time to digest in between trying all the food and tea.

We left that a big early because my roommate's co-worker claire wanted to check out Signal Hill and then go to the hotel that some of the rugby players were probably staying at. She's sort of a stalker/obsessed fan. The rugby team ended up being there and claire made chaneve go ask for pictures because she was too nervous or something. so she didn't even get pictures w/ the rugby players. We stayed to get a drink at the hotel and we ended up seeing the players again when they got back from dinner. This time claire went and got pictures too. I felt bad at one point 'cause one of the players asked me if we watched much rugby in America, and I said "no, not really..." Chaneve and I aren't even into sports, so we weren't the best fake fans. It was pretty funny overall though. I can't say I've ever shown up at a hotel and found a bunch of movie stars I like just hanging out in the lobby.

Thursday night was pretty fun too. There was a student award show put on by House and Leisure magazine. I thought it was going to be set up like a real award show, but they basically just showcased the students' work in a conference room and then announced who the winner was. It was still worth going to because we got some free drinks and a little food. It was also drinks night for the interns and they ended up being at a bar that was right across the street from where I was. They all ended up coming down to say hi. One new woman at work, Gia, who is doing the advertising was with us too. She's super energetic and really talkative. She was asking me and chaneve about the stuff we've done here and if we've done certain authentic south african things. I've been to braais, but I haven't been to one done by people from south africa, so I think as my farewell to everyone at one small seed we're going to have a braai next friday. But anyways, gia offered to drop us off at a bar, so Chaneve, John, and I went out. It was pretty empty in the long st. area. I think Thursday nights are more lively at Camps bay.

I didn't do much this weekend. Saturday I walked around the green market area and long street and then read in the company gardens for a bit. There was a little boy pushing around his stroller and at one point he was going full speed right towards me. luckily i was able to stop it w/ my foot. He started to back up, so I thought he was just turning and going to go around me, but then he just heads straight for me again. It was pretty funny. I tried talking to him, but he got shy and then left.

Tomorrow I leave on my 5 day garden route tour. I'm really excited to get out of cape town and see some new things. I think a lot of it will be out doors too. I felt so stuck at work when i was in one room all day when it was so nice outside. Now I'll I have to worry about is getting a nice tan for when I go home:)

That's all for now. I should have much more exciting stories and pictures after I get back from my trip.