Birthday, Dinner & Mzolis ... the Fun never ends

You guys I don’t even know how to describe how guilty I feel right now. The amount of fun I am having should be declared sinful for a person doing masters in Law.

*sigh* oh well… what can you do when life keeps throwing you these really nice moments? Swing at them with a bat? Not me! I grab them with both hands….hoping in the process I am not letting go of something more important.

None the less, today has been just totally cool! So, perhaps a brief background to today’s event is in order. On Monday was my birthday. And no, I won’t say how old I am. My Tanzanian friends had thrown me a pre-birthday surprise party complete with a cake and singing on Sunday. So sweet it was. 

cake no 1.... scrumptious chocolate cake

Monday, I had lunch with 2 of my friends and since I had taken the remainder of the birthday cake to school, my time in the library (yes I went to the library on my birthday) was spent rotating dishing out pieces, receiving hugs, prayers, kisses and random gifts. In the evening, I decided that a woman cannot claim to be emancipated if she still expects some things to be handed to her, so I went out, bought myself a bouquet of flowers... they are so beautiful they could make you cry.

see how they light the room.... you gotta love them

And a second cake. You may ask why buy another cake? See, my philosophy is that birthdays are meant to be celebrated with all your loved ones and show kindness in a way to thank God for the gift of life. So the second cake (red velvet…yummy) was cut up and personally delivered to all 9 of my kitchen mates and my other friends who had missed the first cake.

It is such a blessing to give than receive. However as we all know when you give you receive; well I got myself more gifts, prayers, hugs, smiles, blessings and well wishes. And by the end of the day I had had a full day. I just had to thank God for the day and pop into my bed with a nice movie. Surely, I had had a good birthday.

cake no 2... was in the process of cutting... right before spreading the love

Now in the course of the day (Monday still) while in the library I remembered we were to have an election for a new postgraduate law student council. So naturally curious I wanted to see who was in and how I could utilise the council to help me during my short stay at UCT. So when I went you can imagine my surprise to find only 2 people there. Apparently, students had not bothered to pitch up or nominate themselves for posts. So, after being convinced that serving students was not a bad idea and neither would it take so much of my time, I decided to volunteer and therefore was elected to become the new vice chairperson. Funny eh? How a birthday can turn into something else. So here I am, sporting a new title with responsibilities I know not of, with a dissertation and assignments and readings pending, and a booming social life.

Thursday was a great day. One of my friends who is now officially my twin by virtue of the fact that we are too similar in our ways and she is just an amazing person, had invited myself and 5 or so other ladies for dinner at her parents… oooh.. The pizza was good! The talk was even better! Got to know one very passionate lady who lives and breathes for women and getting them out of abusive relationships. Also got to relate to other assertive lawyer women about our expectations of men… I tell you, men beware! And when we do get married, those men who we marry will have deserved an Oscar. Woooohh…. I’m not sure if I pity these men or envy them...hahaha. Oh and I got a treat in form of a novel… i'm in heaven.

So as the new council, our first event was a barbecue normally called a ‘braai’ here and the very famous place for this is Mzolis.  Mzolis is in an area I would never advice anyone to go alone. Very interesting looking place with groups of interesting people hanging around. Even the locals themselves tell you that you can’t go alone and hold on to your belongings while you are there. But still it is the best barbecue place in Cape Town (or so I’ve heard) and so you just HAVE to go there.

they stamp you when you enter Mzolis... straaange!! they just grab hold of you and stamp you... what if you have like a skin irritation with the ink?

So that was where we took the law postgraduate students today. It gave the word fun a different meaning. (Oh and I need to get another word for fun... I am overusing it) we ate, talked, laughed, made friends, got volunteers to help out with future events, ate and ate lots and lots of finger-licking, tongue biting barbecued meat! Oh and of course we danced! I am starting to like South African music... no words, just upbeat rhythm… just makes you do a jiggy…. Those who weren’t joining me in shaking our booties were nodding and dancing in their chairs. Fun! Oh and I think I am getting better at this dancing thing. I have realised when you are bold and you smile, whatever you do is somehow validated.

see my point! meat meat and more meat! people even took doggy bags :) ofcourse that included yours truly

This evening people are going out. But that is where I put my foot down. Night life is scary and I am exhausted. Tomorrow is church and I will be hosting friends over for lunch. And since I slept at 5 in the morning, I need to catch some rest and get some work done as well. 

P.s... I wrote an article in the Citizen (Thank you Joe!!) about my mum… I would so love it if someone scanned it for me and posted it?

Big up to all the women in my life. I respect and love you. Happy women’s day!!!

now this was just epic. the costumes! this was right outside Mzolis... these 3 clad guys just had me astounded. i dont know what tribe or culture.. but they move in unison, dont speak , look serious with their club like sticks (reminds me of that movie of gwara gwara) and looking very much as if they own the place...!