Huh, and you thought I would go through an entire year not blogging….. pffft.
Since I’ve married into an Afrikaans family I’ve been exposed to a variety of different cultural experiences that have left me non-plussed sometimes and pleasantly surprised at others. However most of my exposure has come from doing the KKNK thing.
It’s proved time and time again to be fun and this year was no exception. Although we did end up arriving a day late due to extenuating circumstances:
Me: The sign we just passed, did it say Albertinia or Albertina (remember I’m geographically challenged)
Wouter: What? (he’s kind of hard of hearing sometimes.. although he claims I mumble)
Me: The sign we just passed, did it say Albertinia or Albertina (slightly louder this time)
Wouter: Albertinia
Me: Oh, (long pause)
Me: Might be nice to stay at the hotel there and then you wouldn’t have to put up a tent in the dark and this torrential rain*
(for the record – this photo was taken on Saturday morning – and does not reflect in any way the appalling weather we were being subjected to on Friday!)
The Albertinia Hotel has a certain olde worlde charm which I have likened to Fawlty Towers before and every time we stay there I am more and more convinced. If you’re into modern, sophisticated or luxurious then this hotel isn’t for you, but if you enjoy eccentricity, home style cooking and being trusted to turn the lights off and lock up when you leave the main hotel area**, then you should definitely arrange a stay.
Our first show was at 14:00 so we had plenty of time to pitch our tent and soak up some atmosphere.
Unfortunately a lot of the “atmosphere” was parked right on our doorstep – the Huisgenoot’s Musiekplaas was set up in the field opposite us and we were subjected entertained by a variety of Afrikaans singers and their treffers. I’ll give them their due though, they did pack up just after 22:00 which was fortunate ‘cos we’d about run out of port by then.
(for those not in the know and frankly it’s a pretty poor picture – then again I am zoomed in as far as my camera will go – the dude singing is Heinz Winckler)
The other two shows we went to were Buurtwag (sadly nothing to write home about) and from what I can gather three rather well known Afrikaans dudes telling stories interspersed with a song or two from Valiant Swart (now that was worthwhile, although I did have to concentrate really hard to follow and missed probably 95 % of the punchlines).
Couldn’t resist taking this photo, if you’ve ever heard the local kids sing, you’ll appreciate this tremendously.
(did my best to coax a smile from them, the little guy in the middle just wasn’t having any of it – guess keeping still is serious business – also my Afrikaans accent is horrible)
Another one to add to the list of great times had :-)
*the fact that when we did get to Oudshoorn and pitched our tent on relatively dry grass is completely besides the point.
** the staff having finished their duties figured home was definitely where they would like to be.