Vol 10. No. 5 | The Day Rooibos Tea Tried to Take Me Out
Hey Ya’ll!
I was right. Hosting the Yeoville Dinner Club last week ignited something in me that was missing for quite some time. I leaned against the wall in the back of the room of Sauce Queen as Sanza started to tell his story and tears unexpectedly and inexplicably started to trickle down my face. I still don’t know exactly what caused it. But I do know that it lit a fire within me and reminded me why these stories and experiences are important.
I spent most of the next day after the dinner working on the Holy Sip website and plotting out the next Jamaica dinner. In two days, I did what I’d been trying to do for two years. Inspiration works like that sometimes. There was a moment when Sanza said he thought he’d wait for about five years before he came to the US, but then he realized maybe now it’s more important than ever. This was the day after I’d cried and was already stirred, so it wasn’t the moment that I decided to do something, but it was the confirmation that I must. Thanks to everyone who came last week. I hope it gave you what you needed.
All of this also reminded me that I never wrote about my South Africa trip. Here are a few of my favorite memories:
There’s a famous market in Cape Town, Oranjezicht Market. As we were walking in there was a hype man outside delightfully yelling: Welcome to the best #1 market in the whole world. Welcome to Oranjezicht market. Right place for the right person. Thank you for making it a good morning. You are coming from around the world to see us. Come...come. Isn’t that the best way to walk into something?
We had a late flight on our last day and needed something to do. Me…the planner…didn’t plan. So when I decided afternoon tea would be a great option, of course everything was booked up. It was New Year’s Eve after all. However, we ended up going to the Mount Nelson Hotel and sitting at The Fountain and created our own afternoon tea. They have 54 teas selected by their tea sommelier (is a tea somm not the coolest thing ever?). I won’t lie, the whiff of colonialism was super eerie and unsettling as we walked onto the property, but it ended up being a brilliant afternoon and one of my favorite memories in Cape Town.
During a visit to Athletic Social Club, there was a table next to us playing cards as they waited for their meal to arrive. The restaurant doesn’t have cards. They brought them with them and it was just such a great wholesome moment.
We drove up to Marloth Park to stay for a few days and do a game drive at Kruger National Park. In a sea of very rustic places, I found this beautiful, modern Airbnb and I picked the area solely based on this. The guy who owns it has his own place right next door and we ended up going over to his place on Christmas Eve and drinking boxed wine as he gave us a list of his favorite wineries in Cape Town. It’s the type of juxtaposition that I love. I get to have amazing wines and spirits all of the time, but give me some boxed wine out of a plastic cup with great people as we stare at the stars and watch out for monkeys and I’m equally as happy, maybe even more so.
I did most of this Cape Town trip with a second-degree burn on my behind. Ughh. Condensed version: I arrived to Marloth Park and settled down to have some rooibos tea and spilled it…had to call the paramedics to the middle of the bush…didn’t talk to my Airbnb host again until the night we ended up on his patio because of deep embarrassment…One of the paramedics said, “Hope you had a warm welcome” and snickered…jackass…barely could walk for weeks…had to wheelchair through airports when I got back. It was traumatic. However, despite these circumstances, I loved South Africa and a lot of it is because of all the amazing people that I met. (I also drank a lot of rooibos tea.)
I have more South Africa stories, but this is getting a bit long so I’ll save them for another time.
Hope you’re all well!
Shannon
(P.S. If you missed it, yes, Jamaica is happening next year.)