Thursday, February 16, 2012

Ryan on meeting family in Cape Town

This past weekend I got to meet some of my relatives here in Cape Town for the first time. They are my dad’s first cousins (my grandfather’s sister’s daughter) which I guess makes them my second cousins. Initially, I was confused about what to call them and I still ponder the idea because of the age difference, but I decided that “aunt” and “uncle” would be the best option out of respect even though they are first cousins. Even so, everybody in Cape Town call each other “brother/sister” and “aunt/uncle” anyways so I guess it would be appropriate regardless of relationship. 

Anyways, my aunt Gloria picked me up on Saturday night to have dinner at a restaurant in Mowbray. I was surprised to find out that she happened to make reservations at Chai Yo, a local Thai restaurant down the road from where we live and had been previously recommended to us by our orientation leaders. When we got there I was disappointed to find out that my uncle Gordon and his two daughters would not be joining us but still pleased to meet their son Jason and his girlfriend. Dinner was great as we all shared our chosen dishes in a community-styled fashion. I loved listening to all of my family’s stories about their lives in South Africa and really enjoyed sharing my own stories of my life in the states and my past month in Cape Town. 

My cousin Jason, turns out to be quite the musician who plays the bass guitar in his rock band “Taxi Violence”. I was extremely surprised and impressed when he mentioned that they will be performing this Sunday in one of the Summer Sunset Concerts held at Kirstenbosch Gardens where we all saw Dan Patlansky perform a few weeks ago! It’s exciting to have met some family so far here in Cape Town and I’m looking forward to meeting the rest this coming weekend at the concert.

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