Some Mzansi memories - people I met, things I saw
It was my 4th of 5th nights in Cape Town and I hadn't partied yet. So on the night of May ninth, I went clubbing with some new friends I had made. We first went to Shimmy's which was a beach club. After ordering some expensive drinks, I chatted up a white lady who turned out to be a university student in Durban. 23 minutes later, I was teaching her and her friend Azonto and taking scandalous pictures. See me in chambers for that. One of the guys, I dunno if he was drunk or something, but chale, the way he was touching me.... I wasn't feeling it koraa! I had never experienced that in my life ever! I was cool about it though, I looked at the whole situation as funny in a way.
After clamoring to pay the huge bill the Shimmy's waiter had deceived us into, we went to Cubana Havana club. The music there was more like what I wanted to hear and the crowd was great too. A certain lady came into the club and after I spotted her, I walked up to her and said "You look familiar". It's a weak pick-up line but the conversation picked up quickly I tell you. "My name is Ashanti". Okay, who names their kid Ashanti? Turns out her mother was half-Ghanaian and half-South African. She actually turned out to be quite cool and was in the IT space, as she was a designer. We didn't dance :-( cos her crew were taking all her attention. but I did pick her number.
There's a lady one of my friends had been chatting up earlier and I took my turn. She was half-Ghanaian too. She was excited to see another Ghanaian and it showed in her mannerisms. One of my other friends waged into the conversation which illicited this conversation that I had to jot down for keeps. Here goes :-)
Girl: You're black.
Guy: You're right.
Girl: This guy is chocolate.
Guy: Can you eat him?
Girl: Yes
Guy: Where will you start?
Girl: Here. (pointing to my manhood)
Guy: So he's edible
Girl: :-)
My friend Jennifer once asked me #233moments and then we talked through #27moments. It's gonna be tough to do that because what time are you going to choose? 00:27? 2:07? We could always make use of the number 27 though. This is how I used it :-)
When the restaurant lady asked me what room @ SS Cullinan I'm in, I said 27. No, there's no 27 here. But why did I say that? => #Mzansi :-)
— Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) May 10, 2013
"Now I shall always know what 27 means". - restaurant lady I met today at the Southern Sun Cullinan in Cape Town, #Mzansi. :-)I struck a conversation with one of the ladies who was working at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC). When I am normally offered a drink at an event, I always ask about which juices are available. In telling what was available, we had a long "getting to know you" conversation. She was a coloured chic and hot too. I learnt about where she was from, where she went to school and how often she worked at CTICC. I was taking her away from her work and I was missing some panel at WEF but I was not about to stop talking to her. She was called by some of her co-workers who ended up saying "this guy has taken an interest in you" and teasing her I dunno what. That caused her to say their mentality was not good. I took her number and left. As I left, I realized I had left the drink I was collecting for her so had to come back for it.
— Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) May 10, 2013
I even made friends with some of the CTICC staff. If the #WEFafrica folks' mentality is better, I met another lady whose also is. ;-)I had a very early flight from Cape Town to Joburg so I had decided to party the night out till I had to go to the airport. But then I fell asleep for a bit and woke up late. I scrambled to leave the hotel and then went to board the free shuttle WEF had provided. I was late for the 6am shuttle and the 7am shuttle would make me miss my flight. So I 'begged' the lady running the shuttle to allow me to leave at 6:30 against the regular schedule and she was nice enough to allow that. And then I took her number for being so kind. The shuttle driver told me more about South African women and lent more credence to the idea of Zulu women being the best. Much later, I sent this lady a whatsapp message thinking it was the "mentality" chic. Now, am confusing coloured women for each other. Riiiight.
— Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) May 10, 2013
had a great chat with the driver on the way to the airport. we talked through @mightyafrican's South African alter ego. :-)
— Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) May 11, 2013
Hearing #Zulu women are the best in South Africa (blessed, beautiful, bodacious). Who agrees? Which other challengers? cc @mightyafricanAfter partying at Hush Night club in Jozi (which really is a Nigerian club), I picked a taxi back to where I was staying in Parktown. The driver was a Venda man from the Limpopo province, which is close to Zimbabwe. I learnt some Venda sayings from him, how to say "How are you - Hu rini?" and I'm fine - Rihone". I also learnt how to say "Thank you - Ndolivhuwa", "Let's go - Kharituwe" and "I love you - Ndi a ni funa".
— Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) May 10, 2013
In my hope to find the Hopeville movie (maybe I should blog about how I tried to meet Terry Pheto?), I had some conversations with a gentleman who worked at Musica in Rosebank Mall. Interestingly, I met him again in a "trotro" (yeah, that kind of bus) when I was going home to my friend Eyram's. I wanted to take his number but I had to leave the bus. But because fate would have it that way, a Ghanaian I had just met in Joburg that day was in the same trotro and he took the guy's number and then emailed it to me. Crazy cool huh? I met a very interesting white guy on my flight from Joburg to Cape Town on the Monday and I learnt a lot about South Africa. It's been a while since I was in Mzansi but the stories and what I learnt about South Africa are still fresh in my head. Will release those blog posts soon.
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