Prangster in Chicago

Seeing what I didn't know

I went to the Apartheid Museum the morning of my last day in Johannesburg. I had some free time so I asked my driver, an intense Afrikaans guy called Kobus (pronounced Quivas) to take me. Kobus had never been before and I got the feeling he didn't really want to either.

When we got our tickets, we were each handed a card. His said "White" and mine said "Non-White." Then we had to enter the museum through different entrances, which made Kobus all tense. I don't know what Kobus saw in the Whites area, but I saw a lot of apartheid signs, documents and quotes from the time. It was jarring. Judging fom how quiet he was, I'm guessing Kobus wasn't looking at a bunch of Anne Geddes photos.


The museum told the complete story of apartheid in South Africa -- from when it began with government legislation in the late 40s to when it ended in the 90s when Nelson Mandela became the first democratically-elected president. Twenty million people turned out to vote that day in April 1994.



(Above is Kobus in the "White" entrance. I think he's in the middle of swapping out his sunglasses for his indoor glasses there.)

The various stories we read, watched and heard were amazing, horrific and extremely unsettling. But towards the end, they were also hopeful. I didn't know apartheid lasted until the 90s. I guess when the worst of the violence was going on, I was still a kid, watching the old Beverly Hills 90210 and listening to the old New Kids on the Block.


By the time we were done, both Kobus and I were in a somber mood. We agreed it was a good museum and got back in the car for the drive back to my hotel. It was quiet for a while until Kobus said this: "That museum made me feel weird." It was perfect.

Stood up by a sandwich

I don't want to say I stopped in Paris for the weekend on my way back from Johannesburg just to eat an Henri Quatre sandwich at Paul's. Except I kind of did. We all know that's exactly what I kind of did.

So imagine this: I didn't see or buy or eat a single Henri Quatre while I was in Paris. Not one. Not in the 48 hours I was there. Not in any of the seven (yes, seven...) Paul's bakeries I stopped by. And trust me, I checked. I'm taking this personally. Seriously personally.

Airports are my friend

On Saturday, I got to the airport in Chicago for my flight to Johannesburg for a work trip(!!), except the Air France desks were totally empty. A guy said to me, "Are you flying Air France? All flights have been canceled. There's a pilot's strike."

OMG. So they put me on a British Airways flight through Heathrow that was leaving 6 hours later with a 7 hour stopover in London. OMFG. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst was I forgot my glasses in my apartment. So I had to check my suitcase, catch a cab home to pick them up and race back to the airport...it cost $75!

Then after I went through security and everything, I realized I didn't need to rush like a maniac cause the watch I was wearing hadn't been adjusted for daylight savings. Argh! Good thing I had the foresight to ask the cab driver to stop at the Chipotle near my house so I could grab a chicken burrito bol with guacamole on the way back to O'Hare. That totally saved the day.

So after 19 hours of flying and 15 hours in taxis, airports and immigration, I'm in Johannesburg. The weather is great. So warm. I'm only here til Thursday night then stop in Paris on the way back to Chicago to do something very important: grab a Henri Quatre sandwich at Paul's!

No, fancy lunches haven't died with the recession

While I was out in NYC, I took a break from my usual diet of Chipotle burrito bols and had a late birthday lunch with Jess at Le Bernardin. What you see above was my dessert. It looks like jewelry. Below are the little almond and pistachio spongy cakes that came too. So cute! This is probably what Suri Cruise's playground snacks look like.

Where I was the night the world fell back in love with America

Hello tomorrow

I haven't blogged in ages, I know. Please don't hate me. The stupidest excuse I can give you is that it's been sort of busy lately in a boring kind of way. Lots of work. A cluster of work trips. It's been getting colder...

The exciting news is tomorrow is finally election day! And tomorrow night there's going to be a huge rally in Grant Park here in Chicago with Obama and Biden (and their wives) attending. Millions are expected to turn out. The weather will actually be lovely (high of 22 celcius, low of 9) so I'm excited to get out there after work and mingle with the American peoples.

I won't be out too late though. Have another work trip this week to upstate New York and I'll be flying out early on Wednesday morning. My professional clothes are getting slammed this month.

Will post more soon-ish!