Southern Africa Part I: Baie Dankie

“Buy A Donkey.” Say this phrase quickly and you are well on your way to being polite in Afrikaans. I guess it is more like “Buy a dunky,” but close enough.

I am feeling quite invigorated after 2 weeks in Southern Africa. I was invited to officiate at the wedding of my dear friends Jaco and Gharde in beautiful George, a small community along the Garden Route in South Africa. I met wonderful people and spent more time swimming in the ocean and playing at the beach in one week than I have in well over a year.

Gharde and I met 10 years ago at the University of Washington and I asked her if there was anything I should bring her from the States. She requested the cereal Captain Crunch (gross) and S’mores.





S’mores. Now that is what I am talking about! I brought the makings for this marshmallow/graham cracker/chocolate delicacy for the Braai (Afrikaans for barbecue) held the night before the wedding, which was a massive hit, even amongst the men who consider chicken an appropriate “salad” to accompany beef and ostrich and other game meats that were grilled with meticulous care by a crew of massive, sweaty men.

The wedding ceremony took place outdoors in a valley just minutes from the ocean. It was beautiful, even sacred as weddings ought to be.

A few moments stand out. Just before the wedding I stood with the groom, his father, and the groomsmen; I wore a little black dress and the five men looked dashing in their suits, the pitch of their laughter revealing the nerves they attempted to mask with cigars. As the five of us prayed, a flock of white Egrits assembled themselves in the nearby trees to participate in the festivities. A gentle breeze blew throughout the wedding and I was charmed by a fluffy gray cat who sauntered up to the front row and sat preening and cleaning her front paws as Gharde and Jaco said their wedding vows. The cat and the birds and the breeze all served as quiet witnesses, simultaneously magnificent and mundane. Just like us.





There was lots of drinking and dancing at the reception and I learned that Afrikaners are serious about dancing. They are brilliant at this dance that is a cross between the tango and a waltz. I had lots of partners who insisted that this was easy to learn, but I was a disaster. Thanks to my ‘31-year-old crisis heels’ I maintained some of my pride, but preferred to watch awestruck from a safe distance with a glass of champagne in hand.

The day after the wedding a big group gathered for breakfast at a venue overlooking the ocean and then we went to the beach to body surf before going our separate ways. What a gift.

Baie Dankie, South African friends! Thank you for an extraordinary week!