Happy Birthday Madiba!

Nelson Mandela is ninety today. It is an excellent reason to celebrate. Last night we went to a club called Tiger Tiger and partied. The drinks were two for one and they had a fashion show. Then we danced the night away...well, part of the night, anyway. We have to be home early on weeknights because we have a curfew due to having to work in the morning. On the way to work we jammed to songs about Mandela. Today for lunch we had a braai, or South African barbecue, in his honor, complete with balloons, pictures and even a cake. We sung him "Happy Birthday" in, like, three languages. I think we are going out tonight to celebrate more.

Work is going well. I worked in the kitchen with Fazal and Daniel again today. Some random Italian guy named Luigi passed through and thought that I introduced myself as Miami. He was like, "I'm Rome." Desiree said, "No...it's Annie." A few minutes later, the misunderstanding officially became my nickname when he asked me for help. He couldn't get through the door with his hands full because it was blocked. "Miami, can you move this mop and bucket ?" he asked. Yeah, if you stop calling me Miami, asshole. I moved it. Then he came into where Fazal and I were talking and told us he wanted to tell us something in his language. He started pointing at us and shouting in Italian. Daniel, the Italian chef that I work with, just laughed. Then Rome left and I asked Daniel what he said. He told me that it would be impossible to translate. I said, "Tell me Daniel." He reiterated that it would, in fact, be impossible to translate, but also that we probably didn't want to know. While the food was cooking Daniel and Fazal got out their guitars and started playing. Daniel sang in Italian. It was pretty sweet, which is a word that I am trying to teach my new friends to incorporate into their vocabularies. On Monday, I am going to stay at work to take the food to the homeless people. Usually, I leave before they do that. I guess there are three hundred people, and that it can get a little crazy. Melanie said that they don't usually let girls go, but I am going. Fazal said he would come with me. I am so appreciative that I work with such cool people. I came to South Africa to hang out with an Italian and a Zimbabwean. Who would've guessed?