East German Hospitality
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends...
Sunday night a bunch of us went to Joe's Beerhouse which is apparently a famous restaurant here in Namibia. They have a bunch of exotic meat and the restaurant has a nice outdoors atmosphere with a big area covered by a thatched roof. I chose the sampler platter which had salad, corn fritters (mmmm), and a variety of exotic meat including ostrich, zebra, crocodile, kudo, and chicken. Tobias and I also split an appetizer of oryx carpaccio and all that food along with four beers cost only $27- tip included. And this is apparently one of the more expensive places in town. The food was delicious.
Monday was a nice low-key day. I had the morning off so I relaxed a bit and made myself some scrambled eggs. A funny thing happened while cooking my breakfast. There are two new Germans living in a new place with Tobias, who moved out of this house last week to get more space. The two new german guys are sort of weird to begin with- they are always together, they seem a little odd, and they look completely different- one is tall, thin, and blonde, the other is short, a little thicker, and dark hair. Anyway, Friday night they came over to our house with a bunch of meat and cooked a nice BBQ for a bunch of us. I had just gotten back from tennis and when I sat down outside with them, the two new guys offered me to join in. Being hungry, I obliged. The meat was good and at the end of the night, after cleaning up, one of the new Germans told me that we all needed to pitch in for the meat because it was costly. Now I am fine with the idea of pitching in to help with the cost, only their approach was way off... they should have mentioned this before coming over to our house and offering us their food. (I definately would have eaten more had I known I would have to pay!) I offered to pay them there, but they told me to wait until they figured everything out.
Well, Sunday morning they figured everything out and pulled up in front of the gate to the house and honked their horn obnoxiously. When that didn't get anyone's attention in the house (we hear honking from the street all the time) they whistled at us... no "Hello! Anybody home?" but a whistle like they were calling a dog. Mark went out and they handed him a list of what everyone owed and then left.
The icing on the cake was Monday when MB and I were in the kitchen and I hear that same obnoxious whistle. I told her it must be the Germans and that we should just ignore it until they learn to act like civilized human beings- they didn't learn. After whistling for 5 minutes, they finally caught the attention of an Angolan guy who lives in a room behind our house. He knocked on our backdoor and told us they were there, so I went outside to see what they wanted. They were standing by the gate, smiling, with a couple of loads of laundry and asked me if they could use our laundry. I told them they would have to ask MB, since it wasn't mine to lend out, and they walked into the kitchen and as they were loading the washer asked her for permission! Here they were expecting us to pay for meat at a BBQ while at the same time mooching our laundry, not to mention getting rides to the bars from MB, and drinking our alcohol while hanging out at our house! What a bunch of clowns. I suggested we make a very expensive dinner in a week or two, invite them over, and at the end of the night charge them.
So that was that, and then I went off to the BNC and spent much of the day teaching 4-Square. It went over well and the children seemed to enjoy it. When I got home Sebastian and I went for a bike ride around Windhoek. There are lots of hills here so the ride is pretty intense but it was a good workout. Overall it was a nice day and I look forward to another one today!
Sunday night a bunch of us went to Joe's Beerhouse which is apparently a famous restaurant here in Namibia. They have a bunch of exotic meat and the restaurant has a nice outdoors atmosphere with a big area covered by a thatched roof. I chose the sampler platter which had salad, corn fritters (mmmm), and a variety of exotic meat including ostrich, zebra, crocodile, kudo, and chicken. Tobias and I also split an appetizer of oryx carpaccio and all that food along with four beers cost only $27- tip included. And this is apparently one of the more expensive places in town. The food was delicious.
Monday was a nice low-key day. I had the morning off so I relaxed a bit and made myself some scrambled eggs. A funny thing happened while cooking my breakfast. There are two new Germans living in a new place with Tobias, who moved out of this house last week to get more space. The two new german guys are sort of weird to begin with- they are always together, they seem a little odd, and they look completely different- one is tall, thin, and blonde, the other is short, a little thicker, and dark hair. Anyway, Friday night they came over to our house with a bunch of meat and cooked a nice BBQ for a bunch of us. I had just gotten back from tennis and when I sat down outside with them, the two new guys offered me to join in. Being hungry, I obliged. The meat was good and at the end of the night, after cleaning up, one of the new Germans told me that we all needed to pitch in for the meat because it was costly. Now I am fine with the idea of pitching in to help with the cost, only their approach was way off... they should have mentioned this before coming over to our house and offering us their food. (I definately would have eaten more had I known I would have to pay!) I offered to pay them there, but they told me to wait until they figured everything out.
Well, Sunday morning they figured everything out and pulled up in front of the gate to the house and honked their horn obnoxiously. When that didn't get anyone's attention in the house (we hear honking from the street all the time) they whistled at us... no "Hello! Anybody home?" but a whistle like they were calling a dog. Mark went out and they handed him a list of what everyone owed and then left.
The icing on the cake was Monday when MB and I were in the kitchen and I hear that same obnoxious whistle. I told her it must be the Germans and that we should just ignore it until they learn to act like civilized human beings- they didn't learn. After whistling for 5 minutes, they finally caught the attention of an Angolan guy who lives in a room behind our house. He knocked on our backdoor and told us they were there, so I went outside to see what they wanted. They were standing by the gate, smiling, with a couple of loads of laundry and asked me if they could use our laundry. I told them they would have to ask MB, since it wasn't mine to lend out, and they walked into the kitchen and as they were loading the washer asked her for permission! Here they were expecting us to pay for meat at a BBQ while at the same time mooching our laundry, not to mention getting rides to the bars from MB, and drinking our alcohol while hanging out at our house! What a bunch of clowns. I suggested we make a very expensive dinner in a week or two, invite them over, and at the end of the night charge them.
So that was that, and then I went off to the BNC and spent much of the day teaching 4-Square. It went over well and the children seemed to enjoy it. When I got home Sebastian and I went for a bike ride around Windhoek. There are lots of hills here so the ride is pretty intense but it was a good workout. Overall it was a nice day and I look forward to another one today!
posted by Jim | 1:19 AM
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