Sunday evening, chilling at home. Might go for a bit of a walk to take the evening air, but I've got a big day planned tomorrow (Met, Circle Line Ferry, shopping on Broadway) so we'll see.
We spent the 4th of July at Prospect Park in Brooklyn, which was really cool. The 4th itself is basically the world's biggest braai. The park was packed with hundreds, if not thousands, of people with their barbecues (it's a big park).
We stopped off at the Whole Food Market (the American version of Woolworths) to grab food before we left. Food here is not cheap. I paid $20 for a smallish tuna steak, and four hamburger patties was around $20 as well. The meat is also not amazing - we braai'ed some aged rump and a t-bone, and while both were nice, from what experience I've had here, we have access to better food at better prices back home. There's a massive drive here to eat local and eat organic, which is good though. I'm sure we'll see it increasingly in South Africa.
Anyway, back to the park. We met up with some of Tom's work mates, including Ivan, another South African (and a Kaaner, so guess who braai'ed). It was nice to chill and braai and drink beer, even if you have to drink beer out of bottles hidden in paper bags, or pour the beer into a plastic cup. America is weird like that - public drinking of any kind is forbidden - you're not allowed to sit outside your apartment with a beer, nor in a public park. As a result, everyone at the park drinking was doing so somewhat surreptitiously. It's a bizarre double-standard - cable TV broadcasts nearly non-stop advertising of alcohol brands, and it's uniquitous, available at every single convenience store.
It really is a land of dichotomies in many many ways.
No comments:
Post a Comment