Day 18 - September 16, 2006

Finally, a day to sleep in! Since we had no class today, Summer, Nora and I decided to sleep in until 11am. We leisurely got dressed, watched our favorite South African soap opera, Backstage, over breakfast, and planned the day. Nora met up with a local rugby player, who invited her to play with the provincial team, so she left around noon. Summer and I met up with Danielle and Cammie, and we got a cab to Green Market Square downtown. It was raining a bit, but it mostly cleared up by the time we reached the market.

Green Market Square is a typical African market, with lots of stalls, in which everything is negotiable. I spent way too much time and money here, mostly buying jewelry and gifts for friends. After an hour, we decided to walk to the Waterfront, so we walked all the way down Long St. Once at the Waterfront, we had lunch before doing any shopping. Most of us had halal thai food in the food court, and I ordered pad thai with beef, which hit the spot. We walked around the mall for a bit, as well as some of the craft sheds. Then, we headed for the Computicket counter at the Waterfront and purchased tickets for the jazz concert tonight. Around 4:45pm, Bradley the cab driver came to pick us up and take us back to Ivydene.

We had a few hours to rest and check up on our email before getting ready to go to the jazz concert. Tonight Abdullah Ibrahim, the foremost pianist and jazz musician in the country, is playing along with the national jazz orchestra, based in Cape Town. Just like jazz is big in New Orleans, jazz is very highly regarded in Cape Town as well. Eight of us, along with Lauren, got tickets to the concert, which is being held in the convention center downtown. We all dressed up, and then Steve picked us up around 7pm to take us to the venue.

We reached the convention center around 7:20pm, but the doors did not open until 8pm, so we decided to head someplace close by for dinner. The Arabella Grand Sheraton was connected to the convention center, so we went across the street and to the Sheraton lounge to have light dinner and drinks. The Sheraton was quite a nice hotel, definitely up to standards, and the lounge overlooked a nice pool and fountain. I ordered a smoked salmon sandwich and a ginger ale. We ate quickly and then rushed back over to the concert.

The concert started around 8:15pm. First, the national jazz orchestra performed, and it happened to be the debut of this orchestra. They played several American big band pieces for an hour. Then, we had a short intermission, after which, Ibrahim and his quartet came out. They were amazing. It was only the four of them, but they captured the audience's attention and played their style of South African jazz. When they finished, the audience called them back for an encore, and they played once again. It was about 11pm at this point. The jazz orchestra came back to close the concert, but we left since it was quite late. Steve took us back to Ivydene, and it had begun to rain again. I checked my email once more before going to bed.