Viva los Jozi

Today is my last day spent in Johannesburg. This is my catchup email after relatively cold evenings last week in Durban and cold fireplace-required evenings in jo-berg. My lovely friend, Natasha, had put me up at her house of a million random people (the house has people coming in and out all the time and we are both unsure who really lives there). I wish her all the luck in her move to the new pad tomorrow! The neighborhood she lives in is Melville, a very up and coming trendster street with funky ceramic and bead shops, evening bars and morning cafes that remind me of an incredibly small version of Montreal by day and night. I also had the chance to be taken over several extremes of the city - the industrial Midrand area (big, boxy corporate headquarters of multinational companies), Rosebank mall (atypical mall like every other outdoor type mall), and the all eccentric Yeoville (high adventure area but typical of immigrant [this of a north Africa type] ville with much needs for social services). Memory: walk up a flight of stairs to a home converted to Ethiopean restaurant with men sitting on the couch and little girl bouncing around the home/converted food place. thanks tash