Monday, February 2, 2009

Joe's Beerhouse




One of the local favorites around Windhoek is Joe's Beerhouse. It's logo is "Live the Legend". It claims to be an oasis of Namibian and German food as well as "a sanctuary of endless relics" (i.e. empty Jagermeister bottles easily numbering among the thousands among other odd assortments of farm equipment, old toilet tanks and animal trophies. Although some of the restaurant is under a covered roof, most of the tables are outdoors under thatch huts. It's got endless turns and alley ways that easily cover a block of physical space. We ventured out there with another Fulbright couple and their son for a meal Saturday evening. The women had the springbok kabob. Absolutely delicious. The only drawback was that there was a picture of the cute little creature hung on the wall just above our table. Reid had oryx in a bearnaise sauce and Larkin, the other Fulbrighter, had zebra steak. In keeping with German tradition, Augustus had a full platter of prepared cold cuts. He doesn't want to see another piece of salami 'til we get home. The girls nibbled on Reid's oryx and he still had enough to take home for another meal. The whole thing came to about 400 Nam$, about 40 bucks American. We couldn't even eat at McDonalds for that price. I think we'll be heading back there soon especially since we forgot to take our camera along.

We didn't make it to church the following morning. We weren't sure if the mass was going to be in English or Oshiwambo. We had gone the previous Sunday and were surprised when the priest opened up the ceremony in Portugese. Needless to say, we didn't understand a word and the kids were completely annoyed that our mother wouldn't listen to us about leaving early (interjected by Gus!). The order of the mass was nonetheless easy to follow and we knew just when we were supposed to say the responses, but couldn't manage in Portugese! There is a large contingent of immigrants from Angola who have come to Namibia. Angola being a former Portugese colony, it's only natural that its citizens speak the language. The music was completely accapella (sp.?) and totally awesome. Reid and I enjoyed the choir thoroughly. Our kids would have us know it's bordering on abuse to make them sit through yet another service in a language they didn't understand had we gone to the one in Oshiwambo. We didn't want to risk it given that we couldn't remember all of the permutations of the mass schedule. There's a service in Africaans, English, Portuguese and Oshiwambo.....Everyone here is multi-lingual and we feel like we need to be learning some of these quickly, while we still have the ability.

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