In March 2024, I attended an exhibition, [HYBE INSIGHT]
The Daydream Believers: 꿈, 마침내 in Taipei, as a
proxy for my sister-in-law. She is a
member of the BTS Army: an international group of unapologetic devotees to the
South Korean band. At this event, I also
bought some merchandise for her. The
merch lay in a drawer in my study for several months. I eventually investigated getting it to
Wayonette. To ensure that she received
the goods, I would avoid the Post Office, as South Africa’s is not to be
trusted. The courier solution, DHL,
stated that original receipts were required by the South African government and
had to be included in the shipment. I’d
not saved the receipts.
It was in 2019 that I last visited South Africa. I had not seen my family since then, apart from my sister and her husband, whom I met in Vietnam in April 2023. I decided, then, that I’d hand-deliver the merchandise. I found myself with little desire to visit my homeland because I’ve been there so many times. Thus, I invited Andre and Kevin to bring their wives and meet me in Namibia. I planned to fly there on Ethiopian Airlines, thereby avoiding SA altogether. (Ethiopian Airlines has become the new hub for Africa – from Addis Ababa, one can fly to almost every sub-Saharan capital.)
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| While it isn't shown here, I was able to book a flight to Windhoek, Namibia, although, in the end, I didn't use that route. |
Andre’s wife, Lerene, turned
down my offer due to poor health, and Andre refused to leave her. Thus, I ended up flying into Cape Town first,
and then on to Namibia. Their decision, however,
freed up two of the tickets I’d planned on buying, so Kevin’s and Wayonette’s daughter,
Jayde, and her fiancé, Luan, would now join us.
Excellent!
Because I had only two nights in Cape Town, I told none of my
friends that I was visiting. There would
not be enough time to get to see them all, and I was not keen to single out one
or two and ignore the rest. Therefore, I
only posted on social media about the visit to Swakopmund in Namibia and Addis
Ababa in Ethiopia. One or two friends
asked where on the continent I’d visited, and I managed to throw them off the
scent without lying. I ended up missing
the opportunity to catch up with Juliet, who is South African but lives in
Iowa, USA, and Tiziana, who is Italian and lives in Palma, Spain. Both were in Cape Town at the time. More’s the pity.
A couple of additions would extend my winter joy beyond the start of the new semester, but I shall keep you, dear reader, in suspense until chronology brings me there.