Phantom

I have a longstanding love of musicals.  I am 99% sure it is inherited from my parents, who are so musically gifted and passed the love of music onto my sister and I.  (I'm not really sure they passed the gift of being able to make music onto us, but that's neither here nor there.)  I can remember my dad playing in pit orchestras for all the local musicals for as long as I can remember, and my mom would sing show tunes as she cleaned the house.  So needless to say, I was so excited when Alex told me a couple of months ago that Johannesburg had extended their run of Phantom of the Opera and it would still be playing when I arrived!

Alex and I went to go see Phantom the weekend after we arrived at a venue called Montecasino.  Montecasino is essentially this huuuuuge indoor/outdoor 'entertainment center'.  Alex compared it to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas--Montecasino has a live theatre, numerous gambling areas, a myriad of restaurants, weird stores (in the USA-themed store we found Coors Light and Dr. Pepper...soooo excited), a movie theatre, and much more.  

We both got all dressed up for a lovely date night...and were definitely overdressed.  Most of the people there were in jeans and t-shirts; they had obviously been taking advantage of the gambling Montecasino had to offer and just threw in a musical viewing for good measure.

The performance was pretty good!  Sets were lovely, acoustics were good, and the cast did very well.  It was an entirely South African (read: all Afrikaans except one black man) cast, but they had decent French accents and sang without a trace of Afrikaans accent.

After the show, Alex and I ate at a very mediocre Italian restaurant in the Montecasino complex.  

All in all, it was a great first date in JoBurg!

Pardon the poor quality BlackBerry photo...

Meet Jozi Gertrude Siegel

26 May 2012 marks the day one of my dreams came true!  Alex and I brought home Jozi Gertrude Siegel, a 9 week old Weimaraner puppy!

Within the first week of our relationship, Alex learned that I have had a long desire for a Weimaraner puppy named Gertrude.  I don't really know the origins of this great need of my life, nor do I know why I so desperately thought her name should be Gertrude.  Perhaps it comes from the joy I found looking at William Wegman books, or maybe the stories my dad told me about his crazy aunt who made doughnuts and had weimaraners named Grey Boy...but no matter the reason, I knew my life would not be complete unless someday I had a baby weim.

We had our sweet, wonderful Tuffy, so we knew (well, thought) that we would not be getting another dog for quite awhile.  The best laid plans....

Our original intention was to wait until we moved back to the States and get a puppy as a welcome home gift to ourselves.  However, the more we thought about it, the more we felt that this would be the best time for us to get a puppy.  I'm home every morning, only working for four hours in the afternoon, and even though school starts in the fall, this will be the least demanding year of the next three.  After researching import requirements for dogs into the US (SURPRISINGLY SIMPLE), we decided to see what JoBurg had to offer in the dog department...and it did not disappoint.

Alex called me on Thursday and told me to clear my Saturday because we were going to look at Weimaraner puppies.  My smile was so big I couldn't see!!!

Yesterday we went and met our pup, her sister, and her mom and dad at their home about an hour south of Johannesburg.  Besides the excitement of being on the way to what could be our new puppy, I really enjoyed seeing what other areas of South Africa were like, AKA not the big city.  And it gave us time to discuss names.  I didn't want Alex to have to deal with having a dog named Gertrude...as much as I think it is a great name, I know literally no one else in this world does.  So my second choice was Scout, a book character from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, one of my favorite novels.  Alex thought that a one syllable name was weird (hmmm...Anne is a one syllable name....) so sadly, Scout got the boot.  We settled on JOZI, which is the nickname for Johannesburg, to remind us of her origins even when we are back in the States.

We got to the house, went to the yard, and Jozi walked right up to us.  WE WERE SOLD.  We both knew she was the perfect fit for us.

She did great on the car ride home, great at the pet store, and knock on wood...SHE HAS NOT POTTIED IN THE HOUSE SINCE WE GOT HER.  We are so proud of our smart baby.

She also has really attached to both of us, and we are so thrilled.  She slept in her crate last night with no problems, too.  We are hopeful this isn't just the honeymoon stage of puppy ownership...

We also know that our sweet Tuffy is looking down on us and so happy that we are giving another pup such love.  The unending love and happiness he brought us is what made us realize that having a canine companion in our life was so important to both of us.

Alex and I celebrated two weeks in JoBurg and the arrival of Jozi with champagne that his sweet friends from Oxford had left (thanks Vits, Alan, and Sam!)  I made four cheese mac and cheese and roasted broccoli for dinner, and Alex and I spent the whole meal talking about how blessed we are, for so many reasons.  Cheesey meal, cheesey convo---guess it was appropriate! 

Let's start at the very beginning...

WOW!  Has this week been a whirlwind or what?

Alex and I celebrated the beginning of our marriage with a host of family and friends on Sunday.  The day and evening went perfectly and it was a night that we will always remember and cherish.  It was also bittersweet, knowing that as we said goodbye to so many loved ones that had travelled from near and far, we were unsure of when we would be reunited with them again.

Our excitement and happiness was quickly extinguished when we arrived at the vet to pick up our sweet dalmatian, Tuffy, early Monday afternoon.  We had painstakingly planned and prepared to take Tuff across the pond with us, going through all the necessary paperwork and avenues to ensure a successful transition for our pup.  We were heartbroken and devastated when the veterinarian recommended that Tuffy not make the trip with us as he was no longer able to stand on his own and was also exhibiting several other medical concerns.  These were issues that I knew would eventually happen, but I had no idea of the rapidity with which it would happen.  The vet also said he was unsure if Tuffy would improve any, if at all.  Alex and I made the very difficult decision to put him down.  We sure decided to test out those marriage vows of 'in good times and bad' pretty dang quick.  Alex has been so sweet and wonderful dealing with my incessant tears and freak outs and sadness.

Since Tuffy would no longer be making the move with us, our travel plans changed and we spent several more days in Tulsa before flying out to NYC on Thursday and spending the night with Paul, Liat, and Tali.  (Alex's sweet oldest brother, sister-in-law, and our darling niece!)  It was nice to be able to spend a bit more time with them.

FRIDAY MORNING!  We load our five massive bags, my bike box, and our four carry ons into a taxi van for the beginning of our journey.  After arrival at JFK, we saw two sweet dogs in crates getting ready to travel....cue tearful breakdown on my part.  We get all our belongings checked in, head through security, get our last American meal (Panda Express..mmmm) and head to the gate.  We had quick phone chats with sweet friends and family, and got in line to board the plane.  I was reprimanded several times by Alex for not being pushy enough to get to the front of the line....he was overly concerned about finding space for our carry ons.  We got on the plane (with room for our bags), and settled in for 15 1/2 loooong hours....cue second marriage test now.

I did a great job sleeping...Alex, not so much.  He watched five movies...I watched three.  I finally got him to take a melatonin so that he wouldn't be a walking zombie today.  The food on the plane was decent enough. Luckily both Alex and I will eat nearly anything.  I also think I asked Alex approximately 82 times how much longer we had left on the flight.  Mom and Dad, some things will never change.