Daily Life at 97 Hope Street

billy's dad has been sending weekly letters, along with some marvelous art masterpieces based on the avant-garde principles of what they call "coloring in the lines". while 'pops' kenny claims to be colorblind, nonetheless his pieces bring delight to viewers of all ages. here billy has tried to recreate the pixie masterpiece in vivo, adorning my chest with a tulip not unlike that of the refrigerator sprite...

bernard, a 73 year old french chef, is one of my favorite cape town characters. he's a vegetarian anti-racist who's been living in africa for several decades now. lived in the french countryside with his aunt & uncle during WWII, was sent to england for a few months with other children of the war, and then returned to france to begin training as a pastry chef at age 14. he's the closest thing i have to a grandpa figure in my life at the moment, and has been a real gem to both billy and i. bernard's most recent enterprising idea has been operating a from-home pizza delviery service with the catchy slogan "u ring, we bring"... i laughed so hard the morning that i found the blue flyer for "chef bernard's pizza" in the mailslot and knew it had to be none other than my favorite frenchman!


paul, a malawian friend billy met through chess, lived with him for several months before i arrived and stayed with us on and off while he was sorting out his employment situation in september. life is brutally harsh for immigrants here. the cost of living is often so much higher than wages, and employment in the formal sector is hard to come by. billy and paul co-created this bangin' meal of pap (kind of like fluffy polenta or grits; a typical southern african delight made from corn meal - also called mealey-meal!), with chicken in a tomato sauce for paul, and some vegetarian culinary delight for billy and i. pap sits in your stomach like a brick and you don't have to eat anything for the rest of the day, basically!


here's our bed! sleepytime bear and dog and i pose in the sleeping loft.


ok, it's a bit messy, but here's an attempt to capture the layout of our studio apartment. the kitchen in the back left, bathroon door onthe right. outside the bounds of the image are, to the left, a cozy sitting area we created, and to the right, our guestbed/couch, and dining table. behind me (the picture taker) are french doors out onto our little balcony, where we've attempted to start growing a garden. (as of mid november, despite being spring, it's really struggling!) billy's written about our gardening exploits on his own blog, so i'll just link to it.