I had a great time and everyone was really lovely and interesting. Long story short: I learned that in Kenyan culture, house guests are a blessing to the host. That means that it can be a long process to leave. We ended up staying around for nine hours at the house...which was fine! Except that it meant I couldn't run the errands I had planned for after the gathering. It's not a big deal, I just was not expecting such an involved gathering. And, like I said, the people were great so I can't really complain. A few of the couples had babies over, and they would come play with me once in a while during the conversation.
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Today started with a few naps. Yes.
I met up with Miami Dave and his girlfriend Emily at a notable vegan cafe on the northern end of Brisbane. It took a while to get there, though - the trains weren't running today, and the river got in the way.
The river that goes through Brisbane gets in the way. A lot. It winds and coils throughout the town, making it so that some place that might only take 20 minutes of travel as the crow flies ends up taking the better part of an hour. People mentioned it a lot in this first week, but I am really starting to experience it. There's a river taxi that ping-pongs through the river here and there, but since the storm in November, a lot of the terminals are still in repairs.
But anyways, the cafe. It was delicious! I am sometimes skeptical of vegan food because it can taste like how GF food often tastes: cardboard. But we ate generously-sized sandwiches that had good taste quality. My mushroom burger tasted a bit like a grilled cheese sandwich, which pleasantly surprised me. How they knew that was what I really truly wanted, I'll never know.
And they had a shop attached the cafe...with heaps of GF options!!
A small note on the GF life here: it's not so bad. I've found a lot of places indicate "GF" on their menus, and supermarkets have GF aisles, much like in the US. The food has been pretty decent for GF, so I think I'll be alright here diet-wise. In case you were wondering, I bought a crepe mix, cereal, pasta, and cookies. Clearly, my diet is well-balanced and healthy.
We journeyed on to the BrisAsia Festival. BrisAsia is the city's month-long celebration that packages the Chinese New Year with celebrating the city's strong Asian relations. Ladies were dressed in kimonos and drums were being played. And the slowly-growing bonsai were being sold in a booth. The intimate setting of the festival made it easy to glide through quickly. We decided to move on and walk around the city some more.
We walked over a bridge and ended up in an area called South Bank. It's where the city culture is housed - the big performing arts center and modern art museum sit there. The streets are lined with restaurants and bars, so it is pulsing in the evenings and on weekends. And if that stuff doesn't interest you and you roll your eyes because you're in Australia but not near the ocean for goodness sake, you can take a lounge/dip in the area's man-made beach. Man. Made. Beach. It's really nice and clean, which surprised me. I mean, it's essentially a glorified public pool with sand...but something I have noticed here is that people take care of their things. As compared to how a lot of towns in the US are run down and the public facilities are poorly maintained.
We got drinks at a beer garden in the area. Well...I got a "creaming soda" - something us Americans would otherwise lovingly call a Shirley Temple. Yes, chuckle at my love for virgin beverages at bars. I won't stop.
One of the Kenyans I had met the day before, Beatrice (working on her MPH), joined us. We ended up scaling a good amount of South Bank's waterfront together, chatting about travel and our future goals. The city towers sparkled on the other side of the river while we walked through the colorfully-lit gardens and parkways. I have to say, this city has done a fantastic job at bringing beautiful public spaces to the people. It's kind of like being in a theme park sometimes, things look so nice.
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