“Thrill your taste buds” was exactly what I intended to do when I ventured off to Stellenbosch on the 14th August 2010, to experience an unforgettable wine tasting first. My first stop was JC Le Roux, home of sparkling wines and the first cellar devoted solely to the production of sparkling wines in South Africa. This is where I was introduced to a range of “bubbly”and my favourite aspect was being able to taste 5 different wines paired up with a range of delectable nougat and fudge. This was definitely a great enjoyment for the ladies and one that deserved to be savoured.
Our tour guide explained the process of how exactly the wines were made, bottled, rotated into a specific angel and stored. This was indeed a timelessly process and here the saying that goes good wine takes time was in order.
We were also shown the process of “le sabrage” which means opening a bottle of champagne or sparkling wine with a sabre and how it was originally done years ago to signify the celebration of a ceremonial occasion. That also signified the end of our tour at JC Le Roux, our next farm was Berg Kelder which was only 10 min away and was sure to be another fascinating experience.
Our tour began inside the Berg Kelder cellar which is where we were given an introduction into where the wines originated from. Something interesting I learned was that a Pinotage 2008 or Cabinet 2005 means that the grapes were picked in that year and went through a process of stomping, being placed in wood and simply waiting. Red wines indeed had a more complicated process but it is important to note that the older the year on the bottle, the better the taste of the red wine. Wines that seem to overwhelm your taste buds means that the wine is young and was not in wood for a very long time.
At Berg Kelder we also tasted 5 types of wines, 2 being red, the other 2 white and a delicious dessert wine. All of these wines had their unique taste and texture and by smelling it you were able to identify a series of elements. Wine is a personal thing because every individual taste and smells something different, but after our tasting at Berg Kelder my senses seemed to have shut down, luckily I had a designated driver who was able to get me home safely.
After our visit to Berg Kelder it was off to Franshoek where the weather was amazing, the air was clean and the feeling of tranquillity had me feeling like I wanted to stay there all day.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
My Experience in Pretoria and JHB
As research assistants working under the supervision of Prof. Nirvana Bechan, we had been instructed to conduct interviews with various ambassadors in Pretoria. The research topic that was under discussion was nuclear exploration, particularly the affects that it has on international communications and how countries such as China, Netherlands and France are affected by North Korea and Iran who are actively involved in nuclear exploration.
The first step was to compile a formal letter that provided information such as who we were, our request to interview the ambassador and what the purpose of the research was. It was indeed a topic that scared many countries and resulted in a negative response. Traviss and myself also compiled a list of embassy’s and proceeded to making contact with them. At first it seemed like an impossible task as ambassadors where either too busy, overseas or on holiday and could not accommodate us in the first week of October 2010. After weeks of phone calls and correspondence via email we successfully confirmed four embassy’s in Pretoria which were Argentina, Netherlands, South Korea and Norway. We compiled a list of questions which would be directed to the ambassadors, these dealt with three sub topics which were international relations, the activities of an ambassador and nuclear exploration.
I think the biggest motivator for myself and Traviss was the fact that we would have the opportunity to travel to Johannesburg by air, be exposed to different cultures and meet ambassadors of different countries. Prof. Nirvana Bechan confirmed that we would be going to Johannesburg on the 5th of October 2010 on the 05:45 flight and would return on 6th October 2010 on the 19:00 flight. We had been booked into the Southern Sun Hotel where each of us had our own room with a flat screen television and a bath and shower, but nothing could replace my bed and pillow at home when I woke up several times in the same night. My experience on the flight was so exciting, everyone around me was sleeping and I was having an adrenaline rush, looking outside through the window and patiently waiting for takeoff.
The experience has taught me so much, firstly when I was younger, I always wanted to be an air hostess and on the morning of the 5th October I realised it was one of the worst jobs one could do and that these individuals were nothing more than glorified waitresses having to deal with impatient and difficult individuals on the aircraft.
On a lighter note, we had such a lovely and spacious car that safely took us to Pretoria with the help of a GPS (you saved our lives). The interviews with the ambassadors and diplomats provided us with such knowledgeable information that we would not be able to find in any academic material and has greatly improved our interview skills. We had learnt valuable information like Ambassadors and diplomats only stay in a country for a period of 3-5 years and have to return to the country that they are originally from and apply with Foreign Affairs to be sent to another country. The job truly requires the ambassador to have passion for people which was evident in every interview, even though our cultures and backgrounds we different there was a common understanding. These ambassadors and diplomats are really passionate about their countries and genuinely wanted to help us in gathering sufficient information on our research topic.
When interviewing the ambassadors one realises how severely these countries are affected by North Korea’s involvement in nuclear exploration giving particular reference to what Ambassador Kim had said about a South Korean house wife who stepped on the North Korean border and was murdered which gives us an indication of no respect for human life because the people of North Korea are starving and their focus is on producing nuclear arms.
Johannesburg and Pretoria is so different from Cape Town, all the roads look the same and there are so many one ways. There are huge buildings everywhere and everyone is in a rush to some or other place. In Cape Town all you have to do is look to the mountain to find your way home and travelling to a destination does not have more than 2-3 different routes.
Overall I had an amazing learning experience and I look forward to travelling the world in future and meeting people of diverse cultures.
The first step was to compile a formal letter that provided information such as who we were, our request to interview the ambassador and what the purpose of the research was. It was indeed a topic that scared many countries and resulted in a negative response. Traviss and myself also compiled a list of embassy’s and proceeded to making contact with them. At first it seemed like an impossible task as ambassadors where either too busy, overseas or on holiday and could not accommodate us in the first week of October 2010. After weeks of phone calls and correspondence via email we successfully confirmed four embassy’s in Pretoria which were Argentina, Netherlands, South Korea and Norway. We compiled a list of questions which would be directed to the ambassadors, these dealt with three sub topics which were international relations, the activities of an ambassador and nuclear exploration.
I think the biggest motivator for myself and Traviss was the fact that we would have the opportunity to travel to Johannesburg by air, be exposed to different cultures and meet ambassadors of different countries. Prof. Nirvana Bechan confirmed that we would be going to Johannesburg on the 5th of October 2010 on the 05:45 flight and would return on 6th October 2010 on the 19:00 flight. We had been booked into the Southern Sun Hotel where each of us had our own room with a flat screen television and a bath and shower, but nothing could replace my bed and pillow at home when I woke up several times in the same night. My experience on the flight was so exciting, everyone around me was sleeping and I was having an adrenaline rush, looking outside through the window and patiently waiting for takeoff.
The experience has taught me so much, firstly when I was younger, I always wanted to be an air hostess and on the morning of the 5th October I realised it was one of the worst jobs one could do and that these individuals were nothing more than glorified waitresses having to deal with impatient and difficult individuals on the aircraft.
On a lighter note, we had such a lovely and spacious car that safely took us to Pretoria with the help of a GPS (you saved our lives). The interviews with the ambassadors and diplomats provided us with such knowledgeable information that we would not be able to find in any academic material and has greatly improved our interview skills. We had learnt valuable information like Ambassadors and diplomats only stay in a country for a period of 3-5 years and have to return to the country that they are originally from and apply with Foreign Affairs to be sent to another country. The job truly requires the ambassador to have passion for people which was evident in every interview, even though our cultures and backgrounds we different there was a common understanding. These ambassadors and diplomats are really passionate about their countries and genuinely wanted to help us in gathering sufficient information on our research topic.
When interviewing the ambassadors one realises how severely these countries are affected by North Korea’s involvement in nuclear exploration giving particular reference to what Ambassador Kim had said about a South Korean house wife who stepped on the North Korean border and was murdered which gives us an indication of no respect for human life because the people of North Korea are starving and their focus is on producing nuclear arms.
Johannesburg and Pretoria is so different from Cape Town, all the roads look the same and there are so many one ways. There are huge buildings everywhere and everyone is in a rush to some or other place. In Cape Town all you have to do is look to the mountain to find your way home and travelling to a destination does not have more than 2-3 different routes.
Overall I had an amazing learning experience and I look forward to travelling the world in future and meeting people of diverse cultures.
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