Charles Apple

I finished work Thursday afternoon and decided to zip over to the waterfront one last time for dinner.

In fact, I might go over there again tonight. I’m not sure. I’m awfully tired of eating in the hotel.

I actually went over for some fish n’ chips. But I was a few carbs low for the day. By the time I stood in front of the menu and realized I had no idea what the types of fish listed actually were, I was starting to feel a little ill. So I chickened out and returned to Spur, my favorite steakhouse.

I didn’t take my camera with me last night, so all
of these photos are reruns. Sorry ’bout that.
—

Spur, a South African chain, is a mid-level steakhouse, in terms of price. It’s very friendly and comfortable and the steaks are very, very good. Kind of “too good to be true” good, in fact. Just unbelievable.

I’ve been in there so often over the past three weeks that the manager now comes over and greets me every time I visit. And while several waitpersons have taken very good care of me there, Mampi gives me extra-special attention.

Folks here in the Westin Grand have been extra special, as well. I have this urge to want to walk around and thank all the kind folks for their help. That would probably be pretty silly. But they’ve made me feel at home here, eight thousand miles from home.

The Westin, as it appeared before dawn on my very first day here.
—

Everyone at the newspaper office has been wonderful, from the wonderful guy who made all my arrangements to get here to the editor to the friendly secretary on the 13th floor who has taken it on herself to watch after me.

And, of course, there are my students — all six of the news art folks and all five of the ad and promotions folks. What a talented group. I’m honored they’ve spent so much time with me.

—

So yesterday, I was invited to hold a video conference to show editors just what it was that I spent two weeks teaching their news artists and, hopefully, to explain why they’re acting so oddly now, pitching ideas and insisting on doing some of their own research.

Which is a huge change for these folks. And they’re already doing very, very well with it.

Literally moments before the conference began, Morné — the one who scored our first success on Week One with a quick-and-dirty District 9 graphic and who especially loves entertainment-based features projects — sent me this piece for Friday’s paper:

The graphic shows the history of Pixar and the movies it’s produced. The peg? Pixar’s Up opens today here in South Africa, months after it debuted in the U.S.

So naturally, I had to include the piece in my slides. I think it made me look awfully smart to have the very latest info in my presentation. Morné, if you’re out there: I owe you one, dude.

Sure enough, when you pick up today’s paper, the graphic fills an entire page of the Friday features tab:

Outstanding work. Just outstanding.

I knew it would be spectacular when I saw the tab cover:

At least some of this refers to he graphic, I’m pretty sure (specifically, the upper left, with Mike from Monsters, Inc.). You know you’ve reached a certain status as a visual journalist when the designers refer to your work from the front of your section.

While I’m at it, I have no idea what’s the story with this young man. But what a powerful photo of him in today’s paper:

—

Here are a few questions and superlatives about my trip so far…

Q. Why are you no longer using Facebook or Twitter?

A. I get an internet connection at both the newspaper and here in the hotel. But neither is very fast. I can pull up my Twitter page but I can’t seem to get my tweets to go through. So I’ve given up for now. I’ll try to troubleshoot next week when I’m back in the states.

Facebook is more problematic. I can get certain Facebook pages pulled up, but I can’t really change my status or check my news feeds. This has been a real problem for me. Again, I’ll be fine once I’m home. But if you have, say more than 800 or 900 Facebook friends, you’ll have trouble checking your account should you come to Cape Town.

Q. How do you feel?

A. I feel fine. I’ve watched my carb and sugar intake. I’m taking my medicine religiously (I’ve missed only two doses in three weeks, which is really good when I’m on the road).

The only problem I’ve had is staying hydrated. I can’t seem to get enough water. I’ll go something like five or six hours between trips to the men’s room — that’s practically unheard of for a diabetic. But I can’t get ahold of enough of my preferred drink, Diet Coke. Even bottled water just isn’t that common here.

This might be a problem should I come back in a few weeks. It’ll get very hot here in the summer. I’ll need to find a way to stay hydrated.

But other than the occasional problem with fluids, I feel fine. Never better, in fact. My voice hasn’t gone out on me, nor have I had problems breathing, like I did back in June and July.

Q. Why can’t you find Diet Coke there?

A. I can. And I did. And I drank them all. Seriously.

They’re out of the U.S.-style 330 ml cans of Diet Coke, like you see on the left here. Even the minibar is empty of the smaller, 200 ml cans. I bought them and the hotel kept restocking my minibar until they ran out of them, too.

Basically, I bought and consumed every Diet Coke in the hotel. They won’t get another shipment until after I’m gone on Saturday.

Even the newspaper restaurant is running low, thanks to my running upstairs two or three times a day for another bottle. I may buy their last one sometime today.

Q. How many nights have you stayed?

A. Last night was my 19th night here in the Westin grand. It’s only been 19 nights. But, y’know, it almost seems like three weeks.

Q. What has been the total expense bill?

A. I’ve tried to hold down costs — mostly because I’ve been in that kind of mental mode now for a year, so that’s what feels comfortable for me.

But the Westin is a five-star hotel. It has to be an expensive place.

Most of my meals were charged to the room, as were my three big laundry dumps and my one small one yesterday. I can’t imagine what all this is costing. I’m not sure I want to know.

Q. Who has been the friendliest service industry employee you’ve met so far?

A. Oh, wow. There have been so many. I’d have to say it’s a tossup between Lisa in the Westin lobby bar and Mampi, down at Spur.

Q. How many photos have you taken?

A. As of this very moment — 7:54 a.m. Friday morning, just a little more than 24 hours before I begin my flight home — I’ve taken exactly 2,150 digital photos.

Back in the old days, I used film, of course — I preferred 36-exposure rolls. If I were still shooting film, I’d have exposed about 60 rolls by now.

Q. How many photos have you posted in your blog?

A. I have no idea and no real inclination to go back and count them. Be my guest.

Q. What has been your biggest thrill?

A. As much as I’ve loved the restaurants and the hotel, my biggest thrills of the trip were receiving the e-mails from the news artists, elated by the success they’re having in their respective newsrooms.

Q. What has been your biggest scare?

A. When I thought Salomé had fallen over backwards over the edge of Table Mountain. A close second: the boat ride through whitewater to and from Robben Island.

Q. What has been your weirdest moment?

A. When I nearly got picked up by a hooker last Saturday night, out at he waterfront.

Q. What has been your biggest regret?

A. I’m not sure I have one. I’ve done so much more here than I dared to hope I’d do. I think my only regret is not finding something cool to take back for my wife. Besides my paycheck, I mean.

Q. What has been your most frustrating moment?

A. We held a video conference yesterday with editors here in Cape Town, in Johannesburg and in Bloemfontein. The folks from the IT department couldn’t hook up my MacBook Pro to the videoconference system. “It’s because this is an Apple Mac,” they kept saying. And I kept telling them no, this is the same system we’re using downstairs on the 13th floor and that system has worked perfectly every day for two-and-a-half weeks.

So finally, someone ran downstairs, grabbed a PC laptop and brought it in to use. And then they couldn’t hook it up either. Turned out the problem was something else, not on the part of my laptop or hers. They eventually flipped whatever switch it was and we were finally up and running.

That was very frustrating, because it delayed our meeting and I felt bad about that. I also was annoyed the techs automatically blamed problems on the foreign “Apple Mac” — clearly without cause.

On the other hand, it was somewhat comforting to learn that no matter where in the world you go, IT people are the same.

Q. What was the most awesome sight you’ve seen?

A. This one is difficult. The views from Table Mountain are incredible. And it was stunning to stand on Cape Point and look off into the area where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet.

But the most awesome sight for me, over the course of these three weeks, was when I picked up the newspaper last Thursday and saw these two megagraphics in print:

Q. What is the most surprising thing you’ve discovered about Cape Town?

A. I read up as best I could in the short period I had to prepare. But even so, this is a very modern, very nice city. I look out my hotel room or go down to the waterfront and I could easily believe I’m in Atlanta or Austin or Charlotte or Charleston or Virginia Beach.

Granted, that’s not the case when you get on the highway and drive even a small distance from the city center. But even the most finicky U.S. tourists will feel right at home here in Cape Town.

Q. What is the one thing I should know if I’m planning to go to the World Cup next year?

A. If you don’t have a hotel room booked, then forget about it. I’m told entire hotels are completely filled up. FIFA itself completely bought out this hotel, the Westin. The city has been busy finishing the stadium and building new roads and infrastructure to deal with the crowds, but I’m not convinced the actual accommodations will be up to the task.

Hotel companies of the world, take note. You have something like eight months in which to build new properties. Good luck!

—

It’s time to walk over to work. I can’t leave the hotel, though, without taking another photo of Signal Hill, outside the window of my room here:

And here’s anther montage of shots I’ve taken of this hill over the past three weeks (Click any for a larger view):

It’s a slightly-chilly 52 degrees outside, with a high forecast today of 66 degrees. But I can’t find a cloud in the sky.

It’s yet another gorgeous day here in the gorgeous city of Cape Town, where it’s my privilege to teach design and journalism to the gorgeously friendly designers and artists of the media here.

Truly, I’m the luckiest guy in the world.

Or, at least, the luckiest guy in the world without access to Diet Coca-Cola.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 2:06 am and is filed under Charles Apple, Travelogue, Trip to South Africa, Visual ethics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.