I snapped this picture of a Coca Cola bottle last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:
I thought it was cool to see the famous brand name printed in something other than English. In the Amharic language the four characters spell “Coca Cola” phonetically: Co-ca Co-la. The bottom part apparently says “Trademark.”
I was in South Africa last week visiting Cassandra’s family. Because there’s only so much to do in Kimberley (yes, I’ve seen the Big Hole), we decided to take a road trip to see some new scenery. I had been looking at the map of South Africa and noticed that Lesotho, the small nation enclave surrounded entirely by South Africa, was fairly close. Cassandra’s dad suggested that we drive to Clarens to get a good view of the Maluti Mountains.
Clarens was a pleasant surprise. It kinda reminded me of little towns I’d been to in Northern California (especially Calistoga) — quaint, quiet, clean, and safe. The town is situated around one or two main streets and a small square, with cute restaurants, pubs, antique shops, and bed and breakfasts dotted along the way.
A few months ago I was given a forty-shilling coin as part of my change in the grocery store. Cassandra hadn’t seen one before so she was really excited about it. Because they’re not very common we’ve started a little tradition of saving them.
At first it was just a joke… but now, just a few months later, we’ve amassed sixteen of them!
Unofficially known as the “ka Lucy” (little Lucy, after President Kibaki’s wife), these things were printed to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of Kenya’s independence.
Update (March 14, 2012): We now have 23 of them!
Update (August 30, 2013): We now have 59 of them!
Update (October 27, 2015): We now have 103 of them!