Ingress vs Pokémon

Last week I got a call that today was going to be an Ingress Missions Day, now we haven’t played Ingress for a very long time as Pokémon has taken over and for me even that is not played that often.

Anyways Lynda, Robynne, Rebekah and I joined the diehard Ingress players for some Ingress missions. So both augmented reality games are made by Google Niantic but which one is the better. Ingress is geekier leaning with team battles but Pokémon is more a children’s game and easier to play. We had to relearn Ingress as it has been a long time but half way through the day after following a couple of missions, Ingress went out of the window and Pokémon took over.

Unlikely Tourists

While I have been many times to Vilakazi Street, a tourist trap in Soweto with guests wanting to see the house still behind bars, 8115 Vilakazi Street Orlando West Soweto. The unlikely tourists were Viandre and Velile with me as tour guide. Oh dear I am sure Just Vel will have something to say about him being a tourist in his own back yard, at least he was impressed with my knowledge of the historic places here, thanks to my time spent as a Joburg Photowalker.

Do you know that Veilie still hasn’t even being to the Kliptown Youth Centre in the middle of the Kliptown squatter camp or to be more PC the informal settlement at Kliptown. What a bunch of unlikely tourists we are. Oh and above is a photo of our traditional lunch of a kota bought from a local spaza shop just to prove that we have what it takes except for any smileys.

Long Walk To Tribute

With the sad news of Nelson Mandela's passing last night. The roads around his house was cordoned off. Our offices fall within the police cordon, and I had to do a lot of talking to convince the police that I needed to enter the security perimeter just to go to work. Then again maybe our boss should have given us the day off.

At lunch time, I decided to take a walk up to where all the tributes are taking place. The content department also wanted to go with so all six of us started the long walk around two blocks just to get to where everyone was gathering outside the house. It was like my long walk to pay tribute to a man that changed the course of history in South Africa.

They say in Africa, we dance and sing when we are happy, sad, excited and angry. So when we finally arrived at Mandela’s house, there was sadness, there was flowers and there was singing and dancing celebrating the life of Mandela.

My work colleague, Litha, wrote this peace as a tribute on our site.

After such a long walk,
Finally you rest.
Now your soul is as free
As it could ever be.

Imibono yakho mayibonakaliswe zizenzo zethu,
Umoya wakho onoxolo uhlale uphakathi kwethu.

Roam In Paradise xhego elihle,
We celebrate your life.