South African wine

Not long after arriving, I was invited to a wine tasting at a nearby restaurant, aptly titled Wine Bar, which was not to be confused with its downstairs Wine Shop.

The event was populated by ex-pats mostly, the NGO and governmental types. I met several spouses who assured me that they were very content in Namibia. (They enjoyed their outsider status.) And, interestingly enough, they'd all had dinner somewhere in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at some point or another. We had a lot in common. (Sigh.)

I struck up a conversation with the Uruguayan spouse of some US government person. Although he hadn't been to Uruguay in many, many years, we managed to bond for several minutes over our limited knowledge of South American geography. I told him that my partner's family was half-Argentine and half-Uruguayan. He then proceeded to introduce me to everyone else as the man with the Argentine wife. Clarification and awkward pauses gave way to acquiescence---Yes, she's lovely.

After my 4th 1/8th of wine (the 2008 Pinotage was the best), I was introduced to the U.S. Ambassador. She's shy. And, as I was later told, she's a career foreign service-r. Someone explained to me that there are two types of ambassadors---political appointees and career staff. Africa only has two political appointments. Someone deduced that they were in Tanzania and South Africa. I find that hard to believe.