Krystyna took this photo of our house around the barbecue pit, enjoying one of our family braai nights. My camera broke last week so it’s currently sitting in the repair shop. They’ll give me a quote on how much the damage will be to fix “just now.” so, plus/minus two weeks. ☹
some new things we’ve been eating: - wine - smoked snoek paté –like whitefish salad. mmm. - Ayershire yogurt with prebiotics. hmmm. - sunblock: SPF 30 or higher - overpriced vegetables and fruit - Springbok shooters: crème de menthe and Amarula cream. Amarula is a South African liqueur made from Amarula fruit—think Kahlua, but fruit - samosas - fruit chutney –they use it like ketchup. who knows. - smoothies with lichi fruits and mint. mmmm. - white wine - red wine
the food here isn’t really that exciting and it’s pretty expensive, except for food in restaurants, which is really cheap considering. I was expecting lots of street vendors with fresh produce, but I’ve only found veggies at the big supermarkets where they’re probably imported. At least the wine is local, right?
Thoughts on life in my house: mostly relaxing.We’re currently sitting around drinking a several bottles of wine and getting ready to heat up the coals for a braai—tradtional South African barbecue.We’re frying veggies and pineapple for me and boerwors sausage for the meat eaters.
Things at UCT: mostly stressful.We spent over 4 hours today taking a standardized test to prove we graduated high school.We’ve spent a couple days in orientation lectures, including how to register for class, all the paperwork that needs to be sorted out and how to find the appropriate staff to help you—only no one here answers emails.Everything’s done by paper, so it means running around to visit heads of departments, asking them to approve you for any course you’d like to take, and then going back to your ‘faculty’ to register.No approval, no class.It means lots of lines and hassles and gazillions of forms, but hey, that’s bureaucracy.
here's tehya's album: http://picasaweb.google.com/mkcarlson2/TehyaDoesSouthAfrica# check it out
I’ve learned lots of surprising things about South Africa since I’ve been here.
some interesting things I’ve thought about:
-The barefoot culture: class, grocery shopping, walking to pharmacy: no shoes, no problems, no worries.I’ve tried it out.Thoughts: nice.but mostly just dirty.
-The weather: it’s so hot and so humid, fruit spoils in a day.a mango bought at ten at the morning is spoiled by 5 pm. it’s intense.grocery shop every day if you can.
-Concepts of time:everything’s slow except the driving.Keep in mind, professors have right of superiority and drivers have the right of way.You got hit by a car?Bummer, legally, you’ll pay for the damages.
-There are infinite uses of the word now.You can say ‘just now’, for in a few hours, or ‘Juuuust now’ for in several few hours, or ‘now now’ for in a few minutes, or ‘right about now’ for who even knows when.Goodness.
-Panic Buttons:I didn’t really believe they existed, but our house is equipped with thirteen—one for each of us.The idea is, you keep it with you and when there’s a burglary or what have you, you press the button and activate the alarm.It seems crazy at first but then you look around at the bars on every door and window and it’s pretty obvious.Crime is an issue.Fact.Bring enough cash with you for a good night but lock up your computers and valuables.You kind of expect to be mugged.It’s strange but not that strange—it’s just how you live.
We took a tour the other day of the Cape of Good Hope, the place where explorers began to go more eastward than southward, or something.It was beautiful, windy, and glorious.Enjoy.
I’m in my room finally, sitting next to an open, breezy window, looking out on a spike-lined wall while the shadows are just beginning to get long in the patio below me.Today was our first day in our new house (see above) after two hectic nights in the dorms and it’s good to relax by myself for a moment.That, by the way, is an extremely relevant, culturally aware statement.To South Africans, everything’s hectic.Especially if you're on any sort of schedule.If it’s moving faster than ‘Africa time’, it’s Hectic.
Take my plane ride, for example.Two flights from Minneapolis got me to JFK in new york, from which I hopped on the subway and took four trains to Brooklyn, saw my friend Katie for a total of one hour, sleep for roughly four hours on her blow-up mattress, woke up, hopped on a few more trains and caught my flight out of JFK heading to Johannesburg- nonstop for 14 sleepless hours.From there I flew to Cape Town, met other international students, ate dinner, and left promptly for the bars on Main Rd. Sleep? who needs it.We spent the next day exploring the city center in massive groups of 30 or so, drinking the occasional smoothie or fresh juice, trotting off to the shops near the UCT campus, sweating, squinting, getting sunburned.We spent the night on Long Street--a bar-lined avenue downtown that resembles bourbon street in New Orleans, drinking South Africa's own Black Label beer, mingling and trying to learn names. There are maybe 300 or so international students at the orientation week so things get confusing and conversations often get repeated before you realize you’ve met the person three times already..Tip: don’t ask a South African what school they go to.That’s the equivalent of asking them which high school they currently attend.Your correct phrase should go something like, ‘Eh, bru, what varisty you attend, neh?’You might get a reply like: ‘UCT, man. If you would like to ask them how it's going, just say howzit. If something's cool, it's lekker. Grapetiser soda, for example, is really lekker.
I still can’t believe this is where I’ll be for the next five months. We’re all pinching ourselves out of disbelief from the sheer physical beauty in which we’re living.
Here are some photos to keep you interested before I elaborate more once orientation starts:
my house is on the other this field, Rondebosch Common. The neighborhood of Rosebank climbs the slopes of Devil's Head. The UCT campus is the last row of red roofs at the top. Table Mountain is in the background.
Cape Town winds around the mountain. Downtown is out of view but this is the Waterfront on the Atlantic side, seen from Rhodes Memorial.
Cecil Rhodes (think mining/Rhodesia) donated land for and helped build the University of Cape Town. This memorial to him sits on the side of Devil's Peak.
students in big groups check out views
an ivy-covered UCT building sits above the Southern suburbs. my house is down there somewhere.
it's sort of like reaching your hand into one of those mystery boxes at the science museum: you're not really sure what's in there and it's dark and moist and probably contagious but you take a big breath and feel around for the rhinocerous horn or sheep's tongue or whatever the thing might be. packing for this trip is the same thing: a big inhale before i jump into the puddle of substance X that is Cape Town, South Africa.
some interesting things I've packed:
1. Jungle Juice bug repellent: Mo:1 Dengue fever: 0
2. Cipro: prescription meds from the travel doc. Take as needed for extreme diarrhea. How do you know when it's extreme diarrhea? 'Oh, you'll know...'
3. Set - the card game. I'm starting a Set revolution in Cape Town. Pearl, take note
4. Sunscreen - someone told me there's a hole in the ozone layer over SA. go figure
5. Water soluble face paints - I have to be able to represent the appropriate football team at the appropriate time and stadium. this way, it washes off easily between matches
6. Chocolate - for mild diarrhea and homesickness
7. Tehya, the tiny bear finger puppet that is a miniature plush version of Peter's dog in Madison. It's a big journey for her but she's pretty excited
8. Various books on SA - including a book of South African folklore and Nelson Mandela's A Long Walk to Freedom. of course
9. Better Off Dead on DVD. just because.
Some things I'm looking forward to:
1. camping in game reserves next to elephants, oryxes, ostriches, European tourists and other exotic wildlife
2. writing for my fiction workshop
3. frolicking about the grasslands
4. frolicking with penguins on the cape of Good Hope
5. Jazz!
6. views of Table Mountain every morning as I go to class
7. testing my nerves on the world's tallest bungee jump
8. sojourning into Kruger National Park for more wildlife
9. Mozambique
10. labs with my science classes out where it all really happens
11. the World Cup. because duh.
12. cooking classes in Cape Town
13. singing the beautiful South African national anthem
14. learning some Xhosa
15. winery tours
16. visits from loved ones
17. biking along the Garden Route: contingent on those visits from loved ones
some things I'll miss:
1. Peter Allen; he's amazing
2. Houses without tight security gates and video surveillance
3. drinking fountains
4. cross country skiing with my mom and dad
5. my brother and sister's graduation from high school
6. playing frisbee with Freya
7. being in the same time zone as everyone else
8. ALPs!
9. speaking Spanish on a regular basis
10. reading Trav with Peter
11. free internet
12. Babcock dairy ice cream on the Union terrace
13. Beer on the Union terrace
14. unlimited text messages on my phone
15. cooking and enjoying tasty meals with my loved one
