Feeling more blonde and blue-eyed than usual.

I've always known I'm not the most athletic of individuals, but now I just feel uncoordinated, fat, and extremely unathletic.

Last night, we went to the African Hip Hop Indaba as sponsored by the Heal the Hood Project. Like an idiot, I wore my Frye boots and old jeans, looking like Kellie Pickler in the Bronx. My sore-thumb status aside, it was by far the sweetest thing I've seen this side of America's Best Dance Crew. 

There were obvious Jabberwockie influences, but for the most part, all the dancers were incredibly talented and diverse (there were crews there from Morocco, Zimbabwe, and Botswana). 

We saw the semi-final and final events in krumping, popping, and breaking. And yes, those are categories of hip hop dance.

Next time, I'll think twice before trying to replicate Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" dance again.

I'm so on trend right now.

Shopbop is going tribal! 

Granted, I'm a solid 2,500 miles from Tanzania, but hey, I'm on the right continent!

And I do have my awesome tunic...

Giving back

Wednesday, I learned that Afrikaans is an effective way to make fun of Americans, and I got high-fived up high, down low, too slow!

After a long day of classes, we - Allison, Dave, and I, along with about 10 other volunteers - took a bus to a children's home in Athlone, which is about a 15 minute drive from campus. As soon as I walked in, I was inundated with a succession of about 10 hugs, and then dragged very deliberately by a matter-of-fact 11 year-old girl named Solame to a seat.

So for the next hour or so, Solame and I worked on some multiplication and divisions problems and on telling time on a clock together. (Ironic, considering these are the things I never knew how to do until I was 13 anyway. Take it back. I still can't multiply.) 

She would work on a problem, and then look at me for approval - all the while I'm sitting there counting on my fingers trying to figure out if 6 times 7 is actually 42. While telling time, my watch became a source of fascination: Suddenly everyone at the table wanted to learn time too.

When it was time to go, I got another 10 hugs (mostly from kids I didn't even see at all that afternoon until they clung to my leg on the way out) and a hand-holding walk to the front gate from a little girl no older than 5 who just "wanted to make sure I was safe walking out."

Needless to say, I can't wait to go back next week. I can't wait to be made fun of to my face in Afrikaans again!

Laundry.

Although we Lovers are lucky enough to have both a washer and a dryer, splitting one of each between 11 people has proven problematic. Especially when 7 of the 11 are boys who generally only brought 4 pairs of underwear with them to Africa for 5 months. That being said, I put off laundry as long as possible, mostly out of necessity since the washer is never free.

In addition to this overcrowding, our dryer is essentially a 50watt travel blow-dryer in a box. Last week it took me 4 hours to dry my sheets.

So on the off chance that Sunit wasn't doing laundry for the 5th time this week, I got to finally wash the smoke out of all my jeans. 

So mathematically speaking,

11 people / (1 washer + 0.25 Dryer) =

Very Big Fish.

Sorry, Mom. I did it. I went cage diving with great white sharks today.

There are no words for how incredible it is to see these creatures up close - they're so beautiful and graceful... and only a little big ginormous and pee-in-your-pants worthy.

9:00am - Up and at 'em. Champions' breakfast of an omelette with toast.

9:45am - Van picks up the Lover's.

11:30 - Van drops the Lover's at White Shark Projects in Hermanus.

Hermanus

11:45am - Lunch at the dock house. These people fed us well.

All the cool kids have done it.

12:45pm - Board the boat and head out!

1:15pm - We anchored off of Dyer Island, and immediately see some "baby" white sharks

1:30pm - First five divers went down in the cage.

Apparently this guy was still a "juvenile"

2:00pm: First girl ralphs overboard.

2:30pm - Next group dives.

2:50pm - My turn!

This thing was so tight. Kept me warm though!

During my turn, I saw a shark breach - meaning it came up out of the water to attack the bait - which is pretty rare to see! Occasionally they would come after the bait violently, but for most of the twenty-or-so minutes that I was in the cage, they just floated and glided around the boat.

Brian, Me, CJ and Allison (missing Charlie and Dave)

3:00pm - Some guy gets seasick.

3:10pm - The next guy throws up.

3:15pm - Pretty chilly by now, I get out of the cage with Allison and Brian.

3:16pm - Allison pukes overboard.

3:30pm - We pull up the anchor, and head across Dyer Island to see shark bait - aka seals

The reason for all the sharks.

4:00pm - Return to the dock. Eat more food (since half the people on the boat left lunch somewhere near Dyer Island). Buy sweet tee-shirts (obviously).

5:00pm - So tired (but full), we head home!

Cultural Adventures

Over the course of my Saturday, I managed to see original Stubbs paintings, complete my year-long quest for a leather jacket, and get hopelessly lost in downtown Cape Town.

A perfect day for adventuring

I slept in - only to be woken up by the devil's hyena birds that live outside - and got ready to head downtown with my housemate Allison. For my art history class, I have to write a paper comparing paintings from the South African National Gallery, which is located behind UCT's fine arts campus in the center of the city (conveniently near Long Street, which has a bunch of cool stores. Hmm).

Although pretty small (we covered the whole gallery in about an hour), there were some really great pieces - some of which were pretty valuable too. Here are some of my favorites:

"Stage Study," John Dronsfield (oil on canvas)

"St. Stephen's Church, Riebeeck Square," Edward Roworth (oil on canvas)

"Two Bay Hunters by a Tree," George Stubbs, 1783 (oil on panel)

"Son-in-Law," Sir Alfred Munnings, 1927

"Water Babies," Charles Sims (oil on canvas)

After our dose of culture, we decided to class it down, and go argue with some vendors on Long Street. Like angels coming from heaven, I saw my leather jacket in the window of PETA's worst nightmare. Lined with full-on zebra hides, alligator belts, ostrich purses, and springbok fur, Skinz Leather Wear was full of glorious finds. 

After endless ages of admiring cool leather jackets, I'm elated about the one I found: it's a motorcycle jacket made from super soft black leather. Mom, you'd be so proud of my bargaining skills: I shaved R200 off the price tag.

Edgy and cool like you can't imagine.

Apparently materialist elation causes the directional senses to break down, because before we knew it, Allison and I were aimlessly wandering the streets of the financial district (hey, it could have been worse), with no idea where we were, let alone how to get to the restaurant where we were going to meet the rest of the Lover's for an early dinner.

After several minor anxiety attacks, we found a relatively clueless-albeit-non-sketchy taxi to take us to Beluga. A R50 cab fare (this is a lot - trust me) and 20 minutes later, Allison and I made it to the restaurant with time to spare. 

It was definitely worth it, as the place was incredible. A swanky Asian-fusion sushi restaurant, Beluga offered amazing deals on half-off sushi before 7pm (hence our enthusiasm to arrive early). I managed to stuff myself with a two-for tuna and salmon roll plate. Delicious!

In any case, I don't need to eat anything for the next 24 hours. Or go out in downtown Cape Town without a map.

A Brief Guide to South African Accents

Now that I’ve been here for over a month, I feel that I can successfully identify – though weakly replicate – a standard Cape Townian accent. 

My notes as follows for accents:

- Consider all o’s to be u’s: For example, Thabo Mbeki is pronounced tah-boo, Lesotho is less-oo-too, and so on.

- Vowels are big. Not long, in the sense of Southern accents, but just big. Read Johannesburg as Joeee-hane-eeess-behg or a shocked “No way!” as “Noooy waiee!”

- All conversations end as if the other person can’t wait to be rid of you. “Alright, cheers” They say in monotone, two octaves higher than the rest of the conversation, as if they’re beyond bored with whatever you’re saying.

My favorite South African vocabulary:

- Howzit: Meaning, “how are you?"

- Lekker (lekk-ah): Good, pleasing, awesome (“That dinner was lekker!”)

- Just now: It'll happen sometime soon, “I’ll meet you just now”

- Now now: It'll never happen. “I’ll get you your dress back now now.”

Skype, digital cameras, and other marvels of modern technology

There's just no end to the uncomfortable moments that can ensue when mothers are entrusted with cameras:

You think it ends after she makes you wear that horrible smocked dress to that birthday party when you're five. It doesn't.

You think you're home free after a hundred and fifty shots of your prom date with his hands awkwardly placed on your polyester-and-rhinestone encrusted hips. You're not.

You may think that shot she makes your roommate take of you and your family in your 12' by 10' dorm room on the first day of orientation would be the end of your misery. It's most definitely not.

It's never the end, because she'll insist on taking a picture of you with your sister and her bridesmaids - while you're on Skype on another continent. And judging from experience, this is not the last time I'll regret that Mom has a camera.

I'll never understand.

Much better! The bride and her bridesmaids

TGIF

In my second productive day of the semester, I accomplished a fair amount with only a few coughing fits sprinkled in (although I'm pretty sure the lady at the post office was glaring at me). 

After class, I mailed Bidgey and Chris some goodies - complete with lick-on stamps, of course. I paid for the packages, and the lady handed me a pile of small, rectangular pieces of paper. I looked at her quizzically. 

She sighed, instructing the idiotic American to walk to the the corner, spend the next ten minutes licking and attaching R115 worth of stamps onto the packages, and then return the packages to her. What happened to the scan and swipe at the UPS store? No such luck...

In other news, I'm going on Wednesday to help with math homework at an all-girls' school! I'm really psyched to go - I hope I meet some cool new little friends.

This weekend should be relaxed - but I know saying that will jinx it.

Apple Number Two

During orientation, we were introduced to the transitional concept of the "three apples." 

- The first "apple" represents your excitement at the new, exotic world of South Africa (i.e. you've never had an apple before, so this is great!). 

- The second "apple" represents a reality check of sorts (you get stressed, homesick, etc. - apples aren't so cool anymore, you've eaten a bunch already). 

- The third "apple" is a contentedness with your place in Africa, and with apples (?). 

Well, today was Apple Number Two. All day long.

Today I:

- Woke up with the plague, again (I've been suffering from this Bubonic annoyance for two days now).

- Attended 5 classes in a row.

- Fell down half a flight of stairs in front of Regina George and company.

- Told my entire art history tut that I fell down half a flight of stairs (my tutor asked for our most embarrassing moment - trust me, I did not gush this triumph unnecessarily).

- Have to write a paper. And do laundry. And go grocery shopping. Being a semi-adult sucks (Sorry Dad, "sucks" was entirely too appropriate here).

Now please just take a moment out of your busy day, and lament the passing of Charlie's Apple-Number-Two day. 

That's all - no more whining on Awful Beautiful (besides about the birds).

Pinky swear.

The Devil's Incarnates

They live outside my bedroom window at night. Really.

Lovers Do Rugby and the Beach

Happy National Women's Day! I love any country who gives a national holiday for those of us forced to suffer monthly cramps and childbirth.

Although we have tomorrow off school, I'll actually be in the library (!?) studying for a midterm Tuesday. So I'll delight you with my activities a day early:

Friday

We rented Roadtrip from the movie store and I was out by 11. Word.

Saturday

Happy birthday Charlie and Chris!

Today we started tailgating (minus the truck part... miss you, Sparky) before the 5pm Springboks vs. Wallabies game. We walked to the game and took our places in our high-class standing-room-only spots. 

Lovers tailgating in the front yard

Apparently being an American girl is some kind of anomaly in the standing room section, and I was introduced (care of Brian) to several (very intoxicated) creepy old dudes who insisted on taking pictures on their cell phones with me. I felt like the working class version of Miley Cyrus. 

Springboks (green) vs. Wallabies (yellow)

Beyond that, the game was a blast; everyone is so loud and gets really into the cheers. We actually had the wave go around the stadium twice! In America, it's usually the drunk 60 year-old with nothing else to do with his time but have season tickets to sports events or the 4-year-old boy that tries the wave and fails. Here, everyone gets into it! I love it.

The view from our standing spots - the stadium was packed!

In other news, the Springboks won 29-17!

Sunday

Happy birthday Carter! We love birthdays at Lover's Walk...

Obviously, there's no such thing as an entirely lazy Sunday at Lover's Walk. Around 1pm, we took the train (only mildly sketchy) out to Muizenberg - a small town situated on the side of a mountain, right on the beach. Allison decided to surf with no wetsuit in water that was easily 50 degrees (F). Needless to say, I lounged in the sand with everyone else.

Muizenberg

Beach

Wish me luck on my sociology test Tuesday!

Sentimentality

When you're far from home, you tend to think about what you miss most about it.

Thankfully, Dad is keeping a blog, so that every fart is kept track of while I'm gone. In that spirit, I would like to point out several things that I enjoy about my family about the blog:

- They are attending a dowsers' convention. If any of you know what dowsing is besides my immediate family, I will be quite honestly stunned.

- Dad is "excited" for said convention, yet finds the need to be "incognito" by growing copious amounts of facial hair. Hm.

- More irony: Dad frowns upon my use of the term "suck," and yet finds it acceptable to use it himself on the internet. Do as I say and not as I do?

- Additional irony: Dad bleeps out the f-word in his post. That is all.

- The post ends with "peace."

I love my family.

Productivity

As Bridget would say, today I feel like a real adult! I've actually been astonishingly productive in the past 24 hours: 

1. I wrote a paper. "Radical vs. Liberal Historiography in South Africa" So much fun, you can't even imagine.

2. I went to the gym. I even woke up early for this. Kudos to me.

3. I went to class today. I have to remind myself of the whole "school" concept occasionally. Two whole classes! Can you imagine...

4. I made myself an omelette for lunch. This is monumental, actually, since all our pans - no matter the amount of non-stick spray - do not allow for the making of any egg dishes besides scrambled eggs. I finally bought myself a private omelette pan that hides in the back kitchen so I can delight myself on days like today. I'm fairly certain you don't give a rat's ass, but I'm psyched.

5. I opened a bank account. I feel officially very South African. Now: Daddy, can I have some money?

And now it's raining outside and I'm snuggling in bed doing absolutely nothing productive for the rest of the day.

Vineyards Weekend

And on the eighth day, God said, "Thou shalt not sleep on weekends."

Just got back from a weekend trip to Stellenbosch, aka wine country. It was absolutely beautiful and a ton of fun, a great change from the city atmosphere of Cape Town. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let them do the talking for me:

The high-class hostel we stayed in Friday and Saturday night

We managed to squash 11 people in our one room. Success.

Stellenbosch! It had such a great small-town feel (no clutching-of-personal-at-all-times feel).

Stellenbosch Wine Festival on Saturday (it felt like a steeplechase-race-slash-garden-party more than anything - a lot of really pretty, well-dressed white people, sipping wine and watching rugby). There were a lot of Afrikaners there - it was the first time I felt a language barrier at all.

My acquisition of the weekend! A signed Frans Groenewald print, 28/250. So cute!

Our cab on Sunday morning (very early) to the biking-vineyard tour. It's Millie and Linus! (plus some rando...)

Bikers! We visited three vineyards, with about an hour bike ride between each.

One of the vineyards had a cheetah rescue, too! Sleepy kitty.

Vineyard views

More vineyard biking

Pensive boys.

The vineyard restaurant where we ate lunch. There were so many beautiful buildings out in the country...

... But you were still reminded that's not the reality for most people

And of course, the compulsory family photo! (Ian insisted on lying down for this).