06.10.2010
Crazy! It’s already October!!! Time is flying.
So Earthdance was epic. One of the coolest experiences of my life. It was such a hippie atmosphere that I fit in perfectly. The weekend consisted of: listening to music in the outdoors, dancing to said music, drinking some drinks (and lots and lots of water), sitting in fields of grass, interacting with strange and interesting people, comparing mustaches (don’t ask), cool light shows, togetherness with the rest of the world, finding a tent to sleep in, and generally a good time. It is really rather difficult to describe, but it was wonderful. I spent all of Sunday sleeping to recover.
The next week of school, was school I got my first scores back on tests I had written. One was passing and the other was really, really good. For some reason this week felt extra long, even though we had no school on Friday! It was Heritage Day, which really translates into Braai day! I decided to embark on an impromptu mountain hike up Table Mountain with 4 boys from my Spring Break Trip (well, 3 from spring break: Big Nick, Jeff, and Zach, the other: Vid, is just in 2 of my classes). Apparently hiking is a regular thing for 3 of them so Big Nick and I were a little behind on the hike up, which was basically a straight shot up the mountain. We explored and ate lunch at the top, which was surprisingly flat and unsurprisingly beautiful. Rather than taking the typical way down, we took a way that was less travelled, following a set of yellow painted shoe prints. We ended up having to climb down a waterfall and then some weird ladders. Finally ending up in Kirstenbosch, which is the botanical gardens. Normally it costs money to enter, but since we hiked into it, it was free! Alas, we were pretty tired from hiking, so we didn’t do a whole lot of exploring of the gardens but we sat and took it in for awhile, before heading back and braaiing. After braaiing with them, I headed home to join the braai going on there!
The next Saturday, I don’t think much happened during the daytime, but the night had a great story! Most of our program went to a different bar than me, Macy, Amber and Ashley wanted to go to, so we went to go find our own cab. Now normally, there are tons of cabs lining the street that crosses with the one we live on, so we walked up there. For once, there were none, absolutely deserted. So we called a cab, but they were taking forever. Macy was also trying to get us a sketchy cab that isn’t actually licensed or liable for its passengers, but some old man came out of the bar right there, to make sure that we got in a good, safe cab. After the man turned away one cab and as we waited for our trusty Elite, the police drive up and pull over. My theory is that they thought we were prostitutes; 3 out of 4 young girls were wearing skirts with an old guy standing with, I would be suspicious too. Now, I am not sure the transactions that went down over the next two minutes, since I don’t like to talk to police, but somehow Macy had convinced the police to drive us to the bar we were going to. So, she got in the front with the two policemen and the rest of us got in the back. Not just the back of a cop car, but one of those old school, caravan type ones that you always see in the movies with benches so the prisoners face each other. (I think my dad later referred to it as a paddywagon-“for picking up all those drunk irish men”). Now the police in South Africa are kind of known for being corrupt, so in retrospect this probably wasn’t a good idea. Actually, at the time it didn’t even seem like a good idea. But it happened. While locked in the back, we were kind of freaking out, not knowing what was happening. At one point the car turned off of the road it was supposed to be on and did a giant circle. We waved at cars behind us, managing to get, instead of some sort of helpful gesture or nervous look, but rather, a thumbs up. Either way, we ended up safe and were let out of the back at the bar as promised. And now, the, albeit stupid, moment will go down in history as one of the most hilarious moments in Africa.
The next week brought assignments that I had apparently no sense of time for, resulting in a lot of stress. Luck for me, a BIG weekend was in store. My program had 3 people’s birthdays that weekend. Meira’s 20th was on Friday and Natalie’s 20th and Macy’s 21st on Sunday, plus Craig’s 21st today (Weds). We began the weekend by the weekly Thursday night trip to springboks, who’s DJ wished Meira (and Katie Jonas) a Happy Birthday. The next night was low key but cute. We went to dinner at WangThai on the Waterfront (the ritzy part of town). After we walked a long ways in our heels to decide not to go to two separate clubs and get gelato instead (Black Cherry which comes in Chocolate gelato= yummmm). We then headed home for some brownie cake.
Saturday we got up and had an epic soccer battle against the UCT “girls” team. Apparently an old man and at least one boy who was the best player count as girls. But either way, we managed to tie the game 3-3, which is highly impressive seeing how out of shape all of us were. The Vuvuzela was going wild for team USA.
That night was the night to go all out. We all went to Fez, which is the high class club that is expensive to get into. A lot of our program went VIP with a table and bottle service, but I was supposed to get in for free (which ultimately didn’t happen but it didn’t end up cost much anyway, plus I still got to sit at the table). The draw of Fez is the fact that they have transvestites on stilts walking around, and acrobats flying above the dance floor, and people dressed up as monkeys. It was rather crazy. The night was pretty cool, but unfortunately did not end as well as hoped since I lost/got stolen my camera and my phone, as well as 3 other people in my program got their phones stolen. As well as a debacle with McDonalds which included them running out entirely of all Fountain Soda. At least my fries were delicious.
The next day I went out for Macy’s birthday dinner to Asoka, which was like a tapas bar and had the best Goat Cheese Balls ever. I will need to be going back.
Again this week so far has been rather boring. Sebe, the intern in the Interstudy office returned to work after a two weeks vacation, lighting up my day again. It is pink week on campus celebrating the GLBTA community by placing a large pink closet in the middle of campus for people to write their support onto which got burned down. I think in a way this is a good thing because it has brought way more attention to the matter. The Captain Morgan girls are on campus today and tomorrow, getting paid to sit in a hot tub and giving away free shirts. But other than that, a typical week in school.
