Jaws: South Africa

FYI: the African sun is FIERCE. I am completely fried from our beach day on Saturday. It's not like I didn't wear sunscreen either, I wore spf 50 and yet my legs look like elongated tomatoes. Eh, no pain no gain, I guess. I'm feeling the pain, I hope the gain is coming soon. I shouldn't be surprised, my skin was whiter than baby powder.

Other than the aftershocks, the beach was delightful. We (me, schleiff, dana, gabby, chi chi & nelly) went to Muizenberg beach which was a 30 minuter train ride from our house. People kept warning us about how the train is pretty sketchy, but I found it quite pleasant. Granted, I was in a group. It cost 5.50 rand, which is less than a dollar. I think the clincher for me was the marimba-styled band that suddenly emerged from both sides of the train. I honestly don't even know if they knew each other. One man started strumming his little guitar and then suddenly men (and a tiny little boy with a trumpet) started to join in on his jam. It was really fun and a perfect way to get in the beachy spirit.

The beach was gorgeous and very very windy. Perfect for rookie surfers and kite surfing (which I've decided is the coolest thing ever). We thought that people were just flying giant kites, but they were attached to surfers gliding over the waves, making jumps, and doing tricks. Those fellows were downright cool... and they knew it. There was one girl, poor thing. I felt her struggle, she was much too tiny to control the wind, it controlled her... face first into the water. Still way better than I could ever do, so more power to her!

So, we spent the majority of our day simply laying out, reading a book, walking along the beach, and putting up to our ankles in the water. And it's a good thing we didn't feel like swimming... *insert Jaws theme music here* After about two hours on the beach, a police-like siren went off followed by fiesty whistles by the lifeguards. While looking around in confusion, what did I see? Nothing but a lifeguard running down the shoreside with a white flag with a picture of a shark on it. I felt like I was in a movie. It was so bizarre to be on a beach where the water had to be evacuated because I shark spotter called in an alert. That's something you only hear about, I never thought I 'd be around for one. Very exciting :) What blew my mind was that people got right back into that water the minute the alert ceased. Then came another alert, immediate evacuation, and white flag reveal. People pretty much left after that point. I guess two strikes & they're out. I was out before it ever began, I can think of much better ways to go than being eaten by a giant fish. Which is ironic considering what I'll be doing on Wednesday...

I'm going shark cage diving! I don't know exactly how it works, but they said we'd be in the cage (um, duh! we better!) and we'll see sharks in the water... I've heard rumor of the boat stringing meat out for them so we could watch 'em feed. Intense. And I'm still debating whether I should wear my Jaws tshirt while on the boat. As tempting as it is, I might not want to be labeled as "that girl" who looks as if she's been dreaming of this day her entire life. I haven't, I'm just feeling adventurous. I'm in South Africa, why not?? Well, I can think of a few reasons why not...

No worries, I'll keep you updated- unless Wednesday doesn't go very well, in which case I love you all... ;)

Happy sunday! -les

getting oriented

I'm currently typing this post with a sunburn on my arms and a swollen finger. Both incidents are blessings. Why? The burn is from the glorious summer sun & beach weather and the swollen finger is a burst blood vessel from drumming too hard on the djembe with South Africans. The drumming "injury" probably isn't something I should be bragging about, but I can't help it. It made me feel so legit. And anyone who knows me knows that African drumming was one of my main reasons for coming here. That, and the fact that I'm practically an honorary African because of those "dreads" I had for 2 weeks... ;)

Yesterday was... tense. The morning was filled with lectures from various speakers to give us "freshies" some advice/rules. It was going all fine and well until an officer of the local police stepped up to scare the living daylights out of us. When he started his presentation with "there are many people in this city that wake up with one thing on their mind: to commit crime!", I knew it was going to be a doosey. I had already heard a million warnings about the crime in South Africa, and I never longed to hear the specific stories of UCT students being mugged. My imagination already works pretty well, Mr. Officer. It probably didn't help that I had lil Schleiff sitting next to me about to shake her leg off her body during the speech. Sister gets nervous walking on OBU campus, where a crime hasn't occurred since the tail was so dubiously stolen from the golden tiger, so being told "don't ever resist a mugging, give up your money or eeeeeeelse...." was probably not as constructive as it was intended. Such warnings only made every female in the room decide to never breathe outdoor air again. Safety in numbers, my friends, safety in numbers. And relax, don-don, though the talk was intense, I am now fully versed on what to do and what not to do. Man oh man, we're certainly not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

The next lecture was one where I had to do everything in my power to keep from pulling out my camera and recording the entire thing for Keldon Henley. I think the entire faculty and staff at OBU would have had to scoop their jaws off the floor if they were present for that talk. The most intense AIDS presentation on the face of the planet. Suddenly the awkward STD talk during Ouachita's freshman orientation seems like a bowl of ice cream.

.....and then came the African drumming workshop! Sweet relief! I knew it was going to be a delight when the S.B.M. with dreads handed me a giant drum because he knew I could handle it (oooor because all the smaller ones had already been given out to all the other females..) :) We drummed, we danced, we conquered. By the end of it all I was sweating like a swine & had a cheesy smile worthy of a Tiger Tunes show. Forget classes, I'm taking my new skill of breaking beats to the streets. Prepare your heart, Cape Town.

miss you/love you

-les

PS I took that photo, it's not off a website or from a magazine! Such astounding beauty still feels surreal.

a quick tour

in our gargen, outside the front door.. the biggest palm tree ever!

kitchen... I suppose I should learn to cook :)


garden/clothes hanger/grill

our quaint little living area

outdoor shower :)

so far, so "lekker"

Just to warn you, this first post could be a bit long. Stop complaining, it won't be as long as my trip over here :)

Where to begin? I guess I should explain why we suddenly ended up in Cairo, Egypt for a day. The trip to South Africa had been going smoothly (thanks mainly to Dr. Kluck for giving me meds to relax while flying; did I mention I hate flying??) until our 9 hour flight from London to Johannesburg. About ten minutes into the flight I was fast asleep (thanks again, Dr. Kluck). When I woke up, I checked the flight map in the plane that shows how far we've flown and how far we had left. When I saw that we only had over an hour left I was elated! I literally thought I slept for 9 hours straight and celebrated with a vocalized "yessssss" (complete with fist pump in the air- no joke, I was excited). Little did I know that the one hour mapping was showing our soon to approach emergency landing in Cairo. A passenger on our plane needed some immediate medical care so the pilot took the first landing possible. Because of certain laws restricting how long a pilot/crew can work straight, we had to delay our flight.

The Cairo Airport took our passports and bussed us to a hotel. I type that last sentence so casually but it's pretty scary arriving in the middle of the night to a fairly deserted airport while men with machine guns patrol. Not having a passport while out in the most populated city in all of Africa was also unnerving. This whole experience actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Arriving at a 5-star hotel with all meals provided and a room to shower/nap in was beyond wonderful after traveling for about 35 hours. And thankfully the passenger sought medical attention in time and is, last I heard, recovering!

Fast forward 30 hours, we're in Cape Town! Even though every South African we talked to on our flights only talked about the crime of the country, I was still more than excited to finally be there. It's honestly the most beautiful city I've ever seen!

Our living quarters are precious. I live in a house with 5 other study abroad students: 3 girls, 1 guy (poor thing). It's a Mediterranean-like cottage complete with 4 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath, full kitchen, dining area/den, porch and an outside shower in the garden. And yes, I used that shower this evening :)

On our first night in the house (last night), we walked (15 minutes) to the closest grocery store and bought supplies for our first dinner together. We grilled burgers. We may be in South Africa, but we're still Americans :)

Today was phenomenal. From 7:30 to 5:30 hundreds of study abroad students piled into buses for an in depth tour of the peninsula of South Africa. Words and pictures really can't describe its beauty. We saw countless beaches, penguins (yes, penguins), baboons, and historical sights of the city. For lunch we visited the Oceans View community center where we were greeted with a fantastic meal and even better stories. Groups and individuals performed dance routines (even a Michael Jackson tribute), sing songs and recite poetry. The performers were young people of the poverty-stricken and crime-infested community that decided to join the Performing Arts school to take their stand against being a victim of their circumstances. This was probably my favorite part of the tour today- seeing the passion of young kids who have all odds against them fight for their own future. And I'm not gonna lie, I squealed like a little girl when the MJ jams came on :)

We closed the trip with a pretty hefty hike up Cape's Point and then the Cape of Good Hope. It was quite tiring, but I had the voice of Mike in my head the whole time. I couldn't let my backpacking-nature-loving-leave-no-trace-outdoor-education-outdoor-ethics-following-father down :)

So, this was quite long and still didn't give half of the info or hilarious/awkward stories I had wished. But now that I finally have this thing up & running, I'm hoping the following posts will come quicker and won't be so hefty.

I love you all & I'll see you in the summertime :)

-les

PS if you're wondering about the title, "lekker" means 'good' in South Africa :)