If you know anything about the current political mire in Zimbabwe you might think that title was a bit off. But hopefully you are able to distinguish between the follies of a government (leader) and the beauty of the people!! Hopefully!! I mean we have a great example of this in our fearless leader at home...
This weekend was glorious!! I finally got out, instead of stewing in my room, to Joburg to start the long train of reacquaintance w/friends I made in 2002. The train's left the station and there will be many fine stops before it rests!! It's exciting to get back together cos I haven't seen these folks in 5 yrs and when I first met them they were all university freshman...a lot happens after your first year at university!!! Most are graduates w/jobs and stuff.
Friday
Craig, it's Friday. You ain't got no job, you ain't got sh*t to do...
1. I talked for more than about 5 minutes w/someone that lives on my floor! We even shared beer!! It was hot and Friday so I bought some South African 40s...okay they don't call them 40s here ;) They are just big bottles (a quart) of beer. I met a girl named Charlene and she's a Masters Botany/Zoology student. She's just starting a project examing the interactions between a herd of zebra and the plants at park near the university. I volunteered to help her if she needed any extra hands to collect plants or data or whatever the heck she's looking at. Hopefully she'll take me up on it! And if she doesn't...at least I know where to find her to offer my help again :)
2. I talked to a friend of mine (Roisin), who I met at Univ of Natal in 2002, for about an hour. It was nice to catch up and I look forward to taking my reacquaintance train to a city near her :)
3. I got an interview at the student radio station here. The interview is later today...I'm very excited!! The station is very much, so far as I can tell, like WPGU in Champaign. It's a big commercial station that is competing w/other national/regional stations. And I heard it's not doing too bad. I signed up for audio production cos it's the one thing at WRFU that I didn't get a chance to learn as much as I would have liked. I don't think I like the music the station plays that much, so I might as well get something from them.
Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everybody...isn't that what some philosopher dude says ;)
4. I went out for drinks w/a friend of an ex-Rotary Ambassador that studied in Pretoria in 2005...I know it's a friend of a friend of an acquaintance type situation. That's all I got right now people!! And I'm willing to meet anyone new right now, especially a person that comes highly recommended. David is a 5th yr vet student at Onderstepoort vet school (which is where I want to go) and hails from the UK. Northern England to be exact. It was nice to go out and have drinks student style. I've been wanting to go out, but don't know anybody or really a good place to go. I'm not going out and blowing my money in the first weeks when I don't know anyone just to end up in some Buchowski emulating spiral. I'd rather just sit in my room and have a drink of wine! Regardless, I think I've made a new friend which is good, of course.
5. I rode my bike up this huge steep hill near my dorm. Pretoria is in a valley of sorts w/a few hills sprinkled here and there amidst the sprawl. I decided that as soon as I got my bike I was going to ride to the top of one of them. So I chose a hill that was close and had a big phone tower on it...a landmark. I thought I was going to die!! I actually almost passed out, but I did make it to the top-ish w/out getting off my bike...which was sweet. I guess really I just made it to the top of the first major rise w/out getting off and that's when I thought I'd end up on the pavement in an unconscious heap...bad!!!! The ride down was super scary cos the grade on the hill is steep. I couldn't even go at full speed cos I would have come to the end of the hill faster than a bullet...and also possibly in a bloody, but conscious, heap.
Saturday
I went to Joburg thanks to the boyfriend of a girl that lives on my floor. I initially went to meet up w/a friend named Kumbi (from Zim) but for some reason he ended up in Pretoria and I ended up in his town. I don't actually understand what happened to him...but it doesn't matter. We'll hook up one of these days. I did end up meeting up w/another Zim guy named Cliff. I only met Cliff for a few days when I was in Zim, but they were the donkey days...so I'll NEVER forget him!!!! Cliff is the best friend of a guy I was kickin' it w/in Pietermaritzburg and I'm happy that Cliff and I have stayed in touch since we met. He's a really fun guy! Always teasing, making people smile, and generally promoting a good time. Already he is calling me "teddy bear" and rubbing my head...damn that is annoying...but Cliff can get away w/stuff like that! Don't any of the rest of you try it!!
I met up w/Cliff, his girlfriend Chido (who I also met briefly back in the day), and Chido's cousin, Gamu. Then we met up w/Chido's aunt...I didn't really understand what was going on at first, but apparently this meeting was actually supposed to be a "grill" session for Cliff. He wants to marry Chido and the aunt is going to take info back to her family about whether or not Cliff is suitable. I think he did okay! We went out for some food and drinks under a rainy thundering sky. It was pretty chill...until the grilling started. Cliff was like "Lynsee don't you guys want to go sit at that table over there?" I was confused, but eventually left w/the other girls. That's when the girls told me what was happening. I felt kind of bad for just crashing this affair, but in the end I don't think it mattered. Cliff has like 2 degrees in business, is a nice guy, and a smooth talker. I don't see what family wouldn't want to add him to their fam?
After we left Chido's aunt we went back to Cliff's place in Braamfontein...it's near central Joburg and the new Nelson Mandela bridge. The Nelson Mandela Bridge is a new structure for Joburg. It's actually a pretty good looking bridge. We were meant to get a taxi back to the city, but one didn't stop so we ended up riding in the back of this dude's truck...cos he stopped. It was a tight fit, but we arrived alive. And of course, per custom, we met up w/more Zim folks. I'm telling you, folks from Zim stick together. If you see one then you know another is just down the hall or around the block!! But it does make for a good time! We met up w/a guy that I also met in 2002 named Charlie. Charlie took me to the airport when I was supposed to fly out of SA, but missed my flight. He also put Cliff and I up those days and took me to a really kick ass music store so I could get tons of good music before I was supposed to leave SA. Charlie was amazed to see me! It's nice to surprise folks like this...I've been doing it a lot lately!
Next we went out for some drinks at a pool hall. I played a few games of pool w/some very annoying and impatient dudes that were getting pissed off at me cos I was talking too much and not playing. I was talking cos I needed to ask Qs about how the heck to play pool in SA. It's a bit different from USA pool. If I played pool in the USA the way folks play pool here I would be chased out of the pool hall by all the die-hard "no slops" yelling pool sharks. But, things are different here...and I needed to reacquaint. It's going to take some getting used to...my strategy needs to adapt. SA pool is more about strategy as opposed to knocking balls in every chance you can get. Like it's okay just to tap a ball nearer to the hole than to just rock it in. And if someone scratches the other player gets 2 shots...so you need to strategize those 2 shots to make them count. If you pot a ball on the first of those 2 shots then you lose the other shot. When someone scratches you don't have to hit the cue out of the kitchen. It's not ball in hand, but you can hit the ball directly in toward the kitchen instead of having to hit it out toward the length of the table first. I think it just has to be on that kitchen boundary line. Also if you scratch on the 8 ball you don't lose. That pissed me off cos I thought I had won this game and the guy was insisting that I only got 2 shots. Maybe he was fleecing me. If you don't hit one of your balls first then you give the other person 2 shots as well. There may have been more rules, but that's what I remember off the top. Again, readjusting.
Next we went out to a club for dancing and more dancing. It was nice to go out and dance a bit and I had a posse of 4 guys who had my back so I didn't have to worry about anything. I mean this ain't Urbana, I can't just go out to some place in Joburg and stumble home alone drunk at all hours. Which I had to do the last time I was in CU cos I missed the last bus home. I gotta pay attention here, but going out w/the Zim guys (any of them) means I will really be taken care of. Cliff actually got mad because I bought a round of drinks...just one!! He said I shouldn't do that cos guys will think I want them. Hey things are still a bit sexist here. I mean it's not the dark ages, but I definitely feel weird/irritated sometimes. But sometimes it's nice, like when guys look out for me cos I'm the "weaker" sex. But I guess even when I was hanging out w/the Puffin/Commie house crew they didn't treat me like an inferior girl...but also looked out for me. I think the two can exist peacefully together. There are definitely pros and cons to the double standard. When I was playing pool these guys were like "go easy on her she's a girl." If you want to anger me those are words you should say to my face. And you should smile in a sly superior fashion. Yeah take it easy on me and watch me kick your ass!! Okay, once I learn the rules of pool that is! I've always REALLY enjoyed beating guys at their own game. Ever since I whipped Bobby Lowry's tail in one-on-one football back in Salem. Yeah, I remember that day well! He thought he was tough ;) Anyways... I also like the Zim guys cos they always make sure I'm fed and safe. Good boys! Cliff even followed me every time I went to the toilet just to make sure nobody messed with me on the way or the way back. I could get used to this treatment :) Just keep in mind that most of the places we will go together don't have any white people. So I REALLY stick out. Easy target and what not...but not w/good Zim boys to watch my back.
Sunday was just recuperation...as all Sundays, regardless of the number of drinks the night before, should be. Thanks for teaching me that Graeme! We had some Nando's (my fav chicken place here) and then later one of the guys' (Nyika) cousin made sadza and stew. Sadza is a typical Zim dish that is sort of like eating really really thick cream of wheat. In SA the stuff is called pap. It's made from super refined corn meal, and I heard it's sort of like grits. I've never eaten grits, so I don't know if that's an apt comparison. I think that it's a pretty staple food throughout Southern Africa, and maybe even beyond. I'm not too sure about that though...I will have to do some field research. I don't know how to explain it, but there is something different about sadza and pap. They are basically the same thing, cooked the same way, but something is different. I like sadza better...I think because it's so thick. There's this nice skin that forms on the top of a big heap. The way you eat it (if you are doing it African style) is to first wash your hands! You are going to need them! Then you rip off a chunk and sort of roll it into a ball in your palm. You do this motion one-handed. Like rolling those Chinese concentration/meditation balls in your palm. You don't have to roll it up, but you can...sometimes a jaggedy edge is easier to soak up stew with. Then dip the ball or chunk into whatever you are eating it with. Usually it's some sort of meat stew. Most often w/a tomato/onion sauce. But it can be eaten with anything. There's really nice leafy greens that I had in Zim, but I can't remember what it was called. They also go good w/sadza. I was soooo happy to have sadza! I didn't think it would be so soon after I arrived, but I'm happy for it. Nyika's cousin said if I warned her next time I came she would make it again for me. Telegram, pony express, passenger pigeon, something will get to that lady to know I'm coming!!!
So that was my weekend...refreshing. Now it's Monday and now Tuesday and I'm getting irritated w/my classes. It's like being in 7th grade again, except Mrs. Ledet isn't threatening to "get her shotgun out." Today I learned about different types of microscopes...enthralling. And now I'm going to do a lab exercises on spectrophotometry. I feel like I've been kept back a grade or three. But I shouldn't complain cos theoretically I will be acing these classes!!! And I need to. If I don't shrivel w/boredom before that...
Hope you all are doing well. Stay tuned and I'll tell you how my radio interview went. I hope I'm not too square to volunteer for SUCH a cool radio station. Luckily I have a face for radio ;)
Later
Love Lynsee
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People should read this.
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