Those snappin' synapses

Hello hello

I just wanted to get a post out before I go to my Rotary scholars orientation in Cape Town this weekend, cos I'm sure I'll have A LOT to say after that. I'm leaving bright and early tomorrow morning at 6:20am from Joburg...so that means leaving at 4:45am from Pretoria. Commie house boys, you were there when I booked this thing...how could you let me do this so early in the morning...what was I thinking?

Random thought: for a hilarious song listen to "What was I thinking" by Christine Lavin. It has great lines like (when describing a blind date) "what was I thinking? who is this guy? Maybe I'll happen to choke on this pork chop and conveniently die!

This week has been relatively tame, I guess. I've just been trying to unplug the gigantic anger block I have accumulated in my brain due to my classes. I can't bear the thought that:

1. My grades won't be good enough, not because I don't know the material, but because I'm not used to the system I can express my "knowledge" here in South Africa...aka the educational system. It just reinforces that school ain't about what you know...it's about how you can prove you know what they think you should know. Knowledge, what?!? Also my algebra and basic science knowledge are rusty. Causing me to make dumb mistakes in my homework. I get the concepts but the alegebra is something else. Stoichiometry...I loathe!

2. I will have taken these easy, repeatitive classes for one whole year only to NOT get into vet school because my grades aren't good enough. (due to dumb mistakes)

3. That I have to sit in class and hear about microscopes, organelles, DNA replication, and the primary structure of proteins for the 2nd or 3rd or 4th time. Especially w/so much sun outside...or so much anything better to do.

So I'm in the process of unblocking this anger in my brain cos it's only going to make things worse. If I'm going to do this, it's going to have to be in harmony. These classes will not master my emotions! For some reason this whole process reminds me of the pony I learned how to ride on...Missy. That flippin' pony mastered me for a long long time. She bucked me off, kicked me all the time, rolled over on me while I was on her back, and even trampled me one time (but that was Dad's fault). I actually was under the impression that she was trying to kill me sometimes (for real! Ask my dad.) I don't know if I ever really made peace w/her (hey I was 7) but I do know that I have to make peace w/this situation now. So today, I did as much reading and work as I could to try to understand the structure of my classes (something I neglected to do earlier). Also I just generally tried to catch up on notes and studying I should be doing. There's always more studying that can be done, right?!? And I made a mosaic of amino acid structures on my wall...oh I'm going to know this stuff. It's just irritating to have to memorize crap that you already memorized, but clearly didn't retain because it hasn't been useful since. And that's what reference books, wikipedia, and google.com are for...

On the radio tip, I got a radio this week thanks to my production manager, Stav. Still don't have a cooking pot though... He took me out to this gigantic mall so I could get a little boombox. I can't produce if I don't know what the feel of the station is!! After actually listening to the station's mix of music, I have to say, I kinda like it. They play a bit more popular rock than I usually like but they also play a wide range of rock music that isn't common to hear on normal rock stations in the states. Honestly I don't think any radio station could ever satisfy my musical tastes...not even WRFU...but they come very close. Like when was the last time you heard Twisted Sister on Q101...even w/the new format (little bit of old alternative rock/a little bit of new) pioneered by stations like WPGU in CU? I heard a song on TuksFM by Blur that I've never heard on the radio at home (sorry forgot what song it was..."he lives in a house a very big house in the country." I think off Parklife or maybe 13). They also have really good news that covers a wide range of topics (like how the Rand is comparing to the $, Euro, British Pound). When was the last time you heard financial news on a station like WPGU or Q101? They do speak in Afrikaans quite a bit, but it just reinforces that I have to learn Afrikaans. Also I got the computer program (Adobe Audition) and help book for the program so that I can play around w/it at home and learn the ropes. The basic tools are similar to the program that we were using at WRFU, but the program seems much more robust than AcidPro. I think I've done as much as I can w/looking at books and pushing buttons at random...time to make some pieces! Monday our production group had beer and pizza, which I thought was going to yield some actual production training, but ended up just being a bonding time. Hey that's good too! We even went out to a place called the "Drop Zone" which seems to have the same notoriety as Kams, but it didn't smell like vomit. They do have a VIP lounge w/nice couches so you can escape the meat market atmosphere. It was a Monday night though, so I guess I'd have to see it in full swing on a weekend some time.

I have been having insane dreams. Like super vivid dreams every time my head hits the pillow. Today I took a nap and had a dream about being in Buggy Whip Farms hay loft, a party at David Villalobos' house (except he lived down the road from Buggy Whip, like where the Campbells live), and then yelling at this girl that computers in South Africa were too slow. Last night my brother and I flew to Kenya during a lightning storm, but before that we spoke to Leigh Ann Martinez (a girl from highschool that I haven't talked to in ages) and she took some stuff back to Waukegan for me. Then Graeme and I went to England and we had a puppy or something with us the whole time. There have been dreams about tornadoes and giant snowmen filled w/Orange Koolaid, boys I haven't even thought of in years (serious! I had a dream about skateboarding w/Alex Radosevich), and much much more. They've been like that every night. I remember something similar happening to me when I was first studying in Pietermaritzburg. Also I remember every person I saw in Pietermaritzburg reminding me of someone at home. That's not really happening here though. I can't tell if it's the heat or just my brain subconsciously missing home.

I don't mean to rub it in too much, but it's freaking hot here! Yesterday it was a high of 37-38C. 37C = 98.6F so it's been close to 100F the last 2 days. And I heard it was going to be a heat wave for the next few days. Luckily, like I said before, no humidity!! But this heat does dry me out something fierce. I drank over 2.5 liters of water yesterday on top of the hefty dose of fruit juice I have everyday. It's very very dry. I'm actually surprised I haven't gotten a nose bleed yet!!

Random SA knowledge:

"Howzit" is like "What's up?"

"Izit?" is like "oh really?" like confirming something that someone just said.

I have left the land of the malls to come to the land of the malls: SA is mega mall country. Where o where is my precious thrift store, *sniff*??

New Afrikaans phrase: "Hoe gaan dit?"
Which means also: What's up? Literally "How goes it?"
(said: ho ghan dit? well the "gh" has a special Afrikaans sound that I don't know how to write out...it's like you are trying to hock up a big loogie. Like the name of the province here is Gauteng, but you say it HOW-tang...w/the "HOW" part being like the loogie hock. It's not a hard G like in English.)

-tjie in Afrikaans is said or "kie" or "ky" (however makes sense to you)
Like "potjie" is said potkie and means a little pot. -tjie is like calling something cute and small. Like -inho is in Portuguese or -ita is in Spanish (gordita). A term of endearment. I met a guy at the radio station called Loutjie, which is pronounced "Lokie." That is a very rad name.

Well...Cape Town, here I come! I'll give you the scoop on my Rotary orientation when I get back. Also I added some links to my blog of other Rotary students I met in Kansas City, Missouri in case you want to check out what other Rotary scholars from the Midwest are up to.

Take Care
Love Lynsee