Howdy
I just wanted to pop off an entry before I hit the road (tomorrow!) for a much needed and lengthy escape from Pretoria. Tomorrow I leave for Grahamstown (unfortunately by bus, 15 hours) to see a really awesome arts fest. Pretty much any kind of performance/music/film/etc you can think of is crammed into this tiny hamlet in the Eastern Cape. I went in 2002 and had a great time. And for some random reason I seem to remember acquiring a pair of hot orange (think Mac n Cheese) Chinese sneakers in the process. Maybe I can get lucky again cos my current shoes are starting to take on a life of their own...and it's not pretty!
I guess a lot has happened in the last week or so, but I wouldn't know cos I've been cooped up in my production studio at the radio station. This is a good and bad thing. Good because it's fun and I learn, but bad because I don't know when to say "stop!" and go home. So it secretly steals all my time from me. I've made some good things in the last week-ish though. Most notably a new feature called "Mind your language" for a friend's show. She hopes to feature definitions for slang from around the world. Right now she is featuring USA hillbilly slang thanks to the ample redneck jokes available on the internet. And who do you think does the best American accent at the radio station? Who? If you guessed me, then you are one clever cat. I've been providing the hillbilly voice for all these pieces. If you want to hear one of them, email me and I'll send you the mp3. They are freaking hilarious! Also, this guy I was talking about last week (Barney Simon) is using my voice for some of his ads and jingles. Cool man! I'm secretly taking over the airwaves down south...my little plan is all coming together, mwa ha ha!
It snowed here. Serious! Last night I was coming home from the radio station at 2am and when I walked up to my dorm I thought "wow, this rain dances like snow." I looked down on my black coat to see tiny snowflakes! I was SO excited. A Mozambiquan girl that stays on my floor thought I was crazy...hey, what can ya do? Simple pleasures! To say it snowed in Pretoria would be a pretty huge exaggeration...I'm going w/a light flurry. In the Chicagoland area we call it "lake effect" snow and we don't even release the salt trucks. There was no accumulation and I doubt the snow lasted for long. I saw some photos of accumulation in other parts of the country though. Palm trees and snow look funny together. The "snow" in Pretoria was the first snow since 1981! Dang! This morning someone described it as "sleet" but I had to correct them and explain the many subtle forms of snow. A girl I met here in 2002 told me that Zulus have like 30 different ways to say rain in Zulu. She described the rain we were experiencing that night as "spit of the flies." It was an appropriate moniker too. I guess us northern folks have that many names for different types of snow. Each with their own nuances...although I don't think I've ever heard any snow description come close to "spit of the flies." I guess we could take some poetic pointers from the Southern hemisphere contigent.
I was asked to write an article for a campus newspaper here. The paper, Campus Times, is distributed to all the major campuses in South Africa and has a circulation of about 100,000. Cool man! I got the offer cos I sent an email to one of the music editors (he was reviewing one of my fav obscure USA bands, Magnolia Electric Co....how random is that!!!) and the head editor got wind of the fact that I was an American. I was asked to write a piece on what it was like to be an American at a predominantly Afrikaans institution. 1000 words...which I thought was a lot. But if you've read this blog then you know I can say a lot more than 1000 words on just about any subject. I'll post a link (if there is one) when it gets published or I will post it up here.
I spent this past weekend at my friend Irene's house. She stays in Rustenberg which is about 2 hours NW of Pretoria. I basically spent the weekend eating TONS of food and trying to keep up with a swirl of Afrikaans. It was sort of tiring not knowing what was happening most of the weekend, but also a good learning experience. Although I was relieved when I didn't have to spend all my trying to figure out what the heck folks were talking about. Irene is a DJ at the radio station and we also went with another DJ, Kenzy. Irene and Kenzy are one of the dynamic duos of the station...inseparable. Kenzy is the DJ I did the hillbilly thingee for and she's one of my best friends here. 2 of their friends also came. So we kinda took over Irene's parents' house, but they liked it! I also met Irene's ouma and oupa. New vocab 4 you! Said: OH-ma and OH-pa...these words mean grandma and grandpa, respectively. I think the GPs enjoyed our company and Oupa gave me a coin "for luck" when he left. I sat next to Ouma during the SA vs. New Zealand rugby game and she was getting so excited that she kept hitting me at all the crucial plays. It was kinda hilarious. Even old ladies in these parts dig rugby so much that they get violent and shout at the tv!
This past Monday I went to a really lekker show the radio station put on. (Remember "lekker"???...said: LAH-kkuhrrrr...means super cool). It's a series called "On the Rocks" and is similar to Vh1 storytellers/MTV Unplugged. An unplugged set in a small intimate venue. 3 course meal. Booze. A great time! The band that played is called Wonderboom (also a neighborhood in Pretoria). They are pretty old skool on the SA music scene as they have been together for 11 years. They put on a really really fun show and the music was great. I really recommend them if you are surfing around the net (doesn't everyone have a myspace page these days?).
Just on a random rant...myspace is huge here . I mean it's to be expected in the younger age bracket no matter where you are in the world. When I first arrived here everyone was like "do you have a myspace page?!?" and folks were spending hours at the radio station computers souping up their myspace page. Then, in the span of about a week, myspace was no longer cool. It was all about facebook. The quick change was so bizzare. I haven't heard the words "myspace" in weeks and when I glance and the screen next to me it is always plastered with facebook. Myspace? Myspace? That was soooooo 5 minutes ago. The team of DJs and other radio station lackeys that do the breakfast show here started a facebook page and in the span of about 2 weeks they had over 2,000 new friends. I'm sure they are up to, and breezing by, the 3,000 friends mark. Craziness! I especially find the new facebook craze interesting because I thought facebook was soooooo 5 minutes ago. I remember it being big at U of IL years ago, such that you would go to parties where many of the participants had not heard about the party from a person or from walking by the party....they heard about it first on facebook. Communication networks are so interesting....cyber, drums, or word of mouth. The intricacies and customs are all something of wonder.
On the school tip...
I've got back all my grades now. I have received 4 distinctions in 4 classes. "Distinction" means 75% and above here and also means I got As. It's pretty hot stuff here cos most folks just concern themselves with passing the classes. I find the difference in styles very interesting. But also it can be hard just to pass a class here. Everyone here thinks I'm crazy cos I tell them that my passing is 75% or above. But also they all think I'm a total brain. I just tell them that I'm not here to screw around. Plain truth.
Yesterday I had a meeting with the Dean in my faculty (the college I'm a part of at the University). I think that I have put administrators in a tough position here cos their system of equalizing students to the Univ of Pretoria system is not working for me at all. And it's making me angry. I am not nice to deal with when you are in my way. I don't mean that as a threat...but if I'm going for something then I'm going for it. The dean I met with was very sympathetic to my situation (especially when he saw my grades) but it sounds like his hands are tied. It seems like he's going to try to make a plan for me and I guess that is all I can ask! More on this in a few weeks I guess.
Hope you are all well, wherever you might be.
Much Love
Lynsee
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