Words from the Mothership...

"'It is good to renew one's wonder,' said the philosopher.

'Space travel has again made children of us all.'"
-mixtape insert c/o Quaid

Greetings everyone :)

Again...it's been too long since I've posted! The workload this semester is totally incredible, but sadly not in the same incredible vein as say seeing the Grand Canyon or attending a mind-blowing concert. This is one of those not-so-nice incredibles...like 1-2 tests a week since August incredible, d'oh!

The most notable thing going on since I've last posted is that my mom shared a month and 1/2 and her 60th birthday with me here in SA in June/July. Instead of me embellishing and telling her story, I've asked her to tell her own story. As much as I have tried in my life, I still cannot read the woman's mind!! I'll still weigh in a bit later, but for now please enjoy my mom's story of her first trip out of the USA. There may be a part two...so get your hopes up!!

I've also added tons of new photos to my picasa site, some from Mom's trip. They aren't all labeled yet, but I'm working on it. You can view photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lynseemelchi

And now...words from the mothership:

Ah-h-h...Africa!

Landed at Johannesburg on a Thursday morning! My trip started out with Lynsee being in a panic that she had lost me! I did not know it at the time but she had come to the airport a day early and could not find me! After several panicked calls to the US it all came into focus when she got the days straightened out!

We had rented a car for the time I was there; it was small but proved to be quite hearty considering what we put it through. We stayed the first night at Lynsee’s dorm room in Pretoria and then headed east the next morning toward Sabi Sands.

We stayed at a beautiful Private Game Reserve called Arathusa. Joan is the owner, a Rotarian acquaintance of Lynsee’s, who made our stay quite exciting, relaxing and lovely. We went out twice a day on the game trails to observe the local animals. We saw the most amazing animals from a very “up close and personal perspective” of about 10-12 feet away.

So here is the list in no specific order:
Impala
Squirrels
Kudu
Waterbok
Duiker
Hyena
Steenbok
Elephant
Wildebeest
Stripped Mongoose
Hippo
White Rhino
Warthogs
Lion
Leopard
Egyptian Goose
Cheetah
Vulture
Nyala
Baboon
Giraffe
Hornbill Birds
Water Buffalo
Mongoose
Black-backed Jackal

The elephants were what we saw the most and I could watch them all day. Yes, I did take close to a “zillion” pictures and movies of them alone. I also have “Lion Porn” on video with sound—should any of you favor that sort of thing!

There is a vista overlooking a waterhole in Joan’s private residence from her kitchen window. Can you imagine washing dishes while observing the antics of a herd of elephants??? Needless to say, I was completely overwhelmed with the sights of South Africa, the beauty and remarkable availability of the “wild world” of Sabi Sands and Arathusa. Less than a week under my belt in South Africa and I have had my socks blown off in total amazement at the expanse and sheer beauty of South Africa. Thank you, Joan, for the lovely memories!!

Onward in our quest to travel as much as we could in 39 days! We left Sabi Sands area and traveled south and somewhat westward to meet up with another lady for lunch in White River. We had a lovely lunch with Cheryl and then headed out to travel southward to Lake Chrissiesmere where we were staying for the night. We stayed at a “do-it-yourself- Bed & Breakfast which was a large 6 bedroom farm style house with wood and stone floors. Saw the biggest spider ever in the shower that night !! Yikes! The next morning is was very foggy and chilly. We had our morning coffee on the vast front porch overlooking the lake.

Striking out on the road again we drove southward toward Colesburg where we planned to stay the night in a backpacker lodge. Along the drive we came to a huge overlook that had a swimming pool that went right up to the edge of the cliff. It was called an infinity pool—quite an amazing sight. We took some pictures and hit the road again. One thing that I found interesting is no matter when you think you are in the middle of nowhere—there will always be someone walking along or across the roadway. Where do these people come from??

We saw a herd of white Springbok as we traveled toward Port Elizabeth. They are normally a creamy brown/deer-like color. When we told people that we saw white Springbok and they said ---oh no--they are brown and when we showed them the pictures—they agreed they were indeed “white.” Further reading proved that they can be white and they are not albino either.

We came into Port Elizabeth and I saw the Indian Ocean for the first time. There was a large barrier along the roadway that was shaped like children’s jacks on steroids. The harbor is very industrial. We met up with Lynsee’s vet schoolmate, Perushan, whose family was hosting our stay. We experienced an Indian birthday party, met many family members and had some great food. We went to the Harbor Waterfront tourist area and walked around the shops. There was a Casino, so I went in and quickly blew 10 Rand. What was funny is that between the three of us we couldn’t figure how the slots worked!

Perushan’s family had a holiday home located just a bit north of Port Elizabeth and we stayed a few days there. Close to the beach with lots of room. I tackled washing our clothes in a washing machine that clearly had other plans! It took a while to figure out it needed to be connected and hooked up to let the water discharge properly. It finally got thru the cycle and I hung the clothes up in the back yard on an umbrella type clothesline. When I went to take the clothes down--I was surprised to still have damp clothes. The sun had been shining all day and there was a bit of a breeze too, hmm-m-m! Decided to let them stay on the line overnight and hope for the best the next morning. We were leaving the next day to hit the road to Grahamstown. The next day there was more of a problem—two pair of pants that were on the line now had swung around in the night and had ended up each with a leg in the birdbath that was nearby—sigh—we loaded up soggy pants into plastic bags and hit the road.

Perushan and his cousin drove in a separate car with us to Grahamstown. We stopped at a farm stand along the way that was a bustling market with baked goods, jams, juices, meat pies and all sorts of goodies. Persuan said his mother would frown on his hospitality skills if he didn’t stop and show us this place. When we drove back a week later we made a point of stopping there again on our way to Capetown. They had this wonderful pineapple juice and yummy meat pies.

Grahamstown!!! I think it needs another exclamation point !

Wow—what a town, it would be interesting to see what it is like when a National Arts Festival isn’t busting at its seams for a week. Just driving into town we were met with newspaper vendors dressed in stripped jester costumes. The party was on. We parked near the “Old Gaol” where we were staying. This is an actual jail that was erected in 1824, with thick cement walls in your “cell” that arched over your bed. There was quite a carnival atmosphere there at night with vendors and performers and just regular folks that were staying there. A four-star chef cooking up wild boar on an open spit in the public area that was considered the “restaurant” area was just some of the treats that were to experience there. I seem to remember a certain alcohol-saturated discussion with a guy who was trying to impress Lynsee, when she sent him over to me to bargain for how many cattle he had to offer for her hand. It was a pretty funny conversation. Culturally, there is the belief that when you are interested in a woman—you need to bargain with the mother for her hand. This guy took it all in stride and came over to bargain. I let him know that Lynsee was a pretty expensive prize—American, college educated in all, that she had a pretty high barter price—so just how many cattle were we talking!!! Oh—and I would have to be able to visit at least once a year—that had to be in the deal too! This guy was pretty tenacious but we came to an agreement that maybe he was not going to be able to support this arrangement at this time, so we had another drink!

The Old Gaol is quite a mixing bowl of people, we met a lady named Penny and her son—Mziyanda who were from Cape Town. Lynsee would ask me every time we saw them—how to say his name—until I finally got it right. I had not seen it written and once I finally did it all made sense how it went. He was quite a bundle of energy, ah sweet youth. The last day when we were getting ready to leave, he used my camera to record video clips of everyone that crossed his path—look out world—he is only about 11 years old but a budding filmmaker for sure. It was really hard to get the camera out of his hands when it came time to leave!

Going back to the bartering cattle issue—we went to an art exhibit called “Cattle as Cultural Markers in South Africa.” This was an installation of ceramic Sculptures by Nicolene (Nikki) Swanepoel. These were life-sized ceramic cattle heads embellished with various designs depending on the theme. Very cool—I was trying to figure out how I could bring one home in my suitcase—way too big, bummer!

There was a lot to see and do in Grahamstown’s bustling atmosphere. The “green” was the area where the vendor booths were located. All the other space around town was used to the max for art exhibits, music, plays, dance, any sort of performance art, film, you name it. Saw some good plays—my favorite was called “Fish.” All the parts were done by one guy in a darkened set—he would just sort of tumble-roll over to the side that was the other character and come up as that person. Pretty creative props too—at one point—he was fishing and had snagged a big fish and he used a zig-zagged folded fish picture and a black light to show this fish swimming by. Long story short it was very entertaining!

This is getting somewhat long, and I have hardly scratched the surface of what we did while touring the country. I guess we need a part two of this epic. I do want to share the experiences that came as a by product of this trip. I really enjoyed that I was able to bond better with my world traveler daughter—this is really the most time I have had with her since she left home in 2000 for her freshman year at college. I don’t consider myself clingy or suffering from an empty nest syndrome—but I did come to see how she has evolved from that young girl—who is now a woman out in the world making her way! I am proud of how she has impacted so many people, and in so many ways. For example, I went to Urbana this last weekend with Dave, a high school friend of Lynsee’s, to see my son Matt. We went to attend the Chili and Beer Fest in downtown Urbana. Fun event—but so many people still call me “Lynsee’s mom” in that town. We saw one guy who went to Africa to see Lynsee (I think his name was John—remember—there was beer drinking going on!) We were interviewed by the WRFU crew covering the Fest. I was called over only because I was Lynsee’s Mom! They asked what brought me to standing in this line to get in—I said that I was here by proxy to represent Lynsee although I was not even going to try to meet the capacity for beer intake that she might be known for. Later went to hear Kilborn Alley play, and again—we got a shout out to Lynsee from the band on video. (sidebar—Josh and Andrew say Hi Lynsee!) Several folks came up to me later to asked how she was doing, my point being even though she has left the US—her presence is still strong and alive in Urbana. She has brought many people to see the other side of the world with new eyes. Am I beating a drum that you as readers of her blog are already aware of? OK, I am off my soapbox as a mom.

I did come to the conclusion that there is a whole big world out there. I have experienced people speaking languages where I not only don’t know what they were saying—I couldn’t tell what language they were speaking. So my myopic vision as an American has been broadened as a result of this trip to South Africa. I have tasted the fruit and I want more!

As always...keep the faith and spread it gently
Love, Lynsee