Greetings greetings!
I just wanted to clue you all in to my new postal address. Many thanks to my host counselor, Tony Godrich, for receiving my mail up to this date! I've gotten a new address a bit closer to home. You can send me love thru the mail at:
Lynsee Melchi
p.o. box 11302
Hatfield
Pretoria
0028
SOUTH AFRICA
And now for the props!
First, hats off to my friend Tom Coleman for a really cool project he's been working on in Illinois. He is working with a friend to try to bring movement and speech to those that can't move or speak due to physical disabilities. For more information check out:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2007081355942000.htm&date=2007/08/13/&prd=th
Second, hats off to one of my old friends from Girl Scout Camp...Mumblebee Tuna. Well her parents call her Tamera...but that's so boring! She's started a company that makes puppets and other ghouls and ghostly type things. You can check out what she has to offer at:
www.gobbledygookdecor.com
or
www.gcdecor.com
Finally, many thanks to Dan, Molly, and Nat for sending me a package in the mail! I just received it, and it was great! I got really SWEET new homemade music from a little spirit we like to call Quaid. Thanks a million!
Much Love to you all!
Lynsee
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Dust of Retreat
Dust
Dust
Dust in the sky
Dust on the prairie
Dust in my eye
Dust
Dust
-From the movie “Under California Stars” as sung by Roy Rogers
Greetings loyal blog readers!
I’ve just returned this past weekend from Oppikoppi, one of the biggest music fests in SA. www.oppikoppi.com if you want more info. I was also interviewed as an “Oppikoppi virgin,” so you can check out my interview at: http://www.24.com/entertainment/music/?p=feature&i=632774
There are quite a few festivals that happen all over SA. SA doesn’t have the huge fest scene like we do in the USA, but they do what they can with what they have. One of the major festivals here(more of a hippy shindig) is called Splashy Fen and it happens in Underberg (near the Drakensberg mountain system) in KwaZulu Natal in April. There’s another fest at the same time that’s called Woodstock (rip off!), and it’s more of a rock fest. There is another smaller fest run by the Oppikoppi people around that time, but, as far as I can tell, the August Oppikoppi is THE fest to go to in South Africa. It’s all I’ve been hearing about at the radio station since I arrived. By the way, ”Oppikoppi” means “on the hill” in Afrikaans. “oppi” is a cute/affectionate term for up or on top of and “koppi” is a cute/affectionate term for a hill. “Kop” is hill. “Op” is above/up/on top of. It’s predominantly a rock fest, but this is a very limiting label. There were also acts representing hiphop, electronic, and other genres I can’t think of right now. If you want to see a “Hollywood” version of Oppikoppi, rent the movie “Bunny Chow.” I haven’t seen it, but it’s about a group of guys that goes to Oppikoppi as performers (I think…). It has a GREAT South African soundtrack too, so you’ll really be getting a good dose of current SA youth culture!
Going to ‘koppi was a great experience because it was like feasting at a musical smorgasbord…and I’m still hungry! I have read about a number of bands in SA, but haven’t had the chance to see all of them yet. I was able to move around between 4 different stages over the course of 3 days tasting and sampling the best and biggest in SA music (and even a few international acts). Like being at Walmart…only in a musical sense. One stop shopping. It’s really huge that there were international acts (like Groove Armada) because big acts from overseas, especially the USA, almost never come to South Africa. When these bands do come over…people go nuts. South Africans will go nuts over the lamest acts (in my opinion) too. Example…Guns n Roses was supposed to come over here a few months ago and people here were going ape. Axl Rose punked out, but SA went crazy all the same. Some other bands like Hoobastank (best band name ever), 3 Doors Down, etc have gotten a lot of interest here just because people in SA are so hard up to see international acts. K’s choice (remember the song that played for a second on Q101…”I’m not an addict”) is REALLY huge in Pretoria. That group was a blip on the screen in the USA, but has a huge following here. It’s pretty random. But I think K’s choice makes good music and deserves the rabid following South Africans (in particular Pretorians) lay down. Jimmy Eat World, Violent Femmes (Milwaukee, WI…represent!) and Youngblood Brass Band (Madison, WI…represent!) were some of the other international acts playing. When I was in the USA, I was very lucky to be near Chicago and to live in Champaign-Urbana, such that I was able to see a lot of major bands perform live: Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, KRS-ONE, Talib Kweli, John Prine, They Might be Giants, Method Man, Counting Crows, ?uestlove, and more and more and more. When I’ve been talking at the radio station about some of the bands I’ve seen in the USA, my colleagues get really annoyed and frustrated. The bands they love from overseas just don’t come to SA. It would probably be lucky if those bands could even locate SA on a map! You can barely buy rock t-shirts here, let alone see those bands live on South African soil.
I cruised to the fest w/my friend Raoni, from Brasil (that 's' is for u Raoni!). E!merica and BraZil in the house! He’s also a music junkie, so he was a great partner in crime for a fest of this sort. It would have been no good to go with a person that just wanted to hang at the camp or at the beer tent! Migration is a must! We checked out the bands/groups/acts:
The wedding DJs, Unit R, Love Jones, Jimmy Eat World, Youngblood Brass Band, Lark, Blunted Stuntmen, Groove Armada, Violent Femmes, Sweat X, Fokofpolisiekar, and Stanton Warriors, Koos Kombuis, Chris Chameleon, Push and Shove, Paul Riekert and Anton L'amour, Desmond and the Tutus, 7th son, Strings and Skins, some guys from Napalma, kid fonque, DJ Kenzhero, HHP, Selaelo Selota, Zuluboy, Kwani Experience, Tidal Waves, Angel...and probably more!
Highlights were definitely Groove Armada (just about anyone you ask about the fest raved and raved about Groove Armada). Groove Armada rocked the fest with a live band. They are more of an electronic act and I was really excited to see them play with a full band and guest vocalists. I needed a BIG space for dancing cos I went absolutely crazy when these guys performed! They played Superstylin’ (one of my fav songs), I see you baby (shakin’ that ass), and many other great songs. Not much representation from the Lovebox album, which is one of my personal favs, but all in all a wicked act! Anything that gets me dancing these days is a winner in my book!
And…Wisconsin, represent! There were 2 acts from Wisconsin…which was rather odd if you ask me. Youngblood Brass Band is a jamming brassy wall of sound that also tends to make you want to ask “do fries go with that shake?” They call themselves a ‘riot jazz’ act…if that means anything to you. We only caught the end of their set, but it was a wonderful set of songs! I kept shouting ‘Wisconsin!!!!’ during the quiet parts such that other crowd members kept looking at me. One guy even started to talk to me because I was being so loud. I just explained to him that if he was in Milwaukee, WI and some band performing said “yeah we’re from Pretoria” that he too would be shouting his head off. I mean how often does one end up in the bush of the Limpopo province in SA jamming out to a band that lives just an hour away from where your father lives in Wisconsin?? Not often…so hootin’ and hollerin’ was definitely on order!! If any of you in the Midwest get the chance to see Youngblood Brass Band…I highly recommend them. You will not be disappointed. And how could you be disappointed with brass, brass, and more brass???
The SA groups were also incredible. I could probably write about 5 pages about each wonderful act I saw…but I’ll be as concise as possible for your sake! My absolute favorite act from SA was a group called Sweat X. It’s very difficult to describe this group, but I’ll try. Picture 2 guys dressed in florescent darshiki/tunic shirts and white plastic rimmed sunglasses cranking out FAT beats reminiscent of the late 80s/early 90s. One guy’s an MC and the other guy is the DJ. But the DJ isn’t spinning records. He’s got one of those crazy machines that stores samples and makes the beats on the spot. DJ Krush had a similar set up when I saw him in April. When I say FAT beats…I’m talking that sweet sweet 808 sound my friends. Salt n Pepa, booty house, and other nasty numbers from the days when ‘teen’ was still at the end of my age. The type of bass that sounds like it traveled through a sweet viscous syrup before it reaches your ears. Wonderful stuff! And another group where booty-shaking is obligatory. You are more embarrassed if you are not dancing than if you are dancing!
Sweat X was the cornerstone of a trend I noticed at the fest, particularly in the electronic music sector. As we all know…decades come back to haunt us. Yes, the 80s are back. It’s sad really. I didn’t think they were that great the first time around…but apparently people have found things to revere from that decade: fashion, music, the mullet (d’oh!). To be fair though, I was rocking Alabama, Hank Williams Jr (There’s a tear in my beer is the first song I remember playing on a jukebox), and Kenny Rogers back in those days…so I was sort of out of the florescent whirlwind that was the 80s. I do admit to a healthy obsession with NKOTB. Joey McIntyre, babies! No explanation of those letters…if you are down then no explanation’s necessary! But somewhere inside this 80s resurrection the 90s are also putting a bit of their flavor down. So what I’m getting at is that I recognized a melting of the 80s and 90s in the electronic music that I saw at ‘koppi. It was really really interesting to me. I felt like a musical anthropologist cutting my way thru an audio jungle. This rising of the 80s/90s phoenix shows up in the fashion, the samples, and the types of beats present in the music. For example…there was this DJ tag team I saw that was really interesting to me because of the above described phenomenon. They played (seriously) “Where’s your head at?” during their set. Normally I would have chucked my beer cup at them for this faux pas, but within the context of their set…it was great! This group (Push n Shove) also represented a lot of raver electronic in their set, but it wasn’t lame at all. It was super super FAT. Their set took a turn for the worse at the end, but the beginning had me scribbling notes in my mental field book for further anthropological analyzation. The funny thing is that I feel I can recognize these items from “my decade” but I can’t tell if the folks sporting these trends and spinning these tunes understand the cultural relevance of the random pop culture items they are picking from the 80s/90s. And especially here in SA…where USA pop culture has come thru a filter. Does it matter if they recognize? I’m not sure about that either. And I guess I don’t care that much as long as I can hear Salt n Pepa samples ‘til the cows come home. The moment I hear a sample of “Doper than Dope” I will know nirvana isn’t far behind.
Or maybe this just means I'm getting older...
I know in hiphop circles at home that the 90s (in particular the late 90s, ’98-ish) has been resurrected for awhile now. I mean if you look at the Gymfloors mixtape that Spinnerty graced us with a year or so ago you can see all the old jams. The name of the mixtape even evokes the atmosphere you heard those songs in for the first time (the middle school gym during one of those wretched school dances). So hiphop has been doing this for a bit. But this 80s/90s mindmeld I was witnessing was something else and it was very interesting indeed. If you want to comment…email me. I’d love to hear comments and Qs and debate on this subject from the other music fiends in the group. And I’m sure that some of you might be able to comment on this a bit better than I. So…hit me up! I’d also be interested to know if anyone else is picking up on this trend at home.
Some other fantastic acts absorbed at Oppikoppi include Koos Kombuis, Desmond and the Tutus, Selaelo Selota, Strings and Skins, Kwani Experience. And more…I think there’s a music overload in my brain, to be honest.
Koos Kombuis is a Carlos Santana/John Prine/Arlo Guthrie-ish figure in SA. Old skool folky guy, but came up in the 70s-80s, so a bit less psychedlic than the aforementioned singers. He was very revolutionary when he came out because SA was still very much controlled by an apartheid-embracing government. His songs are all about “let’s get together folks.” “We travel in style” Koos started out as a poet turned to music and has also written over 20 books. He sings in English and Afrikaans and is generally the type of act that could be enjoyed by the young and old. I didn’t know anything about him before I saw him, but really enjoyed his set!
Desmond and the Tutus was your average garage rock band with skinny white boys wearing even tighter pants and sporting bad hair. But I really dug their vibe. They sang a song called “Saggy Bottom Speedo” with the message that you can do whatever you want…even wear a saggy bottom speedo as long as you are happy and doing your thing. I will definitely see them again.
Selaelo Selota…was a more traditional South African musical act. But that’s also a very limiting moniker. I guess you could compare the music to seeing an old blues act in the USA. Guitar-driven rhythm and blues. The South African spin comes in with the lyrics (which were sometimes in a language I don’t understand…yet) and dancing. ‘Traditional’ dancing here (think animal skins and stuff) usually involves a lot of high kicking and stomping. Imagine the girls on a chorus line, but when the dancers put their foot down on the ground it’s with a forceful stomp and backed up by a crashing cymbal or drum hit. This band included elements of the traditional into their act, but it wasn’t like they were running around in skins and stuff. I guess it’s that elusive mixture of traditional and modern. That is always an interesting thing to pick up on. How folks in modern South Africa “keep it real” with respect to their “traditional” cultures. A sticky tightrope to walk, to be sure. I really liked this guy’s music though! One of the songs was about how you should listen to the mountains because they teach the rivers how to flow and pay attention to the birds because they teach the young ones to fly. Very nice!
Strings and Skins was a band that Raoni and I just stumbled upon in our wanderings, but what a find! I’ve seen them on the bill at a place in Pretoria, but have never ventured out to see them. The group is one guy on exotic strings (bazookie, ude) and 2 guys on exotic skins (1 drum kit, 1 tabla…and Indian drum). This combo was incredible. I think that’s all I can say about this…
Kwani Experience was a live band rocking the hiphop. They were beautiful. A lot of the hiphop acts performing were doing so with live bands…which is always a beautiful thing. There are those that will claim they don’t like hiphop music, but I think those naysayers have never seen a live hiphop band perform. Because they would be converts after that point. This group had an MC and a FABULOUS female vocalist that just kept the great tunes coming. I also look forward to catching them again!
My absolute fav moment of the fest was hearing my favorite Beck song being played up on the acoustic stage. Our posse was moseying up to the acoustic stage to chill out and as we walked up I heard the wonderful sounds of “Satan gave me a taco” wafting on the evening breeze. ‘Satan gave me a taco’ is a very obscure song off Stereopathetic Soul Manure…so unless you are a diehard Beck fan, you may not have heard of it. I’m talking pre-Mellow Gold here, folks! The song is a 5 minute meander thru some random story that starts of with the singer eating a taco that the devil gave him. The taco is so nasty and makes him sick with hot sauce that burns, aphids on the lettuce, and rancid meat. After eating this taco the singer goes nuts and starts to tear off all his clothes. An old lady walking by starts to beat up the poor guy with her handbag because she thinks he is a freak…which causes him to get bloody and bruised. The police come and take him away because he’s now naked, bloody, and beaten. They throw him in jail and while the singer is in court (being sentenced to death) he realizes that the court is fake and he’s really on the set of a rock and roll video. So at this point the guy joins the band. They make a lot of money, but then the band gets killed. So the guy decides to make a solo career where he “won all the awards and drank all the beer.” (My fav line of the song) At the end of the song, he opens up a taco stand with the devil thanks to the funds earned from his solo career. “Cooking with the devil, frying down in hell.” What a GREAT folk song, to be sure! I love how it comes full circle, although as you walk thru the lyrics you wonder where this thing is going. It's one of the most random songs I know and to hear it being played in the middle of nowhere in South Africa was a feeling I just can’t really describe!!! Wow.
At the beginning of this post it is possible that you asked yourselves 2 questions. 1) Why is Lynsee quoting Roy Rogers? 2) What’s with the dust, dust, dust?
1) Roy Rogers is the man! I mean, he has a fast food chain named after him. That is so American! The dude stuffed his 2 favorite companions from his movies when they died…Trigger and his dog (Bullet, I think). Morbid? You be the judge. I’m surprised they didn’t stuff Ol' Roy and put him on display when he died. Also, the man had cowboy style coming out of his ears! Suave cowboy hats, pimp bandanas tied around his neck, and hot hot western cut shirts. Like I said…Roy Rogers is the man! My best friend, Julie, and I used to watch his movies all the time as youngsters. I even remember trying to jump on and off horses like he used. We would practice on Julie’s horses, but we were like 7 and 8 years old…so we never quite made the leap as good as ol’ Roy.
2) It is impossible to accurately convey the experience of Oppikoppi without talking about dust.
Dust, dust, dust. Oppikoppi takes place in the bush. Thornveld to be precise. Remember “veld” is the Afrikaans word for bush or grassland. Maybe you could even stretch it to mean prairie. There’s not really prairie here…but there is definitely grasslands. At ‘koppi the dust was thick. The moment you got there the dust overwhelmed you. Washing your feet during the day took on an almost religious tone. People were handing out dust masks for free…and people were wearing them. Not as a fashion statement but as a testament to how much they really loved their lungs! I think a bit of the thornveld dust is still in my lungs. If you could hear me talk right now, you would think so too. My voice is a few more octaves lower, so I’m even more sexy sounding than Kathleen Turner! Hardcore! The dust got everywhere…like going to the beach, but without the wonderful ocean. You know, sand in your sandwiches even if they were wrapped up tighter than mummies in plastic wrap. Everyone’s car had a new skin. Every person had a new skin. Every bag had a handful of dust in the bottom after the end of the week. Craziness!
At this point I would like to share some revelations I came to at ‘koppi as far as the Afrikaans people go. I think there are 3 symbols I could use to explain Afrikaans people to you. The rusk, thornveld, and biltong.
A rusk is a very hard biscuit that is commonly enjoyed with coffee in this country. I’ve eaten rusks before (I’ve even made them before…thanks Helen!), but a few months ago there was a plate of rusks hanging out at the radio station. I was really hungry, but the thought of eating one of those rusks was really scary to me. Even just approaching that hard biscuit turned me off. It took about 2 hours for my hunger to win over my wariness of the hard tack. If you’ve never seen a rusk before…well it’s a sort of frightening looking prospect. It’s hard and dry. I equate the Afrikaans people to a rusk in this sense. They seem very hard and dry when you first encounter them. But if you take the leap, a rusk is a fantastic thing to eat. It’s got a great flavor and if you know how to dip it in coffee, well, it’s a really wonderful breakfast treat. Plus rusks are often made by grandma (Ouma…in Afrikaans) and anything made by loving grandma hands can’t be wrong in the end! The Afrikaans people are the same to me. Maybe scary at first, but if you take the leap then you will see that they are tasty and sweet.
Symbol #2, the thornveld. Raoni and I sat at the top of one of the hills on the first day we arrived and looked out at a sea of hard, dry, scrubby, thorny veld dotted with big hills. If you’ve ever been to Iowa county in Wisconsin…it looks sort of like that, but with less hills, more thorns, and much dustier. As we looked out on this barren landscape I began to think about how this landscape shaped the Afrikaans people that came up in that area. Man, you have to be one tough mother to survive that landscape. It’s hot, dusty, and every tree is trying to get a piece of you with its spiky thorns. But even as we looked out at this landscape of nothing…you could see an inherent beauty in it if you looked a bit closer. Again, I think this is a very fitting way to think of the Afrikaans people here.
Biltong is another great symbol of the Afrikaans people. Biltong, as you may remember from past blog posts, is dried meat. It’s a SA national obsession. The closest thing we have to it at home is beef jerky. I was chastized on a past post that biltong is in fact DRIED meat and jerky is SMOKED meat, but who am I to split hairs over sinews and muscle tissue? Biltong is a survival food. You just killed a big animal. You got no refrigeration. How will you make it last? Biltong! It’s interesting to me that a form of food/the culture, that no doubt played a big part in survival at some point in time, has survived to this day as a cultural icon. Rugby in this country cannot be enjoyed properly without beer and biltong. Heck, I even eat biltong about once a week. Chili sticks from the Blue Bull kiosk near my house are the best.
In conclusion, on the Afrikaans people tip…
Destiny’s Child and the Afrikaans people have 1 thing in common…they are survivors, baby! Yes I did just compare an entire culture to Destiny’s Child…deal with it!
Tangential thought complete…back to Oppikoppi. We were lucky enough to camp with a group of Oppikoppi veterans (the guy that organized our camp was attending his 10th Oppikoppi). Cassie, a DJ at TuksFM, was kind enough to help us organize a ride to the fest with his girlfriend and to welcome us into his campsite. These people were prepared. They apparently take this camping at ‘koppi thing as a science. I think they hold Masters Degrees in the art. They had shade (important!), chairs (important! all the ground is dusty and thorny), food, and every other little thing on lockdown. Raoni and I were really lucky to be able to set up camp with them. It was nice because Cassie’s friends are really fun and we had something to be a part of when we weren’t wandering around enjoying music. A home, of sorts, to come back to. So, big ups to Cassie and his crew! It was really fun to chill with them!!!
Another nice thing about a fest is the people. When you are enjoying a similar experience with a group of strangers, it is easy to strike up a conversation. Well, even easier for me, to strike up a conversation. Raoni and I met a bunch of really cool people just by chance. People we shared a beer with over a fire. People we shared a laugh with. People I played hacky sack with (woohoo!). A lot of people were like “Whoa you guys are from the USA and Brazil! Did you come to SA just for Oppikoppi!” People were really excited that we were there enjoying something that has come to be a staple of the South African musical culture. It was cool. I even saw some of my friends that I went to school with in Pietermaritzburg back in 2002. Colin and Niall. The last time I saw them was in March and we also happened upon each other in a random fashion at that time. The first hour Raoni and I were at the fest we walked by these people when I heard “Hey Lynsee!” I looked over…and there was Colin and Niall. I think that these ghosts of my South African past will keep popping up when I least expect it. It’s great! I don’t mind at all…especially if it means randomly seeing some very down KwaZulu Natal boys from time to time!
Yeah so that’s my fest experience here in SA. It was a very cool time and I look forward to enjoying next year if I can!
You can see my scant few photos of 'koppi (and August's day in the life) at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lynseemelchi
Enjoy and don't do anything I wouldn't do!
Much Love
Lynsee
Dust
Dust in the sky
Dust on the prairie
Dust in my eye
Dust
Dust
-From the movie “Under California Stars” as sung by Roy Rogers
Greetings loyal blog readers!
I’ve just returned this past weekend from Oppikoppi, one of the biggest music fests in SA. www.oppikoppi.com if you want more info. I was also interviewed as an “Oppikoppi virgin,” so you can check out my interview at: http://www.24.com/entertainment/music/?p=feature&i=632774
There are quite a few festivals that happen all over SA. SA doesn’t have the huge fest scene like we do in the USA, but they do what they can with what they have. One of the major festivals here(more of a hippy shindig) is called Splashy Fen and it happens in Underberg (near the Drakensberg mountain system) in KwaZulu Natal in April. There’s another fest at the same time that’s called Woodstock (rip off!), and it’s more of a rock fest. There is another smaller fest run by the Oppikoppi people around that time, but, as far as I can tell, the August Oppikoppi is THE fest to go to in South Africa. It’s all I’ve been hearing about at the radio station since I arrived. By the way, ”Oppikoppi” means “on the hill” in Afrikaans. “oppi” is a cute/affectionate term for up or on top of and “koppi” is a cute/affectionate term for a hill. “Kop” is hill. “Op” is above/up/on top of. It’s predominantly a rock fest, but this is a very limiting label. There were also acts representing hiphop, electronic, and other genres I can’t think of right now. If you want to see a “Hollywood” version of Oppikoppi, rent the movie “Bunny Chow.” I haven’t seen it, but it’s about a group of guys that goes to Oppikoppi as performers (I think…). It has a GREAT South African soundtrack too, so you’ll really be getting a good dose of current SA youth culture!
Going to ‘koppi was a great experience because it was like feasting at a musical smorgasbord…and I’m still hungry! I have read about a number of bands in SA, but haven’t had the chance to see all of them yet. I was able to move around between 4 different stages over the course of 3 days tasting and sampling the best and biggest in SA music (and even a few international acts). Like being at Walmart…only in a musical sense. One stop shopping. It’s really huge that there were international acts (like Groove Armada) because big acts from overseas, especially the USA, almost never come to South Africa. When these bands do come over…people go nuts. South Africans will go nuts over the lamest acts (in my opinion) too. Example…Guns n Roses was supposed to come over here a few months ago and people here were going ape. Axl Rose punked out, but SA went crazy all the same. Some other bands like Hoobastank (best band name ever), 3 Doors Down, etc have gotten a lot of interest here just because people in SA are so hard up to see international acts. K’s choice (remember the song that played for a second on Q101…”I’m not an addict”) is REALLY huge in Pretoria. That group was a blip on the screen in the USA, but has a huge following here. It’s pretty random. But I think K’s choice makes good music and deserves the rabid following South Africans (in particular Pretorians) lay down. Jimmy Eat World, Violent Femmes (Milwaukee, WI…represent!) and Youngblood Brass Band (Madison, WI…represent!) were some of the other international acts playing. When I was in the USA, I was very lucky to be near Chicago and to live in Champaign-Urbana, such that I was able to see a lot of major bands perform live: Smashing Pumpkins, Beck, KRS-ONE, Talib Kweli, John Prine, They Might be Giants, Method Man, Counting Crows, ?uestlove, and more and more and more. When I’ve been talking at the radio station about some of the bands I’ve seen in the USA, my colleagues get really annoyed and frustrated. The bands they love from overseas just don’t come to SA. It would probably be lucky if those bands could even locate SA on a map! You can barely buy rock t-shirts here, let alone see those bands live on South African soil.
I cruised to the fest w/my friend Raoni, from Brasil (that 's' is for u Raoni!). E!merica and BraZil in the house! He’s also a music junkie, so he was a great partner in crime for a fest of this sort. It would have been no good to go with a person that just wanted to hang at the camp or at the beer tent! Migration is a must! We checked out the bands/groups/acts:
The wedding DJs, Unit R, Love Jones, Jimmy Eat World, Youngblood Brass Band, Lark, Blunted Stuntmen, Groove Armada, Violent Femmes, Sweat X, Fokofpolisiekar, and Stanton Warriors, Koos Kombuis, Chris Chameleon, Push and Shove, Paul Riekert and Anton L'amour, Desmond and the Tutus, 7th son, Strings and Skins, some guys from Napalma, kid fonque, DJ Kenzhero, HHP, Selaelo Selota, Zuluboy, Kwani Experience, Tidal Waves, Angel...and probably more!
Highlights were definitely Groove Armada (just about anyone you ask about the fest raved and raved about Groove Armada). Groove Armada rocked the fest with a live band. They are more of an electronic act and I was really excited to see them play with a full band and guest vocalists. I needed a BIG space for dancing cos I went absolutely crazy when these guys performed! They played Superstylin’ (one of my fav songs), I see you baby (shakin’ that ass), and many other great songs. Not much representation from the Lovebox album, which is one of my personal favs, but all in all a wicked act! Anything that gets me dancing these days is a winner in my book!
And…Wisconsin, represent! There were 2 acts from Wisconsin…which was rather odd if you ask me. Youngblood Brass Band is a jamming brassy wall of sound that also tends to make you want to ask “do fries go with that shake?” They call themselves a ‘riot jazz’ act…if that means anything to you. We only caught the end of their set, but it was a wonderful set of songs! I kept shouting ‘Wisconsin!!!!’ during the quiet parts such that other crowd members kept looking at me. One guy even started to talk to me because I was being so loud. I just explained to him that if he was in Milwaukee, WI and some band performing said “yeah we’re from Pretoria” that he too would be shouting his head off. I mean how often does one end up in the bush of the Limpopo province in SA jamming out to a band that lives just an hour away from where your father lives in Wisconsin?? Not often…so hootin’ and hollerin’ was definitely on order!! If any of you in the Midwest get the chance to see Youngblood Brass Band…I highly recommend them. You will not be disappointed. And how could you be disappointed with brass, brass, and more brass???
The SA groups were also incredible. I could probably write about 5 pages about each wonderful act I saw…but I’ll be as concise as possible for your sake! My absolute favorite act from SA was a group called Sweat X. It’s very difficult to describe this group, but I’ll try. Picture 2 guys dressed in florescent darshiki/tunic shirts and white plastic rimmed sunglasses cranking out FAT beats reminiscent of the late 80s/early 90s. One guy’s an MC and the other guy is the DJ. But the DJ isn’t spinning records. He’s got one of those crazy machines that stores samples and makes the beats on the spot. DJ Krush had a similar set up when I saw him in April. When I say FAT beats…I’m talking that sweet sweet 808 sound my friends. Salt n Pepa, booty house, and other nasty numbers from the days when ‘teen’ was still at the end of my age. The type of bass that sounds like it traveled through a sweet viscous syrup before it reaches your ears. Wonderful stuff! And another group where booty-shaking is obligatory. You are more embarrassed if you are not dancing than if you are dancing!
Sweat X was the cornerstone of a trend I noticed at the fest, particularly in the electronic music sector. As we all know…decades come back to haunt us. Yes, the 80s are back. It’s sad really. I didn’t think they were that great the first time around…but apparently people have found things to revere from that decade: fashion, music, the mullet (d’oh!). To be fair though, I was rocking Alabama, Hank Williams Jr (There’s a tear in my beer is the first song I remember playing on a jukebox), and Kenny Rogers back in those days…so I was sort of out of the florescent whirlwind that was the 80s. I do admit to a healthy obsession with NKOTB. Joey McIntyre, babies! No explanation of those letters…if you are down then no explanation’s necessary! But somewhere inside this 80s resurrection the 90s are also putting a bit of their flavor down. So what I’m getting at is that I recognized a melting of the 80s and 90s in the electronic music that I saw at ‘koppi. It was really really interesting to me. I felt like a musical anthropologist cutting my way thru an audio jungle. This rising of the 80s/90s phoenix shows up in the fashion, the samples, and the types of beats present in the music. For example…there was this DJ tag team I saw that was really interesting to me because of the above described phenomenon. They played (seriously) “Where’s your head at?” during their set. Normally I would have chucked my beer cup at them for this faux pas, but within the context of their set…it was great! This group (Push n Shove) also represented a lot of raver electronic in their set, but it wasn’t lame at all. It was super super FAT. Their set took a turn for the worse at the end, but the beginning had me scribbling notes in my mental field book for further anthropological analyzation. The funny thing is that I feel I can recognize these items from “my decade” but I can’t tell if the folks sporting these trends and spinning these tunes understand the cultural relevance of the random pop culture items they are picking from the 80s/90s. And especially here in SA…where USA pop culture has come thru a filter. Does it matter if they recognize? I’m not sure about that either. And I guess I don’t care that much as long as I can hear Salt n Pepa samples ‘til the cows come home. The moment I hear a sample of “Doper than Dope” I will know nirvana isn’t far behind.
Or maybe this just means I'm getting older...
I know in hiphop circles at home that the 90s (in particular the late 90s, ’98-ish) has been resurrected for awhile now. I mean if you look at the Gymfloors mixtape that Spinnerty graced us with a year or so ago you can see all the old jams. The name of the mixtape even evokes the atmosphere you heard those songs in for the first time (the middle school gym during one of those wretched school dances). So hiphop has been doing this for a bit. But this 80s/90s mindmeld I was witnessing was something else and it was very interesting indeed. If you want to comment…email me. I’d love to hear comments and Qs and debate on this subject from the other music fiends in the group. And I’m sure that some of you might be able to comment on this a bit better than I. So…hit me up! I’d also be interested to know if anyone else is picking up on this trend at home.
Some other fantastic acts absorbed at Oppikoppi include Koos Kombuis, Desmond and the Tutus, Selaelo Selota, Strings and Skins, Kwani Experience. And more…I think there’s a music overload in my brain, to be honest.
Koos Kombuis is a Carlos Santana/John Prine/Arlo Guthrie-ish figure in SA. Old skool folky guy, but came up in the 70s-80s, so a bit less psychedlic than the aforementioned singers. He was very revolutionary when he came out because SA was still very much controlled by an apartheid-embracing government. His songs are all about “let’s get together folks.” “We travel in style” Koos started out as a poet turned to music and has also written over 20 books. He sings in English and Afrikaans and is generally the type of act that could be enjoyed by the young and old. I didn’t know anything about him before I saw him, but really enjoyed his set!
Desmond and the Tutus was your average garage rock band with skinny white boys wearing even tighter pants and sporting bad hair. But I really dug their vibe. They sang a song called “Saggy Bottom Speedo” with the message that you can do whatever you want…even wear a saggy bottom speedo as long as you are happy and doing your thing. I will definitely see them again.
Selaelo Selota…was a more traditional South African musical act. But that’s also a very limiting moniker. I guess you could compare the music to seeing an old blues act in the USA. Guitar-driven rhythm and blues. The South African spin comes in with the lyrics (which were sometimes in a language I don’t understand…yet) and dancing. ‘Traditional’ dancing here (think animal skins and stuff) usually involves a lot of high kicking and stomping. Imagine the girls on a chorus line, but when the dancers put their foot down on the ground it’s with a forceful stomp and backed up by a crashing cymbal or drum hit. This band included elements of the traditional into their act, but it wasn’t like they were running around in skins and stuff. I guess it’s that elusive mixture of traditional and modern. That is always an interesting thing to pick up on. How folks in modern South Africa “keep it real” with respect to their “traditional” cultures. A sticky tightrope to walk, to be sure. I really liked this guy’s music though! One of the songs was about how you should listen to the mountains because they teach the rivers how to flow and pay attention to the birds because they teach the young ones to fly. Very nice!
Strings and Skins was a band that Raoni and I just stumbled upon in our wanderings, but what a find! I’ve seen them on the bill at a place in Pretoria, but have never ventured out to see them. The group is one guy on exotic strings (bazookie, ude) and 2 guys on exotic skins (1 drum kit, 1 tabla…and Indian drum). This combo was incredible. I think that’s all I can say about this…
Kwani Experience was a live band rocking the hiphop. They were beautiful. A lot of the hiphop acts performing were doing so with live bands…which is always a beautiful thing. There are those that will claim they don’t like hiphop music, but I think those naysayers have never seen a live hiphop band perform. Because they would be converts after that point. This group had an MC and a FABULOUS female vocalist that just kept the great tunes coming. I also look forward to catching them again!
My absolute fav moment of the fest was hearing my favorite Beck song being played up on the acoustic stage. Our posse was moseying up to the acoustic stage to chill out and as we walked up I heard the wonderful sounds of “Satan gave me a taco” wafting on the evening breeze. ‘Satan gave me a taco’ is a very obscure song off Stereopathetic Soul Manure…so unless you are a diehard Beck fan, you may not have heard of it. I’m talking pre-Mellow Gold here, folks! The song is a 5 minute meander thru some random story that starts of with the singer eating a taco that the devil gave him. The taco is so nasty and makes him sick with hot sauce that burns, aphids on the lettuce, and rancid meat. After eating this taco the singer goes nuts and starts to tear off all his clothes. An old lady walking by starts to beat up the poor guy with her handbag because she thinks he is a freak…which causes him to get bloody and bruised. The police come and take him away because he’s now naked, bloody, and beaten. They throw him in jail and while the singer is in court (being sentenced to death) he realizes that the court is fake and he’s really on the set of a rock and roll video. So at this point the guy joins the band. They make a lot of money, but then the band gets killed. So the guy decides to make a solo career where he “won all the awards and drank all the beer.” (My fav line of the song) At the end of the song, he opens up a taco stand with the devil thanks to the funds earned from his solo career. “Cooking with the devil, frying down in hell.” What a GREAT folk song, to be sure! I love how it comes full circle, although as you walk thru the lyrics you wonder where this thing is going. It's one of the most random songs I know and to hear it being played in the middle of nowhere in South Africa was a feeling I just can’t really describe!!! Wow.
At the beginning of this post it is possible that you asked yourselves 2 questions. 1) Why is Lynsee quoting Roy Rogers? 2) What’s with the dust, dust, dust?
1) Roy Rogers is the man! I mean, he has a fast food chain named after him. That is so American! The dude stuffed his 2 favorite companions from his movies when they died…Trigger and his dog (Bullet, I think). Morbid? You be the judge. I’m surprised they didn’t stuff Ol' Roy and put him on display when he died. Also, the man had cowboy style coming out of his ears! Suave cowboy hats, pimp bandanas tied around his neck, and hot hot western cut shirts. Like I said…Roy Rogers is the man! My best friend, Julie, and I used to watch his movies all the time as youngsters. I even remember trying to jump on and off horses like he used. We would practice on Julie’s horses, but we were like 7 and 8 years old…so we never quite made the leap as good as ol’ Roy.
2) It is impossible to accurately convey the experience of Oppikoppi without talking about dust.
Dust, dust, dust. Oppikoppi takes place in the bush. Thornveld to be precise. Remember “veld” is the Afrikaans word for bush or grassland. Maybe you could even stretch it to mean prairie. There’s not really prairie here…but there is definitely grasslands. At ‘koppi the dust was thick. The moment you got there the dust overwhelmed you. Washing your feet during the day took on an almost religious tone. People were handing out dust masks for free…and people were wearing them. Not as a fashion statement but as a testament to how much they really loved their lungs! I think a bit of the thornveld dust is still in my lungs. If you could hear me talk right now, you would think so too. My voice is a few more octaves lower, so I’m even more sexy sounding than Kathleen Turner! Hardcore! The dust got everywhere…like going to the beach, but without the wonderful ocean. You know, sand in your sandwiches even if they were wrapped up tighter than mummies in plastic wrap. Everyone’s car had a new skin. Every person had a new skin. Every bag had a handful of dust in the bottom after the end of the week. Craziness!
At this point I would like to share some revelations I came to at ‘koppi as far as the Afrikaans people go. I think there are 3 symbols I could use to explain Afrikaans people to you. The rusk, thornveld, and biltong.
A rusk is a very hard biscuit that is commonly enjoyed with coffee in this country. I’ve eaten rusks before (I’ve even made them before…thanks Helen!), but a few months ago there was a plate of rusks hanging out at the radio station. I was really hungry, but the thought of eating one of those rusks was really scary to me. Even just approaching that hard biscuit turned me off. It took about 2 hours for my hunger to win over my wariness of the hard tack. If you’ve never seen a rusk before…well it’s a sort of frightening looking prospect. It’s hard and dry. I equate the Afrikaans people to a rusk in this sense. They seem very hard and dry when you first encounter them. But if you take the leap, a rusk is a fantastic thing to eat. It’s got a great flavor and if you know how to dip it in coffee, well, it’s a really wonderful breakfast treat. Plus rusks are often made by grandma (Ouma…in Afrikaans) and anything made by loving grandma hands can’t be wrong in the end! The Afrikaans people are the same to me. Maybe scary at first, but if you take the leap then you will see that they are tasty and sweet.
Symbol #2, the thornveld. Raoni and I sat at the top of one of the hills on the first day we arrived and looked out at a sea of hard, dry, scrubby, thorny veld dotted with big hills. If you’ve ever been to Iowa county in Wisconsin…it looks sort of like that, but with less hills, more thorns, and much dustier. As we looked out on this barren landscape I began to think about how this landscape shaped the Afrikaans people that came up in that area. Man, you have to be one tough mother to survive that landscape. It’s hot, dusty, and every tree is trying to get a piece of you with its spiky thorns. But even as we looked out at this landscape of nothing…you could see an inherent beauty in it if you looked a bit closer. Again, I think this is a very fitting way to think of the Afrikaans people here.
Biltong is another great symbol of the Afrikaans people. Biltong, as you may remember from past blog posts, is dried meat. It’s a SA national obsession. The closest thing we have to it at home is beef jerky. I was chastized on a past post that biltong is in fact DRIED meat and jerky is SMOKED meat, but who am I to split hairs over sinews and muscle tissue? Biltong is a survival food. You just killed a big animal. You got no refrigeration. How will you make it last? Biltong! It’s interesting to me that a form of food/the culture, that no doubt played a big part in survival at some point in time, has survived to this day as a cultural icon. Rugby in this country cannot be enjoyed properly without beer and biltong. Heck, I even eat biltong about once a week. Chili sticks from the Blue Bull kiosk near my house are the best.
In conclusion, on the Afrikaans people tip…
Destiny’s Child and the Afrikaans people have 1 thing in common…they are survivors, baby! Yes I did just compare an entire culture to Destiny’s Child…deal with it!
Tangential thought complete…back to Oppikoppi. We were lucky enough to camp with a group of Oppikoppi veterans (the guy that organized our camp was attending his 10th Oppikoppi). Cassie, a DJ at TuksFM, was kind enough to help us organize a ride to the fest with his girlfriend and to welcome us into his campsite. These people were prepared. They apparently take this camping at ‘koppi thing as a science. I think they hold Masters Degrees in the art. They had shade (important!), chairs (important! all the ground is dusty and thorny), food, and every other little thing on lockdown. Raoni and I were really lucky to be able to set up camp with them. It was nice because Cassie’s friends are really fun and we had something to be a part of when we weren’t wandering around enjoying music. A home, of sorts, to come back to. So, big ups to Cassie and his crew! It was really fun to chill with them!!!
Another nice thing about a fest is the people. When you are enjoying a similar experience with a group of strangers, it is easy to strike up a conversation. Well, even easier for me, to strike up a conversation. Raoni and I met a bunch of really cool people just by chance. People we shared a beer with over a fire. People we shared a laugh with. People I played hacky sack with (woohoo!). A lot of people were like “Whoa you guys are from the USA and Brazil! Did you come to SA just for Oppikoppi!” People were really excited that we were there enjoying something that has come to be a staple of the South African musical culture. It was cool. I even saw some of my friends that I went to school with in Pietermaritzburg back in 2002. Colin and Niall. The last time I saw them was in March and we also happened upon each other in a random fashion at that time. The first hour Raoni and I were at the fest we walked by these people when I heard “Hey Lynsee!” I looked over…and there was Colin and Niall. I think that these ghosts of my South African past will keep popping up when I least expect it. It’s great! I don’t mind at all…especially if it means randomly seeing some very down KwaZulu Natal boys from time to time!
Yeah so that’s my fest experience here in SA. It was a very cool time and I look forward to enjoying next year if I can!
You can see my scant few photos of 'koppi (and August's day in the life) at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lynseemelchi
Enjoy and don't do anything I wouldn't do!
Much Love
Lynsee
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Respiration in the key of A, part deux
Part 2 commences…
So, as I said in my last post, I left my boys in Coffee Bay and headed north to Pretoria. This was Monday July 9th. I had to get back to Pretoria in enough time to gather supplies so I could leave with 2 Rotarians on Wednesday morning at 6am-ish for a place called Sabie Sands.
The bus ride home was pretty uneventful. Watched terrible movies (some stupid movie w/a woman handcuffed to a hot dog stand at the mercy of a Wesley Snipes as a sniper…ha ha, funny play on words), iPod joy, stared out the window (my favorite). I was starving on the ride home cos I only had breakfast that morning in Coffee Bay. We stopped at a gas station with a Wimpy and a double cheeseburger stole my heart. One of the fast food chains here is called Wimpy. No reason to add this…I just think it’s a cute name for a fast food chain. Wasn’t Wimpy one of Popeye’s friends that really loved hamburgers? I digress…letting fast food capture your heart is a danger in its own right. I just don’t do fast food anymore. I didn’t even do fast food at home. I just think it’s better to spend that extra 5-10 minutes to ensure that I get a nice meal made out of actual food not some manufactured burger that may have resembled real food at one point in its life. And, of course, the taqueria always makes its tacos fast. :) Have you seen Supersize Me or read Fast Food Nation? Do yourselves a favor and check these out! You will stop giving your money to McDonalds in a heartbeat, provided that your heart hasn’t already been clogged by McGrease! Anyways, that burger was harboring nasty germs, so I got food poisoning…again. Yes, this is the 3rd time I’ve had food poisoning in 7 months. I really don’t understand why this keeps happening. I have a strong stomach. I’ve been to places where the guide book says “don’t eat food cooked on the street.” But I have eaten that food. I am a strict believer in the 5-10 second rule when food falls on the floor. I also believe strongly in simply cutting off the rotten part of the fruit to enjoy the ripeness of the rest of it. But for some reason these policies are not doing much for me in South Africa. Maybe you can derive some symbolic inferences from it, but I surely cannot. I guess I’m just a fool for food, even when I think to myself while chowing “this is going to come back to haunt me.”
Bbecause I’ve had food poisoning so much in this country, I now know how to deal with it. The basic plan is just sleep all day. It’s simple and seems to do the trick for me. Vomiting also does wonders. So when I got to Pretoria on Tuesday morning I just went home and slept. Woke up to get my supplies (cheese sausages, eggs, juice, and wine) and then slept some more.
Rhett and Shad (the Rotarians) picked me up on Wednesday morning and we shuttled off to Arathusa, a private game farm in Sabie Sands Game Reserve (in the NE of S Africa, adjacent to the world famous Kruger Park), to see some wild animals. Rhett and Shad are 2 Rotarians I’ve met in Pretoria. They are members of Pretoria West Rotary Club, not my club which is Silverton Rotary Club. Rhett, in particular, has been one of the best Rotarians I have met. He actually gets in touch with me without any prompting…fantastic! He invites me over for Sunday lunch (a common ritual here). He takes me to other clubs. He sends me messages on my phone about big events happening in his club, as well as helps me get to his club meetings. All in all, a very passionate and admirable Rotarian!
We came to embark on this tour thanks to another Rotarian, Joan Greissel. I went with Rhett and Shad to go visit her club in Warm Baths, which is about 2 hours N of Pretoria, about 2 months earlier. When I was there and she found out I was into wildlife she said to me “Lynsee, you are coming to my game farm on such and such dates.” When someone proposes such things to you…you don’t say no. You clear your calendar and head off! Privately owned wildlife establishments are big business in this country. These private wildlife stocks take on various forms: wildlife ranches where animals are raised for meat or hunting or both, private game farms where wildlife is around to be enjoyed thru the buzz word “ecotourism”, and such. I don’t actually understand all the forms that private wildlife businesses encompass…which is why I’m here to learn. Gonz., I’m onto you when you say that the future of environmentalism is to make people understand that they can make money saving the environment! Joan’s “farm” is part of a larger system where the animals aren’t necessarily held back by fences (there aren’t really any fences to differentiate Joan’s farm from others…just large swatches of mowed grass to say “this is where property A begins and property B starts”). I don’t even know if the animals are managed in any way in the area where Joan’s farm is. I guess these sorts of establishments are primarily in place so that tourists can come and stay in a comfortable lodge, go around on game drives, and take photos of wild animals. I was skeptical at first, but all in all…it’s a pretty sweet set up. Joan actually stays next to a game farm that is owned by Richard Branson…if that means anything to you.
I’ve been to a few game reserves in South Africa. To me, they just seem to be large zoos without cages. An improvement, to be sure, on the traditional zoo where you walk along from cage to cage and see the wonders of the wild world in neat little packages. But, from my understanding, game reserves seem to be stocked with animals according to a certain capacity (such that there are enough resources for the animals to consume and live in harmony) so that you can drive around in your car, tour bus, or safari vehicle and see a ton of wild animals in a 2 hour sojourn. To me…it’s just not right. Not wild. Not real. But despite man’s constraints and best intentions, wild things always find a way to impress and amaze!
A great example is Kruger Park. Hands down the most famous game reserve in South Africa…if not southern Africa. It’s roughly the size of Wales (probably even bigger now that they have opened fences to Mozambique and Zimbabwe). I went there with my dad in 2002. We drove around and looked at animals, stayed in a nice lodge, and safely enjoyed nature (from the confines of our automobile). There are paved roads, tour buses, and the like in Kruger Park. Despite all this…I still think it’s one of the most real parks in SA. From a realistic viewpoint…how the heck can you control various groups of wild animals (in an area the size of Wales) such that tourists have a good time. It’s impossible. My father and I didn’t see every wild animal Kruger Park had to offer, but we did okay. When I went to Brazil in 2004 I remember our group being extremely pissed off that we didn’t see tons of wild animals while we were out and about in the rainforest. First of all, there were about 15 of us making a constant talking noise. Yo, animals hear that and move away. Second, just because you are in a wild place it doesn’t mean you will see wild animals just ambling around. Nature is capricious and enigmatic like that. It takes time to see what you expect. Even if you work with domestic animals, you only begin to realize the wide spectrum of animal behavior thru many many interactions. It doesn’t just happen all in one encounter. You must be a patient and persistant person to have a full range of wild things revealed to you. And nature will surprise you even in a domestic environment!
I guess it would be good to differentiate game reserve vs game farm right now. I’ll try to the best of my ability. Game reserves in SA are more of a government controlled thing. I guess you could think of Yellowstone National Park in the USA as a game reserve. A game farm is a privately owned thing where animals may or may not be managed. Like I said, I don’t think the animals on Joan’s farm are managed. When I say managed, I mean that the animals are stocked to a specific density such that they are able to be easily viewed by people but the animals aren’t stripping all the trees and vegetation for food. Management also means that the animals may or may not be receiving medical treatment. Management means that someone is employed to deal with the needs of the animals. I hope this makes sense.
Okay so we arrived at Arathusa Game Farm after a long and winding sightseeing trip through the NE of South Africa. Beautiful mountains (always a pleasure for a girl from the topographically-challenged Midwest) and quaint Afrikaans dorps. Dorp=village in Afrikaans…basically cute small towns. The name of my dorm is called Tuksdorp, which means Tuks village.
Joan’s farm consists of the people places and the wild places. The rooms were wonderful: big warm beds, cleaned everyday by the maid, hot showers, nice cooking facilities, a pool, hot tub, and such. Joan’s father bought the place in the 50s-60s and her family has had it since. I think that Joan has the place so she can invite people to check out the wildlife of SA and so that she has a place to come and chill out when she wants to get away. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Now it would also behoove me to speak of the “big 5.” A HUGE deal in SA, and probably Southern Africa. It’s such a big deal in SA that the money here is adorned with the big 5. 10 Rand note: White rhino. 20 Rand note: Elephant. 50 Rand note: Lion. 100 Rand note: Water buffalo. 200 Rand note: Leopard. That’s your big 5. I would love to go into the history of how the “big 5” as a term came about…but I just don’t have the time to research. These days it seems like it’s a marketing term. A way to brand some aspect of South African life so that it can be sold to tourists. You can buy T-shirts, shot glasses, postcards, etc with the big 5 on them. Seeing the big 5 is a cornerstone of all wildlife-centered tourist expeditions. I had never seen the big 5 before I went to Joan’s place. Before Joan’s, I had seen rhino (there are two species here: white rhino w/a square upper lip and black rhino w/a pointy upper lip), elephant, and that’s about it. I guess, before Joan’s, my wild life in SA had been quite unfulfilled according to all reasonable tourist logic. Fortunately, I’m pretty sure that I don’t live my life according to reasonable tourist logic, so I was not feeling so incredibly unfulfilled. I had seen zebras, giraffes, hippos, cool snakes, and more. Not the big 5, but awe inspiring animals nonetheless. I saw the big 5 within the first 24 hours of being at Arathusa. It was incredible! Leopards, hands down, are the hardest of all the big 5 to spot in the wild. I saw a leopard (the same one) 3 times within the first 24 hours of being at Joan’s. We saw other leopards in the coming days. Great! Every time I see a leopard my bottom jaw separates from the top…mouth agape, people!!
So the basic routine at Joan’s was: game drive in the morning, chilling out in between, game drive in the evening, wonderful dinner, drinks/chatting/game of pool, sleep. I went on most of the game drives, but at times I just wanted to chill around Joan’s “compound” so I didn’t get into all the drives. Even just sitting around Joan’s place meant seeing or hearing wild animals. It was fantastic. She has an artificial watering hole just at the back of her house where elephants (and other animals) often come to quench their thirst. Her people places (a few little houses for guests, etc) are on a ridge that looks over a big grassy area called Elephant Plains…where you can also check out animals cruising around. Mornings where I didn’t join the game drives meant having my coffee while watching elephants congregate and cavort around this pool of water. It was incredible to be just 20 feet from 5+ elephants having a drink and playing in the water with only a 3 foot high electric fence separating you from the scene. The drives consisted of whoever was staying at the farm that wanted to join the drive sitting in a safari 4x4 with a game ranger sitting on the front of the truck pointing things out, tracking, and telling us about the natural history of the area. Our ranger, Jeffrey, was new and didn’t actually tell us that much information. It was pretty sad, but I guess I understand. When I was in Kruger with my dad in 2002, we went on a walking tour one morning. It was probably my favorite wildlife experience in SA. We walked around with 2 armed game rangers for an hour or 2. We didn’t see many animals, but learned a lot about the landscape. Seeing animals is great, but inquisitive minds want to know. Hey, that’s me! I like to know about plants and landscapes and behaviors. Seeing wild animals is a treat in its own respect, but that animal you are viewing does not live in a vacuum. It must eat. It must walk on the sandy paths in the morning to avoid the dew on the grass. It must leave evidence it was there (tracks and poop…or spoor and scat if you want to be all scientifical about it). Etc Etc. These are the types of things I want to know about even more than just seeing an animal run across a field.
We saw lots and lots of animals at Joan’s place. Here’s the list (in case you are interested): impala, kudu (my favorite deer in SA, but in competition w/the springbok), white tail mongoose, lions (male, female, and cubs), nyala, hyena, giraffe, elephant, hippo (my favorite animal), civet, leopard, red duiker, blue duiker, waterbok, steenbok, squirrels, hornbills, warthog, blue crane, long tail shrike, bats, mice, wildebeest, zebra, genet, fish eagle, baboon, bushbok, spring hare, mongoose, water buffalo, white rhino…and probably others. We saw lots and lots of birds I didn’t mention here because they are too numerous to mention. The birds here are incredible. I see some cool birds at school in Pretoria, but the birds at Joan’s place were SO beautiful. The colors and feathers and tails…nice! A lot of the animals mentioned above are various types of deer. Southern Africa has a billion different kinds of deer. It has to do with the nature of the landscape here. Back in the day, grasslands were a fertile ground for an explosion of ungulates (hoofed animals). The savanna/veld (grassland…veld is an Afrikaans word that basically means grassland w/thorny trees…pronounced like “felt”) is king here, so that’s why there are so many types of deer (or boks as they are called here, Afrikaans word that I guess generally means deer). The conditions were just favorable. I don’t even know all the different bok that are present in Southern Africa. There are just too many of them. If you want to check out some of the animals above that you have never heard of then I highly recommend http://www.google.com/ (images of course, baby!) and www.wikipedia.org to check out: kudu, civet, leopard, genet, white tailed mongoose. I didn’t see a gemsbok or springbok at Joan’s place, but they are also incredibly beautiful animals that deserve an information treasure hunt on google/wikipedia! The springbok is the mascot of the SA national rugby team.
There was a lot of down time in between these game drives. The mix of people at Joan’s place was an interesting one! Most folks were Rotarians: read older folks. There were 2 families there. One with 3 younger girls (13-ish to high school age) and another family w/ a girl my age. Also add in Shad and Rhett. I spent most days sitting in the sun reading or writing for my blog. I have managed to get a tan in the winter of South Africa. I’m not quite sure how that played out, but when I got back to Pretoria and looked in the mirror I just thought “Geez! I’m browner.” The freckle patch on my forehead is back and everything…and I only see that thing come out in the summer time at home! Winter in SA is a trip! One day the girls asked to braid my hair while I read. It was good times. Joan asked me to read a book while I was there, that she produced out of a nightstand by her bed, called Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. It was an incredible book about apocalyptic times orchestrated by a sentient group of plants. An old skool science fiction read, but not really too science-fictiony for all of you scared of that term. All in all, an incredibly well written, and certainly a book I’d highly recommend to anyone interested in a good book! She came to recommend this book to me after a night of spirits where a discussion of a post 9/11 world came about. My whole belief is that the USA has become, in time, too big for its britches. I think it’s tragic that life in the USA seems to exist out of sync w/the rest of the world. I personally think of/call America “Disneyland.” Despite the problems that any person in the USA faces, we just live by a different set of rules compared to all other people in the world. I think it’s wrong, because no country of people should be above the general problems of the greater human population. It’s not like we deserve it or anything. It just has happened and we are enjoying the fruits of it for free. The aftermath of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina are great examples of how events the rest of the world often deals with came to the USA and we just didn’t know how to deal with it. We felt victimized and singled out. People around the world are dealing with massive tragedies and living a less Disney life every single day. Many of these events are even orchestrated by the “intentions” of the USA government, but that won’t make the 5 o’clock news now will it? In the USA, these things just don’t affect us on a daily basis. Think about it. Have you ever walked a mile to fetch water? Have you ever washed all your clothes by hand? Do you remember what country was affected the most by Hurricane Mitch? Do you know what commodity is tearing up the Niger Delta in Nigeria? Probably not. You wake up, go to work, come home, make supper without problems of acquiring food, watch a bit of TV, and then go to bed. Then lather, rinse, repeat. The problems of a family affected by the tsunami in Indochina, the war in Iraq, the genocide in Sudan just don’t affect people that live in the USA. I have had to talk a lot about the USA in SA. My accent gives me away and then I must speak about George Bush and imperialism…without fail. My favorite is when people ask me if I’m a Bush supporter, because they assume all Americans are Bush supporters. Wow it is nice to have a good hearty laugh, isn’t it? That question always makes me laugh and then I get to say “what do you think?” If you know me for 5 minutes I would hope you could guess where I stand. At my birthday party in March, I had a conversation about the USA where I was up against some serious USA bashing. No worries! I get a lot of “what’s up with you guys in the USA taking everything over and dominating the world?” It’s funny to have such an overarching question asked of one person who lives in the USA. Funny because I have to answer for millions of people that I differ from as well as answering for my government…which I don’t approve of. I asked the question to my audience “What event or indicator do you think will prove that the USA empire has indeed fallen?” Wow! This question sparked a lively debate. My whole perspective was that the US will indeed fall one day (just look at history! Ever heard of a little empire called Rome??) and the indicator will be that the general population of the USA will feel the problems of the world in the same way that all people in the world are dealing with those problems now. It’s not that I hope for any group of people in the USA to be victimized and punished…but I still don’t think it’s right that we enjoy so much while so many others suffer SO greatly.
Oh, I’m sorry, did I get on a soapbox again?? I guess I did. My bad.
Ok…I’ve descended again. So I guess the time at Joan’s was a blast. I missed the first week of classes to come and hang out in the bush. Good times, good times. Joan herself really can’t go w/out mention at this point. I guess you’d have to point out that she’s pretty wealthy. No danger. I would have to say that I don’t know that much about her, despite spending quite a bit of quality time with her. At some point she was a teacher and married…circumstances that no longer constrain her these days. She is an active Rotarian that is involved with a number of projects including wildlife conservation, literacy/education, and HIV/AIDS activism. She’s a woman that I find incredibly fascinating. Someone you just can’t put your finger on. There’s a bumper sticker I’ve seen quite a bit in the USA that says “Well behaved women rarely make history.” I’m sorry to doom Joan to this convention, but I would have to say that she embodies this cliché very well. I only hope that I can live my life w/half the grace and style that she has when I reach her age in life. We had a lot of great and hilarious conversations while I was in her company. And she’s a woman that digs her whiskey, which I always respect. I’m very lucky to have spent time with her and I look forward to seeing her again. Also she’s a woman who speaks her mind…and that is always something to respect as well. I’ve been offered to come stay with her in Warm Baths after school (when I’ll be homeless cos I live in a dorm right now)…a prospect I’m very eager to accept.
Yeah, so I came back to Pretoria after hanging at Joan’s place. On the way home, Rhett, Shad, and I checked out the Blyde River Canyon. It was really really beautiful. I think I’ve been there before with my dad…but beautiful scenes are never dull when dealt with in repetition.
I was so happy to come back to Pretoria and start school again (can you believe it?) until about 4 hours after I arrived home. I don’t want to blame Pretoria…but it all fits into my theory that this is just somewhere that evil spirits seem to campaign against me. I hope you will remember hearing about my friend Raoni in the last post I wrote. Well, maybe you can see from what I wrote that I really dig this guy. When I arrived home to Pretoria I spent some time with my friend Luso in my dorm. It was so positive. I hadn’t spoken to her in ages and as we walked around my complex I was greeted from all angles by people I know. It was great! Made me feel at home for a second. Then I read my emails only to see that Raoni just wanted to “be friends” with me. D’oh!
There has been much drama that has ensued since that initial “just friends” email. I just can’t get into it in this forum. I mean, I could write a book on what’s happened between us in the weeks since we’ve met…but I won’t bore you with it now.
I arrived in Pretoria on a Sunday and then the upcoming Tuesday my posse from Grahamstown (Raoni and Brigitte) arrived to experience Pretoria and visit me. So I rushed around to prepare for them as well as trying to get back into the school swing. Hey, I still haven’t gotten into the school swing…but these next few days are mine to get these classes under control.
Since I’ve been back…well what exactly can I say I did? I have been to some classes. Have tried to figure out my schedule, but mostly I’ve just been hanging out with people. Like I said, Brigitte and Raoni came to visit me in Pretoria. We mostly just chilled out and tooled around Pretoria. They got to meet a wide range of my friends here which was pretty cool. I actually felt like I had made progress on the people front in Pretoria. Gathering the homies like that was evidence to me that I’m indeed starting to make this place my home. We scoped the campus and watched movies. We enjoyed the dismal nightlife that Pretoria has to offer, etc. I actually got in trouble from the people that run my dorm for having unregistered guests staying in my room, d’oh! But everything’s okay now. The guy that runs this place is incredibly reasonable and after I had a chat with him he basically told me that I should do what I want…just don’t get caught. Alrighty then! Now that’s advice I can live with!
On a high note I must mention my friend Cliff here. He’s a guy I know from 2002. He’s from Zimbabwe and is the best friend of a boy I was kissing back in the day. We met during the infamous Zimbabwean donkey episode, if you are hip to that story. Honestly, Cliff and I are closer now than I ever was to his best friend that I was kissing. Cliff is an energetic spirit that you can’t help but smile around. Noddy aka Nate aka wshbtx…I’m thinking of you in a great comparison to Cliff. He calls me his “teddy bear”…which I don’t mind at all. But don’t any of the rest of you try it!! While Brigitte and Raoni were here, Cliff called me to tell me he was in Pretoria. I show up to meet him and when I get there he steps out of a car wearing a very nice suit (with fancy shoes and all). Apparently he’s got some fancy finances job (which I still don’t quite understand) and has bought a car and is doing well. I’m so proud of him! He stays in Joburg in a pretty dodgy place called Braamfontein, but is planning on “moving on up to the east side.” Literally. Anyways…I just want to give him props. Well done Cliff! I think he’s in the perfect job for himself (even if it’s not something that appeals to me) and on his way up. You can’t deny the beauty of that!!!
So since I’ve arrived home I’ve been busy as all get out and spending too much time with people. I don’t see this as a bad thing…because when it comes down to it, I’m here to do school and do it well! Make no mistake of that. I’ve been dealing with a lot of bad vibes radiating off myself because of all this Raoni business, but it’s beginning to be a really positive thing again. Mostly I’m just happy that he’s sticking around to deal with all this so that we can stay friends. I’ve had other guys just run away when talk got a bit confusing and deep. And it’s just sad to lose a friend in any situation. Especially when you feel so close to the person in question.
On the radio tip…(you knew it was coming) we just hired a bunch of new people. The radio station does interviews at the beginning of every semester in the attempt to get new blood into the station. I had to go thru the interview process again too. My interview was pretty cool. The station manager said “you’re doing great.” My boss said that I know in less than 6 months what it took him a year to master. I was also asked to write a segment in our new training manual about a “day in the life of a producer.” It was fun and some people at the station were like “your day in the life thing was hilarious!” Cool! I like hearing all this nice feedback. Helps kick out the bad vibes. We’ve hired 2 new producers (as well as new DJs, marketing peeps, news readers, etc) that already have experience at the station and at doing production work, so I’m hoping that some of the heat will be taken off of the existing production crew (my boss and me). I’m so happy about these 2 guys joining us! I’m still working on a daily segment that airs during lunchtime, but thankfully it’s not taking all my time to make this segment anymore. I was making this 5 min segment in just under 2 hours, but on Monday I made it in about an hour. I even had to make some music to play with the program…maybe this doesn’t make sense to you...but it’s a big accomplishment to me! I’ve never produced this segment in such a short time. I guess I’m coming along!!! If any of you would like to hear some of the work I do, then just email me (lynseemelchi@gmail.com) and I’ll send you a few mp3s. Maybe it will help you understand what the heck it is that I actually do here.
On the school tip…my talks to administrators have been pretty fruitless. The head of my college/faculty told me that he can’t really do anything for me, despite his empathy for my situation. D’oh! I must still suffer with these classes that are pretty much repeats of things I’ve already done at my university at home. This semester I’m taking: Biochemistry in Perspective, Lipid metabolism, Introduction to Fungi, and Quantative Genetics (yuck!). A very positive thing to report is the I’m almost guaranteed a spot in vet school here (knock on wood) because they hold 10 spots for international students, but have never had more than 10 students apply for these spots. And I have good grades here anyways. I just found this out this week, so maybe I can be happy and less stressed this semester. I just handed in my application for vet school this week. It consisted of my contact details and my student number…and that’s it. No essays, no interviews…it’s all about your grades. Pretty funny compared to the process in the USA that consists of paying lots of money, taking GREs, writing essays, noting your previous veterinary experiences, an interview (if you are lucky), and more. SA rocks!
I was very down this week, but Friday really redeemed the rest of the week. I got to have homemade bunny chow thanks to a girl that works at the radio station (thanks Kriya’s mom!!) and then went to go watch the Simpsons movie. It was so rad!!! I can’t wait to go see it again! I haven’t watched the Simpsons since I left home…and that is a long dry spell I’m not proud of. I don’t really watch TV or movies, but I’m a Simpsons junkie of the first order. Handing off my precious collection of Simpsons tapes to my brother was a very sad moment for me when I left the USA. Matt, you besta be takin’ care of those babies!!! It's a family heirloom now...
Before I forget…there’s one more happiness to report. I FINALLY received a package my mom prepared for me! My birthday package arrived a few months late, but better late than never I guess. The story goes like this…my fav professor from home, Dr Kesler, offers a wildlife trip to students from U of IL. He works with a guy in SA, Andy, to bring students over so that they can get their hands dirty on the SA wildlife scene. It’s pretty cool. Dr. Kesler also runs the trip to Brazil that I went on awhile back. That trip is one of the main reasons I’m where I am right now…so, respect, Dr. K! Dr. Kesler came over here at the end of May and I asked him to bring a package my mom had made for my birthday. He agreed, but when he was in Pretoria we had a miscommunication and were not able to meet up. My package ended up going to Nelspruit (about 5 hours away) w/Andy. No danger cos they would be back in Pretoria a few weeks later to host another student group from the USA. They came thru but Andy thought I was going to be out of town, so he didn’t bring the package. D’oh! No danger, again, cos they were coming back to Pretoria a few weeks later. Unfortunately when Andy came back with the students it was at the beginning of a government workers’ strike that was happening all over the country. Because Pretoria is one of the governmental centers (like Washington DC in the USA) there were a lot of protests/riots in the area. I wasn’t affected by any of these, so it’s not like it was widespread danger everywhere. Just in localized spots. Apparently Andy’s group got caught up in these protests had some things stolen from them and in the end they hightailed it out of Pretoria almost as soon as they got here. Hectic! So this is the 3rd missed package rendezvous. Alright…I’m still patient even though my mom is emailing me every week asking if I’ve received this package yet. I just have to keep telling her that things in SA move a bit different than at home. Patience is a virtue. Well, long story long, I finally got the package last week and I got to see and talk to Dr. Kesler for about an hour…which was great! Dr. Kesler is one of those people that I’m really tight with (remember what I said about cool adults in my last post re: John the Rotarian in Grahamstown). When I was still at home in Champaign-Urbana, but out of school, I would go visit Dr. Kesler just to catch up with him. I was really happy that he is one of the people I have gotten to see in SA from the USA!! The package was great! Some of my clothes from home that I miss a lot, a new toiletry bag that my mom sewed and embroidered, my favorite soap, a picture of steak tacos (that is now hanging up above my desk so I can see it everyday), a really cool card, and the best part of all…a new messenger bag for school. My mom is a talented lady! She screenprinted, dyed (with a homemade onion peel dye), sewed, and embroidered this bag for me. It took her months and months do it, but when I laid my eyes on it…fireworks, puppy dogs, candy, and all other things sweet!!!!!! Much love momma! And also after all that drama…it was really nice to get the prize.
Today I rode my bike into downtown Pretoria (which was a great ride!) to visit one of my friends that I made in 2002. Philile. I haven't seen her in 5 years...so it was pretty rad to go hang out with her. We had lunch and talked about tons and tons of stuff. I can't wait to hang out with again soon.
Anyways…that’s all that’s happening to me at the moment. I know it might be a lot to digest, but probiotics do wonders for digestion. I suggest acidophilus, papaya, and plain yogurt.
I’ve got photos coming up when I can spend a million hours in the computer lab uploading them. There was a Day in the Life that happened while I was away, so you can also look forward to that. Stay posted to my picasa site for new pics!
Much Love
Lynsee
So, as I said in my last post, I left my boys in Coffee Bay and headed north to Pretoria. This was Monday July 9th. I had to get back to Pretoria in enough time to gather supplies so I could leave with 2 Rotarians on Wednesday morning at 6am-ish for a place called Sabie Sands.
The bus ride home was pretty uneventful. Watched terrible movies (some stupid movie w/a woman handcuffed to a hot dog stand at the mercy of a Wesley Snipes as a sniper…ha ha, funny play on words), iPod joy, stared out the window (my favorite). I was starving on the ride home cos I only had breakfast that morning in Coffee Bay. We stopped at a gas station with a Wimpy and a double cheeseburger stole my heart. One of the fast food chains here is called Wimpy. No reason to add this…I just think it’s a cute name for a fast food chain. Wasn’t Wimpy one of Popeye’s friends that really loved hamburgers? I digress…letting fast food capture your heart is a danger in its own right. I just don’t do fast food anymore. I didn’t even do fast food at home. I just think it’s better to spend that extra 5-10 minutes to ensure that I get a nice meal made out of actual food not some manufactured burger that may have resembled real food at one point in its life. And, of course, the taqueria always makes its tacos fast. :) Have you seen Supersize Me or read Fast Food Nation? Do yourselves a favor and check these out! You will stop giving your money to McDonalds in a heartbeat, provided that your heart hasn’t already been clogged by McGrease! Anyways, that burger was harboring nasty germs, so I got food poisoning…again. Yes, this is the 3rd time I’ve had food poisoning in 7 months. I really don’t understand why this keeps happening. I have a strong stomach. I’ve been to places where the guide book says “don’t eat food cooked on the street.” But I have eaten that food. I am a strict believer in the 5-10 second rule when food falls on the floor. I also believe strongly in simply cutting off the rotten part of the fruit to enjoy the ripeness of the rest of it. But for some reason these policies are not doing much for me in South Africa. Maybe you can derive some symbolic inferences from it, but I surely cannot. I guess I’m just a fool for food, even when I think to myself while chowing “this is going to come back to haunt me.”
Bbecause I’ve had food poisoning so much in this country, I now know how to deal with it. The basic plan is just sleep all day. It’s simple and seems to do the trick for me. Vomiting also does wonders. So when I got to Pretoria on Tuesday morning I just went home and slept. Woke up to get my supplies (cheese sausages, eggs, juice, and wine) and then slept some more.
Rhett and Shad (the Rotarians) picked me up on Wednesday morning and we shuttled off to Arathusa, a private game farm in Sabie Sands Game Reserve (in the NE of S Africa, adjacent to the world famous Kruger Park), to see some wild animals. Rhett and Shad are 2 Rotarians I’ve met in Pretoria. They are members of Pretoria West Rotary Club, not my club which is Silverton Rotary Club. Rhett, in particular, has been one of the best Rotarians I have met. He actually gets in touch with me without any prompting…fantastic! He invites me over for Sunday lunch (a common ritual here). He takes me to other clubs. He sends me messages on my phone about big events happening in his club, as well as helps me get to his club meetings. All in all, a very passionate and admirable Rotarian!
We came to embark on this tour thanks to another Rotarian, Joan Greissel. I went with Rhett and Shad to go visit her club in Warm Baths, which is about 2 hours N of Pretoria, about 2 months earlier. When I was there and she found out I was into wildlife she said to me “Lynsee, you are coming to my game farm on such and such dates.” When someone proposes such things to you…you don’t say no. You clear your calendar and head off! Privately owned wildlife establishments are big business in this country. These private wildlife stocks take on various forms: wildlife ranches where animals are raised for meat or hunting or both, private game farms where wildlife is around to be enjoyed thru the buzz word “ecotourism”, and such. I don’t actually understand all the forms that private wildlife businesses encompass…which is why I’m here to learn. Gonz., I’m onto you when you say that the future of environmentalism is to make people understand that they can make money saving the environment! Joan’s “farm” is part of a larger system where the animals aren’t necessarily held back by fences (there aren’t really any fences to differentiate Joan’s farm from others…just large swatches of mowed grass to say “this is where property A begins and property B starts”). I don’t even know if the animals are managed in any way in the area where Joan’s farm is. I guess these sorts of establishments are primarily in place so that tourists can come and stay in a comfortable lodge, go around on game drives, and take photos of wild animals. I was skeptical at first, but all in all…it’s a pretty sweet set up. Joan actually stays next to a game farm that is owned by Richard Branson…if that means anything to you.
I’ve been to a few game reserves in South Africa. To me, they just seem to be large zoos without cages. An improvement, to be sure, on the traditional zoo where you walk along from cage to cage and see the wonders of the wild world in neat little packages. But, from my understanding, game reserves seem to be stocked with animals according to a certain capacity (such that there are enough resources for the animals to consume and live in harmony) so that you can drive around in your car, tour bus, or safari vehicle and see a ton of wild animals in a 2 hour sojourn. To me…it’s just not right. Not wild. Not real. But despite man’s constraints and best intentions, wild things always find a way to impress and amaze!
A great example is Kruger Park. Hands down the most famous game reserve in South Africa…if not southern Africa. It’s roughly the size of Wales (probably even bigger now that they have opened fences to Mozambique and Zimbabwe). I went there with my dad in 2002. We drove around and looked at animals, stayed in a nice lodge, and safely enjoyed nature (from the confines of our automobile). There are paved roads, tour buses, and the like in Kruger Park. Despite all this…I still think it’s one of the most real parks in SA. From a realistic viewpoint…how the heck can you control various groups of wild animals (in an area the size of Wales) such that tourists have a good time. It’s impossible. My father and I didn’t see every wild animal Kruger Park had to offer, but we did okay. When I went to Brazil in 2004 I remember our group being extremely pissed off that we didn’t see tons of wild animals while we were out and about in the rainforest. First of all, there were about 15 of us making a constant talking noise. Yo, animals hear that and move away. Second, just because you are in a wild place it doesn’t mean you will see wild animals just ambling around. Nature is capricious and enigmatic like that. It takes time to see what you expect. Even if you work with domestic animals, you only begin to realize the wide spectrum of animal behavior thru many many interactions. It doesn’t just happen all in one encounter. You must be a patient and persistant person to have a full range of wild things revealed to you. And nature will surprise you even in a domestic environment!
I guess it would be good to differentiate game reserve vs game farm right now. I’ll try to the best of my ability. Game reserves in SA are more of a government controlled thing. I guess you could think of Yellowstone National Park in the USA as a game reserve. A game farm is a privately owned thing where animals may or may not be managed. Like I said, I don’t think the animals on Joan’s farm are managed. When I say managed, I mean that the animals are stocked to a specific density such that they are able to be easily viewed by people but the animals aren’t stripping all the trees and vegetation for food. Management also means that the animals may or may not be receiving medical treatment. Management means that someone is employed to deal with the needs of the animals. I hope this makes sense.
Okay so we arrived at Arathusa Game Farm after a long and winding sightseeing trip through the NE of South Africa. Beautiful mountains (always a pleasure for a girl from the topographically-challenged Midwest) and quaint Afrikaans dorps. Dorp=village in Afrikaans…basically cute small towns. The name of my dorm is called Tuksdorp, which means Tuks village.
Joan’s farm consists of the people places and the wild places. The rooms were wonderful: big warm beds, cleaned everyday by the maid, hot showers, nice cooking facilities, a pool, hot tub, and such. Joan’s father bought the place in the 50s-60s and her family has had it since. I think that Joan has the place so she can invite people to check out the wildlife of SA and so that she has a place to come and chill out when she wants to get away. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Now it would also behoove me to speak of the “big 5.” A HUGE deal in SA, and probably Southern Africa. It’s such a big deal in SA that the money here is adorned with the big 5. 10 Rand note: White rhino. 20 Rand note: Elephant. 50 Rand note: Lion. 100 Rand note: Water buffalo. 200 Rand note: Leopard. That’s your big 5. I would love to go into the history of how the “big 5” as a term came about…but I just don’t have the time to research. These days it seems like it’s a marketing term. A way to brand some aspect of South African life so that it can be sold to tourists. You can buy T-shirts, shot glasses, postcards, etc with the big 5 on them. Seeing the big 5 is a cornerstone of all wildlife-centered tourist expeditions. I had never seen the big 5 before I went to Joan’s place. Before Joan’s, I had seen rhino (there are two species here: white rhino w/a square upper lip and black rhino w/a pointy upper lip), elephant, and that’s about it. I guess, before Joan’s, my wild life in SA had been quite unfulfilled according to all reasonable tourist logic. Fortunately, I’m pretty sure that I don’t live my life according to reasonable tourist logic, so I was not feeling so incredibly unfulfilled. I had seen zebras, giraffes, hippos, cool snakes, and more. Not the big 5, but awe inspiring animals nonetheless. I saw the big 5 within the first 24 hours of being at Arathusa. It was incredible! Leopards, hands down, are the hardest of all the big 5 to spot in the wild. I saw a leopard (the same one) 3 times within the first 24 hours of being at Joan’s. We saw other leopards in the coming days. Great! Every time I see a leopard my bottom jaw separates from the top…mouth agape, people!!
So the basic routine at Joan’s was: game drive in the morning, chilling out in between, game drive in the evening, wonderful dinner, drinks/chatting/game of pool, sleep. I went on most of the game drives, but at times I just wanted to chill around Joan’s “compound” so I didn’t get into all the drives. Even just sitting around Joan’s place meant seeing or hearing wild animals. It was fantastic. She has an artificial watering hole just at the back of her house where elephants (and other animals) often come to quench their thirst. Her people places (a few little houses for guests, etc) are on a ridge that looks over a big grassy area called Elephant Plains…where you can also check out animals cruising around. Mornings where I didn’t join the game drives meant having my coffee while watching elephants congregate and cavort around this pool of water. It was incredible to be just 20 feet from 5+ elephants having a drink and playing in the water with only a 3 foot high electric fence separating you from the scene. The drives consisted of whoever was staying at the farm that wanted to join the drive sitting in a safari 4x4 with a game ranger sitting on the front of the truck pointing things out, tracking, and telling us about the natural history of the area. Our ranger, Jeffrey, was new and didn’t actually tell us that much information. It was pretty sad, but I guess I understand. When I was in Kruger with my dad in 2002, we went on a walking tour one morning. It was probably my favorite wildlife experience in SA. We walked around with 2 armed game rangers for an hour or 2. We didn’t see many animals, but learned a lot about the landscape. Seeing animals is great, but inquisitive minds want to know. Hey, that’s me! I like to know about plants and landscapes and behaviors. Seeing wild animals is a treat in its own respect, but that animal you are viewing does not live in a vacuum. It must eat. It must walk on the sandy paths in the morning to avoid the dew on the grass. It must leave evidence it was there (tracks and poop…or spoor and scat if you want to be all scientifical about it). Etc Etc. These are the types of things I want to know about even more than just seeing an animal run across a field.
We saw lots and lots of animals at Joan’s place. Here’s the list (in case you are interested): impala, kudu (my favorite deer in SA, but in competition w/the springbok), white tail mongoose, lions (male, female, and cubs), nyala, hyena, giraffe, elephant, hippo (my favorite animal), civet, leopard, red duiker, blue duiker, waterbok, steenbok, squirrels, hornbills, warthog, blue crane, long tail shrike, bats, mice, wildebeest, zebra, genet, fish eagle, baboon, bushbok, spring hare, mongoose, water buffalo, white rhino…and probably others. We saw lots and lots of birds I didn’t mention here because they are too numerous to mention. The birds here are incredible. I see some cool birds at school in Pretoria, but the birds at Joan’s place were SO beautiful. The colors and feathers and tails…nice! A lot of the animals mentioned above are various types of deer. Southern Africa has a billion different kinds of deer. It has to do with the nature of the landscape here. Back in the day, grasslands were a fertile ground for an explosion of ungulates (hoofed animals). The savanna/veld (grassland…veld is an Afrikaans word that basically means grassland w/thorny trees…pronounced like “felt”) is king here, so that’s why there are so many types of deer (or boks as they are called here, Afrikaans word that I guess generally means deer). The conditions were just favorable. I don’t even know all the different bok that are present in Southern Africa. There are just too many of them. If you want to check out some of the animals above that you have never heard of then I highly recommend http://www.google.com/ (images of course, baby!) and www.wikipedia.org to check out: kudu, civet, leopard, genet, white tailed mongoose. I didn’t see a gemsbok or springbok at Joan’s place, but they are also incredibly beautiful animals that deserve an information treasure hunt on google/wikipedia! The springbok is the mascot of the SA national rugby team.
There was a lot of down time in between these game drives. The mix of people at Joan’s place was an interesting one! Most folks were Rotarians: read older folks. There were 2 families there. One with 3 younger girls (13-ish to high school age) and another family w/ a girl my age. Also add in Shad and Rhett. I spent most days sitting in the sun reading or writing for my blog. I have managed to get a tan in the winter of South Africa. I’m not quite sure how that played out, but when I got back to Pretoria and looked in the mirror I just thought “Geez! I’m browner.” The freckle patch on my forehead is back and everything…and I only see that thing come out in the summer time at home! Winter in SA is a trip! One day the girls asked to braid my hair while I read. It was good times. Joan asked me to read a book while I was there, that she produced out of a nightstand by her bed, called Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. It was an incredible book about apocalyptic times orchestrated by a sentient group of plants. An old skool science fiction read, but not really too science-fictiony for all of you scared of that term. All in all, an incredibly well written, and certainly a book I’d highly recommend to anyone interested in a good book! She came to recommend this book to me after a night of spirits where a discussion of a post 9/11 world came about. My whole belief is that the USA has become, in time, too big for its britches. I think it’s tragic that life in the USA seems to exist out of sync w/the rest of the world. I personally think of/call America “Disneyland.” Despite the problems that any person in the USA faces, we just live by a different set of rules compared to all other people in the world. I think it’s wrong, because no country of people should be above the general problems of the greater human population. It’s not like we deserve it or anything. It just has happened and we are enjoying the fruits of it for free. The aftermath of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina are great examples of how events the rest of the world often deals with came to the USA and we just didn’t know how to deal with it. We felt victimized and singled out. People around the world are dealing with massive tragedies and living a less Disney life every single day. Many of these events are even orchestrated by the “intentions” of the USA government, but that won’t make the 5 o’clock news now will it? In the USA, these things just don’t affect us on a daily basis. Think about it. Have you ever walked a mile to fetch water? Have you ever washed all your clothes by hand? Do you remember what country was affected the most by Hurricane Mitch? Do you know what commodity is tearing up the Niger Delta in Nigeria? Probably not. You wake up, go to work, come home, make supper without problems of acquiring food, watch a bit of TV, and then go to bed. Then lather, rinse, repeat. The problems of a family affected by the tsunami in Indochina, the war in Iraq, the genocide in Sudan just don’t affect people that live in the USA. I have had to talk a lot about the USA in SA. My accent gives me away and then I must speak about George Bush and imperialism…without fail. My favorite is when people ask me if I’m a Bush supporter, because they assume all Americans are Bush supporters. Wow it is nice to have a good hearty laugh, isn’t it? That question always makes me laugh and then I get to say “what do you think?” If you know me for 5 minutes I would hope you could guess where I stand. At my birthday party in March, I had a conversation about the USA where I was up against some serious USA bashing. No worries! I get a lot of “what’s up with you guys in the USA taking everything over and dominating the world?” It’s funny to have such an overarching question asked of one person who lives in the USA. Funny because I have to answer for millions of people that I differ from as well as answering for my government…which I don’t approve of. I asked the question to my audience “What event or indicator do you think will prove that the USA empire has indeed fallen?” Wow! This question sparked a lively debate. My whole perspective was that the US will indeed fall one day (just look at history! Ever heard of a little empire called Rome??) and the indicator will be that the general population of the USA will feel the problems of the world in the same way that all people in the world are dealing with those problems now. It’s not that I hope for any group of people in the USA to be victimized and punished…but I still don’t think it’s right that we enjoy so much while so many others suffer SO greatly.
Oh, I’m sorry, did I get on a soapbox again?? I guess I did. My bad.
Ok…I’ve descended again. So I guess the time at Joan’s was a blast. I missed the first week of classes to come and hang out in the bush. Good times, good times. Joan herself really can’t go w/out mention at this point. I guess you’d have to point out that she’s pretty wealthy. No danger. I would have to say that I don’t know that much about her, despite spending quite a bit of quality time with her. At some point she was a teacher and married…circumstances that no longer constrain her these days. She is an active Rotarian that is involved with a number of projects including wildlife conservation, literacy/education, and HIV/AIDS activism. She’s a woman that I find incredibly fascinating. Someone you just can’t put your finger on. There’s a bumper sticker I’ve seen quite a bit in the USA that says “Well behaved women rarely make history.” I’m sorry to doom Joan to this convention, but I would have to say that she embodies this cliché very well. I only hope that I can live my life w/half the grace and style that she has when I reach her age in life. We had a lot of great and hilarious conversations while I was in her company. And she’s a woman that digs her whiskey, which I always respect. I’m very lucky to have spent time with her and I look forward to seeing her again. Also she’s a woman who speaks her mind…and that is always something to respect as well. I’ve been offered to come stay with her in Warm Baths after school (when I’ll be homeless cos I live in a dorm right now)…a prospect I’m very eager to accept.
Yeah, so I came back to Pretoria after hanging at Joan’s place. On the way home, Rhett, Shad, and I checked out the Blyde River Canyon. It was really really beautiful. I think I’ve been there before with my dad…but beautiful scenes are never dull when dealt with in repetition.
I was so happy to come back to Pretoria and start school again (can you believe it?) until about 4 hours after I arrived home. I don’t want to blame Pretoria…but it all fits into my theory that this is just somewhere that evil spirits seem to campaign against me. I hope you will remember hearing about my friend Raoni in the last post I wrote. Well, maybe you can see from what I wrote that I really dig this guy. When I arrived home to Pretoria I spent some time with my friend Luso in my dorm. It was so positive. I hadn’t spoken to her in ages and as we walked around my complex I was greeted from all angles by people I know. It was great! Made me feel at home for a second. Then I read my emails only to see that Raoni just wanted to “be friends” with me. D’oh!
There has been much drama that has ensued since that initial “just friends” email. I just can’t get into it in this forum. I mean, I could write a book on what’s happened between us in the weeks since we’ve met…but I won’t bore you with it now.
I arrived in Pretoria on a Sunday and then the upcoming Tuesday my posse from Grahamstown (Raoni and Brigitte) arrived to experience Pretoria and visit me. So I rushed around to prepare for them as well as trying to get back into the school swing. Hey, I still haven’t gotten into the school swing…but these next few days are mine to get these classes under control.
Since I’ve been back…well what exactly can I say I did? I have been to some classes. Have tried to figure out my schedule, but mostly I’ve just been hanging out with people. Like I said, Brigitte and Raoni came to visit me in Pretoria. We mostly just chilled out and tooled around Pretoria. They got to meet a wide range of my friends here which was pretty cool. I actually felt like I had made progress on the people front in Pretoria. Gathering the homies like that was evidence to me that I’m indeed starting to make this place my home. We scoped the campus and watched movies. We enjoyed the dismal nightlife that Pretoria has to offer, etc. I actually got in trouble from the people that run my dorm for having unregistered guests staying in my room, d’oh! But everything’s okay now. The guy that runs this place is incredibly reasonable and after I had a chat with him he basically told me that I should do what I want…just don’t get caught. Alrighty then! Now that’s advice I can live with!
On a high note I must mention my friend Cliff here. He’s a guy I know from 2002. He’s from Zimbabwe and is the best friend of a boy I was kissing back in the day. We met during the infamous Zimbabwean donkey episode, if you are hip to that story. Honestly, Cliff and I are closer now than I ever was to his best friend that I was kissing. Cliff is an energetic spirit that you can’t help but smile around. Noddy aka Nate aka wshbtx…I’m thinking of you in a great comparison to Cliff. He calls me his “teddy bear”…which I don’t mind at all. But don’t any of the rest of you try it!! While Brigitte and Raoni were here, Cliff called me to tell me he was in Pretoria. I show up to meet him and when I get there he steps out of a car wearing a very nice suit (with fancy shoes and all). Apparently he’s got some fancy finances job (which I still don’t quite understand) and has bought a car and is doing well. I’m so proud of him! He stays in Joburg in a pretty dodgy place called Braamfontein, but is planning on “moving on up to the east side.” Literally. Anyways…I just want to give him props. Well done Cliff! I think he’s in the perfect job for himself (even if it’s not something that appeals to me) and on his way up. You can’t deny the beauty of that!!!
So since I’ve arrived home I’ve been busy as all get out and spending too much time with people. I don’t see this as a bad thing…because when it comes down to it, I’m here to do school and do it well! Make no mistake of that. I’ve been dealing with a lot of bad vibes radiating off myself because of all this Raoni business, but it’s beginning to be a really positive thing again. Mostly I’m just happy that he’s sticking around to deal with all this so that we can stay friends. I’ve had other guys just run away when talk got a bit confusing and deep. And it’s just sad to lose a friend in any situation. Especially when you feel so close to the person in question.
On the radio tip…(you knew it was coming) we just hired a bunch of new people. The radio station does interviews at the beginning of every semester in the attempt to get new blood into the station. I had to go thru the interview process again too. My interview was pretty cool. The station manager said “you’re doing great.” My boss said that I know in less than 6 months what it took him a year to master. I was also asked to write a segment in our new training manual about a “day in the life of a producer.” It was fun and some people at the station were like “your day in the life thing was hilarious!” Cool! I like hearing all this nice feedback. Helps kick out the bad vibes. We’ve hired 2 new producers (as well as new DJs, marketing peeps, news readers, etc) that already have experience at the station and at doing production work, so I’m hoping that some of the heat will be taken off of the existing production crew (my boss and me). I’m so happy about these 2 guys joining us! I’m still working on a daily segment that airs during lunchtime, but thankfully it’s not taking all my time to make this segment anymore. I was making this 5 min segment in just under 2 hours, but on Monday I made it in about an hour. I even had to make some music to play with the program…maybe this doesn’t make sense to you...but it’s a big accomplishment to me! I’ve never produced this segment in such a short time. I guess I’m coming along!!! If any of you would like to hear some of the work I do, then just email me (lynseemelchi@gmail.com) and I’ll send you a few mp3s. Maybe it will help you understand what the heck it is that I actually do here.
On the school tip…my talks to administrators have been pretty fruitless. The head of my college/faculty told me that he can’t really do anything for me, despite his empathy for my situation. D’oh! I must still suffer with these classes that are pretty much repeats of things I’ve already done at my university at home. This semester I’m taking: Biochemistry in Perspective, Lipid metabolism, Introduction to Fungi, and Quantative Genetics (yuck!). A very positive thing to report is the I’m almost guaranteed a spot in vet school here (knock on wood) because they hold 10 spots for international students, but have never had more than 10 students apply for these spots. And I have good grades here anyways. I just found this out this week, so maybe I can be happy and less stressed this semester. I just handed in my application for vet school this week. It consisted of my contact details and my student number…and that’s it. No essays, no interviews…it’s all about your grades. Pretty funny compared to the process in the USA that consists of paying lots of money, taking GREs, writing essays, noting your previous veterinary experiences, an interview (if you are lucky), and more. SA rocks!
I was very down this week, but Friday really redeemed the rest of the week. I got to have homemade bunny chow thanks to a girl that works at the radio station (thanks Kriya’s mom!!) and then went to go watch the Simpsons movie. It was so rad!!! I can’t wait to go see it again! I haven’t watched the Simpsons since I left home…and that is a long dry spell I’m not proud of. I don’t really watch TV or movies, but I’m a Simpsons junkie of the first order. Handing off my precious collection of Simpsons tapes to my brother was a very sad moment for me when I left the USA. Matt, you besta be takin’ care of those babies!!! It's a family heirloom now...
Before I forget…there’s one more happiness to report. I FINALLY received a package my mom prepared for me! My birthday package arrived a few months late, but better late than never I guess. The story goes like this…my fav professor from home, Dr Kesler, offers a wildlife trip to students from U of IL. He works with a guy in SA, Andy, to bring students over so that they can get their hands dirty on the SA wildlife scene. It’s pretty cool. Dr. Kesler also runs the trip to Brazil that I went on awhile back. That trip is one of the main reasons I’m where I am right now…so, respect, Dr. K! Dr. Kesler came over here at the end of May and I asked him to bring a package my mom had made for my birthday. He agreed, but when he was in Pretoria we had a miscommunication and were not able to meet up. My package ended up going to Nelspruit (about 5 hours away) w/Andy. No danger cos they would be back in Pretoria a few weeks later to host another student group from the USA. They came thru but Andy thought I was going to be out of town, so he didn’t bring the package. D’oh! No danger, again, cos they were coming back to Pretoria a few weeks later. Unfortunately when Andy came back with the students it was at the beginning of a government workers’ strike that was happening all over the country. Because Pretoria is one of the governmental centers (like Washington DC in the USA) there were a lot of protests/riots in the area. I wasn’t affected by any of these, so it’s not like it was widespread danger everywhere. Just in localized spots. Apparently Andy’s group got caught up in these protests had some things stolen from them and in the end they hightailed it out of Pretoria almost as soon as they got here. Hectic! So this is the 3rd missed package rendezvous. Alright…I’m still patient even though my mom is emailing me every week asking if I’ve received this package yet. I just have to keep telling her that things in SA move a bit different than at home. Patience is a virtue. Well, long story long, I finally got the package last week and I got to see and talk to Dr. Kesler for about an hour…which was great! Dr. Kesler is one of those people that I’m really tight with (remember what I said about cool adults in my last post re: John the Rotarian in Grahamstown). When I was still at home in Champaign-Urbana, but out of school, I would go visit Dr. Kesler just to catch up with him. I was really happy that he is one of the people I have gotten to see in SA from the USA!! The package was great! Some of my clothes from home that I miss a lot, a new toiletry bag that my mom sewed and embroidered, my favorite soap, a picture of steak tacos (that is now hanging up above my desk so I can see it everyday), a really cool card, and the best part of all…a new messenger bag for school. My mom is a talented lady! She screenprinted, dyed (with a homemade onion peel dye), sewed, and embroidered this bag for me. It took her months and months do it, but when I laid my eyes on it…fireworks, puppy dogs, candy, and all other things sweet!!!!!! Much love momma! And also after all that drama…it was really nice to get the prize.
Today I rode my bike into downtown Pretoria (which was a great ride!) to visit one of my friends that I made in 2002. Philile. I haven't seen her in 5 years...so it was pretty rad to go hang out with her. We had lunch and talked about tons and tons of stuff. I can't wait to hang out with again soon.
Anyways…that’s all that’s happening to me at the moment. I know it might be a lot to digest, but probiotics do wonders for digestion. I suggest acidophilus, papaya, and plain yogurt.
I’ve got photos coming up when I can spend a million hours in the computer lab uploading them. There was a Day in the Life that happened while I was away, so you can also look forward to that. Stay posted to my picasa site for new pics!
Much Love
Lynsee
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