Snails

"Snails see the benefits,
The beauty in every inch...

But love is nothing you can tax
My family’s not rich by any means
But I feel we won the lottery, that day
The rock swallowed the girl
And I cried as cameras caught my eyes
My tears turned into butterflies
They fly away as caskets close
A new day comes you’ll wake unfolding
Smile when you feel the sunlight
You feel the sunlight"
-The Format, "Snails."

I lied. I didn't have time to write a full update of my trip to Durban today. Sometimes when you go to Durban, you see that they have a go-karting track, and you get really excited and beg your friends to go kart with you, and then as soon as you get in your go kart you punch the gas and go way too fast and crash into a tire wall and then the person you begged to race against you rams into you and then since South Africa doesn't have crazy restrictions like the US does, your go kart doesn't have a seat belt and you slam into your steering wheel and then back onto the seat, and something-- probably a screw-- on the seat rips open the back of your pants and cuts your back and bruises it and then you have a really sore and swollen back that bothers you for days, so you go to the doctor to get it checked out but the doctor spends about 3 1/2 seconds looking at it and thinks you're a junkie just looking for drugs so he sends you away without a painkiller so you go to the pharmacy and the pharmacist tells you that you can't get anything with codeine in it to help you sleep/ deal with the pain, but then you walk over to another pharmacist and get some Ibuprofen and your friend Matt who was nice enough to drive you to the pharmacy noticed that "Ibucod" is ibuprofen plus codeine so you ask the 2nd pharmacist if you can get that and he says, "Yeah, that's fine," and you ask him if you need a prescription and he says no, so he just gives it to you and warns you not to take too much or else you'll get a stomach ache (but he doesn't warn you about possible addiction/ overdose = death) so then you go home and you take your medicine but you can't find a comfortable position on your bed so you end up getting up and looking through Facebook photos instead of doing something productive, cause the medicine makes you tired enough that you can't focus on homework or anything important, and then you end up posting a rambling blog with a few photos in it, cause you like posting photos and no one reads it because well let's face it, everyone has better things to do than read a long rambling paragraph from a girl who's pretty much tripping out on codeine right now.

Anyway. Even though bad things (like the last paragraph) happen...and other bad things (that won't be listed) happen...you just gotta learn to go with the flow.


'Cause, really, you don't know how things are gonna turn out, or what you're gonna learn, who you'll learn to appreciate, or really...anything. We as humans love to think we know everything, but really, we don't know anything. So...you just gotta roll with it and enjoy what you have. :)

And, of course, perhaps celebrate on the beach. :)

Back-- x2

Hey, I'm back from Durban, (mostly) safe and sound. Due to an unfortunate go-karting accident, my back is temporarily out of commission, but a cardiologist (slash father of my friends slash host of the weekend) checked it out and said it looked okay, and hopefully I'll be able to get some muscle relaxants tomorrow from Clicks (apparently you don't need a prescription for them here?).

Had a good weekend though...I'll be sure to put up pictures sometime soon (i.e. tomorrow). Time for me to get some rest from my vacation though. :)

Of course, a picture to tide you over while you wait:

An important message to remember.

Durbs!

Hi all. It's really early (7 AM early). Which is not really that early, I know, but shush. It's a public holiday, so I should be sleeping. But, I am about to go on a road trip to Durban. So I'll be gone for the weekend, hope you all have a good one. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Have a good weekend, love and miss you all.

I'd like to be under the sea

"I'd ask my friends to come and see
An octopus's garden with me
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus's garden in the shade"
-The Beatles, "Octopus's Garden"

I apologize for messing up the leg continuity.

This week was a hectic one, ja? Just a lot of work in classes and a lot for my internship. I'm actually quite tired now, had a good weekend though. The new Fencing Pub is up and running, so it was nice going there on Thursday night. On Friday I hung out with Andre, Wayde, Andre's mom, and her roommate, who's basically the Hall Director for the girl's res next door. That was a riot, it was so much fun just having a braai and talking. Although I did find it quite funny when Jan (pronounced "Yan") asked me..."Do you eat pap?" (In case you don't get it: I'm obsessed with pap.) Then on Saturday, Matt and I went to Cresta and I got some shorts so I don't die of heat stroke here, and Saturday night...oh! I went to a Fordsburg, which is a large Indian community, and since this weekend was Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Eid ul-Fitr (end of Ramadan for Muslims), and....a Hindu holiday that I've forgotten the name of (sorry!) all this weekend, there was a bit market going on at the Oriental Plaza. It was actually really interesting.

I also bought a stun gun at the market. :D It looks like a cellphone and it's really cool. I'll probably never use it, unless someone wants to volunteer to be a tester...? Haha. I'm super stoked about it, in any case.

Then today, Matt and I checked out Melville and ate at a cute little restaurant called "Lucky Bean" (great food and atmosphere), and we also met up with Andre, who then showed us to this watertower that we've heard so much about...turns out, it has a spectacular view. He was totally right in telling us to bring our cameras. :)


You can literally see the entire city from the hill we were on. Crazy!

Tonight I cooked spaghetti and garlic bread and then I finished knitting a scarf. Good thing I'm 20 and not 65. Oh wait...

Anyway. Going to bed now after a good weekend. Hope you're doing well.

So take it to heart

"If someone's been trying to change your mind
But don't take it too hard
If it sounds unkind
Be the problem in hell
Or be the black tie
Dragging heaven down
And then at least half of your heart will be safe and sound."
-The Ascetic Junkies, "A Protest Song"

In my time here, I have found many similarities and many differences. Some due to race, some due to culture, some due to SES (socio-economic status), technology...and a plethora of other reasons.

This weekend I went to the EOH (Edward Oppenheimer House) party, and there were...well, a LOT of people there. Upwards of several hundred. It's one of the biggest parties of the year, apparently. ZaZa's friends and I had to wait for a 2nd bus to pick us up because the first one was literally packed as full as it could get. When we got to the party, one of ZaZa's friends made the fairly obvious observation that I was the only white person there [we later realized that was incorrect, there were 3 white people there, but I was the only female]. We joked about it, saying that if I got separated from the group, they could just say, "Has anyone seen a white girl around here?" It was actually pretty funny, because none of us were really bothered by that, it was just an amusing observation. One thing, though, was that people would come up to ZaZa or her friends and ask who I was...and they'd want to meet me. The "white girl" who was brave enough to come to the party. Strange. So, I met several people who were interested in my simply because of the combination of the color of my skin and the location I was in. I don't feel offended by it at all, it's just very interesting to me.


ZaZa and her friends did, however, teach me to dance. :)

This week, I've noticed a cultural disconnect. Wits is set to increase fees, and students are protesting about it. Now, Central has had fee increases in the past, and all we've done is write articles about it for the Ray, or possibly talk to Student Senate. Nothing of this scale has been done.

Now, like I said, maybe it's the cultural disconnect, but I just don't agree with these protests. If there's a reason why fees need to go up...well, then they have to go up. As a person who is paying for her own schooling, it's scary and difficult. But, since neither the US nor SA offers free education, we can't expect the universities to allow us to go to school for free. That's something to petition the government about though, not the school. However, if you are going to protest...why would you protest outside the Residence halls at 10:30 at night? The protests very clearly have everyone's attention...why do you need to disrupt students who don't want to participate? One of my lecturers was telling us last year that her laptop was stolen during these riot-protests, and that students would just storm in and jump on tables and shout until everyone left. It seems things like that are happening this year, too.

I'm all for civil disobedience, but this just seems excessive and...misplaced? I don't know. Like, if you really want to be heard, act like civil adults, y'know? I've been told that "This is how we do things in SA, you might not be used to it, but it's how we get things done." I guess that might be it. I'm trying to stop forcing my opinions on others, so I'm working on that. It's just hectic this week though, and no one can deny that.

Although, a member of the SRC (Student Representative Committee) from my Psychosocial class spoke to us today, and said it was never the SRC's plan for things to get so out of hand, and the PYA (Progressive Youth Alliance) is doing things a bit differently than SRC. Apparently, SRC is now talking to the administration and also reprimanding people who are violent. She said it's one thing to walk by a classroom and say, "Hey, we're protesting, come join us!" and let students get up of their own volition, it's someting completely different to storm into a classroom and shout and jump on desks and drag people outside. I can fully agree to that, at least.

Ach. Seems like I still have a lot to learn...or at least come to terms with.

Also...it is officially my halfway point of being here. I have 2 1/2 months left. Let's hope I can make the best of it.