Howzit, my friends? That's a little SA lingo for y'all. Sorry it's been a while... You know how it is. I've fully recovered and am happy to report that I'm off the food tolerance drugs (proton pump inhibitors if we want to get really specific). THANK GOD.
If there's one thing that South Africa is teaching me, its to be more patient. The lack of electronic-based registration made signing up for courses an absolute logistical nightmare. People stood in line after line for hours on end to get their selections approved, then to enter the information into a database, then to get their poorly lit photo taken for their ID card. Luckily, I'm a commerce student and there were many fewer people trying to register than in the faculty of humanities. Either way, it was 4 hours of waiting in line.
Alas, it's done now and I'm officially registered for Game Theory, Development Econ, Trade Bargaining (really cool course where you're assigned a country and try to negociate with others), and Chemistry of Health and Disease. Many drop one of these courses in favor of picking up some Afrikaans... it would be interesting to know what people are saying when they rapidly interchange.
I have been immersing myself much more than at first and I'm proud to report that I went out with some South African girls on Thursday night with Marlee in tow. They had us over at their apartment and they gave us a run down of how relationships work here in SA. Here's what I gathered:
Women and men who are dating both cheat on each other regularly. But they mustn't give their boyfriend or girlfriend any indication that its happening. Lerato informed me that "if your boyfriend isn't lying to you, you're doing something wrong."
I was also shocked to hear that the men that these girls have extra-relationship affairs with are often wealthy and paying their tuition, buying them clothing, jewelry and alcohol. When I tried to make sense of this I used the term "sugar daddy" which they rejected fully on the grounds that sugar daddy implies the men are old, which they are not (they are around 35 in most cases). They call these men their BDD's. I don't know what that stands for yet, but I will keep you posted.
Something else that took my breath away: hiking to the monument yesterday! Hiking is a really popular activity here so my friend Spencer from Oregon and I finished with registration and decided to check out the gorgeous Roman-esque monument carved into the side of Table Mountain. Spencer had heard of a restaurant behind it so we went to explore but unfortunately found that it was closed due to vandalism. We DID find an incredible garden area that overlooks the entire city. It was definitely a gem. After we hiked down we proceeded to play 3 hours of volleyball with Quinton, the program director, and a ton of other CIEE people. I had to try hard to represent female athleticism as I was the only girl playing, but it ended up being really fun.
Today, myself, Spencer and some other friends have plans to go to Camps Bay-- one of the most beautiful beaches in Cape Town. The weather's starting to get warmer and we're all excited to spend some time outside. Marlee is hiking Devil's Peak, which I hope to do soon as well once I'm feeling 100%, as it is a 5 hour vertical climb.
Love from the back of a lion,
A
If there's one thing that South Africa is teaching me, its to be more patient. The lack of electronic-based registration made signing up for courses an absolute logistical nightmare. People stood in line after line for hours on end to get their selections approved, then to enter the information into a database, then to get their poorly lit photo taken for their ID card. Luckily, I'm a commerce student and there were many fewer people trying to register than in the faculty of humanities. Either way, it was 4 hours of waiting in line.
Alas, it's done now and I'm officially registered for Game Theory, Development Econ, Trade Bargaining (really cool course where you're assigned a country and try to negociate with others), and Chemistry of Health and Disease. Many drop one of these courses in favor of picking up some Afrikaans... it would be interesting to know what people are saying when they rapidly interchange.
I have been immersing myself much more than at first and I'm proud to report that I went out with some South African girls on Thursday night with Marlee in tow. They had us over at their apartment and they gave us a run down of how relationships work here in SA. Here's what I gathered:
Women and men who are dating both cheat on each other regularly. But they mustn't give their boyfriend or girlfriend any indication that its happening. Lerato informed me that "if your boyfriend isn't lying to you, you're doing something wrong."
I was also shocked to hear that the men that these girls have extra-relationship affairs with are often wealthy and paying their tuition, buying them clothing, jewelry and alcohol. When I tried to make sense of this I used the term "sugar daddy" which they rejected fully on the grounds that sugar daddy implies the men are old, which they are not (they are around 35 in most cases). They call these men their BDD's. I don't know what that stands for yet, but I will keep you posted.
Something else that took my breath away: hiking to the monument yesterday! Hiking is a really popular activity here so my friend Spencer from Oregon and I finished with registration and decided to check out the gorgeous Roman-esque monument carved into the side of Table Mountain. Spencer had heard of a restaurant behind it so we went to explore but unfortunately found that it was closed due to vandalism. We DID find an incredible garden area that overlooks the entire city. It was definitely a gem. After we hiked down we proceeded to play 3 hours of volleyball with Quinton, the program director, and a ton of other CIEE people. I had to try hard to represent female athleticism as I was the only girl playing, but it ended up being really fun.
Today, myself, Spencer and some other friends have plans to go to Camps Bay-- one of the most beautiful beaches in Cape Town. The weather's starting to get warmer and we're all excited to spend some time outside. Marlee is hiking Devil's Peak, which I hope to do soon as well once I'm feeling 100%, as it is a 5 hour vertical climb.
Love from the back of a lion,
A
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