Beating the System

Today, Spencer and I beat the system. UCT's library charges outlandish sums of money to print and while I cannot reveal my secrets for fear of losing the priviledge that we have won, I have to cannot help but boast that this is one unbelievably clever loophole. I've been in the library for the past 2 hours... I don't even know what I'm printing anymore. All I know is that it feels awesome.

In a couple hours Spence and I are going to catch the free bus to the soccer stadium where the world cup was played (!!!) to watch a soccer game. I'm looking forward to a fun Friday evening checking out the fanwalk and other hyped up areas.

I'm getting a handle on Trade Bargaining and I'm actually starting to enjoy it. I've gotten pretty close with the people in my sub-plenum because we rely on eachother for our marks errrr... grades. I'm beginning to sound like a South African! Tomorrow we're all going to my friend Marina's 21st birthday party themed: Red Wine, White Shirts. Should be a disaster.

I haven't talked about this much, but a lot of the population here is devout Muslim. It's currently Ramadaan and many of my South African friends fast all day while at school and aren't able to eat until the sun goes down. I'm moved by their faith and impressed by their ability to be upbeat despite being hungry. One of our security guards (not Lockmo) is Muslim, and gave me a cup of "booba" after I snagged him a 3 rand ice cream cone one my way home from the library. It's a sweet milk, cinnamon and tapioca drink that is used to break the fast. Millions of people around the world are voluntarily going without food so they can understand what it feels like to be starving. That's powerful stuff.

As it stands, there's only a week of class standing between me and spring break. Spencer and I rented the car yesterday and they simply asked us sternly "How old are you?" to which we responded in concert "22!" They didn't check to confirm this because they historically will rent a car to anyone with a credit card. We got a free upgrade on the vehicle and its going to cost us ZAR 188 a day, which is under 30 dollars. I can't wait to start the adventure... and only 1 week, a paper and a tut stand in my way.


Love from the printer station,

A