Oh boy!

I wasn’t going to update today, but I fear what the update will look like after the weekend, so I’m biting the bullet as they say.

I can’t believe I left it this long, but two weeks ago I spent the majority of the week planning for my friend’s baby shower. It was all very domestic as another friend and I spent the whole week baking cupcakes and cookies for the aforementioned English tea themed baby shower. The shower itself was on Saturday, July 11th. It was so much fun to meet all of Prego’s friends and play silly baby shower games. On a related note, store bought baby food is pretty disgusting and I vow to make any future children I may have homemade baby food…aka my dinner in a blender.

I don’t remember much of what I did the week after the baby shower because I’m lazy and it’s been so so long since I updated this. The weekend after that though, I went to SonB’s house for a braai and then we all went out on the town on Friday. EB has been doing field work, so he was able to use the van they rented for that purpose for his own desires on the weekend. So, on Saturday we went to explore Franschoek. Apparently there was not much to explore, besides chocolate tasting at a Belgian chocolate factory and even that was done for the day. But it was fun to drive around and we went wine tasting at Solms Delta. Then on Sunday I went to the aquarium with the same work friend I planned the baby shower with, her sister and little nephew. We watched the sharks being fed and laughed as her nephew alternated between asking where we were going and telling my friend to go faster.

Classes started up again on the 20th, so overnight Stellies went from completely deserted to much too overpopulated. This also meant that my new roommate moved back from being home for the winter holidays. I got to meet a bunch of his friends and went out with them to facilitate roommate bonding. They seem nice enough, but maybe not the kind of people I would normally hang out with. Then last weekend I had my medal test, which I already told you about and am still smiling when I think of. Sunday I just hung out with friends and went to see The Hangover, which is hilarious and I highly recommend it…for the strong of stomach at least. Overall a pretty chill weekend.

This week everything started back up. It was the first trivia night I went to in a while. I think my team is a little rusty. We started off well, but got progressively worse as the night went on. Next time though…I’m thinking we’ll win something! Then on Wednesday, I went sparkling wine and nougat tasting at JC le Roux (is it just me or does that sound like a stripper name?), which was so very delicious! Then we went to Prego (who is going to hate me calling her this)’s house for dinner and watched a movie. Finally, Tuesday was EB’s birthday, but since he just got back to the field yesterday, we went out for 363 days early birthday party, which was lovely.

The End!

Blue Suade Sneakers

I didn’t fail!!!!! I had my medal test for dance today. The medal test, if you don’t remember, is where you dance in front of judges and they determine what level you dance at and give you a certificate accordingly. I did the Social 1 level, which means I danced rhythm foxtrot, cha cha and boogie. As most of you know I don’t have a partner for dance and spend much of the time dancing with my invisible partner, Ramone. Unfortunately, if you want to do intervarsity (compete against other schools), you need a partner. As I wish to do this, I’ve been trying to get a partner for a while, to no avail. But today, in addition to not failing, I got a partner to not fail with! He is lovely and shall be referred to from this point on as DP (dance partner…how original). [Side note: please let me know if these acronyms are useful or just irritating] Despite only having about 20 minutes to get used to dancing with each other, we both got a "highly commendable" on our little report cards. That is we scored one below "honours", which is the highest you can score. I’m thinking that once we get used to each other we may not fail at intervarsity as well :-)

I’ll update the rest of my past two weeks a bit later on, but I just wanted to share the happy news with you all! Now I must get read to watch the rugby and go to the Robbie Wessels concert tonight. Ciao for now!

Home Sweet New Home

Remember when I said that I was about to run out of electricity any day. Well I haven’t yet. You’d be surprised how little electricity you use when you’re only at home to sleep…well maybe you wouldn’t. Anyway after knocking on the doors of various neighbours to no avail, I finally found someone to help me. And by help me I mean she asked me if I had a card and when I said no, she came over and showed me that I did and it was right in front of me. Sometimes you just need other people to point out your idiocy, you know, just for fun. But long story short: now I have electricity and the ability to get even more if necessary!

I finally went back to the residence I was staying in for the first half of my SA experience to get my back. As I was riding it back to my new flat, it seemed strangely hard to ride. Following a random hunch I stood up on the bike and jumped up and down. Yup, both tires were extremely flat. Well, I suppose that’s what happens when a bike doesn’t get ridden for 5 months plus. So my mission for today is to re-inflate tires and get oil in an attempt to de-rust the now completely rusted chain. I kinda feel bad. It’s like looking at your child all grown up and realizing the effects of accumulated neglect over the years.

Weekenders

I went with some friends into Cape Town on Saturday. There’s this little market called the Old Biscuit Mill, which is, shockingly enough, at an old biscuit mill. There was tons of good food and I ended spending way to much money on bread, cheese, pesto and other delicious goodies! There was this one guy selling raw organic chocolate that he had made. It was amazing. Raw chocolate tastes very different from the chocolate we’re normally used to. It is a lot richer and his kind was sweetened with agave nectar and coconut oil. I can’t wait to bring Mom there; she’s going to love it! After the market we went to Green Point stadium, where some of the 2010 World Cup games will occur. It is still under construction, so we didn’t get to go in, but it looks like it’s going to be gorgeous. There was even a performance by the “janitor” that gave us into the history of that area and a little bit about Cape Town in general! Then Sunday, I hiked up Stellenbosch Mountain…for real this time. I made it all the way to the top and had a nice, if excessively long, chat with a philosophy PhD student when I reached the top! I guess sometimes you need to tell your life's story to a random stranger, but I know I've never got that urge.

Standing on Guard for Thee

We had a wonderful Canada Day on Wednesday. My fellow countrywoman here at the office and decided that South Africans needed to experience traditional Canadian dishes. After much debate and googling we came to the conclusion that we would expose them to the most carbohydrate and cholesterol enriched Canadian delicacies in the form of blueberry pancakes (real pancakes not those thin SA fakes) with Canadian maple syrup, East coast donairs, poutine (of course), Nanaimo bars and butter tarts. Ironically enough, I made the west coast dishes (blueberry pancakes and Nanaimo bars) and the NB native made the east coast ones. I officially feel I’ve done my part as a Canadian ambassador by exposing foreigners to Canadian food, music and culture! Especially that part of our culture where we emphasize stereotypes by having people come dressed as Mounties and lumber jacks.

Happy Canada Day, BC and the Yukon!!!

After weeks (or rather week) of preparation, I have finally moved in to my new pad. There was a little mayhem what with me not having a bed or a fridge and having to move out a day earlier than expected. But everything is all settled now…other than the fact that the electricity is on a pre-pay plan and may turn off any day now :P Good thing I don’t spend a lot of time at home.

It’s weird to be an international staying here for longer than 5 months. All the other internationals that I’ve met are leaving or have already left. I said goodbye to my roommate this morning. We went for a last breakfast together (not that we ever ate breakfast together before). I wish I had gotten to spend more time with her, but we were both very busy and it just never seemed to work out. Ahh, but that is life! Anyway, she will be missed and now I have an excuse to go to the Netherlands!

On a happier note, a co-worker has informed me that July 1st is also the Congo’s Independence Day!!! So happy Independence Day to all the Congoians (?) hat read my blog and happy Canada Day to the, all more likely, Canadians that read it :-)