So it's Thursday morning, I don't have class until 1pm and I feel like blowing through some internet credits. Here are some thoughts that while interesting and different probably don't merit their own post. It's kind of like a "Friday Boxed Lunch" vibe over at all-the-dirt.blogspot.com. I wonder whatever happened to that guy, he doesn't blog anymore...
- Got up early this morning and went to Cavendish Square over in Claremont, which is the big mall, to go to Cape Union Mart and buy a fleece and jacket for my whitewater rafting trip this weekend. First off, yes, I'm going whitewater rafting this weekend. But you know, I'm pretty outdoorsy, so it should be fun. (Oh wait...not that.) Anyway, so I go and buy a really nice, "Proudly South African" K-Way fleece and slicker. Take it up to the till and the woman behind the desk informs me, "That'll be 1100 bucks." Oh god, what have I done, these jackets must be woven with spun gold or something. Then I remember "bucks" is used interchangably with "rands." Which, I mean, that's still a lot of money, but not enough to buy a used car at least. I'm still getting used to thinking in rands though. I've figured out that when I go to Mr. Noodle for lunch up on campus and get change back from a R20 bill, it's a deal. But if I pay more than R10 for a drink at a bar, I'm getting ripped off. Still, the thought of paying 1100 for anything was still a little, shall we say, off-putting.
- The ride over to the mall was fun too. I took a minibus cab. For the uninitiated, the minibus is truly the white-knuckle, thrill ride of the millenium. The fleet is mostly beaten up late-80s model VW buses retrofitted with literally, as many seats as they can fit inside, a steering wheel (sometimes) and a gear shift. Some models even have doors. Ok, all models have doors, but the driver's assistant, who serves as the conductor on this little journey, collecting money and figuring out the pattern of stops, usually pops the door open as we fly down the Main Road, barking "Cape Town! Cape Town! Cab! Cab!" in an attempt to lure in the next R4 fare. I had a particularly "fun" ride over to the mall this morning because we had a special guest driver: Mario Andretti. At least, he thought he was Mario Andretti, or some terrible NASCAR driver or something. To say this guy was weaving through traffic doesn't do his technique justice. I think at one point he was up on the sidewalk trying to get around a lorry. Needless to say, I, and the other 11 passengers in the half full minibus, were quite pleased when we reached our stop in one piece.
- Ok, new subject. One of the main differences I've found since I've been here is the predominance of prepaid everything. Literally everything. Not just cell phones, I mean we prepay for electricity, and you can buy electric credits at most gas stations. I also prepay for internet, which is why I tend to use it as infrequently as I can. You pay by megabyte downloaded, so if you send me pictures or something, chances are I won't see them until I get back in December - just as an aside. But this kind of prepaid culture is in such contrast to what we're used to in America. I remember the first time I bought something in the Tufts bookstore freshman year and getting no fewer than 15 credit card offers asking me to sign my life away for a low, low introductory interest rate. People wait years - literally, years - to receive any kind of credit card here. Personally, I think they're better off with the prepaid culture than the debt-ridden disaster that is America these days.
- We had a bit of a shindig at the Cecil and Wolmunster Compound on Tuesday night in anticipation of Wednesday's public holiday, National Women's Day. We billed it as a "celebration of women," which, many of you know, I will do at any opportunity. Lots of fun was had by all. Wednesday was a nice day to recover and I read about National Women's Day, which celebrates the march for Women's Rights in Pretoria in 1956 which was a turning point in the struggle for equality in this country. The BBC had pictures with leaders like Winnie Mandela and Graca Machel (Nelson Mandela's former and current wives) in attendance of the ceremony. Holidays like yesterday serve as a reminder of just how far South Africa has come in a very short time, but the ceremony yesterday, which in particular highlighted South Africa's abnormally high rate of domestic violence, also show that women and other oppressed groups under the Apartheid regime still have a lot of work to do in the new South Africa.
Well, that's all for me now. It's time for classes. Ok, well, one class and a movie. And the movie is Twilight Los Angeles with Anna Deavere Smith (The West Wing's Nancy McNally), so I'm actually kind of excited.
Cheers.
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