Sorry about yesterday. I’m busy.

Well my friends, for those of you who are loyal followers of my scrappy little travel blog, you probably already noticed that yesterday I didn’t write an entry. The reasoning behind this is simple: I was down emotionally yesterday and was also very busy. I won’t go into depth why I felt blue yesterday, but the fact was I was too depressed to write about what I was doing. Mainly work related activities. However, I apologize about missing a day.

Today is a rather normal work day. I went to work, and well worked. And listened to some music when my colleagues left because I got bored and Joy is my “go to gossip girl” on work related activities and my personal life. Joy is a wonderful person to go to for advice on personal matters, so I do so.

Why Joy of  all people?

Joy has a maternal nature about her that you can’t help but feel terribly comforted by her presence and her thoughts on various situations. Also-because Joy is content with her life, I can’t help but seek her advice on various “life” things. Joy is a wife and mother, so a lot of what my colleagues (who are in their twenties) and I are experiencing are things Joy has already experienced and hence, she can provide a lot of wisdom in that regard.

She gave me great advice today. Definitely gave me a few things to think about in one aspect of my life which I am not going to write about here. It’s very personal and although I do enjoy discussing with many of you about everything and “open dialogue” I need to have that area of my life closed off from you all, and it must only involve those who are a part of it.

So while I contemplate these thoughts in the Cape Town sun and breeze as I drive home along the coastal highway, I’ll leave you all to your lives.

Peace,

Carolyn

P.S. For those of you who asked, no. I still don't have any friends. I'm anti-social.

The Dinner party and my piece of shit car

My new ride.

It’s an 80’s Model 200 Mercedes.

I do believe that pictures are worth a thousand  words. And my new ride is definitely worth a few words mainly “piece”, “of” and “shit”.

But it’s my piece of shit car and it has potential to be a kick ass ride.

Now that I think about it. . . .Not really. . . but it’s still an interesting piece of machinery.

In other news, we had a very interesting little dinner party where I met some more people. They were all of Mallory’s closest confidants. All were American, except for an English bloke who went to Princeton. Nothing new to report, except that they were nice people, and I may see them sooner than I think because. .

They LOVE to party

Their stories are nearly on par with my own (many) drunken nights, but what made theirs epic was the fact that they did it all in the backdrop of South Africa-mainly Cape Town where half the shit you do, no one cares about.

I’ll end this post with a cute little saying one of Mallory’s friends said which I thought was hysterical.

“Oh night. When the world becomes my bathroom” (in response to how she urinates frequently outside when she’s intoxicated).

Buenos Noches,

Carolyn

“Bloody hell they stole our milk!”: Nazeem and Baboons that Marry

Today I woke up early (as always). Petra was going to be my unofficial chauffeur for the day until I could get myself situated with my car. A blanket of fog is covering Lion’s Head mountain today. It has an “eery” effect on my part of Cape Town. It almost does look like a haunted Tavern that you find in movies whose plot focuses on haunted ports., (i.e. The Fog).

Joy came to fetch me this morning. We then stopped at a gas station to get some “snacks” for the office—in other words get baked goods for the ladies and myself to munch on throughout the day.

This is what we got:

It’s called milk tart and it’s a traditional South African dessert. I call it “South African Cheesecake”. Even Joy liked my new term for it.

This is my desk/the office.

Yes I know. The office is the size of a broom closet. Doesn’t need to be big just needs to be effective for day to day work. It’s a great project with great potential, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered to  be a part of it. Also-the assholes from the building who aren't part of our project stole our milk. . .again. I've decided that if they do it again, I am going to take things into my own hands and plot against them so that they learn a lesson in taking things that don't belong to them.

I don’t have internet on my computer so it makes it rather difficult working. I’m still working on getting internet on my computer whenever the administration at UCT decides to give it to me (which could take god knows how long).

Currently, I have to do numerous literature searches on my computer for my work which makes it hard when you don’t have internet-therefore working at home is much more efficient for me right now until I do get internet.

Around 3pm (short workday I know—I LOVE IT) I decide to head home ( I make my own hours here mehehe) and my boss tells me to take Tuesday off to get my car situation figured out. I’m living the life here kids J

So I take my first taxi ride here with Cab Co who gave me not only the most interesting of people to chauffeur me, but also the most bizarre-Nazeem

Nazeem is a bizarre fellow. He’s in his 60’s has a huge family and is of muslim decent. He goes on a tangent about how “stupid” driving is in Cape Town then goes on about how “American kids your age love adventure too much”. He’s one of the most bizarre people I have met so far here, but I like him for some reason.

Nazeem speeds his way in and out of traffic trying to get me back to my flat at a good hour.

The sun is shining again and it is raining over Cape Town. Similar to the New England weather saying “If you want the weather to change wait five minutes”. The rain falling look like diamonds in the sun and they sparkle. Nazeem says that a saying has been passed from his ancestors to him generation after generation and he is now passing it to me: "When it rains and the sun is out, the baboons marry".

I have no idea what the hell he is talking about. Or what baboons have to do with anything but I decide to write it down and keep it in mind. I may find out it's true meaning sometime. 

 It adds a touch of magic to this place and makes me more intrigued by Cape Town.

I decide to get a bit of work done. I’m picking up the car tomorrow (after inspection of course ;-)) and then I fall asleep. . .again.

Peace~

Carolyn

A Super Failed Sunday

Didn't go out last night (first fail going into Sunday) because the girls called me late and I got sleepy. Instead of making the effort to go out, I decided to stay in.

Sunday-It was  a lovely day today.  I started off with a plan. This is what is was composed of:

1. Go to Robben Island
2. Take a brisk hike through some portion of Table Mountain
3. Have a super sick brunch at some cute cafe
4. Come home, clean, and be productive.

Did any of the above happen?

No.

This is what happened instead:

1. Woke up late.
2. Tickets for Robben Island were sold out so I will have to reschedule going there
3. Hiking requires energy that I didn't have at that point due to disappointment at #2.
4. Essentially everything except the police station, and the grocery store is closed on Sundays in CT.
5. Didn't clean because was utterly pissed off at myself for not accomplishing above tasks. Therefore slept for most of the day, and also have mysterious bruises on legs which lead to the conclusion that perhaps I now sleep walk at night and knock into all sorts of furniture that my flat doesn't have.

So in essence, it was an extremely failed Sunday.

Tomorrow I have work and the beginning of a long and busy week ahead of me.

A demain,

Carolyn

The “Meet and Greet”: Lazy First Saturday

 My first Saturday in Cape Town. I was hoping for a more sunny day, but I guess Cape Town had a different idea. For the first time since I arrived, I woke up at a pretty decent hour (8am). Still too early for a college student during their summer vacation (although technically I am not on vacation) but an improvement to say the least.

At around 9:45am I receive the much anticipated call from Jamie. Jamie is an intern working with my flat mate who goes  to Princeton. She’s a sweet girl and along with her is Jillian who also goes to Princeton. Both were  eager to get to know other people, so having brunch with them at Sofia’s was a lovely experience. After our brunch, they headed to the Old Biscuit Mill to check out the market place and relax. I was still on the hunt for a car as well as still needing to write out a few emails and whatnot so I went back to the flat and did just that.

The girls and I had decided (while eating brunch) that it would be nice for all three of us to go out and enjoy the nightlife together, so we made plans to meet up for drinks later.

Before I knew it, it was nearly dinner time, and Mallory had just come back from work. I was a little bummed. I felt like I wasted a day in my little portion of Africa doing work rather than going out and enjoying the wonders of the city. I decided I would make it up tomorrow by either hiking or going down to the famous VA wharf and checking out the boutiques there.

I’m proud to say I was productive today. Still not an excuse to waste time while I am abroad though. About to give Jamie a ring to go out and drink and stare at the overly attractive South African men.

Yes ladies, we have been missing out terribly. South African men are like a mix between the rugged outback men and California surfer boys—all rolled into one. It makes for a dangerous combination when you add in the accents they accumulate. Dangerous indeed.

Alright headed out. Will update you on my escapades. Perhaps I will share (mainly for the ladies) a taste of what we’ve been missing via photos ;-)

Stay thirsty my friends~

Carolyn

Rondebosch, JCP, and the Flat

Today was my very first day at work. Work for me is at 7700 Sawkin’s road, in Rondebosch, Cape Town. I work for the institute of adolescent research with the University of Cape Town. Still without a car though, so my colleague Petra has kindly offered to give me a lift.

Work

Basically the South African Version of the office. For example, I walk in to meet everyone and two of my colleagues are talking about how the office across the hall stole our cake even though it was labeled—very upsetting that they are so “naughty”.

Location: In a small dinky office in the building of adolescent psychiatry—not related to UCT. I really wish I could remodel the office. It just needs a bit of TLC, a paint job and some pictures to make it feel more “homey”.

Petra (P)

Petra is from Belgium. She is young, blonde, and a serious PhD student. She (like many PhD students) wants to save the world in some way, and is the first person I met upon my arrival to Cape Town (she picked me up from the airport). She drove me to my hostel, and kindly offered to scoop me up on the way to work. She and Joy are working with me on a certain aspect of the project with me.

Joy (J)

Joy hails from Kenya. She’s a sweet and utterly hilarious lady who is married with three children. Extremely maternal. Therefore, her major concerns with me are for my safety, where I am living, and do I have linens?? ;-)

Cathy (C)

She’s the boss lady. Caring, nice lady who is very concerned about what I want to get out of the project. The first thing  I notice about her is her hippy-ish attire and extremely colorful gloves (without fingers). I have yet to really get into depth with her about it, but I will at some point.

These are my comrades. Amanda is the other, but she is MIA because she broke her foot, so she is working from home and skyping into the office.

After introductions, and a bit of work, we went to Chippy’s (portugese food yummm) for lunch where I was able to actually see local high school students. These one’s in particular, were all female from the local all female boarding school. They wear school uniforms, similar to the ones in Hogwarts in Harry Potter, but without the capes. They are chatty, obnoxious, and gazing at the boys across the way who are also on lunch break.

Oh tweens and their hormones.

The Flat

After being dropped off by Petra back to the hostel, I have the pleasure of finally being introduced to my flat mate Mallory. She is very sweet and helps me with my awkward bags to our flat which I find out is up the road a bit. It’s in an apartment complex called Lingen Gardens, and it is quaint. There are pictures below which are more descriptive then I could ever be. My personal favorite is the one with my “big head” (as my dad tells me) and a view of Lion’s Head Mountain in the background. It is the view from my front door and window area.

I move in, get some more work done, and get more irritated as time goes on because I am still without a car. . .

Enjoy~

Carolyn

A rather blustery day

“. . . It’s a rather blustery day. . “-Winnie the Pooh

Yes my friends, today is a gray day in the lovely city of Cape Town. I woke up with the sun (once again) at 7:00 am. I decided today was a day to explore some more of Cape Town, so I trekked over to Kloof Street, known for it’s many small boutiques, cafes, restaurants and most importantly it’s wide assortment of bars which have dubbed it (along with long street) as the “party hub” of Cape Town. During the day, you wouldn’t notice this as Kloof Street looks like any other street around Cape Town. In the mornings, it is filled with regular shop workers who open up the cafés where many businessmen go to have their morning coffee and meals, and read up on the local stories in newspapers titled “The Times” and “The Cape Times”. Not very creative, but the subtitles within them are.

Some of today’s top stories:

àPresident Zuma apparently has been trying to negotiate with Gaddafi to step down from his position. From what the article says, apparently, Zuma and Gaddafi are on good terms, and South Africa has been named as a possible place where he may flee to, if he decides to give up his political office and cease all current warfare activities. Zuma describes the negotiations as currently in progress, or in other words—not happening and Gaddafi won’t budge. I hope and pray he doesn’t come here.

àSome famous director is getting married to his fourth wife because he "believes in polygamy". It’s being held in KwaZulu-Natal this Sunday for anyone who is interested.

àThere are exactly 100 days until the world cup—no not the football world cup, the more important world cup to this region of the world: RUGBY. Apparently the Springbok team is the reigning champions, and it’s being held in New Zealand. (Yuna, you might want to leave “Kiwi-land” early to avoid the madness that will become of New Zealand very shortly.) The coach of the team is under intense pressure for them to retain their title of “World Champions” and they believe in the mantra of: “If you’re not first, you’re last”—Ricky Bobby. Anything less than first, will be considered an epic fail, and not only will the team have to do the "flight of shame" home, but the coach will get sacked and probably never find a job in this region of the world.

àMandla Mandela (grandson of Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa) is in financial trouble because of a divorce battle he is going through. . .

à It’s going to be cloudy the rest of the week. L

I feel rather lonely today as I am having my first meal of the day at Sofia’s Café. Table mountain is blanketed with fog, and the skies are cloudy and somewhat depressing. After my breakfast, I take a walk down Kloof street and find myself at yet another outdoor mall. Malls in the Cape are better because they are smaller in size, have less stores, and aren’t crawling with teeny boppers.

I head home to grab food and chill for a minute to check emails. I am still behind in reading them. I also continue my unsuccessful car search, and alas have replies and offers!

Mall time for internet café long time.

Sketchy mall cops do absolutely nothing except stand there. Even when alarms in stores go off.

After g-chatting with a few people, I head home and eat again and then answer some more car offer emails. If all is well, I will be getting one by the end of the week. From the looks of it, it will be a piece of shit. A friend suggested that I find a “cute” boy to be my chauffer for the duration of my stay. Not happening. In order for that to be successful I would need to actually pretend I was interested in the “cute” boy. On sabbatical from the male gender for the duration of the summer. More on this topic later as I interact with more of them my age, and explain WHY I have chosen to disregard them while I am abroad. . .

Tomorrow is my first day of work. I will describe in more depth what exactly I am working on, as well as who I am working with, but in the meantime, I will just say that I am working at the University of Cape Town in Rondebosch. If you want to know where that is, look at google maps.

Also-moving into flat tomorrow (yay!) so I won’t be freezing to death at night anymore.

Until tomorrow,

Good night

Carolyn