Whoever we may be, whatever our immediate interest, however much we carry baggage from our past, however much we have been caught by the fashion of cynicism and loss of faith in the capacity of the people, let us err today and say - nothing can stop us now!
I first touched South African land ready to move here in the afternoon of the 31st August 2016. After a brief stint back in the UK, I arrived back on the 31st December 2016, and since now is the 2nd January 2017, I have now been living in South Africa for a 100 days! To repeat my first blog, the important things first. I haven't been shot...although I did get chased home at 2 AM in the morning. I'm not homeless...although I won't be putting the whole place on Airbnb again. I haven't died of dehydration not starvation...although I'm still waiting for most of my salary from uni.
I left...
...then came back
December was especially hectic, beginning with first Thursdays, an event where the cornucopia of Capetonian museums and galleries are open for free access until late in the evening, providing wine and snacks. A couple of us headed to an auction house, and I spotted a nice vintage motorcycle, which I did not buy because I hadn't been paid. And also...don't know how to.
Beyond that, most of the time was spent trying to finish work related activities before I flew back to the UK. I guess otherwise all that happened is that I acquired a duck, and then lost the duck as I got chased home, in another scene where I thought I was Mo Farah but thankfully managed to this time conjure up his full spirit before I got mugged; possibly for the duck, but probably more likely my phone. It was 2 AM and it was whilst going through an underpass, of which there is probably none safe in the world.
Flew back home, graduated, hung out in Liverpool, went to Manchester, played Risk, lost at Risk, popped into York, went to a wedding in Birmingham, had Christmas, snuck a fantastic trip to London in before flying back (just, I arrived 15 minutes after bag drop closed), and spent new year's eve on a beach missing people back in the UK but loving everything else about being back.
I also met my first non-work friend visiting today, even if it was just a happy coincidence we were both here!
Highlights so far...
- FOOD
- Scenery
- New friends
- Work
- Animals
- Vineyards
Negatives so far...
- Someone drove into the back of me at about 5mph I guess?
- The McDonalds chips are so bad here...but the KFC ones are amazing, so...
- Definitely not this blog, right guys?!*
I've had a fantastic time so far and I owe it to so many people. Being back home was great too, even if it was hectic, but in the end the UK has to compete with this:
I said I thought I would not be bored of it here. I think I was right. I also found out something else...
Apparently taking pictures of your feet is seen as fashionable.
Song of the month: Carol of the Bells, by August Burns Red, because Christmas.
*Right?!?!
Editor's note: I moved this to be published in December so that my months lined up better. 100 days was 02/01/2017, and so good.
Tradition has it that whenever a group of people has tasted the lovely fruits of wealth, security and prestige it begins to find it more comfortable to believe in the obvious lie and to accept it as normal that it alone is entitled to privilege.
I start this post, at the end of my third month, feeling like I've been here only three weeks. Only by writing my thoughts down and reading back my errands do I realise quite how much I have done since I arrived. One task that finally got completed; a good, nearby biltong shop. I present to you my first ever biltong purchase in South Africa, packets of which may or may not have been my dinner last night. Orders available on request.
Boring stuff first. It's been incredibly windy here, which makes me wonder why Port Elizabeth is called the windy city and not here*. A whole palaver trying to get beds for the spare room, and a new mattress. Turns out mattress sizes differ between countries. I ended up getting a much better deal price wise, but since I still haven't been paid, I made the payments on my UK credit card; between purchasing and getting refunded, Trump was elected, and since the Rand is an emerging currency and is more bound to the movement of the Dollar, what should have been a 3500 Rand saving (about £120) only turned out to be £80. Which wasn't really worth the effort. Huge effort also in order to get a stock pot, surprisingly easy to get a custom-made wine rack. There was also a coolant leak in the car, possibly related to my previous mishaps. Temporarily fixed it myself and could have done a better job but it's so cheap here it was easier and quicker to take it to a garage to be done properly. Finally, fixed various light fittings in my apartment when I moved in, but not without the odd item getting broken, as is the George way. I also finally checked off the final boat class rowing, and got out in a quad.
Pictured: not a quad
My flat is incredible. It took exactly 11 weeks from stepping off the plane to having everything sorted, unpacked, and arranged in a logical way for myself, but now I can finally relax and only worry about work. The location is about 15 minutes walk from Long/Kloof street, a 6 minute run from Table mountain (at least at my current pace), and the view is amazing.
There is a car show room opposite, so a couple of times I wake up at the same time as cars get delivered or dispatched. It's not done particularly quietly, and the windows have been wide open due to the stunning weather at the moment, however it's hardly a crying shame when these are the cars that occupy said show room:
Activities wise there was the flat-warming, with pictures before and after which I will not include here in order to pretend it was a civilised affair where the odd glass of wine was drunk and my place was left in a tidy and ordered manner, where I was safely tucked into bed at midnight before another trip to Mzoli's. This, I suppose, is a perfectly valid statement in the post-truth society we now live in. What certainly did happen is that in preparing food for the party, I decided I would make a cake, without realising I don't have an oven. Half-way through, I made a panicked call to my mother, who somehow fixed everything such that I made the best cake I've ever made, in the microwave:
The colour run was a fun afternoon out in Green Point, and was certainly colourful. It wasn't a run, and it was a bit frustrating stood around waiting to do something, but the company was fun and made for an enjoyable afternoon.
Beyond that, I spent the afternoon on the beach for the first time in the southern hemisphere, and now look slightly less of a ghostly figure. This was followed by 'sundowners', which apparently is a word that everyone here knows except for me; it's a drink whilst watching the sun go down. South Africans are pretty literal with their words and phrases in the most part, with the notable exception of 'floofie' which apparently is a zip line.
It would've been nice to have a zip line accessible when I climbed Silvermine mountain. Originally setting out to climb Chapman's peak but not finding a place to park, we arrived at another, with my temporary flatmate. I bounded up the first half of the trail, and failed to notice the path meandered over a boulder, carrying on around the peak. My friend mentioned as much, and so we decided to scramble up from where we were to where it looked flatter. We couldn't see the path, so we did the same again. And again. At the point when I realised that maybe we should just go back down and around, I actually couldn't get down, and so the only way was up, which was principally rock climbing at that point. If you've ever seen a view of the Cape peninsula from the Atlantic, and marvelled at the sheer vertical rock faces on the upper parts of the cliffs, rest assured they are not quite vertical but they are very scary if you look down from atop them. The view from the top was incredible though.
Other excellent views include a sunset from my apartment, and the supermoon over the city when I accidentally ran halfway up Devil's peak. The size wasn't meant to increase much, but the increase in brightness ('r-squared' law!) is apparent.
A couple of excellent restaurants, as always, including a notable visit to an Ethiopian place, confirming my feelings about excellent food. Having explained my Ethiopian experience several times, I've realised actually it wasn't so bad, but the airline is atrocious. Certainly in no rush to revisit.
In addition of course is the latest batch of wine-tasting and cocktail trips, as well as revisiting a karaoke bar (unfortunately, the video of my version of BYOB got lost to the sands of time). This all got a bit much and so this week has been strictly no alcohol, in order to ensure that one, I actually have some productivity at work, and two, so that I am prepared for the gluttony of Christmas...
Finally, finishing on work. There was a works do earlier in the week for the end of year bash; you haven't lived until you turn up somewhere at 11 AM with everyone doing karaoke. I did my first ever batch of lectures, which was a daunting task that apparently (according to feedback forms) was quite successful, which was nice since it took up nearly all of my time. I think I have a big case of 'imposter syndrome', mostly due to the lack of first-author papers, but with the current work and proposals that I'm writing this should hopefully change soon. Better to feel like I've not done enough rather than too much at least. At the start of the month there was a Tastes in Nuclear Physics course with lecturers from all over, primarily for students, which actually got me thinking about a few ideas in the long run. Got the opportunity to have a few chats with a few interesting people too, including my external PhD examiner again, and a chap named John Wood, who has literally written the book on (some of) nuclear physics, which was fascinating.
The look of a man fully confident about what he has to say
I'll leave this short manuscript with what is probably one of my favourite photos that I've ever taken; the sun setting with a view of Chapman's peak, taken from Silvermine.
Oh, and some weird bird with googly eyes:
Freaky.
Song of the month: Raging, by Kygo, for no reason other than it's quite pleasing.
*I looked, and basically it's because Cape Town already had a nickname ('Mother City')
Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
After two whole months I'm finally settled in I think! My PhD corrections are submitted, the car runs smoothly despite my best efforts, and I just picked up the keys to my flat. It's two-bed so you're all welcome to come visit*, just tell me in advance. Life has been going quite swimmingly out here so far! I've been staying with my cousin the last couple of weeks, but before that the view from my previous place I got when I arrived from the lab wasn't too shabby! Then:
Daniel and Penny's (they win I think):
Until now I feel like I've been working hard and have been enjoying it, although perhaps the verdict on effort is best left to others. There has been an experiment but I didn't really involve myself too much with everything else I had to do for now. This month has in general been calmer, but I'm shattered at the end of every week, which might be related to why my driving skills have plummeted...a couple of weeks ago I decided to take a different route to rowing to make up for my poor time-management, which didn't quite work out as it then took 2.5 hours to dig my way out. The Audi A4, for all its merit, is unfortunately nefariously poor at handling off-road conditions. Poor choice for a flamingo watching spot, not because the flamingos weren't there in force though (there would be a photo except I was saving my battery in case I had to call and break-down services, and no...I won't be going there again). Yesterday I also managed to get stuck in a storm drain too; this seemed to be quite a common occurrence as several people immediately came over to lift the car out. One was my external PhD examiner...I wonder if he regrets his verdict a month ago. I also had a guy drive into the back of me, but to echo the black knight; 'tis but a scratch!
oops...
So, when I haven't been stuck, I have managed a few activities. This month started with whales, this time on a boat
and I finally saw baboons! Convinced until now they were merely an elaborate ruse to trick foreigners for Capetonians' amusement, turns out they are real and huge. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo as I was driving, but I did catch a fantastic shot along another road:
Following the whales was the most atrocious time I've ever had flat hunting. Downtown Cape Town is not cheap (I'm paying more than I ever have before, although it's not as bad as London), and I had to deal with morons like this lady, who told me at 10:15 to meet between 09:30 and 10:00, and then told me I can't have the apartment because someone else doesn't have a deposit (?!). She was from the same building as where I moved to anyway, but I didn't take hers. Something about organising a large social gathering of alcoholics in a vineyard...
The following weekend was quite quiet, had a few drinks with friends from work celebrating a recent marriage/housewarming, moved out and so on. Followed that up with a trip to a jazz bar which was still doing late night food...and long story short ended up being pulled along with a bachelorette party.
Most weekends have involved wine tasting and braais, with two trips in mid-October in some stunning scenery followed by some dead tasty meat after venturing into the nightlife of Cape Town and had a 'lekker' time. So far football has been at the back of my mind, but with Man Utd playing three big games in 6 days I managed to catch them all. A large part of me wishes I hadn't as the standard was quite poor, and two of the results were far from ideal, but the company was good and the food was excellent; Mzoli's is a shack in one of the townships but on approaching it I was immediately salivating. My nasal sense was not wrong, and it's hands down the best meat I've had off a grill, anywhere.
Talking about sport, we also went down to see the Proteas at Newlands. They won (obviously) and any semblance of cricket knowledge I thought I had was shown up by a 7-year-old child who pretty much knew the batting average of any player you'd care to ask about, and probably quite a few more you wouldn't even think of. Fantastic game, and it really shows up Headingley or Lord's when it's only R200 a ticket and R25 a pint. I also went on a 5km park run, went to the wrong place, showed up late, got shown the track by a guy and his kids who had already raced once, tried to pip them at the line in Mo Farah style...and failed miserably. So much for my African genes! 23:30 dead by the way, I am not in good shape. Maybe it's time to take up cricket...
CRICKEEEETTTTT!!! No translation needed.
In the course of writing this I've realised I've spent most of the month sorting my life out, going to wine tastings, and having braais. To be honest, it's been great. The good news is that now that life has settled down, and will be based in the city, I'm even closer to where the 'magic' of Cape Town really happens. I'm also starting to adjust to the heat so I'm sure in no time at all I'll be walking around with braais strapped to my feet complaining it's still too cold. Let's see how I feel about the temperature after returning from northern Europe in December...anyway, look at how much fun we're all having! The scenery is stunning, I feel obliged to grab a photo whenever I sample a new sampling venue.
Oh, and I did end up on SA radio...I'm going to avoid talking of my opinion on Brexit, neoliberalism, and globalisation on this blog, but the big headline this month (other than the rand being the strongest currency in 2016Q3, bad time to move) was student protests in SA. Now, they were very violent and I don't know why they didn't (especially in Cape Town) occur more outside parliament and instead disrupted universities themselves, but education is the biggest opportunity for social movement, and I have been very fortunate to benefit from this. Increasing fees is not going to help anyone, especially in a country like SA. So when some bloke who went to uni in the '60s in the UK calls up and suggests that everyone should pay as he pulls up the ladder behind him, it riled me up thoroughly and I happily called into give my rebuttal. Thankfully most people seemed to agree with me and I only hope the outcome of the fees protests is better than what happened in the UK. Say no more. Sorry, here's a funny picture
Dinosaurs were always angry because they could never have a hug...
Grandma had a fall at the end of last month but all is well now. It does make one realise that oneself is very far from home, but then again I'm only a what's app call away which makes the world very small. After BST has ended I'm now 2 hours ahead of the U.K. though (yes, this will be on the test) until March 22nd, and one hour ahead of CET, which means an extra hour in bed for any early meetings with CERN. I'm back in sync with Finland and the Baltics so 'labas, tere, ja yksi iso moi' to everyone there...and before anyone asks, yes, I have been to work. Here are my zebra friends in order to prove it:
As a side note, my French (and form) teacher, Mr. Sharphouse, told us when learning French (je suis un poisson) that in English the use of 'one' to refer to the self sounds very pompous, but I've used it increasingly in my writing and can only attribute to watching Lord of the Rings too much. That's another thing I need to pack at Christmas...
Two months down, and I don't see wanting it to end.
Song of the month: Run, by Matthew Mole, a South African artist.
*it's on Airbnb. It'll probably be free for you of course, since you read all the way to the bottom
