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:
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!
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| 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...
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| 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
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| 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
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