Where does time go?

Lots to catch up on. Two weeks ago I attended Cape Town's second annual book fair. Lots of books, unfortunately they are expensive here (starting around $15). I did manage to find two books for about $7 each though.

The week after the book fair was filled with movies though, and racing through the books on my housemate's shelf. The only movie I will mention is "Shooting Fish." A British comedy that I do recommend. Oh, but I should also mention "The Tiger and the Snow," a film with Roberto Benigni. I think it is similar to "Life is Beautiful," but still a beautiful movie to watch.

In other words - my car died the day before I intended to take it to the mechanic. It has been dying when I idle and I had hoped to limp along until my book came and I could work on it myself, but decided I couldn't wait. Ah well, called up the automobile association today and towed it to the mechanic. At least I am not needing McDonald's today. :)

I am moving on Saturday! Looking forward to having a bed more than a foot off the ground, I just need to find the bed and get it to my house still. My other need is for someone to move into my old room. I didn't bother giving 30 day's notice, so might loose some deposit there.

Oh, and the photo that I am attaching. On Monday mornings a lot of people come to the streets with shopping carts and sift through the trash.

And the other exciting news is that I now have a clinical supervisor. Means I can register as an intern and do some individual counseling. Yes, only two months into my internship.

Oky, oky, one more thing. To introduce you to a South African creation...you can head to Whole Foods and pick up a jar of peppedews - slightly spicy pickled pepper thing.

Mocking Bad Writing

I have been tearing through some books recently, attempting to read what my housemate owns before I move out. So in the past week I read the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson and De Villier's Code by Tom Eaton.

Did anyone think that while Da Vinci Code is is riveting, it is some bad literature? The De Villier's Code is based in Cape Town and makes fun of all the horrible writing of Dan Brown. I was so glad to find that despite the numerous readers of the Da Vinci Code, some people do think it is badly written. For instance, Tom Eaton pokes fun at how Dan Brown interrupts his narrative so often with chapter breaks and sometimes has incredibly short chapters. So the characters are having a discussion and a new chapter starts a paragraph later in the middle of a sentance and the main character gets frustrated and decides to wait it out as each chapter gets shorter, until there is nothing for several chapters. He speaks to see if the interruptions are done, nope, not yet. Finally he continues.

Climbing Lion's Head

Devil's Peak in the background, the view from my bedroom window is on the other side.

The oceanliners in Table Bay

Well this actually happened two weeks ago, but here are the pictures from hiking Lion's Head. The whole thing really looks like a reclining lion. We took the path that involves climbing with chains. Granted it is only about 30 feet or so, but you do have to hold on to a chain and find footholds.

Looking back towards the hump of the lion. Signal Hill.

Dinner was the Social Event of the Week

Last week I had dinner at someone's house 4 times. A good meal along with good conversation is one of my enjoyments. Tuesday night before dinner I went swimming at a gym, swimming caps are mandatory, but i decided to just jump in because I had paid for this. Fortunately no one said anything, but my friends said that he had been kicked out for noncompliance in the past. Dinner was at the house of the couple whose wedding I attended. We looked at pictures of their honeymoon in Mauritius.
The next night was a dinner party, where I decided to make salsa. We couldn't locate the food processor because it was at a house that the person was housesitting. So it was chopped vegetables mostly, but it was well enjoyed. Later when I rummaged in the bathroom for some cough drops, I found the food processor, along with other kitchen appliances (they have a small kitchen).

Another night with just two others, eating gem squash for the first time. Saturday night was back at this same house making pizzas. For pudding (dessert) we had pear and chocolate pizza.

I was having a conversation today at lunch about blogs. The director asked what a blog was and another intern mentioned that she didn't want to read about what her friend ate for breakfast, so I hope I am not transgressing too much in making my meal a news item. :)

People do eat lots of chilli here, spelled with the two l's (and maybe an e?). Last night I went to Panchos for some Mexican. I ordered the Castillanos Santa Fe, the world is becoming smaller, ne? But it is difficult to be willing to order Mexican food when the ll is Anglicized.

For the most part I feel that I am doing very well here, all the usual things of moving somewhere new and adjusting. There are a few moments where I feel my lonliness a bit more. Needing help with my car or just needing to talk with someone about deeper issues. But each time it works out well. This past Sunday I needed to talk with someone for longer than a phone call to the USA and most people back home were at church at that time. I called a woman that graduated from my same grad program and she was free for me to have tea with and then dinner and then after church I went to another couple's house for there regular Sunday night cheese and coffee. I decided to ask whether they had flavored syrups, because the local coffee shops don't carry them. Visitors have left some with them and so I had a hazelnut steamer. What a wonderful evening when I needed to spend time with people (with a few Americans thrown in).

Adjusting to Winter in Summer

Some of the things I am learning to adjust to in Cape Town are setting the oven temperature in Celsius and looking at a scale that says I weigh 55.7 kg. Light switches for the bathroom are located outside the room. So it takes a small amount of forethought. There are also no electrical outlets in the bathroom. Electrical outlets have an on/off switch and most places close by 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Nice things are lekker and there 3 different clicks in Xhosa (that x is a click).

I went to apply for my visa last week (right now I can only stay until the end of July). I don’t have a return ticket and I thought that if I set aside the money in my bank that would be fine, so I had a letter stating that $2,000 was being held for my return ticket. That is no good. I have to deposit cash with the Department of Home Affairs. Returning to the USA requires a deposit of R3110 ($450), that won’t even get me a ticket to Swaziland. Then I can’t actually use that money to purchase my ticket. I get the money returned to me after I return home and request it from the South African embassy in the USA. I went to see about getting my visa today, but the government employees are on strike and I guess today was the day the government decided to close offices too.

I watched a movie last week titled “Faith Like Potatoes.” It is based on a true story of a farmer in Zambia that moves to South Africa and turns his life over to God. Some miracles happen and he plants potatoes in a drought and the thing with potatoes is that you can’t see them growing, so one has to have faith that there will be something to harvest.

I’ve named by beetle Christopher Robin on the suggestion of a friend and so my car song will most likely be “Pooh Corner” by Kenny Loggins.

My other odd thoughts: I ordered a pair of winter boots. Every year in Albuquerque I look and decide I don’t need them, but with no central heating, warm feet would be lekker.

But it is 430 and closing time at work, so I am going home. :)