The fire alarm has a tendency to wake me up in the morning....

Oh, here's a pic of the outside of the res. Unfortunately I don't have a Mac equivalent of MS paint, but my room goes out to the balcony on the left side of the picture, third floor up. It faces north.

...which I suppose is a good thing. But then again the fire alarm in Liesbeeck (my res) doesn't mean much b/c they have the alarms situated right outside the kitchen and students tend to burn things/create smoke. Hence the fire alarms go off with alarming frequency (oh puns).

So my afternoon off (today--see previous post) I watched Bridget Jones's Diary and hung out in the kitchen while Smiley attempted to cook. It's weird, the students here find meat to me a staple. I guess in my month of summer I cooked meat what, never? Yeah, never.
However! I did cook meat today. I bought chicken nuggets at Shoprite and then just heated them up. Yay. Then I boiled milk for makeshift hot chocolate using Nesquik. It's a rather crude recipe, that I hope I will not be trying again (but likely will). Actually, I might go make some right now b/c at this rate I won't be in bed until 11pm. Damn. I've been so tired lately. It's depressing.

Oh, so after it was windy this afternoon I heard more noises and peaked out my window to see torrential downpour. It was fantastic because I was inside and thus nice and dry.

Apparently I missed African drumming, but it came with at least an hour of sitting through more UCT people talking at us so I really don't think I missed much. Plus people walked back. At like 7 or 8. Ha ha.

I'll have pictures of the flatmates eventually.....Snele doesn't like photographs so I'll wait for a more lubricated night. :_D

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No music ever since I heard playing iTunes uses up internet quota.

I'm skipping out on orientation

So it's insanely windy today so walking back from UCT (about a fifteen minute hike down the mountain...yay) was fun.
There's a five rand store in Mowbray that sells all sorts of ridiculous things। Of course it's run by some kind-of-Asian family that doesn't speak English. Speaking of English, we had this really fun standardized test scheduled for today.

It's to gauge our English proficiency, but it's really just like the stupid questions on the reading portion of the SAT. SO STUPID. I finished in under an hour and when one of the proctors freaked out about a few people leaving (she wanted to make sure that we were COMPLETELY DONE) I just got pissed and walked out. They were doing a shitty administration of the test. Who gives pencils without erasers with a bubble sheet? *headdesk*

Anyway, todays orientation was boring and they just talked to us about safety and stuff. I doodled in order to stay awake.

(O.o I can feel wind and my windows are closed. Bad sign. *gets up to close curtains*)

Oh, so last night Snele, Smiley, and Natasha tried to persuade me to take tequila shots with them. It was really funny to watch them though. Snele looked to be in more pain that I usually am. Weird.
Anyway, I get the impression the drinking culture (while legal) is about the same here as in the states. At least in the universities.

I have not taken advantage of my age yet (except once to try a Long Island Iced Tea) but it's kind of weird being old enough to drink here.
We had a barbeque (called a braai) a couple days back and I was tired of socializing so I was just standing around watching everyone else (I swear, people watching is hilarious) when the head of the residence hall--I dunno what else to call him--started talking to me. I just remember he asked me if I wanted to try the beer (Castle tastes kinda like Nattie Light.....ugh) and then if I drink and go out. So strange. Oh, the rule here about alcohol is that you can't have it in glass containers. Because it's glass. Not a drug. I find it hilarious.
Oh, and the smoking age is 16. weird huh? Apparently South Africa has the third largest population of adult smokers in the world. Go figure. Makes me feel like I'm in a NC university after all.

I was walking back to the res after food and R5 store shopping with another CIEE kid just now and he (Ben) made a comment about how the area feels more African than others have. I mean, yeah, the Waterfront felt very upscale American, but African? Honestly, Mowbray feels almost exactly like if I had actually gone shopping or lived in downtown Raleigh (like where Enloe is). Right down to the black people. Go figure.

Oh, on the standardized test they had a place for filling in your race. Still had White, Black, Coloured, Indian, and Other. I checked "other".

At this rate I'll post again later tonight if I don't end up falling asleep. This internet coverage is shitty, so I apologize if I cut out on your during IM conversations. :( Not much I can do.

If you have a request about what you want to hear about, I'll be happy to write about it, I just need prompting.

And thank you for the responses! I miss you guys.

My converter's about to fall out of the wall

Quick description of the past week.

We did orientation for CIEE and got cell phones. That's about it.

Now on to today's post!

--

So my luggage is somewhere in the states, definitely not en route to Cape Town, so it looks like I'll be buying everything I need. I got this awesome fleece jacket yesterday at Ackermans (it's like Wal-Mart, only more expensive....) and it keeps me very warm. Yay. I also spent way too much money at a place called Vertigo that had the best staff of any of the clothing places. I went to one first in Rondebosch and didn't buy anything b/c of the expense (they remind me of American Apparel) but the staff helped me get to Cavendish by hailing a minibus for me.

The minibus taxi system is really confusing and foreign if you've never traveled in one before. It's basically a 10-15 seater van, on the smaller side than the ones in the states. There's a driver and an usher type guy who pokes his head out the window while driving to yell at people on the street, takes money, and fits as many people as possible into the tiny vehicle. They're a rather informal type of public transportation, but they get the job done. For R5 (R7 is equivalent to 1 US dollar) I took the minibus to Cavendish (took me a while to actually find it as it's underground), a large mall in the area. While it's better than the Waterfront, there were still lots of expensive shops and I had to pay attention to where I was going because it was three stories and somewhat confusing. I walked in a two story circle at the beginning. But I found a lot of clothes and now I'm much warmer. I got socks at the Shoprite (grocery) down the street. Yay socks.

I have discovered that the problem with the cold here is that I like to sit around on the computer, not moving for hours and consequently losing what body heat I may have had.

Oh, the KFC in Cavendish was interesting b/c it was clean and modern looking. The food was basically the same. There's one down the street from where I'm staying so I am very tempted to go there instead of cooking for myself. Unfortunately it's not safe to walk out alone at night and I haven't made friends here yet.

-

I haven't explained the living situation yet. I'm living in the res, which is short for residential dormitory. It's self-catered, so it's essentially an apartment with four bedrooms and a kitchen. The set up is two UCT (generally South African) students paired with two CIEE (generally American) students. For them it's the second semester and they just had a three week winter vacation. When I got into the apartment I thought I was the first one, but when the second CIEE student (Molly) arrived and we were talking, we realized that there was someone else in the apartment. I had pegged the flat (I'm gonna call it that b/c it's local slang and faster to type :_D) as belonging to guys because of a picture of Angelina Jolie (just her face, not her naked...) and a car on the water heater in the kitchen. But it turns out the girl (Snele...I apologize to her if I'm wrong on this) is just staying in the flat until the end of vacation (they call it vac. Hee). I also met her brother Smiley (not his real name) and his girlfriend Natasha (she's from Sri Lanka). Snele and Smiley are Zimbabwean and so are a lot of other UCT students I've met. It's like a trend.

Anyway, yesterday I spent most of the night (in between chatting online with you guys) hanging out with Snele, Natasha, and another girl named Kuni who lives in another res. They're really cool, politically incorrect and lewd, which made me feel right at home. There's drama to learn and I'm almost glad that I'm enjoying the native (quote-unquote) population more so than the American students. I really don't get along very well with the CIEE kids. I also haven't gone out at all because I get so tired in the early evening. Plus I have no desire to drink. *shrug* Go figure.

Let's see, there's lots more to say, but instead of describing it, I'm gonna point to the right hand side of the screen on the main page where I've added a slideshow of pictures that I took today during the tour around the Cape that was organized by the UCT international orientation committee. Tomorrow we're apparently taking an aptitude test to see if we're at least on the high school level. You'd think being in COLLEGE would be enough of a pre-req, but whatever. It's supposedly really easy.

I'm definitely going to feel less of a inclination to write posts if I consistently get boring comments/no comments from you all, so please encourage me....
even if it's in email/facebook form.



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Now playing: Mariah Carey - Just To Hold You Once Again
via FoxyTunes

I know, I know, just skip to the bottom

Because I don't feel up to backtracking, I'll just give a quick rundown of what's been going on.

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Day One

Arrive at 5am at CPT. Go through passport and visa checkpoint and on to baggage reclaim. Put my bag down and roll shoulders because they hurt like hell. Bag is far too heavy. Go into bathroom and get confused b/c there's a cord going into the toilet and it doesn't flush. None do. Go to sink and tiny dribble of water comes out. There is no soap. Get SO CONFUSED. Go through a big door that says customs. Don't encounter anyone. Walk into the outer terminal part and look around for a group of young people. Am called over by one. She is white. Am confused. There are four people or so. We talk. Wait for more people to arrive. Wait longer for one girl. Turns out it is the one I met at Frankfurt. We leave the airport. Everyone ???s about my lack of baggage. I tell story. I hope I will not get tired of telling it. (hint: I will)

We get in bus thingie and I meet girl from Oxy. She has twin sister at Scripps. Cool. No wonder she looks familiar. Once more than ten people are in bus, it is v. loud. Oh, has been raining this whole time. Gore-tex was good investment. Can't see out windows because are fogged up and rainy. Comment that it looks just like home cuz there is grass. More comments that we are tired and will crash soon. (hint: is foreshadowing)

We get to hotel and luggage comes off the bus. We go into hotel. Lobby is cold b/c there is no heat and door is open. Fun. We get luggage key and we go to room. I ask program leader Felicity about luggage. She takes down info. We go to shower rooms, which have four beds and a shower. They are not real rooms. But there really is no heat. I freak out a little inside (for good reason). There are showers. I do not care because I have no clothes to change into. Other girls sit on bed and talk. Is somewhat interesting. Everyone brought insane amounts of luggage. Wtf mate. One girl showers. I go buy internet time (at a v. high rate) to email parents. Gmail doesn't work. I am sad and have to use school email. Email takes four minutes and I have six left so I log out. Log out doesn't work and I lose the six more minutes. Stupid hotel.

Someone decides to search for food. As we are about to leave one kid realizes it is raining. Apparently I was the only one aware of this (how old are we now?). They run back to rooms to grab shoes and rain jackets. I facepalm. Two people begin to walk out when we are stopped. Are told we will need to pay for breakfast, and afterwards food will be covered by CIEE. Is barely 8am, so nothing is open at the Waterfront, but we can go to the hotel restaurant (hint: bad idea). We go to restaurant and find that the price of breakfast is R115. Oh hotels...

The food is pretty shitty and there is little variety, but it is all that is available. Food is just like a regular continental breakfast (plus wet scrambled eggs and beef (beef??) sausages). They are playing Mariah Carey as we sit down in the dining room. We can see the mountain and cranes that are doing construction outside the hotel. The weird birds are loud and sound like they're dying. After breakfast, we head back to the hotel. Everyone decides to go to bed. There are six girls and four beds (the boy's room is unimportant). I go in there after charging my computer in the lounge to find all the beds taken. I am not comfortable with waking up anyone or trying to lie down next to someone. However, I am freezing and need to take my mind off it. I lie down on the floor in the colder room (there's no ground space in the other one) and attempt to fall asleep. Is useless. Get up. Walk around in the hotel. At some point, one of the girls wakes up and surrenders her bed as she goes to shower. I quickly hide under the down blanket and promptly fall asleep for some four hours. Everyone in the room sleeps through the orientation time they told us to make, so we are awakened afterwards by another student telling us to collect our money. We head upstairs to collect food money (good for four meals) and hear orientation stuff. Forgot everything they said because I slept in my contacts and spent the entire time blinking. Also received our temporary room key in the hotel. I am in the other building with only a few other students. As we were late, I walk to the building alone and get to my room to find no one there. I hide under the blanket of one of the beds due to the freezing nature of the room and wonder when dinner is. Eventually a girl comes in, having just arrived in Cape Town, and tells me that dinner is soon. She reminds me of Candice's friends because she is blonde, wears a Northface jacket, rainbows, and pearls (I think; my mind may just have added that detail). I am someone depressed because when I use the word "blog" she has no idea what I'm talking about. I mentally facepalm.

Dinner is down at the Waterfront, so we walk a block or two down to the water (no wonder it's cold!) We walk inside and find that it is a mall. Who knew? They have all the usual American chains. There is a KFC. I say something snarky about this not being real study abroad. I don't know this group of people so I just kind of trail along. One of the SolMates (the UCT student orientation leaders) takes a group of about five of us to a sushi restaurant. We sit down. He says he'll return. (hint: It's Ken so he's quote, random, and does not) We introduce ourselves to each other and talk. The sushi is good. I regret not ordering some kind of warm drink. (are you noticing a trend here?) Spicy tuna roll is strange looking but good. V. v. good. We split up the bill, add in tip, pay and leave. We hurry back to the meeting place at the Waterfront. I make snarky comment about all the safari (traditional African touristy shit) stores in this high end mall (there are also fancy shops).

We get back to the hotel and I end up plugging in my computer and typing up the previous blog post without internet. Am feeling internet deprived (but am too cheap to purchase it at the outrageous rates). I think I shower maybe but I can't remember. Another girl comes to the room. She is also unremarkable and boring to me. She shares the other room with the first girl. I don't know their names at all. I fail. I go to bed after setting up a wake up call for the morning and fall asleep completely covered in the down blanket and have a dream about a really creepy looking person and toss and turn until the dream disappears.

I sleep very well.

---

So I can see this narration tapering off, so I'll be sure to have a summary at the end too.

tl;dr Winter in Cape Town is FUCKING COLD

I'll type the next day summary when it's not past midnight.




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Now playing: Scissor Sisters - Laura
via FoxyTunes

Things I have learned over the past few days

From the Plane

1) It takes about a half an hour to read a magazine.

2) Never trust airlines to cooperate when it comes to luggage.

3) It's easy to get overwhelmed when everything goes wrong.

4) A sleep schedule of no more than three hours at a time does not necessarily induce insanity....as far as I can tell.

5) My hair does not take well to combs.

6) It's a good idea to go to the bathroom prior to getting on the plane.

7) Monitors showing what the ground looks like outside the plane are AWESOME.

8) Airline food sucks ass.

9) While it's fun to talk to your neighbor on flights, I think I prefer refusing to acknowledge their existence.

10) They give free whiskey sample shots in airport liquor stores.

11) The Other Boleyn Girl is a shitty movie despite all it has going for it.

12) Zyrtec-D easy open tabs are NOT easy open.

13) A broken entertainment system on an eleven hour flight is not necessarily the end of the world.

14) The credit card swipey thing on public phones hates me. In every airport.

15) Airline blankets are surprisingly warm.

Upon Arrival

16) It's winter in Cape Town.

17) In the dark it looks like any other place with grass and trees.

18) Hotel restaurants price gouge.

19) I am considerate to the point of hypothermia.

20) Sleeping in the sun is NICE.

21) Travel converters get very very very hot.

22) Boys are more interesting than girls.

23) I really wish I had succeeded in packing the alarm clock.

24) The Rand is really pretty.

25) Wearing three different shades of blue is three times as depressing as wearing only one.

26) The Western Cape is having a severe water crisis.

27) Hand washing clothes requires soap in order to become properly clean.

28) R50 is equal to about $7.

29) There are weird birds here.

30) Buildings tend not to employ the use of heat.


Points for whoever can correctly guess my first meal here.

The person with the most points by the time I leave will get their my choice of ridiculous gift upon my return to the states.

Tomorrow is the first day of orientation and I have no idea what to expect. Hopefully my luggage. Unlikely though.

It's freezing here. I have no warm clothes. Kill me now.

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Now playing: Tracie Thoms / Jesse L. Martin / Cast Of Rent - I'll Cover You (Reprise)
via FoxyTunes