The Final Countdown

Hello friends! Thanks for trying to keep up with my sporadic and probably not-so-useful blog over the past few months. I leave the Mother City on Saturday and just finished my last exam, so I'm sure the next few days will be an experiment in seeing how many times I hear people say "This will be the last time I ..." I was planning on enclosing the Leisbeeck soccer team photo (I'm the white girl in the front row) but I am running extremely short on internet credits so I don't think that will be possible. Those of you on Facebook will have the privilege of seeing it, I guess, when I get back to the States and post some photos. I would also like to apologize for not updating the blog very often but also assure you that I have kept a diligent journal which means that when I'm rich and famous and someone pays millions of dollars to have it published, you'll finally know what I've been doing for the past four and a half months. Stay classy and enjoy the summer!

South African signage

Not too much exciting has happened in the past few weeks, as we’re winding down the lecture weeks of the semester and writing all those lovely end-of-term papers that make life so sweet. The LBG soccer team just captured its second win of the season against the Medical School with a score of 4-2. Unfortunately, we have played more than two games this season, so our overall record is now 2-1-2.
Since I don’t have much to report on and people keep insisting that I update this blog, I thought I would provide you with a list of funny signs I’ve seen around. I’ve divided them up into headlines the newspapers put up on light posts, tags on mini-bus taxis, and actual road signs. The most ironic sign of all is the one featured in the photo, as I took it on Robben Island.

Headlines:
“Baboons Ravage Presidential Home”
“Amazing Voter Turnout” (followed on the next post by) “Election Fraud Rampant”
“Baby Born in Train Station”
“The Beaten Face of Rihanna”
“Government Lied About Lama”
“Cape Town Burns”
“City- Flooding Is Your Fault”
“Rhino Eaten By Chickens” (is that possible?)
“School Sex Shock”
“Gauteng Gets An Enema” (Gauteng is the province where Jo-Burg is)
“Tight On Money?- Get a Job”
“Feeling Ignored?- Get a Better Job”
“Boks’ Back Pain”
“Pac-Man Gobbles Hatton”
“Beaten To Death At A Wedding”
“If Pigs Could Fly …” (are we confusing swine flu with avian flu?)
“Is That a Bird In Your Pants Or …?”
“Nasty Chicken Koppe Soup” (I’m not sure what “koppe” is)

Mini-Bus Tags:
Prison Break
Boys Don’t Cry
It’s Rude to Stare
Daddy’s Girl

Road Signs:
One of my favorites, which I think means caution, is just a red triangle with an exclamation point in the middle.
“Danger- Workmen Ahead”
after a construction zone: “End. Thank you.”
“Slow down please!”

Two Nights in Leopard Land

Apparently, South Africans don’t like going to work in autumn. After getting back from Easter holiday on April 13, we have had two public holidays already (Election Day last Wednesday and Freedom Day today) and have another on Friday (May Day). Thus, taking advantage of this week’s three-day weekend, three other study abroad students and I went on a camping adventure in the Cederberg Mountains. We rented a BMW from our favorite German dealer and hit the road!
The trip began on Saturday in the rain, leading us to have some dismal expectations of the upcoming trip. However, as soon as we arrived in Cederberg, things began to turn around. The rain turned to a drizzle and after setting up camp, we decided to check on some cave paintings that were supposedly done about 1,000 years ago. That’s older than the US! They were really neat and impressive (mostly just drawings of humans and elephants) and were also situated in the middle of some crazy rock formations that basically provided the best jungle gym/playground I’ve ever been on. Naturally, as any “mature” 21-year-olds would do, we spent a good hour climbing all over the rocks and pretending to push each other off. The fun ended when we remembered that Cederberg has a “healthy leopard population” and we started to smell fresh feces, so we thought we would move on. On the way back to the campsite, we stopped at a vineyard to grab some essential camping supplies, as well as a “Vote ANC” poster with Zuma’s picture on it on the side of the road.
Back at the camp, the abundance of wet sticks and twigs made it basically impossible to start a fire. We were forced to cheat and cop-out on “real fire-building” and had to borrow some fire starters from the campsite next to ours and also burn the Zuma poster to get the fire going. We then proceeded to feast on the normal campfire fare (hobos, s’mores, etc.).
Sunday morning we embarked on a five-hour hike to the top of one of the mountains in the range. The lovely Western Cape weather chose a great day to heat up to 29 Celsius as we climbed the rocky side of the mountain, directly in the sun, with our overnight packs on our backs. Once we reached the top, we spent the night in a man-made hut at the top (which worked out great so we didn’t have to carry our tents up). The site was situated in between a number of mountains and was an excellently secluded area. As expected, the stars were ridiculously bright and abundant (and upside down; the southern hemisphere ruins everything). It was definitely worth the hike, I did find it funny, however, to think that while my friends from IU were either recovering from an intense Little 500 weekend or meeting up in Prague, I was pooping in the woods and experiencing the natural beauty of the South African wilderness. Oh the places you’ll go!
This morning we woke up and hiked back down, stopping to look at a waterfall on the mountain and get some more water (we had a purifier- don’t worry). It’s amazing how much less time it takes to go down than up. The hike was going swimmingly (thanks to ol’ gravity) when we turned a corner and heard a terrifying chorus of shrieks and a pack of about 30 baboons running amuck across the trail. All of a sudden, I felt a thud on my back, and turned my head around to see a baboon on top of my backpack, trying to get in to the food. I tried to shake him off, but he proved persistent. I then threw off the bag and stepped away for a second, only to see my friends each fighting off baboons themselves. The whole pack started to move in on us and we had no chance but to run. Luckily, our car keys, phones and wallets were in our pockets so it wasn’t tragic to leave everything behind, just a bit disappointed. We got back in the car and drove to Cape Town feeling depressed and defeated.
Just kidding. What actually happened was this: Hoping they wouldn’t smell any of the food we were carrying, we clapped our hands together and screamed a bit to scare them away and kept going, turning what could have been a very exciting event into a pretty ordinary one. Then we got in the car and drove to Cape Town feeling accomplished and desperately in need of showers.

Leisbeeck Wins!

With rainy skies and a fierce attitude, the Leisbeeck soccer team took to the field for our first game of the season this afternoon. The opposing side, a team called Afghanistan (we have no idea why or how, though after some of their manners, I think Taliban may be a more appropriate name), was from Cape Tech and started the match off with an early goal. Not to be defeated, Leisbeeck answered with not one, but two great goals to take the lead. Playing defense, the game quickly became tiring as we were playing a side that had a) strikers who were faster than bats out of hell and b) an apparent immunity to the offsides rule. However, after some good ol’ shirt pulling and slide tackling we were able to put in a few good stops. During a defensive slump however, just before the half, the Afghans scored to tie the game.
The second half began with another quick goal from our opponents, only this time it was the result of a bogus call giving them a penalty kick. Our keeper was good, but unfortunately the ball slipped by him. Once again proving the might of Leisbeeck Gardens, we immediately regained control of the game and scored to tie the match. Then, within the nail-biting final three minutes, we scored on a corner kick off a perfectly bent ball. Literally no one other than the kicker touched the ball before it hit the back of the net. Victory clenched!
Other than just enjoying the soccer, these Leisbeeck games are quite the spectacle. A surprising number of people from the res came out to support the team (I can only imagine that it was a small fraction of those planning to come but didn’t because of the rain). We had a few fans who insisted on running on to the field every time we scored. One was wearing a bright yellow ANC shirt with Zuma and his toothless smile across the front. Due to the upcoming elections on Wednesday, I think he cared more about supporting his party than the Leisbeeck soccer team. Nevertheless, it added to the fervor of the event. The game was also played on UCT's turf field which will be used as a practice field for the World Cup in 2010. As much as I hate turf, not too many people can say they've played on a World Cup field (even if it's just a practice one), can they?
Not surprisingly, the fans of the opposing side (whose side of the field I was playing on) did quite a bit of heckling /asking me out on dates. I only felt the need to show off my favorite digit to one of these charming fellows before proceeding to trip and take the ball from his player. That incident quieted the fans a bit.
Thus, after 70 minutes of play, four yellow cards (two for each side) and seven goals, LBG raked in its first win of the season! We’re undefeated!

P.S. This may be the least time I’ve ever left in between posts. Way to go, me!

Srours Do Africa!

Two weeks ago marked the beginning of the official Srour Tour of Africa. The rest of the clan arrived in Cape Town on March 31 and the fun began shortly thereafter. Few sights are more comforting than finding your parents and brother wandering around in wide-brimmed hats, cargo shorts and hiking boots, each carrying a camera the size of a small dog. But there they were, touristing around St. George’s Mall in the center of Cape Town. The three of them tried to April Fool’s me on Wednesday by texting me while I was in class saying they had gone wine tasting and Edward was pulled over and sent to a South African prison. It was a stupid trick and I didn’t fall for it.
However, the three did very much enjoy their wine tasting and we all went again on Saturday. A lovely outing it was.
Throughout the trip we encountered an extraordinary amount of dentist office awful 90s soft rock being played in public places. George and I, obviously, took every opportunity to sing along to such hits as Phil Collins’ “Think Twice.” SamSam was confused as to why we know all those songs, and George then convinced her it was her fault: all those years cruising around in the back of our Ford Taurus station wagon listening to 97.1 WENS (if you grew up in Indianapolis, you know what I’m talking about with that station).
Safari time! On April 9 we departed Kampala (we arrived there on April 6) to go on Safari in Murchison Falls in the northern part of the country. Our lodge was right on the Nile (that's a river) and we had an awesome Land Cruiser with a roof that popped open. If I were a two dimensional cartoon, I would have felt like the Wild Thornberry’s. We saw a great deal of wildlife, including water buffalo, lions, giraffes, elephants, antelopes, hippos and warthogs. I will have to disagree with Jordan Hensley’s claim that the hyena is the ugliest animal. In fact, it is the warthog. First of all, it’s a hog. Secondly, it has a mullet, and it’s gravity defying hairy tail looks like a rattail, resulting in the marriage of the two worst hair-dos known to man. Thirdly, it’s tusks looks like a lame attempt to become an elephant. In conclusion, they suck.
The second place award for ugliest animal went to the guinea fowl, which looks like a cross between a seal and a peacock. I have little respect for birds that don’t fly (except penguins), so that was an automatic strike. I also think seals look like fat men in spandex with whiskers, so any other animal that may remind me of a seal would also be seen as ugly.
My favorite animals were the baboons. I like them because they steal people’s stuff and eat it, and don’t really care if they're pissing anyone off. We witnessed one baboon running into a car, stealing a bag of bananas, and sitting no more than five yards away eating everything.
Another highlight of the trip occurred at the Safari lodge. George and I were enjoying a nice dip in the pool (countries on the equator are pretty hot all the time) when we noticed that a four-year-old boy had just pulled down his own pants and was standing naked in the middle of the pool. It was at this precise moment that the two of us decided to get out and go to the bar for a beer.
The posted pictures are of work being done on a Building Tomorrow school near Kampala, the view of Cape Town at night from Lion's Head (the mountain facing Table Mountain), and the view facing south from the top of Table Mountain across the rest of the peninsula.

Cape Town Burns!

Well, not really. But some idiot (and by idiot I mean arsonist, negligent smoker, or ungrateful litterer) started a massive forest fire on Table Mountain last Tuesday night that still burned through Wednesday. Here from Leisbeeck Gardens (otherwise known as the Hotel de la Leisbeeck), we could see the whole thing and it literally looked like UCT's upper campus was on fire. Luckily, it was not.
So yesterday, two days after the fire was put out, we embarked on the epic hike up the mountain, only to find that a great portion of what used to be acres and acres of trees is now black. Sad. However, the view, once again, affirmed that by living in Cape Town, I am in fact living in a postcard.
I just spent a good fifteen minutes trying to post pictures but as it turns out, blogger and South African pay-as-you-go by megabytes internet hates me. Sorry, all.
In lieu of the photos, I will provide two interesting anecdotes from the week.
Every week, I volunteer at a local high school (because I'm such an upstanding role model with a great love for children) and this past week, I was sitting around when I saw two girls walking by carrying a large map (like the ones you might hang up in a classroom- go figure!). As I was looking at the map, I saw that something was a little off. It appeared that the words were the right side up, but the actual countries were upside down. Then I remembered that I'm in the southern hemisphere, where the toilet flushes the other way and constellations are also upside down, and so naturally, maps would be "upside down" as well. Crazy!
Also, I am currently the only girl on the Leisbeeck soccer team (Leisbeeck Gardens, by the way, is my dorm). I am also the only white American shorter than 5'8" playing on a team of ten black guys who are three times my size. At first, this was slightly awkward and intimidating, but now it's really fun and I think they get a kick out of intentionally pissing me off by saying things like "Come on, gents! We're beating beaten by a girl!" Too bad statements like this are often true and I am in fact, beating the gents.
This past week, however, we had another girl from a different team practicing with us who was maybe 5'1" and 75 pounds. She's probably the smallest 20-year-old I've ever seen. But every time she got the ball, literally all the boys would yell "intombi!" which means "girl" in Xhosa. They have never done such a thing to me, so I'm guessing they find me androgynous in some way , or this particular intombi strikes their fancy and they're all really bad at flirting with her.

Surfwise.

After much anticipation, I finally took advantage of being in the world's surfing capital today and rode some sweet waves! Turns out surfing is really difficult but due to my impressive athleticism and physical prowess, after two hours I was ready for the professional circuit.
We also found out today that not only are Matt Damon (who a few of my friends saw last week while he was riding in the Cape Cycle Tour), Morgan Freeman and Clint Eastwood here for the filming of the new movie, "The Human Factor," but the filming for Free Willy 4 is also taking place in Cape Town, as people on the beach today were asked to be extras. (I would have been sold if the people asking were dressed as Michael Jackson asking me to "hold them like the River Jordan" or "carry them like I was their brother.")
I, however, was asked to play the main character in Blue Crush 2: Back in the Wave Habit. I considered it seriously but since I didn't feel like I was offered enough for my extraordinary talents, I respectfully declined.
In other news, my friends and I have successfully found our new favorite club in town called The Waiting Room. It's a three story club with an awesome deck on the roof that makes for a great view of Table Mountain. They often host local rap artists and DJs and have fierce competitions where people have to guess what song is being played after a short sample. Last week I won three CDs, mostly because everyone there was giving me the answers.
I'm going to try to send some postcards this week so if you want one and I don't have your address, send it my way! msrour@indiana.edu.
Godspeed everyone,
Maria