Ramble On

I was reading the Post's profile on some pumpkin dishes that have recently been added to some DC area restaurant menus and immediately resolved that I would bake the season's first loaf of pumpkin bread on my day off tomorrow. HOLY moley, I am excited about that. I also kicked off my very own fall concert series with a really fun show at the 9:30 club. I had the unexpected but very welcome companionship of two friends from South Africa who now find themselves in DC, and we had a smashing time. Despite the rain and the rushed trip to the gay sports bar post-show, I had an interesting evening thinking about Stars and how they are a very different type of performer than I have seen in a long time. About this time last year, I was meeting some of my favorite people on earth to go see my favorite band on earth. A U2 show really is that, a show. I say that I'm going to see shows all the time but they really are just performances of people who play music that I like to hear...

I feel like I'm sitting on the edge of a long journey about to happen. I felt excited and rarin' to go at the outset of last year's first year back in academia. Now that I'm approaching the real beginning of year two, many things are different. I feel that I actually have a marketable skill and that I will actually get a job when I finish school and this is somehow frightening and amazing at the same time. My mom used to tell me about getting her masters and her PhD and I used to think, there's NO WAY I can ever do that. That's way too much work. Here I am just two classes and one exam away from my degree and I can hardly believe it. I had a summer full of travels and adventures, and I keep having to remind myself that this is not a dream, that I actually can do and have done these things. As I approach the end of my academic life (I hope...), I start to wonder how I'll actually fare in the world of 9-5, five days a week, two weeks vacation per year. ...

Here are a few things that are making me love this place even more, after 20 years of coming here every summer. -The salty crust on the top layer of sand at the point and the soft sand underneath: Crème Brûlée sand. -Watching the thunderheads rolls in and the anticipation of a thunderstorm at the beach. -The fascination of the young ones with seashells and other beachy objets trouvée s - The hotness of the sun mitigated by the breeze off the ocean, mixed with the smell of suntan lotion -Morning runs down to the point, and then coming back to a cold hose shower outside - License to eat unlimited quantities of ice cream -Evening games of Scrabble, Cranium, and crosswords - Watching my little cousins grow up I have the love of my family in my soul, the ocean water in my veins, and the kiss of the sun on my skin. This week makes me so happy.

Just a few quick notes having already touched down in Atlanta and with a short layover until my final leg. Lots of Chacos every where. This gladdens my heart as I think that Chacos are God's gift to feet. But a surprising amount are popping up here in Atlanta and I guess it's just unexpected because of the locale. I would not be surprised if I were at, say, DEN or SLC. I just purchased soft serve frozen yoghurt for breakfast. I couldn't resist the temptation. It was as creamy, cold, sweet and delicious as I hoped it would be. It feels very strange to be coming back in the pinnacle of summer, as I have just left a country in winter. Granted, it was a milder winter, but it is strange to see people in shorts and sandals and feel the oppressive humidity everywhere. I am also excited for the extended daylight hours. The sun was setting at about 5:45 in SA and here I'll get a good three extra hours of daylight. To me, this is the best part about summer. ...

I can see why most South Africans stay on the garden route for multiple weeks. Each town has its own feel and different things it offers. You could spend a few days in each town. Since we're trying to fit the whole country into three weeks, we haven't had that luxury. But we have seen quite a bit. I think we saw the best thing Plett has to offer this morning as well. We got to go to the Robberg Nature Preserve for a morning hike to the seal colony and surrounding beaches. We encountered about 4 other people in our three hour hike as well as pristine beaches with crashing waves, and some gorgeous landscapes. The hike was a bit challenging as well, we hike along a rock wall and had to pick along some difficult and steep terrain for a few parts. It was really enjoyable. The seals were fun to watch for a while too, but they smelled to high heaven and most of them were asleep in the sun. There were a few playing in the water and I kept replaying the Planet Ea...

So you recognize the "T.I.A." I've been saying over and over (it's best known from the movie Blood Diamond ). Well, today, after driving a part of the Garden Route on the Southeastern coast of South Africa, I have to say I feel more like I'm in California or Greece. I keep thinking to myself, This Is Not Africa. We had a great day on the way from Cape Town to Plettenberg Bay (Plett) today. We started out very early from Cape Town, and drove to Hermanus. We were hoping for a few whale spottings. We got there just as the town was waking up, and we saw not just one, but 5 southern right whales. They come right into the bay in Hermanus and it's mating season. We were fortunate enough to stumble on a Hermanus native who worked for one of the companies and she explained the scene unfolding before us. The first thing we saw was a lone female who was swimming on her back and slapping the water in the hopes of attracting males. It's a very ef...

We are now at the point of the story of my trip in Africa that will take me a long time to write about because yesterday was one of the most delightful days of my adult life. I will have to roll the memories around in my head as I recall the delicious flavors, smells and sights of yesterday. The Winelands of South Africa are an epicurean smorgasbord. We made the decision to rent a car and pick our own wineries after much debate back and forth for pros and cons. It went something like this: Tour Company pros - don't have to drive and worry about drinking too much at tastings, they have relationships with wineries and may get to places you wouldn't have though of, don't have to worry about directions. Tour Company cons - could be stuck on a bus with loud and belligerently drunk people for hours, limited number of stops and time to spend at each stop, may only stop at big commercial wineries that have relationships with tour operators. Self-designed pros- can go to as many ...

The next day, we woke up early, as per usual, and only had a few interruptions during the night. That's the other thing about hostels: they tend to attract partiers. So we had people just coming in as we were getting up. The other clue was that they serve breakfast until 1pm at the hostel. Anyway, we were up and on the road to table mountain by 8am. The guidebooks and hostel employees said it would take 2-3 hours to hike up. We got to the foot of the mountain and started hiking by about 8:45 and one hour later, we had run out of mounain. It was one of the hardest hikes I've done because it's basically ju st thousands of steps straight up, but at least it was short. And it was incredibly rewarding. The views from the top are incredible. And there's lots of other trails you can take when you get to the top as well. We added another hour and a half to our hike by hiking out to the very eastern border of the table to a beacon and then we hiked back RI...

Normal 0 0 1 441 2515 20 5 3088 11.1287 Greetings from the beautiful seaside metropolis of Cape Town. We are staying at the very popular Cape Town Backpackers and I have decided that now in my late 20's it's a little strange to stay in hostel. It's still the most economical and fun if you're by yourself. I also will say that's it's very centrally located and has lots of tours that pick you up directly from here. But spending the night with 8 strangers in the same room and being subject to their behaviors no longer has the same adventurous feel that it did when I traveled through Europe. Anyway, Cape Town is amazing. A total contrast from Jo'burg although it is still a very urban area. Everything here is a little more stylish, a little glitzier. It's not to say I like it better; it still has the same crime problems and safety concerns that Jo'burg does, but maybe it's just better at hi...

For our last few hours in Kruger, we decided to do our own sunrise game drive. We got out on the road by 6:15 am and the sun was not yet up. Once we were on the road we were taking the same route as the previous day, but the whole valley and the rivers were covered in this gorgeous fog and the morning light coming over the horizon made it a spectacular drive just for the scenery alone. However, about 20 minutes into our drive south, we saw something in the middle of the road and as we got closer, we saw that it was a huge hyena. We hadn't seen one yet and it was kind of eerie with all the fog. Even though they're related to dogs, hyenas scare me. Once again, The Lion King shows its pervasive hold over my perceptions of Africa. then, just a minute or two after that, we saw something large run out onto the road. It was still very misty so we didn't know exactly what it was. But we got a bit closer and saw that it was a male lion , fully grown, and he was roaring. He...

The day started off gray and rainy. There was one highlight though, as we were running around the camp, a group of South Africans having breakfast at the campsite stopped us and asked if we were the ones who were on the radio yesterday. See? Radio star. Told ya. Though the rain made the morning slightly warmer than the previous two, it was not really good for game viewing because our Kruger experts from the previous morning said that all the animals hide. No lion sightings yet but today more than made up for that with all the great stuff we saw. Lots of very close encounters today. While our drive from Shingwedzi to Letaba, our final rest camp in Kruger, was gray and cold, we got within four feet of a huge herd of Cape Buffalo. The experts that we didn't really need to be afraid of lions and leopards but we really needed to watch out for buffalo and elephants. Today we learned this lesson, but I'll get to that. So while driving by the Cape Buffalo, we were hoping they...

This morning we got a late start because of the late-night game drive and just loving being in Kruger. We got going around 9am when I got the call from Jacaranda FM's radio personality A-rod to schedule my interview. He was quite a character on the night drive, w e're pretty sure he was drunk. So this morning we sat in the little restuarant with A-rod and two South Africans (who I will henceforth call "The Experts") who had also been on the game drive with us and who had also lived and worked at one of the camps here in Kruger for two years. Needless to say, they had a lot of advice to share. It was fantastic, they gave us some great advice about everything to see and do, and where to go, where we maybe could skip, tons of great insider information. They just couldn't wait to share it all with us. It made me feel like we needed at least 1 week here and not just three days. So after our chat with them, it was time for the radio interview. I was set up, beca...

I have been excited about this part of the trip for a long time, but I really understand how excited I should be now, being here and seeing the park for the first time. It was a very long drive today but we had good highways for the bulk of the trip. We have been enjoying South African road signs, particularly one with a possessed-looking deer in the midst of flames that is supposed to advise you not to have fires on the side of the road. The first part of the drive was not very pretty and full of toll roads. The second part was much more scenic and full of lots of local color. We are spending the first night in Kruger at Punda Maria rest camp which is in the way north of the park. Our reservations said that we had tent accomodations for the night, so I was prepared for a very rustic experience. If this is rustic, then I'll take it. The "tent" is a lovely log structure covered with canvas and mosquito nets that has electricity, this awesome open-air shower and the...

Tuesday we had invited all the people in our group over to the orpanage in Roodepoort to meet the kids and have breakfast with us. They had had a late night before so only half of them made it, but the kids loved them so much for coming. They may have loved the breakfast tacos that we had for breakfast more, but they love meeting new people and they really love giving them tours and singing for new people. They are used to me a little bit now since I've been staying there for about a week. But in the mornings when I come in from my run, they still wonder who I am and why I'm out of breath. "Auntie Karla... what were you doing? Were you racing?? did you WIN??" So Tuesday morning and into the afternoon we all just played and spent time with the kids. Then they went down for a nap and we headed up to Pretoria. Two of us dropped the other four off to the Paraguay v Japan game. Then I headed out to the Pretoria zoo which is supposed to be one of the top 10 in the ...

Sunday I deemed "Jo'burg Day". Since we had all had such a rough night before we started late, around 11:30am. I had made reservations at this restaurant I really wanted to try called Moyo and Amy made a great recommendation to go to the outdoor one at Zoo Lake, which was a picturesque setting with trees and open fields and lovely lake in the background. Moyo is traditional African cuisine and we all had excellent lunches. you can get your face painted in traditional style, which I did, and they also have musicians and entertainment while you eat. It's not at all obtrusive or annoying though. It's very nice. We all enjoyed our food and the warm,sunny afternoon in the park. After that we went to the rooftop craft market at Rosebank mall. It's more of a gigantic flea market but everyone enjoyed it. Almost everyone bought a vuvuzela too. After that we headed to Newtown for what turned out to be the highlight of my day, the SAB World of Beer tour. Onl...

Saturday was our first match, and the one we were most invested in. USA v Ghana. Since it was everyone's first day we tried to start a little bit later. We collected everyone from their hostel in the morning and I had the day all planned out. We went to the Sterkfontein caves at the Cradle of Humankind (world heritage s ite!) and the Maropeng. Sterkfontein is a large limestone cave where they have been excavating the oldest skeletons ever found (hence the name). Wits University professors are responsible for most of the discoveries. We had a good but not very informative tour through the caves. My favorite part was just navigating through some of the narrower passages and seeing the underground lake. It's definitely no Luray Caverns. From there we headed to the Maropeng Visitor's center which is probably the most unfocused museum I have ever been to. The museum is based on the idea of the area being where the first humans lived. They have some guiding posters at ...

So it's now a little less than a week since I left Wits and the rest of my friends from the US have arrived. It's been an incredibly jam-packed few days and it's really hard to think how much we've all done. Especially when you factor in the jet-lag of the people who just got here. Wednesday after I finished up at Wits I was immediately picked up I was packed and ready to move out of my room at the international house. I am now staying at the orphanage in Roodepoort where my friend lives and works and it's been a wonderful place so far. After I left campus, we went to Montecasino, this gigantic indoor entertainment/dining/nightlife establishment near Sandton to watch the US game at the FIFA FanZone there. However, they had elected to show the England game, and not the US game so we were quite miffed. We had not bought our tickets yet though, so we found a bar with some other incensed Americans, ordered some beer, and began watching the most agonizing 90 minut...

I apologize for being remiss in my updating but it's been a little busy. My internship at Wits is now over and I was very sad to leave the office. They were a great bunch of people to work with and I hope that I will get to see them again soon. I also hope that I will be as lucky with colleagues when I find a real job after grad school. So the last days on campus were fun. We would watch the games in the conference room over lunch and in the afternoons, chat about team performances and game results in the mornings when we came in, and everyone's spirit was up. We also managed to make some good headway on the IEASA conference. I got some contracts edited down to what we needed and got some good prices. My evenings were pretty boring. A couple of times I went with people out to this one bar we can walk to and watched the evening game with them. That's always a nice break. But otherwise, the internship ended quietly. On my last day, the staff gave me a farewell brea...