Easy Tiger

On Saturday night I went to see Dan Patlansky, a phenomenal blues guitarist, at Radium Beer Hall. Because of this event, I can now officially say I have witnessed, and to some extent even been involved in a bar fight (meh… it was more like bar tiff, but whatever). The fight ended when a woman splashed schweppe’s tonic water all over a mystery man. Unfortunately, most of the liquid involved in this dramatic gesture ended up showering all over me, a helpless bystander. This sort of reminded me of the time I was at a middle school birthday party at Rainforest Café (a.k.a. the most overwhelming place on earth) and the waiter spilt a full tray of sodas on me. The only difference in these events was that the Rainforest Café manager let me pick out some free swag (Spongebob Square Pants T-Shirt and some classy leopard leggings) to make up for my sugarcoated hair and soaking Oilily outfit, whereas I only got some leftover bread at Radium.

Sunday was even more adventurous. We went to a Lion & Rhino park about an hour outside the city. Here are some of my favorite animal pictures from the day:



Then… I got bit by a tiger (oh snap!). Here are some pictures/ video footage of the bite in action and the scar-bruise blend that now adorns my upper calf:

I think its pretty funny that this happened. As soon as people hear my American accent they usually ask “So… did you think you were going to get attacked by a lion as soon as you stepped off the plane?” To this question I usually give a polite spiel about how not all Americans are ignorant or Bush-era cowboys. Now I can just smile, laugh and explain how that actually did happen, except it was tiger that attacked me, not a lion.

After the game park, we went to a place called Carnivores where we stuffed out faces with some of the animals (ostrich, kudu and crocodile) we had been admiring all day. Mmm, mmm good.

I’ll be done with my two finals on Saturday and am then heading off to Maputo, Mozambique’s capital, with five other girls for some relaxing days on the beach (Spring Break 2009—The Remix!). We’ll be staying at a backpackers lodge called Fatima’s (you can’t have the sweet with no sour). Until I return, cheers!

P.S. Goodbye Teddy... We'll miss you.

This picture reminds me of an awkward middle school dance.

These Days

The Day of Learning (Wednesday, August 19, 2009)

Just listen to this crazy line-up of academic experiences… all within a 10-hour time span:

I rolled up to the human rights commission at 10am, said my hellos to Clifford the security guard and headed up to my office. My boss told me there was an event on the sixth floor that I should attend; I said, “okay, I’ll go”. The presentation was by Magdalena Sepulveda (she's adorable), a United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and Extreme (X-treme?) Poverty from Chile, who was conducting an informal discussion on poverty in South Africa with civil society organizations.

Next, I trekked back to campus where my law class was getting a guest presentation by Mark Heywood, the Director of AIDS Law Project and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) activist. He discussed how TAC was able to use South Africa’s progressive constitution to mandate that the government make antiretrovirals more accessible, despite former President Thabo Mbeki’s AIDS denialism.

After a brief interlude that involved ice cream, it was off to Senate House for a presentation by Elinor Sisulu. Sisulu is a Zimbabwean-South African Human Rights activist and often considered to be “South Africa’s conscience”. She talked about the atmosphere of global political amnesia surrounding human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

After this day full of knowledge I needed to decompress…

The Day of Beer (Thursday, August 20, 2009)

Kathy and I grabbed some African Sushi (pap, chicken, and chakalaka sauce) at a diner close to campus and walked over the Nelson Mandela Bridge to Newtown. We spent some time at the Museum of Africa, but left quickly since it was disappointing. The Museum is in a huge palace-like building, but most of the rooms inside are totally empty (no lie). There was an exhibit on the history of photography, with no mention of its impact on Africa (or anything related to Africa for that matter). Good thing the museum was free.

We walked across the street to SAB World of Beer. For just 25 Rand (given current exchange rates about $3.80), Kathy and I got a 90-minute tour, a glass mug, three ice-cold bottle of beer, and some munchies. The tour was incredibly high-tech and involved lots of interactive videos, even the lobby of the building reminded me of a CIA safe house (or what I imagine a CIA safe house to look like). SAB World of Beer just won the 2009 award for best tourist location in South Africa and certainly gets an A+ in my book.

South Africa In the News:
An ambiguously gendered gold medal runner, being the site of an alien invasion that inspires a government crackdown similar to apartheid policies (movie isn’t out here yet), and this interesting and accurate essay on Krueger National Park’s tourism industry.

P.S. Check out this blog post on South African chocolate bars. I was the guest taster this week (i.e. Taster Dark Horse).

Fight On! Fight On! Fight On!

It’s been a rough week for the Americans in International Haus. We’ve had:
1 Emergency Trip back to the USA
3 Malfunctioning Laptops
1 Stolen Wallet
1 911-equivalent call, followed up by a week long hospital stay for pneumonia. (Don’t worry—I was as cool as a cucumber when I asked the security guard to ring an ambulance).

I guess all you can do is say “Aish”.

As of now, I’ve got M.I.A.’s (featuring Afrikan Boy) Hussel stuck in my head. She gives a shout out to Mozambique in the song—my likely “spring break” destination.

You think its tough now,
Come to africa,
Out there we are grinding like pepper,
You can catch me on the motorway,
Selling sugar water and pepper,
I rep Africa not Miami,
Hustle hustle with m.i.a.

Kathy is coming to South Africa for a few days before she heads off to Senegal. Yay!

P.S. At least the honeybees are having a good week.

Free Love

On Wednesday, I attended a conference on xenophobic violence against non-nationals. The event was co-sponsored by the South African Human Rights Commission and the Center for Study of Violence and Reconciliation and was attended by a handful of local NGOs, government officials and interested citizens, most of which were foreign nationals. The day before, my first official day of work, was spent in planning meetings for the event.

At the end of the symposium, there were multiple organizations handing out complimentary pamphlets, magazines, t-shirts and stickers. As most of you know, free stuffs makes me real giddy (Dad, you taught me well). Free hand sanitizer-- sign me up! Free toothbrushes—i’ll take three! Free Costco food samples—yum, yum! In my hurry to collect as much free stuff as possible, I was not paying attention to exactly what I was grabbing.

While riding the bus home from work I decided to take a look at the loot that I had snagged. One item in particular stuck out—a sticker. Now, I’m a big sticker fan. I’ve got hundreds at home that I’ve been collecting since I was 8 years old. In middle school, at the peak of my sticker craze, I would give one of my friends about $40 every summer so she could buy me some from California (they’ve got ties to the famous Japanese sticker market). This particular sticker was unusually large (16x8 inches) and had “This is where Xenophobia belongs! 1 future” written across it. Surely they don’t mean xenophobia belongs in the future, do they? Maybe they meant to stay it belongs on a sticker/paper, but why should it even belong there? In general, I was confused about the meaning of the sticker and didn’t really want to plaster it across my wall if I wasn’t exactly sure of what it was trying to say.

Then, in a 4am stroke of brilliance, I realized I had the perfect location for my new sticker-- my trashcan. I felt around for my glasses, switched my light on and hobbled over to the bin. As you can tell by this picture, I was so excited by my realization that I didn’t even bother to properly align the sticker. In conclusion, lucid dreams rocks.




In other news—While Bill just returned from his Pyongyang mission that has “catapulted him back onto the world stage”, Hillary is in Jozi chatting it up with Zuma and Mandela. Go Billary!

Sidebar—I bought way too much yogurt last week. I’m averaging about 5 per day so I can finish them before they expire (2 more days!). If someone offered me some free yogurt, I’d have to reluctantly refuse.

Error!

Here is the error sign I get (almost) every time I try to log onto the internet. Why does "the other side" dislike me so much?

On the plus side, today was the first rainy day that we've had since arriving in South Africa. As much as I love the sun, it has definitely been nice to spend the whole day in my pajamas listening to the familiar pitter-patter of rainfall (with the occasional roar of thunder).

Now back to my paper on state sovereignty and international law (a.k.a the stuff they don't teach in America).