Show me the bunny (nom nom)

Just got back from a relaxing long weekend in Durban. Durban, located in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, is home to the largest population of Indians obviously excluding India, the most Mercedes per square mile than anywhere else in the world and the “bunny chow”.

Steps for making a Bunny Chow:

1. Hallow out a quarter, half or full loaf of bread.
2. Fill to the brim with spicy Mutton Curry.
3. Garnish with carrot strips.
4. Enjoy as (or before) the curry seeps into the bread!

‘Quarter Mutton’ from Coconut Grove Take-Away in Blue Lagoon, Durban. Best appreciated after a day of wrestling with the behemoth waves of the Indian Ocean.

Also recently enjoyed celebrating Heritage Day at the Human Rights Commission with good food, a variety of informational exhibits, traditional clothing, and live performances. I repped the Western Sahara, fully embracing my status as an expatriate.

Epic Fail

NYT, you so wrong.

1. wrong president (jacob zuma)
2. wrong spelling (thabo mbeki)

and you wonder why some africans say no one cares about them...

p.s. don't worry- nytimes has been made aware of this factual error.

I said "No, No, No"

These are pictures from the ongoing protest at Wits regarding the FY2010 tuition hike. Sure as hell beats the two tents on Wellesley's academic quad late last spring over the release of 40 college staff members...

The protests here involve lots of singing and dancing, two things that I do not consider my strong suits. Here is one of South Africa's most well known protest songs... sung by Amy Winehouse.



Only question left is-- why???

I guess "Rehab" is sort of a protest song...?

P.S. For those interested, here is a recent article about other protests in South Africa from the NYT.

Refresh button

Here’s an excerpt from a news story that is being talked about all over South Africa:

“Johannesburg, South Africa - Sometimes 12th-century technology wins.

This week, a South African call-center business, frustrated by persistently slow Internet speeds, decided to use a carrier pigeon named Winston to transfer 4 gigabytes of data between two of its offices, just 50 miles apart. At the same time, a computer geek pushed a button on his computer to send data the old-fashioned way, through the Internet.

Winston the pigeon won. It wasn't even close.

"Winston arrived after two hours, six minutes, and 57 seconds," says Kevin Rolfe, head of the information technology department at Unlimited Group, a call-center business based in Durban. As for the Internet data transfer, he says, "when we finally stopped the computer, about 100 megs had transferred, which is about 4 percent of the total."

Officially, the Unlimited Group has not given up on the Internet, nor has it any plans to embrace the use of homing pigeons that was pioneered on the battlefield by Genghis Khan. But while the pigeon-versus-Internet stunt was a resounding success in terms of satire, it also makes a point that many businesses throughout Africa are making: Africans pay some of the highest prices for some of the least reliable Internet service in the world. And if a country like South Africa – relatively prosperous and developed – can't solve this problem, then it's going to need a lot more pigeons.”

Full article-- http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0910/p06s12-woaf.html

Maybe this will give me a good excuse to invest in an owl-- I could even name it Hedwig (although my Hedwig wouldn't be as temperamental as Harry’s). Then again, I wouldn’t want my Hedwig to end up like one of these abandoned owls.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Taking a page (or a whole book?) from Edmund Burke, traditions are awesome. I mean if we didn’t have traditions, when else would I get to wander the streets begging for free candy from strangers while decked up as a pink power ranger (sadly, this actually happened), hunt for plastic eggs (filled with candy!) that a bunny scattered around our yard, or drink green beer while dressed as a leprechaun in honor of a patron saint? The answer- never.

Wellesley has some pretty bizarre traditions as well. The most well known is hoop rolling. This activity involves a gaggle of girls in their caps ‘n gowns chasing after a wooden hoop with the hopes of being the first one to cross the finish line. The prize? You get some flowers and thrown into Lake Waban (formally a hazmat site)!!!

This morning, at 6am, I was taking part in my first University of Witwatersrand tradition, the Engineering Breakfast. Here’s how it went down: We woke up bright and early, ventured over to a fenced parking lot on the other side of campus and cooked pancakes on a Bunsen burner-sized flame. Oh yeah… and all the guys were wearing suits, ties, argyle socks and silk boxers. While this tradition is just a little older than South African democracy, it has got the two key ingredients of the world’s best traditions: food and crazy costumes. Props for that.



P.S.-- Tomorrow night I’m going to a dinner party with the Swedish Prime Minister (leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party) and some girls from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy. Don’t ask how it happened, just give a honk honk to this girl.

P-p-p-poker face

We left for Mozambique knowing only two things: We could stay at Fatima’s Backpackers Place on all nights in our week long journey except for Friday and that we were legally permitted to be in the country for up to 30 days. Most of us didn’t even know the simplest Portuguese phrases, which may or may not have led to a misunderstanding at the boarder (Hint: don’t take pictures of Mozambique Boarder Patrol Guards) with the threat of four to six months jail time (Eu só falo inglês.). Somehow everything worked out perfectly, probably due to the good company, the kindness of strangers, our superb fact-finding/ hustling skills and sheer luck.

I feel like a picture essay would be the best way to explain our glorious adventures (Note- click on pictures to enlarge):

Part I- Bright City Lights

Part II- On the Water

See that white van (i.e. taxi bus)… we stuffed 19 people (plus luggage and a well-behaved baby) in there and drove for three hours over meandering, knee-deep sand roads. Oh man, that was an experience I will never forget.

Part III- The Diva is a Female Version of a Hustla

After we used our best poker faces to get this sweet deal at this brand spankin’ new hotel that’s named after a sinus medication, we spent the night being classy wearing our provided robes. Oh yeah, and the only other guests at the hotel were members of the Mozambican National Soccer Team and coaching squad.

Cheers to Spring Break '09- The Remix Edition!