Doing Assignments Mthatha Style

This on-campus experience has really opened my eyes as to the passion people in this country have, in order to get an education.

Lectures have been cancelled three days this week because of power cuts. I spoke to two fellow students today. One travels from Port St Johns and the other travels from Mount Frere every day for lectures. That's a long way. And it's not cheap at R80 for the taxi each way. One is studying to teach Maths and Science. The other is studying to teach English and History. They are both incredibly accepting of the situation, as they are used to it. I would have flipped long ago.

Enough procrastination. Let me continue writing about 'Factors contributing to poor academic performance in Grade 12 for Economic and Management Science' (Please note, the wine is compulsory for this kind of essay)

Downtime

In Mthatha, Downtime is a regular occurrence - no power and no water.  We even have a 5000 litre JoJo tank in our garden, as do the schools and  many residents. 

But sometimes Downtime is a good thing.  Especially when it means Down at the Beach.

A few weeks ago, Bob was called to meetings in Port Elizabeth and East London.  He suggested that instead of staying at guest houses by himself, we (dogs included) should join him and make the trek to the seaside for a looong weekend.  Excellent idea!

So off I go to stock up on essentials. As I leave the bottle store, the chap helping me take my purchases to the car asks me if I own a B&B.  I tell him no, I don't.  "Does ma'am own a restaurant then?" 

Then I realise why he's asking.  The trolley he's pushing for me contains 1 case Hansa, 1 case Savanna, 1 box red wine, and 4 bottles Old Brown Sherry (just in case we needed to ward off a cold front).  To me, this is a perfectly reasonable amount of refreshment for a four-day weekend for two, with a bit left over in case of visitors.  Apparently this is not the case in Mthatha.

As the weekdays away were business for Bob, he was allowed to use company transport.  As I clambered aboard, my olfactory nerves were assaulted to the extent that my nose hairs were singed.  We had to endure five hours of Stale while we drove.  Stale cigarette smoke. Stale sweat. Stale junk food. Stale farts.

And it didn't end there.  On arrival at the shack, we discovered that a bushbuck ram had died in our back garden a few weeks before. The neighbours had wondered for several days about the dreadful smell, and eventually discovered the carcass in our garden. The degree of putrefaction was such that the date and cause of death could not be determined, but the length of the horns indicated that the buck was about 8 years old.

When we thanked them for removing the remains, they said there was no need - they removed it purely because they couldn't live with the smell themselves.

The spot where the bushbuck ram was found. 

 Fortunately that was the end of the bad smells, and the Downtime continued as it should - lots of reading, eating, sleeping, walking on the beach, laughing, playing games and chatting to neighbours, friends and family.

(In case you were wondering, the four bottles of OBs returned to Mthatha intact.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the rest of the provisions.)

Pirates of the Caribbean - Round Table Fundraiser

Remember way back in June, when I was thrilled at being involved with the Round Table fundraiser?  Well, it's all done and dusted, and over R38,000 was raised for charity in one night,  How awesome is that!


I played a very small part in the preparation, but met some amazing, crazy people along the way, and had great fun at the same time.

I know a few of these pirates - here all ready to be waiters, waitresses and barmen on the night  This vibrant photo was taken by Don from The Studio in Mthatha, who was the official photographer on the night.

The function was on a Saturday, and Round Table moved into the venue on the Wednesday.  They worked wonders transforming an ordinary hall into this magical wonderland::

One wall was covered with this backdrop of a magnificent pirate ship.  It comprised three enormous panels of paper, which were each mounted on a wall before painting. Colour matching between the panels was quite a challenge...

The back of the hall was turned into a Caribbean bar - complete with banana leaves.

Isn't the decor amazing! The third wall represented an old map - of the treasure hunting kind.  This backdrop is the one I spent most time on.

I was asked to paint a whale to fill up some of the space in the sea, and was pooh-poohed when I said that I'm not an artist, I'm only good as a slapper - slapping paint on with a brush or roller.  So I painted a whale.  A rather large one (well, they are large, aren't they?) The next time I came back to paint, after my trip to Grahamstown, my whale was nowhere to be seen.  It was deemed to be TOO large, and had been painted over.  On the left in the pic above, you'll see a smallish island - above the candles. That used to be my whale.

A close-up of my ex-whale

A lovely touch was that all the names on the map are the names of the people who helped with the project - painting, costumes, catering, acting...you name it. So my whale became Wendy's Waterfall. All those names are hand-painted - I could do about three in one evening, with a glass of wine between each name - to ease the cramp in my hand, of course.

The entertainment was hilarious.  There were five skits, performed by Tablers and Friends. My favourite was the Miley Cyrus 'Wrecking Ball' Parody, very loosely based on this version by Jay-Jay, Mike and Dom. I was intrigued to see how the Tablers would recreate the actual wrecking ball.  No problem - they did it Mthatha-style - with scaffolding, chain, and a very, very large brake drum.

Another favourite, which has become an annual tradition, was The Hat Dance.  The closest I could find is this one.  Our vibe on the night was much the same, but of course our guys were better, WAY better.

After a delicious three-course meal, the dancing started...and Bob and I went home.  This was a good thing, as I believe the party ended at 6 the next morning.

Wouldn't it be great if all fund-raising was this much fun?

Back to Book Club

Book Club is one of the highlights of my month, just as it was in Cape Town.  Not only do I get to chat to a wonderfully diverse group of women, eat great food that I didn't have to cook, and drink wine I didn't have to shop for - I also get to choose books that I haven't read, at a fraction of the price I would have had to pay for them.

It's like Christmas every month. I can't wait to savour my presents.

My choices for July were:

Queen Camilla (Sue Townsend of Adrian Mole fame). If you don't have an understanding of the English psyche, you probably won't enjoy this.  And even if you do, it becomes a bit much at times.

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (Jonas Jonasson) What a fabulous book!  It's in the same mould as The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I see they've just released the movie.  I hope it does the book justice.

The Lacuna (Barbara Kingsolver)  Interesting, but rather long-winded.  An amusing coincidence is that there are historical similarities with 'The Hundred Year-Old Man...', but on very different levels.

Sycamore Row (John Grisham)  This was my favourite for the month.  Especially as I had the luxury of starting it at dawn, and finishing it before sunset on the same day. Just couldn't help myself.

On to August:

In the time since I joined this Book Club in June, three new members have joined, so I'm no longer a newbie. I think there are about 18 members now, which would normally be quite cumbersome. But, because of other commitments (aka Real Life), I still haven't met everybody. There have been about ten members at each meeting, which is ideal for getting a chance to chat to everyone.  I met one of the founding members this month (the club has been going since the 70s), for the first time.  She lives in Grahamstown (a 5-hour drive), but she tries to make a plan to come to book club in Mthatha each month.  How's that for commitment? (In Cape Town, one of our members used to go home to Paarl each month, and that was impressive enough!)

August book choice:

The Son (Jo Nesbo) I almost started hyperventilating when I saw this one.  Published in May this year, it's Brand New.  And it was another fabulous day-waster...accompanied by copious amounts of popcorn and Savanna while Bob was Doing Important Stuff in Pretoria.

The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules (Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg) This genre seems to be the latest fad. I was really looking forward to this, but it is a pale imitation of  'The Hundred Year-Old Man...'.  Even though the story was amusing, I found the writing to be inconsistent and stilted in places.  I thought perhaps it was because of the translation, but Rod Bradbury also translated 'The Hundred Year-Old Man...', which was a very easy and enjoyable read. 

Talking of translations, I see that I have a definite leaning towards the Nordic.  Translations are becoming more popular, and it seems as if a whole new world is opening up for fiction readers.  Yippee!

The Secret Daughter (Shilpi Somaya Gowda) I'm usually hesitant to read Chick Lit, but this one went a long way towards changing my mind. Powerful stuff.

And finally, The Language of Flowers (Vanessa Diffenbaugh) More Chick Lit.  But I woke up at 03:00 this morning (Mthatha mozzies don't know it's winter) and started reading it.  I'm absolutely loving it - so refeshingly different, yet very real.

I'm hosting Book Club in November, and have no idea what books to buy.  Food is easy - Vegetarian and Banting (Yes, it's reached Mthatha).  The closest Exclusive Books is 220km away, and the ONLY bookshop in town is in a shopping centre I have been told that it's only safe to go into with an armed chaperone (Bob's got arms, two in fact - so we're going there on Sunday morning). 

But...I'm lucky enough to be visiting Cape Town next month, so would be most grateful for any book ideas.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm being called by my book - I really need to find out more about The Language of Flowers.

Look what I'm doing tonight!

Painting is at night only, as most people work, and it's very gesellig. After each section is done we stand back and admire each other's work - and have a sip of our dop of choice!

This is the base coat of a paper (yes, paper) backdrop for the Round Table Variety Show. The theme is Pirates of the Caribbean, and that's all I'm saying for now.  The show is at the end of July and is called the 101 because only 101 pairs of tickets are sold for the evening.  All funds raised are donated to local homes and orphanages. Nice to be involved in a worthy project.

A Drinking Club with a Reading Problem

Yup, I went to Book Club!

No space on any tables, so the floor will have to do

I thought our Rondebosch Book Club (RBC) was old, having started in 1994.  My new book club (NBC) has been around since the '70s, and the book numbers have just topped 2000.

There are quite a few similarities - hosting is rotated and the hostess provides a yummy meal and copious amounts of wine.  No boys allowed.  But they are welcome to come along and braai/drink/talk sport/politics/rubbish in another part of the house.  Dogs (top left in pic) wanting to be patted seem to be common to all book clubs.  The recording system is much the same, but NBC has a small form stuck in front of each book, where readers are supposed to rate each book.  Hasn't really caught on.

This month, we met in Viedgesville, a small settlement about 25km outside Mthatha.  What a wonderful, varied, interesting group of women! 

In RBC, each person checks in their books, talks a bit about the books they've read (or not read - quite often), and takes a turn choosing the next books.  But at NBC, we checked our books in and took new books.  No discussion.  But, I was informed, each hostess gets to decide on the format of the evening.  Next month, we've been asked to bring a few magazines.  As to why . . . we have to wait and see.

It was comforting to see a lot of  familiar books, which means that there are some similar reading tastes.  It was also great to see a lot of new books, and some classics. Not a Jo Nesbo in sight, which is a pity.

"So," I hear you cry, "What books did you take, and why?"

1) Ants in the Big Onion - Annica Foxcroft : I enjoyed the first two books about a city girl settling in the gamadoelas. Thanks to Possum for leading me to the first book.

2) Me Before You - Jojo Moyes : Highly recommended by RBC.  I've been wanting to read it for quite a while now.

3) The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver : Also recommended by RBC.

4) The Last Rhinos - Lawrence Anthony : I've just read The Elephant Whisperer (Yeah, I know. I should have read it years ago).  I enjoyed Lawrence's writing style, and am looking forward to more of the same

5) The Black Box - Michael Connelly : Gotta have a thriller! And I can't believe I haven't read any Connelly before.

Guess what I'm doing this weekend!