a rat, a parrot, and a turkey

second to last shift! waitresses: Candice, me, Vanessa

I have two days left in Grahamstown. I can't believe it. I got pretty sad during my last shift at work - the Rat has been like my second home here. I'm so lucky to have found a job at such a fun place. I can't imagine what my experience here would have been like without all the friends I made at work. Here's the little poem that is on the front page of the menus:

A rat and a parrot devoted their life
To finding the answer to peace without strife.
"There must be a formula, package or plan,"
Said the rat. "Surely God's a Newtonian, man?

When one thing occurs then it starts off another:

Our problems began when Cain murdered his brother.

That started the pattern, that set things in motion

With wars on continent, island and ocean.

If we can't avoid fate, the solution's distinct:

Eat, drink and be merry until we're extinct."

"Oh no!" squawked the parrot in swift protestation.
"I cannot believe in such predestination.
What happened to free will? To choice and decision?
The ideas of Newton I view with derision.

It's mankind not science that causes the fuss.

The reason for all our problems is us.

We're selfish, we're greedy, we never agree.

There's a whole lack of listening. Listen to me!
We all need to talk more, to swap views and chatter.

That's why this world is as mad as a hatter."

So the rat and the parrot, they started a pub
Where good conversation was as fine as the grub.

And wise Isaac Newton forgot the commotion
Caused by gravity, apples, and long laws of motion.

Good food and good talk does make troubles decrease:

That's the Rat and Parrot's new pathway to peace.

last shift! waitresses: Fundie, me, and Melody

That poem pretty much sums up the place. I'm really going to miss the Rat. It wasn't just a waitressing job - although I was grateful for the income - but also I made such good friends there. More often than not we would stay after work to hang out. I'll miss the place... but I'm excited to get out of Grahamstown and travel!

last shift! bartending with Anthea

a sign that hangs in the Rat

bartending at a "lock-in" after hours

We had Thanksgiving yesterday - Anna and I went to our friends Drew and Steph's apartment. There were four Americans, six South Africans, and one Malawian. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday so I was really glad to have other Americans who wanted to do it right. We spent the afternoon drawing hand turkeys like little kids do. It got a little competitive and the South Africans were much more artistically talented than us.

my turkey was a pilgrim

The meal was amazing - I was expecting none of the traditional foods, but somehow Drew and Steph found a turkey in the supermarket (right next to the "Turkduckens": a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey... figure that one out). We had mashed potatoes (or smashed potatoes, as they're called in the Fried household), stuffing, all the traditional food. We even had apple and pumpkin pies.

the table after about our 8th platefuls of food

Drew used to be in the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan and he added a Kazakh twist to the American holiday. In Kazakhstan, every time there is a big meal, someone starts the meal with a toast and by the end of the meal, everyone will have had to make one as well. Minor detail: every toast is accompanied by a brandy shot. What a great exchange of cultures. I think that should be a new Thanksgiving tradition. We tried to teach the South Africans the story of Thanksgiving, but the combination of brandy and historical inaccuracies led to some confusion. Basically, they got the nice version of how the Native Americans and the Pilgrims were friends and taught each other things like how to grow corn. But then they got the real version that involved the whole stealing their land and giving them smallpox thing. I think it was educational.

celebrating my wishbone victory

last month in g-town

I'm sorry that it's been awhile since my last post. I just have a really hard time trying to describe what it's like living here. But I'll try. This is my last month in Grahamstown. At the end of the month, Anna and I will start traveling. We have some plans, but we're trying not to finalize them too much... in my experience, traveling is much more fun when there's some spontaneity and room for adjustment.

As much as I'm itching to start being a nomad, I'm going to miss Grahamstown. It is such a unique place, different even from the rest of South Africa. For one thing, the weather here is absurd. They say that you can experience all four seasons in one day in Grahamstown, and it's true. The rest of the country might be experiencing a heat wave or a cold front, but we can have both in one day. We'll also occasionally get a violent torrential downpour for about twenty minutes, and then the sun will be out again. It's really strange.

For another thing, Grahamstown is very rural. I forget that I'm in the middle of nowhere when I'm walking around town until I see a traffic jam caused by a donkey cart or a tractor moving too slowly. I've gotten used to seeing donkeys roam around town and my digsmates and I even joke about bringing one home as a pet. (We're only half joking about it.)

Grahamstown is also much bigger than I thought it was. I like to go exploring to see different parts of town. In tourist books, Grahamstown is often called "The City of Saints." I think that is in reference to the millions of churches in town, rather than the behavior of its students.

I'll definitely miss the student atmosphere of Grahamstown. I think it's been easier to transition from college to the real world by being surrounded by students. They complan about classes and exams and I think, 'you don't know how much you'll miss it, guys!' I think I've finally reached the point where I'm glad to be out of school and out in the real world. Right now, they're all in exam time, so they're studying a lot. Except they call it learning. As in, "Bye guys, I've got to go learn." I think that's one of my favorite South African-isms.

As for other language differences, I'm annoyingly picking some up in my own speech. I say "as well" a lot instead of "too," and I say it with a weird emphasis on the "as," like South Africans say it. I also find myself saying "tomahhto" instead of "tomato" to customers when I'm working. There's also this weird response, "Is it?" that I've picked up. It's kind of like saying "Really?" after someone says something. I also sometime make this weird Afrikaans exclamation "Jo!" There are also silly differences in phrases, like "You gave me a fright!" instead of "You scared me!" I can't help it, and most of the time I don't even notice when I say stuff like this. I can only hope that I drop these little differences in my speech before I come home and you all make fun of me!

As true as it is that I'm living in poverty, I really don't feel like I am. I'm living comfortably off of a waitress's salary, and I can't imagine that being possible in the States. For example, I spend the equivalent of about thirteen dollars a week on groceries. It's awesome. But I also realize how lucky I am to be able to support myself so easily, when so many people in the world can't.

I don't want to end on that depressing note, so I'll add one more thing: I love being able to go barefoot here! It's totally acceptable to go to the grocery store barefoot, or even out to a restaurant or bar. Definitely different from home!

pictures from fish

me, Anna, and Jess in front of the farm stall


me, Jess, Carmen, and Anna at the campsite


me and Anna on the river


Carmen, Anna, me, Jess, and Shelley

fish

I finally left Grahamstown for a weekend! It's a very small town to be in for four straight months, so it was nice to have some new surroundings for a few days. We went to Cradock, a town that is about a three hour drive into the interior of the country in a region called the Karoo. It was so different from a road trip in the States! Monkeys are the ubiquitous roadside animal, rather than squirrels. We even saw giraffes at one point! It doesn't matter how long I'm here, I still have those "Wow! I'm in Africa!" moments.

The Karoo is a very Afrikaans region - something I didn't know before I went. I'm used to seeing signs in both English and Afrikaans, and hearing it occasionally, but once we hit the Karoo it was so different! Afrikaans was so dominant! When we stopped at a farm stall on the side of the road, the proprietors greeted us in Afrikaans. In Cradock, we met people who didn't even speak English - only Afrikaans! Definitely a different world for me.

Every year Cradock hosts "Fish," a national 'canoe' race down the Great Fish River. (South Africans call them canoes, but they look like kayaks to me.) We camped at a campsite near the river and had such a good time! Friday was consumed by a neverending feeling of smugness after us four girls put up our tent very quickly and easily. Saturday was the big race and we all went down to the river to watch and cheer the kayakers on. We got a spot near the "wier" (man-made waterfall) and more often than not, people would fall out of their boats and we'd have to help them. The weather could not have been more perfect - we had sunshine all weekend long. It's finally turning into summer here and I'm loving it.

my house

my house

my street

race, race, race

Over the past few weeks I've definitely started to notice some of the bad aspects about South Africa. Well, not "notice," because I've always noticed them, but somehow having these things be a part of my daily life for so long has started to influence me. But I just try to remember to take a step back and look at everything as a whole. This sounds very generalized, so I'll try to make sense of it with some specifics. I hate the segregation and inequality in this country. Reading about South African history, I thought I grasped the concept of racial conflict here, but it is so much more complicated than I ever could have thought. Even studying here I didn't really grasp it, but I think I'm starting to now. It's not just blacks and whites. There are blacks, whites, coloureds (people of mixed race), Indians... even among whites there are Afrikaaners and then there are people of British descent. It's hard to wrap my head around, since I grew up in such a sheltered, different environment. When I first came here, I thought, 'wow, it's only been a little over a decade since apartheid, they've really made a lot of strides,' and that's what most people outside of South Africa think, because that's how it looks from the outside. But living here, living with South Africans, I've learned so much about racism. Racism isn't always blatant, it isn't always obvious, it isn't always white versus black. A lot of the time it manifests itself in a 'anyone-who-isn't-like-me' kind of way. Yes, there are bars in town that mostly white people go to, and other bars that mostly black people go to, but it's so much more than that. (I go to all of them.) I brought a black friend to a 'white' bar one night and she sat there uncomfortably and said, "Why am I here? I'm black." I looked around and she was the only black person in the whole place. I honestly don't know how to react when someone tells me something like "Indians don't tip," or calls someone who is taking a lot of pictures a 'Chinaman.' I always respond to things like that by saying, "Hey, that's not cool," or something equally as lame and ineffective, while my mind reels at the comment. But those are the blatant things. I don't know how to describe the other things. I think it has a lot - A LOT - to do with people's parents and how they were raised. It makes me really sad that I have friends who think and act like that. I have friends who are racist. I can't believe that I can say that. I have racist friends. Sometimes I think, would they be friends with me if I weren't white? Of course it's not everyone, and there are a lot of people who are open and friendly and love everybody. And those are the people I try to surround myself with. And I try to remember that this country and its history are so incredibly complicated that I can't even begin to understand the cultural dynamics after only living here for a few months.

how the world turns

So, I've been pretty bad keeping up with this blog thing. I've been working a lot, trying to save up. I'm having a great time with my friends - and making new friends from work - but I feel like I'm starting to get a little disillusioned with how the world works. For instance, all the beggars here. I used to always give them a couple coins. But there are SO many that it's impossible. If I gave to every beggar I encountered walking from work to my house, I'd have no paycheck left by the time I reached home. The worst is the street kids. They're so sad. But one time I gave this little eight year old boy my staff meal and the next day I saw him smoking a cigarette! It's turning me into a cynical person, when I used to be somewhat of an optimist. Also a lot of the time with the street kids, you give them money but their parents or someone just takes it all for themselves. (Think Slumdog Millionaire.) It's just hard to live my relatively care-free life when there is such desperate poverty surrounding me. At home, it's easy to forget stuff like this exists, but it's pretty hard to ignore when you walk past it twenty times a day. But what can I do? What kind of influence can one person really have?