WOW

6 days without blogging. I apologize for my lack of participation in this blog during the past week. A few of the days (schools days) were to uneventful to talk about and some other days were so eventful, I did not have time to talk about them. On Thursday-school, Friday- a group of people headed down to the waterfront again. I decided that since I had done this the day before, I traveled into Cape Town where I adventured about and watched the rather disappointing US game in the Coca-Cola Fan Park.. The fan park is a neat function placed in every major city in SA that allows fans to watch games in a rock n' roll fashion. We are talking big stage, lights, music, vendors everywhere, and many big screens to accommodate to the 3,000 person capacity. After the game I went to vendor to vendor for about 20 minutes and tried my hand at haggling. I was pretty impressed with myself. One particular object was selling for R180 and I was able to haggle it down to R80- just under half! I returned to the apartments where I enjoyed the fellowship and camaraderie of my classmates.
On Saturday we returned to the open market that opens every Saturday morning and I bought myself some curry and an Amurula shake. Amarula is a fruit grown in the southern region of Africa and has a very rich and distinct taste. As far as I have tried to describe, I have failed, but for old times sake: it taste like an orange/vanilla cream... almost like an orange push-pop. It is a very sweet fruit and is a popular flavor to add in any milky substance. On the way back, I had one of my first more terrifying experiences. I was walking with a group past a local McDonald's when a man in a dirtied trench coat and a full white beard broke his way out of the McDonald's. I man, presumably an employee carried window spray and was spraying him away so he would leave the employees and customers alone. The man was literally foaming yellow at the mouth as he screamed and shouted obscenities, a colorful combination that could weave an even greater tapestry than of one that could be found over Lake Michigan today. He threw things, carried a string of rags like a whip and began to lash about. I was so busy observing this behavior, that I found that the whole group I was with had shuffled away in fear, leaving me very vulnerable. I turned again to find him approaching me as he looked me in the eye, pointed his finger at me and proclaimed, "sh**, di**, f***ing rotten human scum, cr**, f*** you." Wise and philosophical words. Naturally I decided that in the best interest of my being to maybe give him a little more room. We called a taxi, and traveled back to our apartments. Some of us were getting stir crazy and decided to climb above campus and visit the Cicil Rhodes memorial. I honestly couldn't tell you what it was for because there was no description plaque. We spent some time admiring the architecture and the view of the city before returning home, washing our laundry and settling down for the featured game of the night.