1-1-2007 Moon Rocks, Rooibos, and Fluffy Sheep

Happy New Year!

We spent the night in the Afrikaan's village. It was the "Settler's Culture Base." The two Scouters in charge of it had actually spent some time at the U of I so when I explained where I was from in the US they actually knew what I was talking about. I think they were the only two besides Brett's family to know. (And John Mutti too. But the gal at this base is his daughter and I had previously contacted him as well so he only half counts.)

We were supposed to go up to visit some caves when we arrived but it was raining too hard so we postponed it until morning. Since there really wasn't much else to do they had us try and make some beads out of ostrich eggs. It was hella difficult. First we had to drill a hole in the middle and then roughly make a circle. Then we took a rock and filed it down until smoothe. These things are supposed to be <1cm . Natives would make a ton of beads and put them on necklaces to sell for pennies. They were small beads too. Like 1mm.

Here's one of the couples that opened up their home to us (Brett and Aiden stayed with them).

The next morning we headed out to the caves to look at the cave paintings. They showed us one and then had us explore to find the other. It was in a really tight little nook but we found it. I think Michael's the one that spotted it first. I had a terrible time seeing them (even now looking at the pictures it's difficult to see them). I don't know if it's anything to do with my being colourblind or just poor eyesight in general.

Us on our hike to see the cave paintings.

The first cave painting.. what it is, is beyond me.

Michael finding where the second painting was.

Painting #2.. I still don't see it...

Once we finished there we hiked out to our next base. It was the first real hiking we had done since we arrived. We hiked for about three hours over mountains and flat land. Uphill can be strenuous, but downhill is even worse. It hurts because your feet tend to slide just a little bit in the double socks and your toes scrunch in the front of your boot. Also, you tend to get some hotspots that can become blisters.

Anywho, the next base was Geocaching. For those who may not know, geocaching is where people hide little knick-knacks in nooks and crannies and under rocks and mark their locations with a GPS. Then someone else comes along with their GPS and a set of coordinates and clues and tries to find the stash. They can then leave something of theirs. It's a fun little treasure hunt to do. The base was in a valley that had one hell of an echo. It was also quite cold due to the rain and wind that just bounced between the mountains. We were sitting in the Red Crescent (Islamic version of the Red Cross) tent they provided us when a large gust of wind blew the ridge pole down. Luckily, I was actually outside the tent when it happened (a few of us went out to put rocks down on the edges). Steve got knocked over and Brett was hit with the ridge pole. We pulled our gear out and laid some rocks on the tent so it wouldn't blow away. The staff felt sorry for us and decided to let us stay in the hut with them for the night.

They had one of those Zoom ball thingies! I hadn't played with one in forever! (And I was the only one who knew what it was.)

Just chilling as we waited to go geocaching.

After a bit of getting things settled we did the geocaching. We split up into two teams and took different routes. We got to go into a few caves (and found some more paintings!), do target practice with a slingshot and a blowgun, and we even got to see some baboons. The final station was the moon rock. At first we were really confused. We climbed on top of this large rock and were expecting a meteorite or something. But, like I said before, SA scouts are bit different than here -- they wanted us to moon them. So we lined up and dropped our trousers. Never before had I experienced such a cold wind.

Aiden with the slingshot.

Llewy with the blowgun.

For the rest of the day we just tried to keep warm and make some dinner. Tuna and noodles and caramel custard for dessert. It was crap but tasted soooo good (I'm envisioning Strongbad's teen girl squad as I write this). We didn't do much else besides pile into the small hut and go to bed. [I take that back... we did attempt some astronomy but it was quite cloudy. We did have a good view of the moon for a bit though.] However, as we all lay there we started talking with the staff. They even brought us some Rooibos Tea. Rooibos (roy-booss) is a red tea that grows naturally in the Cederberg. I kinda doubt they actually did but it was the joke that there was a little more that just rooibos in the tea because as soon as we got it we all started giggling. We also started to sing some songs. We taught the staff our marching song "Fluffy Sheep":

(kinda to the tune of When the Saints Go Marching In)

Oh Fluffy Sheep! (Leader)
Oh Fluffy Sheep! (Troop)
Are Wonderful! (Leader)
Are Wonderful! (Troop)
(and then together)
Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful
Because they are white and they are fluffy!
Oh fluffy sheep are wonderful!

Oh Muddy Sheep! (2x)
Are terrible! (2x)
Oh muddy sheep are terrible
b/c they are brown and they are muddy
Oh muddy sheep are terrible!

Oh Foot in Mouth! (2x)
Is terrible! (2x)
Oh foot in mouth is terrible
b/c it kills the fluffy sheep
Oh foot in mouth is terrible!

Australians! (2x)
Are TERRIBLE! (2x)
Australians are terrible
b/c they shag the fluffy sheep
Australians are terrible!

It wasn't until I learned this song that I found out the reason for the sheep we painted at Handicap Awareness. (I still don't know the moose song, I heard and didn't think it was worth the effort of committing to memory.)

I also taught the group a song. I sang the classic Tarzan song. The SA's ate it up. They loved it. Before we left they presented us with vuvuzelas. We were supposed to only get on,e but since I was a foreigner, they gave me one too. Vuvuzelas are just long, plastic trumpets they blow at football (soccer) matches. Before we left we blew them in the valley. The echo was amazing...

The next morning we had a fairly easy hike to the Backwoods Cooking base. The staff that were there when we arrived were idiots. Some 14 year old girl made us line up at attention and present ourselves with salutes and whatnot. That really pissed off Brett and Llewy. Then, the fella in charge had to leave to take care of an injured hiker and the remaining staff (young teen boys) were shooting pellet rifles in our general direction. There were a few close ricochets. Luckily no one was hurt (us or them).

We were supposed to cross paths with our other patrol sometime during our hike today, but somehow we missed them completely. [As it turns out, we had blown our vuvuzelas as we were hiking and they thought we were another patrol (who were apparently very annoying) and they decided to go a different path so as not to cross ways.]

To kill time during the day we could shoot the air rifles (theoretically anyway, the younger staff hogged them the entire time), go explore a cave, or go abseiling (repelling). A few went absailing while the rest of us set up our fire for the night and started prepping the food. We got to have chicken, vegetables and bread. They had live chickens you could kill or frozen ones. We went frozen b/c they were thawing out and had to be eaten. Besides, I was the only one of the patrol that had never killed or plucked my own chicken and I really didn't think I was going to regret the experience.

A second patrol was going to share the evening with us (New Years no less). They rocked up, not by hiking to the base, but by the patrol leader's mom picking them up in her SUV and driving them all over Cederberg. Weak and Lame were the two thoughts that immediately came to my mind. In their defence, they were Sea Scouts. Not used to the terra firma. They ended up being a decent group (if but a tad annoying) but they couldn't cook.

Ahh... Our little oven of goodies. Squash and potatoes. I don't remember if the bread's in there or not. You bury it in the ashes to bake it.

Michael enjoying the well cooked meal.

They opted to go with live chickens. They left the feet on. I had to laugh. They tried roasting one with a can of Coke in it and I think all three of theirs fell into the fire. Lucky for them Brett was around and picked them out for them. They were quite amazed by the man that could pick up roasting chicken with his bare hands. When they asked how he did it he just told them that he grabbed the parts that weren't hot. Brilliant!

To bring in the new year we built a huge campfire and exchanged songs once more. I was requested to do Tarzan and (my personal favourite) Rig-a-bamboo a couple of times each. We sang and talked for a few hours. When 12 o'clock came we blew our vuvzelas and sang some more. Those of age were invited to the staff tent for a few celebratory drinks. [I told you they did things way differently there than here.]

An encore performance of Tarzan (through the fire).

Like... a... ba.. naaaana

This morning we headed out to Gold Rush. We haven't done anything yet. I'll write more when we do.

Today in the SA/A Dict.: Chunder - to vomit

Steve: "Josh was so sick from the flight that he chundered all over my house last night!"

and another

Kak - (kok) poo-poo; used the same as "crap" in the US

I swear these words are necessary to know for when you visit. Honest.

28-12-2006 EL to Cape Town to Cederberg

Did you notice how I wrote the date? Yeah, being there long enough got to me...

Anywho, on to the good stuff:


It's been a crazy past few days. We left EL @ ~7.15, 3hrs after we were supposed to. The bus trip was something like 18hrs. We stopped in PE & met up with the remainder of our crew. They're interesting folk. Christine asked me if we have Coke in America.

....

It reminds me of all the silly questions Brett & Tammy got when they were at camp. The bus ride was rather uneventful. mainly we would chat, eat sweets, catch a bit of the movie that happened to be on & sleep. Some wires must have been crossed or something b/c the air conditioning couldn't be on at the same time as the sound on the TVs. Top quality buses...

We got into Cape Town around 11. Some guys from the Scouts met us at the drop off to drive us to the Seascout Base. We threw our bags in a trailer and one of the guys gestured up the road and said his car was that way. We began walking up the road and Christine got to the car first and climbed in the back seat. Only thing was that wasn't his car. The girl that had been sitting in the backseat was seriously confused. Christine was quite embarrassed and we all had a good laugh at her expense (she turned out to be quite the proverbial airhead on the trip in case you hadn't picked up on that yet).

After getting to the base we scoured the town for food. We found a grocery store and raided it. To kill time as the rest of the scouts came we played a game of soccer in the middle of the base. That lasted about ten minutes until Brett kicked the ball through one of the windows of the home of the base's caretakers. He owned up to it and offered to replace it and we were all scolded for it. Adults...

We then met some Girl Guides (SA's equivalent to our Girl Scouts. Scouts in SA is actually co-educational but groups like the Girl Guides didn't want to be absorbed into it and thus remained their own organization.). The girls were an interesting group. We had a fun time talking with them (most weren't too terribly bright, I think I had a better handle on SA's geography than some of them did). I did meet a few though that had a handle on things. I am still in contact with one of them. We're actually on a sort of badge exchange. She sends me some of hers and I send her some of mine. It's really cool.

While there I also got the chance to participate in a game of rugby. I had watched from the sidelines and had Steve (see previous post) explain the rules to me. We took on the contingent of Irish scouts who think that two-hand touch means I can use both arms to tackle you. Needless to say, my athletic prowess aided my team immensely.

That night, the commissioner at the base ended up guilting everyone into eating a meal at the base as opposed to going out to Cape Town to eat. It wasn't even that good, chicken & warm potato salad. [Sidenote: They don't like the way I pronounce "potato"] After dinner we pretty much just went around and talked to people. One girl, Lauren, asked me if I knew her aunt in Miami. "Of course," was my reply. Seriously.. who doesn't?

Josh has certainly found his niche. He really milks the whole being a foreigner thing. I find it to be quite annoying. Sure at times I pulled the same crap but only on people I knew and only as a joke really. Ah... oh well. At least we're in separate patrols for the duration of Cederberg.

Here's my patrol.
(front row: Michael, Tammy, Christine. Second row: Llewellyn, Steven, Aiden. Back Row: Brett & me)

We were woken up at 2am to take a bus to Cederberg. It was really more like one of those landrover things you see on safaris. It was a very cold, bumpy three hour ride to the mountains. By the time we got to camp the sun had risen and it was very hot. We helped get things organized while we waited for the rest of the people to show up. They called us to parade but realized some people still weren't there. Also, Josh made me go up and unfurl the flag. He claimed that since he brought the flag that I should have to do that. I stopped to ask myself which of the two of us was the adult leader here. Then I just forgot about it b/c I really considered it to be an honor. That is, until I actually unfurled it. Ours was the biggest of all the flags. I really felt like a jackass up there. After we broke from parade I was approached by one of the leaders from the patrol next to mine. It turned out to be Euginio, one of the SA scouts that stayed with my troop at the 2001 BSA Nat'l Jamboree. I was stunned really. He runs a troop of Sea Scouts in Cape Town. We chatted briefly because there were meetings to go to and supplies to get. We made sure to see each other at the end and exchange information.

John Mutti, the man in charge of this whole shindig.

At parade.
The flags (looks like New Zealand, US, Ireland, Cederberg (yellow & upside down), South Africa, & South African Scouts Assoc.)

Euginio's patrol (Euginio on far left)

After all of that we got our gear and supplies taken care of and headed off to our first base, Handicap Awareness. It was actually another three hour bus ride to the other side of the range. When we got there we had to put up a tent, our shelter for the night, and then take it down again. The wind was too fierce to keep it pegged down. After dinner and a shower I immediately fell asleep. I had gotten a major sinus headache from all of the dust I had inhaled that day.

Sometime in the middle of the night I awoke b/c of a chilly wind. I looked for our wind break and realized I had somehow rolled off my mat and Brett was now all over it. I got him to move over and went back asleep.

When I got up in the morning it almost immediately began to rain. [Sidenote: The entire week before Brett and Gareth kept talking about how hot it gets in Cederberg and how we really didn't need the emergency sleeping bags we had b/c it never rains there either. That's all I heard about it. Hot hot hot and dry dry dry.] We packed up all our things headed over to the base. It was basically us putting on contraptions to inhibit our senses/abilities. Things like blindfolds, slings, sour candies, etc. Our first task was to carry Michael, whilst blindfolded, through the craggy terrain. We got him through it with minimal injury to him or ourselves. Brett was the only person not blindfolded and he was the one giving us directions. He had a sour candy and crutches to deal with though.

Brett leading us through the treacherous rocks.

For our second task we paired up and one person (on crutches) had to lead someone with a blindfold. I was paired up with Steven and we had a blast. I was on the crutches and had some fun with him. I tried not to hurt him but he did run into some bushes and I had a good laugh at his expense.


We then went down to their main campsite and painted a banner using only our mouths. It turned out quite nice. There was a sheep and a moose (from two songs they like to sing) on a mountain. We also had to write postcards using our opposite hands and these gigantic pens. Here's what I wrote:

"Pop-

SA is crazy. They make me write left-handed. Cederberg is quite nice. Tell Hopwood I saw Euginio here. He'll know. See you in a few.

James"

Of course it was scrawled all over the place and resembled more of a first grader's attempt to write than my own. They also had a few games for us to play like blind checkers. They also wanted to spraypaint someone's hair. Brett offered and ended up with some pink hair.


After that was all said and done we tried bartering with the staff for a few *ahem* "necessities." We were somewhat successful in obtaining a few celebratory items for the upcoming New Years celebration (let's just say that the SA scouts are far more relaxed when it comes to rules and regulations). We loaded our gear and ourselves into the back of their bakkie and they drove us to our next base. I had never been more scared for my life than at that point. Standing in the back of the pick up as they sped down the mountain roads in the rain was scary enough, but having Steven who is twice my size grab onto me for dear life was even worse. But, we made it and went to Donkey Carts.

It wasn't that thrilling but it did beat walking in the rain. We had to take shifts in riding b/c there wasn't enough space in the carts for our packs and ourselves. Eventually we made it to a small village where we'll stay for the night. They split us up to stay with some natives. Most of them speak mainly Afrikaans so I got put w/the best translator, Christine. Later, we hiked up a small, rocky mountain and chilled as we looked around. The locals made us dinner, a curry chicken and rice dish that was quite nice.

I also remember remarking to myself about the rocks in this place. It looks like God's rubbish bin, rocks are just strewn about, almost arbitrarily.

Christine, Brett, Michael (taking picture) and myself took a trip up a mountain by the base.



Just some pictures of majesty while on the carts.

Today's SA/A Dict.: Spanspek - Cantaloupe

12-25-2006 Christmas

Merry/Happy Christmas!

We exchanged gifts early in the morning. The Forbes family gave me a bag of sweets and a cd of SA music. I haven't listened to it yet but if it's anything like what I've heard so far, I'll like it. (I do like it)

We went to church at 8.00. It was a nice little Presbyterian church, smaller than my home church. Apparently a good portion of the congregation is related to the Forbes family. It certainly wasn't what I was used to for a Christmas time service but it was nice. I was kinda sad that we didn't sing any traditional (at least what I'd consider traditional) hymns. I guess they just aren't as universal as I had thought.

For lunch we had a cold meal. The day before they cooked chicken, lamb, and gammon (a most delicious type of ham). It was a good thing that we had it cold too. It's been the warmest day by far since I've been in SA. I think they said something like 40 C. It was a good meal and very tasty. The best part about the meal though was the poppers. Little gifts that as you pull them apart they go *POP!* (imagine that). Inside is all sorts of little goodies: toys, games, sweets, and crowns. We all wore our crowns during dinner; it's sort of a tradition.

After lunch we went to the family farm and saw some of Allan's family. Nice fun people. We hung out by the pool and chatted for a bit.

When we got home we packed our bags for Cederberg. We leave tomorrow at 3.30 in the afternoon. I'm quite excited about it. It should be a very nice time.

I was able to finally phone my friend Tammy who lives in Durban. We chatted for a bit about her moving & how I'm enjoying SA thus far. It was really good to talk to her w/o using email. We've kept in touch pretty well but you remember so much about a person when you hear their voice. The memories come flooding back.

I forgot to mention that on Christmas eve we went to a family friends home for dinner. We had a potjiekos (poi-chee-kors). It's a type of traditional rabbit stew made in a cast iron pot with lots of curry and served on rice. It was really delicious. I find myself loving SA cuisine.

I think I'll also take the time to discuss some other foods I've encountered in SA. First is my favourite, boerwurs. It's a fatty, spicy, sausage and it is just to die for. Brats and hotdogs have nothing on these. Every chance I got I snagged myself some boerwurs (there was even a time on Cederberg when I went so far as to say "I'm from America, I've never had a boerwurs. Can I try one?" By this time I had had plenty but it worked and I got delicious SA sausage for lunch instead of picnic ham) Second is biltong, a sort of jerky. I really didn't notice that much of a difference between it and our beef jerky. I know that it's still raw and has to prepared in a special biltong box. Other than that I just know it tastes good. Lastly, I wanted to talk about cream soda. There could never be a more different food. First, it's green. Second, it has a sort of minty, licorice flavour. I'm not a fan. On the plus side, they do have Fanta Pineapple which is quite lekker!

The family lunch. It's a bit dark but enlarge it and it becomes clearer.

A better shot (contrast wise). The orange stuff on the table is a mixture of Orange Juice and champagne. The other drink is Castle, one of SA's fine nationally brewed beers (which can be found in the states).

Here's gramma with her to favourite Americans (me and Josh(Josh and I?))
Notice how red I am.. that's just from the car ride to/from PE.

12-24-2006 The Weekend in PE

Just so everyone knows the areas I'm talking about here's a map of SA. It has East London, Port Elizabeth (PE), Cape Town, Durban (where my other SA friend, Tammy, lives), & Johannesburg (Jo-burg). The Cederberg range is just above where it says "Western Cape" along the coast. Click to enlarge.Anywho, onto more journaling:

We spent the weekend in Port Elizabeth (PE) just about 3 hours south of East London. We were planning on going down early in the morning but Josh, the other American Scout, had a delayed flight and with it being so close to Christmas he had trouble finding a flight (I'm rather thankful I came earlier). Brett, Fennell and I hitched a ride with Llewellyn Song, the Troop Scouter (equivalent of a Scout Master) of the 1st Cambridge Scouts (Brett's Troop). Gareth stayed and waited for Josh to get in and then met us in PE later that night.

Llewellyn (Lewy) is a mad driver but a fun guy. We got to see a lot of the country side. I think it's really beautiful in most places. Every now and then you'll see a squatter camp (groups of tin shacks/shanty towns) but for the most part it's very nice.

We got in to PE around 16.00. We first went by Brett's girlfriend's, Eunice, house. I got to meet her family and had some lekker sweets. They're an Afrikaans family and so her parents were a bit difficult to understand (though not nearly as difficult to understand as Alan or Murray when I first met them!) but I got used to the accent pretty quick.

We showered, changed clothes and got food for the briaar (bbq) at Christine's. Once we got there I got to meet the rest of the people going to Cederberg. We had a good time eating boerwurs (a most delicious type of sausage) and getting to know each other. Gareth eventually showed up with Josh. he looked very tired from the flying. Understandable. Afterwards we went back to Eunice's house and went to sleep.

Saturday we went out to one of the malls in PE. It was crazy in there with everyone doing some last minute Christmas shopping. I cashed a few of my traveler's cheques so that I might have some rand (SA currency) for Cederberg. That took FOREVER. There was only one teller and six or so people waiting in line to see her. We met up with the rest of the group (including a girl that had phoned a few days prior and asked if I was obese b/c all Americans are obese... and they say Americans know nothing about the world around them...). We headed to another house for a birthday party. It was Steve's 18th birthday and a big celebration. Turning 18 there is like turning 21 here. This was the main reason we came down this weekend. If we had not come down I probably would have gone up to Durban to see my friend Tammy who was the exchange scout the year before Brett came.

At the party I got to meet a lot more people. Most of the PE people were pretty gone fairly early into the evening. The rest of us, from EL were all quite sober and were entertained very much by the antics of the others. All in all it was a very interesting night and I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

"Spade."

Sunday morning we slept in b/c Fennell wanted to go surfing on the beach. The rest of us watched High School Musical. It was a decent movie. We headed back up north at noon and took the road by the seaside. There was hardly any traffic and it was a gorgeous day. We stopped in Port Alfred and got some Beaver Pies. They were delicious. I got a pepper steak. I don't think they would do too well in the US b/c most people think pie=dessert. Then again, there are pasties and chicken pot pies. I just don't think that they would be accepted enough to be a good investment.
Entry for Today in the SA/A Dict.: Kief (kiff) - nice, cool

Probably the three most sober people at the party.

Llewy and Fennell decided to have a race scooting on their butts in the middle of the road. I'm not sure I'll ever truly understand South Africans or their crazy games.

Steve, the birthday boy.

12-21-2006

[Quick Side Note: Dad reminded me that Brett's mother's name is Pam. I never addressed her as such so I kinda forgot it.]


I'm still not quite acclimated to the time change or the weather. Coming from ice storms and snow to the hot 40+ degree C (104+F) days is a bit of a shock. I've also found myself waking up around 5.30 and wanting to go to bed around 8. At home I usually go to bed around 2 and up at whatever time I need to be.

Today we (Brett, Gareth, Murray and I) went to the zoo. It is a rather small zoo but they had some nice animals. There were a few though that I had not seen before. Namely, the white lions and Puff Adder. We had lunch there as well. Toasted bacon sammiches and milk. The sammiches were OK but I didn't like the milk much. It was too warm and rich for my liking. I'm an ice-cold 2% kind of guy. The zoo also has a house that they give tours of. It's the home of the second mayor of East London, John Gately. It was pretty and all but nothing I hadn't really seen before. The biggest excitement came as we were just about to leave the house grounds and go back down the hill to the zoo. Just across the path were two snakes, one eating the other. Specifically, a brown house-snake was eating a mole snake. The four of us watched in fascination as three of the grounds workers watched in terror. They liked watching but were terribly frightened by the snakes. They stayed at least 2 meters back and usually jumped back another two if the snakes suddenly moved. Gareth explained that a lot of the black people in S. Africa are very superstitious about snakes.

I filled up my memory card at the zoo so I hope the one's from Uncle Steve arrive over the weekend (as far as I know, they're still out in limbo somewhere). This weekend we're going to Port Elizabeth to meet the rest of our Cederberg crew. Monday is Christmas and the day after that is when we leave for Cape Town and then on to the Cederberg. So, unless they come tomorrow or Saturday, I don't think I'll get them.

Here's some of the photos from the zoo. I'm not going to caption all of them.

This is the Springbok, the national animal of S. Africa (and the highest rank in SA Scouts). They're about 1m tall but can jump terribly high. I tried to get a better picture of one but they were not cooperating much.

Here's the Brown House-Snake (after sliding into the bushes).

There's no tall enclosures or anything of that nature here in this zoo. You get to get up close and personal with the wildlife.

These are the white lions. You really only see them in captivity b/c they've lost their camouflage.

Tiger, tiger burning bright!...

Ferocious!

Just to let you know.. I didn't use zoom at all with this shot. The pen was maybe 3.5' tall. I could have easily reached in and touched the croc.

Today's Entry in the SA/A (South African/American) Dictionary: Lekker - nice; delicious (not always concerning food)

Ex: This pie is mmm... lekker!