However, one of the best parts of being back in Jo-Burg is remembering what its like to live in a nice, clean, quiet house that not home to cockroaches or giant spiders. Not to say that I don't enjoy my home in Cape Town, more that I am enjoying taking advantage of the respite Paul and Marion's wonderful home is providing. But seeing as I've never delved into any details about my digs in Cape Town, I'll give you a brief description and a few pictures of my house so you all can understand a little more of where these feelings of euphoric relief are coming from.
My home on the corner of Disa and Trill Avenue (I knew I was destined to live in Africa after discovering I lived on a street that shares the name with a Bun B album) is actually much better than I have made it out to be. I have my own, fairly large room that at the moment looks like an over sized prison cell seeing that it lacks any sort of decorations and my one window is enclosed with re-enforced steel bars. Thank god for my pink, orange and purple duvet cover, it really brightens up the room and goes well with the pinkish orange towel I recently purchased (damn,I really am turning into a softy. At this pace I'll make Liberace look like Rambo and will have started watching Oxygen movies on Saturday nights). In the middle of the house is a surprisingly large kitchen, complete with a full size fridge and freezer, an oven smaller than what you would take camping, and an assortment of pots and pans that has clearly been collecting since the Dutch first arrived in the 17th century. One of the best parts of the house is a quaint courtyard located just off of the kitchen where we hang most of our wet clothes to dry in the always whipping Cape Town wind. Perfect place for a BBQ, or braai as they are called in South Africa, even though we have yet to use the grill. There are two bathrooms, both of which are more than fine strictly on the sense that they provide hot, decently pressured water.
Now the bad news. Apparently the last set of residents were more messy than most and had a habit of leaving food out in the open or not washing their dishes sufficiently enough. This behavior soon attracted the attention of hungry cockroaches that could easily move in and around the house due to the deteriorating bottom inch of some of the walls touching the outside. With a never congested highway to get to an always present supply of food, cockroaches have now become official residents, even going as far to take up residence in the fridge where more open containers of food can be found. The current set of room mates, myself included, have much better sanitary habits but the damage has been done. Regardless of how many bottles of Doom we spray or bug bombs we drop, the cockroaches are here to stay. Unfortunately the house bug problem doesn't limit itself to one species, an unpleasant reality I stumbled upon after a night out at the bars. I come home and flip on my light switch only to find a spider the size of Shaq's hand perched along the wall next to my door. I am fairly confident the spider lacked any venomous bite, but any bug bigger than the sole of my shoe makes me a little uncomfortable. Especially when it resides within a few feet of my pillow. Although I took care of the spider with a few swipes of a rolled up magazine (notice the plurality of the verb, it was a tough S.O.B.), I can't help but think there's an angry older brother lurking somewhere beneath my bed ready to crawl around my face whenever I'm sleeping. I have never been scared of bugs, snakes are what turn me into a crying ninny as most of you know or have had the pleasure to witness, but this episode put me on the edge. The only other bad part of the house is its proximity to a very busy, loud train station. There seems to be a constant flow of foot traffic and screeching train brakes waking me up at 5:30 every weekday and persisting until I finally roll out of bed around 7 to get ready for work. However I can't complain too much since it does only take me fifteen seconds to reach the train which I take into downtown for work everyday. Also, whenever I start cursing how close I am to the train station, I pop outside and take in the stunning view of Table Mountain from my front yard. Hard to complain when that view stares back at you every morning.
The description of of my house would be incomplete if I didn't include the best part: my room mates. Lauren, Liz, Sarah and ZaZa (who has since moved out) are all great and have made my adjustment to South Africa that much easier. Ever since ZaZa left us last week, I am now living with all girls which initially scared the shit out of me. After living in a fraternity house in college, I never in my wildest dreams could imagine living with one girl and now I am living with three. I always assumed that I could never live with girls because a) the constant smell of "girl" always circulating through my lungs, b) the never accessible bathroom which, even when I could get a five minute window of opportunity I would be result in me being accosted for leaving the seat up and toothpaste uncapped, and c) the inability to watch Sports Center because Grey's of Next Top Model was on (the list goes finishes at dm) but I decided to save everyone's time by providing only three). But my room mates have been anything but my greatest fears and I consider myself extremely lucky to be living with them. Not to say that I don't miss watching sports all day and knocking back a few cold ones with the guys, but I think I'll walk away from this experience with some valuable lessons and easily a more feminine perspective on life (crap, another reference to transformation. I need to grab a twelve pack and watch a couple Wrestlemania's as soon as I finish this post soon).
That's about it for the house but I realize that I haven't spoken on any of the things I have been doing in Cape Town for the last couple of weeks. I also realize this post is a little on the long side so in attempt to not bore any one with another thousand words or so, here's a brief summary that I'll make sure to expand upon next time:
1) Visited Clifton beaches, easily one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to or seen in pictures. Compounding its beauty are the luscious green hills that sit behind the beach and further aback are Table Mountain, Lion's Head and the Twelve Apostles. Look for pictures on-line because none words of mine can capture this landscape. Further on down the road and assuming I have enough money to invest in a vacation home, Cape Town beachfront would be my first, second and third choices
2) Went to a famous township braai called Mzoli's. Imagine the best day party you have ever been to, multiply by ten and then add ridiculously good food (that is if you are a carnivore because they only sold meat). Combine that with a phenomenal, friendly atmosphere where even though I was one of five white people in a crowd of three hundred I never felt uncomfortable. I have pictures and will post them soon.
3) Hung out a few times with an old friend from Oxy who is studying at University of Cape Town, Ben Flitter. Haven't seem in him about two years but we picked up right where we left off. He will be here until June and I imagine some of our adventures might be the focal point of a post or two down the line, including our planned trip to visit the highest commercial bungee jump point in the world. Don't worry mom and dad, I've heard its safe.
4) Got acquainted with the local Observatory bars that are a two minute walk from home. That's right, two minute walk. Hard to beat multiple neighborhood bars pouring dollar beers and offering cheap food specials almost every week night. If they only carried American sports 24/7 my heaven on earth would be complete.
5) Started my job at the South African Human Rights Commission. I have a lot to say about my experience working there so far but I will hold off and give it a few more weeks before I offer any substantial observations.
6) Got certified to scuba dive.
As I mentioned earlier, I am off to Mozambique for a ten day Easter holiday vacation. I am going with a group of about twenty, half of which are other interns with the VAC that I have been getting to know the last two weeks. The other half are friends of Sean who, among being one of the creators of the VAC, runs a dive shop in Cape Town and is driving out with us to start a second shop in Moz. The beaches we are going to are rated as a top ten scuba diving site in the world due to the warm waters (24-27 degrees Celsius), 25-30m of visibility and a diverse array of marine life including a large population of whale sharks and manta rays. Sean has organized a few dives for all that are certified and when not diving I plan on taking part of the awesome deep sea fishing, surfing spots ideal for beginners and a local rum that is supposed to pack a pretty punch. Life in Africa sure is hard.
Cheers
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