As I sit on my couch, seated comfortably in front of my laptop, the Discovery Channel, and the leftovers of a still-churning-in-my-stomach $2.50 pizza (still haven’t managed to find a pizza as amazing as Little Caesar’s ‘Hot and Ready’), I can’t help but relish in the one day of relaxation I will have over a period of almost 40 days.
Commencing on the 11th of February, I greeted my first of three consecutive sets of visitors, welcoming in a month of reliving long lost memories, recreating my “Ann Arbor Lingo” dialect (which has been quite out-of-use since my departure -- ex: “ummm… I heard don’t stop” – Yeah, I know, it makes no sense), and of course plenty of site-seeing, eating/drinking, and any other activity which could be found in my severly dated Lonely Planet guidebook (I believe Apartheid still existed when it was published).
My first set of guests, having recently departed just the other day, were two friends from U of M: Pete Laing and Drew Bahner (congrats guys, you now have another link that’ll pop up when you Google your names). Although Pete and I went to opposing high schools in Ann Arbor (@#$! Pioneer!), Drew was a fellow fraternity brother of Pete (Meata Heada), as well as, and very randomly, my neighbor in the dorms freshman year. Thus, although we all knew one another before my trek to Africa, we did not know that we all knew one another (I hope that makes sense cause I’m not attempting to rephrase it).
Although I could provide a day-by-day synopsis of our trip, it would be more entertaining (as well as much easier) to provide a well-organized, bullet-point summary of our travels (as I am incapable of summarizing anything in non-bulletpoint format):
Trip Themes/Highlights:
- The sound of the Green Monster’s worn starter belt managing to attract the attention of anyone standing with 25 feet of it -- “weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”
- Managing to misplace my keys at any given chance (couch, window sill, couch, couch, door, couch, pocket, right hand)
- “Dirt Weather” -- aka Ann Arbor Speak for “Overcast Skies” -- Somehow we managed to experience more rain in the 10 days Pete & Drew were here then during my ENTIRE time in South Africa thus far
- “Patented” – More Ann Arbor Speak used to describe something that is… well… patented
- Black Label – The drink of champions / blackouts / cheapskates
- $8.50 for 3 Jaeger Bombs and 3 beers – To those over 40, this is unprecedented (the equivalent of buying a pack of Depends for $3 -- I know, low blow) :)
- Lack of Predators -- Pete & Drew not only had an unsuccessful Shark Cage Diving trip, we also did not see any Lions, Leopards or Rhinos on our Safari at Addo National Park. (This occurance was caused by "Dirt Weather" and was definitely "Patented")
- Avoiding Dung Beetles which were more or less unavoidable (may you rest in peace poor little crap-pushers)
- Overtaking the High Score section of “What’s the Difference” – A bar/video game that forces the user to point out differences between two pictures of the same nude female in the same background, usually posed in a semi-erotic position -- I know, disgusting!
- “Howzit Izit Bru!” (SA speak for “hello”)
- “Ca Chee Ca Chee Ca Chee” – The sound of our cameras all going off at the same time as we all had the EXACT same camera and all took the EXACT same pictures of everything (I believe Pete & Drew have about 500 collective pictures of a single rock taken out of boredom during their Shark Dive experience)
- Being “out of it” – Defined as the innate ability to think, speak, produce coherent thoughts, or respond in a timely manner when addressed
- Assegai / Assgay – http://www.tatt2.com/ -- yes, it IS a real product and we are ALL now proud owners of this fine $5 product (don't worry Mom, I'll make sure to let you know when I eventually come out) :)
- Other inappropriate notions that guaranteed us all one-way tickets to hell (wooo-oooop!)
Onto the pics:
 | Celebrating the arrival of Pete & Drew (and the 'Kak' weather they brought with them from the States) | |
 | Climbing a vertical ledge on Table Mountain w/out the assistance of rope or chain (yeah, we're badasses) | |
 | "Mommy, what are those penguins doing?" | |
 | Pete mid-flight on the highest Bungee in the world (216meters) | |
 | Record Breakers/Extreme Dudes | |
 | An elephant chasing us down the road at Addo National Park | |
 | One of the few dung beetles we managed to avoid running over during our game drive | |
 | Proud owners of Africa's finest product - Assegai (I will be accepting orders from all those interested) | |
 | No comment necessary | |
 | Yes, that is a real goat in a tower. And yes, that IS a real goat in a tower | |
 | What's a blog without a rich shot of Cape Town? |
