Visitors Round 1 - Pete & Drew

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?

Cape Town - Week 22 - 23

Welcome to the shortest blog ever.

Due to an influx of visitors from the States, a lack of a working computer as my laptop has now failed me twice this month, and of course a chronic and lingering case of laziness, I have been unable to find the time to write up a worthwhile and entertaining blog.

Thus, I leave you with pictures, as they do a far better job of depicting the past few weeks of my life:

	Me and my two favorite machines: The Green Monster and The Flying Dog
	Aerial shot of Cape Town during my 2nd Gyrocopter ride
	More aerial action
	Fly Falcore Fly!
	Enjoying the party favors from my 1st bachelor party in Cape Town (I think she likes me...)
	Parlotones concert at Kirstenbosch (3rd concert in my life... I know.. I blame my parents for raising me to only enjoy tribal music)
	The rain-soaked crowd

Cape Town - Week 20 - 21

Before commencing on another blog detailing the adventures of my journey here in South Africa, I would first like to comment on the lack of consistent, weekly blogs. Although I would love to write a blog each and everyweek, there are many constraints on my life that prevent such an occurrence. While I could blame a hectic work schedule, irreparable computer failure, or even severe arthritis in my fingers, I will just let the true cause reveal itself: Laziness. Without an actual job or any obligations whatsoever (besides of course eating, drinking & sleeping), laziness has overtaken my body, and thus overtaken my ability to compose weekly blogs. Thus, although it distresses me greatly, blogs will now only be released every few weeks, unless momentous happenings occur in my life (or a miraculous cure for laziness reveals itself). Anyhow, onto the blog:

With my adventure in Namibia behind me, it was time to get back into the swing of things, and figure out a way of replenishing my severely dented savings account. And with no potential of making any significant amount of money, I was left to a secondary option: Spend less. As a result, the past few weeks have been an adventure in thriftiness. Eating in. Drinking cheaper beer. Poaching mussels on the beaches of Cape Town in order to provide me with a more-than-affordable meal. Accepting free tickets to cricket matches. Hiking up mountains. And of course throwing away all my efforts in one day, thanks to one of the most “posh” events in all of Cape Town: The J&B Met.

More or less the Kentucky Derby equivalent of South Africa, this annual horse race is considered the “place to be” in Cape Town, providing a three-fold experience for all Cape Tonians. Not only does it present the opportunity for countless gambling addicts to fuel their desire in throwing away thousands of dollars, it also provides the “young and restless” of Cape Town an opportunity to drink the day away while watching horses stampede around the track as small anorexic men have their way with them. And finally (and of course most importantly), the J&B Met gives Cape Town’s elite the opportunity to prove how rich they truly are, offering up the occasion to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on dresses, costumes and other over-priced and never-to-be-worn-again outfits. Thus, for most of the day this past Saturday, I enjoyed an afternoon filled with people watching.

From Cape Town's rich and famous, strutting around in their "Sunday's Best," to Cape Town's wanna-be rich and famous, spending a year's life savings on a single day's event. From drunken students parading the grounds in search of a booze or even a plastic cup (as those eventually ran out somehow at all the bars) to drunken gamblers, desperately hoping for their 1 in a million trifecta to come in. But most entertaining of all, the models. Countless models, male and female, catwalking around the grounds with seemingly no idea that there was an actual horse race the same day as their “outdoor shoot.”

Nvertheless, aside from endless amounts of people watching, and of course a few horses here and there, I also managed to successfully pick the winner of the “main race.” And now that I am 20 rand /$3 richer, and pretty much have obtained “baller-status," please feel free to contact me if a loan is needed from my plentiful earnings.

And now, onto a more-than-delayed lesson:

“Learn me something something about South Africa.”

This Week's Topic: Load Sharing

Supporting a population of almost 50 million, South Africa has made a name for itself as being one of the most economically successful 3rd world countries on this planet. With the 18th largest GDP in the world (thank you again Wikipedia for fueling my blogs with fun-filled facts), you would think that the infrastructure of this great African nation would be quite well developed. Nope. Not here.

Despite its growing population, South Africa’s ability to provide all citizens with working electricity has seemed to hit a snag. And when efforts could’ve been made to invest in additional power plants, government officials were seemingly too busy fighting off their own personal conspiracy cases (as well as attempting to shut down the one governmentally-run organization that is solely dedicated to fighting internal conspiracy – if the irony doesn’t hit here, I don’t know what does). Thus, bring on the load sharing.

Basically, around the country everyday, electricity is denied to various “patches” of South Africa, in order to help “relieve” the load of electricity demand on the power stations. What does this mean for the everyday person? Well, don’t expect your power to make it through the day. To many, the sound of everything in their home turning off at once has become commonplace, just as any traffic light is now accepted as a 4-way stop (as these do not function consistently either). The one electrical item that does actually seem to maintain consistent power are the solar-powered speeding cameras on the highways (cause why miss out on the opportunity to catch speeding motorists!).

So why doesn’t the electricity company warn consumers of where & when they plan on “switching off power” in any given week. Well that would just make sense. Thus, each and everyday, citizens around South Africa await the inevitable. It may not be today. It may not be tomorrow. But someday soon, your power is gonna go, and the only thing you can do to prevent this is to pray a power station falls from the sky. And if this doesn’t happen, well… lets just wait and see what happens in 2010 when the World Cup comes to town. : )

Onto the pics...

	Kenilworth Race Course: Home to the J&B Met
	Holding the winning $3 ticket! What am I gonna do with all this money?!
	A running horse -- quite a common sight during the day
	Best Dressed guys at The Met -- Don't worry Mom, they're Jewish :)
	Showing off my evil/crazy side during some mussel picking / poaching
	Newlands Cricket Grounds at night
	At the top of Lions Head after a Sunday afternoon hike
	View of Table Mountain and the "table cloth" of clouds covering it
	Cape Town night shot