Hi Da Jiejie,

After seeing the movie “Taken”, I really don’t want you to travel without firm travel schedule and reliable travel companions.  I told Allison that you girls have to be extra careful, because no way Daddy and Mommy can rescue you like the CIA dad in the movie…

 

One of the many reasons I miss my family right now

Yesterday I had the terrifying experience of watching my bag get dragged away by a large hairy male. 

We had just stopped at one of Cape Town’s beautiful beaches to snorkel / surf. While sitting in the sand and chatting, one of the students says, “Oh hey… look at that.” 

I turn around and see something large and fuzzy galloping towards us. Being from the States, and also because of my tendency to blurt out whatever the hell crosses my mind before thinking it through I say, “Aw cute! A dog!” 

Turns out it was a baboon. They are pretty big and we’ve been told that if it tries to take stuff from you to just let it go because they can do some pretty serious damage. 

So all 20 of us gather up our belongings… and then kind of stand and wait for this thing to arrive. I was kind of startled by how aggressive it was. It just ran up to people and ripped stuff out of their hands, bared its teeth, and would just sit down in the midst of our group and sort through the bag for food. In the confusion I put my bag down to pick up a stick just in case it came for me… and it immediately runs over, snatches my bag up (wallet and camera all included) and runs up a hill with it. We all kind of just sat and watched it pull all my clothes out of the bag and scatter them over the beach. During this whole situation I was just thinking… what the hell is this and nothing in my life has ever prepared me to defend my belongings from a baboon. Luckily one of our professors runs over with a large rock and chucks it at the baboon (oh, so that’s what you do….) and I got my belongings all back intact. It was weird… but kind of funny.

Every morning here we have the option of crawling out of bed at 5 am to go on a game drive. 10 of us can pile into the seats elevated up above a truck and are taken around the park in hopes of catching glimpses of animals.

This morning I groggily did so and was lucky enough to see two leopards and a black rhino. Holla!

 

 

 

Leopards are sexy animals. There’s just no other way to describe them.

At Skukuza with slow internet… will upload more later but here’s what I did last night: 

 

nom nom nom

 

Just came home from watching hyenas devour a rhino. So awake and pumped with adrenaline. Watching them gnaw on this giant animal you totally get why people are so creeped out by them. Pulling up to the carcass in the game drive vehicle and seeing their hunched silhouettes moving about was so thrilling. They are built to rip shit apart… their neck and shoulders are massive in comparison to the rest of their bodies. Even so, they still prove to be extremely fast and take down more prey than lions do by far. They grunt, whoop, cackle… the range of noises I’ve heard animals make here never ceases to astound me. By far the coolest thing I’ve seen thus far on the trip.

Hyenas around rhino carcass

 

I’ve heard tales of hyenas running into camps and going into tents trying to take the legs off of people sleeping. After tonight I don’t doubt it. Whereas most other animals will scatter, or at least shy away, from our huge game drive vehicles, hyenas stood their ground when we approached, only ducking away last second. We watched field researchers dart 3 hyenas… and they would continue eating despite the fact that two men with guns were standing 5 meters away from them, or that their hindquarters were completely failing to support them. 

 

yum... rhino ribs

After an 18 hour flight I finally pulled into Johannesburg airport. Despite having previously arranged for someone to pick me up I wound up spending another 2 hours at a pay phone trying to find the guy. Bleh. I am exhausted. I’ve always liked to think myself as confident/independent/bamf enough to be comfortable traveling by myself but those two hours in the airport made me realize how nervous I am about being by myself for two days. Check out the chart. 

Woot. I kept thinking that if I were out to mug someone and saw me walking down the street with my two large bags I would mug me too. Despite its being located on a continent that is known for its violent cities, the apprehension Johannesburg still stirs up is nothing short of nerve-wracking. Going to try walking around during the day tomorrow and not let this limit my being here but definitely heading back to the hotel room if I feel uncomfortable. Meeting up with the OTS (Organization for Tropical Studies– my study abroad biology program here) on Tuesday so mind as well live to see them. I am very relieved though to be receiving less stares than I did in Kenya and that Johannesburg is much much more diverse than Kakamega… 3 months more of being constantly watched would probably have killed me. I knew that South Africa would be more westernized but still wasn’t sure what exactly to expect. Another difference between Kakamega and Johannesburg: McDonalds near my hotel and billboards for Bebe and Aldo. Not going to lie… very pleased. Consumerism is such a comfort. 

Anyway, despite the general nervousness of being in South Africa’s crime capital I’m so excited to finally be here. Everyone I’ve met who has been to South Africa raves about it. I haven’t gotten to look around as I was picked up at 8:30 pm and driven directly to the hotel… but Johannesburg is massive. The lights of the city stretch for miles and miles– population here is equal if not more to New York for sure. Really interested to see what the architecture is like… whether its more European or more like buildings I saw in Kenya. 

I wish I was going to be here this summer.. we’re over half a year away from the world cup and I can already tell its going to be crazy. There are posters everywhere and of the 12 or so channels in my hotel room, 5 of them are airing soccer games.

Also scary to think that apartheid officially ended only 15 years ago here. I wonder how things have changed here since then. After asking about the languages spoken here (of course after getting the obligatory “so are you from China or Korea?” question… welcome back to Africa), my taxi driver was quick to point out to me that Xulu was a black man’s language and everyone else spoke english. Kind of surprised that he didn’t even mention Afrikaans despite the fact that there are so many signs around the city that use it.  My “preparation” for South Africa was reading A Long Walk to Freedom… awesome book. Unfortunately it has also created a somewhat negative perception of Afrikaans language. While reading the words off street signs my mental projection of how it is spoken is harsh, guttural, and loud– like what I would imagine Mandela’s prison wards’ voices were like. Going to try to change that… But I’m really getting a kick out of seeing the names of places I recognize from the book. I’m living near Soweto– Mandela’s hometown– and saw signs for Pretoria and Alexandra. 

Really excited for the food I’ll get to eat for the next 3 months I had squid today and it was sooo good. I’m sure Cape Town seafood will be even better. 

 

Nighttime in Johannesburg

My address!!! 

Erica Duh

OTS Undergraduate Course

c/o Laurence Kruger

P.O. Box 33

Skukuza, 1350

South Africa

 

 

My Schedule!!! 

25^th August               Nylsvley Nature Reserve (3.5 hours from airport)

5^th September            Mapungubwe National Park

18^th September           Hamakuya (rural homestays)

28^th  September          Skukuza, Kruger park

15^th October                Pretoria/Johannesberg

18^th October                Midterm break in Cape Town

26^th October                Geelbek, West Coast National Park

28th October               De Hoop Nature Reserve

7th November            Cape Town

8^th November            Skukuza, Kruger Park

1^st  December             Fly to the States

 

I don’t think I’ll be having internet till September 28th… but back to packing and then off to S. Africa peace

Koda the horse is a dwarf miniature pony… 

ahhhhhh

I was obsessed with this song 4 years ago but then totally forgot about it. Friend just showed it to me again today… its by the director of Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann, and just gives solid life advice. 

Wear Sunscreen 

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now. 

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine. 

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday. 

Do one thing everyday that scares you 

Sing 

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. 

Floss 

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself. 

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how. 

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. 

Stretch 

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds know still don’t. 

Get plenty of calcium. 

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. 

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.. 

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. 

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. 

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. 

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good. 

 

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.  

 

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young. 

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. 

Travel. 

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. 

Respect your elders. 

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out. 

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time it’s 40, it will look 85. 

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. 

But trust me on the sunscreen…

Probably one of the blogs i follow most closely…. 

He works with every media under the sun and his pieces are funny, often vulgar, colorful. Couple of my favorites… 

haha

 

this image is on some tshirts around dc....

 

 

David Choe… website here 

created by arjun… pictures and quotes all from the 15 participants.