It has been quite some time since I
posted anything, or maybe it hasn't and I just feel like a lot has
happened! The internet is down again (it's beyond irritating) so I
don't actually know what the last post I did was about, I think it
was the drumming at UCT. So what's happened after that?
So Sarah arrived the day after which
was great, her plane was delayed about an hour and we arrived at the
airport about 4 hours before her flight landed because we had to drop
2 volunteers off who were going to Botswana and there wasn't much
point driving back and forth, so that was the longest wait of my
life! But she arrived safe and well. It was very weird at first
having her back because I'd gotten so used to life here without her
around, I'd become very close with two of the project trust group
(one of who was one of the ones that went to Botswana so she missed
the first week of Sarah being here). It did take some getting used
to, but we're all settled now so everything's good, we're back to
spending our days playing endless games of cards in the kitchen.
Jasmine and Katie made friends with
some of the drummers from Mecassar, so a week or two after UCT they
went to the drum circle at Mecassar, and the week after I went with!
It was great fun, quite a small group and held in the pottery
workshop which was quite a small room with a tiled floor and plain
brick or concrete walls and ceiling so it got very loud. It was very
different to the Durbanville circle, a lot more relaxed and chilled
out. Durbs is almost formal, everybody takes it quite seriously and
it reminds me more of a professional rehearsal whereas Mecassar had
more of a jam session feel to it, it was nice.
And Mecassar led to me, Jazz, Katie and
Sarah going to Strand the next day to meet up with two of the
drummers. We had a really nice day spent wandering on the beach,
Jasmine spending most of her time with one of the guys, Katie ending
up with the other guy and me and Sarah being absolute children and
playing with all the hermit crabs that were everywhere and the
starfish and coral! Then we got a little bit stuck in Strand when our
train was late, then stopped in Erste
River, so we got a little bit stranded and 4 white girls on public
transport is a sight here, but we managed to persuade a mini-bus taxi
driver to take us back to Durbanville so all was fine in the end!
Oh and I went to Mzoli's for the first
time! Mzoli's is a township braai/party that goes down every Sunday.
Actually it apparently is open every day of the week but it's huge on
Sundays. I'd never been interested in going before because whenever
volunteers come back they're usually so drunk they're useless, but
Jasmine being the beauty she is, managed to sell it to me without
either of us really realising it, so I went along one week and had a
great time! One of the guys we hung out with decided he really liked
me and kept kissing my cheek however many times I told him no, which
was great fun, and has resulted in lots of pictures of me and him
that I'm pulling a face in to say 'stop taking damn pictures and help
me tell him I'm not interested!' but Jasmine and Katie found it too
funny. In the end we wandered off and when we came back he seemed to
have found another girl he liked...I think he took my rejection
hard!!
Unfortunately Jasmine, Katie, Rachael
and Anna all left on Sunday. We did spend an awesome last weekend
together (me, Jazz, Katie and Sarah), we took Jazz and Katie to
neighbourgoods market on Saturday as neither of them had been before
(shock horror!), then we went into Cape Town so they could drum on
long market street one last time and they'd arranged to meet up with
some of the guys they'd met at Mzoli's and Mecassar to say bye. And
on Saturday evening we went to the Rabbit Hole (local tiny club/bar
thing) because there we'd seen a poster for an instrumentalist
playing and we wanted to have one last drink together (Me, Jazz and
Katie). The instrumentalist by the way was called Wild Lettuce and
was incredible...we only actually saw him do one piece because we
didn't get there until 11pm as the other two were packing, but he was
playing a combination of guitar, electric drum kit, electric cello (!) and didgeridoo!!!! He had the whole thing set up to record
and play in loops so we heard him do the game of thrones theme song
all by himself (and included a didgeridoo) and it was incredible...I
just don't have words. Had I had enough money, I would have bought
his album right then and there...as it is, I've found his website
(wild lettuce music) and as soon as the internet lets me I plan on
downloading any or all of his albums depending on how expensive they
are!
On Sunday we had to take them all to
the airport, so I was just an emotional wreck. I was fine until I had
to say bye to Jazz, who I've been roomies with for the last 6 months.
She started crying, so I was crying, then one of the other volunteers
who came with to drop off insisted we watch them go through security
then walk past the window to the gates. When they saw we were still
there, Katie and Anna came up to the window doing whatever leprechaun
snake dance it is that they do and I just broke down...it was a bit
awkward actually. They don't actually fly home until tomorrow,
they're in J'burg at the moment as a kind of debrief thing with
project trust (me and Sarah were supposed to go on it last year but
we refused and stayed at our project for the few extra days). So that
was very rough. But I also moved rooms so I've not had the pain of
having to stay in mine and Jazz's room without her. I now have a tiny
room to myself in the babies house, I've put pictures up (if the
internet has let me).
And that's about all for now...
<3
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