Arroooooooo!!!!

The land seal Abbey says "HARK!!! The snow has fallen on Vancouver Island and my mom is sunburned in Africa! Throw me another snowball, Russ!!!"

I apologize for not getting a better shot of this transvestite who was trolling around in the night! She came in and posed, all glammed up with christmass tree bulbs hanging off of herself, and I didn't get to my camera in time. Here she is heading off to thrill some more humans and reptiles.

This photo is over a week old, but the dudes were great. I like how the guy on the right is boogie-ing. I have some footage of a chorus of men too, that my mother in particular would love.

No comment needed. This guy was too much. Nice hair hanging off his flabby hanging weird neck thing?

Right as I took this photo of the Pelican, a bug chunk of dead fish ricocheted off of me! I ended up with gross smelly guts smeared on both of my arms. Yeuch.

Another one of my favourite "Cape Vulture." I have many many more, but limited myself to two on this post!

I took this photo this afternoon at a stoplight on my way home from work. The lady is letting her goats feed on the side of the highway.

Southern Africans love Che Guevera - I think he came to Angola when he was bored with Cuba. There is this great restaurant on the beach called Cape to Cuba and that is where the pics above and below were taken.

Kerensa and I dining by the sea. They actually had vegan dishes!

I went on Safari this weekend to sniff out some snakes!

Here is Maya in uniform with the maker of her beaded key chain. Her purse is made out of coke cans. She is so cute! This man is great too - I almost got him to do my name, but his bead colours weren't optimal for me. I will go back when he has replenished his supplies.

I Miss Abbey...

Long Street on Saturday Night

16,912 km from Vancouver!

Above is a picture of MY CAR! Yes, Meghan now has a car and a cellphone and an alarm system. What the hell? I bought this VW Citi Golf from this cute girl Christina who has now moved back to Germany. It is in the garage getting worked on so that I can get a "roadworthy" certificate in order to register it to myself. The driver's seat is on the right hand side - it cracks me up. This town is hilly, sort of like San Francisco, so I am spooked of burning out my clutch on the steep hills. I cannot believe I own a big chunk of metal that is propelled by an engine. ODD! Oh yeah, that is my car in front of my home! My bedroom is on the second floor with the balcony in front of it. Below is a detail of the coolest chandelier I have ever seen! It is made of beautiful shells and beach glass. Only R4000!

These purple blossoms are the sign of spring here in Cape Town. Reminds me of the blooming Sakuras we get on Vancouver Island.

Here is a snapshot of the ATM - take THAT Canada! EIGHT languages available here!

I love the styles that the African moms rock here... the babies in the blankets on their back are so adorable!

A sign by the waterfront, reminding me how far I am from home...

Below is the Community Law Centre, where I am doing my internship. My boss just went to the Sudan and I have to write a paper about "empowering impoverished groups" in the context of local governance on his behalf while he is away. The draft will be reviewed by an Indian Minister for inclusion in a roundtable in Delhi next year.

Here I am at this nice vinyard near "Tokai" within the city of Cape Town.

Woops - photos are a bit out of order. Here is a picture I took near the administration building of the University of Western Cape where the Community Law Centre is. The UWC has a cool history in the history of Apartheid in South Africa. Check out more here if you are interested.

Here is some classic Cape Dutch architecture. I had some drinks at this place on my birthday last weekend:

This is a piece of crap car that I rented for a month and took back within 24 hours because it stalled twice within an hour of me getting possession of it and it WOULDN'T START again unless I got stranger dudes to push it for me! A service guy was sent out, who "fixed" the carborator for me. NOT VERY SAFE for a girl like me to have a car that won't start in South Africa! That was the most stress I have ad here yet. Best Beetle sucks.

Here are the remnants of the first Braai I have experienced here. A "braai" is a South African barbecue and my first experience wasn't the best, as nothing vegetarian was grilled. I think I need to coordinate a vegetarian braai soon and show these folks what healthy, ethical eating is!

Muizenburg, Waterfront and Vinyard

Please click on the panoramas to see them better and do them justice!

Weekend Escapades

I finally met some penguins that weren't enclosed in some zoo-type thing in North America. Not many people know that there are penguins in Africa, but here they are! I went to Simon's Town with Kerensa and Maya but we got to Boulder's Beach quite late, as one can tell from the ducky lighting and fuzzyness of the photos.









Before finding the lazy penguins, we stopped in at a great place in St. James to eat some yummy chow and get coffee. There was a great outdoor bar there, as you can see! There were some funky hammock-type things made with long sticks too, a desugn which I want to import back to Canada.

Here is the little one that is so cute! I will post a photo of her in her school uniform soon.
At a beach in Muizenberg earlier in the day we met a fellow with two funny dogs. The one here is named Champagne and she bit Maya in the arm as Maya tried to photograph her and her younger (and friendlier) son.

The Saner Side of South Africa

Although there are some very disgusting things about this society that I am living in, what may be perhaps THE MOST FANTASTIC festure of South Africans is that they are way less idiotic about doggies than Canadians are. Dogs are allowed IN RESTAURANTS here (check out the Great Dane, above). As you can see below, they also "tell it like it is" and don't sanitize words like "poo"! Why is Canada so anal about this stuff??

Completed my 28th Solar Rotation...

I woke up to this is the kitchen,left by Anne, Frank, Franci and Angie!

Here I am, celebrating my birthday with a trip to Hermanus with Omo and Jean.

HermANUS had some type of Memorial, and I found out later that November 11 is armistice day here in SA, but am unsure what war dead they pay tribute to. Other than this sighting, the observance seemed non-existant.

And yes, this was where I fell in love with the dassies!Dassies are a common name for a hyrax, which, "despite the unexceptional appearance of modern hyraxes, the order has a remarkable prehistoric lineage and hyraxes may be the closest living relatives of the elephant."

Later on, my Mom and Cathy hosted a party for my via the internets!
Then I went out for excellent thai food with Kerensa. After that, we had adventures on Long st!!

The caption below reads : "OFFICIOUS: This unidentified man, who is holding a pair of nunchakas, martial arts sticks, kicked Cape Argus phtographer Henk Kruger in the stomach in Hout Bay and manhandled reporter Candice Bailey, tearing up her notepad"

Penguins in Simon's Town

Listen to Maya in the background repetedly ask "what is wrong with the boogie man?"

These Dassies Made my Day!

Last night I dreamt that George Bush had a lunch box full of Rumsfeld's still-alive bodyparts that were converted into "cyberskin" - he arranged them so that rumsfeld's eyes would close into his buttocks when the lunchbox shut.

This photo is a view from my rear bedroom window. Right now the clouds are rolling down it again, which I just love.

I am so so so enjoying the fact that the Bush is having a bad time politically. It is about time! Apparently Bolton (US envoy to the UN) is about to lose his position. He is so irritating to me, though I am sure he will have plush jobs for life.

Cape Town may seem all beautiful in my posts, but the darker side is awful. Here is a little glimpse of the reality of life here. So sad.

Here is a panorama of some pictures I took last sunday near Hout Bay.

Another panorama, but this one of a really cool phenomenon called the "Table Cloth" where the clouds pour over Table Mountain like waterfalls... the clouds evapourate before hitting the city. It is so amazing. I took this on the walk to the store yesterday after work.

This is Mia, not Farrow. Mia is Babs. She deserved a repost.

A bunch of dental moulds that are for sale for 8 rand each... I am thinking of buying some to make cool things with.

Some critters hanging out on top of a building on Long St... the one on the left looks sad and lonely about the evil character of his neighbour.

I took the photo above in the Gardens because the birds in the fountain were silly to me.

Part of a DICK CHAIR that is for sale downtown. This glass part is the part you sit on, and it is convex, so I don't see it being very practical, although I really appreciate the design!

One of the kitties looking at me on the staircase as I take her picture.

Cool bean things that are growing above my neighbour's car.

My street sign in Afrikaans.