Reunited, Relocated, and Re-Originated

In honour of my flying through 10 timezones and three continents within 24 hours to join my beloved in Africa, Meghan thought it would be fun to let me (her boyfriend Russ) take the reigns and write a special guest post.


Reunited I have been here for nine days, and now that the jetlag and initial culture shock have worn off, I am thoroughly enjoying the experience. I can report that Meghan is looking radiant and healthy; the climate and environment are agreeing with her (she looks like a movie star, to be honest). Here is the first picture of us together in South Africa, taken by her roommate Eliza in the house on Upper Mill. I am sporting a Bishop Desmond Tutu t-shirt that Meghan bought for me.

My flight was great. Okay, maybe not great (it was ridiculously long), but I did get to see some amazing sights and three in-flight movies. More importantly, I can now say that I have seen the Sahara Desert, Jackass 2, and the Mediterranean Ocean. Here is the latter from 32,000 feet along the French coastline at Marseille.


On my first full day in Cape Town, Meghan wasted no time in taking me to the surfing beach at Muizenberg. It was beautiful, and while we didn't do any surfing, we did see a Jack Russell playing soccer.




Me, not surfing.
Burning my neck, actually.





That is not a tennis ball; it is a full-sized soccer ball.


Relocated On Thursday, Meghan and I moved into our own apartment. We are on the 10th floor of a brand new downtown condo development, in what seems to have been an old parking garage. The view from our balcony is... well, see for yourself (click on the image).




Meghan had amassed a few treasures in her three months away from home, but we managed to fit everthing into her VW and make the move from Upper Mill to Long Street in one trip.



I can't say enough about how much I love living in downtown Cape Town. Long Street is right in the main entertainment district. The streets are alive with business people during the day, and at night the place becomes a vibrant mass of friendly locals and tourists making their way from one establishment to the next.

Meghan did a great job in picking out a place for us to live. This is the first building she has lived in that has had an elevator; this is the first time I have lived like a yuppie. Our building is still under construction, and we are one of the few tenants that have moved in. I am writing this at 11:00 PM, and I can actually hear workers in the hallway. The main cultural differences that I have experienced so far seem largely due to the labour intensity with which South Africa approaches things. (A discussion of the economic problems of resource allocation in the context of post-apartheid South Africa is left as an exercise to the reader.)

Re-Originated My first weekend in the city and Meghan drives us out near Worcester to camp and attend the Origin Festival, which is one of those new-age hippie music festivals. Despite my Generation-X skepticism, I found it to be a fun time, with great food, scenery, and music.







Here we are joined by our new best friends, the Blockheads, of Jo'berg.









South Africans are apparently famous for their love of trance. This picture was taken Sunday afternoon: 24 hours of non-stop, 4/4, kick drum on the downbeat... and the white people are still just a givin' 'er.



There were four black people sighted at the festival. Do you see them?



Here... let me zoom in.






There!













I think they should have combined these:










I had to drag Meghan away from this purchase.






The natural setting was beautiful, and to top it off, there was a full moon.