Before I start talking about the trip, I have two little tidbits to share. One is about bells and the other about bell-shaped things that fall from trees. Early on Sunday morning (but not on the other days) there are several times when the church bells ring. I think the idea is to get you out of bed. They start at 6:30 am. The first ringing is for about 3 or 4 minutes. Then at 7 am they ring a few times. Then at 7:30 they ring for a few minutes again. Around 8:30 some services start, so there is more ringing. And then the grand finale is at 9:00 am when they ring for about 5 minutes straight. If you are not in church yet you sure do feel guilty hearing all those bells! The second little item is about the acorns that are on the oaks here. Because it is so temperate here the oaks do not have the nice dense grain that develops in the US and in Europe. It is a rather porous wood and not highly thought of (especially for wine casks- those have to be brought in from far away). But they make up for this unfortunate circumstance with their little acorns. They have little caps that are furry. And the caps extend down about halfway onto the elongated acorn. So, they are quite comical looking. They are heavy and will fall hard on your head if you are not careful. The ground around these trees looks like it is full of furry little gnome heads.
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I haven’t given much of a description of the grocery market yet. Here’s a glimpse at the similarities and hilarious differences. The store I am shopping in is Checkers. It is a nice grocery store (at least I think it is nice). The first section you enter is a produce section. The variety is quite amazing. Of course there is the local fruit, but not everything is in season yet (so avocados are coming from somewhere else). Also, there are citrus varieties from Israel. But the most typical fruits are bananas, apples, mangoes, figs, grapes, strawberries, watermelons, and lots of pulpy fruits that I have no idea what to call. There are tomatoes and onions and potatoes. You pick your fruit, put it in a bag and someone weights it there in the produce section.

On to bakery. Here you can find all your breads and sweets. I haven’t really purchased anything, so I don’t know much about the baked goods. Mrs. de la Bat put some bread in my room and I’ve been eating that. I do know that most people don’t eat white bread. They will save white bread for grilling on the braai as a special treat. The bakery section also has pies. Not dessert pies, but meat pies. I have tried the chicken and mushroom pie, and have steered clear of the steak and kidney pie. Not all pies are alike though. The pies in the store are pretty blah. The pies at King Pie are better. And the pies at some of the eateries are really, really good (Greengate has a great chicken pie). Continue reading →

Braai at the van der Merwe home. Christo picked me up at 7pm and we drove a few minutes to a neighborhood on the outskirts of the town center. He lives in a nice one story house with a detached garage. As we arrived I noticed beautiful guinea fowl in the yard. They looked exotic and spectacular and I remarked that I wanted to get a photo at some time. He made a funny noise and said they are a nuisance to him because they mess up his yard (like Canada Geese for us). Continue reading →

More rain earlier today. It actually felt chilly this morning. Of course temperature is all relative. It’s 70˚ F here. But it will warm up now that the sun is out again.

I was able to talk to Mrs. de la Bat today. She took me into the rest of the house and gave me a little tour. The house was built in 1932 and is a very unusual shape. It is sort of like an “L” shape, but with both ends the same length. The center area is a patio and entry hall, the hub of the house. To the right, down the “arm” are the bedrooms (hers and two guest rooms) and bathrooms. Also, Mrs. de la Bat’s office/study. To the left is the living room and dining room. Also at the center, beyond the entry is the kitchen and informal eating area. The ceilings are all very high. Most Cape Dutch houses have high ceilings that are made of wood, with exposed beams. The walls are almost always very thick. The windows are double-hung so that hot air can escape at the top and cool air can come in the bottom. Her house has clay tiles for the roof. But many of the historic houses have very thick thatch instead. Continue reading →

Final chapter of the ATM story. I took my ATM card inside a different bank than the one that had “retained” it. My American bank had suggested I do the transaction over the counter to avoid trouble. The second bank said that because it is an ATM card and not a VISA card they cannot do the transaction at the window, only in the ATM. But, don’t try it in their ATM because they are having trouble with foreign connections and it would probably get retained again. They suggested another bank up the street. At this point, the card is useless to me unless I can use it in an ATM, so even if it gets taken again, I would be no worse off. At the FNB (First National Bank) I go inside to use the ATM (in case the machine “eats” my card). Lo, and behold, the machine does what it is supposed to do and gives me money! I even got the balance of my American account given to me in rands on the receipt (makes me feel like we have a whole lot more money than we really do). Continue reading →

Lots to talk about, so let’s get down to it.

Bartering. Most regular shops don’t barter, but markets and little kiosks or carts do. First thing to remember: go close to closing time, they are more desperate to make a sale. If they are packing up, all the better. The first thing they will tell you is “Looking is for free.” And then they try to start up a conversation with you, this is their way of finding out your accent or a “hook” to keep you (like knowing your name or the country you are from). I hardly ever talk at first. Finally, if I am really interested in something and they ask where I am from, I will say I am a student at the university and am going home soon and want to bring some gifts. This usually gets the “oh, you are one of us, I can give you such a deal” lines. Well, they will start out lower than for the tourists and will be willing to barter more, but they still work hard to get more from you than you should pay. I have nothing to lose, so I only offer what I really think is a good deal for me. So far I usually get down to about half of their starting price. Continue reading →

Stayed up late last night (too late) reading some of the material Christo has given me, so I overslept a bit. Spent some time at the café grading UVa work. There are some problems with the online delivery system we are using (it is still beta) so I am trying to navigate some of those issues too. Talk about distance learning. One frustration is that when I am online here, it is night there, so often they are doing maintenance or upgrades and are sometimes offline. But overall everything seems to be working out fine.

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Things I forgot to mention about Monday: saw some Spring Bucks, some SA sheep, and a number of unusual birds (can’t identify them yet).

Just before I arrived the exchange rate for dollars/rands changed. It had been stable for 2 years, but it went up last week about 10% in my favor. So my money goes a little bit further. Somethings are less… food is pretty reasonable. Books, postcards, postage are more. Fuel for vehicles is (of course) more expensive, even than the “outrageous” rates we’ve been experiencing in the US.

The guesthouse I am staying in has a German name which means “On the River.” But the waterway across the street isn’t really enough water to call a river. The German folks who have stayed here have told Ms. de la Bat that it is really a brook. But she says that she kept the name anyway because it sounds better than “On the Brook.” Continue reading →

Lots of rain overnight (everyone says this is highly unusual weather, but are all grateful for the rain). Little black worms to decided to get out of the rain and find refuge inside my room. I’m glad I had something on my feet when I got up. They coil up into little sprials when you touch them (and it appears they dry up if they get stuck inside the room permanently). Still humid and drizzly in the morning, so clouds are hanging on the mountains. I ate a quick breakfast of yogurt, banana and granola. Apparently “Bulgarian style” yogurt means thin and runny.
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For those of you who don’t know, I’m spending a couple of weeks in Stellenbosch, South Africa working with my doctoral advisor, Christo van der Merwe. I’ll try to post here (and on Facebook) my updates and photos.

Day 1-2 Travel
Philly airport: free wifi for stuents allowed me to stay in touch and get caught up on some more work. Live musician (piano) in the terminal, a nice touch

United to Dulles: overfull flight, not much room for carryon luggage. Fortunately my backpack fit under the seat in front of me. A short flight, thank goodness.

Dulles: Just enough time to get to gate and work briefly, but no internet access.

SAA flight: terrific. Nice new clean plane. Seat 40C, so outside (not middle section), left side on the aisle (as you face the front of the plane). Seats were 2-4-2, so it seemed very spacious. Nice little bag of goodies, pillow and clean blanket on seat. Food was terrific. Dinner: chicken and penne with light sauce and cheese; nice fresh salad; cheese, crackers; fresh roll; frosted dense chocolate cake. Lovely SA wine with a great name: Goats Do Roam. Breakfast: scrambled eggs and potato and mini sausage (didn’t eat those, so not sure if they were good), croissant, fruit, yogurt, juice. Continue reading →