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[19 Apr 2007|05:28pm] |
I was cleaning up my folder on the computer when i found this journal extract i had written after we came back from south africa, and as i read through it, it brought back some pleasant memories. Thus, i shall post it here. However, it is incomplete, (up to day four only) because i never had time to finish it. So, i'll post it here, and if anyone can tell me what the sequence of days was, ie itinery, then i'll prob be able to remember all the details and finish the report. Er..read on at your own peril..sort of thing.
We left on Saturday night at 2 am in the morning or so. It was really quite insane because the morning before the flight, I had 2 exams, GP and Lit and then I rushed home in a cab to change out and get back to school at 730 to help carry the props and equipment to the airport. I didn’t do much carrying anyway, because the truck came early so the others did most of the work. The truck drove to the airport; I sat next to Noel, had a chat with him about school and drama and all. Nice boy. We unloaded the junk and went to the counter right at the end of Terminal 2. They’ve renovated the airport quite extensively, and I havent been for a long time too, so it was quite an eye opener. My parents came slightly late with my suitcase, because of a traffic jam, but it was okay, cos a lot of people came late too. I think Glory forgot her passport or something.
Finally, we said our goodbyes and got on the plane. Hansel came with us, but he checked later, so he could surprise his sister and all. Quite amusing really. I sat next to Kass and Rae and Yijun on the otherside. Aisle seat as usual for me, I always seem to get lucky. Slept most of the way.
The Airport at Johanessburg (or Jo’Burg as I heard on the radio) is quite dark and dingy and horribly messy. Liu Chen’s luggage got sent to Brisbane by accident by some manner of miscalculation and what not. We load all our junk and push it half way round the airport till we get to the bus terminal. The first thing I notice is of course the temperature. It’s nice and windy and cool, just a little bit cold, but after 3 days, the temperature settles for us, as we acclimitise.
The bus is fairly medium sized, no toilet at the back, like the bus in taiwan, thus no nasty pong to be worried about. We drive to the Jeppe’s cricket field, where there’s breakfast for us. The driver gets a bit lost, and goes to Jeppe Boys school instead, but we circle back.
Here, I digress. On a first impression, South Africa looks a lot like Belgium. Modern buildings that were once new, but now are grubby old and grimy. There’s that fresh smell in the air that smells a lot like a “Belgium smell” I suppose it’s the early morning weather. As the bus rolls by, the grass is tall, browning and abundant, with empty plains dotted with a few houses here and there. The hills surround the sky and strech as far as the eye can see, a little bit like Colarado in that sense. The sky is so clear you can see hill after hill right in to the distance. The roads are not bad, the pavement is dirty, but not so flithy as it could be. It turns out, plastic bags in SA cost 20 cents, so people use them very wisely. There’s also a lot of peddlers on the streets, at the traffic lights(called a robot), where they sell anything from Spiderman softoys to handphone covers, car accessories, food etc. The unemployment rate we are told is about 30%.
We have breakfast at the cricket field, in the groundsmen hut or something. Its bread, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fruit juice, Quiches, coffee and tea, muffins. We eat, take some photos, and leave for the Hotel.
Our hotel, the Mecure Bedfordview is rather posh, and like most of the houses is painted a pastel orange pink. Its supposed to be quite posh, but its pretty okay. We have 701, a corner apartment on the “street”. Its really like bunch of apparments arranged like a town. The rooms have a tv, a sofa, dinner table and four chairs, little kitchen, which we don’t use at all by the way, a toilet and two bedrooms with a double bed. I end up sleeping with Yijun, but not before making some jokes about wanting to sleep with Leon in the bus. In the end, Tim sleeps with Leon. Yijun isn't a very good sleeper friend, he kinda kicks(twice) and moves about in a bed quite a bit, and we both snore abit too, so that’s okay. Anyway, its better than Darius, who told me that Ben Chow sleep diagonally across the bed. Hoho.
My room has 3 musicians, and Jeppe has kindly followed our requests for a drumset and amps while we perform at the 4 different schools. The four of us get on the bus to go back to the cricket place to carry a drumset, 3 amps and some other junk on to the bus, and then unload it at the hotel. Its very heavy and there’s no proper roads from the school to the bus.
Because LC has lost his luggage in transit, Madam brings him to Eastgate shopping centre, just opposite the hotel. I end up tagging along ‘cos she asks for volunteers and the rest are busy with unpacking intrusments etc. Its huge, and there’s lots of shops just like any random mall. We go to woolsworth and buy some underwear etc. Rather embarrassing for LC im sure. i mean madam measuring out underwear for him? you gotta be joking.anyway, luckily LC didn’t say, “gimme a sec, i’ll try this on” cos I remb isaac from church taught me this cool method to measure underwear sizes, you put it around the circumference of your neck.
Later that night, we go to Leseidi, place of light, or as Krishmen’s GPRS reads: Alpha Training Centre. Its actually a cultural village which is recontructed and there’s some of the different tribes represented by actors. The guide is hilarious and very larger than life.Viknesh suspects he’s college degree holder. I beg to differ.We eat dinner at this place too, its some african fare, of meat mostly and potatoes. We go back to watch some other dance routine by them which is quite interesting, except the people I’m sitting near to smell of drugs and alcohol. There’s a lot of american tourists, mostly blacks, who perhaps want to see their ‘homeland’ or something. They look like africans until they open their mouths.
Day TWO
We wake up early by morning call to hotel breakfast. Normal fare of cereal fruits, bread, eggs, bacon etc. There’s also fried maggots burnt black. I ask the cook whether they’re nice to eat, but she shakes her head. The others try one, and they say its like Ikan Bilis. We get on the bus for a long ride out of the county to Entanbeni, place of the mountains. It’s a horribly long bus ride, 3 hours I think, and we have two pits stops.The roads are dirt and we have 3 mis-drives. We get off the bus at the entrance, hop onto a range rover which drives us to the reception area. Its like 30 km inside. We go to our rooms. I’m rooming with Darius. We try to get some studying done before Deanna and Glory our next door neighbours come in and disturb us and bring their friends too. The rooms are even better than Mecure, its really nice and cosy. We ditch studying and instead, use a knife to hack at the ice in the fridge. Don’t ask. We go for lunch, which is kinda normal african food, lots of meat, and potatoes or rice and a salad bar. We get our range rovers for our afternoon drive which is wickedly exciting. Our driver, Derick, is an African with a perfect white teeth and who’s rather tall. He speaks softly and articulates every word and often repeats words because his english is that fantastic. We see rhinos up close and giraffe, wilderbeest, warthogs, antelopes, impalas and guinea fowl, zebra and some other animals. Derick teaches us that male zebras can be identified by the ‘black stripe’ between the legs. Hoho.get it?
Madam remains angry, because the alumni borrowed dirtbikes to ride around the compound, and she thinks they disturbed her J2s studying. Actually, we were more disturbed by the J1s, and our icebox in the fridge.
We go star gazing at 8. Its really quite beautiful, the moon was as bright as huge torch, and the stars stood out like white specks in a dark blue sky. We could even see a satellite travelling around the earth. We go back for dinner, and sleep at 11.
Day THREE
Morning drive. We woke up at 515, changed and rushed to the reception area at 5.30, only to discover that the guides are late instead. By the time we drive out, its like 7ish I bet. We go to a different section of the park, the south section where there’s lions as opposed to the north section where there’s everything else, minus the carnivores.
Later, on the way back to Joberg, we stop at the very aptly named restaurant Carnivore, where they serve meat on huge swords, and they come round and cut it off at your plate. I tried crocodile meat, kinda like chicken porkish taste. We also try random meats like springbok and antelope, which taste a lot like beef or lamb.
On the way back, the vomit party begins. First madam tells everyone that the fun is over, and now we’re gonna start acting and doing all the hard work. She wants us to be changed in to costumes in half an hour from the moment we get back. So everyone’s high spirits immediately dip as we think about the harsh rehersals to come. then Vikki suddenly barfs(on the bus). and mattew has to clean up most of it. He pukes later that evening. everyone starts puking left and right, after we get off the bus. the rehersals proceed in the street of the hotel, but most of us are tired and choking of the lack of oxygen in the air, since its quite high up. Dinner is simple chinese take away. but since everyone is so full after the buffet at Carnivore, most don’t eat much. i eat some, only to feel a lil ill. i go to bed, but wake up in the middle of the night feeling greasy and sick, i run to the toilet to throw up. I woke yijun up, and then we called the HQ and Leon's mum i think comes over with THE TABLETS OF THE LORD. That is, the cure for Moses’s sickness. Charcoal pills. the chewable kind. not the capsule one. anyway. these pills are the worse substance known to man. first they make you poop grey. can you believe that? and you’ll feel super bad when you poop. they kinda like clear out your whole system, like detergent. seriously a feeling i don’t want to have to repeat.
Anyway, we’re all extremely tired after the long night.some one claims there’s african porn on telly, but no one finds it in the end.at least not in my room. Tim sleeps on the couch, not because he doesn't want to sleep with Leon, or vice versa, but because he's sick and doesn't want to spread the plague.
Day four
We wake up, and quickly eat and change before we head off to some school where the students are of a lower income. we put up our dance performances, and we hold some drama workshops for the kids.they seem to enjoy it.i bet most of them don’t even know where singapore is, or what a chink chonk looks like.
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