Well, now the Drakenstein people have my blog address, so I have to be careful what I say...
Lots of changes since my last entry. To move in chronological order, we got a new volunteer at Drakenstein, who arrived on Sunday. Hans, from the Netherlands, who requests that I don't write about him, but I have to mention that he's the only person I've ever met who takes his cat to the park, and how does he know I wasn't going to say nice things?
Some highlights of the week- Elzette nearly stepped on a Cape Cobra in a lion enclosure, which freaked us all out. Vesil chased it with a shovel, but it had buggered off by then. On Tuesday morning four of us gutted 273 chickens. That's a full wheelbarrow of guts. Even after scrubbing my hands several times, Donkey Girl wouldn't eat the peach slice I brought her until I put it on the ground. We also finished messing with gravel after a full day on Thursday. It does brilliant things for the abdominals, raking gravel does. Determined to wear me out at last, on Friday we dug deep holes in tough soil. I admit, my legs were starting to shake at that point.
Lion watching: Edina and Jack, a brother and sister from the illegal pet trade in Romania, are digging a trench next to their water trough. We suspect a plot for world domination. They're in on it with the ibises. I was disappointed by Aneta in heat. She's really more lukewarm. I watched her stealing chickens from Ringo and rousting him from his shady spot, but nothing raunchier than that. He sniffs at her tail hopefully, but no love. Peanut and Chippy, who live next to the volunteer camp, continued to pace the fenceline every sunset and roar, just to keep us in our place.
I left Saturday morning, said goodbye to people and discovered that they had a bet on to see whether I would cry. I'm not sure who won, but there were no tears. Damn uppity Crunchies (they tell me this is a term for Afrikaans-speakers, and not a very nice one). I might miss them... you know, a little. Don't get cocky, back there! Leaving places is hard, no matter how much you do it. They're probably all gossiping about me now anyway... Bloody Crunchers.
I received a notable compliment this week as well. Hans told me "Without a doubt, you are the toughest woman I've ever worked with" and that he had to work to keep up with me. I told him that he should meet some of the woman I'VE worked with, which is true, and yet I have to admit I was gratified. Actually, smug is the appropriate term. My ego was purring, and I knew that if it didn't get beaten back to it's proper place, there'd be no living with me.
Luckily, Humble Pie was on the way. After an uneventful train ride, I reached Capetown and went to an internet place to look up the location of my hostel (smart people write this down when they make the booking, but I have limits). It was then that I realized that I'd read the description wrong, and my hostel was nowhere near the city centre, where I wanted to be, and I had no idea how to get there. After basically walking in circles, with a throbbing headache, aching shoulders from the bags and getting increasingly overheated, I had met no one who could give me advice. This was not a moment went I felt tough. It didn't help that the people who recognized the address all said "District Six? That's the dangerous part of town, don't go there."
Well, what with the headache and everything, I was not feeling up to defending myself or even being particularly alert in a dodgy part of town where I didn't know where I was going. So I took the advice of a facebook group entitled "Fuck this. I'm doing what I want." Long story short, I said to hell with the tiny deposit I'd placed on the booking, and I walked into the nearest hostel in the city centre. It isn't dirt cheap, like District Six, but it's reasonable, it's well placed, and I like the people there. English Claire and Mark, South African Marius and Namibian Steve are the others in my room. They told me where to find a chemist (that's Brit for Pharmacy) so I could do away with the headache, and once I was finished running around, they were still there to hang out. I joined them for drinks last night, and now find myself with a case of early-morning insomnia (ok, well it was early when I got online).
I'll probably be in Capetown for the week. There are hikes to take, places to swim, street singers and dancers. I might be into some day trips or overnight trips nearby as well, once I find out what there is to do. But the important thing is to save money.
Take care, you lot! And keep your eyes open, because in my whole four months in Africa, this is probably when I'll be online the most!
No comments:
Post a Comment