Friday night started off at OPSKOP again (the place with the Sokkie). Hendrick introduced me to the 'strawpedo'. Some people when they sip beverages from a bottle buckle their lips to leave enough space for air to move into the bottle for pressure equilibrium as they consume their drink, others place their lips over the entire bottle and drink, whilst creating a pressure imbalance in the bottle (with plastic bottles, this is typically when the bottle buckles). A strawpedo is more or less a bent straw that is inserted into the bottle of 'juice', and the consumer drinks the bottle by placing their lips over the entire bottle opening with the straw protruding out. This allows air to enter the bottle to help displace the liquid and prevent pressure buildup and as a result of this simple system, the liquid flows out incredibly fast, so of course it's our first drink at Opskop. More dancing, and Sokkie ensued and I'm getting MUCH better at it. I'm quite excited to show everyone at home, though there's really no bar/club that would understand it. Only in South Africa.
I got home at 3am on saturday morning, got up at 7:30am, and headed by bike to Strand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strand,_Western_Cape) (about 25 km away) for my surfing lesson at Son Surf School (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Son-Surf-School-Strand/131560490246348) to commence around 9am. As I am not an experienced cyclist, I had struggled to keep up the pace and the versatile topography of the route didn't help either. There's bike lanes mostly everywhere along the route, except a few rough spots. I reached the school at around 9:15am and was greeting by Mik, the owner who I had been in correspondence with over the phone. He introduced me to Lilly, my instructor. Lilly is what you'd imagine a surfer girl to be, blonde hair slightly above her shoulders, slender, average height, with a chill demeanor. I changed into my wetsuit (not an easy task) and waxed up the board. We then went over terms for the board and some surfing basics.
Surfboard
Top deck - top
Bottom deck - bottom
Rails - sides
Spine - middle, usually represented by a strip of different material
Nose - front
Tail - back
Lilly: "When you're in the water, make sure you don't grab the fins, because they can be quite sharp. You can cut yourself, then you can't surf anymore for the day because we don't want friends to join us."
On a side note, a recent CNN article talked about a british man who went swimming near Cape Town in a place called Fish Hoek, and was attacked by a great white and lost his right leg after ignoring signs about a shark presence. The flag types are below:
There was a white flag out the day he swam.
Anyway, after covering the basics, we went out into the water (COLD). We then went on to cover how to lay on the board, where I need to be, how to properly paddle, etc. I layed down on the board when waves came, and rode them as they came in (still lying down) to understand the balance of the board and get the proper posture. Then she showed me the right way to pop-up. Your strong foot is perpendicular to the direction of the board spine and is your back foot. The other foot is positioned about 45 degrees offset, however on top of the board spin and my hands are in front of me in a "crouching tiger, hidden dragon" type style as Lilly so eloquently put it. Nonetheless, I was able to stand up on a few waves for a few to several seconds each time. If I stay with it, I will eventually make my way to a smaller board type, which are more difficult. It was a fantastic experience and she also invited me to grab drinks with her next weekend in Stellenbosch.
With all the worry about shark attacks on surfers in these parts, it's remarkable how the thought of them doesn't even enter your mind when you're in the water. I have too naive of a surfer's brain to understand it, but it seems like the sweet reward of the perfect wave rides in tandem with the risk of death by shark and the two are in perfect harmony.
Nevertheless, I biked back, which took even longer since I was already exhausted. Since I hadn't eaten at all that day, my quest to get home wasn't only a desire, but more of a primal urgency for my health. I got home, let gluttony do its work, then slept for several hours thereafter. I decided that since my body was at war with me, I should take it easy and go in the lab to do some work.
I tell people I play with X-rays, but they probably imagine me with some sort of ray-gun type device, shooting x-rays at people/inanimate objects and laughing diabolically. The machine shown below is the x-ray diffractometer. This instrument is much more valuable than the one we have at Georgetown (x-rays are more intense, this has dual x-ray sources, mounting mechanisms are MUCH easier, etc.). You place your crystal on a small piece of glass, the x-rays are then generated from the sources on the right, go through a metallic cylinder (collimator), that focuses the x-rays onto your sample, and the electrons are scattered in your sample, to the detector on the left. You need to achieve a certain level of resolution for publication. The larger your crystal is (as well as the nature of it), usually the less amount of time you have to expose it to x-rays to get proper resolution. Smaller crystals require longer periods of x-ray irradiation.
Afrikaans lesson #4
Fok - swear word (what it sounds like)
Kak - swear word (not what it sounds like)
I went into town to get some groceries as well. I also had a big mac meal from McDonalds, which only really cost me $4. I've been good at taking care of myself here, watching where I'm going and knowing where I'm at, at all times. Unexpectedly, I have not met any unsavory people here thus far. I did notice something when I was walking back home though. The trash cans on most street corners are of two varieties, one for "wet waste" and the other for "dry waste". I think the definitions are subjective, do I put my spent morning apple in the wet, or the dry, I digress. I passed a man who was drinking the rest of 'his' water from a bottle, then placed the empty into the trash. He didn't walk away though, he lingered there and was rummaging through the wet waste for more sustenance, I'm guessing. There are poor people here like anywhere else, but seeing that happen in front of me gave me a chilling perspective on the matter.
Today, as seems to be the trend of every weekend day, I woke up early again. I went out with Welmarie, whom I had just met on friday at Opskop, along with other people from the chemistry department to go hiking at Jonkershoek Nature Reserve (http://www.capenature.co.za/reserves.htm?reserve=Jonkershoek+Nature+Reserve). Table mountain in Cape Town was the original plan, however the treacherousness of those routes proved to be too dangerous for Waleed to lead us (our 'guide'). The company was fantastic: three libyans, two germans, two south africans, and an american. We are all affiliated with the chemistry department and it seems as though there will be more excursions like this in the future.
The conditions were freezing cold with rain coming in from the mountains. As cold as it was, it's gorgeous to see the clouds lingering around the mountain tops, pictures do not do it justice. We set out for waterfall route #1 (a mere 3 km journey). The route was fine, with hills and troughs of all amplitudes, until we started to travel parallel to the creek. At this point, we would have to leapfrog to various rocks protruding out of the water to get through, with everyone at one point falling into the amber colored water (beautiful). We ended at the waterfall with no casualties, ate lunch, and admired the scenery. At times, it seemed like the brush we were maneuvering through was more suited for the amazon. The trek back came with the winds at our backs and the sunlight breaking through the clouds, perfectly paired with the net negative change in elevation.
The pictures from Strand and Jonkershoek are uploaded as well (Pics).
Next weekend may be shark diving?
Love and miss you all back home.
CK
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