Turns out there was a lack of hot water in some of the rooms last night. Dana, Lesley and Bailey had only cold water. That was a bummer. For their hair, I guess. After hearing that, I did wonder if I shouldn’t have taken that all-night bath with the hot water running. Hard to say, it’s Africa. We’ll just put them at the back of the bus today; should be fine.
Sports update: The Pretoria Blue Bulls defeated the Stellenbosch Stormers in the championship game of the 14 Team Three Country Rugby tournament. This involves Australia and New Zealand as well as South Africa. That two South African teams were in the final says a lot about how important this sport is down here. If you’ve not seen Invictus, I highly recommend that movie.
The place we had lunch at today was just across the street from where the USA Soccer Team is staying for the World Cup. I talked to an ESPN guy who’s covering the team. There were a lot of police and guard dogs around. I assume they were around for security for the US soccer team, although I can’t rule out that Emma and Vicky are wanted fugitives, needed to flee the US and used this trip as a cover.
We did have another smelly shoe incident on the bus, but this time it wasn’t Tawnya. Apparently Lesley had stepped in something that was….well, we have no idea, but bad. We also got trapped INSIDE the bus for a bit, but luckily Maura was still outside coming back from her room, and we got her to push the secret button to release the door. Whew. That’s good because shopping minutes were at stake. Excitement was high when we got to the wholesale market. I cautioned the kids to not trample each other on the way out of the bus. Still, Shelby pretty much took out Dr. Pope in the parking lot. Let’s just say your kids helped out the South African GNP today. Thanks for your contributions.
We leave for home tomorrow after visiting one more farm. So this will be the last blog. Thanks for tuning in, and allowing us to chaperone your kids. They were a fantastic group and we had no major problems. (I hope I don’t have to retract these statements after one of them tries to smuggle fruit on the plane or calls out to their friend, Jack, “Hi Jack!” See you soon!
DrG for DrP and the Youngsters
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
K-Staters in South Africa Blog - Monday, May 31, 2010
Memorial Day or Mango Day?
Beard growing contest update: We’ve not actually compared beards lately. Evan clearly would be in the lead but he had a head start because I think he had his first beard as a third trimester fetus and hasn’t shaved since. Not to brag, but my beard is coming along quite nicely. This morning I found a couple hornbill nests just below my chin and had to shoo the birds out of there.
On this Memorial Day back home, we went to a mango farm here. It wasn’t mango season, but they were harvesting oranges and grapefruit. We got some free fruit (the rejects that seem pretty dang perfect to us) and it was good eatin’. At least it was healthy. We ate a lot again today. Did I mention the weight loss program will not start until we’re back in the States? I believe I’ve eaten enough to supply all my cell’s lipid bilayers enough building blocks for a few years. I will now say with just a couple days to go, nobody’s gotten sick. Praise the Lord. Dr. Ron was down for a couple days early in the tour, but I’m pretty sure that might have been due to him missing his cows at home. He does miss his cows. Um, oh, yeah, but FIRST he misses his wife…then he missed his cows. Definitely in that order.
We drove to a game lodge and had another game drive tonight. Saw sable antelope, ostriches, a couple jackels (Maybe the same ones we shot at last week. Maybe not. See how everything is coming together in the blog at the end? Not unlike a Seinfeld episode).
A guide talked to us about the game farm and raising animals and poaching. There have been 90 rhinos poached in South Africa just this year. It’s insane. The poachers fly in with helicopters, find the rhinos, dart them to kill them (because it’s quieter than a gun), land the chopper, cut off the horn and take back off. So if they own their own helicopters, or hire folks to do it, you know it’s lucrative. Most of these horns go to Asia and are sold as an aphrodisiac. As a seemingly ‘advanced’ human race, it’s amazing how ignorant we are of some things. People really need rhino horn dust for their problems? Maybe they should try rhino dung rolled in regular dirt dust. That might work just as well and would save a species from extinction.
We pigged out again tonight and retired early. Gotta get sleep tonight because it’s a big day tomorrow: SHOPPING!! (Well, whup dee doo). But again, I’m sure it’s just for gifts for the loved ones. Nothing for ourselves. (And if you believe that, George Strait has some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you).
DrG
Beard growing contest update: We’ve not actually compared beards lately. Evan clearly would be in the lead but he had a head start because I think he had his first beard as a third trimester fetus and hasn’t shaved since. Not to brag, but my beard is coming along quite nicely. This morning I found a couple hornbill nests just below my chin and had to shoo the birds out of there.
On this Memorial Day back home, we went to a mango farm here. It wasn’t mango season, but they were harvesting oranges and grapefruit. We got some free fruit (the rejects that seem pretty dang perfect to us) and it was good eatin’. At least it was healthy. We ate a lot again today. Did I mention the weight loss program will not start until we’re back in the States? I believe I’ve eaten enough to supply all my cell’s lipid bilayers enough building blocks for a few years. I will now say with just a couple days to go, nobody’s gotten sick. Praise the Lord. Dr. Ron was down for a couple days early in the tour, but I’m pretty sure that might have been due to him missing his cows at home. He does miss his cows. Um, oh, yeah, but FIRST he misses his wife…then he missed his cows. Definitely in that order.
We drove to a game lodge and had another game drive tonight. Saw sable antelope, ostriches, a couple jackels (Maybe the same ones we shot at last week. Maybe not. See how everything is coming together in the blog at the end? Not unlike a Seinfeld episode).
A guide talked to us about the game farm and raising animals and poaching. There have been 90 rhinos poached in South Africa just this year. It’s insane. The poachers fly in with helicopters, find the rhinos, dart them to kill them (because it’s quieter than a gun), land the chopper, cut off the horn and take back off. So if they own their own helicopters, or hire folks to do it, you know it’s lucrative. Most of these horns go to Asia and are sold as an aphrodisiac. As a seemingly ‘advanced’ human race, it’s amazing how ignorant we are of some things. People really need rhino horn dust for their problems? Maybe they should try rhino dung rolled in regular dirt dust. That might work just as well and would save a species from extinction.
We pigged out again tonight and retired early. Gotta get sleep tonight because it’s a big day tomorrow: SHOPPING!! (Well, whup dee doo). But again, I’m sure it’s just for gifts for the loved ones. Nothing for ourselves. (And if you believe that, George Strait has some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you).
DrG
K-Staters in South Africa Blog - Sunday, May 30, 2010
Sunday, a day of rest. YES!! This was a great day of hanging out at Henning’s farm which is pretty deep off he beaten track. They have a great deal of land and have taken down the fences between Kruger Park, so the animals can roam right in. We got to drive around in Pieter’s 4x4 trucks which have seats in the bed that are open to the air. This was another up close and personal look at big mammals. Like elephants. We encountered a couple groups of them, and the mom elephant would do these false charges that got our attention enough to jam the vehicles into reverse and get the heck back. It was exciting. I think everyone liked this action, although during the mock charge, Maura went from one side of the truck to the other in less than .01 seconds. I was a bit unnerved being that close to these giants. Off the record I may have had to change shorts upon returning to the farm, but officially, I was behind each and every student to protect them. Way behind them in case I had to get out of there to call for help. This is what leaders do. Really. Ask Patton.
Rhoda and Pieter Henning were just fantastic hosts, and I think it was a consensus this was the highlight of the trip. I mean, we had seen a lot of great stuff up to this visit, but elephant dodging? C’mon, that’s just plain fun. The evening we watched a lake on Pieter’s farm waiting for something to show up. Well something did: about 250 Cape buffalo. They filed in there like they owned the place. Because they pretty much do. Are you going to stop 250 buffalo? No, you’re not. There were 3 hippos drifting in the lake and a couple fish eagles hanging out. Beautiful evening. We all tried to say silent for 5 min just to hear the sounds coming from the bush. It’s hard for 15 college kids to stay silent for that long, but other than the crunch of a potato chip or a bit of phlegm clearing, they did pretty good. You could just imagine lions sneaking up…or as it turned out guineas flying up to roost. (One of those appeared to have been shot in the hiney. See an earlier blog for the tie-in here.)
Back at the farm that evening, Elvis made an appearance; apparently he’s not dead. We knew this because earlier in the week a South African wore a T-shirt that said: “I sat between Elvis and Bigfoot on the UFO”. If it’s on a t-shirt you know it’s true.
That evening we sat around a wood fire and sang campfire songs. Pieter had a guitar on the farm in case anyone wanted to play it. How great is that? So we did a couple tunes for our hosts. “Chicken Fried” was one which we knew the words. Then we did a Kansas classic, “Dust in the Wind”. We all piped in on the chorus, “All we are is dust in the wind”. Unfortunately, the verses sounded something like, “Doo dee doo dee doo dee doo doo doo dee doo”. Hmmm, maybe a bit too far back in time for that one.
DrG
Rhoda and Pieter Henning were just fantastic hosts, and I think it was a consensus this was the highlight of the trip. I mean, we had seen a lot of great stuff up to this visit, but elephant dodging? C’mon, that’s just plain fun. The evening we watched a lake on Pieter’s farm waiting for something to show up. Well something did: about 250 Cape buffalo. They filed in there like they owned the place. Because they pretty much do. Are you going to stop 250 buffalo? No, you’re not. There were 3 hippos drifting in the lake and a couple fish eagles hanging out. Beautiful evening. We all tried to say silent for 5 min just to hear the sounds coming from the bush. It’s hard for 15 college kids to stay silent for that long, but other than the crunch of a potato chip or a bit of phlegm clearing, they did pretty good. You could just imagine lions sneaking up…or as it turned out guineas flying up to roost. (One of those appeared to have been shot in the hiney. See an earlier blog for the tie-in here.)
Back at the farm that evening, Elvis made an appearance; apparently he’s not dead. We knew this because earlier in the week a South African wore a T-shirt that said: “I sat between Elvis and Bigfoot on the UFO”. If it’s on a t-shirt you know it’s true.
That evening we sat around a wood fire and sang campfire songs. Pieter had a guitar on the farm in case anyone wanted to play it. How great is that? So we did a couple tunes for our hosts. “Chicken Fried” was one which we knew the words. Then we did a Kansas classic, “Dust in the Wind”. We all piped in on the chorus, “All we are is dust in the wind”. Unfortunately, the verses sounded something like, “Doo dee doo dee doo dee doo doo doo dee doo”. Hmmm, maybe a bit too far back in time for that one.
DrG
K-Staters in South Africa Blog - Saturday, May 29, 2010
The kids actually saw a hippo at the hotel we stayed in last night. OK, it wasn’t checked to room 34, per se, but it was in the river behind the Hippo Hollow Inn (Turns out they’re not just using that name as a cheap marketing trick). Tawnya says, “Alright, we’re 1 for 5 already! Oh wait, the hippo’s not one of the big 5. We’re still 0 for 5. Crap”. (Tawnya: always good for a quote. She’ll have some more a bit later).
Saturday morning: Wow, wow and wow. What a day: We slept in, laid around the hotel, ate junk food and watched TV. Wait a minute, why would we pay this much money to do that? Well, we wouldn’t because we’re K-Staters, not ChickenHawks. So what we really did was get up at 5am, piled on the bus and headed to Kruger National Park. A day we’ve been waiting for. And since I’m blogging this evening, you know we survived. Well, we had approximately 15 students at the end of the day, but who’s counting? (Well, actually Dr Pope is counting; it’s his job to make sure everyone is on the bus after each stop. This is good because math is not my strong suit. It’s not even strong enough to be my weak suit.)
We had one full day traveling in Kruger (6:30am – 5:00pm), and for all the info I had beforehand from people in the know, they said you really need 2-3 days in this huge place to have the best chance to see the Big 5: elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and cape buffalo. (It’s the Big 6 if you include the PowerCat, which we do. The Jayhawk is actually one of the “Microscopic 5”, not just here but globally. Go ahead and Google it, I’m not making this stuff up). So how many of the Big 5 do you think we saw on this single day? 4 out of 5! Which is quite lucky, as it turns out. Which one did we miss? Go ahead and guess; I’ll wait…………. Elephant? Well, sorry, you’ll have to ask your kids about specifics, but a quick Kruger summary: We drove in the park in our same tour bus. It’s not an open safari-type bus, but that was OK because you can’t step out of any type vehicle anywhere, anytime in the Park. Something about animal attacks and death and lawsuits. (I guess they have the same kind of litigation problem as the U.S. experienced with the woman who won a settlement for spilling McDonald’s coffee on her lap. Down here the lawyer might say, “Well, your honor, my poor client was killed when he stuck a marshmallow between his teeth and tried to feed a lion. We feel the family deserves several million Rand to help them get through the loss of this great man, who sadly won’t be able to increase the size of his family and raise several other ‘bright’ children that could one day become lion bait.”) Anyway, I found out about this ‘don’t leave the bus’ rule when I put a toe down once out of the bus door, and our driver Gerhard said, “That’s a $1000 fine and I’m not going to pay it.” Okaaaay, keeping our feet on the step from now on. (Actually, our bus driver, Gerhard is very good-natured, funny and a superb driver. We haul a luggage trailer hitched behind us and to back up the bus without jackknifing that single axle trailer is quite a skill. I would have wrapped that baby around the back of the bus bumper a long time ago).
I’m not going to go into too much detail here (oh wait, too late!); your kids will have plenty of pictures, but we saw a bunch of cool stuff, including zebras, impalas, (apparently the favorite snack of carnivores of the veldt), mongoose and, of course, the hugely impressive elephant dung. It was fantastic. When we saw something big moving in the brush, we were supposed to yell “Stop!” and Gerhard would stop for us to get a better look and pictures. It’s a good system, but in the heat of the moment sometimes the name of the bus driver is secondary. Like Tawnya yelling, “Please Stop, Harold!” Which is fine except our bus driver’s name is Gerhard. (We’re still not sure who “Harold” is). It does make for a long day and I was trying not to doze off during breaks in the action. I was thinking, “I can’t believe this: I’m in Krugar park for one day, and I’m tired? Where am I, listening to my Farm Animal Repro lecture? Sheesh man, stay focused!” In reality, it was pretty easy to stay focused because someone would intermittently shout out, “Stop, Gerhard, zebras!” Or “Stop, Gerhard, eland!” Or “Stop Gerhard, what you see in the rear view mirror that looks like a weather balloon is actually my bladder!” Stuff like that. We did risk a fine with a couple of ladies that needed to find a pink rock out in the brush.
It’s kind of funny when we hear Marianne use new terminology and then when one of us sees that same thing, we don’t always remember the name correctly. For example, here are these large dug-out holes beside the road, and Marianna says “Those are rhino latrines where the males mark their territory.” So when we see another one down the road, I hear a student say, “Hey, there’s one of those “rhino crap drops”. Or, “Look, another rhino poop zone”.
Several times we thought we heard elephants trumpeting in the brush, but mostly that was Ashley’s belching. Normally, I wouldn’t purposely try to embarrass people in the blog, but Ashley seems quite proud of her talent and wants it to be known.
It was a great day and we then headed to stay at Combretum, a private farm of Pieter Henning’s. More on that later….
DrG
Saturday morning: Wow, wow and wow. What a day: We slept in, laid around the hotel, ate junk food and watched TV. Wait a minute, why would we pay this much money to do that? Well, we wouldn’t because we’re K-Staters, not ChickenHawks. So what we really did was get up at 5am, piled on the bus and headed to Kruger National Park. A day we’ve been waiting for. And since I’m blogging this evening, you know we survived. Well, we had approximately 15 students at the end of the day, but who’s counting? (Well, actually Dr Pope is counting; it’s his job to make sure everyone is on the bus after each stop. This is good because math is not my strong suit. It’s not even strong enough to be my weak suit.)
We had one full day traveling in Kruger (6:30am – 5:00pm), and for all the info I had beforehand from people in the know, they said you really need 2-3 days in this huge place to have the best chance to see the Big 5: elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and cape buffalo. (It’s the Big 6 if you include the PowerCat, which we do. The Jayhawk is actually one of the “Microscopic 5”, not just here but globally. Go ahead and Google it, I’m not making this stuff up). So how many of the Big 5 do you think we saw on this single day? 4 out of 5! Which is quite lucky, as it turns out. Which one did we miss? Go ahead and guess; I’ll wait…………. Elephant? Well, sorry, you’ll have to ask your kids about specifics, but a quick Kruger summary: We drove in the park in our same tour bus. It’s not an open safari-type bus, but that was OK because you can’t step out of any type vehicle anywhere, anytime in the Park. Something about animal attacks and death and lawsuits. (I guess they have the same kind of litigation problem as the U.S. experienced with the woman who won a settlement for spilling McDonald’s coffee on her lap. Down here the lawyer might say, “Well, your honor, my poor client was killed when he stuck a marshmallow between his teeth and tried to feed a lion. We feel the family deserves several million Rand to help them get through the loss of this great man, who sadly won’t be able to increase the size of his family and raise several other ‘bright’ children that could one day become lion bait.”) Anyway, I found out about this ‘don’t leave the bus’ rule when I put a toe down once out of the bus door, and our driver Gerhard said, “That’s a $1000 fine and I’m not going to pay it.” Okaaaay, keeping our feet on the step from now on. (Actually, our bus driver, Gerhard is very good-natured, funny and a superb driver. We haul a luggage trailer hitched behind us and to back up the bus without jackknifing that single axle trailer is quite a skill. I would have wrapped that baby around the back of the bus bumper a long time ago).
I’m not going to go into too much detail here (oh wait, too late!); your kids will have plenty of pictures, but we saw a bunch of cool stuff, including zebras, impalas, (apparently the favorite snack of carnivores of the veldt), mongoose and, of course, the hugely impressive elephant dung. It was fantastic. When we saw something big moving in the brush, we were supposed to yell “Stop!” and Gerhard would stop for us to get a better look and pictures. It’s a good system, but in the heat of the moment sometimes the name of the bus driver is secondary. Like Tawnya yelling, “Please Stop, Harold!” Which is fine except our bus driver’s name is Gerhard. (We’re still not sure who “Harold” is). It does make for a long day and I was trying not to doze off during breaks in the action. I was thinking, “I can’t believe this: I’m in Krugar park for one day, and I’m tired? Where am I, listening to my Farm Animal Repro lecture? Sheesh man, stay focused!” In reality, it was pretty easy to stay focused because someone would intermittently shout out, “Stop, Gerhard, zebras!” Or “Stop, Gerhard, eland!” Or “Stop Gerhard, what you see in the rear view mirror that looks like a weather balloon is actually my bladder!” Stuff like that. We did risk a fine with a couple of ladies that needed to find a pink rock out in the brush.
It’s kind of funny when we hear Marianne use new terminology and then when one of us sees that same thing, we don’t always remember the name correctly. For example, here are these large dug-out holes beside the road, and Marianna says “Those are rhino latrines where the males mark their territory.” So when we see another one down the road, I hear a student say, “Hey, there’s one of those “rhino crap drops”. Or, “Look, another rhino poop zone”.
Several times we thought we heard elephants trumpeting in the brush, but mostly that was Ashley’s belching. Normally, I wouldn’t purposely try to embarrass people in the blog, but Ashley seems quite proud of her talent and wants it to be known.
It was a great day and we then headed to stay at Combretum, a private farm of Pieter Henning’s. More on that later….
DrG
Friday, May 28, 2010
K-Staters in South Africa Blog - Friday, May 28, 2010
Will have to be quick tonight, we gotta get up at 5:15am to go see some lions. Really. We’re heading to Krugar Park in the am, and staying the whole day. This is one day the kids have been waiting for. It’s supposed to rain so we don’t know what that means. Are these weather people more accurate than ours? Doubtful. It's weather. But there is a lot of anticipation, so I hope we’re not disappointed. We don’t need a lot of excitement, but if at least one rhino could charge the bus it would be nice.
Today we saw some more cattle in the morning and the drove to near Krugar Park. We visited a Shangana village and ate Mopani worms. Yep, big fat fried worms. Most of us had one; Evan actually had several. I’m not sure we’ll replace the protein in our diet with these worms, the texture is a bit odd. Post-worm eating, the kids danced with some of the younger tribe members. I realize it was not our kind of dancing, but still we did not make K-State proud. Of course, I wasn’t out there, and neither was Ron, so we couldn’t talk. But Hyatt’s plaid shorts jiving around between two young Shangani men in their tribal outfits was a bit of a sight.
It is really good to sit back and see our kids having fun together and with other folks we meet. Good times, so far.
We’ll be back on the blog in a couple days if we’ve don’t become lion bait tomorrow. Although, if the big game action is slow, as leader I will ask for one of the kids to volunteer to be staked out in the middle of a clearing to try to bring in some big cats. It’s for the good of the group, so I’m sure someone will volunteer. I would, but if things went bad who would lead? (Oh, yeah, Dr. Pope, could I guess. Um, nevermind…..)
DrG
Today we saw some more cattle in the morning and the drove to near Krugar Park. We visited a Shangana village and ate Mopani worms. Yep, big fat fried worms. Most of us had one; Evan actually had several. I’m not sure we’ll replace the protein in our diet with these worms, the texture is a bit odd. Post-worm eating, the kids danced with some of the younger tribe members. I realize it was not our kind of dancing, but still we did not make K-State proud. Of course, I wasn’t out there, and neither was Ron, so we couldn’t talk. But Hyatt’s plaid shorts jiving around between two young Shangani men in their tribal outfits was a bit of a sight.
It is really good to sit back and see our kids having fun together and with other folks we meet. Good times, so far.
We’ll be back on the blog in a couple days if we’ve don’t become lion bait tomorrow. Although, if the big game action is slow, as leader I will ask for one of the kids to volunteer to be staked out in the middle of a clearing to try to bring in some big cats. It’s for the good of the group, so I’m sure someone will volunteer. I would, but if things went bad who would lead? (Oh, yeah, Dr. Pope, could I guess. Um, nevermind…..)
DrG
K-Staters in South Africa Blog - Thursday, May 27, 2010
We had a lot of windshield time today, and that is probably the one thing that gets a bit tiring. But you have to move around if you’re going to see different stuff. Could you get a feel for all of Kansas by only hanging out in the Flint Hills? Nope. Could you get a good view of Kansas if you never left Syracuse? (Actually, that’s a bad example, cuz no one wants to leave Syracuse). You get my drift. So there’s bus time. And bus time consists of napping, cards, napping, blackberry games, napping, listening to Marianna on the microphone, napping, and….napping.
We do eat a LOT. The spreads at some of these places are big time. And nobody ever used a buffet to lose weight. Just ask that Jared guy. If Subway had a buffet, he’d still be in those big pants. But the kids talk like they’ll sweat a lot this summer working for their parents.
We went to an embryo transfer center where a couple veterinarians have a clinic to transfer embryos and collect bulls. For the gift for this doc, I decided to go with the “Eat Milk” K-State license plate. They had cloned a diary cow a few years back, so I thought this would be a good fit. He seemed to like it but then said, “Well, honestly, I’m allergic to milk”. Just perfect. We should have got him the “Lactose Intolerant K-State license plate. But he did seem to be OK with it and said he’ll put it with a collection of memorabilia he has in his clinic. (Probably right next to a plastic Elvis and a dogs-playing-poker poster).
Someone usually asks about the host’s family, which is nice, but for some reason if they say they have son or two, they’ll usually throw in, “ They are available”. I don’t think the kids are actively looking to marry into a South African family, but for some reason the information is forthcoming. If there is a quick wedding down here involving your child, we’ll try to let you know via blog a few hours beforehand. You know, in case you want to send a gift.
DrG, DrP, and Available Youngsters
We do eat a LOT. The spreads at some of these places are big time. And nobody ever used a buffet to lose weight. Just ask that Jared guy. If Subway had a buffet, he’d still be in those big pants. But the kids talk like they’ll sweat a lot this summer working for their parents.
We went to an embryo transfer center where a couple veterinarians have a clinic to transfer embryos and collect bulls. For the gift for this doc, I decided to go with the “Eat Milk” K-State license plate. They had cloned a diary cow a few years back, so I thought this would be a good fit. He seemed to like it but then said, “Well, honestly, I’m allergic to milk”. Just perfect. We should have got him the “Lactose Intolerant K-State license plate. But he did seem to be OK with it and said he’ll put it with a collection of memorabilia he has in his clinic. (Probably right next to a plastic Elvis and a dogs-playing-poker poster).
Someone usually asks about the host’s family, which is nice, but for some reason if they say they have son or two, they’ll usually throw in, “ They are available”. I don’t think the kids are actively looking to marry into a South African family, but for some reason the information is forthcoming. If there is a quick wedding down here involving your child, we’ll try to let you know via blog a few hours beforehand. You know, in case you want to send a gift.
DrG, DrP, and Available Youngsters
Blood and dust, but not rodeo
K-Staters in South Africa Blog - Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Howdy, Blog followers. I realize these blogs come in bunches. Just never know when we’ll get internet access next. I type some things up during bus time, and there may be a day or more stacked up waiting for shipment. I just hope you get this before we’re back in Kansas.
We visited a beef/sheep packing plant this am. It was much bigger and cleaner than I imagined. Of course, I’m used to Big John’s meat lab at Weber; apparently that one isn’t as large as most. Go figure. I thought processing 5 head of cattle a day was a pretty good rate, although having a bunch of undergrads in a class doing the cutting may be a factor.
Marianna, our guide, was not going to go in with us as she was a bit scared to see the process. She decided to go in for the first part, but just the carcass room was a bit of a shock for her. I saw both Bailey and Brandi comforting her during the first few minutes. Nice job by our girls. She really seems to like our kids. Later when we toured a feedlot, I explained that it wasn’t really a bad life: These cattle are born, hang with their mom, then head to a place where they hang out with their buddies with food brought to them everyday. And the end is quick and painless. This seemed to help. She says, “yes, they have a purpose, I can see that!” She’s a kind-hearted lady and is working hard to keep us happy.
DrG
Howdy, Blog followers. I realize these blogs come in bunches. Just never know when we’ll get internet access next. I type some things up during bus time, and there may be a day or more stacked up waiting for shipment. I just hope you get this before we’re back in Kansas.
We visited a beef/sheep packing plant this am. It was much bigger and cleaner than I imagined. Of course, I’m used to Big John’s meat lab at Weber; apparently that one isn’t as large as most. Go figure. I thought processing 5 head of cattle a day was a pretty good rate, although having a bunch of undergrads in a class doing the cutting may be a factor.
Marianna, our guide, was not going to go in with us as she was a bit scared to see the process. She decided to go in for the first part, but just the carcass room was a bit of a shock for her. I saw both Bailey and Brandi comforting her during the first few minutes. Nice job by our girls. She really seems to like our kids. Later when we toured a feedlot, I explained that it wasn’t really a bad life: These cattle are born, hang with their mom, then head to a place where they hang out with their buddies with food brought to them everyday. And the end is quick and painless. This seemed to help. She says, “yes, they have a purpose, I can see that!” She’s a kind-hearted lady and is working hard to keep us happy.
DrG
K-Staters in South Africa Blog - Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Up early again today; most days we need to be on the bus by about 7:30am. So if you want breakfast, well, you gotta get your boodadoe out of bed. We’ve done pretty well at that. Little Richard is not what you’d call a morning person. More like a late afternoon person, but he gets up. Just don’t talk to him for awhile. Shelby has also gotten up well without the help of Rooi Bul (Red Bull). I believe we’re weaning her off her normal dose of 3 kilos of caffeine/day. Yes, positive things can come from these trips. For example, Bailey has talked much less like a sailor lately. Encouraging. Others need a dose of caffeine also: Dana and Lesley were ecstatic that they finally found some Mountain Dew at a truck stop. This is Coke country down here, so it’s hard to find Pepsi products. I myself like a good Dew and have been also been deprived. Although this helps in keeping the bathroom stops minimized during bus travel. Micro-bladder syndrome. You can Google it if you don’t understand.
We visited a place called the Fair Deal Training Center. It is run by a remarkable woman, Sabina Khoza. From pretty much nothing after she moved out of Soweto, Sabina has set up this farm to train people in sustainable agriculture. They raise chickens and vegetables for their own food. They also sell some products to local markets. She has taken in orphans and people in need from many places around southern Africa. These people working at that farm were as friendly as we’ve come across. I really enjoy walking around and watching our kids fan out to talk and hug and laugh with these local folks. It is really heartwarming. (Trying not to get all mushy here; I mean, I still like American football and gutting a fish, but it’s hard not to get a bit emotional with some of our American-African people interaction). Your kids do a great job of this. As we left, the women on that farm sang a song with harmony that was great. This tour stop got two thumbs up by all of us. Even Richard and we’re not sure he was even awake as he mingled.
Next we were off to one of the most beautiful beef ranches I’ve ever been on. They raised Bonsmara cattle and have a sale coming up in a couple weeks. There is a big sale barn on the place with permanent bleachers and show ring. The pens to hold the lots on sale day are over short turf grass. I mean, it’s the kind of grass you wish your golf ball landed on when you hit off the tee. (I’m thinking we should get Breiner-Man at our Purebred barn to plant some grass for a nice lawn for our lot bens before our K-State sale. Why not? It’s only time and money. We’ve got plenty of that). We then looked at some of his cattle, an impressive breed for down here. We got a couple fake bull palpation pictures, for future students to play the “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” Game. We did have a comment from someone in our group asking about whether certain cattle in a pen were pregnant. Luckily this question wasn’t asked too loud for the owner to hear, because it was going to be hard for this pen of bulls to be pregnant. Unless the uterus in these breeds hang extremely ventral in the back of the animal and look like “she” is having ‘twins’, if you get my drift. (If not, that’s OK, not everyone has a PhD in reproductive physiology. I’m not being pompous here, it’s kind of an inside joke. Suffice it to say, repro phys is not getting the respect globally it deserves. But again, I digress). We gave our host an “Eat Beef” license plate, and we think he liked it. He said there is another slogan they have in South Africa: “Don’t Be Chicken, Eat Beef”. That would also make a cool license plate back in Kansas, although we might have to get wider vehicles.
Finally, just some constructive notes of over the last couple days. We ate at a KFC (vintage South Africa, nice choice team) and I did the classic “shoot the straw paper off the straw” trick. Just thinking of my own kids back home. I thought it was cool, but Zana says, “Very mature, DrG”. So good news: your kids can recognize maturity, or lack thereof. Later in a convenience store, I wondered out loud, “Should get a candy bar?” Maura says, “You might as well, you only come to Africa once.” Great advice, Maura. So I went ahead and bought that South African Snickers bar.
Stayed at a very nice bed and breakfast tonight. There are card games going on all the time within the group. I, for one, am not smart enough to play cards, but glad it keeps the youngsters occupied. (Every once in awhile I’ll throw in a Bill Snyder-ism, if you notice in the last sentence).
Still healthy and glad we are,
DrG for DrP and The Youngsters
We visited a place called the Fair Deal Training Center. It is run by a remarkable woman, Sabina Khoza. From pretty much nothing after she moved out of Soweto, Sabina has set up this farm to train people in sustainable agriculture. They raise chickens and vegetables for their own food. They also sell some products to local markets. She has taken in orphans and people in need from many places around southern Africa. These people working at that farm were as friendly as we’ve come across. I really enjoy walking around and watching our kids fan out to talk and hug and laugh with these local folks. It is really heartwarming. (Trying not to get all mushy here; I mean, I still like American football and gutting a fish, but it’s hard not to get a bit emotional with some of our American-African people interaction). Your kids do a great job of this. As we left, the women on that farm sang a song with harmony that was great. This tour stop got two thumbs up by all of us. Even Richard and we’re not sure he was even awake as he mingled.
Next we were off to one of the most beautiful beef ranches I’ve ever been on. They raised Bonsmara cattle and have a sale coming up in a couple weeks. There is a big sale barn on the place with permanent bleachers and show ring. The pens to hold the lots on sale day are over short turf grass. I mean, it’s the kind of grass you wish your golf ball landed on when you hit off the tee. (I’m thinking we should get Breiner-Man at our Purebred barn to plant some grass for a nice lawn for our lot bens before our K-State sale. Why not? It’s only time and money. We’ve got plenty of that). We then looked at some of his cattle, an impressive breed for down here. We got a couple fake bull palpation pictures, for future students to play the “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” Game. We did have a comment from someone in our group asking about whether certain cattle in a pen were pregnant. Luckily this question wasn’t asked too loud for the owner to hear, because it was going to be hard for this pen of bulls to be pregnant. Unless the uterus in these breeds hang extremely ventral in the back of the animal and look like “she” is having ‘twins’, if you get my drift. (If not, that’s OK, not everyone has a PhD in reproductive physiology. I’m not being pompous here, it’s kind of an inside joke. Suffice it to say, repro phys is not getting the respect globally it deserves. But again, I digress). We gave our host an “Eat Beef” license plate, and we think he liked it. He said there is another slogan they have in South Africa: “Don’t Be Chicken, Eat Beef”. That would also make a cool license plate back in Kansas, although we might have to get wider vehicles.
Finally, just some constructive notes of over the last couple days. We ate at a KFC (vintage South Africa, nice choice team) and I did the classic “shoot the straw paper off the straw” trick. Just thinking of my own kids back home. I thought it was cool, but Zana says, “Very mature, DrG”. So good news: your kids can recognize maturity, or lack thereof. Later in a convenience store, I wondered out loud, “Should get a candy bar?” Maura says, “You might as well, you only come to Africa once.” Great advice, Maura. So I went ahead and bought that South African Snickers bar.
Stayed at a very nice bed and breakfast tonight. There are card games going on all the time within the group. I, for one, am not smart enough to play cards, but glad it keeps the youngsters occupied. (Every once in awhile I’ll throw in a Bill Snyder-ism, if you notice in the last sentence).
Still healthy and glad we are,
DrG for DrP and The Youngsters
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Embassy, Univ, Laundry and Jose
K-Staters in South Africa Blog - Monday, May 24, 2010
On our first hotel, the name on the hotel registration was David Kriegler. Yes, Kriegler. I have found this name has advantages in some situations when I need to get the kids’ attention. I could quietly address them, and they mutter, “Ah, Grieger is saying something again.” But if I say, “Listen up people! Herr Kriegler is speaking!” It seems to give me a bit more credibility.
Went to the US Embassy today. Cool place. Tight security. Dr. Ron had to leave his two knives on the bus, we didn’t think these machete-size blades would pass through the metal detector. Good visit though. Our host there was an American from Washington DC. He gave us his educational background and said wanted to do policy work internationally and try to improve conditions for US trade, etc. He didn’t have an Ag background, but in getting a MS degree at Cornell one prof there told him if he wanted to change things abroad that make an impact, he needed to start with agriculture. So that’s what he did and now he works as an attache’ in South Africa for USDA. (A couple girls in our group thought he was a good looking dude and noticed he didn’t have a ring on. These girls pick up on these details). We gave him a EAT BEEF K-State license plate to promote our product and our state. I think we made a good impression so maybe he’ll get notice back to USDA to support K-State with some big federal grants. Or maybe the moon will blow up. You never know.
In the PM we visited the Univ. of Pretoria and with 3 animal scientist faculty. The kids asked good questions of these folks; I think we are doing a very good job at the Q&A. Usually we have to cut it off to keep moving. We did visit their animal facilities, which are in the center of Pretoria. Surrounded by urbanization, they have pastures, a dairy, a beef feedlot and a goat/sheep farm here. They have struggled to keep this land for teaching/research and not have it swallowed up by the city government. They’ve lost some acres, but still have a good chunk. It reminded me of our own concerns at home in keeping our ASI farms at K-State from getting paved over by developers. Hard to stop ‘progress’, I guess.
Used the laundry services at the hotel this night. It’s not cheap. I asked the lady at the desk if it was too late to turn in laundry that day. She said it was too late, so in my tired stupor I replied, “That’s OK, I have one more day of clean underwear.” She said, “Too much information, sir.” (Yep, no matter where you are, folks don’t really want to know your underwear situation. I’m learning lots on this trip).
In the Getting To Know Your Students Update: Our man this day is Jose Valles, our lone bilingual speaker, well along with our guide. Jose can befriend anybody. There was a foosball table in the hotel lobby and I notice Jose is playing one of the hotel porters. Next time I look over he’s playing the hotel manager who’s dressed in a full suit. Beat both of them. A bit later he’s talking soccer with some guys at the hotel bar, naming names and moves and whatever. In the World Cup, Mexico will play South African in the first match. So he’s got opinions. Anyway, he should go into politics.
Later Gator,
DrG
On our first hotel, the name on the hotel registration was David Kriegler. Yes, Kriegler. I have found this name has advantages in some situations when I need to get the kids’ attention. I could quietly address them, and they mutter, “Ah, Grieger is saying something again.” But if I say, “Listen up people! Herr Kriegler is speaking!” It seems to give me a bit more credibility.
Went to the US Embassy today. Cool place. Tight security. Dr. Ron had to leave his two knives on the bus, we didn’t think these machete-size blades would pass through the metal detector. Good visit though. Our host there was an American from Washington DC. He gave us his educational background and said wanted to do policy work internationally and try to improve conditions for US trade, etc. He didn’t have an Ag background, but in getting a MS degree at Cornell one prof there told him if he wanted to change things abroad that make an impact, he needed to start with agriculture. So that’s what he did and now he works as an attache’ in South Africa for USDA. (A couple girls in our group thought he was a good looking dude and noticed he didn’t have a ring on. These girls pick up on these details). We gave him a EAT BEEF K-State license plate to promote our product and our state. I think we made a good impression so maybe he’ll get notice back to USDA to support K-State with some big federal grants. Or maybe the moon will blow up. You never know.
In the PM we visited the Univ. of Pretoria and with 3 animal scientist faculty. The kids asked good questions of these folks; I think we are doing a very good job at the Q&A. Usually we have to cut it off to keep moving. We did visit their animal facilities, which are in the center of Pretoria. Surrounded by urbanization, they have pastures, a dairy, a beef feedlot and a goat/sheep farm here. They have struggled to keep this land for teaching/research and not have it swallowed up by the city government. They’ve lost some acres, but still have a good chunk. It reminded me of our own concerns at home in keeping our ASI farms at K-State from getting paved over by developers. Hard to stop ‘progress’, I guess.
Used the laundry services at the hotel this night. It’s not cheap. I asked the lady at the desk if it was too late to turn in laundry that day. She said it was too late, so in my tired stupor I replied, “That’s OK, I have one more day of clean underwear.” She said, “Too much information, sir.” (Yep, no matter where you are, folks don’t really want to know your underwear situation. I’m learning lots on this trip).
In the Getting To Know Your Students Update: Our man this day is Jose Valles, our lone bilingual speaker, well along with our guide. Jose can befriend anybody. There was a foosball table in the hotel lobby and I notice Jose is playing one of the hotel porters. Next time I look over he’s playing the hotel manager who’s dressed in a full suit. Beat both of them. A bit later he’s talking soccer with some guys at the hotel bar, naming names and moves and whatever. In the World Cup, Mexico will play South African in the first match. So he’s got opinions. Anyway, he should go into politics.
Later Gator,
DrG
JoBerg, Soweto and Big Reptiles
K-Staters in South Africa Blog - Sunday, May 23, 2010
We had to get up really early this morning to catch a plane to Joberg. Early, meaning be at the bus by 5am, suitcases in hand, with straightened hair on head. (Whoa, that 4:40am wakeup call reminded me of my youth when we had to get up really early each morning to milk the cows, you know, before their owners would).
Flight to Joberg was good, and we were picked up by our new driver, Gerhart. (Which in Afrikaans is pronounced something like, ‘Gerharchchhhhchht”. Hard to describe the pronunciation exactly, but it’s kind of like the sound you make when you dislodge a major loogie in your throat.
We visited Soweto, a large township within Joberg. It was quite different than what I had imagined. There were huge areas of squatters, poorest of the poor living in tin houses or whatever they can find to put up walls. But there were other parts of Soweto that were much nicer standard of living. Both Nelson Mandela and Desmond TuTu have a house in Soweto must blocks apart. We ate at a restaurant there and the sun was shining and it was a beautiful lunch. Our kids played some soccer in the street with some local boys. I would say Jose of our group was competitive, but otherwise these 5 year olds were dominating Dana and Lesley and Shelby, etc. I tried one reverse direction kick that I learned for Pele’ years ago, but pulled both “hammys”, so I just quit there. Much more for your kids to tell about this, but in brief there are happy people in places that are so much worse off than us. Materially, that is. As the Beatles said, “Money can’t buy you love”.
As our bus pulled away from that neighborhood we waved goodbye to Amy, left behind to live in Soweto. It was her choice; I tried but couldn’t stop her. I felt a bit guilty on the bus as we drove away, thinking, “I wonder if I’m supposed to come back with 100% of the students, or if 94% is good enough?” But luckily I didn’t have to worry about that for long because the students told me apparently Amy won some kind of Hairy Truemann scholarship thingy, and had to go back early to meet this Hairy guy. Whatever. (She did make it back safely, so all is good there). We will miss her, although her roommate, Z, really didn’t seem to be taking it all that hard as she could now decorate each hotel room in her own taste and didn’t have to put up all those McFURson banners.
Lastly this day we went to a crocodile farm. Sheesh, you just gotta wait for the pictures on this, parents. These are massive lazy reptiles that can go fast when they want to. The farm sells the hides, mostly to Korea; but not the meat for human consumption. The harvested croc meat goes back to the live crocs for a feed source. (Nice. Way to eat your cousins, dudes.) It was a very cool place. The lady that hosted us was a former police detective; she had been on the South African force in forensics for 20+ years before the government changed. She was a knowledgeable lady, dressed fashionably, but you could tell if there was trouble she could snap you in two like a twig. I think even the crocs respected her. Shelby wanted to get a picture arm-in-arm, or, um, arm-in-leg, with a croc but we talked her out of that. She woulda been known as Snack Shelby.
OK, gotta go. We’re on the bus again now, and another fire has to be put out: Tawnya has cat crap on her shoe and she has been banned to the very front of the bus because of the odor. Great. Who’s in the front of the bus? Yeah, Ron and I. It’s not even lion or cheetah crap, just domestic cat crap. There are just some things you can’t plan for as a chaperone……
DrG for Ron and the Kids.
We had to get up really early this morning to catch a plane to Joberg. Early, meaning be at the bus by 5am, suitcases in hand, with straightened hair on head. (Whoa, that 4:40am wakeup call reminded me of my youth when we had to get up really early each morning to milk the cows, you know, before their owners would).
Flight to Joberg was good, and we were picked up by our new driver, Gerhart. (Which in Afrikaans is pronounced something like, ‘Gerharchchhhhchht”. Hard to describe the pronunciation exactly, but it’s kind of like the sound you make when you dislodge a major loogie in your throat.
We visited Soweto, a large township within Joberg. It was quite different than what I had imagined. There were huge areas of squatters, poorest of the poor living in tin houses or whatever they can find to put up walls. But there were other parts of Soweto that were much nicer standard of living. Both Nelson Mandela and Desmond TuTu have a house in Soweto must blocks apart. We ate at a restaurant there and the sun was shining and it was a beautiful lunch. Our kids played some soccer in the street with some local boys. I would say Jose of our group was competitive, but otherwise these 5 year olds were dominating Dana and Lesley and Shelby, etc. I tried one reverse direction kick that I learned for Pele’ years ago, but pulled both “hammys”, so I just quit there. Much more for your kids to tell about this, but in brief there are happy people in places that are so much worse off than us. Materially, that is. As the Beatles said, “Money can’t buy you love”.
As our bus pulled away from that neighborhood we waved goodbye to Amy, left behind to live in Soweto. It was her choice; I tried but couldn’t stop her. I felt a bit guilty on the bus as we drove away, thinking, “I wonder if I’m supposed to come back with 100% of the students, or if 94% is good enough?” But luckily I didn’t have to worry about that for long because the students told me apparently Amy won some kind of Hairy Truemann scholarship thingy, and had to go back early to meet this Hairy guy. Whatever. (She did make it back safely, so all is good there). We will miss her, although her roommate, Z, really didn’t seem to be taking it all that hard as she could now decorate each hotel room in her own taste and didn’t have to put up all those McFURson banners.
Lastly this day we went to a crocodile farm. Sheesh, you just gotta wait for the pictures on this, parents. These are massive lazy reptiles that can go fast when they want to. The farm sells the hides, mostly to Korea; but not the meat for human consumption. The harvested croc meat goes back to the live crocs for a feed source. (Nice. Way to eat your cousins, dudes.) It was a very cool place. The lady that hosted us was a former police detective; she had been on the South African force in forensics for 20+ years before the government changed. She was a knowledgeable lady, dressed fashionably, but you could tell if there was trouble she could snap you in two like a twig. I think even the crocs respected her. Shelby wanted to get a picture arm-in-arm, or, um, arm-in-leg, with a croc but we talked her out of that. She woulda been known as Snack Shelby.
OK, gotta go. We’re on the bus again now, and another fire has to be put out: Tawnya has cat crap on her shoe and she has been banned to the very front of the bus because of the odor. Great. Who’s in the front of the bus? Yeah, Ron and I. It’s not even lion or cheetah crap, just domestic cat crap. There are just some things you can’t plan for as a chaperone……
DrG for Ron and the Kids.
Drums and Dancing, Just Not By Us.
(Blog chronology clarification: The dates on these blogs are kind of messed up; i.e. duplicated, etc. It’s because the time we do the stuff and the time the blog gets published are not the same day. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. “Who GARaH”, you say? “Just get on with it”, you say? (Uh, if you don’t know what WhoGARaH means, ask your kid later. If they had a class from me they should now). So I will get on with it. But just in case you’re trying to follow the itinerary closely, these blogs may not match up. Hey, we’re on an intense study tour in South Africa, we can’t be bothered by date and time.) The other problem is internet access is limiting, so that puts us behind on our reporting. But what the heck, you get something every once in awhile so at least you know we’re OK. (Unless someone hijacked us and are blogging in my place while our entire group is being sent to clean bathrooms in Siberia. But what are the chances of that? Nyet good!)
On Saturday night we went to the Gold Restaurant in Cape Town. They have traditional African food and music. It’s about a 2-hour meal. Of course, I’m nervous because if there’s some chance of participation that involves dancing I go comatose. But the food was excellent! (I find that many foods here do not look so good on the plate, but when you taste them they are very good. That’s been a pleasant surprise). Some young men danced and drummed around the tables. And when I say danced, it’s not a slow Texas 2-step kind of deal. I’d say more like your hyper-est friend after a double espresso, liter of MtDew and a gram of RedBull in powder form. Yeah, smoking fast arms and legs while the bongo drummers are wailing away on their drums. It was good and fun. And then there was a big muppet animal that moved towards our table. Bailey didn’t know what to do so she gave his nose some scratches. Like a cat. Although it didn’t really look like a cat, so it suddenly stood up and we could see about 3 ft. of a long man’s legs under the costume. (If you’re scared of clowns, you probably would have not liked this place). Vicky was selected from our group to do some dueling drums with one African drummer. He’d play “bonk-bonk-bonk!” Vicky would reply, “bonk-bonk-bonk” . So far so good. Then he came back with, “bonk-bonkity-bump-bump-bupbupbupbup-rakkatakkat tum!” (All in about 0.5 seconds) Vicky came back with, well, kind of a deer in the headlight look. Although she recovered and now I believe has decided to join their band as a roadie and groupie for their next tour. Don’t worry parents, the pay is lousy and the hours bad, but this will “build character”.
DrG
On Saturday night we went to the Gold Restaurant in Cape Town. They have traditional African food and music. It’s about a 2-hour meal. Of course, I’m nervous because if there’s some chance of participation that involves dancing I go comatose. But the food was excellent! (I find that many foods here do not look so good on the plate, but when you taste them they are very good. That’s been a pleasant surprise). Some young men danced and drummed around the tables. And when I say danced, it’s not a slow Texas 2-step kind of deal. I’d say more like your hyper-est friend after a double espresso, liter of MtDew and a gram of RedBull in powder form. Yeah, smoking fast arms and legs while the bongo drummers are wailing away on their drums. It was good and fun. And then there was a big muppet animal that moved towards our table. Bailey didn’t know what to do so she gave his nose some scratches. Like a cat. Although it didn’t really look like a cat, so it suddenly stood up and we could see about 3 ft. of a long man’s legs under the costume. (If you’re scared of clowns, you probably would have not liked this place). Vicky was selected from our group to do some dueling drums with one African drummer. He’d play “bonk-bonk-bonk!” Vicky would reply, “bonk-bonk-bonk” . So far so good. Then he came back with, “bonk-bonkity-bump-bump-bupbupbupbup-rakkatakkat tum!” (All in about 0.5 seconds) Vicky came back with, well, kind of a deer in the headlight look. Although she recovered and now I believe has decided to join their band as a roadie and groupie for their next tour. Don’t worry parents, the pay is lousy and the hours bad, but this will “build character”.
DrG
Monday, May 24, 2010
Little Richard, Cape Town, Baboons & Robben Island
K-Staters in South Africa Blog Monday, May 24, 2010
We have seen springbok antelope, a penguin colony, climbed to a lighthouse on Cape Peninsula, seen white beaches dotted with surfers and beautiful waves, listened to traditional African music in a restaurant and revolved in another restaurant high over Cape Town. All good stuff. So I asked Little Richard (not the musician, but the Texan) what he liked best on the trip so far. His reply, “Um, when I got to ride that fat pet seal in the parking lot.” Yes, thanks Richard. We’ll get back to you later…much later. Like in the fall.
I must state again how great the weather's been. On the Cape Pennisula for example, it can be cloudy and windy much of the time, but it was 70, calm and sunny. We got good pictures at all places. At one spot I thought there might be an international incident when we were taking pictures at the Cape of Good Hope sign, the most South-Western point in Africa. Maura and Emma were posing for a picture behind the sign when a large number of Chinese tourists poured out of an arriving bus and immediately gathered all around them. One even wedged himself in between Maura and Emma before they had their picture! It seemed quite rude to some of our kids, but they took the highroad and just left the scene. I think this is just a cultural difference that comes up on these trips, and how you react is important. Our K-Staters have been very well-behaved so far. Had I been down there at the time (I believe I was playing poker in the bus with the driver at the time…jk!) I may not have reacted so nicely.
We did have an interesting event traveling down the road after leaving the Cape Point. Baboons hang around some of these rural tourist areas, and there are signs that say, “Baboons are DANGEROUS wild animals; Please do NOT feed them.” They cruise around buses and cars in parking lots and look for food. Our driver told us that even shutting the door of a car isn’t good enough because some of them have figured out how to open doors. Not long after that story, we come upon a car along the road with the driver side door open. We noticed a baboon outside the car and so pulled over to get a picture of it. Once we got closer it looked like the driver was inside his vehicle. But as we realized that it wasn’t a man in the driver’s seat.. but another large baboon sitting behind the wheel, munching on something. The owner was standing well off to the side trying to decide how to get his car back. (Sure, the baboon might have had a driver’s license, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t have insurance.) So our tour guide, Marianne got out an apple and just waved it inside our windshield. That baboon piled out of the car and marched right back to our bus. Great distraction, Marianne! The car owner sprinted back to his car, jumped in and locked the doors. He drove off while the baboon was trying to figure out how to get into our bus. No, we didn’t open the doors, although I heard a couple of our students said, “He’s so cute!” Cute? Have you seen the fangs? And who do you guess said they were cute? Yep, Evan and Jose. These guys are such softies. Well, anyway, baboons: apparently smarter than some humans now.
Robben Island was just fascinating. Again, we are so thankful for the weather. Marianne, our guide, has tried 6-7 times to take groups out there, and they have never made it out due to bad weather. Our day was calm and clear. A 30 min boat ride to the island and then a bus tour before getting off and seeing some of the buildings and Nelson Mandela’s cell. They have former prisoners actually give the tours. If you don’t think that gives some credibility to the tour, you’ve not had a black man talk in terms of “we’ and ‘I’ when explaining the conditions, the food, the gaurds, etc. We talked to him one-on-one after the tour and he just doesn’t have any bitterness. It’s quite amazing. Lots more to say about this, but I’ll let your kids tell you about it.
Gotta go, I need sleep, even though it’s only 4:30pm your time, you guys are soooo behind the times.
DrG
We have seen springbok antelope, a penguin colony, climbed to a lighthouse on Cape Peninsula, seen white beaches dotted with surfers and beautiful waves, listened to traditional African music in a restaurant and revolved in another restaurant high over Cape Town. All good stuff. So I asked Little Richard (not the musician, but the Texan) what he liked best on the trip so far. His reply, “Um, when I got to ride that fat pet seal in the parking lot.” Yes, thanks Richard. We’ll get back to you later…much later. Like in the fall.
I must state again how great the weather's been. On the Cape Pennisula for example, it can be cloudy and windy much of the time, but it was 70, calm and sunny. We got good pictures at all places. At one spot I thought there might be an international incident when we were taking pictures at the Cape of Good Hope sign, the most South-Western point in Africa. Maura and Emma were posing for a picture behind the sign when a large number of Chinese tourists poured out of an arriving bus and immediately gathered all around them. One even wedged himself in between Maura and Emma before they had their picture! It seemed quite rude to some of our kids, but they took the highroad and just left the scene. I think this is just a cultural difference that comes up on these trips, and how you react is important. Our K-Staters have been very well-behaved so far. Had I been down there at the time (I believe I was playing poker in the bus with the driver at the time…jk!) I may not have reacted so nicely.
We did have an interesting event traveling down the road after leaving the Cape Point. Baboons hang around some of these rural tourist areas, and there are signs that say, “Baboons are DANGEROUS wild animals; Please do NOT feed them.” They cruise around buses and cars in parking lots and look for food. Our driver told us that even shutting the door of a car isn’t good enough because some of them have figured out how to open doors. Not long after that story, we come upon a car along the road with the driver side door open. We noticed a baboon outside the car and so pulled over to get a picture of it. Once we got closer it looked like the driver was inside his vehicle. But as we realized that it wasn’t a man in the driver’s seat.. but another large baboon sitting behind the wheel, munching on something. The owner was standing well off to the side trying to decide how to get his car back. (Sure, the baboon might have had a driver’s license, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t have insurance.) So our tour guide, Marianne got out an apple and just waved it inside our windshield. That baboon piled out of the car and marched right back to our bus. Great distraction, Marianne! The car owner sprinted back to his car, jumped in and locked the doors. He drove off while the baboon was trying to figure out how to get into our bus. No, we didn’t open the doors, although I heard a couple of our students said, “He’s so cute!” Cute? Have you seen the fangs? And who do you guess said they were cute? Yep, Evan and Jose. These guys are such softies. Well, anyway, baboons: apparently smarter than some humans now.
Robben Island was just fascinating. Again, we are so thankful for the weather. Marianne, our guide, has tried 6-7 times to take groups out there, and they have never made it out due to bad weather. Our day was calm and clear. A 30 min boat ride to the island and then a bus tour before getting off and seeing some of the buildings and Nelson Mandela’s cell. They have former prisoners actually give the tours. If you don’t think that gives some credibility to the tour, you’ve not had a black man talk in terms of “we’ and ‘I’ when explaining the conditions, the food, the gaurds, etc. We talked to him one-on-one after the tour and he just doesn’t have any bitterness. It’s quite amazing. Lots more to say about this, but I’ll let your kids tell you about it.
Gotta go, I need sleep, even though it’s only 4:30pm your time, you guys are soooo behind the times.
DrG
The Semi-Hunt and stuff
Blog Followers,
Been a couple days from our last update. Sorry ‘bout that, but hey, we’ve got stuff to do down here. We can’t be bothered by checking in to you all who raised your offspring for the last 18+ years with parental monetary and emotional input. Puhlease….
Sooo, since our last update, we actually did go on mini-hunting safari. This consisted of riding in a pickup across farmland to groves of trees in the search of the elusive guinea using a spot light and a .22 rifle. (Note: These African guineas aren’t like the guineas that wander around your backyards in the states. These are fast, powerful, dangerous guineas that would cause a grown man to flee if say, the guinea was riding on the back of a rhino). Anyway, we spotted one way up high, and our guide took aim as we all held our breaths. Silence and then ‘click’. And then from the guide, “Ah ‘BEEP’, misfire!” At that point I was glad we weren’t lion hunting. Then we shot at a couple jackals, approximately 300 yards off so I’m not even sure if they knew our guide had shot at them. So we got nothing, but still it was our first hunt in Africa and it was fun. And by the time we got back to the farm, I noticed that the student’s story of the hunt had kind of upgraded to “We got several antelope, bagged a hyena and limited out on guineas!” Um, well maybe my eyesight isn’t as good as the youth, but I don’t remember it quite that way.
The next morning we visited a Nguni cattle farm. These cattle are not going to put much meat on the table, but their hides are very cool. None are exactly alike. And he told us they always have a calf each year. Well, being palpators, we wanted to check out his statement and palpate. I mean, who wouldn’t? But he said they had been pregged so no go on the sleeves and lube this day. Bummer. But maybe we can palpate something safer, like a rhino.
Then from there to the Cape Town Waterfront for shopping. (Yes the “S” word. Like death. But shopping is only for all our family and friends. We won’t buy anything for ourselves. Promise).
Gotta go for now, but we’ve seen seals (on Seal Island…go figure) and penguins and penguin chicks and penguin dung.
I’ll fill you in later on Robben Island, it was too interesting and serious to cram in now.
Ciao, for now,
DrG
Been a couple days from our last update. Sorry ‘bout that, but hey, we’ve got stuff to do down here. We can’t be bothered by checking in to you all who raised your offspring for the last 18+ years with parental monetary and emotional input. Puhlease….
Sooo, since our last update, we actually did go on mini-hunting safari. This consisted of riding in a pickup across farmland to groves of trees in the search of the elusive guinea using a spot light and a .22 rifle. (Note: These African guineas aren’t like the guineas that wander around your backyards in the states. These are fast, powerful, dangerous guineas that would cause a grown man to flee if say, the guinea was riding on the back of a rhino). Anyway, we spotted one way up high, and our guide took aim as we all held our breaths. Silence and then ‘click’. And then from the guide, “Ah ‘BEEP’, misfire!” At that point I was glad we weren’t lion hunting. Then we shot at a couple jackals, approximately 300 yards off so I’m not even sure if they knew our guide had shot at them. So we got nothing, but still it was our first hunt in Africa and it was fun. And by the time we got back to the farm, I noticed that the student’s story of the hunt had kind of upgraded to “We got several antelope, bagged a hyena and limited out on guineas!” Um, well maybe my eyesight isn’t as good as the youth, but I don’t remember it quite that way.
The next morning we visited a Nguni cattle farm. These cattle are not going to put much meat on the table, but their hides are very cool. None are exactly alike. And he told us they always have a calf each year. Well, being palpators, we wanted to check out his statement and palpate. I mean, who wouldn’t? But he said they had been pregged so no go on the sleeves and lube this day. Bummer. But maybe we can palpate something safer, like a rhino.
Then from there to the Cape Town Waterfront for shopping. (Yes the “S” word. Like death. But shopping is only for all our family and friends. We won’t buy anything for ourselves. Promise).
Gotta go for now, but we’ve seen seals (on Seal Island…go figure) and penguins and penguin chicks and penguin dung.
I’ll fill you in later on Robben Island, it was too interesting and serious to cram in now.
Ciao, for now,
DrG
Friday, May 21, 2010
Greetings from Down Under!
(Note: This was yesterday's blog but we couldn't get online. So here it is. I'll have another blog from today posted soon. Or not so soon, depending on when I fall asleep). DrG.
HOWDY HOWDY HOWDY!!! from the Southern Hemisphere.
To start off, we’re still trying to figure out the currency. For instance, Dana tipped a bar tender .05 rand cents which is .007 cents in US currency. Yep, he was impressed. But Dana then struck up a conversation with him and thankfully avoided an international incident.
In other breaking news, Emma and Maura have decided to stay in SA and live in a shanty town. It seems a bit odd, but these young kids are adventurous. No worries, they have a stolen airplane blanket and will be living near the ocean for showers. If they don’t make it, please send money. (Just their parents, not other parents).
Well we’re currently at a farm, waiting for a fish dinner braai (BBQ). We had another fun day. Here’s what we did: Wheat Museum tour followed by a trip to the farm we’ll stay at tonight. We had an nice (lekkar in Afrikaans) lamb lunch. Then it was off to a potato farm. Now you may think of all these the most boring would be a potato farm. You would be wrong again, parents. The kids voted this most fun yet. That’s because we were out doors and off-roading, packed into the back of a pickup like sardines. We had to truck out to see them digging potatoes and it was a fun ride. We tossed potatoes between trucks. Lesley made an excellent catch and throw back. The game ended next when my throw hit the windshield of the other truck and we were out of potatoes. The potato farm manager was quite the character. He tricked Shelby, Brandi, Richard and Hyatt into eating a melon that tasted like mosquito repellent. (This guy reminded Ashley and Bailey of Weerso). The manager offered us cigarettes, and I thought it was a good idea for the kids to start a life-long habit of bad health, bad breath and a money drain. None of them went for it. You should be proud.
We got a new bus driver today; we lost our old bus driver to a possible bad appendix, which was probably brought on because Evan wouldn’t unload the bags from the trailer. (We’ve since talked). Dana loaded the bags this morning; chivalry is dead. Our new bus driver is a bit more daring, but a good driver.
So, in the Don’t Worry Section, tonight your children are going hunting for guineas and tasting some wine. And then the kids are sleeping in a “cow shed”, which hearing it described with an Afrikaans accent the first time sounded more like cow…well, dung, if you know what I mean.
We’ve had quite excellent meals and no one has lost weight yet. We’ll work on it.
Tonight some of us hiked up a mountain. There was a road, but Hyatt and Evan sprinted off ahead and took the scenic route. This consisted of rocks, brush, and pointy bushes. But it was a beautiful view from up there.
Finally, Dr. Pope broke out his new safari hat today and it was a big hit. He is now a king of some tribe in Zimbabwe. THE NEXT POPE MILESTONE TO BE CONQORED: Him wearing shorts. We are keeping the pressure on. He’ll either put ‘em on himself or the students will.
Your children’s fearless leader,
Dr. G
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Ankles, Wine and More
Howdy from SA. We had a great day today. At least that’s my take. Great weather and great food! What else do you want? Oh yeah, and healthy kids. We do want that and we’ve got that too, so far.
OK, we’ve had minor bumps and bruises: Bailey’s ankles seemed to swell up post plane ride, which may be normal after sitting on the same plane for 14 hours. Then Emma’s rebellious razor attacked her finger in the hotel room (a Band-Aid and some pink duct tape was successful for that treatment). Vicky fried a hair straightener in the hotel room wall socket, which is good actually, because that WAS going to happen so we’re glad we got it over with. (Apparently, no hair staighteners were functional last night but there was still a lot of straight hair today (including Evan’s) so I’m not sure I understand the technology. It is true that Richard’s hair was not straight but I attribute that to ‘bedhead syndrome' that a simple comb could correct.) Also on the electrical front, Tawnya’s WalMart converter was semi-cooked which is quite surprising considering the high quality of products WalMart puts out.
Continuing on the Tawnya front, she almost foundered today because she was doing some barrel riding. She was the horse. Yes, it’s odd, but you just can’t leave these kids with any free time, even standing around the bus waiting to board.
We tasted wine today before noon and it was cool even though not all of us were big wine fans. Amy did set a record on eating the most taste-pallet clearing crackers at a whopping 7. The girl can pound crackers. And finally, Shelby defied death by confronting a mother ewe by taking a closeup picture of the mom and lamb. Good picture and it was close up: pretty much the whole picture was the pupil of the lamb. That's photo journalism at its best.
Awesome breakfast this morning at the hotel, and even better dinner in a rotating restaurant up above Cape Town. Many of us had Spring Bok for the entrée, which was quite good. (This is an antelope, and should not to be confused with the South African Rugby Spring Boks because those guys would not be tender on the grill, I’m guessing. BTW, Invictus is an excellent movie; I saw it on the plane ride over. Should’ve made that mandatory watching for the students on this trip, but that would’ve taken foresight and that’s not my forte).
In the morning we're off to a farm to camp overnight. Gonna be fun, but don't look for a blog update because I'm purt near sure I won't be near the internet.
Hasta luego for now,
DrG
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
We've Arrived
Parents and Friends of K-Staters in SAfrica. Well, we are here! And we've won our first World Cup match. OK, not really, we're glad to find our hotel. The travel day was glitch-free. Planes on time, food in planes pretty good, and no one yelled at Ron or me. The students generally seemed happy. No problems at customs, not even with Jose, our Mexican representative. Our tour guide, Marianna and coach driver Charles met us at the airport and shuttled us to the hotel. Marianna seemed to be quite glad we weren't French. I guess she give a lot of tours to the French. (Did you know if you Google "French military victories", you get no hits? But I digress). Marianna found out Ron was from Texas and asked where his cowboy hat was. And ironically, this is as long as I've been around Ron where he was hat-less. He felt naked but didn't want to crush his hat on the long ride. He'll pick up some head gear down here....or not depending on cost.
Weather is great here, should be sunny and 80 F tomorrow. We'll be tasting wine. I will monitor the situation.
Thanks, I'll try to keep you updated, but we have to pay for internet access and we're cheap. But I"ll try my best.
DrG
My Dearest Nita, Hope you had a nice 36th anniversary today. Sorry I wasn't there. You might look in Marie's middle dresser drawer.
Love, Ronald
Weather is great here, should be sunny and 80 F tomorrow. We'll be tasting wine. I will monitor the situation.
Thanks, I'll try to keep you updated, but we have to pay for internet access and we're cheap. But I"ll try my best.
DrG
My Dearest Nita, Hope you had a nice 36th anniversary today. Sorry I wasn't there. You might look in Marie's middle dresser drawer.
Love, Ronald
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Count Down Begins!
Just TWO days to takeoff! K-Staters, R U READY!!?? (OK, I am not yet, but will be by Monday).
It's cool and rainy here, so I say we head to the Southern Hemisphere. Sure, they say it's winter down there, but I think that might be an urban legend. We'll find out ourselves. Beside, today it's 19C in Cape Town and 24C in Joberg. And what is that in Fahrenheit? Do the math, kids, I know you know how. And don't even think about using a calculator.
DrG
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
What? Another blog? About what?
This is the official blog of K-Staters in South Africa, May, 2010. We're going to see agriculture practices, cultural and historical sites of the country. Historical, not hysterical. We're going and getting out before the World Cup begins. Not that we don't like soccer, but the country might get crowded.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)