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
Friday, May 28, 2010
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
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