Customer complaints and South African spinach.

Due to a small number of complaints of impatient readers that there has been no update on the blog, I have decided to spew forth a posting.

The reason that there has been no update as of yet is because I had a relaxing weekend the past weekend, and read Nelson Mandela's autobiography ("A Long Walk to Freedom") in my garden in a bikini perfecting my South African tan (start getting jealous, ladies).

Life is grand in Grahamstown. I have been weaving in and out of shops in search of cheap finds and jewellery. I bought a necklace made of porcupine quills, yes, porcupine quills. It doesn't look half as scary as it sounds. There are no sharp points. Trust me on this one.

I will hopefully be moving into a marvelous flat on African Street that comprises of a study, a bedroom, a livingroom, a kitchen, a washing machine, a large and lovely veranda, all furnished and just for R2000 which is about $300 CAN per month! Don't think you can all come over now though :))))

To keep this blog interesting in the meantime until more interesting pictures are taken, I have posted two pictures of my bathroom snail (below) who kindly visits me on rainy days. In front of my door, also on rainy days, many relatives of the bathroom snail congregate in masses. There have been two occasions where I accidently stepped on a snail and crushed the poor bugger. To my horror, they were still alive, but couldn't move because their shells were crushed. I was forced to call for help: Hannah, my cello-playing roommate who loves to cook, came to rescue and promptly put these snails out of their misery by stepping on them with her right foot. That was the end of that.

There is a final thing that I would like to note: spinach in South Africa (and perhaps the rest of Africa) looks like rhubarb (see picture below). It grows on a stem which is quite long (about 20 cm) and then a little bit of spinach is on the top which must be separated from the stem and cooked in the same way as the spinach I am familiar with. The bonus about this, to my delight, is that the spinach is not covered in dirt and sand (which I am terrible at washing, according to Geza and my mother). Score: South African spinach vs. Canadian spinach --> 1-0.

The Bushman River canoe trip

What an adventure and a half... I went on a canoe trip along the Bushman River with about 12 people (close to Kenton-on-sea by the ocean) - 17 km to the campsite and 17 km back. Let me note that I thought the trip was 17 km TOTAL, and not each way. I was horrified when I found out, but it was too late since I was already in the canoe. I was here (see picture below) when I found out.

My paddling partner's name is Dominique and she was a darned good paddler! We paddled, and paddled and paddled and paddled, and finally arrived at the campsite 5 hours later. I thought my wrist was going to explode.

During the canoe ride, we stopped to have lunch. The only way to get ashore was to step in mud that the Western world probably uses as face masks and sells to elitists for $100 bucks a bottle. After stepping in truly sticky mud, I had to walk across dried, cracked mud that dug into the soles of my feet like sharp objects - ouch ouch ouch. So, I thought I would take two pictures of my muddy feet - enjoy :)

That evening, we had a "braai" at the campsite (Afrikaans word for BBQ) and I drank an entire bottle of wine to kill the pain in my body. Needless to say, I was also the first one in bed because of that :) About an hour before the sun went down, I took beautiful pictures of the landscape where all the canoes were tied to dock. I posted them below...

Most people slept outside, scorpions or not, and I decided to be smart and sleep inside. Around 4 a.m. I woke up because I felt an acute pain on the upper side of my middle finger and believed I had been bitten. So, here I am, in pitch darkness, with a $1 CAN flashlight, a wet comforter and an unwelcome visitor in my comforter who doesn't like me very much. I spent about 20 minutes searching for the bugger, and eventually gave up out of exhaustion. I could not hear the chuckles of the few people who were also sleeping inside. The next morning they told me all they could see me frantically searching for something in the dark and my flashlight was darting from one end of the comforter to the other. One more thing about the campsite: we had an outhouse. For my reader's satisfaction, I have posted a picture of this outhouse (see above right).

The way back was hell - imagine having extremely sore muscles and having to paddle the same distance you paddled to get those muscles that sore in the first place! I did see many different types of birds ranging from Kingfishers to Fisheagles. I also saw a dead and decomposed or decomposing animal carcass - I believe it was wilderbeest because of the length of its skull - which was mostly decomposed (see above left).

I did not see any hippos - which kills more South Africans annually than any other wild animal - or sharks. The trip leader had a great shirt, though, speaking of sharks... (see right). Apparently there were sharks swimming at the mouth of the river that I canoed in!

When we arrived back, I was so grateful, I could have cried for joy. I couldn't even move my right wrist anymore and swore that the premature arthritis was finally setting in. The marina owner who leased the canoes to us took a shot of the super troopers (see below).

On the 60 km drive back to Grahamstown from Kenton-on-sea, we drove alongside a game reserve, and I had the good fortune of spotting: giraffe, zebra, impala, blesbok, wilderbeest and eland!!! I couldn't take any pictures because they were too far away for my digital camera, so you are just going to have to take my word that I saw these beasts :)

I had a great time, 17 km there and back, and feel buff and tuff :)

xxx Emma

Tidbits of information given on popular demand

Apparently my blog is not giving a very good impression of my everyday life here in Grahamstown. So, I will paint a brief, but to the point, picture. I work everyday from 8:30 until 4:30 at the Legal Resources Centre. Some days I am out at the office meeting with clients who cannot afford to travel to Legal Resources Centre in Grahamstown. My walk to work is about 15 minutes, and I happily stroll to and fro each morning and afternoon. As mentioned before, my roommates cook a mean supper for me every evening (although, tonight, I am making my infamous very very spicy curry for them).

The average income of a regular person here is about 1500 R per month which is equivalent to $215 CAN. So, my apparently low stipend which I receive from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa goes a long way here, to my pleasant surprise.

Wine is about $2 CAN per bottle, and a 20-pack of smokes are about $2.50 CAN here. A hunk of brie cheese is about $2 CAN. The hike that I went on cost me $0.80 CAN - - am I painting a picture of the luxuries here?

There are bands playing in most pubs and bars here on any given night, and I have been to two so far. My favorite so far was the Monday night performance of "Orangutang Bitch". They were a 10-member band with a great sound - very jovial and the cello was awesome (my roommate plays the cello in that band..).

That's all for now folks.

Bathurst and the Featherstone Kloof (October 8 & 9, 2006)

All right, people! Here is the third entry into my hopefully entertaining blog. The building here is the High Court in Grahamstown which has jurisdiction to hear pretty much all matters other than petty claims (disputes under 100,000 rand are heard in the magistrates office) and land claims (which are heard in the land claims court).


This building is pretty much right next to my office, but I will never have a chance to argue anything, since I am considered to be a solicitor here - as opposed to an advocate. I typically will deal with a client, prepare affidavits and pleadings, and then the work gets sent out to an advocate who will then argue the matter before the judge. It is possible for people to be both, but you have to be an advocate to be both, and even then, it is rarely done.

On Saturday, I was snooping around Grahamstown during the shopping hours of 9 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. trying to scout out some cheap goodies. All I came across was a 10 rand Ostrich feather duster, which I purchased off a street vendor, only to be approached at the same time I withdrew my wallet by a man munching on bread asking me for 7 rand so he could buy some milk, since his bread was very dry. At around 2:00 p.m., I went to the liquor store to purchase somewine for the evening, and when I found out that the owner of this liquor store had to make a delivery of booze to a town called Bathurst (approximately 40 km south of Grahamstown), I asked if I could join for the scenic drive. He consented. So, off we went, with a backpacker/hitchhiker in the van as well. Below is a picture on the way to Bathurst.
Bathurst is a pineapple farming village. I had never seen so many pineapples in my entire life. Everywhere I looked there were pineapples. And, to be quite frank, I hadn't the slightest clue what a pineapple plant looked like until I had been to Bathurst. So, for all of you who also do not know what a pineapple plant looks like - I have attached a picture below :)





















So, on the way back from Bathurst, the liquor store owner had to drop by a buddy's farm to make the final delivery of a 24 of beer. The farm owners were a young couple who were doing their masters at the University of Rhodes. They bought the land and had no clue what they were going to do with it yet. Smart thinking! Below are pictures of the ruins that they had
standing on the land. They slept in a tent....




















Well. Enough of Saturday.


On Sunday I went for a hike to the Featherstone Kloof which was not far from Grahamstown - about a 5 minute drive up a mountain. I signed up to be a member of the hiking club at the Makana Municipality Tourism Office last week sometime. So, we met at 8:00 in the parking lot by the grocery store and I was shocked to realize that I was the youngest one. It was run by 3 ladies who were approximately 60 or 65 years old and were buff and dead serious about hiking. They had specialized hiking sticks that could be adjusted in length, spandex shorts, hiking boots, hiking hats, fleece zip ups, crazy suntan lotion on their faces and a million bottles of water. I introduced myself and they immediately began fretting and twittering over me and the fact that I had no suntan lotion on, I only had one bottle of water, my socks were too short in length... yadda yadda yaddda! So, we march off.
About an hour and a half into the hike, I am huffing and puffing, and have finally succumbed to the constant reminders that I will get burned if I don't apply the hike learder's factor 30 sun lotion on my chest and face. I am thirsty as hell at this point, and all the ladies twitter that "I will learn the hard way" blah blah. We take a tea break at 10:30 by this waterfall, and the ladies inform me that the water from teh waterfall is potable!! Yes! I can actually drink the water from the waterfall and not get incredibly sick. So, I fill the water bottle up, terribly grateful that I don't have to learn the hard way this time... on the left, you will notice the smile on my face as I fill up my bottle from the waterfall :)

Below is a picture is everyone sitting on their perch during tea-time while I was frantically refilling my water bottle a little further below.

The hike was absolutely beautiful. It was about 5 hours long, and there were 12 people in total, so I got an opportunity to meet other people, including a masters student at Rhodes from Vermont, USA, who was doing her masters in environmental something or other.






A SPECTACULAR view! Well earned :)

















Below is a picture of a King Protea - a magnificent flower that grew in lonely spots. It was quite large (about the size of a burner on a stove top).












A patch of brightly coloured flowers growing in a lonely spot next to a termites' nest.











And finally, a few pictures of the end of the hike where we hiked across the top of a hill / mountain to return to the vehicles.















I arrived home around 2:30 and ate the remainder of my home-made curry - the roommates don't cook for me on Saturday or Sunday - and it was so delicious, that I went to bed straight after dinner after massaging my poor aching feet.

Next Sunday, they are doing a hike along a river where there dwells one hippo that will not leave. Normally, they canoe on the river instead of hike, but given that the hippo is there, the plans got changed. They also have an all-weekend canoeing trip that same weekend, which I signed up for. It is about a 2 hour drive from Grahamstown and then we canoe all Sarturday, stay overnight in a cabin on a game reserve and then canoe back to the vehicles on Sunday. I thought that sounded good, even though I am sure the hiking ladies will again fuss over me 'til no end. Maybe I even like it :))))