02.10.2007
Hello all,
In this post we will not mention the weather. We do so because we have been getting the cold shoulder from some of our friends… But Norma said that we can still mention the bank. We were asked to investigate what needs to be done to move the College/Universities’ bank account into a new one. I checked yesterday afternoon. It will not be easy although it will be doable. Sharon if you are reading this before my next email gets to you. You now will be prepared to know that there will be a fair number of documents required. I bet you can hardly wait my detailed email. ; )
We are experiencing a very quiet weekend, if you don’t count the men standing beside their cars until 4:00 AM playing loud music and talking Saturday morning, because all the students decided on their own to go some place. A group of seven took the bus to East London which is on up the coast from us. The rest went to Jeffrey’s Bay which is known to have great surfing. There are some surfers out in front of us this morning with waves that are better than average.
I got a basic guide for our digital camera from one of the students and found the new “wrinkle” in downloading to the computer. It was easy just not obvious or similar to my old Cannon. As a consequence, I will finally get some pictures attached to this post and will put more on the blog. I can put more pictures on the blog so it will not clog your system. I can tell you that we are most relieved. I don’t know yet when we will get this off this weekend but sometime. BD
Thursday
On the 16th floor of the main building there is a terrific wind blowing through. We have one window looking out on the sea and the other opposite looking toward town. Wind is blowing very hard toward land and there is a mighty roar and significant breeze blowing through the ¼ inch gap between the window and sill. If it rains we shall surely be a mess. Also on the 16th floor they have installed a hot water tap for tea. I am absolutely delighted!
Today we taught our first class together. I was very apprehensive about how it would go. First I haven’t taught anything since last spring’s library use presentations and that was material so well known that it offered no “fear and loathing”. Well, it went fine. We didn’t even use all that had been prepared. Bruce and I are sharing the workload for administering and the teaching. The students have been doing magnificently! They got into the discussion very well. They make cogent remarks. What more could we ask for?
On my kitchen counter there are figs and mangoes! The figs were about 35 cents each and the mangoes only a bit more expensive. Life is good! We went back to the fish market again and once more will have hake tonight done on a George Foreman grill. I hope it turns out ok. I do not have a garlic press (okay some of you may not think that onerous) but I did find the grill. Who knows what priorities the landlords and the previous directors had. Having the grills is turning out to be an excellent thing but we would not have thought of it as option. I haven’t mastered the oven yet. All I figured out is to turn on broil and put the potatoes and squash at the bottom of the oven. One burner on the stove top knows high but nothing else. Cooking is a bit more of an adventure.
Bruce and I just took a walk down Happy Valley. It is a tiny valley with a nice walkway, some lawn area where small children were playing cricket, some pools with lovely yellow water lilies in bloom and a small clear stream moving along. There were statuary of Snow White and Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, and other figures from fairy tales. They are lit up at night but apparently people don’t go there very often then as crime is an issue. It is sad really because I think it would have been very lovely! President Thabo Mbeki was taken to task for his State of the Nation speech. “Anger as Mbeki sidesteps crime” said the Weekend Post. He apparently is in denial about crime in his country at least that is what much of the populous thinks. There are guards in the grocery store parking lot who corral shopping carts and help you back out. They are meant to be tipped for that and making sure thieves don’t break your car window to get whatever they can see inside. The tip, however, is minuscule at 2 Rand or about 32 cents.
We went to Woolworths recently. It is a department store selling its own brands and a grocery selling upscale stuff. That is where I found the figs. It is in a mall with another large grocery chain, Pic n’ pay. There are many small and large stores and eating establishments and bank outlets. Bruce needed a couple of short sleeved shirts and we found them in a local department store chain. We bought the last of the shirts that were advertised as mostly cotton (70% cotton and 30% polyester). All of the rest of the shirts we looked at were all cotton. They were about $13 each – not bad. We have laundry service but it does not include ironing and as you may know I am inclined to do other things rather than iron. ND
