A superficial treaty

Over the weekend there was a march, the International Parade. What does this mean? It means that people dress up in the colours of an assigned country, and march carrying that flag down through the streets of town.

Taking over the streets of Grahamstown

Local groups and schools added to the festivities, leading the march in dance

What it's supposed to be is promoting unity of our Rainbow Nation, and rising up against xenophobia. Because xenophobia has been a problem in South Africa in the past, awareness of it and activism against it is a great idea. The problem is that majority of the people participating don't know this, and just grab the opportunity to dress up with their friends and do something different with their weekend. There were some comments of people not even knowing what many of the flags were, understandably, so some educational value of the march was lost there as well.

Going all out for China

What I found ironic was the way in which different countries "mingled". Because the march represents countries standing together and putting aside their differences, these interactions demonstrate how we can all just get along (as countries). The issue, though, was that most of the countries were being represented by people who don't know anything about the country they are representing, so the meaning of this is lost, to a degree.

Mingling... Any suggestions on which countries these two are?
What about the nature of the relationship between the countries?

Zimbabwe of course had a substantial following, with most
of those representing it being from Zimmmmm

The event was a lot of fun, it certainly brought groups together (like residences and societies), and it was a little educational. Unfortunately it wasn't advertised enough, so there was apparently a smaller turnout than in previous years. With their advertising they also would have been able to get more of the messages across about why they are doing it. Within each country/representing group, they probably also could have worked on making sure that people knew at least a little something about the country.

Margaret Smith House (my res), represented Cameroon. We made "traditional" masks as props, because that seemed to be a common trend on Google, but I think we should at least have found out more about what the masks mean. It was all in good fun, though, and I'm glad we participated. Last year our participation was so enthusiastic that we earned a cake for the res. Let's hope we did so well again this year, that cake was delicious.

Margaret Smith House representing Cameroon

Preparations: Chrissi Preuss (RSA)
paints flags onto Jenny Guild (Zim)

Weekly digest #8

A week of "retirement" : As a Manchester United supporter, news of Sir Alex Ferguson announcing his retirement came as a bit of a surprise. I must admit that I'm not a very big sports follower though (at this time in my life) because I can't see the benefit of spending leisure time watching sport, not when there is work to be done, or more intellectually stimulating information that needs to be consumed in my life. But this is just for the moment: one day, perhaps, I'll be a sports reporter, or perhaps I'll be the friend that hosts weekend get togethers to watch "the game", though I am also excited for that because of the food potential that such occasions call for.

But back to Sir Alex: he's been around forever! News is always reporting a chop and a change of coaches and team members and managers, but he was that one constant. It's really not going to be the same without him. I'm going to join the ManU supporters in watching some stranger, when I finally get around to it.

Something else that is going to change dramatically (should it even continue without her), is 3rd Degree, a show on eNCA, whose anchor (slash main reason for being) Debora Patta has quit her position to move on to other freelance work. While people don't necessarily agree with her methods for investigative reporting, they can be pretty effective, and most certainly entertaining, drawing in a fair-sized audience. It's going to be interesting to see where this leaves the show - does it even still have a future? Will my fellow Journ Students, those specialising in TV Journalism, be there to take over from her? Time will tell...


Exciting crime in Grahamstown - shootouts and car chases : The rate at which dramatic, TV-type crime seems to be happening here in Grahamstown lately is ridiculous - the town is only so big! Again, I am confused as to the lack of interest in these stories. High speed car chases just down the road from where we do our groceries, with gunfire exchange? Why aren't people talking about it?!

Maybe one day when I'm part of the bigger world, people will be more interested in life around them than going out partying four times a week. People need to find some balance, but it's also fine that it doesn't happen straight away: we're allowed to be students for a bit. I'm just stressed about the fact that Real Life is just around the corner for me, and I don't know what I'm going to do about it. Any suggestions?

Weekly digest #6

Cosmetic surgery regulated as much as your toothbrush : It turns out that in the UK, it is not that important to regulate that which is injected into your face, regardless of the horror stories that we have all heard (and possibly seen the effects of) when such procedures go wrong (or if you just have a bad reaction to the product). While I'm pretty sure that things such as Botox and wrinkle-fillers should be administered with some training and qualification (would you really trust a random person to do this for you), the British don't think it is that important to have such regulations in place. It scares me the ease with which one can get this done, so I hope that you're at least sensible if you do follow this route to beauty.
Personally, I am currently not friendly with needles, so having injections in my face would be a serious stretch. I don't know how I am going to feel when this actually becomes a problem, however. I am so scared of ageing, it is actually quite sad. What makes it worse, is the fact that there is nothing anyone anywhere is ever going to be able to do about it. Except cosmetic surgery I suppose. I'm going to have to cross that bridge when I get there, and hopefully look after myself well enough until then, so that that bridge isn't too big for my osteoporotic legs to jump across.

More bus strikes... Are they important? : Service delivery strikes, wage strikes, all these strikes seem never-ending, and just when they seem to have been resolved, it is a new year, so they get to strike again for even more! I understand that people should be given what they deserve and what they have earned, but wow, can't we just organise a sound policy that this just happens without a hitch? Whenever these strikes happen, I think it is always the innocent who suffer the most: like those commuters who need to get to work. Or when the teachers strike, it is the children who miss out on vital school time. I understand that that is almost how a strike is supposed to work, in that it implements a serious blow to the service, to make a serious statement, but I also think that it's not fair to those who are directly affected by it, when they are not involved in the processes.

Grahamstown roads: further proof that this is not my hometown... : And I mean this headline in the nicest way possible of course. The roads here are absolutely shocking. And, true to South African problem solving skills, solutions are never permanent: they try the cheapest option (filling up the pothole with sand) and then within a few days it will rain, just because it can, of course, and the hole will be back. That hole will be back with a right vengeance I tell you. My poor car knows real suffering from driving on these roads, and I am pretty sure the campus roads are maintained better than the ones mentioned in the link in the headline of this story. This makes me sad, because at the end of the day, they could have saved money by just fixing the hole properly the first time, even if it is more expensive, and then they wouldn't have had to worry about it again for a while. But no, we must save money now, and damage cars and pose dangers to drivers (and pedestrians) while we're at it.

Weekly digest #5

Get famous, die young : Scientists in USA have found a link between being a celebrity and an earlier death. They studied some obituaries and have found nothing scientifically conclusive: they can't say that it is because individuals were famous that that was the cause of their early departure, but that it certainly does seem to be a trend. If being famous does kill you earlier, I certainly wouldn't want to be famous, would you? Is it really worth it? Saying this, however, although they died earlier, there is also the chance that they got to experience so much more of life than someone who sits in their academic study until they reach the age of 82, with a head full of knowledge and a life full of... libraries? Research? I think that we need to make sure that if we do dedicate a life to academics, that at least do something practical with it, rather than just know it or publish a commentary on it. Go out and experience it, even if it just means looking at the corner of Table Mountain and apply theories of Geometric Control Theory (if that's even possible...). (Also, in the time it took me to write this paragraph, I ate a whole slab (90g) of Cadbury Bournville. And it was wonderful).


Supernatural CSI in Port Elizabeth : So maybe this is an exaggeration, but they found a man dead in his hotel room in Port Elizabeth. His throat had been slit, allegedly a self-inflicted injury which he appeared to regret - he was found as though he was trying to get to the door to get help. Video footage shows no one entering or leaving the man's room, and his room was double latched from the inside. It sounds to me like the kind of stunt Voldemort would pull. If he did do this to himself, even that sounds like something that you would do under the Imperius curse. Either way, for the moment I feel this is the kind of case that Grisham and his Las Vegas team of CSI's should be investigating (Horatio would be suitable in a different situation, perhaps with more swamp involved...).


Sexual violence equals silence : Today served as the day of annual 1 in 9 Silent Protest, which aims to raise awareness of the fact that 1 in 9 women with be a victim of sexual violence at some stage in their life. I did not participate this year, but I did last year. The link for this story will take you to my post about this. Currently, all the participants are at the Cathedral Service. Sexual violence is a growing problem. Some people don't understand that there doesn't necessarily have to be "violence" in order for an event to be traumatic, and invasive, a violation of an individual's space and privacy. Coercion is a problem too, and people need to be educated that they need to say "no" if they are not comfortable with something.

Weekly digest #4

More bird flu! Possible pandemic : A new strain of bird flu, the H7N9 virus, is spreading in China. It has killed 3 people so far. Luckily, it currently transmits only from bird to bird or bird to human, so human to human transmission is not a concern yet. However, the mutations that have already been observed indicate that this could change, thus leading to a pandemic of the disease, so the situation needs to be closely monitored. The World Health Organisation is apparently pleased with China's response to the situation, so I think we should handle possible outbreaks pretty well. Here's to hoping that doesn't happen though. I found it really interesting that this disease has been analysed using DNA sequencing: science, medicine and technology is amazing! Another fun fact that could be handy to remember to bring up in conversation in the future: the H and the N in the names of these flu viruses refer to proteins on their surfaces, namely hemagglutinin and neuraminidase.

Plagiarism issues at Fort Hare University : Postgraduate students at the University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape have been accused of plagiarism by copying and pasting in their Political Sciences assignments. The students claimed that they had been told that they were allowed to do this. Plagiarism is something that has been growing in importance in my life, not because I do it, but because everyone is so worried that I, along with my fellow students, will commit this serious offence some time in our University careers. They even started drumming this into us at a school level. We know: don't copy and paste or claim an idea as your own if it is not! And something I told a friend today: at University level, nothing is your own idea, and nothing is common knowledge - it all comes from somewhere and everything has to be referenced! Until late in post-grad at least, like when you have your phD. These people were dumb, and the outcome of this situation is actually ridiculous and should definitely be investigated further. Follow the link for the full (though somewhat difficult to follow) story.

Grahamstown Spur gets itself robbed (accidentally) : A man fell asleep in the local steak house chain Spur, and the restaurant closed for the night and locked up. When he woke up, he thought it would be a good idea to rob the till. He was apprehended when he was trying to leave the building. I was lucky enough to come across this story filed under both Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth (not even remotely true in location) - an occurrence in this little town that should have been bigger news amongst my peers. I also don't understand how Spur managed to lock someone up in their restaurant...

Kettle baths and loads of laundry

In my previous post, I reported on how there was no water in Grahamstown. Here are some details on living in these conditions. Not to be read by the weak-of-stomach...

The water supply was dodgy from Sunday lunchtime, something we became aware of as we were served our lunch on polystyrene plates with plastic knives and forks. This is becoming more and more of a problem, as it is now Wednesday, and we are still unable to flush our toilets, or have a shower.

Luckily, we have rainwater tanks behind our building. Unfortunately, it hasn't rained in a few weeks, so this supply is dwindling as well (unsurprisingly, as it has to cater to the water needs of 73 girls), and our neighbouring building of 88 boys has run out of their rainwater supply completely, so I hear.

I had my first kettle bath yesterday. I am fortunate to have a sink in my room: I don't know how I would feel about bathing from a sink in the bathroom where people come, do their business, and leave, unable to flush after themselves, and leaving a horrible smell behind them. You come into the building, and you are just hit by a wall of odours, emanating from bodies who, like me, have been unable to shower as often as they might have, and who, apparently, don't know how to fill up a bucket of water to flush the toilet after themselves. It is severely unpleasant.

This morning I decided the kettle bath wouldn't work for me, so I went down to the gym where there was rumoured to be water. Apparently I was not the only one to have heard such rumours: the change rooms, which are normally otherwise fairly empty at 6:30 am, was full, the floors wet, as ladies endured harsh conditions. My shower was brief: it was cold, with little water pressure (a huge disappointment, as the gym pressure is normally exceptionally good). One of the showers was blocked, verging on flooding. But I got to wash my hair, and my whole body. I now wait with anticipation for the water to come back, dreading the possibility of it not returning before my Spinning class that I have to instruct later today (the uniform for which I have to wash by hand, again).

My laundry is piling up: it was my intention to do laundry the other afternoon. I could have done it in the morning, but I was procrastinating. "It's fine, I'll do it this afternoon!" I had thought. I will never put off doing my laundry again: I am nearly down to my last set of underwear, and I am running out of laundry "shelf" space (the laundry basket was full a very long time ago).

Hold thumbs that pressure returns the water to us on the hill soon, and I am able to clean myself before I return home on Friday: we wouldn't want my mother thinking I am unable to look after myself at university.

Weekly digest #3

Fans disappointed that their mail isn't read by their heroes : Over-decorated and generic letters addressed to Taylor Swift were found in the recycling bin, to the dismay of those who sent it. Her management team were quick to claim that this disposal had been done accidentally, of course. How do fans expect every single one of their letters to be read, why would they think that theirs is so important and has something so new and interesting to say, that their celebrity sweetheart would take the time out of their busy and famous lives to give a damn for a moment? You could probably just send an envelope with the star's name on it, and they would get the idea. I do not understand the point of fan mail. If you really want to get a message to someone, make sure that it stands out, without having to resort to copious amounts of glitter glue and heart stickers. Be creative, be unusual, have something different to say. The same goes with life: if you think you're important enough that people should listen to you, put your message across in a way that conveys that! Also, well done to Taylor's management team for recycling, #savetheplanet.

Nepotism in schools: teacher fired for not adjusting principle's child's marks : A Northern Cape teacher was fired after she did not adjust one of her pupils marks so that he could pass. Said pupil was the principle's son. Pregnant mathematics and science teacher, Arlene Nel refused the request to up the grade 11 student's mark for a life sciences paper for which he received 28%. He had also only achieved 14% and 24% for maths and physical sciences respectively. The arbitration case for this situation will continue next month.
We thought we had it bad in our school, where there were relatives all throughout the staff. We had nothing on this. This is so unfair, because of the treatment and preference given to one student (who clearly doesn't deserve a chance - it's not as though he was having a little bit of trouble with one subject, he was failing others as well), and because the teacher now has a newborn child to care for, without a job to support it. Perhaps there are other underlying issues in the pupil's life that has caused him to perform badly, but if this is the case, then it needs to be dealt with openly (with discretion of course), and not through sneakily firing a staff member.

Grahamstown has no water and it really sucks:  I've attached two links for this story, but really it is my own. We have no water here in Grahamstown, and it is the second time in two weeks. Last week this inconvenience lasted about a day. Now, we have had no water for a few days. Certain areas seem to have started to get water back, now that the problem has been "fixed", but many people still have no access to water, which means no washing, no cooking water, no flushing water, in many cases.
A message from "Cllr Les Reynolds Da Caucus Leader" on the Rhodes University Community Forum Facebook group informed members of the group as to the cause of the outages, and explained that once the broken pipe that was the cause of the problems was fixed, water supply should resume.

[Note: this is a Monday post, but written on Wednesday, so the water issues timeline may be somewhat confusing. The events it describes were confusing anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem. Also, any water supply issues is an issue, regardless of how long that has been the case for]

My new love... And it can come in chocolate too!

Arabica, Ethiopian Lima, robustness, chaff, crema... these were some of the words I became a little bit more familiar with today. A few simple words, that have inspired me to pursue the career of barista! Ok, not quite. I'll probably never be a true coffee connoisseur, but I would really love to get there eventually!

I want to learn how to appreciate a good roast, and to be able to identify the different blends of international farms (except I don't think that this is quite how it works - each farm produces it's own kind, and you blend different farms together).

Basically, I want more coffee in my life. This is unusual for me because I only started drinking coffee last year. When I was much younger, I had my first cup of coffee. I loved it so much that I had two cups. That night I had a nightmare that there were giants falling from the sky onto and through the deck of my pirate ship which you gained access to from the office-block-style corridors. It was a horrible nightmare that has stuck with me for many years (over 16!) and so I never drank coffee again.

I reintroduced myself with a mature open-mindedness that has lead me to try a whole host of new foods (that you will hear about in the future, I am sure). I would say that the product that sold me to coffee was the Nescafé Cappuccino sachets: the foam gets me every time, especially when coupled with a crunchy biscotti!

Gillian Rennie

Today was the start of a journey: Homeground Coffee Roasters showed us how they roast the beans from hard green beans to aromatic, warm, brown beans.

These are then ground to be used in the machines to produce top-quality espresso coffee, which we were lucky enough to get a taster of.

Ashley Brown

I normally take my coffee with milk and one sugar, and a cappuccino comes with milk, but I do think that adding milk to this coffee possibly didn't do the coffee justice: the milk of my cappuccino taster seemed to detract from the richness of the flavour, which was delicious, meeting the excellent standards that Homeground seeks to maintain.

So, today marks the beginning of a long and close friendship between coffee and me. I know it's going to be an intimate one with many regular encounters, and I am sure that if they are anything like today, they will be exceptional.

Riding in buses with strangers, and riding bikes with Branson

You will never get as close to someone as you do when you travel next to them on a bus. Somehow we still manage (mostly) to maintain our personal space when travelling on a plane, even though there isn't a huge difference in allocated space.

One thing that was noticeably different when travelling by bus (as opposed to flying, which is my usual mode of transport to further-away places), was the ability to use your cellphone. This was an inconsiderately loud discovery. I now know all of said cellphone user's gossip from her weekend in Cape Town, and not by choice. I was also excessively exposed to her KFC dinner, which, as we all know, has the power to hone out an entire building, never mind just the upstairs section on a Greyhound bus from Cape Town to Grahamstown.

My travel-partner was, luckily enough, not this person. However, though I only met them two days previously, we ended up getting pretty cosy with each other. When suffering with another, you do not condemn the other for snoring on your shoulder. At least I had good company.

Cape Town was gorgeous as ever, and this weekend gave me yet another way to view it: a 109km tour from the saddle of a bicycle, with over 31 000 other people.

The Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour 2013 was my first Argus race, and I loved every moment of it. I completed the course in a time of 4 hours and 10 minutes, which is not a bad time for a first-timer, and not a bad time at all considering I only started cycling properly in January. A friend's response to my time: "you kicked Richard Branson's ass!" His time was 5:33, so I think I concur!

There are too many aspects of the race for me to share about the event: the weather was ideal, the organisation was great (well done again city of Cape Town). I was disappointed in my time because it was so close to sub-4 and I could have pushed myself harder (I expected the race to be more difficult, according to what everyone had been saying). But that's neither here nor there, and I now have a time that I can significantly improve on for next year.

Bring it on!

NELM - No one Even Likes Museums

We had our second on-site Journalism practical this week, and we found ourselves in yet another historically rich museum that I had never heard of: NELM - the National English Literary Museum. So, like, I'm not really a huge fan of museums, right...? Other people are though, and that's okay too.

People from all over the world have visited NELM. Imagine 

we had something like the Internet?

But, when you don't have a choice when doing something, you just have to make the most of it. I think the most significant thing about that day was the blistering heat, and the best part of the museum was that they had air-con (in one of the rooms only...). The exhibition in the foyer was nicely done though, and I appreciated the fact that all the printing was done on recycled materials, and that, in trying to preserve the environment (/landscape) that they were promoting in the exhibition (literary landscapes), they avoided some unnecessary irony.

Environmentally friendly displays of the African landscapes

As far as content goes, I thought that it was rather interesting that they had the actual works of famous writers, great writers, and most of all, South African writers. I think what put me off was the fact that I would never use this institution: if I need to get a hold of a piece of writing, I will get it off the Internet. I am glad, however, that the original artefacts are somewhere tangible though - everything needs a home, and it's not as though you could just throw away the original manuscripts of Herman Charles Bosman!

Some of the writers whose works are kept at NELM

Considering the historical relevance and significance that many of their artefacts have, I was not impressed with their filing system. It's not that big of a deal for now though, as they will be moving to a more "state-of-the-art" facilities, where there will be appropriate preservation methods put into place. It kind of reminds me of the Vatican Archives (and scenes from Angels and Demons).

The most interesting thing I learnt about this place was that it existed. And that some guys discovered diamonds and scratched on the windows, with the scratches still being visible today. I also learnt about how significant Guy Butler was to Rhodes and Grahamstown. I think I need to learn more about this character who seems to have started every little thing at this University...

Photographing the diamond-scratched windows for the assignment

The History of Printing

Newspapers hanging up to dry

This week took us to the Eastern Star Museum in Grahamstown. It's the centre and origin of much of South Africa's printing history, with regards to the press.

It was quite interesting: it definitely gave me a renewed appreciation for computers. Thank goodness we have proper printers now! Setting up each individual letter in the forms was just far too finicky. I can't imagine having to do full sheets for the real newspapers, and the letters are even smaller! What a dirty job as well...

Because we love to cut loads of copies of newspaper manually

I suppose it was somewhat beneficial for us to visit this place. It was interesting to see where we, as journalists, came from, however, I don't think that it is necessarily imperative to us being good journalists.

I did find myself wondering, though, why Grahamstown was so important and at the forefront of so many social and economic advances, yet we find ourselves still stuck in almost the same kind of time! We seem to come up with all these amazing companies or discoveries or progressions, only to have them passed on to some bigger and better place, not advancing this town nearly as much as the other city (often Johannesburg) we had just advantaged.

Finicky, finicky, all the time

Now, it is time for me to make a postcard. To no one in particular... Using on of the pictures you see in this blog post. Fun times!!! :D

But no one even reads backwards anymore, anyway! 

This is my home (kind of...)

And at the beginning of my final year of Undergraduate studies, I decide to blog about my experiences, and to share some of the going-ons of this small town that is trying so desperately to steal my heart from big-city Johannesburg.

Grahamstown: a quiet University town in the middle of nowhere. I had never been here until the very first day that I was expected to be here. The Eastern Cape? Where was that even? The province even cost me marks in my final Geography exam when I couldn't remember that it existed.

Being here serves as a frequent reminder of why South Africa still can't be classified as a first-world country. As a city girl, this small town life took quite a bit of adjustment on my part. I think I am slowly getting into it though, ever so slowly becoming a part of this historically-rich and unique town.

I am undecided about my future path (aren't we all), so what I am studying will keep my options open. Maybe at the end of yet another year here, I will be a little closer to knowing what I want to do?

Join me as I experience this town for another year. This will be a writing platform, hopefully expanding my writing abilities, and it will serve as a note to you, the reader, on some of the goings-on in this town. Maybe it will grow on you faster than it has grown on me.