Posted 4:15:56 PM by Ben
have not been able to get to this site in a few days, hence the lack of updates. there has not been than much going on in the past few days, so don't feel that you missed out on much. we had a 1500 word essay due today at noon for the final in our first class (that's right, 3 week classes). anyway, it was not that bad, the topic was broad an interesting, but we had to hand write it. i have not had to write something that extensive by hand since 5th grade. it was terrible. just re-copying the thing for a final draft took me almost two hours! if i had gotten up 10 minutes later i would have been s.o.l. my professor was going out of town as of noon today so they HAD to be in on time. at least that is done.

we have off this weekend for 4 days, so shawn, bri, talia and evan and i are going up the coast to stay in this small fishing village for a few nights. we plan on sitting by the ocean and relaxing for the weekend. i don't really know what else is going on in the town (langeban) but it should be fun.

finally, finally got my hair cut today. just what i wanted, a middle age woman in a little, non-assuming, non-trendy place. i don't know what it is, but i just don't trust a barber with my hair. i think it must have really looked terrible before, because everyone is a little too anxious to say how nice it looks now.

i e-mailed some pictures to andy, but he has yet to get them posted on the internet so i can put them on this page. i promise, there will be a few as of next week when i get back into town. i just e-mailed a few random ones, i don't really have time to sit down and go through them all and pick the best. when you are a internet cafe, you know, time is money. there will not be any more posts till monday, in case anyone cares.

Posted 9:40:29 PM by Ben
ahhh, so the world turns. a quick run down of the weekend and then some more interesting details as i feel like adding them.

okay, so the weekend went like this: a play, dinner, home early because we were bored, district 6 museum to find a job, cheap dinner, "frida," bed early again, up at 6:30 to go hiking and then hiked all day, stumbled down the hill to dinner and now the internet cafe.

on friday, we all went to this play written and performed by this young woman who works at hillcrest (the other guest house). it was an entertaining and sometimes funny show. not the greatest things every but definitely a good change of pace and an enjoyable evening. when we walked in, shawn and sarah and i all forgot to look and see that our tickets had seat numbers, so we just went right to the front and sat there, reveling in our "premo seats" until we got kicked out by people who actually bought them. i suppose our last row seats six rows back weren't that bad either (in case you mist by cleverness, it was a real small theater).

frida was just okay. i would recommend it but only slightly, it seems highly melodramatic at times, but definitely a very visual movie.

more hiking today. we went around the mountain to the botanical gardens this morning and began our hike from there. i made everyone get up and leave at 7am (thought you'd be proud, dad) so that we could get a jump on the sun and on the day as a whole. strange south africa, none of the little bakeries and cafes in the neighborhood were open at 7am, so we all (nine of us) ended up in a grocery store, buying breakfast and eating it in the parking lot of a shell station as we waited for our cab. the hike it self was great. first it went straight up this spectacular gorge. unlike the rest of the mountain that i had been on to this point, it was densely wooded, with a little stream running next to the path. once on the top of "skeleton gorge" we meandered still up, up up, to the top of the mountain, in a new place, and once again looked down upon the city as if from an airplane. fantastic.

over all i'm feeling much better today. the mood swings seem to go back and forth, fun things that much better and shitty days that much worse. this weekend we are going to try and hop on a bus and go to this little fishing village 90km up the west coast. nothing big planned, just some beach time, a little hiking and lots of sitting around. mostly, i'd just like to see a rural area of the country, and see what we can see. being in the city is great but i feel that once and a while a need to get the hell away from people. should be good.

hopefully tomorrow will be the magic day when i finally get my hair cut. it's really getting out of control to the point where i may just have one of my friends cut away and see what happens. we'll see.