Braai

This is a hodgepodge post. Who needs themes to wind there way through disparate thoughts?

So maybe my thoughts on the crime rate were a little off. It's not really all in my head after all! I suppose I ought to be happy about that but I'm just rolling with it.

The other day when I left the house off to go do some work I noticed my roommate's car was gone. I thought that was odd as she is rarely up and off so diligently and early. Moreover, she knows I have no alarm so all I thought about was why she hadn't woken me up so that I too could get off to work early! So selfish. No she had not left at all. Her car had merely been stolen right in front of the house a few meters from where I was sleeping! To top it off, my friend Ashley told me he had his 4th car stereo stolen the other day.... Take from that what you will. I'm starting to see the humour in it all or making it up in a mad way to deal with some rather nasty crime.

Onwards and upwards, though. I finally got my stomach in order and grilled some ostrich. I think I sufficiently silenced that little, nagging thought in the back of my mind that told me "hey, you can get this shit at home." Well, at any rate, I silenced it enough so that I could still enjoy the ostrich with some feeling that this was a genuine South African experience even if I knew better.

Oddly enough the ostrich was the first real steak I'd had since I got here. The last thing I bought that was labeled steak was about as thick as sandwich meat. That is no steak! But this ostrich was finally thick enough to merit the 'steak' label and even had a red meat taste to it. And I might have also tracked down some real funky meat at a local Halal market. Have to work on that some more, though.

Anything else? Well, the sun finally came out this week. Since I've been here I've only seen about 4 days of sunshine- no joke. But the sun came out and mildly pushed away the dampness and cold that had settled into my little abode. But as of yesterday the grey has come back and Table Mountain is once again covered in clouds. I'll take what I can get, though. If the South African Weather service is to be believed,- and I doubt that it should be- then there might be some sun tomorrow. Who knows?

For the past couple of days now people have been asking me whether my trip to Cape Town has been worth it (dissertation-wise). That is an interesting question and I have no answer to it! Go figure. But I can't blame anyone for that or even my difficulties with the library here (and rude librarians). Honestly, I think my view on the worthiness of the trip is being clouded by my over all and growing pessimism about my dissertation. I honestly haven't a clue what I'm doing with it anymore! But, once again, I'm told this is normal. I certainly hope so!

At any rate, here concludes my random thoughts on my time in Cape Town. Sorry it wasn't terribly interesting. But travelogues can't always entertain...