Week 2: Complete Insanity

This past week was incredibly busy. But what else is new?
Monday night, my roommates and I went to Narona, a local pizzeria, where we posted our last blogs. As we were getting ready to head out at 10 PM, a girl just outside the restaurant (only a few feet away from us) was mugged! None of us noticed it happen, but suddenly everyone in the restaurant was running outside-- the bartender actually jumped right over the bar and started sprinting! Since I had seen this happen before, I assumed that the girl had been mugged and, sure enough, the people who had run outside came back empty handed and called the police to report that the girl's laptop had been taken. Although we felt terrible for the girl, we found out quickly that she hadn't taken the necessary precautions: for one thing, her laptop was out in the open instead of concealed in a bag, and she was talking on the phone, completely unaware of her surroundings. Needless to say, we booked it back to our apartment, clutching our belongings and watching our surroundings carefully the whole way home.
Tuesday night, we heard about a local rugby game in the World Cup stadium and we simply had to go!

It was the junior (U21) rugby world cup, and the South African Springboks (the junior version of the professional team, aka the Babyboks) were playing England. Although South Africa was the favorite to win, they had to score 4 tries in order to advance. And they did! Both teams were excellent, but the South African players seemed more like a team, whereas the English players seemed to shine only individually. We did our best to blend in by buying beers and Springbok hats, but we stuck out like sore thumbs since we knew absolutely nothing about the sport.

Two little boys (14 and 8 years old) sat next to us in the front row and explained the game as it went along. I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been to have all 8 of us constantly asking questions, but they seemed happy to tell us all about the game. I quickly discovered that my favorite part is when the ball is being thrown in from the sideline (much like in soccer) and the receiving team lifts up a player like a bunch of cheerleaders in order to catch the ball high above the heads of the opposing team (called a line-out). They always seem to choose the largest player to hoist up. It's quite amusing.
On Wednesday, I took my roommates to another film festival viewing, but this time it was on rugby (clearly this was a theme for the week). The short film at the beginning was called Strong Bones and it followed a small all-female football (meaning soccer) team from one of the Eastern Provinces that participated in a league known as "the granny league." All of these women were grandmothers who were encouraged by health workers to start exercising, and thus, the granny league was born. It was super fun-- I hope it becomes more widely distributed! The feature film was called Progress and was about a poor rugby club, called Progress, from an eastern township. They had been able to improve greatly since the end of apartheid and even managed to beat Stellenbosch, in northern South Africa, which is the wealthiest rugby club in the world. The movie followed the lives of the players and was excellent. We got to hear from the director, editor and producer afterward and we heard that the club is still doing quite well and is projected to do even better next year.
On Thursday and Friday, we went across the street to a sports bar to watch Euro Cup games. We met some interesting locals and made friends with the bartender, so I'm sure we'll be back throughout the Euro Cup and then for the Olympics in late July, since we don't have a television.
Saturday we awoke early to head out to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope! On the way, we stopped at Boulders Beach, where there are tons of African penguins. They were ADORABLE (ask anyone who was there-- I was freaking out). I learned that if I was patient enough, they would come out of their hiding places and walk right up to me! I got pretty close to a few of them.

What cuties! We also saw some baboons along the way!

Then we moved on to Cape Point, which is popularly known as the point at which the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet (although the true meeting point is a few miles away). The views were absolutely incredible, although it was so, so, so windy (hence the hair)! We could barely hike up!

 (the lighthouse and I matched!)

Then we moved on to the Cape of Good Hope, the southwestern-most tip of the African continent! Once again, the ocean was beautiful and the views were incredible. We even got to see the monuments dedicated to da Gama and Diaz and their journeys to the Cape of Good Hope. We saw some baboons and even two wild zebra along the way!!! Although the zebra were a bit too quick for me and I couldn't get a good picture in time....

Here's a fun Where's Waldo-esque game: can you spot the two zebra in this picture?

More posts to come on work, daily life, and Robben Island!
P.S. The answer to the poll was.... there are 11 official languages in South Africa!