Braai-day

I hosted a true South African braai last friday.
I'd been planning it all week and had invited everyone from work, a few friends who live at Entabeni and other friends from around Pretoria. The weather was awesome, hot, but not too hot, sunny and a nice cool breeze making its way through the CSIR grounds.
Everyone brought their own meet which Chad and myself then cooked. Jaqui, my boss, even showed up for a little bit and all of us UBC interns were finally in the same place as our South African bosses, as Tony Turton also came out for a little while.


Beginning of the Braai


Back Row: Sabrina, Kieran, Myself, and Wyianna.
Front Row: Tony and Jaqui


Bonex (from Malawi), Alfred (from Cameroon) and rob (from Canada)


Cooking the meat


Chilln' out waiting for the meet to cook



At about 9pm it was beginning to rain. It didn't last long, no longer than a few minutes, but it was enough to break off the braai portion of the evening as we headed back to Entabenin to drop off the supplies and then a large group of us headed out for a night on the town, starting out in Hatfield Square.


Wyanna and Ayanda


Me, Marijn, and Sabrina


Another group shot

After a bit, we decided to go to Drop Zone, the one "club" in Pretoria. Unfortunately, Sabrina couldn't get in because she didn't have ID, so Ayanda, his cousin Mfundu, Kieran, James, Wyanna and a couple of other girls went to Cool Runnings (a rasta bar) just down the street. At about 1am we decided to hit up Mamelodi again and dance to some House Music.
I was there until 3am. Good times.


Ayanda and I in Mams

Sat and Sun were very chilled days. I went to the pool for 3hrs on saturday and then to the gym in the evening. Sunday, i'm here in the office, surfing the net and blogging.
I'm moving this week, plus i'll be doing tons of work and looking for grants as well. So enjoy these pics and posts, because you aren't getting anymore for a while yet.

Catch Up Blogging - Cape Town

My Adventures in Cape Town, A photo Essay

Thursday Feb 8th - Table Mountain with Rebecca


My first view of Table Mountian from Roeland Street, where Uchi lives.


Cityscape from the side of Table Mountain


Robbin Island from the top of Table Mountain (TM)


Rob and Rebecca conquor TM


The Cable cars disapearing into the table cloth


Me, hiking down Table Mountain

Saturday Feb 10th - Cape Peninsula with Uchi and friends


Me and False Bay


Cape Point!!!


Gerard, Uchi, Naoko, Michae, Amina, and I


Where two Oceans meet. (but not really, its acutally at Cape Agruilus, 200km east of Cape Point)


Charlie and Shelly at the Cape of Good Hope


Me on top of the Cape of Good Hope


Me at the Cape of Good Hope


Baboons from Cape Point National Park

Sunday Feb 11th - Wandering through the city and meetin up with friends


Uchi and I


View of TM from the roof of Uchi's building


The Bo-Kaap, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Cape Town. Not a bad place for a Sunday stroll


Kirstenbosch, sunday. There was an outdoor concert with the Cape Town Highlanders playing (a bagpipe and drum band). great way to spend a sunday evening.


After the concert, we met up with Nkulu, who i also met in Tofo, and had chinese for dinner and a few beers. Myself, Nkulu and Uchi. Nkulu studies at UCT


Group photo: Naoko, her friend, myself, Nkulu, Hope and Uchi

Monday Feb 12th - Touring Cape Town with Lisa


Lisa and I in Camp's Bay


This is me braving the COLD Atlantic waters for a picture that says i've dipped my toes into the Atlantic Ocean


I've dipped my toes into the Atlantic Ocean


Lisa and the Cape Town waterfront, Victoria Wharf


Lisa and I went to the University of Cape Town to check it out. This is the main campus!


Me Lisa and Uchi out to dinner in Obs (Observatory - a trendy district in Cape Town)


Uchi and Lisa in Mama Africa's

Looking at my life through rose-coloured glasses

Because thats all you'll ever get to see of me, up here on the internet.

I drove on the left for the very first time today!!!!
And it was stick shift!!
So i've been contemplating renting a car for the next month (maybe more if it proves to be cost effective) so that my mobility will be increased here in South Africa and so i can do a bit of traveling that will probably need to do regarding work and social committments. My friend (and co-worker) Nikki offered to teach me how to drive in her car, Ruby. We only drove around the CSIR campus (just to be safe) for about 30mins during lunch time. It was a little tough, and i stalled the car many a time, but i think by the end i was getting a handle on the whole clutch and brake, gear-shift thing. I reckon a few more lunch time drive sessions and i'll be road worth by the end of the month!!! Just in time to rent my car!

Work is really starting to heat up at the moment, i'm really glad i've decided to extend my stay, because there is no way i'd have been able to get all the work i need to do done by feb 28th. even if i didn't sleep from now until then! I met with Karen today, a social anthropologist in our research group, to discuss the direction of my South African identity paper. She is helping me solidify my ideas and turn it into a paper worthy of being published. She had some amazing stuff to say on identity, and how to approach the topic i've selected. I'm actually getting excited about reading up on this topic and writing the paper!!! Maybe there is a place for me in academia after all...well, maybe for a masters at least.

I got the news about the Nestle funding today from Jaqui. For those of you who may not know, Jaqui, my boss, offered me a "job" here in South Africa to continue the work i've been doing for her and to help out with a water project that she is trying to implement through Ecolink. The basis of the project is to implement water harvesting techniques in teh White River region of Mpumalanga, the area surrounding Ecolink.

Today i found out that she didn't get the funding. But she is busy trying to look at other sources, so i'm not out on the street just yet. I'll keep you posted. If i get this opportunity, i'll be getting hands-on experience in practical development work. I'll be helping out wiht workshops and liasing with experts in the field. Since comming to South Africa i've become more interested in this kind of work and spending these extra 6 months getting the experience, i feel, will solidify in my mind whether or not i want to do this kind of thing for the rest of my life.
The pay is still going to be shit, but enough to survive on. but I've still got another year ahead of me before i told myself i'll go back to school to get a masters, so i can make the bucks then.

This friday i'm hosting a Braai (South Africa BBQ) on the Entabeni grounds. I've invited practically everyone i know who lives in the Gauteng area. So if everyone shows up, it'll be a huge party, if not, it'll just be my co-workers, my boss(es) and a few other friends who have said that they'll come. I'll post pictures as soon as i get the chance. (and i still owe you all Cape Town Pics, don't worry, they're comming).

That is all.

Robert Needs...

Okay, so this game seems to taking off like wildfire. First my sister's blog, then Jill's, so it's not surprising that I'm next.
Though really funny as i kind of followed the links to other peoples blogs and read their "needs" list.
(you just Google your name with needs after it, for those not familiar)

So this is what i "need":
1. Rob needs to SHUT UP!!! (...)
2. Rob needs a hero
3. Rob needs money (this one is true)
4. Rob needs a job (yep, this one too)
5. Rob needs therapy (well i could use some time on the couch, to talk about my feelings)
6. Rob needs your support and donations (I'm quite poor)
7. Rob needs Simone and Wendy in Amberieu Club to visit the UK (i don't even know who these people are, but I'm sure they'll have a wonderful time in the UK if they decide to go)
8. Rob needs a trip to a train museum (I don't like trains)
9. Rob needs the validation e-mail (It would be nice, every once and a while)
10. Rob needs Net Clued Lawyer, urgently (I don't even know what Net Clued is)
11. Rob needs remedial spelling (okay, i threwe in thes one , cause it was quiet funy)

So in other news, there is no other news. Life in Pretoria is plugging along as usual. I'm trying to get a ton of research done, but have to take breaks to do silly things on the internet such as weird Google games. Its the weekend in 2 days!! everyone rejoice!!!

Flight Change

Well it is now official!
I am NOT flying home to Canada on the 28th of February. Figuring out when i'll be returning home, is another matter. I'll hopefully have a date selected by the beginning of next week.
To all my friends and family who may be disappointed with this decision, please try to understand and support the fact that this is something i feel i need to do.
love,
Rob

Trying to figure out what life's all about

Well the rain hasn't stopped, in fact it's gotten harder, so i'm blogging again!! Blogger and Facebook, what a good waste of time!

I've actually been giving a lot of thought as to what direction i should be taking when my internship finnishes at the end of the month. There are so many opportunities available to me and so many different career paths. This internship has been great for me in that it has given me invaluable experience which will help me move on up the career ladder, but its just trying to figure out which ladder i want to start climbing.

I have no problem making a mistake and choosing the wrong path, and having to change later on in life, mistakes are a part of who i am, i've come to accept them and (as chiche as it sounds) learn from them.

I'm just starting to feel a little left behind by my peers. Like i should have some awesome job in a field that i love. I know this isn't true, look at what i'm doing. i have an awesome job in a field that i love (even though the pay is how shall we say, less than competitive).

I was talking to a friend that i made in Joburg last weekend and we were discussing our various african adventures (he's American, and has been living in SA for about as long as i have been). it is so easy to disassociate yourself from your life and the stories you tell. I'll tell somebody about the time i went swimming in a rock pool above victoria falls, or how i'll have three publications to my name when i'm finished my internship and to me it doesn't seem all that incredible or that huge of an accomplishement. Yet, i'll listen to my new American friend tell his stories of his summers in Europe, listen to Kieran go on about Austrailia or read an e-mail from Kendra (Lefleche - friend from uni) who is travelling through Kenya and i'll just feel like "you guys are sooooo coool1 i wish i could do awesome stuff like that."

I don't know exactly what i'm trying to get across here. I'm just waiting for the rain to stop. I guess the point of this is, when all is said and done, that i have a very hard time realizing the accomplishemnts i've made, which is, in turn, making it difficult to figure out what accomplishments i want to make next. How can you go out and do greater things when you can't see the great things you've already done?

Maybe i'm just comming across as conceided, but i don't think so. I just want to figure out what i want to do with my life next. I'm finding it very difficult to figure out what is best for me, when i see all the amazing stuff my friends and family are doing, and am influenced to change what i want because i see what they're doing as "better" or "more amazing."

Hey look, it stopped raining, i'm off to go and walk around Cape Town.

Address to the Nation

So i've had a pretty cool morning here in Cape Town. Today was President Mbeki's opening address to parliment. I stood outside parliment for a little while as i watched everyone get ready for the president's arrival. theni wandered down the street to see if i could get a look at his motorcade (BTW- Motorcade is a new word that has entered into my vocabulary, regarding the procession of motorcycles and security vans that follow important dignitaries, before last weekend i'd never heard of such a thing. Do we have these in Canada? are they called Motorcades?) as it passed by. IT was kind of cool, there were a few protestors and onlookers but nothing that really warrented the kind of secutiry that was actually present. i'd guess where i was standing, in a wide open area, there were only about 100 people there to watch.
then after Mbeki had come and gone i went to watch the address on a tv screen in the department of parlimentary affairs (i dont't think thats the right name for the building, but it was just off of parliment). I sat there for about an hour, chatting with other onlookers and trying to hear what was being said over the buzz in the reception area. It was a really neat thing to be a part of. then when it was all over, i stood on the streets as all the members of parliment left and got onto their coaches to return to wherever they were going.
Now i'm just waiting for the rain to lighten up so i can go out and play again. i'll probably just end up wandering the city for the next couple of hours. its fun to do in a new city.

Pictures for those who are in Africa withdrawl

Hey,
so i know I've been slacking off this last little while, with no posts and lack of photos from my sojourn through southern Africa from over a month ago. Work has been crazy busy and will continue to be so until the end of February. this is mainly due to the fact that I'm stealing time from work to go out and travel. as a result I'm forced to get all my work done in my spare time, so that i can have a few extra days to say...go to Johannesburg this weekend, EcoLink on Monday and Tuesday, and then to Cape Town for the rest of the week.
then it'll be back home for more work, work, work as i have a paper that is due on the 15th of Feb. Eeps, i guess I'd better get started.
Anyways, here are some pics from my recent trip to the Hartbeespoort Dam and Pilanesburg just north of Pretoria, from last weekend.
Cheers!
Rob

A Giraffe bending down to take a drink from a pool of water.


Sunsetting over a hill in Pilanesburg, with wildebeests grazing in the foreground.


Zebras in a row.


Myself, Rebecca, Marisa (American), and Ayanda (South African) at the Hartbeespoort Dam.


Rhinos!!!

Just as a side thought, i was speaking with the african lady who runs the cafeteeria in our building on monday, i was telling her all about my desire to see the "Big Five" here in Africa and how seeing all the Rhinos at Pilanesburg was such an amazing experience (for me, it's probably common place for her). She asked me what the big five of Canada are. Canada doesn't really have a "Big Five" that draws tourists like the Lion, Rhino, Elephant, Buffalo and leopard do here in Africa. So it got me thinking, if Canada was to advertise its wildlife to tourists, what would comprise the Canadian Big Five?
So far i've got: the Bison, Grizzly Bear, Moose, Wolf and Mountain lion. Other options were the Polar bear, caribou, and elk. I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks? feel free to leave comments.
Rob.