TIA...

So this week went along pretty uneventful. It’s our last free week before classes start. It is also the week of what the first years call RAG JOOL. During the first week of being here we were all woken up around 6am to cheesy American music (like Grease, Hairspray and other American Top 40 songs) being blasted loud enough for the entire campus to hear. When we walked by we saw the first years dancing and their leaders yelling at them so we just figured it was some kind of initiation. Well apparently if you wan to join a residence—a residence is the equivalent to our sorority and frat houses—then you spend an entire week preparing for the RAG JOOL as initiation. The first event of the Rag was the Trolley Races. Forget about what you might be thinking a trolley race is because I promise you it’s nothing like what you are imagining. Each residence decorates a shopping cart (trolley) and someone sits inside while two or three people push them down the raceway. Most of the trolleys were decorated with paper mache and they were actually really cool. Everyone and I mean everyone is dressed up in crazy outfits with their vuvuzelas in hand. Each residence gets their own set of bleachers to cheer on their trolley teammates. They play America’s Top 40 and chant. The closest thing I can relate Rag week to is our spirit week before homecoming…only crazier, more fun, and definitely louder. THERE ARE PICS ON FB! So after the trolley races the next event of the week is Vensters. This when we first realized what all the first years were doing up at 6am dancing to Grease and such. Each residence has created a theme for the week by the way and they are putting their posters up all over campus to advertise for Vensters. Each residence has built their own stage, THEIR VERY OWN STAGE! And these stages aren’t just basic like a platform and a spotlight. Nope. They all have huge speakers, HUGE themed backdrops, disco lights, etc… It’s all very elaborate. It turns out that what we had been hearing and observing was practice for the skits and dancing for Vensters. The residences come up with a skit and then use dancing (not anything traditional it’s more like music video dancing) to tell part of the story. It’s really a high energy week and I honestly don’t know how they got through the full two weeks without drinking a gallon of 5 hour energy a day. Some first years did look really exhausted. Oh yeah and everyone who is in a residence has to be at least an 8 on the scale from 1-HOT! If you are a little chunky but still qualify then they just throw you in the back of the dancing line. Seriously, they are all attractive! It was a week of crazy activities for the first years and fun cultural observations for me. Other than that things were pretty chill until Friday.

Friday started off so well and had such potential to be just a fun day at the beach. My friend Elizabeth (Eli) spent the week talking about how we need to get to the beach once and for all. We petitioned to our other two crew members to come with us but one had school meetings and the other was just being a sissy (you know who you are). So on Friday morning Eli and I head to the train station for our big fun beach day. FINALLY! We catch the train to Cape Town no problem. We arrive and catch a cab with a driver named Niegel from Zimbabwe. He was actually a really cool cat. He was very informed on politics and we had a good chat about Mugabe and his escape from tyranny. After a quick ride we had finally made it to Camp’s Bay. The water here is FREEZING and I’m not just being a wimp. It is seriously so cold. The waves were HUGE. Last time we had driven past the bay the water was calm, blue, and beautiful. Now we had about 15 ft waves and the water was sort of brown. It was still beautiful though. I love big waves and listening to them crash along the beach (cliché I know but whatever). We spent the next 5 hours chillin on the beach, exploring, shopping, lunching, and watching some Africans play beach soccer. It was fantastic! I got severely burnt all over my body and was ready to call it a day at about 5pm. We call Niegel back to give us a ride back to the train station. As soon as we arrived at the station we realized we didn’t really know what train to catch back to Stellenbosch. The last direct train had left earlier and so we were left with an indirect route that would take two trains. Finding out the information of our return journey was not that simple though. We walked two both information desks only to find them empty. After about ten minutes of talking to a security guard we FINALLY figured out our route home but had missed the 6 o’clock train. We wait for the next one at 6:45. We bought some newspapers for light reading and entertainment and kicked back for our almost hour ride to our first stop. On our way there we sat across from a group of two guys (one drunk) and one girl playing loud Top 40 music on their MP3 player. Eventually one of their friends came and started to sing to the girl. He actually sang really well. Like a little Usher but definitely not as hot. Shortly after that we reached our first stop. We got off and soon realized, after much confusion, that the last train to Stellenbosch left early and our train had arrived late. By this time it was 7:30pm and starting to get dark. The two guys from the train, the singer and drunk guy were talking to us while we tried to sort out our situation. There was no taxi to take and as far as we knew no train for Stellies. No one seemed to know for sure what was going on. The singer bummed a smoke from his friend and then serenaded Eli with his sultry tones. We decided to wait for the 8 o’clock train and take it back to the next train station and try and bum a ride from the police back to Stellies. The two gentlemen kept hovering around and drunkie made some statements that made me feel uncomfortable. I began to get a little creeped out. I remembered all the warnings about traveling at night and tried to keep a level head and not overreact. Although there was no actual threat I could not shake the fear. In my mind I was preparing for any scenario to play out. Eventually the guys left and the security guard took us to an empty cart to protect us. The train driver walked past and asked us to please come with him. He let us ride in the front of the train where he drives so we wouldn’t be bothered by anyone. He was a sweet older man who looked after us. He has two daughters of his own so I felt like he treated us how he hopes some other stranger might treat his daughters if ever they were in a sticky situation. He told us the safest place for us to go to was the Bellville police station and they would take us back to Stellies. We absolutely took his advice and arrived at the station around 9pm. He walked us down to the subway to make sure there was no one creeping about. We ran our asses as fast we could through that subway to the other end where the police station was. WE MADE IT!. We were now safe and the police said they would take us home but we would just have to wait for their car to get back from the airport. We spent the next TWO hours waiting for that car. I was freezing from my sunburns and so tired. It was sort of agonizing waiting there so uncomfortable and cold but we had a great chat with a gregarious guard named Reino. We talked about the differences between crime in America and South Africa. He told us about the Nigerians in the area and those are some crazy stories! So after two hours the car finally came back and we were on our way! We arrived back in Stellies at 11:30pm. That’s when we realized that what should have been an hour and a half at the most ride back from Cape Town had actually taken us about 5 ½!! OMG! We arrived at my flat cold, tired, hungry, and unbelieving about what had just happened. We relived our day briefly thinking about what could have gone differently and decided we had made all the right decisions with the problems we faced. We hugged because we were alive and knew that the day had been one big bonding moment. In the end all we could say was…TIA…