From the Top

The Cape.

2. Hirsh, contemplative.















3. This was one of those 360 degree views where everything was incredible, so we just picked a spot with an overlook of the city.

















4. David. If you look to signal hill, on the left, you can see Cape Town Stadium peeking out to the left of the hill.

Up the Lion's Head

This is the first Saturday that Hirsh and David are around. They came in on Thursday. Thursday and Friday we explored the Cape Town nightlife a bit. Pool seems very popular, as it is in almost everywhere we go. The most fun bar that we have found is literally next door from our hotel. We can look out of the hotel down into the bar to determine whether or not it is a awesome, then just roll in.

We went hiking today, up the Lion's Head, which is right by our hotel. However we took a rather roundabout route in which we were totally not lost to get to the actual trailhead.

1. Just outside of a really nice neighborhood, there was this really dodgy one, which were guarded by Gorilla Geese. This picture doesn't reveal the scale, but they were maneaters. I was terrified to get closer.
2. As per the directions from the kindly bearded man, we crawled through a fence to get up signal hill.
3. And I found this turtle. There were also donkeys, pigs, and horses roaming around.
4. David and Hirsh, contemplating.

I will add more pictures from the top.

The Rains Down in Africa

Wow, I am soaked.
It started raining pretty heavily as I was getting ready to leave work, so I decided to drop by the internet cafe on the way home.
The Rains Down in Africa are not quite as romantic as Toto makes them sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCca5mPMp9A

I have a few photos and comments on some odd and interesting things in South Africa. The first and most pervasive is the coming World Cup.
This sign, which is part of the 'Welcome the World to Africa' campaign.
As you can see, the Republic of South Africa, in association with Engen (Chevron) has found it worthwhile to post the advice to say "Howdy" to Americans. And, underneath the flag is the label 'USA.'
Incredible.
Additionally, I turned on the TV last night, and all three channels were playing World Cup related things. Channel One was a program like one of their primetime news programs. An anchor and an official from Fifa going around to construction sites and giving two tickets to a
game to random construction workers at the stadiums that they had been working on. It would have been great and home-makeoverish, except two funny things. All of their names were 'Justice' and one was 'Lucky Welcome.' The other is that this anchorwoman is apparently the Chris Hansen of South Africa in a program where they confront fathers who had abandoned their families. Whenever they would approach one of the workers, they would be serious and say 'Do you know where all of your children are?' then be like SURPRISE! Tickets! It did not go over well at all; these people were terrified.

Channel two had investigative journalism regarding the fan parks and safety at the world cup. Channel three looked like the OC or a show like that, but one of the bad guys was gambling on soccer.

EVERY SINGLE COMMERCIAL has a World Cup theme.

The other PSA is the 'Unite behind Bafana Bafana' campaign. They show people taking off their Kaiser Chief and rival soccer club stuff and putting on the national team's uniforms. It is really admirable.

Additionally, and most awesome, is that every person was wearing a Bafana Bafana t-shirt, jersey, or jacket. 100%. I think that there will be some team USA plugging on game days, but nothing like this.

The second picture is outside the national art gallery. You can see an African duck of some kind on the gateway, in front of the mountain. What I found interesting, and you can't see it very well, is the scrolling LED sign over the doorway. I find it a bit out of place, as this is near their parliament on their equivalent of the National Mall in D.C. It is effective, I guess.

15 Days, 19 Hours, 4 Minutes

The United States named its roster and so, as I spend some time on the download of 'LOST' I will comment on the roster.

The roster:

Goalkeepers:
Tim Howard (Everton, England).
Brad Guzan (Aston Villa, England),
Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton, England),

I really hope neither Guzan or Hahnemann have to play. Still-

'Tim timminy, Tim timminy, Tim Tim, taroo.
We've got TIM HOWARD and he says F*** you!'

Defenders:
Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes, France),
Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA),
Steve Cherundolo (Hannover, Germany),
Jay DeMerit (Watford, England),
Clarence Goodson (IK Start, Norway),
Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan, Italy),
Jonathan Spector (West Ham, England).

There has been a lot of talk about a complicated call with who will get cut on defense. I am sorry it had to be Heath for sentimental reasons: he plays for FC Dallas. At the same time, I don't think it was a bad call. VERY glad Gooch is back. We want a monster just for intimidation, let alone his generally awesomeness. Just hope he holds up.

Midfielders:
DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland),
Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany),
Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt, Germany),
Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England),
Landon Donovan (Los Angeles),
Maurice Edu (Glasgow Rangers, Scotland),
Benny Feilhaber (AGF Aarhus, Denmark),
Stuart Holden (Bolton, England),
Jose Torres (Pachuca, Mexico).

This is a good group, but I am sad to see Kljestan go. I don't know who he would replace though. I am glad Beasley has another shot to stay up there. DeMarcus, Donovan, and Deuce will be a good veteran/experience element.

Forwards:
Jozy Altidore (Hull, England),
Edson Buddle (Los Angeles),
Robbie Findley (Salt Lake),
Herculez Gomez (Puebla, Mexico).

I'm mad that Buddle is in this over Ching. I know Ching is old, but he has done really well recently, especially last night. If Gomez is in on a recent run, Ching should be also. And if it is based on last night, Robbie Rogers should be too. I'm also not crazy about Findley, and still a bit miffed that Kenny Cooper and Connor Casey did not even go to the camp.

I think the most interesting thing is what it says about the strength, or at least Bradley's confidence in, the MLS. Of the 7 players cut, 5 are from the MLS. Only 9 were invited to camp.

Walking to and from Work

1. This tree is just across from Parliament, in the Company Gardens.




















2. Clearings in the gardens allow for a view of the mountain.















3. Another larger than life Rhodes statue.

Only with this one I would probably have slightly more serious police officers to deal with than Campus Safety if I were to climb on his shoulders.



















The Rose Garden in the foreground, the 'tablecloth' of clouds over Table Mountain in the background.

Morning in the Gardens Neighborhood

7:30 AM
To the left, Table Mountain. To the right- the Lion's Head

Out of my window

View from my room at the Saasveld Lodge.

African Wisdom

The Waterfront

(pictures supposed to be in the first post)

Green Point Stadium- brand new.

















At Green Point, facing west.

Work and Soccer

It is currently 3:24 AM in Cape Town.

The United States are playing against the Czech Republic. I am following it on the matchtracker in my hotel lobby. The Hotel internet is cheap, but it is pay-per-data rather than the internet cafe which is across the street, which is pay-per-time. The cafe's internet was broken yesterday, so I will have to wait until it is fixed to upload pictures and fix the ones on the previous post.

Whilst on the topic of soccer, here are two links that are awesome.

The first is more helpful for people who know a bit about soccer to recognize recognizable players:

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7529137/19953307

The second is designed for unknowns. Try to read the descriptions and guess the team before scrolling down to see. I think Uruguay, New Zealand, and North Korea are my favorite descriptions:

http://theunlikelyfan.blogspot.com/2010/05/disclaimer-im-new-to-this-site-and-im.html

I have finished my second day of work at the Open Democracy Advice Centre. It is a small office inside the 'Democracy Center' building at 6 Spin Street. The building houses several non-profits related to the promotion of a less-corrupt democracy throughout Africa, but in South Africa specifically. That address also exists in a neighborhood on the other side of the mountain. The Rosebank address is one that appears when you Google search. It is also near the Centre for Conflict Resolution and other NGOs that are associated with the University of Cape Town. So it would be quite understandable if one were to take a cab on the first morning one is expected to be there and arrive at the small dwelling on a dodgy road called 6 Spin Street. One would then have the benefit of riding back into Cape Town in bumper-to-bumper traffic sheepishly apologizing to one's cab driver. Not that I did anything of the sort.

I walked to and from work today through the Company Gardens. The original park of Cecil Rhodes and crew is a rectangular public park abutting Parliament. I will be able to walk through these Gardens every day, not unlike my trips to and from school through Buen Retiro when I lived in Madrid.

The people at ODAC are very kind. They are a crew of various ages and ethnic groups. There is lots of laughter. I particularly found the impression of the 'afropessimism' in the international media hilarious. With a perfect BBC impersonation: "Here in Cape Town, where they have built this massive stadium, is little Lucy, a victim of child sex-trafficking. Who has HIV/AIDS. And is addicted to cocaine. And cannot walk." The description by one of them, who had just returned from Kinshasha, of her 'trip to Africa' was particularly funny to me, only because the explanation was not intended to be or received as ironic.

My work is pretty interesting. So far it is like a combination of LegReg and LRW, which I realize sounds like a particularly grotesque part of hell, but with a general purpose, ready access to supervisors, bad guys, and none of the circumstantial misery associated with those two slow-motion train wrecks of 1L. (I apologize to my non-law school readers, who will have no idea what I just said. It can only be understood through experience; don't envy the knowledge).

Journey to Cape Town

“This cape is the most stately thing and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth.”
– From the journal of Sir Francis Drake, on seeing the Cape for the first time, 1580

I left Corsicana at noon on Thursday, May 20, 2010 and checked in at my hotel at 22:15 22 May 2010. From Houston I flew a United flight to D.C., where I changed terminals but did not have to collect my bags. The flight to Johannesburg was really two flights on one plane. I was sitting on a row of four behind a row of three; which placed my legs of the seats in front of me in direct conflict with my own. After 8 hours, we landed in Dakar for an hour, where the equally kind and rotund Senegalese woman to my left was replaced by a young, grinning geologist from Guinea. French was his tongue, but he knew enough English to inform me that he was going to a conference in Joburg. I realized that this would be the extent of our communication when I asked him which team he was supporting in the World Cup since Guinea did not qualify, and he kindly replied that there were three other geologists of the twenty-five at his firm that were on his project. To my right for both legs was a beautiful young woman from Harare, Zimbabwe who was returning home for the first time since August after spending her freshman year studying accounting at Kent State (of all places). There were also a pack of University of Maryland Business-school students beginning a 10-day, 4 credit-hour course in Cape Town. As I heard them hatching their plans for bar-hopping when they landed, I was reassured that the fratbrosphere surrounding business schools is not diminished when exported.


Saasveld lodge is a small hotel on Kloof street, the southern part of Long Street. Long Street is the center of the bar and club scene in Cape Town. For my Memphian readers, it would be equivalent to the apartments on the west side of the Saucer. For my Boston readers, it would be the South End. For my Corsicana readers, it would be the total opposite of everything in any way connected to Corsicana. The staff is very nice. The bed in the room adjoining mine has been replaced with a couch, settee, and coffee table for my stay. In that room last night, I heard 'Boys of Summer' followed by 'Fortunate Son' drift in through the open window and realized that I would be just fine. My windows face West, and I can see the sun set over Signal Hill at around 5PM.

I went and explored the Waterfront development today. The complex is extensive, including restaurants, shopping, and resort hotels. Just a few blocks away from the brand-new stadium, it was clearly designed with the World Cup in mind, but will certainly be a centerpiece for a long time.
I thought I was being wise by leaving my passport in the safety of my room, but it is required for both currency exchange and to purchase a cellular phone. My trip to the mall being a bit of a failure, I went exploring along the beach. The condominiums and hotels along the cape are not overshadowing as they are in Mexico. I assume there are height-restrictions, as I did not see any over ten stories. The conservation aspect of the whole cape development is quite apparent. Signage indicates the use restrictions for the beach in multiple languages. The Stadium itself is incredible. It towers over the developed and natural surroundings, augmenting and centering the area without dwarfing or distracting .

Of all the cities I have been to, it reminds me the most of Lisbon, Portugal. Both cities are developed with the coast and the mountains defining the city. The people are extremely friendly and welcoming of tourists. Also not unlike Lisbon, I did almost get mugged today. I attempted to walk down the reputedly-busy Long Street without realizing that the strip would be dead on a Sunday afternoon. A beggar started following me asking for spare change. I had just overpaid on the street for a magazine, so I did not have any Rands in my pocket to make him leave me alone. Eventually pleas became increasingly less-veiled threats, but it was broad daylight and there were hotel security guards all over the place, so I just sped up and jumped into a Taxi. He began shouting threats after me into the cab, causing the driver and the doormen at the nearby hotels and restaurants to laugh at him. Lesson learned, money retained.