Cape Point
Quick – what’s the southern-most point of Africa? Cape of Good Hope? Cape Point? Something else? If you’ve acquired at least a middle school education,, chances are you think the answer is the Cape of Good Hope. You’re wrong, though. No, no, the most southern tip of Africa is apparently Cape Agulhas. That doesn’t make the visit to the Cape of Good Hope any less spectacular, though.
My second day in town and we hit the ground running with a tour around the Western Cape. We toured a township and watched kids do some of the most amazing hip-hop dancing that I’ve ever seen. We saw the penguins (pictures later), and floated around the V&A Waterfront. We rode the “most beautiful highway in the world,” and stared in awe as the misty clouds cleared over the coves.
Wow.
And then we visited the Cape of Good Hope, where we hiked a few miles. The orientation program was pretty unclear when they told us what we would be doing, so who showed up wearing Topsiders? This guy. Who wound up hiking in boat shoes? This guy. At least I didn’t wind up in flip-flops like some kids, but still. Rough break all the way around.
Regardless, pictures will be up when I find it in my heart to spend an arm and a leg on bandwidth (oh yes, it’s pay-per-megabyte here). You can’t imagine how gorgeous it was.
edit: photo is here.
Here.
Upon touchdown I feel a good 5 or 10 years younger, and not just because the bumpy puddle-jumper was a little nerve-wracking. I feel younger because as I look outside, walking up the jetway to the CPT airport, it feels almost like Tucson, the place where I spent most of my childhood. It is hot, 80 perhaps? A little humid, palm trees and cacti are in sight. Strangely familiar.
As soon as I enter the restroom I remember exactly where I am, though. It is overwhelmingly hot and humid inside the restroom, no ventilation. As I open the stall-door I see the window that has been propped open for airflow. Preventing me from jumping out that window is a heaping pile of barbed wire. Interesting.
I collect my baggage from the carrousel and head through arrivals. I look to absorb everything. It was just the airport, but it certainly seemed like an important task. The menial things like the billboards and the cars, looking for clues about how to interact and relate. The Cape Flats, heartbreaking shantytowns that span for miles. I pass a real nuclear power plant, just like the one in the Simpsons. Everywhere, I look and absorb, looking for clues. My neck is soon sore.
Baggage Issues
I’ve put off writing this for quite a while, mostly due to lack of time. But I’m here in Cape Town and wow. But first… how I almost lost my luggage in Johannesburg. Typed this up a few days ago, here it is all TiVo’d or whatever.
Got off the plane, cleared immigration (and realized that of all the photocopies to forget, I apparently forgot to bring my letter of acceptance. Thank heavens for that tuition form that I brought.). Saw the “bag pick-up” and went passed it. Mine was, after all, going straight to Cape Town. Went through customs with nothing to declare, no problem. “Rechecked” my bag with British Air by handing them my luggage sticker. Off to the terminal, where I bought a power converter and a sandwich.
As I’m sitting (during my 3 hour layover), I started to flip through my Frommer’s Guide and started reading about the airports. “Note: though your luggage may already be checked through, you will still need to pick it up in Joburg (the local name for Johannesburg).” A lump formed in my throat – that was well over an hour ago that I left through customs. Did I need to grab my bag? Was I okay?
I raced online to check exactly that, and found nothing of any sort of information about it. Not only that, the only place the baggage was mentioned in Frommer’s was on one out of five different articles about air travel. I felt a little better, but struck up a conversation with the mother next to me at the internet bar just to make sure. She had to move luggage every time. I figured I ought to look into it, so I managed to track down the British Airways lounge to make sure. “Yes,” the woman at the desk told me, I would need to grab my bag and physically re-check it because it had gone through immigration.
CRAP. I had an hour and a half left before my flight and would have to go through security, etc. all over again. I raced. Like you would not imagine, back through security, back through a tiny backdoor escorted by a security agent across the airport back to the carrousels. Though my bag was certainly no longer on the carrousel, I went to find BA Baggage Claims. I couldn’t find the desk, though! Emirates, SA Express, Delta, BA was nowhere to be found. I asked, “where was their desk?” A man pointed to an abandoned desk and said “It would be there, were anyone manning it. There is another luggage claims desk outside of customs, here are the directions.”
I felt a little more panicky – going back through customs/security a second time seemed risky with the time I had left. I looked around for my bag among the piles, didn’t see it, and so went back out. I started towards BA’s baggage claim, which was right next to my gate on the other side of security. Handed them my luggage tag and asked where I might find the bag so that I could re-check it. He looked at my tag and told me “It’s all set, should already be on the plane.” Relief washed over me. Security the second time was a breeze, no issues there, and going through the second time around I actually knew where I was going. Big plus.
Apparently, the little stunt I pulled with American Airlines back in Boston, when I asked them to ensure that the bag was always put through automatically, actually worked – British Airways is carrying the bag all the way through, no questions asked, even after customs. Fingers crossed.
Epilogue: My bag was there waiting for me in the Cape Town Airport. To reiterate, what the American Airlines agent managed to do is apparently nearly impossible in South African customs. Thank you, unnamed agent from Boston Logan.
Africa At Night
There is something quite surreal about flying across the continent of Africa, particularly at night. The stars. Oh, the stars. I can’t express how many of them there actually are – the sky is FULL of them when you can actually see. At 40k feet, there is little else to keep the stars from my eyes and I can’t be more thankful. It’s like Jackson Pollack painted the night sky.
At the same time, though, it’s impossible to make the travel without wondering what’s going on beneath. Flying over Sudan and Rwanda makes you think, for sure. How can a continent this beautiful be so dangerous?
Needless to say, it was quite a flight. Beautiful, mysterious, and evocative. If only those pictures came out.
In-Flight Entanglement
I’m at a cruising altitude of about 40k feet, a few hours into the Atlantic Ocean. I just finished watching “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (fantastic, by the way). I switched off the movie and I realized that as normal as this plane cabin feels, all it would take is one big drop and we’d be waiting in the cold ocean for some ridiculous rescue attempt. Funny how we tend to forget about those things, and the precarious predicament we might find ourselves in, with our modern technology. But that’s not the point.
The point is this: I am on my way to study abroad. I’ve made my list and checked my luggage. I got through security, even had them swab my bags to test for bombs – in their defense, my DJing controller looks freaky as shit on an X-Ray machine. I ate some customarily terrible airport food (see top), and waited my turn to board while looking about for interesting people. I always hope that I’ll be seated next to someone interesting, and I wasn’t really expecting the sight which was waiting for me on the plane this evening:
The plane is as empty as it looks: I’m the only one in my entire row of 7 seats. There are maybe 100 people on this plane, which clearly is designed to sit more than 3x that. Makes me think about the cost of fuel (and the fact that I’m flying for free with Frequent Flyer miles – makes this a damn cheap flight).
Anyway, the plane took off and they served us our terrible dinner and charged us seven dollars for the worst Bloody Mary I’ve ever had. They turned on the movie, which happened to be some terrible family entertainment flick that looked like Spy Kids 14: Adventures In Suburbia. I can’t verify that last point sure. And now there are NBC re-runs on. Hence my laptop.
But enough about my fairly routine flying experience. I am on my way to a number of new things. I’ll be setting foot on my 3rd continent and my 5th country. Settled by the British and the Dutch (more on that once I get a little more up on my South African history), it was ruled by an infamous apartheid government until about 20 years ago. And now that it has a unified government, it’s dealing with the problems of catching up. Parts of South Africa are still racist, xenophobic, and dangerous. Petty crime is said to be a common occurrence, and though I’m told common sense will avail me of this threat, you only need to open a newspaper to see some coverage of what goes on.
The 2010 World Cup is in South Africa, and much of the affair centered around Cape Town. I’m thankful for this – the police have cracked down on crime to prepare the city, and all sorts of infrastructures are being improved to make sure the city can accommodate all of the tourists. But I wonder, am I seeing the real Cape Town? Will I just be getting some watered down version of what it once was? And what happens to the country when the businesses leave in the middle of July, when the stadiums clear and the confetti is all swept up?
That’s enough of my thoughts for now, though, it’s time to order another Bloody Mary and watch some re-runs.
The Last Visit to ‘Chester
It’s been quite a week – I’ve been visiting in Rochester since Wednesday and tomorrow I head back to Boston. As an aside, my visa officially arrived on Tuesday. Finally. Anyways.
The Drive.
On Wednesday, I hopped in my car and drove from Boston to Rochester. The drive is about six hours, which isn’t insufferable but definitely not something I would just do for kicks. The time passed quite a bit quicker courtesy of some Sherlock Holmes audio-books. The rest was a mix of radio static, NPR, and the new Vampire Weekend album (a wonderful remix of “Cousins” can be found at the bottom of this post).
Got in on Wednesday afternoon and first of all: why on earth does it cost money to park on the U of R campus for 2 hours? I had to buy an “all-day” parking pass for $4. I was bitter about that, and refused to pay for a permit after Wednesday. Today is Saturday, and I’ve since accumulated 3 parking tickets. I’m not paying them.
Anyway, Pat from RIPROC (look right) dropped off 150 fliers that afternoon and they were all gone by the next morning. Thursday night was a pretty empty night in terms of other events, and it was still the first week of classes. Oh, and the weather was a balmy 40 degrees. A perfect storm of going-out conditions. All through the day people were telling me that they were coming through that night and “could really use a few more tickets if I had them.”
The Show.
11:30 and my set was starting. The bar was unsettlingly slow. The U of R bus should have been there by 11:25ish, I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Two minutes later, my phone buzzed: “Do the fliers let us jump the line?” “The line?,” I asked. I received a few more just like the first – people wondering if they could skip the line, if they would make it through on time to see the set.
I finally understood what was going on. There were so many people trying to get in that the door had just bottlenecked. But soon enough, just a few songs into my set, people started streaming down the stairs. What a party it was. Starting with some wobbly club music and moving into amazing good-times jams (think “aNYway, Tittsworth’s “September” remix, and soulful house).
By the time I got off the stage I was sweaty and ecstatic. People all around were still dancing (and buying me drinks) well into the night. It was equally pleasing to find that we had over 300 bodies come through the door (see the picture for an incomplete idea of the night). I was smiling ear-to-ear for a good few hours after I was home. Hopefully a few more photos will surface at some point, but I cannot wait to do it all again in the fall.
The Starbucks.
I love Starbucks. This is no secret. However, the reason isn’t so much the over-priced coffee as it is the pure number of people who wind up going through the UR campus location. I hung out there all of Friday and Saturday seeing people. It was time well-spent. The only real question was wether or not to stay through Saturday night for the Jersey Shore party.
Friday night, I was supposed to head to Pearl Nightclub and see Joe Lazars DJ, but as I got to the front of the line (after a 40 minute wait), the bouncer announced it was overs only. Down and out, I headed to Pita Pit and ate away my troubles with some healthy falafel. With a night that bad, it was pretty obvious that I’d be staying through for one more night of attempted-fun.
The Shore.
The SAM house through a Jersey Shore party last night. The house is so poorly built for having massive numbers of people walking through their front door, but it’s always unimportant I guess. When the good music goes on, and the drinks start flowing, the architecture is really kind of irrelevant.
It was a perfect place to get all of my last goodbyes in – armed with a digital camera I made sure to find every remaining individual I needed to bid adieu and did exactly that.
To complete the evening, I partook in Uncle Dickie’s Cheesey Fries. For those not in the know, Uncle Dickie is a creepy 50 year-old who runs a food truck at the end of the Univ. of Rochester’s Frat Quad every weekend – he’s occasionally been known to let female-students help serve food from time to time in exchange for food. Or something. Creepy. His fries are great, though – cheese, ketchup, and meat sauce for an affordable $3. Well, affordable if your inebriated friends don’t convince you to share.
And Home.
I drove home at 8:30 this morning (right after catching one last look at the University of Rochester’s Rush Rhees Library). Six hours, the time it takes to get from Rochester to Sherborn (right outside of Boston), is not an easy drive.
Though I listened to a fair number of other Sherlock Holmes adventures on the way back, I also took some time to radio-hunt. Right around Syracuse I wound up listening to some great Christian Rock. I greatly enjoy the chance to look for double-entendres and repressed sexuality. I know that’s kind of mean, but I can’t help it! Hearing about the things we want to do to/for Jesus, hearing about how much another man loves me, and hearing about the city “on it’s knees” is just too much for my infantile mind.
Anyway. I’m writing this from my bed in Sherborn, only a few days before I head to Cape Town. This was the best possible visit to Rochester – I saw everyone, got a little closure, and had an incredible time. Stay classy, U of R, don’t go changing too much without me.
Vampire Weekend – Cousinz (Toy Selectah Mex-More remix)
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V is for Visa (and Vampire Weekend)
^ That one isn’t mine. As I write this, my South African study permit is being processed by the consulate. This is a nerve-wracking experience for a number of reasons: 1) the instructions are heinously unclear, and vary by consulate – not to mention the unclear designation of what constitutes a minor in South Africa, it may or may not be 21 these days; and 2) I’m applying pretty close to the wire because the University of Cape Town mailed my letter to the wrong address twice. It doesn’t help that I had to get a copy of my “criminal background” from the Massachusetts CORI board – no walk-in service and it still costs $25 to process. Highway robbery. Or something. I had to get my application for this record notarized, too.
And will I get this visa on time? Will I even get a visa? I can only cross my fingers that the nice people at Travisa (a ludicrously expensive visa-expaditing service) pull through for me. That’s another thing, by the way – the visa only costs $77 but the actual price is significantly more expensive. Here’s the breakdown:
- Consulate visa fee: $77
- Travisa processing fee: $80
- Doctor co-pay for physical/tuberculosis test: $25
- Photo paper for application headshot: $10
- Criminal record processing fee: $25
- Overnight shipping to Travisa: $22
- Overnight return shipping from Travisa: $22
Total? A hefty $261. Ouch! I suppose it’s good news that I’m studying with direct enrollment, then – the UCT application may have been a headache but I’m saving over $7,000. Makes that visa fee look like pretty small change.
The best news of all, however, is Vampire Weekend’s new album Contra – still a little baroque leftover from their debut but it’s still a nice departure from the original. Would all of these songs fit in on the first album? Probably, but there’s also something a little different in a really good way. Favorite song so far is probably “White Sky” – I know a few concert rips were floating around last year but it sounds SO good in-studio. It’s all streaming up on vampireweekend.com.
No Excuses, Play Like A Champion
It’s been a while since the last mixtape, but you can’t be “late” if you never promised one in the first place… right? Well, anyways. I was working on a harder mixtape earlier and I hope to finish that one up at some point, but in the meantime here is a groovy disco-house tape.
As tends to happen with me, I decided it was a great idea to start recording at 2am and not stop until I was done. After some tweaks (and chopping up some vocals), I finished. Tracklist is below. Comments are always appreciated.
Ezra Mechaber – The “No Excuses” Mixtape [mp3]
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1.) Phonat – Ghetto Burnin’ (Mohito remix)
2.) Sievert – Be Pleasant
3.) Agent Stereo – Fancy Dancer
4.) Duck Sauce – aNYway
5.) Para Beats/Carmen Reece – U Got Me (Artful Dodger’s soulful house remix)
6.) Wale/Lady GaGa – Chillin’ (Top Billin’ UK mix)
7.) La Roux – I’m Not Your Toy (Jack Beats remix)
8.) Daft Punk – Digital Love (ALGERONICS mix)
9.) Diamond Cut – Teardrops (Sugababes cover)
10.) Veronica Maggio – 17 ir (Stevie Tech Nick’s barely legal remix)
11.) Empire of the Sun – We Are the People (Jimmy2Sox remix)
That’s An Interesting Fact
So it looks like I’ll be flying across the atlantic a little earlier than I thought. It turns out the University of Cape Town website got the dates of orientation wrong and I’m supposed to be there a good week earlier than I thought.
I spent an hour at 4am last night re-booking my ticket, but all is well that ends well. I’ll arrive in Cape Town on the 23rd instead of the 26th, and I’ll be jet-lagged for orientation. So even though I need to be there a week earlier than I thought, my plans aren’t totally shot (and my flight, covered by frequent flier miles, will still be free).
I won’t have the opportunity to tour around for a few days with my family friends but it’ll have to do.
And for the hell of it, a goofy MSTRKRFT remix. I’m still learning how to integrate the music and the rest of the blog now that I’ve changed it up for the spring. It’ll get better soon. Promise.
Leavin’ (MSTRKRFT Remix) [mp3]
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Taylor Swift, courtesy of the U of R ‘Jackets
This is an amazing performance by the University of Rochester Yellowjackets. They covered the Taylor Swift track “You Belong With Me,” and there’s a nice little surprise at the very end. The audio doesn’t do the live-performance justice, I would love to see this re-dubbed with properly recorded audio. Anyways.