crazypiman

Namibia!

2006-06-20T21:57:56Z

I climbed Table Mountain up and down for the 3rd time! It wasn't bad this time around although it took the entire day again. 7 more trips to go!

I was on a minibus this past weekend with 11 women (including me) and 7 girls. The driver was the only male in the car and it was a very interesting ride. I loved it and felt very safe.

This Thursday, I will be heading to Namibia by bus (the Intercape) with Nina. Namibia was once a German colony and recently won its freedom from South Africa (1990). There are many Germans in Namibia and Nina speaks German and Swiss-German so I guess we'll fit right in. The population in Namibia is about 2 million. It's a big country (not much smaller than South Africa) with very few people. We plan to hang out in Windhoek (the capital) for a bit, head over to the west coast (probably Swakopmund) by train, and then rent a car (hopefully an automatic!) to discover Etosha National Park in the north. We're allowing ourselves 2 weeks to do this, hopefully it's enough time. Pictures will follow as soon as I return!

Pictures! Bad ones, but pictures nonetheless!

2006-06-10T21:51:58Z

Some pictures from Cape Town

Tiger stretching at Sleepy Hollow, the horse farm in Nordhoek.

I got stuck while trying to be a monkey on this tree at Kirstenbosch Botantical Garden. It wasn't too hard to climb up but boy did I regret it!

I found a wooden gorrilla friend who was was more than happy to pose with me at Kirstenbosch.

Mary and me at a small creek. Mary is hunching so that I wouldn't look so short standing next to her. I have such considerate friends.

My ecology class visited Fossil Park near Langebaan and saw fossils that weren't dug up yet. It was amazing even though there weren't any dinosaurs, just ancestors of the giraffe and some saber-toothed tigers and a bunch of frogs.

Mary and me near the top of Table Mountain. I was on tippy toes to look taller.

Me, Amy, and Mary at Chapman's Peak Drive, a must-do activity if you're going to be in Cape Town!

The horse I rode at Sleepy Hollow, Cognac. I looked relieved because I just survived the 2-hour ride. Cognac is missing his right eye and is the slowest horse they have. He ran into barb wire while I was riding him and my pants ripped.

I was the only one with a camera so naturally I was in charged of taking pictures. I also talked on my cell phone while riding . I know, I know, it's bad, but I had to tell my friend what time I could meet her for lunch.

Me and Sam almost at the top of Lion's Head. It was Sam's first time on the mountain although he's from Cape Town.

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This is the view of Table Mountain that I got from Lion's Head. A few months later, I also climbed Table Mountain, twice! My goal is to do it 8 more times before I leave this city.

The Jammie Steps at UCT, Upper Campus. I think the mountain behind it is Devil's Peak, part of Table Mountain. This is where I get my chicken burger almost every day for 10 rands (that's about $1.50). I love chicken burgers and they love me. I will miss them a lot when I leave.

My ecology class in the mud at Langebaan, West Coast National Park. Their legs are stuck in the mud and prevented them from falling over. I was assigned to take the picture so I couldn't do it myself. Nor did I want to because the water of the Atlantic was freezing that morning. Most mornings, actually. </p>

My marine class sorting fish samples from the Berg River. The government is building a dam on the Berg River because Cape Town is running out of water and the experiments being performed there will show the condition of the river prior to the dam being built. After the dam is finished, the same experiments will show its effects on the river and what can be done to prevent further damage to the river.

This picture was taken today at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. I'm wearing my glasses because someone was in the bathroom when it was time to go so I couldn't get my contact lens.

It's fair to say that I wasn't exactly sober when this picture was taken. I just met these people at a club on Long Street. The one on the left graduated from UCT and has a degree in chemical engineering.

This is Jeanne-Marie and her friend David. We went out for her 25th birthday. She's my traveling partner and a total workaholic. But knows how to party when necessary.

Long Street at night! It's usually crowded in the streets with young people but it was raining that night and kinda early (about 10 pm). It only starts to get busy around 11pm.

My Swiss friend, Nina. Nina and I are going to Namibia later this month. She's an art student at UCT and goes to Hiddingh Campus (about 15 minutes from UCT Upper Campus).

I went to Nina's art exhibit. It was called "More Time for Life," translated not without some loss of meaning from Swiss-German.

Amy's horse was the most well-behaved. I was jealous because mine was not only stubborn, but the slowest as well.

You can't tell from the picture, but the dog on the left is one evil bitch. She tried to eat Mary's hand off.

And finally, the damage done to my little sister's pants, courtesy of Cognac. Sorry Minhy!

Happy Mother's Day

2006-05-14T00:39:13Z

Since I last updated a while ago, I have done the following:

1) Climbed Table Mountain up and down! It took me an entire day. You can take a cable car up and down and even have a nice meal at the top of the mountain but being a poor student and quite hardcore about getting a complete experience, I decided to climb up and down and the trip down nearly killed me. My legs were sore for 3 days! There are fewer opportunities to climb Table Mountain now because of the winter weather. It's about 60F here now but cloudy, therefore, dangerous for climbing. Climbers have gotten lost and there were fatalities.

2) Visited a mussel farm in Saldanha Bay and got some free mussels for dinner. I boiled them and dipped them in a lemon, salt, and pepper sauce. The butter sauce I made was too gross to use. The mussel farm was closed for 3 months a while back because a certain toxic algae was present in the water at high levels and injecting mussel pieces into mice killed the mice. However, the mussel farmer was allowed to farm mussels again because when the mice ate the mussel, they didn't die. Apparently only injection of the mussel killed the mice. Does anyone have an idea why? Maybe the injections are lethal because of the needle injury, not the mussel itself? I know this all too well from glucose tolerance testing on mice.

3) Visited one of Cape Town's landfill (called Coastal Park). It is located in Muizenberg, about 400 meters from the beach. I can't believe that such a gorgeous area, prime land for expensive homes, is actually a landfill site. It is 22 years old (as old as me!) and is expected to be around for another 13-18 years. I counted 2 domestic dogs running about (abandoned by their owners) and loads of seagulls everywhere. Since South Africa doesn't have an official recycling program, private contractors (mainly poor black South Africans) come by the landfill to take away all the recyclables in order to generate an income to support their families. I see a lot of improvements to be made in this system. It is a health hazard to allow people to collect recyclables in this manner. I wish I had my camera with me, then everyone can see what I mean. These people are hanging around the landfill without adequate protection. It was a depressing day.

4) I was offered marijuana for the first time in my life (or any type of drugs for that matter). I was walking down Long Street, late for a meeting with a friend on a sunny Saturday morning. The street was busy and a man came up to me and asked if I would like some marijuana. I don't look like a smoker. I know this for a fact. More like a prude than anything, actually. My friend Bruce gets offered pot everywhere he goes and his dreads probably have a lot to do with it.

5) Spent spring break in Langebaan with my ecology class. We stayed at the West Coast National Park and did a few research projects. It was gorgeous and I saw a lagoon for the first time. I can't believe that the water never gets deeper than your waist (well, my waist, but the average person's hips or thighs)!

6) Went to a Snoop Dogg concert with my friend Tumi and his friends. I am for the most part, not a fan of rap music. This concert only confirmed that. The concert was interesting. Snoop Dogg had missed a scheduled concert in Jo'berg (Johannesburg) because he and his posse got arrested in London for being destructive at a duty free store at the airport. It's really embarrassing for the U.S. to be represented by these ill-behaving celebrities, but even more questionable are the fans who embrace these American celebrities. There were people who missed Snoop Dogg at the Jo'berg concert who flew to Cape Town to see him. That's really going overboard.

Homesickness

2006-04-29T15:44:52Z

No city is really that amazing without the people you know and love there to share it all with you.

School

2006-03-19T23:27:15Z

I'm overwhelmed with the amount of work in the courses at UCT. I'm currently taking 24.5 quarter units with a total of 4 courses. Each 3rd year course here is worth 8 quarter units which is equivalent to 2 full courses at UC Irvine. There is so much work involved and I'm only used to taking a midterm and a final in each course at UCI. There is at least one project in each course along with a few tests, a few essays, and a final. The problem is that the amount of credit (the % of your grade) given for each labor-intensive project is so small that it makes the project not worth the effort.

Life in Cape Town has gotten easier as the weeks go by. It's like a vacation here and I'm getting fat because I'm learning to be such a great cook. My cooking is fabulous and it turns out, I'm just a natural at it! So much for modesty.

At the UCT bookstore last week, a girl took my bag by mistake and I really freaked out because I thought it was stolen. All my notes were in it and all I could think of was how impossible it was to replace them all. Her bag was about 10 lbs heavier than mine but she didn't even realized that she had the wrong bag until 15 minutes after leaving the bookstore. She didn't even apologize and barely looked at me when she came back for her bag.

The electricity problem in Cape Town seems to be over for now. I secretly hope it starts up again because I love blackouts and the chaos it causes. People have become so reliant on electricity that they don't know what to do with themselves when it's not available.

I'm working on a few letters to send by snail mail. I am having lots of trouble finishing personal letters lately. It's too distracting here!

Do you know...

2006-03-03T20:20:20Z

in 2005, the World Factbook estimated that the population in South Africa is growing at -0.31% a year due to the AIDS epidemic? The U.S. and Vietnam has a population growth rate of about +1%.

Source: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sf.html

crazypiman @ 2006-02-26T22:29:00

2006-02-26T20:27:35Z

Here are some pictures from the marine ecology field trip on the RS Africana.

The -80 C freezer on board Africana.

The Captain of Africana (left) and the principle scientist (Larry) for the project we were working on.

A view of Africana as we were leaving it on a small boat.

A view of the mountain known as Lion's Head from Africana as we were leaving the harbor.

The CTD used to collect water samples.

The computers that control the CTD, telling it when to collect the samples from the ocean.

Leaving the harbor on RS Africana

2006-02-26T20:15:50Z

I'm just learning how to post pictures on this blog. This is a picture of me on the RS Africana, leaving the harbor with Table Mountain in the background. I'm so LUCKY!

Research Ship Africana and Power Outages

2006-02-25T20:50:20Z

I've just returned from a two-day trip on the RS Africana for my marine ecology course. It was amazing but I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't seasick for most of the trip. I didn't take much motion sickness pills because I wanted to be alert and understand the experiments being performed on the ship. Two students succumbed to seasickness and spent most of the two days in their cabins.

It costs about $100,000 rands or $16,600 dollars to operate the ship each day so we had to work at nighttime as well. I stayed up until 3 am on Saturday morning to collect water samples from the Atlantic Ocean. I really didn't do much work. It was mainly a learning experience and an opportunity to discover if this aspect of marine biology is something I would be interested in. It is not, mainly because I don't like being seasick. It's an awful feeling.

Much of the equipment on the vessel were made in the U.S. From the computers to the ocean water collection device (known as the CTD or conductivity-temperature-depth measuring instrument), it was interesting to know how much technology is from America. Speaking of equipment, the people at Sander Lab would be interested to know that the ship is also equipped with a -80 C freezer to preserve the water samples. I couldn't believe that the ship was able to support the freezer because I kept thinking about all the times that the -80 C failed in the lab at UCI.

So far, I am loving these class trips. I have another five-day trip coming up in April for a basic ecology course. I already took several ecology courses at UCI but I'm taking it again in South Africa because of the field trip.

The last few day in certain parts of Cape Town were quite chaotic because of an electricity shortage. Black outs in the morning, throughout the afternoon and in the evenings made it difficult to attend classes, cross the street, work on the computer, use my credit card to buy food, and cook. My housemates were barbecuing every night or eating early to avoid the blackouts. My solution was to eat out on Long Street. Long Street is infamous in Cape Town for its night life and "seedy" bars (that's what my awesome Cape Town guide book said!). I love Long Street for its unique shops and restaurants and during the two evenings that I was there, the electricity was working fine. I found a restaurant that serves avocado milkshakes with mint leaves. It reminds me of my mom because she always makes them for me (but without the mint leaves). Her avocado milkshakes were much better though. Without a doubt.

Camping

2006-02-12T11:32:31Z

I'm going on a camping/research trip for my marine ecology class tomorrow. I'm excited but worry about fitting in with my fellow UCT classmates. We're going to perform a fish dissection, studies of the fish community, and studies on mussel and barnacle settlement at the Berg River.

The loaf of bread I purchased last week has gone moldy and I had to eat eggs this morning with a huge carrot instead. I'm going to have to split food with a housemate if I don't want it to rot before I can finish it.

Besides the lack of good healthy food here, everything is well. I have made many friends and I am getting very comfortable with my neighborhood and school campus. Slight annoyances at UCT such as buildings with more than one second level made it difficult to find the right room to register for classes but I figured it out with some help.

An old man at Boulders Beach told me, "I want to marry you" yesterday. He was sitting with these beautiful older women. I think they were all South African but I'm not sure since many people in South Africa are from other countries in Africa and speak English as a second or third language. Their accents are difficult for me to distinguish. The women laughed at him and told me he was only kidding, so I was able to laugh about it too. I love it here. The people are wonderful and most are super friendly.

Some new pictures have been added. You can view them by clicking on the link below or on the "My Website" link at the top of the page.

http://photos.yahoo.com/mantran02

Phases of Culture Shock

2006-02-07T05:47:40Z

I arrived to Cape Town after spending 30 hours on the airplane and in the airport. I had a lot of alone time to think about things. My relationships with people at home. How nice it was at home. How long I was going to be away from home. How much I miss home. How much I want to be home. So as soon as I got off the plane, I spent lots of money to load minutes onto my phone with intentions to call home and tell everyone how much I want to go back home. It was a good thing that I didn't know how to dial out of the country or my parents would have to hear from a very upset daughter.

So there are 3 main phases to a foreign person's adjustment in a new country. First there is the initial excitement phase. During this phase, everything about the country that should bother the foreign person is overshadowed by the new and unique adventures ready to be experienced. The second and third phase can be sum up in one word each, disappointment and acceptance, respectively.

I don't know if I'm in the first phase or not, although I should be since I have only been here 5 days. What I'm experiencing does not fit the description. I am extremely nervous to have to walk down the street to school. It's about a 15 minute walk to campus, a gorgeous campus, by the way. I am afraid to take a camera with me, so I don't have pictures of it yet, but once I have pictures, no one will disagree with me that UCT (University of Cape Town) is beautiful.

Yesterday I was walking home from school with my housemate. I don't have a roommate, fortunately. I really need a space all to myself and although I requested for one, it didn't happen. Well, back to the walking. It's really weird because I kept getting stared at because I'm Asian and one guy even shouted at me, "Look, Chinese!" Now this is not the first time that this has happened, but I was walking with my housemate who is white and no one was bothering her. That is, until a black man with one working eye started harassing her and not me. I couldn't hear what he was saying but he followed her for a while, long enough to freak both of us out. I guess it was the last straw when he touched her because she walked off the sidewalk and onto the street to avoid him. I couldn't do much but try to catch up with her. If you're reading this and getting nervous, don't worry, there were many other people in the street at the time too. So we both walked at a much faster pace home after the incident. We thought that because we were talking so loud on the street, it made it obvious to everyone that we were Americans. It was mainly me who was loud (like that's new to anyone!), but I was only being loud because I was trying to cover up how nervous I was with people's stares. I was laughing and making stupid jokes about who knows what to try to look like it didn't affect me and that I wasn't intimidated. Well, I'm going to be quieter next time and see if that changes anything.

Back to the phases of culture shock. I think I am experiencing a mixture of the 3 phases at the same time. I am bothered by the things I see here, but being from Vietnam, they don't affect me as strongly as they should. I am also excited about every little adventure I have experienced or about to embark on. By the way, the second phase is the period where the foreigner steps back into reality and sees all the flaws (like being sober again the next morning and realizing that the person you took home with you is not so good looking). The third phase is taking all the good and the bad and being able to put them all into the big picture. Knowing what you love about the country and what could be changed but loving it anyway.

Sorry this entry jumped everywhere. It's very early in the morning here.

Plastic bags

2006-02-06T01:51:57Z

So the national flower of South Africa was the plastic bag and in order to change that, the government had to take charge and charge people for them. At home, my mom always reuse them as trash bags anyway.

I saw African Penguins today at Boulders Beach. They charge you to visit these birds and as soon as I walked in and saw them, I walked right out. I don't see why they attract so many tourists. They're fat, lazy, and not really that cute. The only thing that's worth seeing is their walk but they're too busy laying stomach down on the sand to bother walking around. I was told that their meat is horrible and it's the last thing a shipwrecked sailor would eat.

I ventured out today by myself for the first time and purchased about 1 kg (over 2 lbs!) of grapes (red and green) and 3 tomatoes for a buck. What a deal. I haven't tasted them yet, but I'm sure they're good. The mangoes I bought the other day were delicious. Not as good as in California or the small yellow ones from Mexico, but for about 60 cents each, I can't complain.

While I was walking down the street (by myself), people kept coming up to me to chat (so they can eventually ask for money). I was told it's best to completely ignore them, look ahead like you are hard of hearing, and walk on. Well, I can't. It's impossible. I was raised to respect people, especially people older than me. I can't just ignore someone trying to talk to me. They'll try to tell you a story or say that they know you from somewhere and so on. So I stop and smile and say hi and say "I'm sorry I can't help you" or "No, you got the wrong person" and then I walk on. But I really need to learn to stop doing that or I'll never get to my destination on time.

Books here are very pricey. I was going to buy an old and used dictionary at a bookstore for 69 rands (over $10 dollars) but didn't bring enough money with me. Right now, 1 dollar is worth 6 rands. A used dictionary in the US would only cost about $1.

I have also given up on cooking any kind of meat. I will only cook eggs to get my protein. If I eat out, I will order meat. It's really not so pleasant to cook meat. I can't touch it without feeling a slight need to vomit. I cooked some ground beef today and sprinkled salt and pepper on it to season. It was disgusting and I couldn't eat it. I gave a spoonful to the cat and threw away the rest. Even the cat couldn't finish it. I feel guilty but it wasn't that much food. I am freezing the meat that I haven't cooked and if I get desperate, I might try again.

Living in South Africa: Day 2

2006-02-03T20:24:46Z

A big HELLO to everyone in the US! I miss all of you very much!

My first day here didn't count because I was too overwhelmed by everything to think about things.
Today I was doing my laundry in the house and a Dutch housemate told me that months before, the house wasn't as nice and the washer and dryer were broken. She said that they had to fix everything because "the Americans were coming." I got a little embarrassed. Do others view us as spoiled people? I know having a laundry facility is a luxury and although I requested for a unit with one when I was selecting my housing in Cape Town, it was purely for safety reasons.

Speaking of safety, I am not comfortable walking around town by myself, even in the daylight. I really miss the freedom I had in California. Last quarter, at 10 pm every Tuesday night, I would ride my bike for 15 minutes to my car which would be parked at the parking lot by the 73 freeway. If I want to do something here, I would have to find a buddy to go with me. Today I walked around for about 20 minutes and couldn't find the supermarket (it's called Pick 'n Pay). If I had a car, I could drive around until I found it without getting exhausted from the heat and the endless walking. Well, I was able to find it later with some help and was so hungry at the time that I loaded all these items into my basket without thinking. I didn't remember that there wasn't a car around to transport my purchases. I had to carry 2 bags home, each weighing about 10 lbs each (well, they felt like 10 lbs). Speaking of bags, I was really surprised when the lady checking me out charged me for them (3 cents each) because the bags are supposedly government regulated. Are they running out of plastic in SA? I'll look into it.

If getting groceries wasn't bad enough, I didn't know how to cook the ground beef that I bought and had to ask another housemate for help. It turns out, you don't need to cook it with oil because the beef is already greasy. I seasoned the beef with soy sauce because that was all I had. I put the cooked beef and a fried egg into a garlic pita bread, added some slices of English cucumber (I thought about cucumber sandwiches from the book The Importance of Being Earnest when I purchased it) and ate it up. That's my original creation so if you try doing this at home, let me know what you think. I really miss my parents' cooking and Lean Cuisine meals, but it felt very satisfying to feed myself without the microwave or someone's help (well, almost)!

My goal is to live in Cape Town using only 400 rands a month on groceries. That's about $66. Eating out (probably about 3 meals a week) will not count because I'm only doing it for social reasons and I will keep it light. Most of the international students think it's impossible but I'm Vietnamese...my people used to live on rice and salt and it's possible that some of them still do. That's a joke if it should offend any Vietnamese people reading this.

Wish me luck with my goal though. I'm really serious about it. White South Africans living in Cape Town make an average of about 10,579 U.S. dollars a year, Indians/Asians make $6,648, the Coloured (mixed race) Africans make $3,459, and the Black Africans make about $2,025. How do I know this? The wonderful people at Sander Lab gave me 2 amazing guide books before I left. So spending $66 a month on food is actually very reasonable, especially for a student.

Thanks for reading this far. I will post pictures as soon as I learn how to do that. Take care everyone!