As many of you may already know, Wrenna has been out here for over two months now. It's safe to say that the 'adjustment period' is now over... both for south africa and her classes. If you're interested in learning more about the strange differences between american and south african universities, you'll have to shoot wrenna an email. I'll be taking you through all the fun and excitement of the months since her plane landed.
In addition to seeing day three of south africa versus england in a five-day cricket test match, we managed to see a soccer match between south africa and zimbabwe. I even took a loaf of bread to wave at the zim supporters tauntingly but forgot it in the car. I did take the ol' djembe drum in and had an amazing time. africans operate just one drum beat away from a dance party so add in a three goal victory over zim and you've got a happy crowd. The game was in durban's new moses mabhida stadium and being in it for a big match is just breathtaking. all the negative hype from the past few years about south africa not hosting 2010 might even make sitting there that much more special. The stadium is amazing.
Valentine's day was spent in the drakensberg. although gaining recent popularity for its cameo at the end of last summers blockbuster film '2012', the drakensberg is best know for its biodiversity and rippling stone escarpments that stretch for miles (kilometres). wrenna and i managed to tag along with the local 'mountain club' branch and the result was luxury. during the soccer in a few months, the very same people we were with for the weekend will be charging to lead hikes. the hiking party had two cooks, a bird expert, a flower expert and 71 year-old woman who has hiked every inch of the berg many times over.
we slept in a cave that fit all twelve of us and in the nearby tarns (pools of water in the stone) were little mini-ecosystems that were simply indescribable. James the flower expert pointed out that at the bottom of some of the tarns (underwater) grow plants and because the water is so clear they photosynthesize no prob. the only thing is that in order to reproduce they need their flowers to be pollinated... so they send up little stringy vines to the surface where the flowers blossom. this flower is only found within 5km of where we were standing. turns out we were also standing a few yards from the lesotho border. wrenna and i found a gap in the barbed wire fence and quickly jumped into lesotho, officially making the camping trip an international expedition.
during the last stretch of the hike, iona the 71 year old asked us to tread lightly so we didn't scare away the giant brown puff adder that lived under rocks right next to the trail we were hiking. she'd only seen it once but wanted to see it again. your ankles were no more than half a metre from two snake holes that easily could fit a giant snake. they live on rodents and hikers. i don't know what snake shit looks like but if it looks like a small snake, then there was snake shit all over the trail. wrenna, for the record, is afraid of snakes. also for the record, the expression "they're just as afraid of you as you are of them" doesn't apply to snakes. the expression, "they're just as oblivious to you as you are of them" unfortunately holds true. also not applying to brown puff adder snakes is, "they're just as likely to bite you in the ankle when you step on them as you are to them." THEY DON'T HAVE ANKLES.
in work related news, my major cable-stayed bridge project is only a few months from completion. i used to think i was up high when we climbed up to the deck level. now the scaffolding goes up to the top where the stays will attach. that's more than twice as high as before. oy. about 60 metres. like a 20 story building.
the most exciting story to relate is that i'll be going to the netherlands in late march to visit SSI's parent company DHV. late last year i entered into a DHV policy paper competition in which teams from offices from all over the world submit business plans implementable by DHV. i had an old idea lying around that i'd almost forgotten about. i punted the idea to some super talented young SSI colleagues and voila, three months later and we've won. we're gonna fly out early and come back late to make sure that, as young-ssi's delegates to our overseas colleagues, we have time to visit the sex museum.
wrenna will unfortunately be stuck in pmb taking exams and submitting big reports. if this sounds unfair to wrenna, it is.
it TOTALLY is.
