Tonga?

the last few months have been me just living my life in south africa. nothing that I would exactly deem out of the ordinary enough to write home about. i'm still overjoyed to be seeing such a different life, perspective, etc. six months, maybe seven now, and the lustre of africa is still there. i wonder what's keeping this place so enjoyable to me...
three things methinks.
similarities between rsa and usa.
the crazy differences
new things
one thing that helps fight homesickness (and stomach sickness) is familiar foods. now those of you that know me and my... eating habits know i love my mexican food, pizza, carrot cake and ice cream sandwiches. this last week marks my finding carrot cake and carrot muffins. at a grocery store, woolworths, right down the street from my place.
exciting news, i know.
next are the differences that remind me i'm no longer in the granola-crunching town i've lived in most of my life.
today i walked home from work with joelene. at one point joelene tells me that there was a curse cast on the house coming up on the right. she'd noticed it whilst walking home the previous day. sure enough, in front of a house, butted up against the stone fence, was a dead chicken amongst some scattered debris. half a meter from the sidewalk.
a dead chicken wearing scraps of clothing scattered among a bunch of crap in front of a house means someone wants the resident of that house dead in 21 days. the process clearly smacks of voodoo.
awhile ago a similar curse was cast on joelene's mother, a saint. it must not have worked, seeing as mrs. singh still walks among us. joelene explained that the curse was broken by having a cleansing ritual carried out.
and now new things. i played croquet again. last time i played i watched the septuagenarians try these "bounce" shots when the opponent's balls were placed right in the wickets and couldn't be knocked out without knocking them through. you hit behind the ball at a 45 degree angle and the turf pops the ball up into the air. i tried it once this next time and, even though i never saw one of the triassics succeed at it, i somehow managed to sail one over the ball and through the wicket on my first try.
they made me submit to drug tests.
another new thing is finally understanding both the strategy AND the rules of rugby on a basic level. just in time for the world cup of rugby in france. usa, south africa, and england (the defending world cup champs) are in a bracket with samoa and tonga. tonga?
today i took a long lunch to watch usa play tonga. tonga? i figured it would usa's one chance to win. imagine my dismay when tonga (tonga?) scored a try in the second minute. long story short, the usa lost to a country (island) that i'd never heard of. i'm having flashbacks to germany 2006 when usa lost to that one country i can't remember. had the letter 'g' in it?
to semi end on a semi comical note, you might remember me talking about training for the comrades marathon (double marathon) which will take place in 11 months. i figured 11 eleven months will be enough time to slowly get into a serious work ethic and diet. i forgot one little thing. you have to qualify for the comrades via a small handful of qualifying races. one's in capetown and the other's in durban... IN TWO WEEKS! so i've got until the 22nd to get in good enough shape to run a 41km race (a full-marathon) in under 5.5 hours.
send ass lube!
and now to legitimately end on a legitimately comical note, i was wondering why americans are such war mongers. but then i realized, look at the foods and the brands behind them; general mills, colonel sanders, cap'n crunch, etc. d'ya see? all military figures.

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