Getting Caught Up

The weekend passed relatively quickly but I was able to attend a Rugby match on Saturday night with the Cape Town Stormers taking on the Jo'burg Lions at the stadium a short walk from the res. While I know almost nothing about the sport of rugby, what I did learn from one of the guys I was at the game with is that basically the two main things you need to know about rugby are: the ball cannot be passed forward; and, play doesn't stop when the player holding the ball is tackled. So with that in mind I was very confused when players punted the ball up the field, kicked it out of bounds, and had what seemed to be random moments of acrobatics and group huddles. However, I think I was astute enough to know when our team (I say this as though I'm a Capetonian, but just work with me) was doing well as the entire stadium literally erupted in enthusiastic cheering and hollering. Overall the experience was very interesting and entertaining, especially when a fight broke out almost in front of where we were sitting and the loser (of the fight, I can't make any judgments about his character) was escorted out of the stadium to loud and boisterous boos. The Stormers came back from a 16-19 disadvantage with five minutes left to play, making a spectacular touchdown (I think that's what it's called: they ran the ball into the end of the field and touched it on the ground) followed by a wonderful field goal setting them firmly in the lead and the Lions left with their proverbial tails between their legs.
Sunday a few girls and I spent the day at the beach, where we managed not to get completely fried but a little pink. I swear the ozone here is thinner than back in New England/Upstate New York because even with strong sunscreen on people still seem to get burned here (at least the whiteys like me!). But overall the day was fantastic and I'm starting to look like I'm not an extra for the fourth Twilight movie, so I'm happy about that despite being a little burned.
Sunday night CIEE (the program I'm here with) treated us to a concert at this place called Kirstenbosch, which is famous for it's gorgeous botanical gardens but also for it's outdoor concert venue. I wasn't at all familiar with the performers, but the atmosphere was wonderful as people brought in food and beverages and spread out on blankets on this grassy hill overlooking the stage with the back of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak in the background. Beautiful doesn't at all do the place justice as the sun was setting over the mountains behind us, and the weather was perfect while the opening act and the main performance did an amazing job of getting the audience on their feet and dancing away. I capped a perfect day off with some good ol' American comfort food, some grilled cheese and tomato soup, only to find that the tomato soup here isn't exactly up to my Campbell's soup standards, so it wasn't as spectacular as I was hoping, but good nonetheless.
Finally, yesterday after class I climbed aboard the SHAWCO bus to head over to Manenburg again to work with the fifth graders on masks. After playing a warm-up game of Simon Says, we had the kids color printed designs that we then cut out and glued to cardboard pieces. Cutting out the eye holes was pretty difficult, but we managed to gnaw away at the flimsy cardboard with our child safety scissors and punched holes in the sides with a hole punch. We then topped it all off with some stretchy string tied to either side and the boys and girls were ready to roll with their cool animal masks decorated with colored pencil, magazine scraps, and glitter. They were spectacular about helping us clean up and were much calmer than last week (this could be due to the near 100 degree heat we were experiencing yesterday, but I wasn't complaining too much if it kept the rascals under control!). The girls I was working with were asking me about my slightly pink face, because being black they've never had sunburns before. I told them they were very lucky.
Unfortunately I still haven't had the chance to work at the TB hospital as we're waiting for permission from the hospital for us to come over, but I'm optimistic that things will get sorted out in the very near future.