the day i stepped off the plane into cape town, it was pouring. the day i left to get on the plane for home, it was pouring. fitting.
anyway.
the last fun activity i did in cape town was african drumming lessons--it was actually pretty sweet and i felt like my drum skills translated rather slightly above than mediocrely onto the african drum haha
i really want one now...i could develop some sweet chops on that thing.
which made me think...have i reached that phase where i enjoy drumming more than playing guitar? uh oh dilemma!
but that was that...saying goodbye to everyone was hard and i hate doing it. so i made it real quick and left the club we were at.
the flight from cape town to johannesburg was an uneventful 2 hours except delta is gay and charges you for your 3rd checked bag. i had to drop like $80-90 to check a small little backpack which they wouldnt let me take onto the plane. bah. anyway, otherwise, uneventful. arrived in joburg where my next problem began.
i was starving so i went to get some food at a restaurant in the airport--i had the most incredible chili pasta and banana/ice cream crepes. but when it came time to pay, i find my visa credit card is maxed out thanks to paying for that checked bag earlier...and i dont have enough cash to pay the bill...and i dont have an ATM card. shit. i made several frantic calls to my mom at 6am phoenix time and the various banks and had my credit limit increased by $100 just for today. the bill was only $8 or so. thats how bad it was haha
anyway, that was crazy and got that taken care of. boarded the plane for the long 16-hr nonstop flight to atlanta.
*********about an hour in, i hear commotion through my headphones and i turn around...and some guy is having a heart attack in the aisle like two rows behind me. they make an announcement over the PA for doctors and a few rush over...but there's not much you can do for a heart attack 36,000 ft in the air. he died and it turns out he had 3 daughters he was returning to. his wife was flying with him but bless her heart she was real strong about it. fucking crazy man...
i arrived in atlanta totally wiped...16 hrs nonstop is the longest i've gone. i had an hour and a half to make my connection to phoenix. unfortunately, the bags took literally forever. they kept switching the carousels they were supposed to come out of and when i finally did get them, i had about 45 minutes to make it to the gate. unfortunately, i had to go through customs as well. bastards thought i had agricultural products even when i clearly marked NO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS so that was a fiasco. i tried to get through security...and just when i had almost made it through, an airport guy grabs me and moves me and everyone behind me to another line to "speed things up." well fuck, i was JUST about to go through! and i get put in a security line where AN ENTIRE FUCKING PLATOON OF IRAQ SOLDIERS are going through--god bless their service and all, but seriously i was not happy. each one took forever cuz they have to remove their badges, hats, laptops, boots, belts blahblah. i was fuming.
i ran to the gate and literally made it as they were about to close it, kinda like in a movie.
but here i am after traveling for 30+ hours...back in beautiful sunny and HOT phoenix.
i guess this is the end of this blog since my adventures in cape town are over...what an incredible two months.
peace out y'all
live long and prosper
or something.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
crazyyyyy
so on saturday, i went to an exclusive private lingerie show at a club. we got hookups through one of our baller coordinators. one of the enticing things was free drinks for girls and cheap drinks for guys...but they ran out quickly. so we left for a bit and found a local bar where i took the coolest shotglass i've ever seen. souvenir for me!
went back to the club around midnight to see the lingerie show...drool drool drool girls were so hot haha. never really been to a fashion show outside of the CMU ones and well they're not quite like the real thing i imagine. the show was pretty short--around 20 minutes but it was all good :]
anyway, we were walking home and there were about 8 of us...and i saw a group of 4 guys walking in our direction. i didn't think nothing of it until i saw one of them lunge and grab katie's purse. she managed to get it away and the guy kept moving past...but then he tried the same thing w/ becca who was a few feet behind me. we ran and tried to help her and when i got there, after a few seconds of wrestling, the guy pushed me back and reached inside his coat yelling. he pulled something out and i thought it was a knife or a gun and i was like 'shit im dead.' but it was nothing, he was bluffing. so we threw him to the ground, told him to fuck off and kept going.
im so glad he didnt actually have a weapon...or that only one of the 4 guys actually tried to rob the girls cuz if all 4 had tried, we would've been outnumbered. that was a scary moment and it definitely reminded me that we all had gotten too comfortable and complacent in cape town. crime is definitely still a reality and walking aroudn the city is still way more dangerous than walking around phx or pittsburgh at night.
which brings me to tonight. monday.
i was walking home from a bar with a friend and about to cross an intersection. we hear a screech and a bang and we were like wtf? then we see a car screech into the intersection, brake really hard and try to take a hard left towards us. it was going too fast and went straight into the front windows/doors of the corner restaurant where i often eat lunch at carlucci's. i mean holy shit it must've been going like 100km/h or so. we got closer to the intersection and saw what the 1st screech was.
another car had broken the median, crashed into a palm tree and done so with so much speed and force that it had completely uprooted the tree and the tree was on the other side of the road. the car was stuck vertically at about 120 degrees so the rear bumper was further forward than the forward bumper. a girl was lying on the asphalt screaming and i could see bone sticking out of her left leg, which looked to be her femur. i could see her kneecap was busted and her left leg was completely swollen along w/ some bleeding everywhere. amazingly, in less than a minute literally, ambulances and police were there.
it had to have been some sort of car chase or race or something...the speeds they were going at jesus. i mean, brakes didn't hold and one car uprooted an entire palm tree. probably were drunk too.
i really wish i had my camera to take pictures but it got busted during sandboarding...looks like ill have to buy another one :(
anyway, the lesson is...dont ever drink and drive. i did my fair share of that back in high school and my early years of college, but no more. fucking crazy man. i guess seeing a car accident happen in real life is one of those life-changing moments.
i leave this place on friday and will be home on saturday...SADNESS!
i also shaved off the end of my pinky nail cutting an onion that was softer than i predicted. the knife went straight through like butter and cut my nail. a little bit more off and i would've sliced my finger clean off...which means no guitar :(
man, what a crazy week haha...and its only monday
went back to the club around midnight to see the lingerie show...drool drool drool girls were so hot haha. never really been to a fashion show outside of the CMU ones and well they're not quite like the real thing i imagine. the show was pretty short--around 20 minutes but it was all good :]
anyway, we were walking home and there were about 8 of us...and i saw a group of 4 guys walking in our direction. i didn't think nothing of it until i saw one of them lunge and grab katie's purse. she managed to get it away and the guy kept moving past...but then he tried the same thing w/ becca who was a few feet behind me. we ran and tried to help her and when i got there, after a few seconds of wrestling, the guy pushed me back and reached inside his coat yelling. he pulled something out and i thought it was a knife or a gun and i was like 'shit im dead.' but it was nothing, he was bluffing. so we threw him to the ground, told him to fuck off and kept going.
im so glad he didnt actually have a weapon...or that only one of the 4 guys actually tried to rob the girls cuz if all 4 had tried, we would've been outnumbered. that was a scary moment and it definitely reminded me that we all had gotten too comfortable and complacent in cape town. crime is definitely still a reality and walking aroudn the city is still way more dangerous than walking around phx or pittsburgh at night.
which brings me to tonight. monday.
i was walking home from a bar with a friend and about to cross an intersection. we hear a screech and a bang and we were like wtf? then we see a car screech into the intersection, brake really hard and try to take a hard left towards us. it was going too fast and went straight into the front windows/doors of the corner restaurant where i often eat lunch at carlucci's. i mean holy shit it must've been going like 100km/h or so. we got closer to the intersection and saw what the 1st screech was.
another car had broken the median, crashed into a palm tree and done so with so much speed and force that it had completely uprooted the tree and the tree was on the other side of the road. the car was stuck vertically at about 120 degrees so the rear bumper was further forward than the forward bumper. a girl was lying on the asphalt screaming and i could see bone sticking out of her left leg, which looked to be her femur. i could see her kneecap was busted and her left leg was completely swollen along w/ some bleeding everywhere. amazingly, in less than a minute literally, ambulances and police were there.
it had to have been some sort of car chase or race or something...the speeds they were going at jesus. i mean, brakes didn't hold and one car uprooted an entire palm tree. probably were drunk too.
i really wish i had my camera to take pictures but it got busted during sandboarding...looks like ill have to buy another one :(
anyway, the lesson is...dont ever drink and drive. i did my fair share of that back in high school and my early years of college, but no more. fucking crazy man. i guess seeing a car accident happen in real life is one of those life-changing moments.
i leave this place on friday and will be home on saturday...SADNESS!
i also shaved off the end of my pinky nail cutting an onion that was softer than i predicted. the knife went straight through like butter and cut my nail. a little bit more off and i would've sliced my finger clean off...which means no guitar :(
man, what a crazy week haha...and its only monday
Friday, July 24, 2009
im getting published!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D
today was my last day of work...kinda sad actually. i've grown pretty close to dr. zeier and we promised to stay in touch and she would update me on the progress of the research project i started...which means that when it's done, my name will be listed as a coauthor of the paper! SCHWEEET!!!
so now i have one week left in cape town. what to do? besides the obvious: gettin D. but really, i need to have some sort of wholesome activity, lest i feel like im wasting my days away. no pun intended. HAHAHA...
so now i have one week left in cape town. what to do? besides the obvious: gettin D. but really, i need to have some sort of wholesome activity, lest i feel like im wasting my days away. no pun intended. HAHAHA...
Saturday, July 18, 2009
cowabunga!
today i went sandboarding and ATV-riding on the sand dunes of atlantis, south africa. i've finally found the lost city :]
anyway
the guides picked us up at 9:30am after a freaking crazy night for me that involved half a bottle of jack, stripping down to my spongebob squarepants boxers, donning my giant 3-ft sombrero and running into the room where 15-20 girls were celebrating their "girl's night out", and party-boying a few of them.
we arrived in atlantis, which is about 45 minutes outside cape town...looking back, we could see the whole city with the ever-picturesque table mountain in the background. seriously, so many postcard-worthy views every day here.
sandboarding is exactly the same as snowboarding...except it's on sand. they even give you snowboard shoes and a snowboard. except speeds are a little slower due to the higher friction so we had to wax the boards before every run so they would go faster. it was freaking sweet...unfortunately, the runs only lasted like 5 seconds or so cuz the dunes werent THAT big. but the worst part was definitely climbing back up a sand dune...felt like quicksand fo sheezy.
i was a little nervous cuz i suck at snowboarding, but i improved rapidly so i was happy. i even did some board grabs and jumps [sweet action pics of course]...extreemmmeeeee. im going snowboarding all the time back home.
i only wiped out 3 times the whole day! once was just cuz i did...the second time was trying to land a jump and the third was..well.
while we were waiting for the ATVs, jeff and i built a sandcastle at the bottom of a dune, which quickly turned into a sand table mountain since it was way easier. but it still had the castle walls haha. so anyway, after making it, we decided to board down straight into it and destroy it. i went first, hit the wall and broke it and then hit our sand table mountain...my front end got stuck a bit, but that was all it took for me to flip up and over the whole thing and eat sand as the back of my board absolutely demolished 45 minutes of hard labor. it was so sweet. so that was my 3rd and last wipeout. not bad :]
the ATV's came, and that was actually even MORE fun than sandboarding. sandboarding was just too much work climbing up the hills, waxing the boards and stuff for 5 seconds of mediocre speed. but the ATV's....wooooow. so awesome. vroom vroooom.
we were actually about to go down the first dune, which i swear was like a 70degree decline and jeff was in front of me. we were goin really slowly braking and stuff...but he braked too much and flipped over his ATV and it landed on him. i was right behind him and saw him get destroyed so naturally i freaked the fuck out. but i made it down the dune OK--turns out you're not supposed to brake so much going down..if anything, get some speed going down.
we were going all over the dunes in these ATV's and i couldn't help noticing how fucking beautiful it was. a few plants here and there, but the sand was completely white. sitting on an ATV hearing the engine roar behind you going 60km/h and the cool wind blowing into your helmet, feeling the shaking of it on your legs, feeling the sand from the guy in front of you spray you in the face and seeing a vast OCEAN of pure, white, soft snow..i mean sand. it was that clean-looking and white. the softest sand i've ever felt in my life.
man...i've pretty much done most everything i wanted to do here--except for a safari and maybe paragliding. but i figure i can find a place to paraglide in the states, since i'm REALLY strapped for moolah now. mama oh is noooot going to be happy..
but whatever. T.I.A.
anyway
the guides picked us up at 9:30am after a freaking crazy night for me that involved half a bottle of jack, stripping down to my spongebob squarepants boxers, donning my giant 3-ft sombrero and running into the room where 15-20 girls were celebrating their "girl's night out", and party-boying a few of them.
we arrived in atlantis, which is about 45 minutes outside cape town...looking back, we could see the whole city with the ever-picturesque table mountain in the background. seriously, so many postcard-worthy views every day here.
sandboarding is exactly the same as snowboarding...except it's on sand. they even give you snowboard shoes and a snowboard. except speeds are a little slower due to the higher friction so we had to wax the boards before every run so they would go faster. it was freaking sweet...unfortunately, the runs only lasted like 5 seconds or so cuz the dunes werent THAT big. but the worst part was definitely climbing back up a sand dune...felt like quicksand fo sheezy.
i was a little nervous cuz i suck at snowboarding, but i improved rapidly so i was happy. i even did some board grabs and jumps [sweet action pics of course]...extreemmmeeeee. im going snowboarding all the time back home.
i only wiped out 3 times the whole day! once was just cuz i did...the second time was trying to land a jump and the third was..well.
while we were waiting for the ATVs, jeff and i built a sandcastle at the bottom of a dune, which quickly turned into a sand table mountain since it was way easier. but it still had the castle walls haha. so anyway, after making it, we decided to board down straight into it and destroy it. i went first, hit the wall and broke it and then hit our sand table mountain...my front end got stuck a bit, but that was all it took for me to flip up and over the whole thing and eat sand as the back of my board absolutely demolished 45 minutes of hard labor. it was so sweet. so that was my 3rd and last wipeout. not bad :]
the ATV's came, and that was actually even MORE fun than sandboarding. sandboarding was just too much work climbing up the hills, waxing the boards and stuff for 5 seconds of mediocre speed. but the ATV's....wooooow. so awesome. vroom vroooom.
we were actually about to go down the first dune, which i swear was like a 70degree decline and jeff was in front of me. we were goin really slowly braking and stuff...but he braked too much and flipped over his ATV and it landed on him. i was right behind him and saw him get destroyed so naturally i freaked the fuck out. but i made it down the dune OK--turns out you're not supposed to brake so much going down..if anything, get some speed going down.
we were going all over the dunes in these ATV's and i couldn't help noticing how fucking beautiful it was. a few plants here and there, but the sand was completely white. sitting on an ATV hearing the engine roar behind you going 60km/h and the cool wind blowing into your helmet, feeling the shaking of it on your legs, feeling the sand from the guy in front of you spray you in the face and seeing a vast OCEAN of pure, white, soft snow..i mean sand. it was that clean-looking and white. the softest sand i've ever felt in my life.
man...i've pretty much done most everything i wanted to do here--except for a safari and maybe paragliding. but i figure i can find a place to paraglide in the states, since i'm REALLY strapped for moolah now. mama oh is noooot going to be happy..
but whatever. T.I.A.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
hm...
my friend jessi just found out today that she fractured her sternum kloofing--the 72ft one.
man lucky that wasn't me...but i guess she's lucky it isnt worse, not that i think what happened to her was good at all. i just walked away with a sore ass, thighs, arms, hands, feet and neck. i'd rather have all that than a fractured sternum heh
well i did what i could...i practically gave her my entire bottle of advil :]
<3 jessi
today was a more depressing day at work. most of the patients i saw today were sad cases...and there were a lot who cried. i always feel a little uncomfortable around crying ppl b/c idk if i should try and say something or just sit in silence--there's a time and place for both yea?
anyways, there was this lady who was doin real well on the ARV's...but her husband was a meth addict and didn't do anything. she was the sole source of income and he would sleep for days on meth, then wake up and be really hungry and eat everything she had shopped for, so that when she came back from work tired and hungry, he had eaten everything. there she was fighting for her survival and her meth addict husband was doing nothing in life. the doctor and her were talking in afrikaans and i guess the emotional stress broke, cuz she just started crying. sigh.
oh but that mint-stealing little girl came back to visit! that made me really happy--cute as ever, but i don't think she remembered me :(
also, dr. zeier had to give the sad news that another patient was indeed, going to die very soon...2 weeks left or so in fact. i can't imagine giving anyone news like that.
thats why i dont think i could ever be an oncologist, or open heart surgeon or whatnot. i have faith in my motor skills to perform things like that [thanks video games!] but the emotional aspect of it would be miserable. "sorry betty, but we couldn't save jim...and even though it probably wasn't my fault and there was nothing we could do i know you'll blame me forever for it but please try not to sue me." man that would blow golf balls through a garden hose. which is very very hard i would imagine. im convinced that in order to be a doctor, you need to be able to maintain some distance with ppl and have that emotional detachment so you don't completely explode. unless you don't have emotions. think about it, charles manson would've made a great doctor if not for the whole...enjoying killing people thing.
what would you do with 2 weeks left?
i guess you could go the sappy route and tell everyone you loved them blahblahblah and spend your time w/ loved ones...or you could do everything on your bucket list and go out doing things like...jumping off a bridge or a cliff haha
or maybe do a week of each.
[i would definitely do ecstasy actually, seeing as how i have one in my fridge at home...]
can i get arrested for that?
but otherwise, life is great. there's a french med student and a dutch med student in the clinic as well, doing a similar thing, except they're actually in med school in their home countries and are just here for clinical experience.
as for work itself, i finished phase I and II of my research project. dr. zeier wants to add more parameters to analyze before i leave, which is fine by me since i think i've figured out how to work statistica. but she also started me on another project involving tuberculosis. we'll see how far i get.
which brings me to my final point i guess...i've gotten pretty tight with my supervisor, the other doctors and the nurses in the clinic. and i've only got two weeks left. for god's sake, i'm going to dinner at my boss's house! it sucks i have to leave when i've finally gotten settled in not just at home, but at work.
i miss everyone back home--phoenix and pittsburgh. but i could use a month..or two..or three here. that being said, i AM excited to start school this fall in grad school--we'll see how that pans out.
man lucky that wasn't me...but i guess she's lucky it isnt worse, not that i think what happened to her was good at all. i just walked away with a sore ass, thighs, arms, hands, feet and neck. i'd rather have all that than a fractured sternum heh
well i did what i could...i practically gave her my entire bottle of advil :]
<3 jessi
today was a more depressing day at work. most of the patients i saw today were sad cases...and there were a lot who cried. i always feel a little uncomfortable around crying ppl b/c idk if i should try and say something or just sit in silence--there's a time and place for both yea?
anyways, there was this lady who was doin real well on the ARV's...but her husband was a meth addict and didn't do anything. she was the sole source of income and he would sleep for days on meth, then wake up and be really hungry and eat everything she had shopped for, so that when she came back from work tired and hungry, he had eaten everything. there she was fighting for her survival and her meth addict husband was doing nothing in life. the doctor and her were talking in afrikaans and i guess the emotional stress broke, cuz she just started crying. sigh.
oh but that mint-stealing little girl came back to visit! that made me really happy--cute as ever, but i don't think she remembered me :(
also, dr. zeier had to give the sad news that another patient was indeed, going to die very soon...2 weeks left or so in fact. i can't imagine giving anyone news like that.
thats why i dont think i could ever be an oncologist, or open heart surgeon or whatnot. i have faith in my motor skills to perform things like that [thanks video games!] but the emotional aspect of it would be miserable. "sorry betty, but we couldn't save jim...and even though it probably wasn't my fault and there was nothing we could do i know you'll blame me forever for it but please try not to sue me." man that would blow golf balls through a garden hose. which is very very hard i would imagine. im convinced that in order to be a doctor, you need to be able to maintain some distance with ppl and have that emotional detachment so you don't completely explode. unless you don't have emotions. think about it, charles manson would've made a great doctor if not for the whole...enjoying killing people thing.
what would you do with 2 weeks left?
i guess you could go the sappy route and tell everyone you loved them blahblahblah and spend your time w/ loved ones...or you could do everything on your bucket list and go out doing things like...jumping off a bridge or a cliff haha
or maybe do a week of each.
[i would definitely do ecstasy actually, seeing as how i have one in my fridge at home...]
can i get arrested for that?
but otherwise, life is great. there's a french med student and a dutch med student in the clinic as well, doing a similar thing, except they're actually in med school in their home countries and are just here for clinical experience.
as for work itself, i finished phase I and II of my research project. dr. zeier wants to add more parameters to analyze before i leave, which is fine by me since i think i've figured out how to work statistica. but she also started me on another project involving tuberculosis. we'll see how far i get.
which brings me to my final point i guess...i've gotten pretty tight with my supervisor, the other doctors and the nurses in the clinic. and i've only got two weeks left. for god's sake, i'm going to dinner at my boss's house! it sucks i have to leave when i've finally gotten settled in not just at home, but at work.
i miss everyone back home--phoenix and pittsburgh. but i could use a month..or two..or three here. that being said, i AM excited to start school this fall in grad school--we'll see how that pans out.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
kloofing + abseiling = orgasmerrific
kloofing is jumping off cliffs. literally. well into water of course. otherwise, that'd be suicide. some might still consider it suicide, considering a bad landing or landing on rocks below would be like SHPOING SPLAT.
wtf.
anyway, we left at like 7am (ugh) to the office where we would get our wetsuits and board the bus. there were 12 of us. lets see...me, scott, bill, katie, alli, jesse, brett, tyler, lauren, becca, laurie and another katie. it was about an hour to an hour and a half scenic drive there...and when we arrived, they totally fed us breakfast. sweet. delicious maple syrup, it was so sticky.
anyway, we began our hike out from the lodge HQ and i guess i was expecting another mountain hike, but it was more of an up-and-down a gorge. aptly named skeleton gorge. but despite its name, it was gorgeous, as usual. nothing in south africa ISNT gorgeous. it was a rather short hike, about 45 minutes to an hour i think. could be wrong, since none of us took our cell phones cuz they were about to be DOMINATED by water.
we arrived, suited up into wetsuits and climbed the first rock above the waterfall...the water was really clean and fresh-looking too. the only bad part about the day was how freaking cold it was, especially after coming out of the water. also, walking barefeet on sharp rocks and climbing up a mountain is not fun--my feet feel like the skin's been flayed off and then dipped in 12M hydrochloric acid.
but the first jump was, as the guy said, only 7m. 21-22ft. doesn't sound like much and we thought it'd be no problem, but when you're standing on that ledge looking down into the water, not knowing if the bottom is deep enough [even though they assure you it is], you have second thoughts. and it was actually WAY more nerve-wracking than bungee jumping, cuz i knew that was 100% safe...and you have a huge cord attached to you. in this, you're trusting yourself to not slip as you jump out, trusting yourself to jump out far enough so you don't land on the trees or another rock below, and trusting yourself to dive into the water properly so you don't end up paralyzing yourself.
anyway, we all went and it was awesomeeeee but sure enough, some of the taller guys touched the bottom as they hit the pool. ouch. and the water was holy shit freezing. on my first jump, i landed with my arms still extended out so my palms hit the water too...and then it felt like my hands had been flayed and then dipped in 12M hydrochloric acid.
we then climbed up to a higher ledge, which was 10m. 3m, or 9ft doesn't sound like much of an increase...but man it is. also nerve-wracking as hell because the previous ledge was RIGHT beneath us, and if you didn't jump out far enough, it looked like you would just smash into it. anyway, we did that--my jump was better this time. no major injuries...so far. it was really cool, and i was feeling confident so i did the 10m one again.
we then packed up again, and continued the hike a little further up to a taller waterfall. the first jump we did there was 18m. BIG step up...and this time, i landed slightly wrong..instead of my legs going completely in first, my butt broke the surface as well and man. it still hurts to sit. but otherwise, it was awesome.
it was so nice to jump into an ice-cold pool with a raging waterfall next to you after you were all hot and sweaty in the wetsuit from trying to climb the rocks barefoot. we even went tarzan at one point and were walking on branches! some of the people opted out of the 18m jump understandably...it was scary.
but we weren't done. we swam across the lake to another waterfall and started climbing that one. this one was the big mama. it was 22m tall, which we calculated to be 71.5 ft. that's seven fucking stories tall.
you know those movies where the super agent spies like jump out of a window or cliff into water to escape the bad guys? or vice versa i suppose. well i can totally do that now :-D
standing at the very edge of that was probably the single most terrifying moment of my life...standing at the edge of the bloukrans bridge 216m high was nothing compared to that moment. i prayed that i wouldn't land wrong and break anything. i got up there, gathered myself for a few seconds and then jumped............and free-falled for about 3 seconds and then boom.
i felt like my spine had been bent in, my neck had been whiplashed and my head had been hit with a sledgehammer and my ass didn't like being rocked by the water for a second time.
i came up and for a brief millisecond, thought i had seriously injured myself...but i wiggled all my limbs and seemed ok. my head was spinning though and it hurt royally.
someone got a sweet video and pictures of me jumping though, so i'm stoked...will be up on facebook as soon as i get home! :]
out of the 12 of us, only 6 of us did the final 22m jump.
jesse was the last one to go and she landed really really bad. im talking like halfway between a standing and sitting position, 45 degrees on her back. we were all cheering her on and when she hit, it was like "oh shit no." she came up and didn't look good and the guides had to swim over to her and get her out cuz she couldn't breathe or move. we thought she'd been paralyzed, but just got the wind knocked out of her...either way, i think she's going to a doctor soon just to be safe. needless to say, as awesome and fun as kloofing was, it's really fucking dangerous.
but thats what makes it so sicknasty i guess :]
we ate lunch there, which the lodge had kindly provided...chicken and mayo sandwiches. afterwards, we all strapped into a harness and got helmets to go abseiling, or rappelling down a rock face. i was the first one to go and i had never done it before. i ended up failing miserably and slamming into the wall and prickly bushes a few times. i thought the helmets were dumb but im glad i had one cuz i felt the helmet hit the wall. towards the end, i got the hang of it and was moving pretty quickly, so i was happy :] definitely more laid back and chill and secure than kloofing, but i preferred the cliff jumping. so moist.
after that, the wind picked up really badly and the waterfall was like blowing back at us it was tiiiight. we hiked back, where they fed us dinner and complimentary drinks [booze]. drove home and here i am...im drained but i think we're going out to see a movie.
kloofing and bungee jumping were by far, the two most exhilarating moments of my life. even the rush of being on stage in a band can't really compare. i want to relive those moments again...but no money. :(
wtf.
anyway, we left at like 7am (ugh) to the office where we would get our wetsuits and board the bus. there were 12 of us. lets see...me, scott, bill, katie, alli, jesse, brett, tyler, lauren, becca, laurie and another katie. it was about an hour to an hour and a half scenic drive there...and when we arrived, they totally fed us breakfast. sweet. delicious maple syrup, it was so sticky.
anyway, we began our hike out from the lodge HQ and i guess i was expecting another mountain hike, but it was more of an up-and-down a gorge. aptly named skeleton gorge. but despite its name, it was gorgeous, as usual. nothing in south africa ISNT gorgeous. it was a rather short hike, about 45 minutes to an hour i think. could be wrong, since none of us took our cell phones cuz they were about to be DOMINATED by water.
we arrived, suited up into wetsuits and climbed the first rock above the waterfall...the water was really clean and fresh-looking too. the only bad part about the day was how freaking cold it was, especially after coming out of the water. also, walking barefeet on sharp rocks and climbing up a mountain is not fun--my feet feel like the skin's been flayed off and then dipped in 12M hydrochloric acid.
but the first jump was, as the guy said, only 7m. 21-22ft. doesn't sound like much and we thought it'd be no problem, but when you're standing on that ledge looking down into the water, not knowing if the bottom is deep enough [even though they assure you it is], you have second thoughts. and it was actually WAY more nerve-wracking than bungee jumping, cuz i knew that was 100% safe...and you have a huge cord attached to you. in this, you're trusting yourself to not slip as you jump out, trusting yourself to jump out far enough so you don't land on the trees or another rock below, and trusting yourself to dive into the water properly so you don't end up paralyzing yourself.
anyway, we all went and it was awesomeeeee but sure enough, some of the taller guys touched the bottom as they hit the pool. ouch. and the water was holy shit freezing. on my first jump, i landed with my arms still extended out so my palms hit the water too...and then it felt like my hands had been flayed and then dipped in 12M hydrochloric acid.
we then climbed up to a higher ledge, which was 10m. 3m, or 9ft doesn't sound like much of an increase...but man it is. also nerve-wracking as hell because the previous ledge was RIGHT beneath us, and if you didn't jump out far enough, it looked like you would just smash into it. anyway, we did that--my jump was better this time. no major injuries...so far. it was really cool, and i was feeling confident so i did the 10m one again.
we then packed up again, and continued the hike a little further up to a taller waterfall. the first jump we did there was 18m. BIG step up...and this time, i landed slightly wrong..instead of my legs going completely in first, my butt broke the surface as well and man. it still hurts to sit. but otherwise, it was awesome.
it was so nice to jump into an ice-cold pool with a raging waterfall next to you after you were all hot and sweaty in the wetsuit from trying to climb the rocks barefoot. we even went tarzan at one point and were walking on branches! some of the people opted out of the 18m jump understandably...it was scary.
but we weren't done. we swam across the lake to another waterfall and started climbing that one. this one was the big mama. it was 22m tall, which we calculated to be 71.5 ft. that's seven fucking stories tall.
you know those movies where the super agent spies like jump out of a window or cliff into water to escape the bad guys? or vice versa i suppose. well i can totally do that now :-D
standing at the very edge of that was probably the single most terrifying moment of my life...standing at the edge of the bloukrans bridge 216m high was nothing compared to that moment. i prayed that i wouldn't land wrong and break anything. i got up there, gathered myself for a few seconds and then jumped............and free-falled for about 3 seconds and then boom.
i felt like my spine had been bent in, my neck had been whiplashed and my head had been hit with a sledgehammer and my ass didn't like being rocked by the water for a second time.
i came up and for a brief millisecond, thought i had seriously injured myself...but i wiggled all my limbs and seemed ok. my head was spinning though and it hurt royally.
someone got a sweet video and pictures of me jumping though, so i'm stoked...will be up on facebook as soon as i get home! :]
out of the 12 of us, only 6 of us did the final 22m jump.
jesse was the last one to go and she landed really really bad. im talking like halfway between a standing and sitting position, 45 degrees on her back. we were all cheering her on and when she hit, it was like "oh shit no." she came up and didn't look good and the guides had to swim over to her and get her out cuz she couldn't breathe or move. we thought she'd been paralyzed, but just got the wind knocked out of her...either way, i think she's going to a doctor soon just to be safe. needless to say, as awesome and fun as kloofing was, it's really fucking dangerous.
but thats what makes it so sicknasty i guess :]
we ate lunch there, which the lodge had kindly provided...chicken and mayo sandwiches. afterwards, we all strapped into a harness and got helmets to go abseiling, or rappelling down a rock face. i was the first one to go and i had never done it before. i ended up failing miserably and slamming into the wall and prickly bushes a few times. i thought the helmets were dumb but im glad i had one cuz i felt the helmet hit the wall. towards the end, i got the hang of it and was moving pretty quickly, so i was happy :] definitely more laid back and chill and secure than kloofing, but i preferred the cliff jumping. so moist.
after that, the wind picked up really badly and the waterfall was like blowing back at us it was tiiiight. we hiked back, where they fed us dinner and complimentary drinks [booze]. drove home and here i am...im drained but i think we're going out to see a movie.
kloofing and bungee jumping were by far, the two most exhilarating moments of my life. even the rush of being on stage in a band can't really compare. i want to relive those moments again...but no money. :(
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
nostalgia and exotic foods!
so today [wednesday] my boss picked me up and she took me to her house for a bit. i toured her house and was pleasantly surprised.
both her and her husband are state doctors, meaning their salaries are pitiful compared to private doctors. the state doctors recently went on strike last week (its over now) to start negotiations w/ the government about salary...dr. zeier has been working for 17 years in the same hospital and only gets 1% increase in salary each year. that's fucking ridiculous. that would be a crime in the states.
anyway, i didn't think they would be living the high life...but their home was really nice. wooden floors covered w/ expensive middle eastern carpets. appparently, her husband is an avid collector of anything and everything, so there were all these rugs everywhere. he also collected aged whiskies, which im sure is a constant temptation to drink...and he also collected license plates from around the world. he had all 50 US ones haha and was working on canada's.
anyway, we picked up her youngest daughter, beatrice, who's 12 going on 13. we drove to the main campus of the university of stellenbosch to pick up the other daughter, caroline, who is 17.
caroline wants to be a violinist...so as we were sitting at a bistro in the middle of quaint little college-town stellenbosch, i started reminiscing about my childhood and those 14 years of violin i did.
hearing her talk about orchestra [PSG and bob and all the amazing ppl i met through that], the 8-hour long festival rehearsals [hello all-state], the chamber music ensembles [alright i have to drop mr. haggard's name and high school here] and my private teacher dr. skoldberg all came to mind. and although those were some of the most miserable times of my life [0 hour orchestra w/ mr. haggard ugh], in retrospect, i was good at it and sorta miss it.
caroline turned out to be studying lalo's symphonie espagnole, which i played my sophomore year of high school. ah the memories. the opening 4 A's in ascending octaves? yea. sweet. we bonded over our love for the tchaikovsky and sibelius violin concertos (which are still some of my favorites). saint-saens, dvorak and scherezade by someone i forget all came into discussion. turns out they're a very musical family--caroline plays violin, beatrice plays cello and dr. zeier played piano and classical guitar.
anyway, after lunch, caroline had to go back to her chamber music summer camp thing so the rest of us went to a cheetah reserve, where i got to pet one!! it was absolutely incredible. they're beautiful animals and so so soft. there's only about 7500 left in the world though...sadness.
after the cheetahs, we visited an eagle sanctuary where they had all these species of eagles being rehabilitated from injury. i saw peregrine falcons, which are the fastest diving birds in the world (100+mph!), vultures, owls and HUUUUUUGE eagles. im talking like wingspans taller than me. i got to hold this eagle named wally though, who weighed about 1.5kg, which doesn't seem like all that much. but when he's on your arm for about 5 minutes, it starts to get heavy haha. it was a strange experience--i felt like i was bonding with this bird staring into its eyes and i couldnt help noticing how sharp its beaks and claws were...if it wanted to, it could blind me or probably even kill me. but it was so good-natured; it let me stroke it everywhere and when i put my hand in front of it, it even pruned my hand for me :]
the trainer told me to feel its leg muscles, which were strong enough to crush a rabbit's skull upon impact. eagles can spot prey at 2-3km, which is equivalent to us reading a newspaper at 300m. wow.
anyway, that was it for the day. i think i may steal back my violin from my brother and see if i can't bring some of my old skills back. after all, without it, i wouldn't be anywhere near as good as i am at the guitar yea? ;)
this weekend, we're planning on going abseiling, cliff jumping and kloofing. SWEET
---------
tonight, for dinner, we went to mama africa [which i went to on my very first night here and had ostrich]. well this time, i increased my repertoire...
i ordered a big dish that had kudu, ostrich, crocodile and springbok on it. as i said before, ostrich tastes exactly like a very lean steak...and so do kudu and springbok to be honest. although springbok had a slightly different taste, but it was very subtle. i rather liked it.
the CROCODILE however was like woa. i had heard it tasted like catfish so i was really reluctant to try it cuz i hate seafood...but upon eating it, its consistency and taste were both akin to chicken, which makes sense...since alligator is supposed to be exactly like chicken. although, the texture was slightly more 'gummmy' if that makes sense...
the african band playing did renditions of "my heart will go on" and "somewhere over the rainbow" lol. celine dion african style.....woooo
wow. what a day :]
oh and if you dont know what a kudu or springbok is...here you go. if you dont know what an ostrich or crocodile is, then you're just retarded.
springbok.
kudu.
ostriches are really dangerous animals apparently...well there you go :]
both her and her husband are state doctors, meaning their salaries are pitiful compared to private doctors. the state doctors recently went on strike last week (its over now) to start negotiations w/ the government about salary...dr. zeier has been working for 17 years in the same hospital and only gets 1% increase in salary each year. that's fucking ridiculous. that would be a crime in the states.
anyway, i didn't think they would be living the high life...but their home was really nice. wooden floors covered w/ expensive middle eastern carpets. appparently, her husband is an avid collector of anything and everything, so there were all these rugs everywhere. he also collected aged whiskies, which im sure is a constant temptation to drink...and he also collected license plates from around the world. he had all 50 US ones haha and was working on canada's.
anyway, we picked up her youngest daughter, beatrice, who's 12 going on 13. we drove to the main campus of the university of stellenbosch to pick up the other daughter, caroline, who is 17.
caroline wants to be a violinist...so as we were sitting at a bistro in the middle of quaint little college-town stellenbosch, i started reminiscing about my childhood and those 14 years of violin i did.
hearing her talk about orchestra [PSG and bob and all the amazing ppl i met through that], the 8-hour long festival rehearsals [hello all-state], the chamber music ensembles [alright i have to drop mr. haggard's name and high school here] and my private teacher dr. skoldberg all came to mind. and although those were some of the most miserable times of my life [0 hour orchestra w/ mr. haggard ugh], in retrospect, i was good at it and sorta miss it.
caroline turned out to be studying lalo's symphonie espagnole, which i played my sophomore year of high school. ah the memories. the opening 4 A's in ascending octaves? yea. sweet. we bonded over our love for the tchaikovsky and sibelius violin concertos (which are still some of my favorites). saint-saens, dvorak and scherezade by someone i forget all came into discussion. turns out they're a very musical family--caroline plays violin, beatrice plays cello and dr. zeier played piano and classical guitar.
anyway, after lunch, caroline had to go back to her chamber music summer camp thing so the rest of us went to a cheetah reserve, where i got to pet one!! it was absolutely incredible. they're beautiful animals and so so soft. there's only about 7500 left in the world though...sadness.
after the cheetahs, we visited an eagle sanctuary where they had all these species of eagles being rehabilitated from injury. i saw peregrine falcons, which are the fastest diving birds in the world (100+mph!), vultures, owls and HUUUUUUGE eagles. im talking like wingspans taller than me. i got to hold this eagle named wally though, who weighed about 1.5kg, which doesn't seem like all that much. but when he's on your arm for about 5 minutes, it starts to get heavy haha. it was a strange experience--i felt like i was bonding with this bird staring into its eyes and i couldnt help noticing how sharp its beaks and claws were...if it wanted to, it could blind me or probably even kill me. but it was so good-natured; it let me stroke it everywhere and when i put my hand in front of it, it even pruned my hand for me :]
the trainer told me to feel its leg muscles, which were strong enough to crush a rabbit's skull upon impact. eagles can spot prey at 2-3km, which is equivalent to us reading a newspaper at 300m. wow.
anyway, that was it for the day. i think i may steal back my violin from my brother and see if i can't bring some of my old skills back. after all, without it, i wouldn't be anywhere near as good as i am at the guitar yea? ;)
this weekend, we're planning on going abseiling, cliff jumping and kloofing. SWEET
---------
tonight, for dinner, we went to mama africa [which i went to on my very first night here and had ostrich]. well this time, i increased my repertoire...
i ordered a big dish that had kudu, ostrich, crocodile and springbok on it. as i said before, ostrich tastes exactly like a very lean steak...and so do kudu and springbok to be honest. although springbok had a slightly different taste, but it was very subtle. i rather liked it.
the CROCODILE however was like woa. i had heard it tasted like catfish so i was really reluctant to try it cuz i hate seafood...but upon eating it, its consistency and taste were both akin to chicken, which makes sense...since alligator is supposed to be exactly like chicken. although, the texture was slightly more 'gummmy' if that makes sense...
the african band playing did renditions of "my heart will go on" and "somewhere over the rainbow" lol. celine dion african style.....woooo
wow. what a day :]
oh and if you dont know what a kudu or springbok is...here you go. if you dont know what an ostrich or crocodile is, then you're just retarded.
springbok.
kudu.
ostriches are really dangerous animals apparently...well there you go :]
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