Westminster Confessions

I love this (found on etsy.com):

A vintage poster commissioned by the British Government in August 1939 to be posted in times of “crisis or invasion”. There were three posters of similar design created for public confidence and this one was never posted.

Other colors (or should that be colours?) available.

My last day in Stellenbosch was spent getting final things worked out with the International office at the University and spending some more time with Christo and Andrea (the American student who just moved to South Africa). We took a drive out to one of the vineyards for a winetasting and then went to a berry farm for cheesecake and coffee. Christo says the berry farm has the best cheesecake in the world (and he supports this claim by saying that even Bob Pritchard and the Logos guys always ask to go there when they are in the area). Unfortunately, they have changed the recipe of the cheesecake (only Christo could have noticed that) and he says it is now “really good” but maybe no longer the “best in the world.” He says they took out some of the creaminess. It tasted superb to Andrea and me. The areas around Stellenbosch are just stunning. There are views of the mountains wherever you look. Most of the vineyards are nestled up onto the lower slopes of the moutains and have restaurants with outdoor eating areas. What a lovely way to relax! But we did talk “business” while we were eating our cheesecake. My research schedule seems to be headed in the right direction, so I was glad for the positive feedback. (more…)

Today I overcame numerous obstacles (and a few fears) in order to get to Table Mountain in Capetown and to hike up and on the mountain. I had nearly exhausted all avenues for finding someone to take me to Capetown. Finally, a local tour group organizer took pity on me (after stopping by every day for the last week). He found a seat for me in a tour van going to Capetown for the day with a guide. Jennie (the guide) took me along “because they had room.” The paying customers were three folks from Sweden (the two men were here to try to work out some kind of exchange program between a university in Sweden and Stellenbosch, the third person was the wife of one of the men). On the way we passed a vineyard that also has a wild game area. Apparently the owner has a game farm somewhere else and brought some of the animals here. It was quite amazing to see wildebeest, springbok, zebra, ostrich, and a few other species at a waterhole just outside Stellenbosch! (more…)

Dinner with Mrs. de la Bat was delightful. We met at 7 pm and walked to a restaurant that a friend recommended to her (Beads Restaurant). We sat outside in the garden area. She decided on a dish of curry and I ordered a traditional South African dish called bobotie. The food was absolutely delicious, but the conversation was even better. The lovely thing about eating here is that you are never rushed. Food takes longer to come to you, but you never mind. We sat and talked for over an hour after the last crumb of food left the table. (more…)

Stellenbosch Update #12: Mrs. de la Bat

I spent some time talking with Mrs. de la Bat this morning and she told me wonderful stories of living on the game reserve on the Etosha Pan. The pan or plain is full of amazing animals, and she is full of amazing stories!

First, let’s get the story behind the elephant feet. Her husband was the head game warden at Etosha. When an elephant bull becomes bested by another bull, he is put out of the herd. This bull may wander out of the reserve and then often becomes a nuisance to the farmers adjacent to the reserve. There is an attempt to drive the bull elephant away (usually on horseback), but sometimes they are unable to drive the elephant away. When this happens, the game warden is called in and if he cannot get the bull to go back to the reserve (elephants have a mind to themselves!) he has to take the bull and shoot it. This does not happen often. So, this was the only elephant that Mr. de la Bat had to shoot in this way. They took the feet and cut them off, sliced the back of the foot, took out the meat, stitched the foot back up, and then cured them with salt. The rear foot is larger than the front one. They are immense, so the elephant must have been enormous.

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Monday and Tuesday were busy with mundane things. I have read about six books on cognitive linguistics, relevance theory, vocabulary acquisition, and translation theory. While most of it is pretty technical, there have been a few little quotes from one book (Understanding Utterances by Diane Blakemore) which I thought were worthy of a wider audience.

“Poetic utterances are distinguished from the more mundane cases of communication by the way that they encourage the hearer to take a greater share of the interpretation process, so that the extra effort she invests is rewarded by a wide array of very weak implicatures, which she is encouraged to explore.” [Implicature: a term introduced by Grice for any aspect of meaning that could not be analysed in truth-conditional terms]. This one was actually for Ros, since she works so hard to make people see the value of poetry.

“To say a phenomena is ordinary and everyday is not necessarily to say that it is uninteresting.”

“Metaphor is the dream-work of language” (Blakemore is actually quoting Davidson here).

I guess all the other notes I have that I thought were so wonderful are pretty interesting only to me, so I’ll move on. (more…)

Before I start talking about the trip, I have two little tidbits to share. One is about bells and the other about bell-shaped things that fall from trees. Early on Sunday morning (but not on the other days) there are several times when the church bells ring. I think the idea is to get you out of bed. They start at 6:30 am. The first ringing is for about 3 or 4 minutes. Then at 7 am they ring a few times. Then at 7:30 they ring for a few minutes again. Around 8:30 some services start, so there is more ringing. And then the grand finale is at 9:00 am when they ring for about 5 minutes straight. If you are not in church yet you sure do feel guilty hearing all those bells! The second little item is about the acorns that are on the oaks here. Because it is so temperate here the oaks do not have the nice dense grain that develops in the US and in Europe. It is a rather porous wood and not highly thought of (especially for wine casks… those have to be brought in from far away). But they make up for this unfortunate circumstance with their little acorns. They have little caps that are furry. And the caps extend down about halfway onto the elongated acorn. So, they are quite comical looking. They are heavy and will fall hard on your head if you are not careful. The ground around these trees looks like it is full of furry little gnome heads.
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I haven’t given much of a description of the grocery market yet. Here’s a glimpse at the similarities and hilarious differences. The store I am shopping in is Checkers. It is a nice grocery store (at least I think it is nice). The first section you enter is a produce section. The variety is quite amazing. Of course there is the local fruit, but not everything is in season yet (so avocados are coming from somewhere else). Also, there are citrus varieties from Israel. But the most typical fruits are bananas, apples, mangoes, figs, grapes, strawberries, watermelons, and lots of pulpy fruits that I have no idea what to call. There are tomatoes and onions and potatoes. You pick your fruit, put it in a bag and someone weights it there in the produce section.

On to bakery. Here you can find all your breads and sweets. I haven’t really purchased anything, so I don’t know much about the baked goods. Mrs. de la Bat put some bread in my room and I’ve been eating that. I do know that most people don’t eat white bread. They will save white bread for grilling on the braai as a special treat. The bakery section also has pies. Not dessert pies, but meat pies. I have tried the chicken and mushroom pie, and have steered clear of the steak and kidney pie. Not all pies are alike though. The pies in the store are pretty blah. The pies at “King Pie” are better. And the pies at some of the eateries are really, really good (Greengate has a great chicken pie). (more…)

Braai at the van der Merwe home. Christo picked me up at 7pm and we drove a few minutes to a neighborhood on the outskirts of the town center. He lives in a nice one story house with a detached garage. As we arrived I noticed beautiful guinea fowl in the yard. They looked exotic and spectacular and I remarked that I wanted to get a photo at some time. He made a funny noise and said they are a nuisance to him because they mess up his yard (like Canada Geese for us). (more…)

More rain earlier today. It actually felt chilly this morning. Of course temperature is all relative. It’s 70˚ F here. But it will warm up now that the sun is out again.

I was able to talk to Mrs. de la Bat today. She took me into the rest of the house and gave me a little tour. The house was built in 1932 and is a very unusual shape. It is sort of like an “L” shape, but with both ends the same length. The center area is a patio and entry hall, the hub of the house. To the right, down the “arm” are the bedrooms (hers and two guest rooms) and bathrooms. Also, Mrs. de la Bat’s office/study. To the left is the living room and dining room. Also at the center, beyond the entry is the kitchen and informal eating area. The ceilings are all very high. Most Cape Dutch houses have high ceilings that are made of wood, with exposed beams. The walls are almost always very thick. The windows are double-hung so that hot air can escape at the top and cool air can come in the bottom. Her house has clay tiles for the roof. But many of the historic houses have very thick thatch instead. (more…)

Final chapter of the ATM story. I took my ATM card inside a different bank than the one that had “retained” it. My American bank had suggested I do the transaction over the counter to avoid trouble. The second bank said that because it is an ATM card and not a VISA card they cannot do the transaction at the window, only in the ATM. But, don’t try it in their ATM because they are having trouble with foreign connections and it would probably get retained again. They suggested another bank up the street. At this point, the card is useless to me unless I can use it in an ATM, so even if it gets taken again, I would be no worse off. At the FNB (First National Bank) I go inside to use the ATM (in case the machine “eats” my card). Lo, and behold, the machine does what it is supposed to do and gives me money! I even got the balance of my American account given to me in rands on the receipt (makes me feel like we have a whole lot more money than we really do). (more…)

Lots to talk about, so let’s get down to it.

Bartering. Most regular shops don’t barter, but markets and little kiosks or carts do. First thing to remember: go close to closing time, they are more desperate to make a sale. If they are packing up, all the better. The first thing they will tell you is “Looking is for free.” And then they try to start up a conversation with you, this is their way of finding out your accent or a “hook” to keep you (like knowing your name or the country you are from). I hardly ever talk at first. Finally, if I am really interested in something and they ask where I am from, I will say I am a student at the university and am going home soon and want to bring some gifts. This usually gets the “oh, you are one of us, I can give you such a deal” lines. Well, they will start out lower than for the tourists and will be willing to barter more, but they still work hard to get more from you than you should pay. I have nothing to lose, so I only offer what I really think is a good deal for me. So far I usually get down to about half of their starting price. (more…)

Stayed up late last night (too late) reading some of the material Christo has given me, so I overslept a bit. Spent some time at the café grading UVa work. There are some problems with the online delivery system we are using (it is still beta) so I am trying to navigate some of those issues too. Talk about distance learning. One frustration is that when I am online here, it is night there, so often they are doing maintenance or upgrades and are sometimes offline. But overall everything seems to be working out fine.

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Things I forgot to mention about Monday: saw some Spring Bucks, some SA sheep, and a number of unusual birds (can’t identify them yet).

Just before I arrived the exchange rate for dollars/rands changed. It had been stable for 2 years, but it went up last week about 10% in my favor. So my money goes a little bit further. Somethings are less… food is pretty reasonable. Books, postcards, postage are more. Fuel for vehicles is (of course) more expensive, even than the “outrageous” rates we’ve been experiencing in the US.

The guesthouse I am staying in has a German name which means “On the River.” But the waterway across the street isn’t really enough water to call a river. The German folks who have stayed here have told Ms. de la Bat that it is really a brook. But she says that she kept the name anyway because it sounds better than “On the Brook.” (more…)

Lots of rain overnight (everyone says this is highly unusual weather, but are all grateful for the rain). Little black worms to decided to get out of the rain and find refuge inside my room. I’m glad I had something on my feet when I got up. They coil up into little sprials when you touch them (and it appears they dry up if they get stuck inside the room permanently). Still humid and drizzly in the morning, so clouds are hanging on the mountains. I ate a quick breakfast of yogurt, banana and granola. Apparently “Bulgarian style” yogurt means thin and runny.
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