Risotto, Fun Days and Theatre...

Hello all



So I made the best risotto ever last week. I was a bit worried coz i had no white white and the hot plates have 2 functions - off or turn everything to charcol. But it all came together and it was a huge sucess. I educated many of the Zulu and Swazi girls on my floor about the process of risotto making and the one girl who was really keen came and inspected my progress regularly and was overwhelmed with how good it tasted in the end! I felt so proud! she's also considering going vego so i'm going to let her try everything I cook so I can convince how good it can be! So there you go Alex I hope my risotto rates well on your spud scale!

I also went to a 'Fun Day' at this community centre another social student Cara is doing her practical at. We were supposed to be marshals for the fun run to help the kids get over the road etc, but they social work girls were not what i would call organised and the fun run got cancelled - but only after I got this photo of the 3 of us looking stylish in orange! The day really needed more organisation and base rules for the kids - and more appropriate activies sometimes too. I don't think that 8 year old girls skank dancing on chairs in front of young boys making incredibly inappropriate comments was a great activity. Ladies I swear non of us (or anyone I see out) has anything on these girls they obvioulsy watch way too many film clips of Beyonce and who ever else rates on the skank dancing scales... But that is only part of the complex web of gender related problems here. But there were some great activites I helped run musical chairs and running races. And Cara is dating one of the sharks (local rubgy team) so they came and their mascot Sharkie was a huge hit. there were also some local boys about 15 who did this amazing street funk performence I was very impressed! People can really dance in this country!




I also went to dinner and the theatre with Lyndall, her mum and her mum's friends a guy called Nig. We went to this great little restraunt I had these yummy zucinni and feta fritters with yogurt and coriannder sauce! SOOO good. Then we went to see the play Sophiatown. Sophiatown was a freehold township in the 1950s which meant that 'blacks, coloureds, and indians' could live next door to each other. It was about their lives and this Jewish girl who moves in as a kind of socail experiment. It was very much about the politics of the time, especially the part where the benevolent government of the day decided to segregate the country and knock down the town and isolate all the 'races'. It was soo sad at the end i nearly cried. But i'm glad I saw it it gave me another insight into the history of SA, plus it was very funny in parts, the actors were great!

So yeah - apparantly my last entry sounded sad. I am really enjoying being here but there are a lot of social, racial, political and gender issues in the university and society in general that get to me sometimes, but negotiating them is all part of the experience. So don't think i'm not having a fantastic time coz it really is great here. But I do miss you guys at home too!