The Fishies

Sorry it's been a while. I've been pretty busy so that's been good.
Last Wednesday after core course I went to Jolly's for pizza and then we went to this bar called Gin and hung out there for a while. It was really fun, the music was good and we just sat around and had drinks.
Friday was my LHR training. Caroline, my co-intern, picked me up at 7:30am and we went to this place called the Cottage's for the day. There were people from both the Pretoria and Durban branch of LHR. We went over the basics of LHR and the process of asylum seekers coming to SA and what our role is. It was good to learn this information after having been at LHR for a while because I could relate it to my work. We had a really good lunch and short snack breaks and then we finally ended at 5pm. Tarek, his friend Anais who is at the Pretoria branch, Lewis, and I waited at the Cottage's for Tarek's friend and Anais' boyfriend Chris who then drove us to Jacob's for dinner. Jacob is the director of LHR, his house is really nice. There were a lot of people there, including Kaajal and her husband, it was nice to see them again. We ate Thai food and cous cous and spent a few hours there before going to Melville. Melville was good, I hadn't been there in a while and we just went to some bar and chilled before Chris gave me a ride home.
The weekend was pretty slow, Sunday I spent the day writing my Culture essay.
Tuesday I had a test in Philosophy, ick, but I think it went ok. Then that night we went to a club called Carfax for a concert with KCM. Jaya works there so she got us VIP tickets. Goldfish, a SA band was playing. We got there at 10pm, hung out for a while, I met up with Lewis and his friends, and then Goldfish went on at midnight. They were AMAZING! One of the guys played sax and flute and he was sooo good. One of the singers hung out by the stage when he wasn't performing and I ended up standing by him for most of the concert. I told him his band was amazing and he thanked me. It was funny because girls kept coming up asking to take pictures with him and one girl even had him sign her stomach.
We got home around 3am.
Wednesday was Heritage day which is a national holiday. So we didn't have any class, I spent it being very lazy but it was nice to relax for a bit.
Tonight we are taking the bus to Durban for the weekend. I hope it's fun!

Addicted to Apples

Sarah's party was a lot of fun. She rented out a club called Sudada in Sandton and there was an open bar for a bit and so many cupcakes and chocolate covered strawberries. I ate way too many. Everyone looked great in their white outfits, Sarah's dress was white and silver, she looked beautiful. Her friends gave a speech with a picture slideshow which was really cute.
Tonight it looks like I'm going to some reggae place to eat and see a band playing a tribute to Steve Biko.
I came in to work today thinking my coworkers were going to Lindela but turns out they aren't and it's really slow, I'm so smart...
I want an apple but the thought of food makes me feel a little sick...ugh.

Wishful Thinking

Well the writing of my Core Course essay went pretty smoothly. I enjoyed doing research for it because the readings were really interesting. One of my sources was the book Machete Season which is a report on the genocide from some of the killers view points, it was fascinating.
Tonight is Sarah's 21st, it's going to be pretty crazy, I'm looking forward to the chocolate covered strawberries, yummm.
No real plans for the weekend. Might do something fun tomorrow night, probably shopping on Saturday, homework on Sunday, I know I'm so exciting. Maybe Breaking Dawn will finally be in the bookstore! Here's to wishful thinking...

Weekend Shinanigans

The Israel/Palestine discussion was really interesting to listen to. They didn't end up debating but it was still fun. Afterwards we went to the fencing club's pub for a drink and hung out there for a while. We met some pretty interesting/odd people :P
When we got tired of that we decided to go swimming at the pool so we climbed over the fence and went in our underwear, it was fun.
Friday after spending the day running errands with Muhammed and Fatima, I went to the ballet, La Traviata. It was really beautiful, I loved it, it's been a while and it reminded me how much fun it is to go.
Saturday I went shopping at Rosebank for Sarah's 21st, I needed white so I bought a really pretty white top. I don't think I'm going to be able to pull off a full white outfit but it'll work out.
Today was really fun. Me and CKM went to Jazz at the Lake by Bowls club. The music was really good and we just spent the day hanging out and listening. I met my culture teacher's girlfriend and we talked for a while. She did a semester at sea and took classes on a boat/cruise and visited 10 different countries. That sounds amazing! She also told me she has a friend who has done some work with torture victims and that she would give me her email so I could ask questions and stuff. I'm really excited!

Kantian Overdose

Another week is almost over, I feel like time is just flying by and before I know it, my time here will be gone.
Last night I went to my Philosophy professor's house for dinner with my class (there's only 7 of us) and it was really fun. We talked about philosophy and school life and the differences between education systems. Olivia asked the question "Is there a moral argument that will always work against torture?" Which I thought was pretty genius. Then when torture didn't seem to have high enough stakes we talked about genocide. I think that if there's a benefit for someone then they will always go through with something no matter how horrible. But in terms of being against torture totally no matter what then we discussed the argument that it will harm the community and that it violates the human being (Kant) but then we have to decide what the definition of a human being is. It was pretty complex. I was kind of brain dead after it all.
Another day at work, it's quite slow. I met with a couple of clients, wrote a letter, sent a fax. I'm going to observe a debate on the Israel/Palestine issue tonight, should be interesting.

African Time

I can't believe it's already September! August really flew by. I had my second Culture class yesterday, it was pretty interesting, more discussion about what culture is and what influences the way it changes over time. There was a really sketchy guy standing outside our classroom for half the class listening in, he kept staring at Kristen though so we kept laughing a bit uncontrollably. My friends and I are going to the ballet on Friday to see La Traviata which is originally an opera. I'm excited, I haven't been to the ballet in a while. The last time I went was when I was in Russia at the Bolshoi in Moscow, it was amazing.
I'm at work right now, waiting for my 9am appointment, he's 25 minutes late: African time haha.