meh

i am feeling rather apathetic and sarcastic right now, but that isn't stopping me from being a total tool and blogging.

this week came and went rather quickly, at the end of which i realized i'm one-third done with my classes here at uct. which isn't really saying a lot. i haven't really done much, and i'm pretty much all caught up on my readings, which i can rarely say when i'm at gwu. i haven't even had to turn in any assignments yet, given my professor decided to postpone the due date of our globalization paper. i'm done with all the research at this point; i just need to sit down and type it all out. i don't think that will be difficult, though, considering i am going to open my paper with a joke:

"knock, knock."
"who's there?"
"everyone, thanks to globalization."

i rule. anyway, sara, brigid, and i went to the castle of good hope today. the dutch east india company built it in the 17th century, so it looks like your typical european castle, but being that this is africa and everything is weird here, its existence in the present day is not what you'd expect from a historical site. like, for example, historial preservation is clearly not a concern of the south african government, except when it comes to history's more notable toilets. as somebody who spends a lion's share of time on the john, i appreciated this, but then i realized that the 14% vat that i pay every time i purchase something is going to financing this great historical preservation project. ugh, i hate taxes.


centuries ago, generals sat in my place and looked over the bountiful city bowl while conducting their morning business. sigh.

the other notoriously weird part about the castle was that one section of its interior has been converted into a working art studio. the three of us stumbled in and discovered a couple of artists working on some paintings, one of which i was particularly fond of, so i bought it. however, that wasn't until after some skillful bartering on my part.

me: "i'll take that one."
artist: "okay, it's 200 rand."
me: "200 rand!? but i only have 50!"
artist: "okay... 150 rand."
me: "yes, but i only have 50 rand."
artist: "okay, 100 rand."
me: "i only have 50 rand."
artist: "...all right, 50 rand."

my bartering skills are totally fetch. after the transaction, brigid and i got sucked into a 40 or 50-minute conversation with the bloke, the first 35 minutes or so of which were quite lovely (he asked us about university, our experiences thus far in south africa, nothing terribly atypical), then out of no where he asked what kind of cars we drive.

me: "i don't have a car."
brigid: "well, back home, i drive a pick-up."
artist: "a truck!? here in south africa, only men drive trucks."
me: "what!? i've seen plenty of women driving buses and taxis*."
artist: "yes, and the women are taking all the jobs away from men!"
me: "...what?"
artist: "they're taking these jobs away from men, and we need to work too!"
me: "well, wouldn't you agree, though, that jobs ought to go to the most qualified individuals, regardless of gender?"
artist: "30 years ago, when a man came home from work, his wife would have dinner ready and would give him a massage before bed. what's happened to our society!?"

* a "taxi", in south african english, refers to a jitney.

obviously, brigid, being a women's studies major at scripps college, was none too pleased by this, so i hastily moved toward the end of the conversation. by that point, it couldn't come soon enough.

by the way, since i know you're curious, here's the painting i bought.


i totally just realized that photo is backwards because i took it on my macbook which automatically reverses the images. epic fail.

...meh. anyway, afterward, we three meandered over to a flea market, where brigid bought a bag, sara bought a (really beautiful) scarf, and i bought a backpack. we then went out to dinner with sean, liz, and agnes to a sushi buffet, which in its very essence is rather sketchy but it was actually not too bad. we got drinks afterward, and we hit up a used book store on lower main road in observatory, in which i bought a book on namibia's history in the 20th century for R50 (also a haggled-down price). apparently, this book store is open until 10pm every night, which i guess is a convenient way of luring the post-dinner crowd into making purchases. the tattoo parlor on the same block, incidentally, is also open until 10pm nightly, which i guess is a convenient way of luring the intoxicated post-happy hour crowd into making purchases of their own.

i've realized that my ex-boyfriend had a hand in destroying my last 2 relationships, so i've decided that, if he does this a 3rd time, i'm smashing his awkwardly pretentious glass coffeetable.

paul wants me to mention him. so, here it is. paul. the end.

i probably have other things to say, but i don't feel like typing them out.