The ramblings of a Caucasian African American
I have just finished Life of Pi by Canadian Yann Martel.
There were bits at the start of the book that made me doubt whether I was going to enjoy this book, but I’m glad I kept on reading because Pi dragged me into his world without much trouble after that.
There are some hilarious moments in the book, but also some profound ones. I daren’t say anything further!
This is an outstanding book and I can highly recommend it.
Someone else who loved this book was Charles Joubert.
I’m delighted to report that Martin Dreyer, a professional sportsman representing South Africa has won the Land Rover G4 Challenge.
From the Land Rover G4 Challenge website:
South African superstar adventure athlete, Martin Dreyer, today won the 2006 Land Rover G4 Challenge. Beating off 17 of the worldÆs toughest adventure racers in the 4×4-based global Challenge, Dreyer took home a brand new Range Rover after a nail-biting climax to the 28 day marathon that spanned across four countries on two continents.
Mooi so Martin!
People like Martin Dreyer, Roland Schoeman & Ryk Neethling do much to improve South-Africa’s standing in the international community.
It certainly makes me proud.
Finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman today.
This book can be classified as Americana with a mix of mythology, but I prefer Urban Fantasy. It has won the 2002 Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker awards, all for Best Novel. It was also nominated for Best Novel in the 2002 BSFA Award.
This is not my typical kind of book, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It is entirely readable and it will make a very good movie.
As of Tuesday, I am a British Citizen. This is something that I’ve been aiming for since I arrived in the UK six years ago and I can promise you that I am relieved to finally have it.
Whilst I am delighted about acquiring British citizenship, I didn’t want to lose my South-African citizenship. Today I received approval from South-Africa that I can retain my South-African citizenship. So everything has worked out very well.
It is a bit weird having dual nationality, but at least I’m in a win-win situation when the Boks play against England.
NOT!!
Die groot vraag: Seuntjie of dogtertjie? word beantwoord. Attie word ‘n Pommie. SA op die regte spoor wat jag aanbetref.
Skakels:
of laai af.
Today LenT went for her 2nd scan. This is the one where we find about out the youngster’s sex. The gynecologist said that she “couldn’t see any boy bits”, so it looks like we’re going to be having a girl.
Thankfully both mom and daughter are in excellent condition.
To me America’s greatest period was when it was wild. I suppose it reminds me somewhat of us Afrikaners participating in the Great Trek.
As someone who subscribes to the Darwinian themes of survival of the fittest and natural selection, I believe both the Great Trek and the conquering of the West were the last periods for our respective cultures to experience this real life. Our finest moments. For people who share this view, I recommend reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. You can also watch the outstanding Lonesome Dove mini-series.
The saddest thing about these events, specifically in the West, is how conquering led to destruction. The first and most obvious example is the Indian culture. These people were proud hunter/gatherers that lived responsibly and nobly off the land. Now they are a broken people and many of them live off governmental and casino bribes. I don’t just blame the Settlers for this, the Indians are as guilty. But it is nonetheless very sad.
It wasn’t only the Indians though. Most of the wildlife was decimated. Never again will the Bison herds roam as they did. Grizzly bears, mountain lions, wolves and coyotes were almost totally wiped out. Now it seems that many other smaller species were wiped out. The US has truly got some of the most glorious natural beauty, but to me it always feel a bit empty with no real wildlife.
In Coyotes, Don Edwards sings a very sad, but beautiful song about this very thing.
We Africans can learn from the mistakes that the Americans made. We still have an opportunity, but the door will be closing if we don’t act decisively.
Yesterday our clients invited me to a meal to a) celebrate the release of our project and b) say farewell to John Hull, one of the key people on the project.
The restaurant was the Refuel Bar in Soho and is one of the poshest restaurants I’ve ever been in. The food was very good – in a totally different way than in the US. The clientele was quite obviously rich and Alex Kingston, most famous for her role in ER, sat at the table next to us.
Sidenote: Posh stands for Port-Over-Starboard-Home. I can’t remember who told me that.
We returned from the inaugural annual Potgooi (Afrikaans Podcast) conference on Sunday. The ôconferenceö bit is sort of true, but really it was a side product of our trip to Florida. The primary reason for the trip was to finally meet (and stay with!) with some friends we met online through the blogging and Afrikaans podcasting community.
The friends were the Beukesse from the famous (or is it notorious?) Boerseun blog/podcast. The Boere were extremely entertaining – at times inadvertently so – hosts. They really went out of their way to show us what Florida has to offer.
On Saturday we went to an Ice Hockey game that unfortunately the local team, The Panthers, lost. Johann showed us his dark side as well by “smuggling” my camera in to the arena.
On Sunday we were shown how the rich and famous live at Palm Beach. This is where Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson and Donald Trump have their holiday homes. The area is nice, but it feels very controlled and the relaxed atmosphere of the Keys (see below) puts Palm Beach in the shade. Pun intended.
On Monday & Tuesday Johann & Veron had to graft so we experienced a bit of the working life in Florida. This is something that I really found interesting as it is not something we would have exposure to as normal tourists. We also visited both Veronica & JohannÆs offices. At Johann’s office I cracked a joked about his coding to one of his colleagues, but he is so revered there that no-one thought it funny!Then on Wednesday the real magic started! The Florida Keys is as beautiful and charming a place as I’m ever likely to visit. The only problem with the Keys is that it is difficult to express their beauty. I did take some pictures though and you can see these at The Florida Gallery.
Florida Keys
I’m quite emotional about wide open spaces and for me the Keys are right up there with the grasslands of East Africa and the deserts of Africa. It really ôtouches my soulö. The water in the Keys is so clear that seeing stingrays and big fish is not difficult. And that colour; oh that colour!
The people there are also really friendly. It almost makes one forget about your anger towards their Administration. Almost. Although things seem very relaxed there is a joke that the millionaires are all being bought out by the billionaires û and I can believe it.
We stayed in the HawkÆs Cay Resort on the Duck Key in Marathon. They were quite pricey, but it is right next to the sea and there is a lot to do in the immediate vicinity.
It is true that The Keys are probably as famous for hurricanes than for its beauty, but in my opinion û and that of our sailing tripÆs captain, Captain Dale û that natural vulnerability contributes to the wonder.
I can do nothing else but to give The Florida Keys my highest recommendation.
On our whole trip the Boere made sure we ate very well. The food in the US is very good, but my best meal was probably the Mahi Mahi in the Keys – I think it is a local species. The steak we had in West Palm Beach came second. The best dessert whithout a shadow of a doubt is the Key Lime Pie. Do you now see why the Keys are so great?
On our way back we stayed over in Houston, Texas, but after Florida this was a big let down. Apart from being the fattest city in the world (seriously) the people were miserable.
Above are only some of the highlights. But even with all of these great things the trip still wouldn’t have been as great if we didn’t have the very good company of Johann & Veronica. We really got on like a house on fire. It actually felt strange at times; we’d only met these people a couple of days ago!
I’m now very much looking forward to the 2nd annual potgooi conference. We have been mentioning the Bosveld in South-Africa as a possible venue. I think this is a great idea. Hopefully many of us can attend this – especially as it will be in South Africa. The only thing is that whatever else we arrange for the future, the bar has been set very high this year.
Thanks Boere!!
Links:
Ja ons is weer terug en ons gesels lekker in hierdie deel 2 van Die Laphilõ Florida verslag saam met Boerseun en Boerdogter.
Links:
of laai af.
Attie Heunis's Journey 