Today I went to biology in the morning instead of attending a grueling political science class in the afternoon. The change was a great decision. I’ll be studying Marine Biology of South Africa, covering mostly the “macrofauna” (bugs and stuff) of sandy beaches and rocky shores. It’s amazing how be interested in class material can 180 an experience. With the class change I will have about 200 less pages per week to get through. Probably the most exciting part about the change is the atmosphere set by bio profs who are completely passionate about tiny bugs because of the specific way they’re able to borrow into sand or use the sun to orientate which direction land and sea are when they are so small that they cannot see anything except a desert of sandy beach around them. It is no secret that I have an odd affinity for impassioned people. It's like a moth drawn to light; I can't take my attention off of them. One of the best parts of class was when the prof asked if any of us surf, obvious enough to me, no hands shot up. She pleaded, “Boys! Why don’t you surf?!” We kindly explained the lack of oceanic coast in the Midwest and she reluctantly dropped the subject. After class at noon I was done for the week!
Taylor and I walked home in the hottest part of the day. It’s always peculiar to me that all of the PE-ers tend to cash out under a big shad tree from noon ‘til 2, and the visiting Americans, aka me!, haven’t caught on to dealing with the weather. I have a nice red badge of courage (uhm.. I guess?), sweat, and toil from our walk home today. We recovered from the slug home with some water and sunscreen and headed to read on the beach for a bit. Believe it or not we were actually cold on the beach. The sun went behind a gargantuan cloud for twenty minutes and the wind gave us all goosebumps. We went inside to gather sustenance and after a while went for a run. It was a fun day, and I look forward to hanging around PE this weekend and continuing the search for bikes.
Culture Questions for Bruce
As we left the beach today, a woman was showering like I would shower in the privacy of my bathroom, except she was in a spigot meant, as far as I know, to wash sand off when leaving the beach. This woman obviously had some personality, because she had been chasing her small children around with a crab she had caught, and they giggled furiously and her games with the clawed animal. After the initial shock, I had to wonder if she had limited water resources or maybe no running water. If she lived in the townships chances are that she does not have any running water, so the trade-off between a few unsuspecting beach goers interrupting her hygiene session and missing a chance to have a full body wash with clean water may have been a no-brainer to her. Obviously these are guesses on my part, but I wonder what it would take for me to shower completely naked on a lightly populated yet public beach? Questions like that always prove to me that I have no idea of the kinds of choices one has to make when living without the modern conveniences I enjoy.
Science is cool! Why not study marine science of South Africa while you are there?
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