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April 11, 2005
A Wonderful Weekend
Niki, Crystal, and I had an interesting and amusing weekend with Shaun, who has become somewhat of a personal chauffer. Niki took lots and lots of pictures, so feel free to check out her account of the weekend as well.
On Friday night we joined Shaun's friend, Asim, and a few others for an amusing strategy game called Settlers of Catan. Despite being complete novices, Niki and I worked as a team and did rather well for ourselves. After Settlers of Catan, we played Jenga, and then took an after-midnight stroll on the beach right outside of the back door. We spent the night there at Asim's apartment, which made sense because we didn't crash until 4 am, and Shaun wasn't in an ideal state to drive us back to UWC.
I woke up at 8:00 and spent some time reading and checking out the view from the back porch:
After waking a very reluctant Shaun up, we had breakfast at a nearby Mugg and Bean and then drove into Cape Town so Niki could get some shopping done and Crystal and I could spend some quality time at the internet cafe. I can't believe that Shaun allowed us to drag him out of bed (relatively) early in the morning when he wasn't feeling well, and then he spent the morning snoozing in his car while we bobbled around in Cape Town. I guess I'm encountering the generosity of South Africans that our professors raved so much about last semester...
We spent the afternoon driving around the Western Cape, visiting some winelands and getting a bit of cheese tasting in for Niki. We stopped at a butterfly farm at one point, but we didn't actually pay the R23 to frolick amongst them. We concluded the day with a visit to Shaun's friend's girlfriend's birthday braai (barbeque, for all you Americans over there), which was..."interesting." Shaun stressed the fact that we were among Dutch South Africans, and suggested that such an affiliation accounted for some of the strangeness we were encountering. Niki and I spent most of the party trying to avoid the loud music and incoherent conversations.
Yesterday was a pretty quiet day spent in the room. I got through a fairly large chunk of Pride and Prejudice and watched a bit of the OC with Frances and Crystal. At one point, we noticed that it started to get darker, and the wind picked up and started slamming huge hailstones against our window!
It was pretty cool to see a hailstorm in South Africa. We were wondering if it could have been a hurricaine or something of the sort. Anything to add, Bill Nye? I'll expect one of your Science Corner entries to address the issues of hail in 90 degree weather...
Posted by rgutwin at April 11, 2005 06:53 AM
Comments
Here are your hints:
Yes, it's a cube, and this is how it's put together.
And if you get enough of them, you can make one of these!
Question to anyone mathematical or observant: What is the name of the second solid?
Posted by: Diana at April 11, 2005 05:34 PM
Hail at 90 degrees and a Dutch South African birthday party. Now that's something you probably wouldn't see in Geneva...
Posted by: Paul Gutwin at April 11, 2005 09:03 PM
Diana - a quick look indicates it's a stellated icosahedron, but that's only a guess based on the NAME OF THE JPG! (;-).
Posted by: Paul Gutwin at April 11, 2005 09:06 PM
Yes yes, I know. That's the point. Becca won one of my contests before by looking at the name of the JPG, so I thought I'd do it again. (Hence, "anyone mathematical or observant.") But wouldn't it have been a good joke if it turned out not to be a stellated icosahedron, yes indeed.
Posted by: Diana at April 11, 2005 09:43 PM
Oh, and while we're all being so smashingly observant, take a look at the URL of this particular blog posting (not the main page). Ha. Hahaha. Hmmm. (Yes, I know it automatically cuts off your title.)
Posted by: Diana at April 11, 2005 09:46 PM
Hi Rebecca,
Came across your blog by accident whilst searching 'Freshlyground', and am enjoying reading about your Cape Town adventures. Although I live in the UK at the moment, I've spent a lot of time in Cape Town and am moving there in July. I hope you're loving the Beloved Country as much as I do. Enjoy the rest of your time. :-)
Posted by: AnnaNomsa at April 12, 2005 11:25 AM
Hail is formed in storm clouds where the altitude is such that the temperature is far lower than it is at ground level. In fact, if you think about it, the temperature must be lower at cloud altitudes because that is why clouds are visible - the water vapor condenses on itself and essentially makes cold steam. My bathroom has a window which we leave open often; if it's open too much and it's cold outside the cold air pours in and makes huge clouds of chilly steam. This is why it can hail even when it's very hot outside.
Posted by: Karl at April 13, 2005 08:16 AM