Driving Miss T

So, mostly I drive T to and from school. She loves it (the school, and the chauffeuring). Can you believe my luck, after all her moaning! She looks great in her new uniform (about 74 compulsory articles to purchase, but never mind.) It's very smart: plaid skirt (blue, white, red) and blue sweater/jumper, sensible shoes and sox, blazer with crest on the pocket. She looks like Britney Spears in the "Hit me, baby, one more time" video.... schoolgirl something-or-other.

And she's already met some nice schoolmates. All the girls are pretty and happy and blonde, it seems. So I drive her over there in the morning; with all the traffic, it's one hour for a 3.0 km round trip. Ugh! So we leave at 6:50 am, and then I pick her up again at 3pm, and in the meanwhile I try to remember what it is that I'm supposed to be doing all day. Sooooo forgetful! I think I fried my brain this summer -- too stressful! -- or maybe brainlessness is a symptom of altitude sickness as well. Or... could it be? Maybe I was just dumb to start with. Though I don't think so; I remember getting great test scores in high school and college... but maybe that was last night's dreams??.... Naaaah!

In the car, I listen to the radio stations, which are done in every language under the sun. You'll catch "Let's Get Stupid" (my theme song this week) by the Blackeyed Peas and then it's "mbmbmommmo ndkdkei nmdtho... Blackeyed Peas!... mdodode mndababa blah blah!" from the disc jockey. Yikes, and here I thought I was "tuned in".... apparement, non.

Yesterday I caught a radio talk show on golf, on an Afrikaans radio station. You'd hear "Tigerrrrrr", "Errrrrnie", "ball", "golf", and then the Afrikaans "chat" going on. It sounds like a lot of people who are gargling while they talk. They do a nice job of rolling their "rrr"s too. And doing the "ch" of "ich" (for those of you who took German) in every possible instance. In fact the "g" in Afrikaans sounds a lot like "ch" in German (to me)... so lots of throat clearing noises. It's good for your sinuses, probably?

And speaking of sinuses, well, if you have some, here's the drill. It is DAMNed dry here. So if that helps you, great. If not, I don't want to hear about it. The women slop on moisturizer here in South Africa like there's no tomorrow. And I thought England was bad -- there, everyone in the changing room seemed to slather on about 1/2 a bottle of lotion in one go... doing this in the MOISTEST country in the freakin' world!! And here, well, I haven't spent time in the ladies locker room yet, but I can just guess it's a production. Meanwhile, my crow's feet are deepening daily and when I look at my hands, they look like an alligator's body parts. Maybe that's why snakeskin leather goods are so popular here -- it just looks like yer own skin but in an exotic color!

But lots of laughter here too, which is nice. Glad somebody's laughing. I will be too, eventually. People are very friendly, so there's hope.