Spring has Sprung (...and Other Random Thoughts)

I have no really big points to make or coherently-connected stories to tell, so I'm going to utilize my friend KJ's technique of "dashing". Here come some really random thoughts and stories that I wanted to get on paper.

What's that big, bright yellow thing in the sky?
Spring has finally come to Cape Town. The rains have slowed and we've had several days of sunny weather and warm temperatures. It's amazing how much nicer the city can seem when the rain stops and the clouds part. The nice weather reminds me of late-September tennis practices in high school and long afternoons of playing frisbee on the Quad at school in the U.S. I'm definitely going to make the most of the improved conditions!

Night Drive
I was thinking last night about the night drive we took in Kruger. It's nearly impossible to spot any animals from a moving vehicle at night, but the sounds were heightened by the darkness and the reduced number of safari vehicles. At one point we stopped the truck and sat listening. The night insects and bat squeals were all we could hear at first. After a few moments, however, we began to hear the low groans and agonized moans of a buffalo that was being killed by lions along the riverbed. It was terrifying to hear such a large animal crying out in pain and know that a kilometer away lions were succeeding in their hunt. We could hear the lions growls and the hyenas' hungry barks. I was struck by the seemingly limitless power of the lions and of the strange compassion I felt for the buffalo who, probably out of a huge herd, had been the only one captured. It was incredible.

Random Quotes from My Kitchen
1) "Oh, man, what a great day to do laundry!"
2) "You slept for 12 hours? You are STRUGGLIN!"
3) "Ugh, I always slip my 'is it' in too late."
4) Q: "Where are our pans?" A: "The same place as the plates, the silverware, and the toilet paper. Next door stole them."
5) "I walked in there and I thought I was in a crack house. They had a fire on the table and were melting stuff on knives over the stove."
6) "That's our illegal substances picture."
7) "Wow, what a surprise, you're eating toast with peanut butter and raisins. I'm shocked!"
8) "They stole my African cucumber. What kind of person steals a cucumber?"
9) Q: "How does rice go bad? There's nothing in rice that can go bad!" A: "Well, there's rice..."

Parents are People
I don't know why, but it takes a very long time for children to fully appreciate the humanity of their parents. Perhaps it's because parents are always authority figures and people in charge, we place them in the box marked "parents" and expect that to define them. We forget that before we were around, they had lives and experiences and dreams and goals, and we fail to recognize that those things are still very much a part of them. I was privileged to spend the last two weeks really getting to know my mom as a person and a friend. Instead of relying on her to take care of me, we both planned things together and spent hours just talking. I have to say, my mom is an incredibly special person; she's someone I would choose to be friends with, even if we weren't related! I am so glad that she could come visit and share this experience with me.

Vac Variations
Remember those silly first-day-of-school assignments where you had to write the stupid paper on "What I did for my summer vacation"? Here's a quick summary/list of what those reports would say if my housemates wrote them.
1) Bungee Jumping over the Zambeze
2) Hiking the mountains of Lesotho
3) Trekking through Namibia
4) Beach-hopping and market-shopping in Durban
5) Driving South Africa from top to bottom
6) Backpacking/Baz Bussing the Garden Route
7) Resting and Relaxing in Cape Town
8) Safari in Kruger
9) Exploring Kenya
10) Must-see Mozambique