Tears, movies, a book, and Spring Quarter Orientation

Tim and I saw The Last Station over the weekend. Marvelous performances by Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer and others. But a very sad ending and I left the theatre clutching a soggy lump of tissues.

On Monday evening we watched District 9 on video - terrific movie and so South African. When it came out last year the reviews were mostly good, but I'm not mad about science fiction and had little interest in watching creatures that look like a cross between a cockroach and a prawn acting out on a big screen. But I was swept away by the possibilities in this story and the analogies with political situations in this, and other, countries.

While watching the movie we munched on a bar of 85% chocolate which gave us both a sleepless night. Unable to nod off, I got up around 4:30am. I was nearly finished the book Marley and Me - being awake now was a perfect opportunity for me to get to the end.

I'm not sure if we are more susceptible to tears in the early dawn hours, or this was just a teary week for me, or the author, John Grogan, tells his story extremely well. I spent more than an hour sobbing through the ending pages and, for the whole morning, wasn't really able to think about anything other than the loss of one of my Jack Russell terriers, Popcorn, many years ago.

Monday was Orientation day for the new group of students. Over lunch the faculty and lecturers teaching this quarter outlined their courses followed by dessert and questions. Of course I was there to take photos!

Here's one of Tim explaining his course to students.

March ends and a new quarter begins

The first Stanford academic quarter is over and almost all the lovely students we met have gone home. All except four who have stayed to travel and take more courses here with the new students in the second quarter.

The African Genocide class I took has also ended. Our last seminar, where we revisited the definition of genocide, was held at Rhodes Memorial on a sunny wind-free day sitting around a table overlooking the city, far removed from possible genocidal atrocities. The five students taking the class ended the session with a spontaneous intense discussion re the complicated issues that the topic of genocide raises. A philosophically mind blowing experience that I was so lucky to be part of!

My son, Gareth, arrived with his girlfriend, Naz, from London on March 6th. It's been wonderful having them down the road, staying in a nearby guest house, popping in almost every day - a great treat for me.

The Farewell Dinner for the students took place last week at Moyo restaurant at Spier wine farm, about 35 kilometers from here. We all piled into the bus driven by Sipho Mpepho who has done nearly all the shuttling for the students. Of course I took photos and hope you enjoy them!

Here we are with our painty faces at the Farewell Dinner!

It's been a while ......

My first attempt to update my blog since the Field Trip a month ago - what is happening in Cape Town to keep me so busy?

Tim went away right after the Field Trip, back to the US to a meeting in Georgia, followed by a visit to his wonderful parents in Florida, then to Stanford for some work and to see his children and grandsons, and finally a night at home in Inverness; all the while waiting on tenterhooks for his passport to be processed by the South African embassy in Los Angeles, making him legal for work in Cape Town at last.

While Tim was away my sister, Gillian, came to visit from Johannesburg and we had a marvelous party weekend in the winelands celebrating two good friends' seventieth birthdays. Gill and I visited the farm in Stellenbosch where my father was born and where we, as children, went for regular Sunday visits while my grandmother was alive. This farm, Glenelly, has recently been bought by Madame De Lencquesaing, owner of a vineyard in France. Madame has converted my dad's old family fruit farm into a plush, modern wine estate and we were taken on a tour of the house, the vineyards, the tasting rooms and the cellars. We felt some sadness at the loss of our childhood haunts, but enjoyed walking around the beautifully manicured home.



And then the dreaded gastric flu attacked and left me feeling helpless and hopeless for close on a week. But it gave me an opportunity to read Stieg Larsson's The Girl who Played with Fire, the follow-up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - a thrilling escape and just what I needed. I followed that with my first ever TC Boyle book, The Tortilla Curtain, which I loved even though the story is a tough one to digest. His writing is wonderful. And the last little book I devoured is called Wild Honey by Bookey Peek. Treat yourself to this read - such an inspiring story set against the depressing background of Zimbabwe's decline.

I got better, Tim got back, and we geared up for the Stanford Reception on Friday March 12th - what a good party! My camera was once again in action - click on the link to see the photos.