A brief outline of a busy month ...

Nearly the end of January and the Stanford program is into it's fourth week now. Our days are full. Weekends we try and hike both days, one with Nan and family if possible. Regrettably there is no time in the week for roaming the mountain trails before work. Well, I guess if we didn't read for so long in bed when we wake we could hike. But lazy sloths we are, and reading is compulsive for both of us.

Tim is just finishing off Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, a book I also read. Fascinating, science-fictiony, marvelous story-telling. And I turned the last page today of The Fear by Peter Godwin. If you haven't already read Mukiwa and When the Crocodile Eats the Sun do so asap. And then read The Fear. The three books take you from an idyllic, peaceful, wealthy, although not a democracy, nation through the transition to democracy and then to bankruptcy and unimaginable violence.

I hadn't realised how much The Fear would tie in with the genocide class I take on Thursdays, almost the same course I took last year. I liked it so much I'm doing it again! Not exactly. I was drawn to the gap in my knowledge of the history of Southern Africa and am so lucky to have the opportunity to study with the students again.

Alternate Fridays see Tim and me with all the students in the Sites of Memory Class. So far we've only had one class and that began in the crypt at St Georges Cathedral with a chance meeting with Bishop Tutu much to the delight of all as Bishop Tutu insisted on shaking hands with each and every one of our group of 29!

After tea and a talk by John Parkington we walked up Government Avenue to the South African Museum to see three exhibitions there, first one on the people of South Africa, next the rock art of the San and lastly a marvelous exhibition curated by Pippa Skotnes and Petro Keene displaying the art of Leo Frobenius and his team who came to South Africa from Germany in 1928 and painted some huge canvases of the rock art he saw in Zimbabwe and Lesotho, some of which were bought by the SA Museum in 1931 and kept in storage for years and years.

This coming Friday we'll hold the second class, visiting the Prestwich Memorial and the Slave Lodge, learning about the early days of Cape Town.

With all this work there is little time to devote to a social life outside of work, although I have started playing bridge with my old group from the 1990's who still meet each Tuesday evening. So far, two weeks in a row, I (and my partner) have been consistent in coming 2nd from the bottom both evenings!

Each Wednesday we take four students to dinner to our favourite restaurant around the corner from us in Newlands, The Wijnhuis. Our first evening was last Wednesday and we'll keep it up until the end of February. It's a really nice way to get to know the students in smaller groups. Here we are with Ariana, Danielle, Leslie and Natie, all looking very satiated! Thanks to Ritesh for taking the photo with Leslie's camera! Ritesh is the reason we keep going back to the Wijnhuis. He is by far the best waiter I have ever met. He knows what wine we like and has it chilled to just the right temperature for our arrival. He can even predict what we'll order which isn't very difficult because we always order the same dish! Well, almost always...