AWB leader murdered

Eugene Terreblanche was the president and leader of the Afrikaner Weerstand Beweging (AWB). The political party is extreme right and very racist. He pleaded to re-install apartheid and was a forefighter of racial discrimination. Back in the '90s he had quite some followers, but the last few years the number of followers were like his ideas: marginal. He saw himself as a new Hitler, and was not afraid to say so. This can be seen in the flag the AWB has (see picture), very much like the Nazi Swatsika.

He was brutally murdered by two of his black domestic workers, one 28 years old, the other only 15. They jumped him in his sleep and bashed his skull withand iron rod. Their motive was that they had not been paid for their work since December 2009. Some argue that this murder was inspired by the hatespeech of Julius Malema, the ANC Youth president who has been trying to get the "Kill the Boer" song registered as national heritage. That song was used by black anti-Apartheid fighters in the 90's and calls to kill whites. It says "one Boer one bullet"; A "Boer" means peasant aka white South African.

South Africa's constitution

South Africa's Constitution was the result of remarkably detailed and inclusive negotiations - difficult but determined - that were carried out with an acute awareness of the injustices of the country's non-democratic past.
It is widely regarded as the most progressive constitution in the world, with a Bill of Rights second to none.
Human rights are given clear prominence in the Constitution: "a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights". These are then further spelt out in detail. Very important ones, especially compared to other countries on the continent are: freedom of sexuality (often also seen als sexing freely) and freedom of expression. The latter entails that South Africa has free press, which can be a very strong weapon against bad gouvernment.

All in all, with so many good intentions aligned in one text, a good reason to have a day off and do nothing... because everyone feels to have that right now and then.

Eikestad

Stellenbosch is considered to be one of South Africa’s most beautiful villages. Located at the foot of the mountains in a fertile valley, the scenery couldn’t be more beautiful. The place is named after it’s founder, the Dutchman governor Simon Van Der Stel, and meant “Stel’s bush”. Back in the day, people did not think this had a double meaning (you perv.). Van Der Stel is seen as the founder of Cape Town in name of the VOC and had a major influence on the area. One of those influences was importing oak trees.

South African trees did not grow tall and straight, so they were not ideal to make timber wood off. That is why Simon Van Der Stel started growing European oak trees. Today the city still has the nickname “Eikestad” (oak city). As you can imagine, you can still find a lot of oak trees in the streets.

Diving

I now have my official diving certificate issued by PADI. PADI ( Professional Association of Diving Instructors) is a worldwide diving association, and one of the biggest in the business. The organization checks affiliated diving schools on how they perform and how they operate. This way they guarantee safe and adequate diving assistance to scuba divers. So if I rock up to an other country and walk into a PADI dive shop I know I’ll be in good hands. Scuba itself is an acronym for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. But because that is a mouthful and sounds cocky, scuba became a word on itself. What scuba really means is diving with compressed air (not oxygen) in tanks, but that you should’ve guessed by now. With the open water certificate I attained now, I am allowed to dive down to 18 meters. So now the fun can really start. There are many different types of dives: adventure dives (looking for hidden objects with a map), wreck dives (following marked routes in wrecks), night dives, orientation dives (with map and compass), explorer dives (looking for specific sea life)… All of which I am very keen to do of course. There are many more types of certificates I can attain, let’s see which others I might get.

Vuvuzela

The ancestor of the vuvuzela is said to be the kudu horn - ixilongoin isiXhosa, mhalamhala in Tshivenda - blown to summon African villagers to meetings. Later versions were made of tin.
The trumpet became so popular at football matches in the late 1990s that a company, Masincedane Sport (curses be upon them), was formed in 2001 to mass-produce it. Made of plastic, they come in a variety of colours - black or white for fans of Orlando Pirates, yellow for Kaizer Chiefs, and so on - with little drawings on the side warning against blowing in the ear!
There's uncertainty on the origin of the word "vuvuzela". Some say it comes from the isiZulu for - wait for it - "making noise". Others say it's from township slang related to the word "shower", because it "showers people with music" - or, more prosaically, looks a little like a shower head.
The announcement, on 15 May 2004, that South Africa would host the 2010 Fifa World Cup gave the vuvuzela a huge boost, to say the least - some 20 000 were sold on the day by enterprising street vendors.
It's a noisy thing, so there's no surprise some don't like it. Journalist Jon Qwelane once quipped that he had taken to watching football matches at home - with the volume turned low - because of what he described as "an instrument of hell". (source: http://www.southafrica.info/2010/vuvuzela.htm)

The answers

All right, I think I left two questions outstanding, correct? The first one being, what was I doing in that stadium? The other one Why was I studying and taking an exam? You got to forgive me for keeping (at least some of) you in agony, but I thoroughly enjoy this little bit of power I have over you from 10 000 km distance.

So on with the answers.

To the first one the answer is plain and simple: I attended the opening of the brand new stadium in Green Point, Cape Town. You must have seen pictures of it already for it is the most picturesquely located stadium they build for the coming World Cup. The stadium is a stone throw away from the ocean, it has a view on Table Mountain from within the stadium and there is a golf course lying right next to it.
The observant and loyal readers must have remarked that it is also located in the suburb where I live. Indeed it takes me about 15 minutes on foot from my front door to the entrance of the brand new stadium. And I intend to do that several times as I have tickets to all 7 world cup games which will be held here in Cape Town. Let me emphasize: I will be attending all World Cup games held in the Green Point stadium. That includes one 16^th final, one quarter final and one semi final, and I will only have to walk there 15 minutes. Now throw in the fact that I am not a football fan, and you must have an inkling of how jealous I am making my football loving friends at this moment.

Especially to those readers, I will sing: neh neh neneeh neeh, neh neh neneeh neh.(again, referring to the last sentence of my first paragraph)

So there I was at the opening of the Green Point stadium, attending the first ever football game held there. You know about the vuvuzelas so I won’t touch upon that again. Now try to imagine what kind of an event it would be if they open a new stadium in your home town. There would be some hustle and bustle, right? I am talking about brass bands, live performances, fire works, movie clips on the construction of the stadium, cheerleaders, sponsors left and right handing out free goodies, maybe even marines descending from the roof or fighter jets flying over in formation? None of that!! There was nothing! Ok, there was a band performing three songs and the dressed up a handful of girls like cheerleaders. And I saw two doll like figures bobbing around at the other side of the pitch, advertising something. But that was basically it. When the game started they counted down from 10 to 0, you know, for the official kick off of the first game ever! When they reached 0 they ball wasn’t even in the middle of the circle because the home team was still passing it around.

As feeble as the festivities were, so bad was the game. It was a premier league game, mind you. But the first real attempt came in the 88^th minute when a header accidentally ended up somewhere near the goal posts. The rest of the game was just an eyesore. Shame.

But I don’t wish to say negative things only. It is just easy to comment on what is bad, or what is lacking. I have to say the stadium itself is really beautiful to see. It is a very light structure and it allows you to reach the stands really easily. No crawling through dark catacombs, once you are in you walk right up to where you have to be. And there are plenty of stores to buy food or a beer. Very nice indeed.

Now on to the second question. What did I study, and what the flip was that exam about? I don’t think any one has guessed it. Although I must say that from the guesses you ventured, I got the impression I need to work on my image. No one said “lion tamer” or “snake expert” or any other cool and macho thing. One very good guess was “world cup host”. I might still want to try that. Escorting people to all 7 games in Cape Town, since I am attending them already. I told you that right? And about the finals?

I was studying and taking and exam to get my scuba diving certificate. That’s right. I am close to attaining my certificate for open water dives down to 18 metres. You have to take that stuff serious because if you mess up badly, you might end up killed. Yes sir, you can drown in 10cm of water. So if you go down to 18 metres you risk your life like 1800 cm/ 10cm = 180 times. And since I only have 1 life, that is quite significant I’d say. So that is why they make you take an exam. You have to study a book of roughly 540 pages. So with every 3 pages you learn, you eliminate 1 time you risk your life (on average).

On a serious note, the theory was quite extensive for a leisure activity, but it wasn’t that bad of course. I’m still proud to say I scored 49,5 / 50 #big smile.

(and now all you evil people are wondering what that one question was I got wrong).

I had the first dives as well. In a pool. To get to know how everything works, how to breathe, how to take off your goggles and put them back on, how to take off your tanks at put them

back on again, all that sort of stuff. Really cool, but not as cool as the first ocean dive I did. We went down to 6 metres to a little ship wreck lying there. Nothing too dramatic but I loved it! The plants, the fish, the starfish, the little octopus we saw. I thought it was incredible. It was also a lot more difficult then I thought. I was so tired after those two hours of diving, I had to take a nap before I could go and watch the 6 nations games (rugby).

I am certain I will do this a couple of times more often. I am already dreaming of diving to real ship wrecks. There are plenty of those along the coast and they organize dives to them.

Watch this space!

Hell's horns

The ancestor of the vuvuzela is said to be the kudu horn - ixilongoin isiXhosa, mhalamhala in Tshivenda - blown to summon African villagers to meetings. Later versions were made of tin.

The trumpet became so popular at football matches in the late 1990s that a company, Masincedane Sport (curses be upon them), was formed in 2001 to mass-produce it. Made of plastic, they come in a variety of colours - black or white for fans of Orlando Pirates, yellow for Kaizer Chiefs, and so on - with little drawings on the side warning against blowing in the ear!

There's uncertainty on the origin of the word "vuvuzela". Some say it comes from the isiZulu for - wait for it - "making noise". Others say it's from township slang related to the word "shower", because it "showers people with music" - or, more prosaically, looks a little like a shower head.

The announcement, on 15 May 2004, that South Africa would host the 2010 Fifa World Cup gave the vuvuzela a huge boost, to say the least - some 20 000 were sold on the day by enterprising street vendors.

It's a noisy thing, so there's no surprise some don't like it. Journalist Jon Qwelane once quipped that he had taken to watching football matches at home - with the volume turned low - because of what he described as "an instrument of hell".

http://www.southafrica.info/2010/vuvuzela.htm