Dadaisms

Greetings yet again! I’ve nearly been here for a month already, and I feel like I’ve been here for a week!

Since the last time I wrote much has happened. Including me being exposed to some nasty international bugs that put me out for a few days, and me managing to get a mild bit of food poisoning. Other than that it has all been positive. I’m drinking far too much Coca Cola (99p stores are evil - 3 cans for 99p I tell you!), but on the flip side I’m eating hardly any meat and am loving smoked tofu. And I’m walking everywhere, so I’m getting quite a bit of exercise.

My most urgent goal over the past few weeks has been to buy clothes. Warm clothes. Number one on that list has been to acquire a pair of boots. Not going to well: I’ve been distracted by far too many goodies. Including a pair of formal *very shiny* silver shoes (which everyone loves, so they’re well-purchased); a bright green houndstooth hoodie; high heels (see below); hot pants (see below); and fishnets (see below!). So the quest for sustainable clothing continues.

Of course, I have now started lectures. Sussex has a beautiful campus. It’s very similar to the architecture of UKZN, but the lecture halls are ALL equipped with projectors (that aren’t stolen), computers and Internet connections, sound systems, and coffee machines. Ok, well, there aren’t coffee machines in the lecture rooms, but close enough! What I find fantastic is the number of trees on campus. It’s so GREEN. So the architecture doesn’t stand out as much as it does, for example, in Durban. It’s great to sit on the grass in between lectures. Provided, of course, that you can avoid being stalked by murderous seagulls with lust in their eyes. They hunt you down on foot, take to wing and snatch the food from your hands. I jest not. Beware the seagulls.

My course is fantastic. I’m particularly enjoying the gender studies aspect. We’re only just getting through core approaches, but I can tell that this term is going to be very interesting. My classmates include a Fijian, a Romanian, an Iranian, and a Pakistani - so all our conversations integrate examples from across the globe. I’ve found it fantastic to hear how their respective societies function. I’m looking forward to learning more.

I’ve also been rather active outside of class - whenever I haven’t been in my room reading, which is most of the time. I was lucky enough to be selected for a chorus part in the University production of West Side Story. Because it’s not a major role I don’t rehearse that often, so it isn’t affecting my studies. The cast and crew are great, and I’m really enjoying the dancing and acting releases from academics. Combined with the different evenings over the week - such as open mic nights, quiz evenings, tours of the city - I’ve been very busy. I went on a tour to Stonehenge and Bath: incredible. I’ve posted the link to my photo album below. My greatest excitement, however, is the approach of next Thursday, when I’m going to see Rocky Horror live. We’re dressing up, thus the reason behind the purchasing of the heels etc. Everyone in the city seems really excited about it: all the costume shops are running out of corsets and Frank outfits. I’ll be sure to take photos!

Tonight, 24 October, was the “White Night” festival. It’s a celebration of setting the clocks back 1 hour. The basic concept is that we have an extra hour, so why not use it to celebrate the arts? There were various exhibitions, gigs, tours and concerts happening throughout the city - most free - that one could wander around to. It was a beautiful evening to walk around. We started off by catching a bus tour of the city. Little did we know it lasted 1.5 hours. And we were placed on the top half of an OPEN double-decker  bus. Well. “Freezing” and “wind-swept” are hardly adequate in describing our condition after that. But we warmed up in a lovely burger bar, and set about exploring the scene. The Royal Pavilion, Brighton’s “palace”, built during the 1800s but sold by Queen Victoria later on, was open for the night. It’s not usually open during the evenings, so it was a real treat to get to see inside with all the lights lit. Wow, WHAT an incredible experience. The palace is a museum, decorated with a Chinese theme. What’s amusing is that none of the original decorators or designers had ever been to China, so it’s a typical colonial period depiction of “the Other” - OTT and exotic. But breathtakingly beautiful. The music room was particularly magnificent: its high ceiling, elaborate velvet curtains, lit fire and incredible chandeliers created the perfect atmosphere for the members of the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra playing Mendelssohn.

This wonderful festival ended for me on a very special note. Quite by chance, Peter and I walked past the Brighton Town Hall, where a large crowd had gathered to watch one of the acts. We looked up, and on the balcony of the beautiful town hall building, surrounded by massive red velvet drapes that were billowing in the wind, was a drag queen. She was wearing a magnificent white ballgown, complete with sequins, Eva Peron hairdo and a diamante necklace/earring combo. She sang a few numbers, and ended her performance with “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” (of course). As she reached the crescendo of the chorus, the crowd below, gazing lovingly up at her, began to sing along. I spotted several tears glistening off the faces of the participants. As any good drag queen would do, she raised her arms in a mock Madonna/Evita pose, and the crowd of cheered.

I love Brighton.

Where else in the world could you assemble a random crowd that would know all the words to an Andrew Lloyd Webber number and clap in wild support of their gender-defying leader?

Links to my photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158211&id=503735358&l=68034a2880

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=163244&id=503735358&l=1cdd534b1b

Love to all

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Greetings family and friends.

Again I find myself not having blogged in many months. Donovan, you must be giving up on my by now. As soon as I’m back I will voluntarily walk with you to the gallows, and I’ll even put the noose around my own neck. However, this is the easiest platform to reach everyone.

I left SA nearly a week ago already. I’ll start at the beginning (it’s a very good place to start, you know) for those of you I haven’t filled in already. For those who know this part, tough. Haha.

After a relatively uneventful flight to JHB from Durban, I finally arrived at the Virgin Atlantic check in counter. Now as you know, I’m paranoid about getting things wrong. I’m obsessive about knowing EXACTLY what I need to do. So you can believe me when I say that I had checked Virgin’s website many times about baggage allowances and rules. The website expressly stated that I can take 23kgs, but up to 32kgs if I was willing to pay an extra £35. Sure, that’s not a great deal for 9 extra kgs. Great. So I trotted up to the counter, with an enthusiasm to match Maria’s as she was calling to the hills. That little bubble was soon deflated. The check-in lady looked and me and said I was only allowed to take 23kgs. “Yes,” I replied, “but your website says I can take 32kgs for an extra £35”. “No,” she said, “That only begins in November”. “But I checked your website today! It didn’t say that – it said that the policy is already in place!” At this point the blond lady behind the other counter chipped in with a: “No, it’s not on the website. He can go look right now – it’s not on there. It’s not our problem”. Panic. The thought of emptying 6 kgs (as I had only packed 29kgs) at the airport was horrifying. After much pleading and begging, I eventually played the scholarship card – thank goodness for the British Council. A quick flash of the letter giving me permission to take in an extra 10kgs was all it took, apparently. But not after Virgin Atlantic charging me an extra R300/kg!

Needless to say, I’m not flying Virgin again.

After that it was a mere 3 hour wait until my flight. All proceeded well enough. It was a very cramped flight, and the food was awful. My Nationwide flight to the UK a few years back was actually better than this Virgin flight. Anyway, enough complaining. The best is yet to come. Arrival at Heathrow: 6:45. Departure from Heathrow: 11:20. The queues. THE QUEUES!! Apparently every student in the world has decided to study in the UK. The queue was insanely long. And of course, the mandatory x-rays and medical report for SA students are useless: it is evident that the British do not trust SA doctors, as I had to stand in ANOTHER queue to get confirmation that my xrays were real and that my doctor is credible. Ugh.

Fastforward: 2 hours, a calm coach drive, and an exhausting walk with a 30kg bag and 6kg handbag later I arrived at my residence. Missing several fingers and surely suffering from dehydration, but alive.

My location is amazing. I’m on the 5^th storey of a University-managed building right on the beach. And my room is sea-facing! It’s our building, the main road, the promenade, then the beach. It reall is as close to the sea as possible. There are about 180 students from all over the world staying in my building, and I’ve only met a handful of them. My roommates are all very friendly: I haven’t spent much time with them, but we get on well. I have 5 roommates, from China, Japan, America, Iran and Singapore. Over the past few days I’ve managed to connect with to fantastic people – Peter and Beth. Beth is from SA and is on the same Scholarship as me. She’s doing her DPhil, in a field that I can’t do justice in my filtered and watered-down understanding. Peter is from America, and is also into theatre. He’s doing the same course as me, which is fantastic as I don’t have to travel around alone!! There are so many South Africans around: the Residential Advisor is from Cape Town, and there’s a guy on the 1^st floor who actually went to St Charles 10 years before me. So I certainly do not feel isolated or alone.

What have I been doing? Walking!! I’ve never walked this much in my life. Brighton is an amazing city – it’s a beach town, but a big city as well. It reminds me of Durban in many ways. If Durban was cleaned up, made extra extra safe, and given a good shot of tolerance it could be Brighton. The history is incredible. My res is right by the Royal Pavilion, build by the Prince Regent in the early 19^th century. There are Gothic churches, modern libraries, tudor homes, European-style squares..everything you can think of. There are lanes and gardens all over, with so many different shops. I haven’t even begun to explore the shops! I’m thinking about getting some rollerblades to get around – loads of people have them, and there are lanes on the roads dedicated to cycling/skateboarding/rollerblading. I’ve been out every night – not to clubs, but just exploring the city. It’s amazing to be in a place where there are police patrolling 24/7, and I don’t feel afraid to walk around alone or in a small group. Beth, Peter and I spent one night wandering around a suburb, and eventually made our way onto the beach to discuss politics and gender theory. Last night we went to an open mic evening at a bohemian coffeehouse where we heard incredible live music and spoken word. It’s so refreshing to be in a city where tolerance is infused with the mainstream. There was a girl last night who read a poem dedicated to her girlfriend for their 3 year anniversary – and everyone cheered. I haven’t encountered any hate (except towards the government). I’m not naive to think that it’s not there. But it’s certainly not as tangible as in South Africa.

What else to fill you in?

Tomorrow I’m going onto campus to meet my lecturers and classmates for the first time. I’m looking forward to starting classes on Monday! The link to my program is below:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/publications/pgrad2009/areasofstudy/Gender%20studies/20442

I’ve taken loads of pictures already. You can view them here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=158211&id=503735358&l=68034a2880

It’s very expensive living here. I’ve stopped converting to Rands, thank goodness, because if I carried on I’d die of heart failure. The transport is pricey, but I purchased a rail saver card today. And as for the food…I’ve been living on Pepsi and Mars Bars. No, not really. I made lasagne the other night that I’ve frozen for the next week. Come Sunday I’m going to have to plot out exact meals for the week, because otherwise all of my money is going to be spent on food. Which I don’t want.

I can’t WAIT to go into London and spend all of my money on musical theatre! Wicked! Les Mis (again)! La Cage aux Folles (with John Barrowman!!!!!!!). Ah, bliss.

I think that’s all for now. I’ve been sick for the last day (lack of sleep and general travel fatigue I think), so my mind is a bit hazy at the moment. I’ll keep you posted on what’s happening in my life!

Watch this space.

Miss you all

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