The Ring of Fire Strikes Again

Yeah, it's been a ride these last few days. So sorry if okes are desperately hitting "refresh" and not getting anything... It's been fun, caused a lot of late nights and all that, but I don't think I'm going to be doing a post a day anymore. Too much bore, too much stress. It's not that I can't, it's just that I think it's the way forward. So, as a bonus, you jammy readers get an awesome account of my past 4 or so days, complete with criticism, ripping, societal crapping-on, and general laffs (I hope).

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So, kicking off with Wednesday/Thursday, Langa, and chicken wings, as well as an awesome amount of poverty and trash! Srsly.

Well, as one of their "great ideas", the Bishops Exchange Committee decided that an awesome thing to do would be to send us off to Langa for a day and a night. Wicked sick, I was quite excited at the idea of having some questionable exchange choices quake in their boots at the idea of spending a night in Langa. God forbid. For those of you who don't know, it's a stereotypical township, like the one people always mention when they want to tune townships. So yeah, off we go...

But before that, we had one of them whatchamacallit broaden your horizons activities. Like, welcome to Bishops, you don't actually think okes are going to listen or care. Besides, it was all about agents of change and how we can all make change in our lives and stuff. That was the really ineffective part of the program. Although lunch was decent :)

Then, exciting stuff, we went to visit homeless shelters and stuff in the city. Which was a really solid experience. Our group went to a place called Homestead, which took kids in off the streets, sent them to school, established a routine in their lives, and got them off the streets. Hopefully. Maaan, it was so eye-opening already, and we hadn't even got started. There were messages scrawled on the walls by the bunks, messages of tears and pain and despair... There was a massive grassy vacant lot next door, but the owners weren't doing anything with it and didn't want to donate it to the kids to play soccer on... Wow, it's just like there's so much more corporate power then what people care about other people's lives... I started to see what Joe meant, life really does suck if you don't have the money.

Then, it was time to go to Langa. What a sight! Trash everywhere (because the plug had been pulled on street cleaning, and even the garbage collection was very sporadic), all sorts of decrepit bloc-style buildings everywhere... It reminded me a bit of Poland and CoD maps actually... And people live in this environment every day of their lives. We all walked around with our hosts in a giant group; little kids ran at us and hugged our legs and jumped on us, and we did all sorts of things like kick a ball and jump a rope, and one of them even bit Mitch!

It was getting dark, and people were braaing various things on the side of the road, such as intestines, wings, and even a whole cow's heart, just lying on the table there! People were brewing beer in shipping containers, foul pink frothy stuff kept in old oil cans. bleeh :P

We had a whole vibe going, singing and dancing down the street, it was so great to have such an awesome sense of community. But everywhere we looked were reminders that it was still a township. We passed some gangsters, a kid who had killed one of the girl's brothers, and a place where a boy got murdered last week. Talk about perspective.

So, my host was a really friendly girl called Babalwa. She lived with her one-eyed mom and two infant cousins in a little two-room flat as part of a bloc. They were so welcoming and willing to share everything they had, it was great to see how heartwarming people can be. I ended up not eating any meat for dinner, and that got me thinking about how they have to forgo things such as a proper diet and stuff just because they're living off social grants.

Anyway, I'm still alive and well after that, so yeah, it was a really great trip. AIS, I didn't get much sleep because the noise of the highway was too loud.

My family doesn't spend money unnecessarily. I don't have a fancy cellphone, don't drive a fancy car, don't have a big house. True, I get to go to exotic locations for holiday, but that's personal preference. Bishops puts me in such stark contrast to Cape Town's elite. And still I feel like a criminal purely for having so much. If anything, this trip certainly re-affirmed my belief in communism and the left wing. The guys want to go back. I can't say I blame them, I think I'll go to Langa again if I can.

Man, it feels like there should be something that we should be doing about this poverty and crap in Africa, because it's really bad. And then you realize that the government is responsible for these people, responsible for their services, responsible for them getting a good life. Hardly any of those people are there by their actions, and none are certainly there by choice. I'm not hating on SA's government specifically, but just capitalist governments as a whole. They don't have enough power to look after the poor properly.

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Well, after that eye-opening experience, I was understandably pretty nihilistic, and the fact that I have to do things before going on exchange and everything changes for me is only adding stress to that pile. I'm leaving in 14 days, but that isn't helped by the fact that I've got a piano exam, a girlfriend, a Scout troop, a fencing club, a pipe band, and all my friends and life left behind (temporarily). I'm actually trying not to think about the stresses it brings, because that just makes me worried about whether all that will function effectively without me :D.

The good news is, stuff for exchange has been sorted. Music lessons, sports practices, etc. So no turning back now, I am making the absolute most of it!

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ARGH! How I hate seeing people in relationships for the sake of relationships. It makes me sick to think that people can call each other partners when they don't care about each other at all... They're just doing it because everyone is! I literally want to eat people! It makes me so freaking crazy... And then I think about the fact that those aren't the people who's opinions I care about anyway, so screw them :)

I could be really emo. I could write something about how stupid love can get, and about how awesome it would be if I didn't have to worry about hormones and stuff, but I'm not like that. Because writing systematically actually cheers me up, unlike some blogs I've flicked through, which is just people chundering on the internet. Really.

Anyway, sometimes it's difficult to be in a relationship. Silly things happen, and it makes you forget what you're there for in the first place, because you're there for each other. Y'all know what I'm talking about... Well, y'all who have a special person close to your heart. You forget those things that make that special person special... That's bleak dayz right there, but I guess everyone has their fair share... Well, I did grow very fond of The Ring of Fire. Because it was just that appropriate ;) And I was reminded of why I loved you in the first place.

But, as Guy once said, when I'm sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead :) And it's a really cool feeling to know there is love in this world!

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FRIDAY'S fencing practice was crazy. Because no-one's listening to me yet :D I think they just want to spite me... But it's chilled, see how they'll miss me when tyrannous Rob takes over! :D I think leading the club is going to be a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I'm happy to accept that responsibility. And being super-bleak didn't help that day, but it'll all be cool for next weekend. Because next weekend, I fence sabre. AND I WIN!!!!!

Also, I don't get a reprise at all. Because I shouldn't be blogging :D I should be fixing weapons and practicing piano! But yeah, basically I have about a billion foils and stuff to fix today and tomorrow. Which is really a lus, because I don't want to but I have to. Meh.

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Aaaaaaand finally today's report: Model United Nations. The most undebating and unpublic speaking debating and public speaking competition ever. Seriously. It's fun, it's cool, and it's interesting, but competition-wise, most retarded thing ever. And I'm not just bleak that we didn't win, because that's not really that important anyway. Although a trip to DC would be nice!

So yeah, we ended up representing Egypt in the BATTLE FOR INTERNET FREEDOM. And we had absolutely no information on our new Egyptian government after the revolution except for a provisional constitution on www.egypt.gov.eg. And I guessed the web address, turns out it was right :)

And we basically got to argue with people about how it's a fundamental human right, like a UN session. It was really nice to do, but I didn't take anything from it! Well, maybe the fact that you don't want to do it! because it's a silly idea! Because it is! And the adjudicators don't know a thing about public speaking! And that there are no criteria you can possibly judge it on! And that all these exclamation marks are making me sound like someone in a panic mood :D !!!

So yeah. Well, at least we did get to see the cabinet vibes.

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And on the way back, my teacher just ripped into everything about the elite of our society. Because they come here and want to make it a Little England. It is NOT FREAKING LITTLE ENGLAND!! You come here with your Bishops "I'm so snazzy" attitudes and expect life to just work! Because it doesn't!

And Joey, you should probably listen to this.

Screw you guys, I'm going to learn statistics. And I'm getting a PhD. And I am freaking teaching at university, because seeing people grow under your guidance is an amazing thing. If you have the love for it, you have to teach. It's one of the few professions, along with medicine and law, that transcends all boundaries. It is necessary for civilization to continue. You think you're so cool with your accounting degree, wowzers, you are nothing. Because you can buy yourself a snazzy house? What? So can I. Who said there's no money in teaching?

Teaching. That's the only way forward, because our schools are stuffed with bad teachers and therefore bad students. If you lose the students, you lose everything.

Which is why we don't have a socialist society.

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Wow, I have ranted for so very very long. I hope you got something out of it. Something more than me telling my life story! Because if I've gotten you, dear reader, to think about our world and the issues with it, then I have succeeded.