avelog

What’s going on in Canada? I’ve heard nary a word of news from Edmonton nor, for the most part, from Regina. Liz regularly tells me what’s going on in her life, but that’s pretty well limited to grad school and the joys and stresses of a new city. I’ve had one short email from the folks who raised me, but no news from anyone else! I’m not psychic here!

Our mongoose friend who has twice visited the house and refused to leave. I think he’s cute and cuddle, but certain others (I’m looking at you Rebecca) feel otherwise.

Of course, who am I to criticize? I use a lazy form of mass communication here. The vast bulk of the effort put into this thing was almost a year back when I designed it. Now it sits here for 28 days a month, idle but for your occasional visits to discover that nothing has changed; that Kieran is being neglectful again (although I actually think I posted once in February, so there goes that theory).

After the excitement of Kruger National Park, it’s been mostly work, work, work, which is my excuse for not posting an update. What am I supposed to tell you? You’ll fall asleep I’m sure, as I ramble on and on about the massive batch of pasta sauce that I made last week and have been eating ever since (eight days running?). I salute the freezer.

Last weekend was actually pretty exciting, since Rob and I got to put our new mountain bikes through their paces. After much deliberation, both of us decided to buy the cheapest decent new bikes we could find and try to resell them at the end of the trip, since the used bike market here is quite pricey. Our co-workers, Ernita and James, invited us along for a ride early on Sunday morning, an opportunity to get off campus! Yay!!

It was quite the exciting time, with Ernita car running out of gas on the way out, and then her bike chain breaking halfway through the ride. We mostly stuck to dirt roads east of the city, alternately rutted, hilly, rocky, dusty, and jarring. It was a lot of fun with the sun beating down, and we really put the bikes to the test, coming out dusty, with their inaugural scratches. We got back to the city three and a half hours after we hopped on the bikes, and sat down for a hearty breakfast at a local cafe.

On Wednesday last week, we made our first trip into Johannesburg, although we definitely did not have a representative experience. Rebecca, Rob and I accompanied our colleague Nikki to a science and technology conference where she was to give a little talk about the water resources work underway at the CSIR. It was held at the Sandton Conference Centre in what I’m told is the wealthiest part of Johannesburg. We spent some time walking around the conference and chatting with people at the interesting booths before sitting down in the Speaker’s Corner to watch Nikki’s talk. Unfortunately, midday attendance on Wednesday seemed to be low, and the only other audience member was the guy who validated our parking for us!

After visiting the children’s section of the conference and spending quality time with such things as the brainwave tug-o-war, we spent an inordinate amount of time on foot trying to find Nelson Mandela Square, which in the end was right beside the conference centre. Our final route to the square involved walking outside on the street… in Johannesburg (*gasp*)! OK, so nothing happened. We ended up finding the square (which actually seems to be above street level), handed my laptop battery in at the Apple store so that they can exchange it in the exploding-battery recall (four to six weeks delivery), got some ice creams and sat down on the step beside the giant statue of Nelson Mandela. Nikki informed us that he doesn’t usually have quite such a strange expression on his face in real life.

Nelson Mandela in statuesque majesty; and the horny cow in nearby Sandton City mall

Apart from work, the rest of the past week has mostly been spent trying to organize my future. I’m applying for an NSERC scholarship again this year, and trying to get stuff organized for grad school applications in the next couple of months. The NSERC application kind of torpedoed any other plans this weekend, although I’ve still managed to get to the gym twice. Yes, that’s right. I came all the way to South Africa, and all I did this weekend was work and go to the gym. Responsibility appears to be quite boring.

Now, should I take the GRE in the next few weeks on the off-chance that I want to go to grad school in the States? That means finding the test centre in Johannesburg…. I don’t think my bike will do as transport in that regard.

Stewart Island is a small island south of New Zealand’s South Island, and considered the country’s third and oft forgotten island. It has a small tourist-oriented town and a lot of wilderness/wildlife. The plan was to head over on the passenger ferry this morning, since departure times are posted as 9:30am, 11:30am, and 3:30pm, but for no apparent reason, they decided to sail at 9:30am and 5:00pm today, so we’ve been stranded in Invercargill for a few hours with no plans.

I’ve had a couple of disappointments the past few days. After applying to UBC and having lenghty discussions and visits with one of the profs there, I was of the understanding that I was going to start a program there in the fall with funding through a research project involving the study of invasive species brought in by shipping on the west coast. I had a week of deliberations after leaving Canada and decided to accept the position offered within the timeframe given, only to receive a reply two days after my email stating that the prof had gone behind my back and found a different Master’s candidate to fill the spot, leaving me with no opportunity at UBC for the fall and no plans. I was quite frustrated with this and felt betrayed, but I recovered after a few beers and some sleep. I still had hope in my NSERC application, and with that funding would likely be able to pursue something interesting along a different avenue.

Well, during our current limbo awaiting ferry departure, I’ve received news that NSERC sent me a rejection letter sometime last week, stating that this year’s competition was particularly severe. That leaves heading to South America and getting lost in the jungle for a few months my only option left. Hopefully I’ll still have a chunk of money left after this New Zealand/Australia trip. I guess I’ll have to do some thinking in the next few months and decide where I’m headed; some serious world-wandering, accompanied by the necessary job-seeking in foreign countries, or a re-grouping and a concerted effort to find something interesting to do in grad school (I only applied to one school this year because I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do).

No photos today (it’s now been a while) since the computers at this internet cafe in Invercargill are fairly difficult to use. We spent three or so days along the Catlins Coast and stayed the last night at a little campground that only had a tiny kitchen and pay-stove. This wouldn’t normally be a problem, except that we still hadn’t found a fuel canister for the stove and had no other way to cook. Problem solved: the girl at the office gave us the end-of-day meat pies and sausage rolls that were sitting in the oven since they were closing up. Not the most elegant, healthy, or invigorating meal, but free and filling!!

On Stewart Island, the plan is to do a morning of sea kayaking followed by a three day hike on the Rakiura Track, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks. We’ll take the ferry back on April 3rd and make a dash for Queenstown to return the rental car. Then our other tramps and we’re off with our cheap-cheap-cheaper rental car after Easter.

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