Thursday 8 April 2010

'Surviving History: Portraits from Vilna' South Africa - Day 1

Arrived at 8.30am this morning into Cape Town.It's now 11.22pm. Quite discombobulated still. Between the both of us, Shivaun and I, we hardly managed forty winks on the 11-and-half hour flight. About 1, Richard Freedman from the Cape Town Holocaust Centre swung by to give us a lift to the centre. Really awesome campus; too bad I didn't carry the camera today, so will take some photos only tomorrow. We spent about 3 hours doing set up today.



Was too knackered by the end of the day to do anything but soak in the bath as soon as we got back to the hotel. Then we went downstairs for some grub. Noticed springbok showed up a few times on the restaurant menu. Hope to try it before I leave. Shiv asked me what a springbok was, I didn't know how to describe it except say it was kinda like a deer and does these leaps as it runs and as I was simulating these movements with my hands, she said, 'isn't that a kangaroo?' Glad the waiter cleared it up and told her it was an antelope. Ah... antelope. Anyways, am too tired to write much. We will go back to the centre tomorrow to administer the finishing touches and get the lights on. Oh and yes, one other observation from  Day 1. We asked some people who work at the hotel as well as Richard whether it was true that it's not safe to go out at night and walkabout. The verdict is no. Apparently a few places are okay but not to walk to those places, to cab it there, and stay on the main road and not divert to adjacent lanes. After dinner as I was walking towards the lobby, the management trainee who had served us during dinner intercepted me and cautioned, 'you're not going for a walk are you?' She looked relieved when I assured her I wasn't. Hmm. Looks like we should try and squeeze in some sightseeing during the day. What a pity to not be able to explore or see the city at night. Okay. Am babbling senselessly now. Good night.

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