The latest

So I feel like I did not do the rugby game justice, which I know I haven't. I have been so busy lately that I really do not have time to do this (considering I have gotten 0 work done for school tonight). Anyways, the game was amazing. People here are NUTS about rugby. Junktrap, you would love it. All day long, there were cars driving by with huge flags of their team hanging out the window. Everybody would yell at us as we were walking by and mild fights occurred between cars that were supporting the opposing teams. Basically it was the Vodacom Bulls vs. the Vodacom Stormers. Yes..Vodacom owns everything. If you ever want to take over South Africa, just take over Vodacom and you are all set. I had no idea who to root for so I asked the Swiss twins and their South African friends who told me the Stormers were better. Cape Town is pretty much 50:50 on that issue though. Anyways, it was such a huge game. The game was completely sold out and when we were walking there, I knew we were getting closer when the slow rumbling was getting louder. I have never seen so many people in my life! It is huge! Our seats were pretty amazing too. They were not bleeder seats and I could easily see the numbers on the back of the rugby shirts. I heard something about the number on the back of their shirt denotes their position but I am not sure about that one. So I was voting for the Stormers. I did not know what was going on but I was obsessed by the lineout or whatever Junktrap called it: when the team lifts their player into the air (actually by their legs and not their shorts - probably to prevent the wedgie from occurring Amanda) in order to catch the ball. I think after watching this game though, I get the gist of the game. You kick off like football, the other team runs and everybody tackles that person. BUT, it is tricky, the ball is not out of play. There is a huge pig pile (which is about 50% of the game) where the ball gets strategically moved to the outside and thrown to a player of their team. That player takes the ball and runs all of two feet before the pig pile has moved on top of him. If the team is good, they will the throw the ball behind them (cannot throw ahead of them) right before they are tackled and will form sort of like a diagonal line. There are field goals (if they are even called that) and they are worth 3 points. There are also goals a.k.a a tri. I have no idea how much that is worth because neither team scored one. Oh and all people that play this sport have a death wish. They get hit so hard and have no padding! I am surprised that hospitals aren't filled with old rugby players that have brain damage. Junktrap - I hope that New London rugby is not as violent as this rugby - it is nuts! Oh and the other cool part is that even if the buzzer sounds for the half or game to be over, the game isn't over until the ball is out of bounds. Until then, it is still in play. All in all, the Stormers were leading for the first half and the Bulls came back the second half and whooped the Stormers butt. :( It was a close game though! So exciting! In the end, the Stormers were about to score a tri, the buzzer sounded but the ball was still in play. They were right on the line but alas, the ball went out of play. :( Anyways, I have tons of videos, some really good ones and I tried sending you one Basura but it was taking too long. I will devote a day to just that at some point though. The internet might time out before the video is attached but I will try my hardest to get it to you because I have to admit, it is a pretty awesome video. Anyways...that was the game. It was awesome.



On Sunday night, I went to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for a concert (this is where Michael Buble was playing at the beginning of December and where the Parlotones played but I missed them). We had a picnic there and explored. Mom, you would drive me nuts in a place like this because there is so much and it is soo gorgeous! You would spend probably 10 hours just taking pictures and it takes 3 hours to tour the entire place. Everywhere you look, there is the mountains. And the backdrop of the concert is the mountains. We saw the Rudimentals and they are a ska band. I did not really enjoy the music but other people did. I was enjoying the scenery. Pictures of that will be up later because they are still on my computer. It is late and I want to go to bed.

Oh and on another note, I forgot to mention that Thursday we found out that Matt, our RA, was quitting. He can't handle us or something like that. It is a lot of drama. He moved out yesterday and we have a new RA, Ben, who lived in this house a couple years ago with the UNC program. He is great and is everything we needed Matt to be. Ben knows the area, knows what to do in certain situations and just wants us to have fun but be safe. So...there has been less drama! :) That is always good!