Hi E,

I think we all have those moments. When ever I actually get some time to myself here I just feel like crying. I'm sure this is the hardest thing I've ever done. My first two weeks here has been the picture of frustration. Everyone keeps reminding me I'm on Africa time now.

I think I'm settling in here, OK, but I still have fears that I'm going to fail miserably and miss my flies. Spending two weeks to just sort myself out makes me feel like a real slacker. And now that I have my car I realize that I really have no idea what the hell I'm doing here.

South Africa is a very different place. In the city, it looks like any first world city. Shopping malls, traffic, highway interchanges, etc. But there is a very weird third world element laid over it all. The difference between rich and poor is very large here. Such a large gap between the Have's and the Have-not's creates an unstable atmosphere. Because of the large number of unemployed men, there is a lot of crime. Most of it very violent. Sometimes I feel a bit trapped because it's not safe to go out after dark alone, especially being a woman. I'm used to being a lot more independent. Most of the coloureds (some of the last genetic remnants of the bushmen mixed with the Malaysian slaves) and blacks (the Bantu tribes from this area) live in what they call the "townships" or "shanty towns" just east of the city center on the shifting dues of the Cape Flats. A shanty town is an informal settlement without a proper sewage system and a bunch of wooden shacks. The townships contain closely packed rows of bathroom sized, concrete, boxy 'homes' with corrugated iron roofs that were origianlly built by the government. Both are only a few miles from Cape Towns center, and this is where you see the third-world side of South Africa.

A proletariat bus system has developed here due to the lack of adequate public transportation. Although the sprawling city of Cape Town is really only navigable by car, most people can't afford them. Originally very informal, the "mini-bus taxis" zip through town running red lights and stopping in the middle of the street to pick up passengers. If you walk down the street, every few minutes you will see a beat up, squarish, VW or Toyota bus, (called a "combie") tearing down the street with some guy hanging out the window whistling and yelling " Wynbuurrrg," or wherever the destination happens to be. I've been warned up and down that the mini-buses aren't safe due to the reckless driving. I actually took one of these the other day with my Dutch friends to go on our Township tour in Houts Bay. It was a pretty wild ride.

Alex is in Brasil now. He's having trouble getting access to his money because the ATM's there aren't on the Cirrus Network. He said he'll have to take a cab into the capitol in order to get cash.

I talked to him for about ten minutes on Saturday from Brasil. There is a five hour time difference between here and there. Lucky for me, I got the only other guy in the boarding house where he is staying who speaks English! When the guy picked up the phone he said some greeting, and I said

"Hola, um, can I hablar con Alejandro Wild?"

And the guy said, "What?? I don undersand?" Then he asked me if I knew I was calling Brazil. "A lots of peoples call here,"

"YES" I said.

"I don know everyones that is here yet... I thin I can help you, you call me back in ten minutes..."

I wasn't sure what was going on. When I called back ten minutes later, Alex answered. I was so happy.

I heard an NPR spot on "The Lovely Bones" while driving back from Woodland just before I left. I almost had to pull over because I was just bawling. I'm not sure I could read that right now.

Anyhow, I hope your ceramics are finding they're symmetry...

Shelah