Penn Tour

Today was the Cape Peninsula Tour. This is apparently a huge deal for Cape Tonians.

Hit some Cape sweet spots... Cape of Good Hope, Boulders National Park (CAPE PENGUINS!), V&A Waterfront, Ocean View, Scarborough Country and all the other spots on the peninsula bus tour.

Highlights (outside of the penguins, of course): Ocean View..a township area a few area outside of Cape Town proper that is settled mostly by "Cape Colored" (descendants of slaves, mostly Malaysian,... I had heard that the District 9 movie was based on real events. But after watching the special features and hearing that they "didn't want to make a political movie" just kind of disregarded the true historical context. But after hearing what actually happened here, I can't imagine that they had any intentions outside the political. Pretty powerful stuff...forced removal of black/colored (first time I had heard that phrase used inoffensively)... Oh also regarding the story of Ocean View, the tour guide today was so impressively culturally and ethnically sensitive... and I quote... "black folk are a tribal folk ... they live in Ocean View now for tribal reasons ... It's not a political issue at all, South Africa is now a democratic nation..." Thank you for the insightful commentary Mrs Tour guide...

Also I've found Europeans hold a somewhat contradictory view towards America... They all seem to be very biased against Americans ( "I'm sick of that accent already, can you try another accent," things like this) but then they talk about how they love all things American (movies, TV, food, some sports) quite contradictory...but makes for interesting conversations with the house mates. Good thing I can talk "football" with them, saves myself some respect.

I'm missing the NFL playoffs right now...How disappointing. Colts v Jets game looks great... Oh well. Bars close early here on Sundays... (who goes to bars on Sundays outside of the USA)

Oh yes, and I'll put out my prediction here today. Though I wish I didn't have this feeling... After listening to stories of people for the past few days, something bad WILL happen during the World Cup. Probably not in Cape Town, but in Joburg things sound much less than savory. The story that sticks out in my mind comes from 2 guys I met the first night who said it took them less than 10 minutes in downtown Joburg to be mugged at knife and "possibly gun" point in the middle of the day. Other things I have heard are "do not go to Joburg unless you have everything totally lined up transportation-wise"... That came from a Zimbabwean... I just cannot imagine that all the fans will know to anticipate these safety measures... Scary stuff... I hope everything goes well, but I'm just not sure now. We'll see I guess