Hello all,

I haven't sent out an update in a while, mainly because I haven't done all that much of interest since the last one.

One bit of news I have to share now though is that I have been offered a two year postdoc in Potsdam, Germany at the GeoForschungZentrum. I have decided to accept the offer. I will likely be living in or near Berlin and commuting to work as I am told Potsdam is very expensive to live in and that it is quite easy to get there from Berlin via public transit. I leave for Berlin from Johannesburg around the 10th of January.

I am looking forward to Christmas vacation as I will be spending 8 days or so touring the southern coast of Mozambique, which is reputed to have some of the world's best coast line. We'll see about that. What I am really looking forward to is the scuba diving we'll be doing - The dive we are to do the day after Christmas will hopefully include manta ray and whale shark sightings! That would be awesome, as I've always wanted to see both. I'll be spending New Year's in Cape Town with some of my fire performer friends there. My closest friends in Pretoria, Craig and Madelaine, have just moved to the Cape as well, so it will be nice to spend several days staying with them just before I leave South Africa.

Otherwise, not a whole lot is new in Potchefstroom. The town hosted it's annual art festival called 'Aardklop' in late September. This town of 40,000 (finally found an official census report) was invaded by over 130,000 visitors for the festival! And I was living at ground zero (i.e, the majority of these 130,000 newcomers were within a 4 block radius of me 70% of the time - I was sleeping with earplugs that week). They say it is South Africa's 2nd largest art festival. I suppose it is the second largest non-music festival in this country, but would hardly call it an art festival. It is more like an Octoberfest type of thing, with the main emphasis on drinking beer, and there being lots of things organized to entertain people while they drink beer, with a few vendors booths over in a corner)

Funny thing is, it was during Aardklop that I finally went from being an outsider in this town to being a local of sorts. Naturally every restaurant and pub anywhere near the center of activity was always crowded to capacity, with long lines to get into them much of the time.

Yet, if I walked up, even with 2 or 3 people in tow, the guy working the door would let me in strait away with me not even having to do anything besides nod to him, regardless of how many people were waiting in line to get in. In some regards, this sense of 'localism' has stayed with me in the month or so since Aardklop ended.

One of the performances I saw during the festival was a real eye opener.

It was this dance troupe that the university I work for sponsors (as in all the members are students). These people were like the worst 'Fame' wanna-bes I have ever seen. Their costume designer should have be shot, and death is far too good for their choreographer. I honestly think I could have done better myself with 20 randomly selected people and only

3 weeks to rehearse (and I fully admit that I have little or no skill in this regard). These people couldn't even lip-sync in a halfway believable manner. The thing is, this is (for some totally bizarre and incomprehensible reason) a very prestigious group for students to belong to (i personally would be embarrassed to death if I was in it!). It's a big deal to be accepted to be one of them, and apparently they turn down something like 10 people for every one they take. I can't hardly believe that, given the complete lack talent - but whatever! Furthermore, the venue was completely packed! there must have been 1000 people there to see them. Girls were even screaming at their lame attempts to pull a "sexy move" while obviously lip-syncing to the music. there were so many video cameras filming it that I thought there must either be some Los Angeles cops around beating up some poor minority or perhaps a US invasion was underway. I was more stunned by the positive reaction these performers were receiving from the crowd than the absolutely horrid quality of their performance. About half way through the first part of it (it was one of those situations that once you were in and it started, you couldn't leave till intermission), I came to the conclusion that this whole thing was actually a very elaborate joke being played on the silly/naive American. It took my friend Stef about 3 hours and a few beers to convince me that the whole thing was in fact supposed to be a serious performance. I'm still astonished by that (and still a little dubious as well). I just decided to accept that there are some things about the Afrikaans that I will never understand (and this one was completely unfathomable).

I did make a new friend at Aardklop - A lovely half-indian, 3/8ths black, and 1/8th white woman named Jenny. She has started dating my Dutch pool shooting partner, Nico, but her and I have become good friends in the last month, partly because neither of us really belong here (and neither of us speak afrikaans!). Her multi-racial background makes life difficult for her anywhere in SA outside of Jo'berg, Durban, or the Cape. Unfortunately, my friendship with her has led to me personally hearing more racist comments in the last month than I think I have heard in my entire life combined. I guess we look like a couple when we hang out or something. Actually, this is a large part of the reason I decided to take the job in Germany - I am sick of hearing this attitude, even though such things don't bother her (she's dealt with it her whole life, from all sides, since she is neither Indian nor black nor white)

Please remember as you read this that I am living in a South African town that is known for its afrikaans conservatism. If I were in Pretoria, Jo'berg, or anywhere along the coast, I'm sure Jenny and I could be friends hassle free. And even most the people in Potch (particularly younger ones) don't care. Unfortunately, the few percent that are racist are very vocal. Sometimes I think that many of the white people around here victimized by black crime bring it on themselves with their attitude. I notice that the more racist the person, the more paranoid he is and the more stories he has about being mugged or ripped off. In all my time here, I have never once felt even mildly threatened in that way. But again, please don't read this and think all white South Africans are bigots. Most of them are not and really are lovely and friendly people. I'm just fed up with the few but very noticeable idiots here, and they work my nerves to such a degree that I have realized I need to leave Potch soon.

That said, it may sound weird when I say that I have become quite attached to South Africa, and will be sad to leave. The country is stunning, and I have made friends with some fantastic people here. I imagine I'll be coming back more than once to visit again in the future.

I suspect my next update will be after I arrive in Germany, so happy holidays to everyone. Please take care of yourselves.

best regards,

-Vance-