Thursday, March 10, 2011

Goldfish and Dolphins

As a final farewell weekend we managed to get tickets to see the South African band Goldfish, a stellar finale weekend to say the least! The band consists of a pair of guys who play instruments and one guy who just sings. Their trademark instrument would probably be the saxophone, but they also mix a bit and play other instruments too. I think on their website they have some sample tunes which I highly suggest checking out, and will do them much better justice than me trying to explain their music. The venue was perfect as well, partially outside, partially inside a lounge, lots of people but small enough we were right close to the stage! And best part of all they are even better live and seeing them play was so much fun. 
As if going to a concert wasn’t enough, surfing was in store for Saturday at the famous Jeffery’s Bay. I surfed there once before when I first arrived in S. Africa, but now that I have had a month of daily surfing I can appreciate the location a bit more (not that I have actually improved that much…). I guess I should explain the purchase that was made about a month ago, a surf board! My roommate and I split the purchase of one for us to use for our time in Hamburg; so this past month I have gone for a surf nearly every morning. Although there are definitely mornings I can barely peel myself out of bed, and it is even harder to convince myself to plunge into the shark infested, body numbing cold water (literally to the former and latter) it has been amazing – and I have survived thus far! No joke, the waters are actually swarming with Ragged Tooth Sharks, however, they don’t typically attack so all you can really do is take your chances and hope if you do encounter any they will be in a good mood.  And yes, it is intentional I waited to write about the sharks until now (since tomorrow is my last day surfing for a long time and I didn't want to worry anyone). On a much friendlier note, I have had encounters with huge pods of dolphins twice this past week, once this weekend in Jeffery’s Bay there were dolphins almost touching Michelle and I on our surf boards, and then a few actually surfed the wave right underneath us!  Again this morning while I was out in the water Mike called my name and pointed behind me, which of course completely terrified me and I got out of the water as fast as someone can in a wetsuit with a surfboard (i.e. not fast enough to escape a shark) but for my hearts sake it was another pod of dolphins in the horizon that went on for miles and miles, a sight I doubt could ever lose its novelty. 
Well, on that note I should say that I have to really take in all of these amazing moments, I fly out tomorrow afternoon!!! I can't begin to express all of the mixed emotions I have, as excited as I am to see everyone I am also going to miss so much here, it is bitter sweet. I have learned so much, experienced so much and met some of the most amazing people here that I think it's inevitable that I will be back, sooner or later...much more to write about my thoughts on this entire experience, this is just a bit of a prelude.  xo