in cape town

i've been in cape town for 2 days now and having the best time. i got here on thursday afternoon, after a 30 hour trip from pretoria. the train ride was long. i was in a 4 person sleeper compartment with a woman my mom's age from zimbabwe, her 87 year old grandmother, and another older lady from S. Africa. When they came into my compartment i was dissapointed because this didn't look like what i imagined the train ride would be. i thought i'd be with young backpackers, make lifelong friends on the train, and so on. it turned out to be hilarious.

so the guy comes around with the cart and i order a beer. first of all, everyone here asks me if i have children and thinks i look older than 24. WTF!! i brush it off like it's a compliment, but we all know it's not. one of the ladies on the train asks how old i am and i say 24. She then says "oh for shame. but your body is so big." i say "yeah, i have a big body." we keep talking and once they find out that i'm a medical student they start telling me their health problems and stories about past doctors they've had. two stories stuck out...
"when i was 16-17 i went to the doctor and he said that i have a disease; the problem is my blood needs alcohol. he said if i don't drink alcohol in 2 to 3 years time i will be dead. i sit here today alive. i have never had alcohol and i am sitting here alive."
same lady, same doctor
"when i was 16-17 i went to the doctor because i was having headache and diarrhea. the doctor told me that i have a disease; my womb needs a child. he said if i don't have a child, in 6 months time i'll be dead. i told him that i am not married and no one will tell me when i need a child. i had my children years later and i am sitting here alive."
i told her that the doctor was trying to get her drunk and have sex with her. that was probably too crass a thing for me to say because the reaction was hilarious. the women turned into giggling school girls and started telling me how bad i was.

i got to cape town in the afternoon. headed to greenpoint. greenpoint is the poshest neighborhood in cape town. my cousin (actually a very very very close family friend) is here in cape town on vacation and lives in the master suite of this mansion with the most incredible view. the house is on the side of the mountain and we wake up every morning to a view of cape town, the new stadium for the world cup, and the ocean. my sister arrived from the states later that evening.

background on my cousin: she's 10 days younger than me and has been to 3 times as many countries as me, has an apt in manhattan, lives in barcelona part time, just graduated from one of the top law schools in the US, starts working in the largest firm in the world... pretty much she's a bad ass, and she knows it.

a black woman with that ego can't be in s. africa for very long without shit going down. last night my sister, cousin, and i go out for a fabulous dinner and then head out on the town. we meet a drunken, fierce, woman in her 40s. my sister immediately estimated the worth of her entire outfit to be about $5000. she and her crew take us to another private party. times were fine, but we eventually get bored. that's when i see the black diamonds. Black diamonds are what you call wealthy black south africans. i see three young girls having fun, introduce myself and before i know it our two threesomes are now a sixsome and we head out to another place. we all pile out of their car in a parking garage at the next venue and a white guy sees 6 black girls in a very expensive car and says "hope you guys didn't steal that car." the black diamonds are so used to this that they just brush it off... but hell no. my cousin is not okay with brushing that off. this was monumental.

she went up to his window.
he laughed "are you from zimbabwe?" (i don't know if that was supposed to be in insult)
"no you asshole! i'm american! i'm a lawyer in america. i can pay your salary. you're sitting her in a c-class. do you know what an effing c-class is?" it went on...
the funniest part was the guards (who were black of course) turned their backs as she berated this man, and would not lift the gate to let his car out. he and his company had to sit there and take it.

that's life in cape town so far. the black diamonds are coming to pick us up soon and we have a braai (bbq) with the fierce older woman from last night tomorrow. we heading out for a safari this week...