Small Shelly Fauna

There is a creature that has to feed

So I’m starting to get to know the people at the University here, which is good, because my African social interactions thus far have been dodgy at best. The other night I went to the launching ceremony for a new book by one of the university paleoanthropologists, which was entertaining. It is my understanding that much of the local paleo-anthro glitterati were present. After the function, I went out to dinner at a nice restaurant in the joburb where I’m staying with said professor and a number of the paleo-anthro grad students and postdocs. I had the ostrich steak with sweet potatoes (real ones, not yams) and blueberry sauce. It was delicious, but I was entirely unable to distinguish ostrich from beef. The other students were complaining about the prices at this establishment, to which I could only smirk. The more expensive entrees were 75 rand, which works out to less than twelve bucks American. Oh yeah! My favorite thing to hear every morning when I turn on the news is now: “In financial news, the rand lost strength against the dollar again today.” Grow, my U.S. monies, grow! If only to make up for all the accursed pounds I had to shell out in the U.K.

While waiting for the bus recently, I struck up a conversation with a young South African Indian woman (like most eastern African countries, there is a huge Indian population here). She was very curious about life in the U.S., and asked me, “Is life in America like they show on TV?” I replied, “Well, that covers quite a lot of ground. Is there a specific show you’re thinking of?” She said, “Felicity”, to which I responded, “No, life in America is nothing like Felicity. Other shows you may be familiar with that bear no resemblance to actual American life include Friends and The Gilmore Girls.” She then asked which shows do reflect life in the U.S., and I said, “Nothing really accurately shows what it’s like to live there, but you can get the best vision of American culture on the likes of Seinfeld and The Simpsons, because there is much truth about us in absurdity.” I don’t think she believed me; maybe she had only seen recent Simpsons, which bear no resemblance to anything.