Up the Creek and My First Maties Game

I survived my first music festival which also happened to be in South Africa. Up the Creek, as the festival was called, was...surreal but really cool. I didn't take very many photos simply because it wasn't really convenient to carry my camera around crowds of people. Car camping South African style is quite an experience. It involves lots of delicious braai (South African style barbeque but it's grilled over wood and there is a whole culture to it.) and good company.

The festival was outside Swellendam and along the banks of the Breede river. The river was incredible, shallow and sandy. It was especially great to swim in and we did several times over the course of the weekend. Also, because this area is Fynbos dominated, the water was a maroon colour. The Fynbos exudes nutrients and minerals, mainly iron, which colour the water. At first I was a bit weirded out and worried the river was polluted, but after it was explained to me and I noticed the other 400 people swimming, I joined in as well.

This is were we camped (our campsite is behind me in this shot). One thing you may notice is the lack of trees. Now, because it hit at least 36 all weekend, during the day it became too hot very fast. So we spent a lot of time at the river. You can see the river valley in the background. A very beautiful area though.

As far as the music went, some of the bands were very good. I especially liked aKing, Dirty Skirts and the Rudimentals. On Saturday, I heard the infamous (well at least in SA) Jack Parow. He's known for extremely foul lyrics. As I've started picking up Afrikaans, I could make out many of the swear words. Nonetheless, he has very good beats and a hilarious stage presence. Also, he is not a Jack Sparrow imitator which is what I initially thought!

So after a crazy weekend, I watched my first ever rugby game tonight. The Stellenbosch Maties (pronounced Mah-tees) are the defending Varsity Cup Rugby Champions in South Africa. There are three really popular sports here as follows: Rugby, Soccer/Football and Cricket. Anyways, the Maties are amazing and for R100 I bought my season's ticket. This includes entry for the five home games plus a really awesome jersey. So tonight a bunch of us donned the maroon and went to watch the game.

The South African flag and the opposing team in white (the NWU Pukke) during the South African National Anthem. The anthem is really beautiful and it was great to hear all the students singing.

You can see our Maties in maroon racing after the ball. We played poorly in the first half but managed to come back very strong in the second half winning the game 32 to 6! Go Maties Go!  Also, it was amazing that the stadium was almost entirely full and nearly everyone was in their Maties's gear. One thing that still amazes me about Stellenbosch is the amount of school spirit. Everyone is very proud to be a student here and its quite amazing. I  feel proud to be a Matie, even just temporarily.

Later this week, photos of my office (woo!) and campus photos (finally!)