you can all just call me mariah from now on.
because everyone in the township of ocean view thinks i bear a striking resemblance to mariah carey. yeah, i don't get it either. but all weekend long it was "ooh mariah, she's hot!" "mariah, these boys want to meet you" soo funny.
So friday evening we landed in ocean view, a mainly colored township outside of simon's town. we all were given tables to sit at with our families and ate a HUGE meal. where they served pastries and desserts first - i could tell this was my kind of town. They also had a youth arts group do performances for us. At the dinner i met my mom, Yvette, and 2 of her daughters, Caryn (20) and Tamia (4). She also has a 21 year old daughter named roxanne who lives with her gran. We met them the next day. after dinner we went back to their 1 bedroom flat. it was in a community of apartment type flats called the "7 sisters." Yvette told us how many of the people who live there are on drugs or in gangs and everyone does a lot of drinking. the flat had a small kitchen, a living room (where caryn and tamia sleep on a trundle bed), a bathroom that has a bathtub, no shower and no sink, and a bedroom for yvette and her husband Timmy. Timmy is a fisherman and was pretty drunk the whole weekend. When we got there he was drinking with his buddy, "Uncle Neil." Neil was a pretty creepy drunk dude, who promptly took a liking to me. He told me that they called him "Neil Sex Appeal" but i think he was lying cuz he had absolutely none. He also kept telling yvette that he wanted a picture of me and that he was going to go home and dream about me all night. Creepy Uncle Neil passed out around 10:30. However, when he left Caryn's friends came over. Her boyfriend Justin is awesome and was laughing so hard all night that at times he was crying. They were also all buying us drinks. Naturally Yvette and timmy were drinking with us. So then Yvette passed out and Caryn left to go talk to a girlfriend or something and me and meg were left to defend ourselves against Timmy's drunk fishermen friends who had no teeth until about 2:30 in the morning. It was a little frightening because we had to flirt with the younger guys to get them to protect us against the more aggressive (and drunker) older men. I was literally hitting men to get them off me. and they weren't doing anything really wrong, it was just that they kept trying to be so touchy and it made me really uncomfortable. But i figured i was safe as long as justin was around. eventually we layed down on our bed (seeing as how it was in the living room, we couldn't go to bed until the party left). i was sooo sick of the attention at this point, and meg wasn't getting any so it was really just me, that i started rather rudely hinting at these guys that they should leave even though it wasn't my house. at this point yvette woke up and kicked them all out.
after that first night i was really sketched out and wasn't sure like how safe i was and if this was going to be ok. but then for breakfast we had eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, cheese, fried tomatoes, mushrooms and tea. and then we left around 11:30 to go to Timmy's mom's house (without TImmy, since he was still drunk and hanging with his buddies). 2 other girls from ciee were being hosted there with Ann (the gran), and roxanne, caryn's sister. We were fed lunch of soup, coke, homemade pizza (that had banana's on it!), grapes, chips. Then we hung out, started watching a bootleg copy of the hillary duff movie "a cinderella story" and they gave us chocolates and more chips. Then at tea time they gave us crackers and cheese and tea and cookies. After that we walked through ocean view back to the 7 sisters where i was staying. After that we walked over to Timmy's brother Keith's house where two other ciee girls were being hosted.
For dinner we had a braai at keith's house and it was sooo much fun. Everyone kept calling me mariah, which had started the previous night. We ate sooo much delicious food. The house was right next store to the shebeen so we went over and got drinks. everyone was eating and drinking and dancing. Keith's car is completely pimped out and has amazing speakers and green lights that flash to the beat so that was our stereo system for dancing. Yvette decided that it was her night so she danced forever. She kept making us all shake it with her and she was definately the funnest mom. justin and few other friends came over as well. These guys stopped by who thought they were so thugged out. the leader of the group "p diddy", who i call that because he kept saying he was like "P diddy, all making the band and shit," was absolutely hysterical. i told him that there was no way he could be a thug and still reference the show "making the band" but he didn't really get it. also since we were next to the shebeen other kids from ciee kept walking by our party to get alcohol. A lot of them stopped in to dance and hang out for a bit. We had quite the central location. also the house was really fancy. There were like 4 bedroom and everyone had their own computer and own tv. These families are all really serious about their technology. Everyone had nice sound systems, phones with mp3 players, crazy digital tv and tons of bootlegged movies. But they didn't spend as much money on clothes or food. anyways, after yvette had passed out and the party was dying down, keith drove us back to the 7 sisters. We went next door and hung out with the girl who lived there, nicknamed by all the guys as "the babymaker." She had 3 kids and a couple of the kids' grandmothers were there as well. One woman, Linda, kept putting her hands on my face and telling me how beautiful i was. she was so sweet.
this morning we woke up, and guess what, we ate some more. We were served "porridge" (really just corn flakes served in hot full cream milk). then toast, cheese, liver spread and tons of homemade coconut donuts. Then we watched this weird australian made for tv movie while attempting to do some school work. After that they served us lunch of wonderful chicken, rice, squash, corn, potatoes, and pineapple soda. It was soo good. and then we watched "date movie" which is like scary movie. it was pretty bad. and after that we met up back at the high school to say our goodbyes and we returned home to cape town.
Basically we ate all weekend. The hospitality was amazing. I've already been invited back to visit the Cloete family next month for Justin's birthday. It was also interesting because my experience was different from some kids who had very religious either christian or muslim families. We had the notorious party family of ocean view. The little girl, Tamia, was just like marina. she danced around the house instead of walking. and they had the same attitude. It was so cute. Also justine, caryn reminds me of you during your prince obsession days. she would have fit right in at rainier beach high. overall, it was so much fun and i absolutely loved. I definately learned a lot about the area as well as about people who lead a completely different lifestyle than i'm used to. It's always good to put your life in perspective like that.
because everyone in the township of ocean view thinks i bear a striking resemblance to mariah carey. yeah, i don't get it either. but all weekend long it was "ooh mariah, she's hot!" "mariah, these boys want to meet you" soo funny.
So friday evening we landed in ocean view, a mainly colored township outside of simon's town. we all were given tables to sit at with our families and ate a HUGE meal. where they served pastries and desserts first - i could tell this was my kind of town. They also had a youth arts group do performances for us. At the dinner i met my mom, Yvette, and 2 of her daughters, Caryn (20) and Tamia (4). She also has a 21 year old daughter named roxanne who lives with her gran. We met them the next day. after dinner we went back to their 1 bedroom flat. it was in a community of apartment type flats called the "7 sisters." Yvette told us how many of the people who live there are on drugs or in gangs and everyone does a lot of drinking. the flat had a small kitchen, a living room (where caryn and tamia sleep on a trundle bed), a bathroom that has a bathtub, no shower and no sink, and a bedroom for yvette and her husband Timmy. Timmy is a fisherman and was pretty drunk the whole weekend. When we got there he was drinking with his buddy, "Uncle Neil." Neil was a pretty creepy drunk dude, who promptly took a liking to me. He told me that they called him "Neil Sex Appeal" but i think he was lying cuz he had absolutely none. He also kept telling yvette that he wanted a picture of me and that he was going to go home and dream about me all night. Creepy Uncle Neil passed out around 10:30. However, when he left Caryn's friends came over. Her boyfriend Justin is awesome and was laughing so hard all night that at times he was crying. They were also all buying us drinks. Naturally Yvette and timmy were drinking with us. So then Yvette passed out and Caryn left to go talk to a girlfriend or something and me and meg were left to defend ourselves against Timmy's drunk fishermen friends who had no teeth until about 2:30 in the morning. It was a little frightening because we had to flirt with the younger guys to get them to protect us against the more aggressive (and drunker) older men. I was literally hitting men to get them off me. and they weren't doing anything really wrong, it was just that they kept trying to be so touchy and it made me really uncomfortable. But i figured i was safe as long as justin was around. eventually we layed down on our bed (seeing as how it was in the living room, we couldn't go to bed until the party left). i was sooo sick of the attention at this point, and meg wasn't getting any so it was really just me, that i started rather rudely hinting at these guys that they should leave even though it wasn't my house. at this point yvette woke up and kicked them all out.
after that first night i was really sketched out and wasn't sure like how safe i was and if this was going to be ok. but then for breakfast we had eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, cheese, fried tomatoes, mushrooms and tea. and then we left around 11:30 to go to Timmy's mom's house (without TImmy, since he was still drunk and hanging with his buddies). 2 other girls from ciee were being hosted there with Ann (the gran), and roxanne, caryn's sister. We were fed lunch of soup, coke, homemade pizza (that had banana's on it!), grapes, chips. Then we hung out, started watching a bootleg copy of the hillary duff movie "a cinderella story" and they gave us chocolates and more chips. Then at tea time they gave us crackers and cheese and tea and cookies. After that we walked through ocean view back to the 7 sisters where i was staying. After that we walked over to Timmy's brother Keith's house where two other ciee girls were being hosted.
For dinner we had a braai at keith's house and it was sooo much fun. Everyone kept calling me mariah, which had started the previous night. We ate sooo much delicious food. The house was right next store to the shebeen so we went over and got drinks. everyone was eating and drinking and dancing. Keith's car is completely pimped out and has amazing speakers and green lights that flash to the beat so that was our stereo system for dancing. Yvette decided that it was her night so she danced forever. She kept making us all shake it with her and she was definately the funnest mom. justin and few other friends came over as well. These guys stopped by who thought they were so thugged out. the leader of the group "p diddy", who i call that because he kept saying he was like "P diddy, all making the band and shit," was absolutely hysterical. i told him that there was no way he could be a thug and still reference the show "making the band" but he didn't really get it. also since we were next to the shebeen other kids from ciee kept walking by our party to get alcohol. A lot of them stopped in to dance and hang out for a bit. We had quite the central location. also the house was really fancy. There were like 4 bedroom and everyone had their own computer and own tv. These families are all really serious about their technology. Everyone had nice sound systems, phones with mp3 players, crazy digital tv and tons of bootlegged movies. But they didn't spend as much money on clothes or food. anyways, after yvette had passed out and the party was dying down, keith drove us back to the 7 sisters. We went next door and hung out with the girl who lived there, nicknamed by all the guys as "the babymaker." She had 3 kids and a couple of the kids' grandmothers were there as well. One woman, Linda, kept putting her hands on my face and telling me how beautiful i was. she was so sweet.
this morning we woke up, and guess what, we ate some more. We were served "porridge" (really just corn flakes served in hot full cream milk). then toast, cheese, liver spread and tons of homemade coconut donuts. Then we watched this weird australian made for tv movie while attempting to do some school work. After that they served us lunch of wonderful chicken, rice, squash, corn, potatoes, and pineapple soda. It was soo good. and then we watched "date movie" which is like scary movie. it was pretty bad. and after that we met up back at the high school to say our goodbyes and we returned home to cape town.
Basically we ate all weekend. The hospitality was amazing. I've already been invited back to visit the Cloete family next month for Justin's birthday. It was also interesting because my experience was different from some kids who had very religious either christian or muslim families. We had the notorious party family of ocean view. The little girl, Tamia, was just like marina. she danced around the house instead of walking. and they had the same attitude. It was so cute. Also justine, caryn reminds me of you during your prince obsession days. she would have fit right in at rainier beach high. overall, it was so much fun and i absolutely loved. I definately learned a lot about the area as well as about people who lead a completely different lifestyle than i'm used to. It's always good to put your life in perspective like that.
posted by kerry at 8:21 AM
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