the GROOT!

on friday we didn't have class just atheletics. wasn't sure the weather'd hold out but it did. started to sprinkle a little bit towards the end of the girls 1500m. that was about when uandara got way into it -- arguing with tjiarange about the legitimacy of letting the 14-year-olds compete, demanding birth certificates, etc. i stayed out of it. later on the principal and made the trip to the groot.
Despite there not being anyone to "visit" (beth and metha are in windhoek, and on the dime of johns hopkins!) i convinced their landlady to give me the keys to their place to crash. on account of the official occupants not being around water and electricity had been turned off in the house, so i should say i bivouacked at their place. later on the landlady bought some electricity although i was advised to be parsimonious in its consumption.
my visit was uneventful -- except that i was terrified when i walked over to the meteor restaurant to pick up a pizza at sunset. grootfontein is somewhat "rough" around the edges after dark. it's very picturesque during the day -- the formerly white township is set on a hill overlooking the main drag, homes are well maintained, reminding one of bungalows built by Afrikaaners after the southern-Californian fashion. However, if you get too close you'll notice these are fortresses. And you'd best pasop vir die hond! the dogs in grootfontein are actually racist. seriously.
So I watched "When You Are Mine" by myself, ate a whole pizza by myself, then slept on the Beth's floor. Around midnight I woke up when a strange man began speaking Afrikaans very loudly and demanding entrance. I was wary. Yes, I was. But given I wasn't "supposed" to be there, who was I to deny admittance. He turned out to be Metha's uncle, worked for the Namibian Football Association. He was not happy to find out that we didn't have water. I felt oddly responsible for this failure and left the next morning.