Off to Safari, almost out of rand.

WHAT THE HECK?! Every time I try to get money for this trip, it backfires horribly. Thank goodness for friends who don't mind floating you a few (hundred) rand until your card agrees with South Africa.

I have been having a fantastic time in Grahamstown! It's been so sunny, and laid back.

We went and saw a few more plays, The Olive Tree and Pictures of You, and then a performance art/installation thing called Terminal.

The Olive Tree was a beautiful play with 3 women in in, and surrounded the story of 4 generations of troubled mother/daughter relations. It was so emotionally involved, and quite powerful and healing. The set was gorgeous- a tree made of driftwood and fabric, wrapped into the celing of the small stage, and the backdrop a clay-toned silhouette of the tree. The floor was dirt and tile, and the characters really interacted withe very piece of the set, and used highly stylized body movements along with their dialogue to lead you through the story.

Then, that night, we went and saw Pictures of You, a masked theatre piece designed for a deaf audience. It was probably the most unexpectedly terrifying experience I have had in a great while, but also one of the best performances I have ever seen. It had only 2 characters, a man and a woman, and a small set in an intimate theater setting. It's hard to describe, but it had a certain charm, as you saw the story of an old couple and their romance. However, interweaving the recollections were the old man's nightmares, and a marionette of a demon woman! We are still debating what everything meant- it was very abstract, but we think it dealt with how the old man was recovering from his traumatic memory of coming home to his wife murdered in their kitchen. Even though there was a character of an old woman, by the end, it became fuzzy if she was real, or if he was keeping her trapped in his imagination, never letting go of her spirit or memory. But, another fantastically physical theater piece, I was fully engaged the entire performance, and Amanda and I had a death grip on each other's hands.

Today, after we took our final (wah wahhhh, finals in the arm chairs of the lounge of the hostel, Kael sleeping in and taking her final in sweatpants eating cereal from a bag) we went market crazy and bartered up a storm for some African trinkets, and snjoyed the music of the street performers everywhere.

Tonight, we went to this crazy art installation piece, in an abandoned train station. The artist is well-known for his work, where the audience is always involved somehow, and you can never be sure what to expect.

We were led into the station's waiting room, and handed a playing card. After being instructed to remain perfectly silent for what felt like ever (Bri and I cheated. a lot.) the hostess began calling out cards, one by one, and leading people through huge cast iron gates. it felt like the haunted mansion at Disneyland! It was so eerie. When my card got called, I walked through the gates into fog and symphony music, and was faced with the neverending railway before me, and actors dressed in masks pacing the platform. Immediately, I felt a tiny hand slip into mine, and looked down to see a little African boy who was, apparently, to be my guide. He led me through various "found object" art stations involving actors representing the people throughout the history of the station. We walked all down the platform, across the tracks, over a bridge, and through a cemetary, through 'homeless' camps, soldier's stations, fire pits, and through headstones. It was simultaneously the eeriest and most freeing experience I have had, as I pondered being led through the darkness by a little boy, who knew the way while I had no idea where I was. The spell broke a little bit when he stopped for a bathroom break (teehee) but it was altogether enchanting, something I will take with me always. There are so many layers of meaning! Which I guess is the point, eh?

Oh, to add to the list of creepy/freeing experiences. I showered in the sketchiest shower ever following the possessed puppet play. The Rhodes dormitory we are staying in is pretty old, and the shower was an old-fashioned head, and the trees were blowing against the window in the wind, the lights low. And did I mention, it was midnight and I was all alone, down a really long and silent hallway?

I am off to Safari next, so probably won't write for a while. Sendin all my lovin to you!