Tales From the 19th Floor

As Chantel and I were preparing to walk over to the cafeteria for lunch she decided that we should go up to the 19th floor to take advantage of the spectacular view. Chantel had never been up there before but had heard it had a great view of the campus, surrounding game preserve, downtown and the ocean. We ran into a worker who, in response to the question of whether or not we could reach the roof, just motioned us on. We made it to the roof and the view in all directions was extraordinary and I took some nice shots. However, when we decided to leave we discovered that both of the doors off the roof were now locked, and no amount of pounding could raise anyone. What surprised me is that there was not an electrical storm brewing - sort of like in Woody Allen's Radio Days - which would have given us the opportunity to earn a Darwin Award for foolish ways to die. Eventually Chantel called for help and we were rescued, and it was only about twenty minutes or so - although as I continue to retell the story it will reach mythic proportions and include stories of Chantel cracking under the pressure and near cannibalism.

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

I had a wonderful day today when I visited Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University here in Port Elizabeth. I found out today why NMMU has it's name - Mandela was originally from the East Cape region. In fact, technically Port Elizabeth is now supposed to be known as Mandela Bay - or also supposed to be known as Mandela Bay - you still see both names on signs. Chantel Harris arrived right on time this morning to drive me out to the campus, which is absolutely gorgeous. It is actually located on a game preserve, and it's not unusual to see zebra or springbok walk by. In fact, at one point today I looked out of a professor's window and saw some zebra in the distance - it blew me away. Of course, they also occasionally get monkeys or even snakes (including puff adders - yikes!) on campus. Nelson Metropolitan University has now joined Corvinus University in Budapest, Zayed University in the UAE, and the Catholic University of Ruzemberok, Slovakia in the list of schools talking to me about spending my sabbatical semester with them teaching. Truthfully, I think it's now moved to the forefront for several reasons. It really is a very good school and there is a lot of enthusiasm for new ideas and quality teaching. I was holed up in my friend Anton Botha's office (he's out of the country and was nice enough to loan me his office). Of course, I repaid him by opening his window to take a picture, momentarily forgetting that Port Elizabeth is known as the windy city, and the gust was so strong that it messed up his office - including knocking his Robert DeNiro Taxi Driver poster off the wall. I had a great chat with some professors over tea - an utterly sophisticated way to pass the time. I then met with some students who had participated in Global Module this last semester and they had so many great suggestions on different possible topics and also things that we could do to improve the GMs. After that I walked over with Chantel to grab lunch at the cafeteria - I had this absolutely fantastic spinich, feta and olive pasta dish. Then it was a tour of the campus and more meetings with faculty members. It was a wonderfully productive day, both professionally and personally. I believe that NMMU will expand to become one of our foundational Global Module partners. I can't wait to get back here to Port Elizabeth and NMMU, and definitely am considering spending my sabbatical here if we can arrange it.

Morning on the Other Side of the World

PE

I've successfully made my way to Port Elizabeth, which appears to be a beautiful city on the coast in the East Cape. Unfortunately, I arrived too late to see much of anything because it was already dark. Chantel Harris, one of our Global Module partners from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, and her husband were kind enough to pick me up and drop me off at the very nice Radisson Blu on the waterfront. I went for a walk down to the beach a little earlier on the way out to grab a pizza. It's funhny how I always forget hot much I love the ocean until I see it again - and I'm really looking forward to seeing it tomorrow morning before I head out to NMMU for a day full of meetings.

Driving

Whoops, for some reason the picture of me driving didn't make it to the previous blog. I'm sure the other photo is Zanetta's response to my clumsy driving efforts.

Maropeng - Cradle of Humankind

Which is not to be confused with Manos, Hands of Fate. As part of Sunday's adventures Zanetta and I also visited the Maropeng, Cradle of Humankind museum. It was associated with the Sterkfontein Caves and was a surprisingly large museum, including an underground boat ride that "recreated" the early history of the earth. It was well worth the drive out from Joburg. I'm also including proof positive of me successfully driving on the left side of the road.

Sterkfontein Caves

A couple days ago I posted about my driving adventure on the way out to Sterkfondein Caves. I thought I'd take the opportunity to post some pictures of the caves. Some of the oldest remains of protohumans were found there, and the caves themselves are impressive. However, the day had to start with a little shopping. Zanetta came over to the Elegant Inn to pick me up. We had to swing by the local mall to do a little shopping first. I was trying to pack light - and also had not properly planned for how far advanced fall was in South Africa. It wasn't terribly cold or anything, but a bit unseasonably cold. So off we went to buy an inexpensive sweatshirt. By some miracle - and totally without any conscious/subconscious coaching from Zanetta - I ended up with a Zwazulu Natal Sharks sweatshirt - and the fact that this is her hometown and favorite rugby team was a complete coincidence. Anyway, appropriately dressed we made our way an hour or so outside of town. The countryside was ruggedly beautiful. The cave sort of reminded me of one that I visited last summer in Slovakia (the pictures of which, sadly, disappeared when my camera was stolen in Barcelona).