Internet and strong winds

I FINALLY have internet - and a plug compatible with both my laptop and the outlets here. I can now use my laptop. I am so addicted to this thing - I hardly feel I can work without it. Unfortunately the internet connection is laboriously slow, which makes getting things done a lot slower. I hear it is much better around 6am, but the system gets overloaded during the day. I'm not likely to ever use the internet at 6am, so I'd better get used to the way it is :)

I also finally have some means of contacting people here. I have a local cell phone though at the moment I can only receive calls with it. It is great to have though, as finally I now know what time it is when I'm not in my dorm room. I don't wear a watch, and I had come to rely on my own cell phone as a clock. It was great to be at breakfast this morning and know when it was time to head out. Without a clock I could probably loose all day lost in my thoughts without realizing how much time had past...

Today the cold front is on top of us, which made it very hard for me to wake up. It's funny, because I can function on very little sleep when need be, but when fronts move in it totally knocks me out. I had to drag myself out of bed, and that was after nearly an hour of ignoring the fact that the radio alarm had turned on. Fortunately I am not feeling sick, though my congestion is still lingering a bit.

The wind is absolutely amazing today - it is rattling my office windows and making a horrible blustering sound that has me huddled in front of my heater. My host told me yesterday that it is due to the wind here that there is little pollution - so I will try to appreciate its presence. The air does seem very good here. The sky this morning was amazing - if I looked one way there was a huge patch of blue with big white clouds, while if I looked toward campus, Table Mountain was totally hidden in an ominous black cloud. If campus is a Shakespearean play, I must have been walking into the Tempest this morning. There have only been sprinkles of rain, and the temperature is not very cold - but still it does not look inviting outside at all.

It seems my host has a reputation around here (he has reported this to me as well) as being a bit disorganized. People keep asking if I have everything I need, and are helping out with things such as phone cards, internet, and where to go for things. I was invited to lunch today too, since my host wasn't around. I do know where he is though, and we had planned to go after his meeting - so I am not quite the afterthought people seem to fear :) It is nice that everyone is friendly, though. Apparently my visit was unannounced (though my host and I had done a lot of planning for the past few months), and the secretary was quite apologetic that things weren't set up for me before I arrived - but I have been comfortable, so there are no worries from my end.

Today's 11am tea was interesting. For most of it I was the only woman among a large group of men discussing detailed rules of golf. I had nothing to contribute! They were discussing what happens if the ball settles in one place, then starts rolling again. I wonder how anything gets done around here - there is a pleasant relaxed pace. Tea time twice a day, and everyone seems to go out for lunch. That makes 3 breaks between 10 and 5. I was here until after 6pm Wednesday evening, too, and the building seemed quite quiet. There is good research done here, so I am sure people work hard. I think I should bring a bit of this attitude back with me, though - tea time (maybe once per day?) is a great way to bring people together and ignore the pressures of the day.