Can I Kick It??? Yes You Can

futeball fever is running rampant here in south africa (or soccer for you americans). of course south africans are pumped up about getting the world cup in 2010. but again true to south african nature, most south africans are not exactly how things are going to turn out when the world cup does arrive. crime is obviously a problem here in south africa, and not just petty crime, so that is going to have to be addressed. so as one of the locals here told me, the rest of the world is not going to know what hit them when they get here. he suggest that they put electric fencing to keep the fans in on the grounds, because otherwise south africans will try and steal the grass, the balls, the white lines off the field, and the kits right off the players.

anyways, maybe someone can fill me in on what the world cup coverage is like in the us, but here we get everygame, and two channels dedicated to 24 hour soccer coverage, which i love being that i grew up on soccer thanks to my dad and my brother. but i was shocked to learn that many of my fellow students from america here had never watched a soccer game and some never even knew all the rules. we have been getting together to watch the games featuring most of the african nations and those with the united states, and the interesting thing was that most of the americans were rooting for ghana when they took on the united states. i think that had something about being in africa, and that publically cheering for america against an african team, is probably not a good idea.

but i have to say that the best thing about the coverage here is the commentary, even the americans love it, because the british and african guys that cover the matches are ruthless and tell it like it is. for example, when the united states were headed into the final game against ghana, the main commentator asked the assistant how the americans should prepare for the game. he responded in totally seriousness, that they should prepare by packing their bags, and booking their flights home for the next day, because their world cup is done. priceless.

I'm Shallow, Because I Never Learned To Swim

it has been over a week since i started working at "the firm" here in capetown as an intern. and i'm not sure how they do it over in the us, with summer interns and associates, but i'm guessing there is some sort of training program. but true to south african nature, my first couple of days were like being thrown in the deep end of a pool when you have never learned to swim (which i never did). my first project went something like this. "what do you know about competition law?" but fortunately these were not shark infested waters, and even though i didn't really know anything specifically about competition law, i kind of worked my way through the south african law system, where as i mentioned before, there is no westlaw or lexis nexis to save the day.

but the first thing i realized, after all the cases we read during the year and all the hypos, nothing prepares you for the first time you are asked to do something. because as i quickly realized, all our cases deal with when they go to court and need to get something ruled on. where here i was basically asked if the contracts were tight or not, according to south african law nonetheless. it turned out all right, plus they got a full stocked bar in the office. the people here are real cool, and includes some real stunners. i can get used to this.

holla.

Destroy and Rebuild

my brother has this motto, that the reason that he went to school and on to get his cfa was so that he did not have to do any physical work. so whenever my dad used to try and get us to help fix the drive way, or to paint, or some sort of physical activity, my brother would say he went to school so he could pay someone else to do that.

this past weekend here in capetown, my good friend sp signed me up for a habitat for humanity build to help build houses in a south african township. it's true that it was the first time in many years that i have had to get my hands dirty, which some of my fellow builders could tell by what they said were soft, non-calouses hands. but it was a great time, and i met a lot of cool people. there were a group of about 60 irish people that were some of the craziest people i ever met. and they got even crazier when we went out to party that night.

if you have never seen a south african township, i'm sure you'd be shocked by the type of living conditions that millions of south africans live in, i know most of my classmates were shocked when they first saw one. (i'll post some pics when i get back over there). but anyways, the way this program works is very interesting so let me just explain that. the whole group was building six houses in the township for six families. they are chosen from a list, based on certain criteria that they can meet, such as being able to earn a certain amount of money. they must also do a course in home owning, because most of them have never owned a real home, they must learn how to pay for electricity, that they must fix things when broken, etc. as well they are required to help others in the community when other homes are being built. in addition, groups such as ours will only continue to build houses in the community if the community as a whole has a repayment rate of 70%. the way it was explained to me is that the community then learns how to look after and work through their own problems, because if one person decides they do not want to pay, then the whole community will suffer by not getting any more houses built. this fosters a self policing community.

this was most evident by a real south african moment #2.
while on the build, one of the kids was walking through the township, when he was approached by a stranger and mugged. it turns out that the stranger was not from the community, so a group of locals to the township chased him down, and beat his ass. and i mean beat his ass. and after that, they took him to the police station, where i'm sure he got his ass beat again.

welcome to south africa.

What You Know About That

real south african moment #1

today as we were aboard the bus on the way to campus, as we were stuck in traffic on the streets of capetown, we were all witnesses to a real south african experience. as any vistor to south africa soon finds out, it is not unusual to see people walking and crossing the streets and highways at even the most odd times of the day, but here in the morning, initially it didn't seem any different. as we sat in the bus, two guys were walking through some of the stopped cars, when suddenly they stopped infront of an old toyata tazz (like an one of those old honda civic hatchbacks). before we could even realize what was going on, the one guy distracted the driver on one side by knocking the window, while the guy on the otherside smashed the window, and grabbed the lady's purse, and the two strolled off leisurely into the township to the side. the whole episode took about 20 seconds. and true to the nature of south africa, none of the locals blinked an eye lash, or responded. from what we saw, the lady carried on stuck in traffic, driving to wherever she was trying to go. now my american classmates here have a south african story i'm sure they will not forget.

welcome to south africa.

Damn, Why They Try And Stick Me For My Papers

a quick update of how the summer abroad program through university of western cape is going

our comparitive constitutional law class is being taught by one of the supreme court justices, so its basically like the equivalent of having cardozo, scalia, or one of those other chaps teaching us south african law. but the real interesting part is that he is blind and hard of hearing. amazing

i thought our exams were hard, but talking to a few of the students here, there exams are on a whole another level. first of all they have negative marking, that means for every wrong thing you say, or wrong answer to a multiple choice you lose a mark (it is possible to get a negative exam). you are also responsible to the remember the facts, holding and dissent of every case you read in class, but also the exact citation. they read about double the amount of cases per week, per class. although they have similiar exam formats and lengths of questions, they have to get everything they want in, in 1 and a half hours. there is no such thing as westlaw or lexisnexis, and certainly no reward points, but they have to do research in the library with actual books.

I Got A Lion In My Pocket...I'm Lying

some of the reasons why south africans don't particularily like americans

1. they are loud

2. because they come here surprised that there is actual civilization here, and no one looks like the tribe people from national geographic

3. because they talk so much about coming to their motherland, but their mother is not from this land

4. too many of them really think the are lions and elephants running around everywhere

5. they are really loud

6. they are surprised when they see indian and even asian people here

7. south africans are tired of having to explain what a "coloured" is

8. american football

9. south africans are tired of hearing "well in the states we have...(fill in the blank)"

10...this list goes on an on

Half A Mil For Bail Cause I'm South African

yebo/howzit? (that's two of the many ways that south africans greet each other)

lack of internet access has meant a lack of updates, none actually. my bad. but just a quick update of things because using ol school 1997 like internet is not hype.

flying over here.
i've never had any issues with flying. but after someone recommended that i watch lost (which i did when i should have been petitioning) i could not help but think about what would happen when if the plane i was on happened to get lost somewhere. so i started looking around at who my fellow cast members might be, and what their roles might be. it just so happened that there was a real doctor behind me, so he would obviously be jack. there was a middle-eastern vixen two seats infront of me, so she could play the role of kate. the lady next to me was totally useless, she even tried to steal my pillow from me, so i decided she wouldn't even be worthy of the cast. i couldnt decide what role i may play even though the most likely would have been sayeed since we are both brown, but since i have no expert communication skills or much survival skills that may be tough, and in a lost-like sitution being a lawyer would be even less useful as me being a rapper.

reading non-law books
on another recommendation i also picked up the book the devil wears prada to do some non-law reading on the air plane. and when they said law school changes the way you think, i didnt realize it until i started reading. because from the get go, i had the urge to pull out my highlighter and start highlighting in different colors what i thought were important parts in the book, and even considered writing notes in the margin. but after i got to like the 5th page, and couldn't find any holding and realized i didnt have to read the same paragraph 8 times before i understood it, i came back to normal.

capetown, south africa
being back in capetown has been great. but since i have to get back to class, i'll have to leave that for another time. but i will say one thing. south africans surely do hate americans...good thing i am not american.