Happy days

Beautiful Benji in the holiday spirit

It is that time of year... I am heading off to KZN and intermittent internet so will not be posting much but will hopefully get some pictures up of "THE BIG DAY" which is... can you imagine.... tomorrow!!!!!!!

Today there is lunch with the Vice Chancellor and various other important people that I have obviously never had any dealings with before and tomorrow is "THE BIG DAY". I feel weirdly stressed out about it, but I imagine that will fade once I have the red cape... wait... RED CAPE! I am also not sure what to expect from this lunch, so hopefully, in between drinking lots of champagne, wine, cocktails and long walks on the beach (where the water is warm enough to swim in - if you can drag yourself away from the champagne, wine and cocktails) I will get a chance to tell you about "THE BIG DAY" and (probably slightly cringey) lunch. 

Meanwhile, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Take a break and enjoy spending time with your family and switch off the stress a little! (I am still trying to figure out how to do that, but I think the change of scenery will help!) 

UCTutionalised

This Friday was our departmental end of year party. I imagine it will be my last departmental party at UCT, certainly with the faces that I've come to know so well. 

December 2003 Grad

I couldn't help remembering my first departmental end of year party, 10 years ago. As honours students, we were finally invited to the grown up table, but still unsure about ourselves and our place in the department, we clung together like limpets. That particular year we had karaoke and our class (in those days, honours class was small, I think there were 11 of us) huddled around the two mikes and sang "Hotel California" to the cheesy karaoke music video... Warm fuzzy memories of one of the best years of my life spent with some of my favourite people.

The end of year party also happened to be at the tennis club, which is where I had my 21st many years ago. My indulgent parents spoiled me as always, and it was a magical, emotional event. I actually had my 21st more than 2 months before I turned 21 so it would be before everyone disappeared to new lives, after we graduated. I guess this is a recurring theme in academia, you are expected to graduate and move on, which means graduation itself is somewhat bitter-sweet. (I am THRILLED that I am graduating this year though - I am so over trying to not feel bitter at this time of the year when all the smartly dressed graduates flock to campus with their proud parents!)

If a random person were to ask me how long I've been at UCT I'd mumble "100yrs" to avoid having to explain that it took longer than it should have, but you all know that already. So I can tell you that I started at UCT as a 17yr wide-eyed terrified kid in 2001 and I haven't left since. And, despite the fact that I was terrified when my parents dropped me off outside that revolting Tugwell building, being at UCT has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. 

I've said it before, but I love UCT. I love the ivy that changes the colour of the walls through the seasons, I love that the air vents are UCT crests. I love the view from upper campus and I love my office.

I have such huge respect and love for the people within the department. Getting a high 5 from George Branch is literally more exciting to me than speaking to the lead singer of a band I enjoy (Beatenberg - SA band, they're good, and in my only groupie-esque moment in my life EVER (other than following Brothers Streep and various Marvel movie actors on FB) I told them they were awesome after a concert this week.) I guess going from being a shy, never-talk-up-in class girl in undergrad to actually being able to sit and chat to these brilliant people in a casual social environment is something I'll always appreciate...

So this year's end of year function is bitter-sweet for me. I know a new stage of my life is upon me, and I'm sure it'll be exciting, challenging and with a new set of lovely people for me to respect and care about, but not getting to go to another end of year party with all those familiar faces is without a doubt something I'll miss... As much as I'll miss tea time and my gorgeous office and my lovely UCT friends. 

Hope

That seems an appropriate title given that it is one year since Nelson Mandela passed away and I wrote then that he was, for me, hope personified. 

Off the SST website

I am not talking about him though. Last night I went to a talk by Dr Sylvia Earle. I am embarrassed that I didn't actually know who she was and was lured in by free food and a Google search that revealed that she has a Lego figurine made in her image. I figured she must be a person worth listening to... and she was. She is in South Africa to promote various "hope spots" around the South African coastline. Areas of special conservation interest through community involvement. There was also the launch of the book: "South African Coasts" which includes a compilation of photos that have been sent in from the public to portray the public view of the South African coastlines. You can buy it here using technology I don't really understand yet. 

Dr Sylvia Earle started making waves (yes, feel free to shake your head at me at the terribly obvious pun) as a female scientist when reporters still thought it OK to say: "surprisingly the scientists are not physically fit males but young, attractive females, like real life mermaids under the sea". You have to hope that they cringe now. While, thank goodness, Dr Earle and her contemporaries have paved the way for a new generation of female scientists (there are 3 males in my lab of ~10 people) but I couldn't help noticing that at the fisheries stock assessment meeting this week, the 5 (?) person international panel is all male - so maybe we (female scientists) still have some work to do.  (Although this is the second "Rock Star Scientist" female we have had come to chat to us this year. I wrote about Jane Goodall in Feb)

Dr Earle is over flowing with enthusiasm and energy. She said that South Africa is a place of HOPE, written right there on the map 'Cape of Good Hope'. She also said that we should be excited that we live in a time when knowledge is more accessible than ever because "We can't care, if we don't know". She is 79 years old (according to Wikipedia) and still diving and living at full throttle. She, frankly, made me feel like a sloth. Her talk couldn't have come at a better time for me. With no current income and a huge amount of uncertainty and insecurity about what I will do next, the temptation is to move away from conservation and science and into something more stable and reliable and... dare I say it... commercial... BUT, Dr Earle said something that struck: "Somebody needs to speak for the fish". In fact, she was given the nickname "Sturgeon General" (when working as Chief Scientist at NOAA) for her persistence in speaking on behalf of the fish.  

This is OBVIOUSLY something I feel strongly about (and should probably be speaking about more). Sometimes the issues of over-fishing and ocean exploitation can become a little too big to see any light at the end of the tunnel. But, Dr Earle highlighted examples of good things that are happening: Palau has decided that sharks are worth more alive than dead and has banned large scale commercial fishing; there is also the goal to get 30% of the world's oceans declared as marine protected areas by 2030 (we are currently on 3%). There are amazing initiatives all of the world, and one of my favourite is SASSI's green list  and the MSC ecolabels which just give people the power of making knowledgeable decisions.  (Because, our consumer driven society might seem awful on many levels, but it does give the consumers a certain amount of power if they choose to wield it). 

The question that Dr Earle raised was whether we can figure it all out fast enough... She said we can't just sit back and watch it all dissolve. We might not be able to get things back to how they were, but we can work towards making them better than they would be. I reckon that's worth fighting for... 

(Due to an unfortunate incident involving my not-quite-sealed water bottle and handbag yesterday morning, I tragically didn't have my note book on me last night. I was feeling self conscious about the loud clicky-ness of my backberry keypad so I couldn't really jot things down. So, I apologise for not-quite-word-perfect quotes and that I can't give you heaps more information about what she said. I am pretty sure that you can find out more about the Hope Spot initiative, Sustainable Seas Trust, Mission Blue and other marine conservation success stories through the links in the text and all-powerful Google. There is also the trailer to the movie that includes the mermaid line... here! There is also a National Geographic article about marine protected areas in SA here - featuring awesome photos by Tom Peschak)

They are cute, right... but they also represent a huge
conservation concern which you can read about in a brilliant
penguinologist's blog.

Globetrotting in Claremont*

Oribi Gorge - KZN

I have had itchy feet for a while (metaphorically - I literally have had itchy hands since Monday when I volunteered at SANCCOB, it would be tragic if I was allergic to penguins, but I suspect it is more likely the cleaning product they use**) but with no funding for the last two years I spent more time in one place (my home, in Claremont, funnily enough) than I have in a number of years. There was one year during my PhD that I took 13 flights - I almost wish that I hadn't counted them until after the 13th flight, but obviously (by virtue of me writing this) despite a superstitious moment, the 13th flight was still fine. During the early years I had calculated that I hadn't been in more than one place for more than 3 consecutive months.  

Dullstroom - Mpumalanga

Crazy to think of now, since I haven't left town since a sponsored (I have UNBELIEVABLY awesome friends) trip to KwaZulu-Natal in February and a sponsored trip to JHB and Dullstroom in May and am looking forward to a KZN Christmas (I have UNBELIEVABLY awesome family too).

OK, OK, so when put like that, it's not actually all that bad... And I have actually been really spoilt. For ten years (2002 - 2012) I tried to go to a new country every year - and almost succeeded, but was too busy having fun in my own country during the 2010 World Cup to go somewhere else. 

And now, having not stamped my passport for the last couple of years, I have found another way to "globe trot" and all from convenience of my own home. In 2012 I signed up for this AWESOME adventure by joining the "Couchsurfing"community. And while I have only actually surfed on other people's couches twice (both times in Oslo, Norway, and the second time it was actually a spare bed) I have hosted many lovely people on my couch. 

This is stolen from the couch surfing website. 

OK, so when I mention couch surfing to people they are frequently surprised that I willing let a stranger into my house. Because I was away so often in the earlier part of my PhD, if someone was visiting the department and needed a place to stay, I would let them stay at mine. It wasn't a big leap from "an academic in the department" to "random foreigner" but what really got me hooked was my trip to Norway. 

Sharing my favourite place with couch surfers

I was only there for three nights, and I was searching online for a hotel or hostel that was centrally placed and reasonable. Only while I was searching, I realised that I know NOTHING about Oslo, and have no idea where "centrally placed" is. I didn't want to stay in a backpackers with drunk Eurotripping 20 year olds and I was worried that if I stayed in a hotel I would wuss out of exploring and spend the evenings alone feeling like I was missing out. Couch surfing to the rescue, and I couldn't have had a better experience. 

My two hosts were so kind, generous (they bought me wine) and accommodating, they showed me around the city and we went to a rock concert (Norwegian band - The Carburetors - that would never in a million years have happened if I had been alone) and picnicked on the grass during the air-force display. This would just never have happened if I had been alone in the city. My host even gave me a lift to the airport at 3am! More than that, I made friends, with two Norwegians that I would have been unlikely to meet in any other way. That's pretty amazing. 

After my private tour of the Italian navy vessel... 

So, obviously, I decided to pay the kindness that these two awesome humans had shown me forward. To be honest though, it is something I really enjoy doing. I love getting to meet people from all over the world and hearing their stories. I marvel at some of the adventures they have which inspire me to have some of my own. I am taken out of my comfort zone and end up partying until 4am (after thesis was finished) on Halloween. I am reminded how beautiful Cape Town is while I see people appreciate it for the very first time. I have an excuse to visit the wine farms and cheesy tourist spots. I get supper made for me by a Frenchman and a cake made by a Brazilian, sung to by an Argentian and had dinner with three members of the Italian Navy. I am constantly reminded about how many nice, interesting people there are in the world. (And they say nice things about me on my profile.) 

I am hoping this is anonymous enough to go on the web?

It does get a bit exhausting (all that socialising) so I don't host when I am super busy with work (i.e. a large part of the last two years). And, I am not going to lie, some of the couch surfers have been easier than others. There are some that have come and gone and others that I am still in touch with (or pretend to be in touch with by being Facebook friends) and consider friends. Recently I have had the absolute pleasure to meet up with my Norwegian host in Cape Town and hopefully repay him a little for the kindness he showed me in Oslo (and score with a private tour by one of the owners at Delheim because he was renting their air b'nb). I have also had a repeat visit from a German couch surfer friend. 

There is also the option of just meeting people that are new to the country or staying in a hotel but wanting to meet locals (I got to see inside my first 5* hotel because of this). It is also interesting to meet people from completely different backgrounds and cultures and aren't studying biology, or don't automatically believe that eating shark-fin soup and whale meat is bad (this was a difficult conversation for me to have, but I think it is an important reminder that people have different beliefs and values and that's OK - although not if they are eating sharks and whales...)  It is also interesting to see what people find weird about South Africa and their perspective on penguins (crazy frenchman said squirrels were cooler than penguins? HUH!) car guards, four-way stops, crime, the use of the term "robot" and affirmative action (yes, there are serious discussions in between the wine sipping).

So, if you are feeling a little isolated from the world during your PhD.... Give it a try.... you never know what it is going to be like, or what the next adventure will be... 

(IF I had known that this would be the topic of my blog today I would have made an effort to figure out the number of surfers I have had and where they were all from. I didn't. So, off the top of my head, I have met up with or hosted people from: Puerto Rico, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, USA, France, Singapore, India, Netherlands, England, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland... but I am possibly missing some.) 

* Again, not my title but a comment a friend made that I have stolen!
** OOOO just realised that you might think that SANCCOB isn't a good place to volunteer, it is!!! The staff at SANCCOB work so hard trying to get every single penguin they can back in to the wild which is so important given how much the penguin population is struggling! SANCCOB is awesome!!! And so are penguins! I just have silly skin!

Damsel in distress

There are times in the life of a PhD student, when things go wrong. Small things, big things, things that would normally be small but feel big because you are so stressed out or you don't have the money to sort them out like normal people would. Very often, my friends and family have made the difference between something being just annoying instead of being unmanageable. Unfortunately, there are times, when your friends and family aren't there to help. 

I want to tell you a story about a complete stranger rescuing a damsel in distress... me (of course, although I am not sure what it takes to be a "damsel")... 

On Sunday, I took a couple of friends to Stellenbosch for a truly lovely day in the winelands. On the way there, about 20 m from the farm, my car started to beep a warning. This meant, that despite a really lovely afternoon, in the back of my head was a constant worry about whether my car was going to give problems on the way home. I want to say that I love my car. It has actually been a very reliable little car and drove me all the way to Luderitz and back. However, it is not a new car, and I have had a fair amount of experience breaking down over the years that I know what a mission it can be and I definitely had no wish to break down on the N2. 

On the way back, things were looking OK. In fact, I was beginning to think we were home free when the warning light came on. I pulled off the highway and in to the first garage I could find. This happened to be in Rosebank, at the Caltex garage on Klipfontein Road. I tried to put in water, but the radiator kept bubbling over and then we noticed that it was just leaking out from the radiator hose. 

The petrol attendant (that I don't know at all, because this isn't one of my usual garages) was so helpful, and was on his knees under the car looking to see if we could spot the hole. We decided to wait for the car to cool down, and I went to see if some friends (with general practical know-how) that I know in the neighbourhood were home, but unfortunately they were not. 

When I got back, the petrol attendant (who's name, in all the panic and confusion, I never actually got because I was all distracted about being stressed - I feel like a real tool now for not asking) came over again to see if he could help me. He also enlisted the help of another man that he knew. We bought some insulation tape, and for the next hour (at least), these two heroic strangers patched up my car. Occasionally they let me pretend to be helpful and hold the cellphone torch for them, but mostly I chatted to the man's children (in rudimentary Afrikaans) and showed them how to use my wind up torch (which was much less help at providing light than the petrol attendant's phone) and the second man's wife (Charmaine) who called me ma'am even though I was just some silly girl with a broken car (I told her not to and introduced myself). 

Eventually, we were able to get water to stay in the pipes and the declared me able to drive home (straight home, no detours - I was instructed!) Unfortunately, I had spent my last cash on the insulation tape, and had nothing to thank these two heroes with. I obviously gave the kids the torch, but was feeling like a bit of a fool, when the petrol attendant subtly slipped a R50 note in to my hand and told me not to say anything but give it to the other man. 

I went to get money to pay back the petrol attendant, and when I came back to give it to him, he wouldn't take it. He told me that money is not important to him, people are and he knows what it is like to be stuck on the side of the road. We chatted a little, and he was an amazing, sincerely kind man. I eventually just shoved the money on to him and kind of skipped away with many more thank yous. It was very humbling to be shown such generosity of spirit from someone that many people won't even notice when they fill up with petrol and hand over their small change. Hopefully, if you read this, you will feel inspired to do something nice for a stranger... 

Never ending story

stolen off Facebook

The internet is amazing, and it turns out that I can see where the people that have looked at my blog posts have linked to the site from. (That was a poorly constructed thought, but I am running on adrenaline (I didn't sleep very well last night, 1 am seemed the perfect time to fix the font size of my page numbers) and carrot cake...) Mostly, the people that view my blog are my Facebook friends. So, that means that most of you have seen that I have handed in the FINAL copy of my thesis, but I am going to blog about it anyway. I promise that I will stop expecting you to be happy for me soon... but there is still graduation to come. 

I think some of it makes quite
pretty wrapping paper...

This is now the third time, so I am beginning to feel like a local in the DDB  (doctoral degrees board), and a little bit responsible for the deforestation in Brazil. (Although, if you receive a gift from me in the next couple of months, you can expect it to be wrapped in previous editions of my thesis.) After the tears and general sense of relief and weak knees when I got the result, this moment is some what of an anticlimax... Even though it is the end of something, I now have to try get the thing published so I need to start rewriting it - again. And of course, the dark cloud in the corner of my vision: the "what next" question needs to be dealt with. But when I left the DDB I decided that at very least I had to get a cake. 

It is, after all, important to celebrate everything. I mentioned this in one of my very early blogs, it doesn't have to be "the final hand-in" that you celebrate, it should be every small triumph along the way. Life is short and you don't need an excuse to drink champagne or eat cake. So, I am going to take the rest of the day off - COMPLETELY and enjoy the moment, but first, I have a mug to smash on Jammie steps... 

So long and thanks for all the... crabs... *

It was NOT always this sunny

Working in Hout Bay, the problems, (pollution, dog-fighting, poverty, poor-education, poaching, drugs, racism, over-fishing, violence... alien crabs) can make you feel overwhelmed but there is also so much kindness, people watching out for us and our equipment, smiles and friendly greetings, little girls who pick up litter and little boys who want to know everything about the crabs and minions who clap for you when you are awarded the PhD (at long last!)  

The dodgier side of Hout Bay. Not many tourists here, unless
they have just come from Snoekies. This is also where we had
the children visit us. 

As with everything, there were good and bad things about working in Hout Bay. For instance, I felt like I was being paid to read a fair chunk of the time, but I also had to do HOURS of unpaid overtime data capturing. I had to work in rain, crazy-wind, fog and cold, but that made me appreciate the soft sunshine even more. (Some of the days were ridiculously hot - and I have the bad tan lines to prove it.) I saw a tiny slip of a boy (about 6 - but I am bad at judging ages) tell a little girl that he was going to "put a foot through her face" (oooo I almost chucked him in the sea, but he was a slippery little thing which is probably a good thing) but I also saw a little girl teetering on the edge of the wharf trying to pick up a cigarette butt because: "the ocean is too beautiful to pollute, what about the sea animals?" and (just so you don't think it is a boy/girl difference) there was a little boy that would run across the parking lot to give me hugs when he caught sight of me.  

I loved the little blue, red and white boats, the way that water reflected off hulls in an infinite dance, the awesome shy sharks and unexpected beauty and variety of common klipvis. I loved that people that I would never normally even have the opportunity to engage with would stop and chat to me about the weather, the state of the oceans, the current crab catch totals. I loved learning not only about bycatch in the long-line and purse seine fisheries but about the different South African cultures' funeral and wedding practices. It was interesting to see how people perceived my culture, or UCT and what life was like outside the sheltered ivory tower.  

"No SPITING".... seriously, none of that! 

I didn't not love seeing little puppies and wondering if they are going to grow up to fight other little puppies. I didn't love see trolleys of dead sharks - freshly caught. I didn't like hearing (over and over) how the best thing for fisheries would be to kill the seals. I didn't like seeing so many seals with strings caught around their bodies, digging into their skins. I despaired over the amount of litter, oil and diesel (and unidentified effluents) floating on the surface of the water, and was particularly frustrated because of the 20-30 EPWP staff that were SUPPOSED to be cleaning up the litter in the harbour but mostly did nothing (once I saw them playing jump rope which can't be called "nothing" but definitely isn't working). I was frustrated by one of my nice, sweet minions saying he didn't want to do one of the jobs because it was "women's work" (Incidentally, he also said that it was impossible to be happy single and you can't make the world a better place. The only way your worth is determined is by how many grandchildren you have when you die.) 

There are things I will definitely miss about working in Hout Bay (including the minions), but I am pretty excited about clean clothes (and being able to wear skirts) and getting my car cleaned (this I am excited about in theory... I haven't actually done it yet.) I am ridiculously excited about seeing friends at work and having people to chat to because it can be a little lonely being the person that has to moan at everyone else when they don't do their work. I love that I can still use my BEAUTIFUL UCT office and have access to internet again.  I am pretty excited about doing work that requires my brain and does not require me to tell anyone else what to do. I am not going to miss killing crabs (but of course I will miss cuddling shy sharks and the baby crabs).

Next time, I visit I will be a "tourist", I wonder if the locals
will recognise me.... 

Hout Bay harbour, for all its problems, is a really beautiful place to be and I am grateful that I got to see a side of it that not many do, and, for a little while at least, get to be a part of the Hout Bay harbour community (without picking up the nasty catch phrases). Although, from now on, I will not respond to "miss crab", "crab lady" or any other crab-related jokes... 

So.... so long and thanks for all (28'000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) crabs, indeed....*

*A friend of mine (+Monica Lewis) suggested this line, apologies to Douglas Adams.  

x + UCT = Δx

Thank fully not catching these 

Can the university you go to influence the person you are.... 
One of my crab colleagues is passionately anti-UCT (she's a UWC graduate). She says that UCT students think they are better than everyone else, that they start to use English instead of their home languages (even when they are talking to people of the same home language).  She added that even though they were promised that if you went to UCT you would definitely get a job (news to me!) yet she knows of UCT graduates that still don't have work - so UCT isn't "all that" after all. (She did add that she was pleasantly surprised to find that I was nice despite being a UCT graduate). 

For my part, I love UCT, it's history, its reputation. I decided (in all my 17 year old naivety) to go to UCT based on its reputation of having the best marine biology research center in the country (I am not sure if this is still true and it does not belittle the awesome work that is coming out of other institutions - I was 17 what did I know! - but I do count myself lucky to have been taught and supervised by some South African marine science legends - again, my opinion). 

This got me thinking about how I have changed since my 17 year old self stared, overwhelmed, as my folks drove away from me, leaving me at Tugwell alone, wondering if I had just made the biggest mistake in my little life... (I remember this feeling very distinctly, I remember feeling small and very very alone, and desperately wanting to shout to them to come back and take me home with them).  Now it is many, MANY years later (truly it isn't polite to ask how many) and, with my days at UCT being numbered, I can't imagine being anywhere else (this is self-evident given that all of my "leave" days from crab-catching have been spent at my UCT office, other than the one that was the science expo - my defense is that there is internet here).  

So, how have I changed... well, for one thing, I am unfortunately not as thin as I was back then, which is a shame, but I like to think that I like and appreciate my body more despite this. Sadly it doesn't necessarily mean I look after it better, there are still tins of sweetcorn in my cupboard and my fridge has wine in it more often than food. It does mean that I care more about the person that I am than what I look like - which is an important improvement but more likely to do with no longer being 17 than being at UCT. 

I do remember that when I first came to Cape Town I thought Capetonians had quite strong accents (I don't mean Hout Bay Harbour accents but it was either really posh "hot potato"/English colonialist accents or lazy surfers drawl). I don't notice this anymore (now that I think about it) which possibly means I have also picked up some Capetonian in my accent (in fact, people frequently comment on my accent and I generally tell them it is a JHB slowed down to Cape Town pace - unless I have wine, then it is hot potato city in an attempt to not slur! Or maybe I just talking funny!!) 

I find it difficult to identify other changes that are from having been to UCT as opposed to no longer being 17. (Besides knowing more about penguins and fish and intertidal critters) I consider myself to be open minded and liberal - but I think that was true when I was 17, if a little less defined. I do not consider myself to be a UCT snob, despite being proud of having been at UCT (is that contradictory?)  Of course there are times, (RECENTLY) that UCT has annoyed me dreadfully, and I have been very angry with it for some of their decisions/policies. I have wondered how things would be different if I had been to other institutions (I considered Rhodes at both Honours and Masters - and was really impressed with how quickly they responded when UCT admin left us hanging until the last minute which was part of the reason I was very tempted to go there.)  I have listened to friends gush about their post graduate experiences at other institutions and seen how they have changed in subtle ways from when they were at UCT.

  

We have pretty cool lawns close by,  but not on campus really
Also,  I am not sure why lawns are so important to me... hm

I have never been to another University, so it is difficult to have an outsiders perspective (well.... there was that time up in Pretoria, but I never really integrated with the UP culture, despite appreciating their lovely lawn (that no one else seemed to wiggled their toes in) and the very convenient and cheap Oom Gert's). I would be interested to hear your perspective, particularly if you have been to other Universities in addition to UCT   

Ultimately, I guess, any where you are is going to be as awesome or awful as you make it. If I could do everything over again, I wouldn't change anything, so that must be a good thing, right... Well... I wouldn't mind being the same weight I was when I was 17! 

(How nerdy is my title??)