eumelia | Entries tagged with family: distant relatives

I woke up at an unspeakable hour this morning... looking at the time I'm updating it is still unspeakable.

I went with my uncle (to be known as Uncle D), Granny and Daddy to the air port to see him off, I'm staying in the Rainbow Nation for a few more days and staying with my other uncle (Uncle P) and his family, both are Daddies little brothers (is it still all right to call 50+ year old men "little"?)

In any event, yesterday being the last day of Daddy's holiday I got kind of weepy and annoying, I hope I didn't make things more difficult for him seeing as today is my birthday (yes, yes, many happy returns) I didn't want him to feel guilty.
Uncle P is taking out for a drive today to places called Kalks Bay (very pretty beach place), maybe Cape Point (where the two oceans meet) and it being the first clear day since I've arrived (remember I spoke of the mist and not being able to see a hundred meters ahead? It stayed that way from Friday until yesterday afternoon) I'll most likely be going up Table Mountain, which is my clearest memory of SA from when I was nine years old.

Will try and update again before I get home, but I make no promises.

feeling sleepy, but not slumbering

Today was the birthday tea for my Granny's 90th Birthday.

It was really a great success without much family drama.

Daddy, being the oldest son present, read a speech as did I being the representative of the Israeli family and my cousin (Daddy's brother's son) also read a speech representing the family in Cape Town.

The amount of old people was phenomenal. I was actually concerned that no one would be able to hear me when I spoke because you know, old people, they get hard of hearing. But the acoustics of the Mount Nelson (a very posh hotel, a vestige of the peak of British Colonialism) tea room was surprisingly good. I was very nervous and unsurprisingly began to cry in the middle of my speech, which is irritating for me, but adds something for the audience as many of the old ladies and gents came to me and complimented me on a very nice speech.

( My speech )

Yesterday wasn't a very busy day. Daddy and I had a bit of a lie in and picked up Granny after breakfast. We then went to my uncle's house and had some tea there and then went to the Irma Stern museum - Irma Stern is a famous South African artist, she painted and sculpted with themes ranging from portraits of her friends, various tribe people (mainly women) and sculpting busts of African people (again, mainly women). Apparently she was a shy person and never painted a self-portrait.

I also went to the Waterfront, which is Cape Town's shopping center with my "auntie's" (she's actually just a old friend of the family) daughter where I bought a couple of books while everyone went to watch rugby (boooooring!) and had a late supper.

So far, so good I'll say.

feeling calm

Traveling is hard!
But fun when you're being taken care of by dear Papa.

Arrived, finally, at half-past eight (local time) in Cape Town. My memories of the place are very vague and everyone seems so much shorter and older.
Seeing as the last time I was here I was nine, this makes sense.

I slept like a rock. I don't think I moved the whole night.

Nobody can believe how big I am and some of the people keep referring to me with my older sister's name, Leigh. I suppose their sharpest memories of Leigh are of her with short hair, like I now have.

Today we went to wine country near Cape Town called Franchhoek (pronounced Fraan-tzuk... don't ask me how, I do not know how Afrikaans is built) and went around the very sweet and picturesque town. It was founded by the Huguenots (French Protestants who escaped France in the 17th century after the Nantes edict proclaiming France a Catholic Kingdom) who built the whole wine industry in the valleys in the area of the Western Cape which include Franchhoek, Paarl, Stellenbosch and another one which I can't remember, because there weren't any road signs to that one.
We decided to go because of the weather. The fog and most is blinding, you can barely see 100 meters ahead of you. We're hoping it won't get worse, but you can never know. It is weird going from the beginning of summer into what amounts to the middle of winter for me, even if they only started with winter now.
I'm chilly.

Daddy and I called Mummy while we were there and it appears that two people she and Daddy knew from their History live there, we only found one and Daddy said it was amazing how much time passed.

We went wine tasting too, which was fun, it's something I'd been wanting to do since I saw the movie "Sideways" but it was more the idiosyncratic characters than the setting in Napa Valley California that made it such a great movie.

We have since returned to our home base and will soon be going to sup with my Granny (who I saw last night) and the uncles, aunts and cousins I hadn't seen in years.

feeling knackered

morin for the WIN!!!

Two tests down, five to go.
Yes, I'm groaning in despair, but all will be well, I have plenty of time to study for them all in fact. The two exams I had this week went really well (at least I'm feeling confidant) and I'm having a really fun time just vegging on the campus grounds after the exams with my peeps.

But I have something to look forward to, not only the end of exams, but also the fact that I'm going to South Africa for the first time since I was nine years old.
GD that's a long time, I mean I've seen my extended family since, but certainly not as much as in the first decade of life.
My Granny is turning 90 (tfu-tfu-tfu and spins around three times while knocking on wood) and Daddy (her son) and Mummy thought it would be a good idea for me to represent the Israeli contingent of her very far flung family.
Not only would it be excellent to see Granny (who I haven't seen in two years), it will be really great to get back in touch with my cousins with whom I'm not so close, seeing as the last time I saw them was at least five years ago if not more.

It's more than a month away and I'll not be in Israel for my B-Day (I'm only a few days after Granny), but I'll be sure to mention it at the time, if I have access to Internet, which shouldn't be a problem... maybe I'll take Frida with me.

Another good thing about being away on the specific dates is that I'll be missing weeks between Independance Day and the Nakba Commemoration Day, which are sure to be, um, quite charged.
60 years may not seem like a long time compared with countries with triple digits, but you know, thing are intense...

Anyway, that's what I had to say - more tests, going over-seas, intense national atmosphere and hopefully by the time I come back and am 23 things will be back to "normal", though I doubt it.

feeling blank
hearing Prince of Egypt - Deliver Us

I knew Daddy had an uncle who fought and died during the WWII, but I didn't know he had died at El-Alamein and is buried at the War Cemetery there.

My next visiting place (after visiting the Family in the US) is definitely Egypt, if we don't go to war with them first, of course.

My great uncle Private Norman Selwyn Barron.

feeling blank
hearing Regina Spektor - Us

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Eumelia

January 2020

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V and Justice

V: Ah, I was forgetting that we are not properly introduced. I do not have a name. You can call me V. Madam Justice...this is V. V... this is Madam Justice. hello, Madam Justice.

Justice: Good evening, V.

V: There. Now we know each other. Actually, I've been a fan of yours for quite some time. Oh, I know what you're thinking...

Justice: The poor boy has a crush on me...an adolescent fatuation.

V: I beg your pardon, Madam. It isn't like that at all. I've long admired you...albeit only from a distance. I used to stare at you from the streets below when I was a child. I'd say to my father, "Who is that lady?" And he'd say "That's Madam Justice." And I'd say "Isn't she pretty."

V: Please don't think it was merely physical. I know you're not that sort of girl. No, I loved you as a person. As an ideal.

Justice: What? V! For shame! You have betrayed me for some harlot, some vain and pouting hussy with painted lips and a knowing smile!

V: I, Madam? I beg to differ! It was your infidelity that drove me to her arms!

V: Ah-ha! That surprised you, didn't it? You thought I didn't know about your little fling. But I do. I know everything! Frankly, I wasn't surprised when I found out. You always did have an eye for a man in uniform.

Justice: Uniform? Why I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. It was always you, V. You were the only one...

V: Liar! Slut! Whore! Deny that you let him have his way with you, him with his armbands and jackboots!

V: Well? Cat got your tongue? I though as much.

V: Very well. So you stand revealed at last. you are no longer my justice. You are his justice now. You have bedded another.

Justice: Sob! Choke! Wh-who is she, V? What is her name?

V: Her name is Anarchy. And she has taught me more as a mistress than you ever did! She has taught me that justice is meaningless without freedom. She is honest. She makes no promises and breaks none. Unlike you, Jezebel. I used to wonder why you could never look me in the eye. Now I know. So good bye, dear lady. I would be saddened by our parting even now, save that you are no longer the woman I once loved.

*KABOOM!*

-"V for Vendetta"

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Entries tagged with family: distant relatives

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