Bridget in South Africa

Bridget sent the team an email from South Africa this week. I have to say, I have some of the most amazing, coolest friends.

Date:      Thu, 06 Apr 2006 17:06:18 +0000
From:      Bridget Harrison 
To:        mischief, PIMPu@ya...ups.com
Subject:   [MisChiEf] South African natties!

Hello, all!

So I think I must fill you in on my South African Ulti experiences.  I've
been in Cape Town for 1.5 weeks now, and it has been a lot of fun.

First, a few sentences about the place—It is beautiful here, and the weather
has been gorgeous.  Several small mountains (Table Mountain, Devil's Peak,
Lion's Head) tower over the city, and one rises up from right behind the
hospital where I'm working.  I'm going to climb them soon.  From my room, I
can see the bay that leads to the ocean in the other direction.  I've gotten
to explore a lot of things, like the Cape Point peninsula, where the
Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean, and Robben Island, where Mandela and other
political prisoners were held during apartheid (incredibly moving tour given
by former political prisoners, and incredibly inspiring place as a story of
triumph of the human spirit against all odds).  The hospital work has been
busy but interesting.  On a sadder note, while I can count on one finger the
number of severely malnourished kids I've seen in the hospital in the U.S.
and on zero fingers the number of kids I've seen there with TB or HIV, I
must have already seen several dozen of them in my two weeks here.  Most of
the kids on our ward have HIV.  It's very sad, but at least they have access
to anti-retroviral (anti-HIV) meds through the government here in Cape Town,
so some of them do well.  The government only provides a limited selection
of meds, though, b/c of cost.  They supply 5 drugs, which comprise two
medication regimens-- well short of the # of options available in the U.S.  
So if the kids “fail” those medications, e.g. if their HIV strain(s) develop
resistance to them, they are out of luck.  :(  Still, considering how few
HIV-infected adults in sub-Saharan Africa have access to meds, and how even
fewer kids can get them, they're doing a great job here in Cape Town.  There
are probably other meds available to those who can pay for them, but I think
most of the kids w/ HIV here are from very poor families.

OK, turning to the happier subject of Ultimate...  so it turns out that Pei
discovered in a Google search that South African nationals were to occur in
Cape Town the weekend after I arrived!  She also found a pick-up game at the
University of Cape Town, very close to the hospital where I work.  (The
pick- up game link came thanks to Kitt who, although she didn't know it, is
indirectly responsible for getting me to S.A. natties!  Apparently some Cape
Town Ulti team also uses the ultiteam.org website, and through their website
info one can get to a link about the UCT pick up game.)  Anyway, I checked
out pick-up last week.  It turned out to be incredibly casual (like most
everyone barefoot and unfamiliar w/ the term “stack” casual) but friendly
and fun.  Keith and Katie, your wedding disc lost its African virginity in
that game.  The view from the field was like a cross between Santa Cruz and
Potlatch on a clear day—looking out over the city and the water down the
hill in one direction, and looking up at Devil's Peak towering above in the
other.  Awesome.

My second motive at pick-up, aside from finally getting some aerobic
exercise here, was to find a ride to nationals.  I found a very nice botany
PhD student, Dave, who is always barefoot, whose hair rivals the
Adam-Pickett's, who drives a green VW-like van, and who gives a hell of an
unofficial tour in the local gorgeous Kirstenbosch botanical gardens.  (Did
you know that the almond tree was responsible for the first documented case
of fatal human poisoning?  It contains cyanide, apparently.  And so forth
with plant trivia.)  Dave wants to learn more about Ulti and was interested
in checking out nationals when I told him it was happening.  So we went for
part of the second day of the 2-day tourney.

It turns out that, surprise, Ulti is really not as big here as it is at
home.  “Nationals” was actually a competition among all the South African
teams they could scrounge together--a grand total of six.  There were four
Cape Town summer league teams, one team from Johannesburg, and one team from
a nearby township called Kylitra.  (Townships are the areas where blacks
were forced to live under apartheid; they are still very poor areas.)  
While most things I've encountered in South Africa are quite racially mixed,
Ulti is pretty white here.  So it was very cool to see the Kylitra team,
which was made up of a bunch of guys who used to play juniors and are now
~18 y/o and who went to worlds representing S.A. one year.  The teams were
also supposedly coed, but I think there were a grand total of four women
playing, only one of whom was South African (others American or Canadian).  
Sooooo ladies, if anyone is  looking for a team...

The level of play was very low for “nationals”—probably about like what the
average level of play will be at DUI.  If we all decide to become ex-pats,
Mischief would certainly be the South African champions.  But it was a good
time.  The Kylitra team was actually quite good, esp for teenagers, and they
won!  They're very athletic and have impressive disc skills, and w/ a few
years and a little Kris-n-Brynne lovin' and direction I think they would be
truly great.

The other fun thing about natties was that I ran into Karen Vickers!  Some
of you may know her as the former Santa Crucials player and Chookie's ex who
went off to South Africa to study.  She was playing on the team that placed
second.   Ah, the small world of Ultimate.  Karen has already adopted me
here;  I went to an Easter egg hunt at her house and will stay at her place
for my last 10 days here.  And we're going on some backpacking trip this
weekend—don't know where, but  it sounds good to me!

Hope you're all doing well.  Kick some booty this weekend at DUI, and have
fun!

Cheers,
Bridget