Hircine

hircine- (adj) of, pertaining to, or resembling a goat

This word has nothing (well, very little) to do with what follows, but it was in my inbox today and I was overjoyed. My longest-term dreams in life consist of raising goats. They’re friendly, inquisitive, mostly-good natured, and can make milk and wool. Is it still called wool if it comes from a goat, not a sheep? I imagine this word has negative connotations, but I like it anyway. 

I don’t have much to report; I had a fairly standard, mundane week in South Africa, as strange as that may sound. I went to classes, did homework, cooked food, went to the beach…what else does a student do?

On Monday, a classmate and I walked the nature trail that runs around the campus; we saw lots of bugs, grysbok, and a springbok prancing over the hills. The first grysbok we met was scared enough of  our voices and footsteps to run out of the bush towards us before it realized what direction we faced and then literally high-tailed it back into the shrubbery. We thought it was hilarious. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. I read a great book called Zoo City and was accosted by a religious fanatic. On Tuesday I was free of classes, so I walked to the penguin rehabilitation center to turn in my volunteer paperwork, though they still haven’t called me. On Wednesday, I dissected a freshly killed frog, much to my personal dismay. Its poor little heart was beating and pumping blood until we removed it from the pericardial cavity even though it lacked a brain and a face. I think dissections are better learning tools than video simulations, but I think larger-than-live models are the best of all. The point of dissections are to learn how the body’s various systems work in unison, how organs fit together and connect. Models that you can touch, hold, take apart and put back together again are even better learning tools than dissections, in my experience. Comparative vertebrate anatomy is interesting but I really can’t wait for my ecology and conservation courses coming up. 

Thursday I received my locker for biochemistry and went to the beach. It alarms me how much trash is left behind. South Africa doesn’t have curbside pickup services for recycling, so I take a bag of our apartment’s recyclables to the gas station on the way to the beach and fill the bag up with trash on my way back. I never have enough room to pick up all the trash I find. A man who was fishing thanked me for cleaning up what little I did, saying he doesn’t often see people picking up the beach. I’m frustrated with the lack of responsibility. 

Friday I had a biochem practical and I made friends with a few South African girls. Saturday the University had a Campus Life Festival, which consisted of rugby, cricket, football, and volleyball matches as well as a societies exposition. I was not surprised at the number of Christian student groups but I was surprised at the complete lack of other religious associations. I’m under the impression that there are a fairly large number of Muslim students on campus but maybe they have groups at their mosques. 

Sunday was homework and beach. My watch battery died after seven (!) years and I took it apart, still haven’t found the right size replacement battery though. The ocean was incredibly wonderful, as per Port Elizabeth’s usual. 

I miss dandelions and pretzels, besides friends and family. The amount of people who smoke cigarettes or maybe just the behavior of people who smoke cigarettes is starting to irritate me. What difference does it make if one smokes in a smoking area if the wind is blowing straight across to the kraal (student quad)?  I don’t like the rule of no sitting on the floor in the library. It’s hard to curl up with a good book in a rigid plastic chair. I have only found one functional drinking fountain on campus and I’m pretty good at finding drinking fountains. My biochem professor said the municipal standards are adequate but not necessarily adequately enforced. He recommended a filter for anyone who wants to drink tap water as excess chlorine is the main safety concern. 

For not having much to say, I sure said a lot. Because I’m determined to use this word in an actual sentence, my isiXhosa class smelled particularly hircine today.

Want to learn how to say something in isiXhosa? Sure you do! When departing, two Xhosa people say “Hamba kakuhle, sobonana” which means “go well, see you soon.”

Hamba- say “ahm-ba”

kakuhle- say “kah-koo-HISS-ay,” where you hiss air out the sides of your mouth like Sid the Sloth from Ice Age

sobonana- say “so-bo-nah-nah”

In response, you say thanks, you too, which is “enkosi, nawe”

Hamba kakuhle.