Stellenbosch: The World Cup Begins!

I've been here in Stellenbosch now for a day and a half, and I must say it was the right decision to stay here. It's a peaceful, quiet little haven, and after the chaos of Roma and Cairo, I needed some peace!

Below are some pictures of central Stellenbosch. It's a university town of about 220,000 people between spring-summer-fall seasons, but the population dwindles down to about 200,000 during the winter (now), when university is not in session. Winter, by the way, means 17-25 degrees Celsius .. not bad at all...

The main church of Stellenbosch, Dutch Reformed:




















Stellenbosch is home to many bronze statues placed all over the city, courtesy of South Africa's finest sculptour (unfortunately I don't know his name). Below is a typical statue:




















Centre-of the city street and (upscale) market: note the South African flags on display ... World Cup fever is here:

Tonight's games are (my score predictions in brackets):
* South Africa - Mexico (1-2)
* Uruguay - France (1-1)

Finally, on a totally unrelated note, I've been reading Kathleen Norris' book Acedia & Me, and have learned a lot from it. She draws on the writings of the 4th century monk Evagrius Ponticus, and concludes that the main danger confronting our post-modern western civilization is acedia, or indifference.

She likens acedia to depression, in that they both have similar symptoms, like a lack of desire, will, or motivation to live, and a general indifference towards the things going on in the world, even the things that affect us personally. She differentiates between depression and acedia, however, by stating that whereas depression is a "physical" condition and can be treated through medical attention, acedia is a "spiritual" condition that can only be fought on the spiritual battlefield. The main weapon against acedia is prayer.

The problem is, that prayer is the first thing the demon of acedia attacks. And that is precisely where I find myself. I'm realizing that acedia has got me in its grips: I'm unmotivated, I'm indifferent, and unable to pray.

One last thing: Evagrius Ponticus called acedia the noon-day demon, because whereas all other demons appear to the monk hidden behind good things or in the middle of the night when he is alone and has only his thoughts to keep him company, the demon of acedia appears to the monk in broad daylight - he's shameless - plainly visible in the desert sun, when he's supposed to be going about his daily work and/or prayer. In the middle of daylight, the demon says "Why do you bother doing the same, repetitive thing day after day after day .. isn't it all futile? To what end all this hard work?"

It has been a revelation to me that acedia is my main spiritual battle. The demon's been progressively getting a better grasp on me, demoralizing my spirit, wearing me down. Sometimes, it all seems futile indeed.

Lord have mercy on me.

Stellenbosch: Internet And The Toilet

Today I spent the day doing two things:
* catching up on correspondence - my blog, postcards; and
* visiting the toilet - because of diarrhea, I have to stay within sight of a toilet pretty much at all times.

Cairo -> Cape Town: A Long Day!

The last 18 hours were virtually all spent in transit.

* I left the Cairo guesthouse at 9:20pm (Tuesday night), arriving at the airport at 10.
* My flight from Cairo left at 00:30am (Wednesday morning), arriving in Johannesburg, South Africa, at around 7:15am.
* At 11am I flew from Johannesburg to Nelspruit.
* At 1pm I flew from Nelspruit to Cape Town, arriving close to 4pm.
* At 4:30pm I travelled by car for 40 minutes, to Stellenbosch, where I will be staying for the next 5-6 nights.

Here are two pictures. The first one is of Cape Town, from the air. It reminds me of Vancouver: a city surrounded by mountains and water (the water is not visible in the picture). The second picture is of the guesthouse I'm staying at. The guesthouse website can be found here:

I realize that I've left a big gap in terms of updating the blog. It's been very challenging to find computer-time, and additionally, either the computer or access to the internet has most often been less than adequate: either the computer stems from the previous century, or the internet access is at turtle-speed. I will try to catch up on previous days, although I may be unable to catch up on each one separately.

Oh, one last detail. The food in Cairo was good, but the water did me in. I have diarrhea: nothing stays in me longer than an hour. That made travelling this past day an "interesting" experience, to say the least...

Roma -> Cairo: The Desert City

This afternoon at 14:25 I left Rome, and arrived in Cairo early evening at 18:30.

Before leaving Rome, I took a few pictures of the place that's been "home" for the past few days:

The patio:














The lounge:














View from the balcony:














I also took a picture of Cairo. From the air: a city in the desert.

Roma -> Napoli -> Pompeii: Visiting The Ruins

The train to Napoli left after 9am, and this was a surprise to us. We thought that by 9am we'd be there already, boarding a train for the final stretch to Pompeii, but in the end it worked out ok, because it gave us time to eat breakfast at the Termini train station.

So we arrived in Pompeii at around 11, and by 11:30 or so, we began viewing the ruins left by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius on the 24th of August, 79 AD. The ruins, were discovered somewhere in the 16th century, and the site is to this day an archeological site.

Pagan Temples of 79AD.

The main courtyard: note the clouded Mount Vesuvius, in the background.














Taking a break to read up on the history of Pompeii.














The main market square:


































A main street:














The Coliseum:




























A roof-top view from an ancient ruin. In the background, modern-day Pompeii.














That's it for Roma. Next up: Cairo! My flight to Cairo leaves tomorrow at 14:25.

Roma: Independence Day Celebrations, San Clemente, & Coliseum

Today Italy turned 150 years old. A very young nation, it seems, but as Gian Mateo explained it to us yesterday, it's only been 150 years that Italy functions as a nation. Prior to that, all the states (Umbria, Tuscany, etc..) that make up the modern country, were independent and separate.

It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, to be here in Roma at this particular time, because the celebrations were quite big. Jennifer and I went to the Coliseum, to take in the military march:

After the celebrations, we walked around for a few hours, visiting ancient Roman ruins, as well as the historic church of San Clemente, a church which dates back to the 2nd or 3rd century after Christ. Pictures inside the church were not allowed. Here are some pictures of the Roman ruins, as well as the church courtyard of San Clemente.







































































By around 4pm we were already exhausted, but seeing that tomorrow's our last day in Roma, and we've got Pompeii planned for tomorrow, we visited the glorious Roman Coliseum.
























































































Around 6pm we met up with Gian Mateo again for dinner. We ate chinese food (!), not of my choosing. Jen was sick of pasta and wanted something familiar, and there happened to be a good chinese restaurant nearby.

We got back to our hotel later than we wanted to, around 11pm. Tomorrow starts early .. we want to try and be at the Termini train station by 8am and take a train to Pompeii, via Napoli.

Roma: Scalla Di Spagna, Fontana Di Trevi, Panteon, Piazza Navona

I saw way too much to put it all into words today. Here's the day in pictures:

Around noontime, Scalla Di Spagna (Spanish Steps, in the middle of the city):

Around 3pm, the Fontana di Trevi:














Then around 4 o'clock, the Panteon. The first two pictures from the outside, the third from the inside:

Then at around 5pm we went to meet up with a friend of Jennifer's who lives in Rome, Gian Mateo, but on our way to meet him we walked through the Piazza Navona:

Jennifer and Gian Mateo, outside the wonderful pizzeria in Trastevere, Dar Poeta. I like Jen's smile in this picture:

Frankfurt -> Roma: Jennifer, Vatican, Trastevere

What an eventful day!

* 7:30am - 9:30am => Frankfurt to Rome flight
* 12:30pm => arrived at the Domus Aurelia, where I will be staying for the next 4 nights
* 2pm => lunch
* 4pm => visit St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican
* 7:30pm => participated in the Procession of Saint Anne throug the Vatican Gardens (a waiter at a cofffee shop suggested we go to it); Pope Benedict was there also and gave a 10 minute homily (unfortunately in Italian)
* 10pm => dinner at Sabatini's (a forgetable restaurant in the unforgettable and lovely district of Trastevere

I'm tired. Too much activity for one day.

Pictures from day one in Roma. Inside St. Peter's Basilica:


































At the Procession (way at the back is the Pope, robed in red):














At Trastevere: