April's First Weekend

We had a thoroughly tiring and highly enjoyable weekend, mostly build around the rowing practices.
The next big race is in Tampa and supposedly THE Florida race of the year. We spent nearly three hours in the boat, both Saturday and Sunday. Somewhere during that time I've lost my rector spinae-muscles and I'll be sure to anounce when Sarah or I find these back muscles. Movements are confined without them.

Ubove and beyond that, we went cayaking with friends along the Brickenbauer Causeway and visited the Viscaya Heritage Site from the waters side.

This house was build in 1870'ties by a rich property magnate for the love of his life. As the story goes, he brought his dream house to Miami (then only a small village), brick by brick, from France.
His love for his wife must've been great, it is fantabulous example of old-style architecture. A monument to Love. Let your work be a reflection of you, the saying goes.

The Fair Quite An Affair!

The Miami-Dade County Fair has been running the past two weeks. Tuesday evening a group of us visited the Fair grounds to see for ourselves what all the fuss was about.

It is true what we've always said back in Cape Town - Americans do everything bigger and better!
It was shades of Malmesbury's Plaas Fair, or Calvinia's Vleisfees for that matter - hundredfold. An awesome experience.


Pic: Surprises lurked behind every corner. There in the farming section, I came accross a fellow South African - this fellow, called a "Poelpetater" in old Afrikaans ("spotted chicken", derived from the French Hugenotes that called it a Puel petain.) . Also known as the common guineau fowl.

Beautiful Downtown

Pic: On the the way home after rowing practice in Key Biscayne. Downtown Miami as seen from the Rickenbacker Causeway from Biscayne Bay, Sunday, 18h00'ish.

Miami Classic Car Show

Saturday Sarah, James and I headed Downtown for a cultural afternoon in the city's bustling art district.
En route to the Miami History Museum, we stumbled upon the fifth annual Miami Classic Car Show, between the Gusman Theatre for the Performing Arts (Where we'll take you when you visit Miami!) and the Dade County Courthouse.

There was beautiful, colorful and voluptuous curves galore on West Flagler Street, with more than a 100 classic and antique cars on display. Images of a roadtrip in a '62 Austin Healy on a lone freeway, roof folded back, gloved hands steering and the radio blaring crossed my mind .

The Show featured automobile designs that predated 1979 and the members of the Miami Vintage Automobile Club were not shy to strut their shiny stuff on the sidewalk.
Sarah fell in love with a small Mini Cooper, dating back from the sixties. After careful consideration we decided not to purchase it, simply for its sheer lack of trunk-space!
Chev's, Ford's, Mustang's, every Corgi miniature car I played with as a child, was present.

The British flag was flying too with some vintage Rolls' Royces, Astin Martin's, Mini's and a 1952 Jaguar XK120 - the same model that won the 24h Le Mans Endurance Race in France from 1951-1954.

I just about gawked at these classy, elegant old cars. Whatever we did the rest of the day was surpassed by these beautiful images of yesteryear.

I Want Out!

Acting normal is dressing up in clothes you buy for work, driving through horrendous traffic in a car you are still paying for, in order to get to the job that you do to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house that you leave empty the whole day so that you can afford to live in it.
- Ellen DeGeneres

Time Out on Saturday Mornings

We're fortunate to have a beautiful lake next to our apartment. No aligators, but lots of fish, turtles, lizzards and abundant birdlife.

Here's Sarah feeding the ducks, early Saturday morning.

Miami Dialects

Living in Miami, I have encountered various dialects of the English language that I've taught Asian students years ago.
Spanglish in itself I find quite a treat, being in the process of gaining proficiency in Spanish myself. And then there's the various delicious dialects, as Latino speakers from all over Central and South America have converged upon this city.

It is the way some common English phrases have been adapted that I find amusing. For example, in Miami "Hello" has been replaced by "What's up/How 'r ye doing/What's happening?"

It has evolved into a greeting, rather than a question following a greeting. I don't suppose anyone really wants to know how I'm doing. But lately the little devil on my shoulder has been working overtime. Now, whenever I get that response, I stop and explain in lenght about me and my pet iguana's well-being.

Imagine their awkwardness. Hehehe...

Miami Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Festival

The first race of the season was quite an affair, a fanfare, a festival and FUNtastic. A great introduction for Sarah and I to this interesting new sport.
Fourty-two corporate and club teams competed for the title of Best Dragon boat team in Miami. Our Puff Dragonboat Team, the official team of the Miami Club, eventually came out as winners in the Mixed event and second in the Ladies event.
Competition was fierce and we sweated freely under the baking sun. It is a team sport where mistakes from one member certainly affects the effort of the whole boat. In the second heat we won by the lenght of a dragon's tongue, literally! I learned that exact timing and perfect tecnique is more important than power. As our ladies team showed by competing - and beating - a team of powerfully build policemen.
We have a team of great characters and interesting perso-nalities from all over the world and we both enjoy the social aspect of the sport. The next big race event is in April in Tampa.

Click on the link for some more great pics of the Brickel weekend in Miami.

The Miami Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival.

Miami International Film Festival

Sarah and I went to see three of the myriad of "art" films shown during the past week all across Miami. Films from Cuba, Sri Lank and Spain respectively. Some good, some not!

However, it was "good ol' movies, with often less than perfect actors, fun costumes, beautiful scenery, plots full of holes, but human and different, with NEW storylines.
Apart from The Constant Gardener and Munich, I haven't seen a great movie in ages. The Hollywood recipe doesn't attract us as it used to.

Don't judge a Book by it's Movie!

Champions Incredible!

The two best one-day cricket teams in the world defied the odds, gravity, a capacity crowd's expectations, various world records and their own human restrictions to blast themselves forever into the record books.
Few could have imagined scores above 350, leaving the yet untouched 400-mark out of the imaginable equation. Reading the scores on Sunday night in the smouldering aftermath of this incredible game, I had to double check two other websites to confirm in disbelief the stunning scoreboard of THE game.

Australia 434/4 after 50 overs
South Africa 438/9 after 50 overs
Wrapping up the match and the series with a win off the last ball!

What an unbelievable game in so many aspects. Kallis is surely finding himself in exile somewhere for his bouling figures, while Lewis's passport will propably be revoked.

Winning a game like that is beyond belief, unforgettable. I've heard it said that this will heal the nations scar of THAT semi-final defeat. Still, I do believe Herschelle would give three such games any day for the priviledge of holding the coveted World Cup aloft.

Let the euphoria hang until the test series start. It could be short-lived...

Dragonboat Training Intensifies

We had our final practice sessions on Sunday afternoon, with our first big race of the season fast approaching next Saturday morning. We were really pushed hard by the trainers and today I have lower backpain, sore hips, aching arms, and cramping calf muscles, to name a few! Me thinks I'd rather play rugby for the Taichung Teletubbies again.
Sarah is doing very well and listening to the compliments, she's an undiscovered rowing talent.

All in all a beautiful day in Key Biscayne. Downtown Miami and the Keys are a sight to behold. I could kick myself for not taking the camera along.

Some more info on Dragon boat racing:
Apparently it is the world's fastest growing water sport. Twenty paddlers move in unison, combining strength with teamwork in streamlined boats with elaborate designs originating in ancient China.

Saturday there'll be 42 teams lining up...

Kudos aan Kuduklub

Always something new out of Africa!

Die afgelope vier jaar reeds kyk ek en die mede-burgers slegs rugbywedstryde (internasionaal en S12/14) en krieket-toetse (raar) wat ons in Taichung kon sien. En dit by die enkele kroeg met sateliet-TV wat M-NET/Fox opvang. Wat beteken die boere moes tydens on-christe-like ure opruk om die Vader-land te onder-steun.
En die afgelope 8 mnde in Miami slegs die Curriebeker-finaal, nadat ek 55 myl ver gereis het na Florida se SA Oog in Fort Lauderdale. Uitgehonger, seg ek.

Noudat ek ingeskryf is op Kuduklub, probeer ek opmaak deur Vrydag en Saterdagnagte die direkte S14-uitsendings te verslind. Dis 'n lekkerte wat die Kaap effens nader laat voel.
Tegnologie rock.

A Visit to the Keys

Saturday was a thoroughly enjoyable day, heading South on US1 as far as we could go - to the Keys.

Once your past Homestead, and you hit the first Key, the laid-back ease of this neck of the woods hits you.
Sarah and I, together with friends Jess and James fox initially went South for a quick snorkelling expedition. However, life's all about surprises and we ended up in Key West, as close as you can get to Cuba, 90 miles away.

Key West reminds somewhat of St. Augustine, with the old historic buildings, sites and sounds. Had lunch in the famous Sloppy Joe's restaurant and stopped for Key Lime Pie.

We'll definitely be back, it's a tourism mecka and the diving, we heard, is fantastic.

Padvarke in Miami

Motorbestuurders in Miami laat my gereeld huistoe verlang.
Gister verander ek van laan, voor 'n Dodge bakkie in wat teen 70 myl/h in die 45 myl/h area wou verbyskiet. Maar die Kubaan was darem baie aangenaam en het my - vuis in die lug as vredesgebaar - toegewens om vrugbaar te wees en te gaan vermeerder. Net nie in daardie woorde nie...

Sweet !

South Africa 289/7 (50 ov) Australia 5/3 (6.2 ov)
Australia require another 285 runs with 7 wickets and 43.4 overs remaining
South Africa RR: 5.78 Australia RR: 0.79
Required RR: 6.53

And later...

South Africa 289/7 (50 ov) Australia 57/6 (25.0 ov)
Australia require another 233 runs with 4 wickets and 25.0 overs remaining
South Africa RR: 5.78 Australia RR: 2.28
Required RR: 9.32

Pic: The final result. Australia's scoreboard.

Business and Academics

I've recently enrolled for "Importing and Exporting in Florida", a short jam-packed evening course that I find particularly interesting.
It is a field that has fascinated me since my early days in Taiwan, although then mostly just as an observer. Since leaving South-East Asia Sarah and I have become more and more aware of the broad range of products and services and the huge difference in price between here and there. Keeping a foreign perspective, opportunities are everywhere..

A small window of opportunity has opened for me to potentially begin with an MBA, starting in May. This is ironic, since Sarah is the Bouwer team member seriously pushing to start working on a Masters asap. She has applied to a couple of schools and we are currently playing the waiting game. Her Florida State Teaching Certification is our first priority though and through no fault of her own, she is currently running slightly behind schedule with her paperwork.

We'll see how things pan out in the next three months. Currently she has 11 weeks of school left, after which there is a propable trip to the Ukraine for her.