TEAM PARAMOUNT!

So, the reason I was so busy last week, hence why the posts were minimal, was that the one and only Tony was in town.  Tony is one of the Master Coaches from Grassroot Soccer and was here for the week to work with Tim and the rest of the GRS team at Mpilonhle.  Things to know about Tony:
1. He is Xhosa (pronounced Tosa, with the T actually being a click sound created on the side of your mouth, in your cheek)
2. He comes from the Cape, which is where GRS is based
3. He speaks a ridiculous amount of languages from time spent in Jo'burg, and he moves between them like nobody's business.
4. Oh, and he's awesome.

Things we did while Tony was here (good examples of what makes him awesome)
1. We watched TONS of South African soap operas, and got me thoroughly addicted to a couple, which was his plot from the beginning.  Tony would explain all the characters and subplots and drama so now I'm sufficiently able to watch and comprehend on my own.  They are awesome to watch because beyond being entertaining, they also include a lot of social commentary as most of them take place in townships and they will speak up to a dozen languages in each episode, subtitles provided of course.
2. He introduced me to an awesome comedian: Trevor Noah.  He is a Coloured South African (must do a post on the Coloured eventually, promise it's not racist) and is hilariously funny.  His material also is a pretty good representation of how things work around here, from politics to culture to how the rest of the world sees South Africa.  Here's a couple good youtube clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD3QhV2mpy8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6piqr-dOUP4
3. We had beer for dinner on Thurday night.  I actually had cider.  They have this great cider here called Savannah Dry, with the catchphrase being "It's dry, but you can drink it."
4. Thursday night was also the night we formed Team Paramount as we thoroughly dominated Tim and Andile in multiple rounds of pool (ok, maybe it was just two, but that's still multiple)

5. When the night started, we were the only people in the bar, but later on we were joined by a large group of Afrikaaners.  We mainly kept to ourselves until some of the ladies dragged Andile and I onto the dancefloor on our way back from the bathroom.  We quickly got the boys to join.  But, it wasn't suffiicient that we were dancing with the drunk Afrikaaners, not to mention we were pretty toasty ourselves, Andile had to tell them that Tony and I were a couple just to egg them on and watch their shock and surprise.  A little cruel, yes, but thoroughly entertaining.
6. To continue breaking racial barriers, Tony asked the most thoroughly drunk Afrikaaner woman to teach him how to dance like her (they were doing some rendition of the polka).  She was more than happy to oblige in her inebriated state, and, damn, Tony totally held his own (there is a video, but it's taking way too long to download on this thing, will perhaps try on facebook because it's pretty priceless).  Way to represent Team Paramount!  What what!!!
Also to note: This woman's husband was sitting at the bar watching this all go down, none too pleased, which kind of made it even more awesome.
7. Saturday night we had a party for Tony, which included:

An awesome brie!  (That's a barbecue, for all you Americans)  Mmmmm!  Doesn't that look good?!

An awesome dance party!  It's pretty much a constant dance off with these people.  Nonstop.  Unbelievable.  And the guys lead the way.  There is no hesitation or humility.  Everybody leaves everything out on the dance floor.  Just the way I like it. :)
And they dance to this awesome South African house music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC6WbhHZdtU&feature=related
This is a good example.  Black Coffee is one of the big groups here.  It's pretty addictive.

And drunk swimming!  I did not partake because, I'm not sure how well you can tell, but the water was pretty green due to an algae attack last week.  I was drunk, but not that drunk.

And the night ended with a gangster moment.  Priceless.  Team Paramount plus Andile!  Holler!

I have to give a shout out to all the people who took charge of my camera and documented that night.  I personally hate having to take pictures, so I can't tell you how much I appreciate people taking on the job for me, and not to mention doing an awesome job!

Oh, and the other white people are Peace Corps volunteers from around the area.  People try to introduce all the white kids in the area so we can have our own little support group. :)  The Peace Corps kids more use us to have a break from their lives in the village and get a nice hot shower, a decent bed to sleep in, and a little social release, which I can totally relate to, so I try and invite them along to stuff.

The next morning, we woke up at 6:30 AM, to a call from TK asking us if we were ready to leave for the airport.  Crap!!!  Tim was the one that had to drive, so it was really his problem, especially being as he felt like death.  Tony had mentioned that he was going to make me come, even if it meant carrying me from my bed to the car, but I hoped it had forgotten, especially in the rush to get ready.  But, no.  As I hear them running around, I hear Tony scream: "ROSE!!!!".  Damn it.  So I jumped in the car in my PJs, we picked up TK, and then busted our butts to Durban's King Shaka Airport, making it with time to spare thanks to Tim driving like a mad man.  We are pretty sure we got one speeding ticket on the way there (they use a manned camera system here... more on that later), and barely avoided one on the way back in our desperation to get back to our beds as quickly as possible to pass out (remind me to tell you how they pull people over here, crazy talk).

Anyways, the night, and the whole week, was definitely a success.  Tony has definitely made the ranks of coolest people ever.  Team Paramount. Can't stop, won't stop.