TRAVELOGUE #10

When: Monday, June 19
Where: Elstei Ger Camp

Kate, Martin and little Rose came up the hill while I wrote. I talked to them about the things I had been thinking about. Kate, whom I admire a great deal, implored me to go easy on the frat boys. Perhaps I should give them some credit for taking the time to make this trip in the first place. So, okay. But then later on in the evening I find out that the boys had taken two cans of beer up a hill, the evening we arrived and left them up there!! I slipped back into surliness after hearing this. After chatting, I walked down the back of the hill alone to a stand of pine trees. The trees were very large and there was no underbrush. It was as though someone came through and mowed around the huge trunks. Here I saw an eagle getting mobbed by two smaller birds. Every time the little birds approached the raptor, it would raise its talons and grab at them. How cool is that? I got back just in time for dinner. And after dinner, we drank. The ger camp at this point was filled with new guests. I honestly don’t remember most of the conversations had, but I do recall the two white South Africans and their ugly bucktooth girlfriends. One of them sniffed when I told them I was American. He said, “What’s with the titles in your country; Asian American, African American? I’m South African period. My family’s lived there for five generations!” I replied something about how those phrases can be overused, but that I’d much rather be called an Asian American than a "chink." Martin, whose from the West Indies, seemed to be the only one to see my point.