Trip to Cape Town: Day 6 (Thur, Feb 25)

Last day in Cape Town. The tentative plan was to try and hike up to the top of Table Mountain. Since our flight was at 3:50 pm, so we figured that we needed to leave around 7:00 am to walk up and down and get back in time to head to the airport and return the retnal cars. After some discussion, we decided that that was too early to get up, so we got together at 9:30 am and rode up the cabel car instead. The picture on the right is looking up to the top of the cable car and you can see that the clouds were rolling in from the back side of Table Mountain, so when we got up there, we could see too much. Here are some pictures of Cape Town from bottom of cable car.

I did take this cool video of the clouds rolling in. I sped up the video to make it go by a little faster.


And here is a video of a snake that we saw sitting on a rock on top of Table Mountain. He is not happy that we were watching him.


After heading back down, I got washed up and headed to the airport. The trip home was uneventful, but extremely long. Got to watch four movies on the way home (The Informant, 9, Duplicity, State of Play) and tried to sleep as much as possible. Happy to be home. Now we wait to hear back from UCT.

Trip to Cape Town: Day 5 (Wed, Feb 24)

My third full day in Cape Town started with another amazing breakfast (I skipped the run because my legs can't currently handle running on three consecutive days). After breakfast, I headed up to the UCT campus to use the internet and try to upload some pictures and videos. Turns out the campus internet is difficult to connect to and incredibly slow, so that did not work out so well.

The plan for the day was to tour iThemba LABS, the national cyclotron facility about 15 miles north on Cape Town. At 10:45, I headed down to meet Rudolph, one of the Physics lecturers, at teatime. After an interesting discussion about health care policies with some of the Physics faculty and students over tea and coffee, we headed out to iThemba. After a 20-25 minute drive, we arrived, stopped at the gate to get our passes and drove around this large building (picture above). The other thing that I noticed was the wildlife inside the compound. There were birds, gazelles (picture left, new movie studio in background) and even zebra just wandering around the buildings. Rudolph tells me that the animals are there to reassure the public that radiation is safe.

iThemba LABS (Laboratory for Accelerator-Based Sciences) has two basic operations and is split into two halves, a medical radiation half and Physics research half. The director of the medical radiation portion was going to be my tour guide for the day, but there was some problem with his son, so he was not able to come. Instead, Rudolph showed around until one of the Medical Physicists was able to take over. There is a hospital wing where patients could stay if necessary, a CT scanner to image the patients and find the tumors, a proton treatment room and a neutron treatment room. There was a patient undergoing neutron treatment while we were there. The facility was impressive, but clearly set up more for research than for clinical aesthetics. There was also an effort to build another proton treatment room, but had stalled due to a lack of funding.

Over lunch (toasted tomato and cheese sandwich), I found out that they were looking for a research Physicist with Monte Carlo experience (right up my alley minus the teaching). In the afternoon, we headed back to campus, but Rudolph wanted to show me another area university, where he used to teach, the University of the Western Cape. It also gave me a chance to see some of the area outside of the city of Cape Town. The drive made me feel like I was back in the Africa that I knew. Trash blowing across the road, "buses" stopping in the middle of the road to pick people up, dirt roads running through neighborhoods and barely-standing make-shift buildings. It was a reminder of the history of South Africa with apartheid. The racial barriers may be gone, but there is a still a clear 1st world feel to Cape Town contrasted by the 3rd feel of the surrounding areas. We arrived back at the UCT campus in time for tea. I ran into Will and we decided to head up to Table Mountain on our last day in Cape Town. More on that tomorrow.

Trip to Cape Town: Day 4 (Tues, Feb 23)

My post yesterday was a bit long, so I will try to keep it shorter today, so here is a quick video update with words to follow.



Day 4 started with another run, with another amazing view, but no snakes this time. During breakfast (passion fruit was added to the fruit bowl), I did Experiencing God Day 3 from Week 6 and it really helped me to realize that I need to not focus on my discouragement from yesterday, but instead to focus on the situation from God's perspective.

After breakfast, I was able to meet with the Relocation Coordinator and get an idea of moving costs (none since UCT will pay for it), the net salary and possible housing options (UCT have furnished apartments they rent out to new faculty until they find a place to live). I decided that I should head up to the campus much earlier today. On my way up, I was able to replace some of the pictures I tried to take on Sunday. I also took this video of campus and the rugby field in front of campus.



Once I got the Physics building, I was able to talk to Andy Buffler, one of the professors on the selection committee about the job (permanent, equivalent to tenure-track) and what the expectations are (half teaching, half research), which were questions that I have had since the beginning of the process. It was certainly nice to have a chance to have those answers. I also got a chance to visit a couple lectures and see the lecture halls. After tea-time, Will, a candidate from Ohio State University give his talk.

While the selection committee prepping for the interviews (all four 30+ min interviews in a row), we went to the UCT Club for lunch and had the buffet. Not American style, but South African style, which means you only get one trip and the food was kept warm in kettle pots sitting on large hot plates. The food was very good, and I had a chance to try a South African dish, Bobotie, which a mince-meat pie with an eggy, custard topping (picture). I thought that it was very good.

I was the third of four interviews, with the entire selection committee (12 in all) sitting in the room, waiting for me. Something that was interesting was that they all stood up when I entered the room. Very impressive. I felt like the interview went well. A lot of the questions were similar to the phone interview questions. I just tried to give honest answers and be myself. I was also able to stay relative clam and not nervous, which was good. Overall, a good feeling coming out. Ultimately, I think that the Selection Committee will just have to determine they want in a candidate. I feel like all of us did a good job, but we will just have to wait and see. I was told that a decision would be reached in a week or two, so now the waiting begins.

Okay, well, that ended up being kind of long. Oh well, time for bed.

Trip to Cape Town: Day 3 (Mon, Feb 22)

Day 3 started out good. I got up around 7:15 am, but wasn't too happy about it. Still struggling to sleep all the way through the night. The 2:00 to 4:00 am window is very restless. As is my tradition, I went for a run the day of the interview, or talk in this case. I went about 2.7 miles into Rondebosch away from the UCT campus. There is a large "park" called the Rondebosch Commons. It is a essential a large grass field with some trees and trails going through it. I ran along one edge of the park and when I turned the corner, I looked back toward campus and had an amazing view of the UCT campus and Devil's Peak (Need to add a picture). As I ran back across the park, I just about stepped on a 4-ft black snake. Don't see that in Houston.

Had another amazing breakfast with fresh fruit, granola (or mueslix, as Enid calls it) with yogurt, toast and a muffin. But the best part was the inclusion of South African goose berries (picture). As you can see, they look like small yellow tomatoes, but had a sweet, tart taste. Very yummy!

After spending some time at the coffeehouse uploading pictures, I got dressed and drove up to campus for my 1:00 pm talk. After visiting the visitor center and spending nearly 20 minutes finding a parking spot, I got to the Physics building (see picture). As I looked for the room, I was tracked down by the secretary and asked me where I had been (it was 12:30pm). She asked me if I wanted to go in to hear the other talk or go upstairs. The blank look on my face must have shown my lack of understanding. She told me that another candidate was currently giving a talk. As I enter the room, two of the professors got up and said they were worried about me because they weren't sure where I was. Obviously, I was confused because I didn't know that there were any other talks on Monday or that I needed to show up much before 1pm.

After sitting down and listening to the rest of the talk, there was a short lunch break and then it was my turn. The talk went well. All of the prayer and practice certainly made the difference. There was one more talk after mine and then we were able to do a check out on the lab rooms. They pack 170 students into each lab and their lab room is two stories high. Pretty crazy! I headed home about 5:00 pm, giving Andrew a ride home. Andrew is one of the other candidates and is from Canada, but currently works at CERN in Switzerland. He also has a 1-year old, so the new baby thing is still fresh for him.

The plan was for everyone to get together for dinner later, so while I waited I turned on the TV and tuned into one of the 8 sports channels that I get in my room (I know, like a slice of heaven :). I find that the UCT Rugby team was playing on the rugby field in front of campus (see Day 4 video) on national television. Very cool. I guess it is a little like watching college basketball on ESPN. UCT Ikeys beat the TUT Vikings 22-16.

Dinner was at the V & A Waterfront, which is the renovated harbor district, and very nice. Still a fully functional harbor, but many of the docks are filled with shops and restaurants. We ate at a seafood place and I had grilled KingKlip, a South African white fish. It was very good. There were eight of us at dinner, the four candidates and four professors, and the conversation was engaging but I was getting tired towards the end since it was after 11:00 pm when we left. I gave Diana a quick call and was certainly ready for bed by midnight. Another very long day!

Overall, the day was a bit of a rollercoaster, starting with a great run, then some frustration over showing up late and the miscommunication, to delivering a good talk, and then struggling to really connect towards the end of dinner. Going to bed I was certainly discouraged and pretty sure that I was not going to get the job.

Trip to Cape Town: Day 2

I decided to upload a couple videos instead of blogging. Here is just a video update.



And here is a video taken from the Rhodes Memorial on the slopes of Devil's Peak just up from the University of Cape Town campus.



Some other things from Day 2
- Had an amazing breakfast at the guest house where I am staying. Fresh fruit, papaya juice, homemade granola, bacon and eggs, mushrooms and toast. Skipped lunch as a result
- Learned (from the Sunday paper) that Jacob Zuma, the South African president for the last year, is a polygamist and it was just announced that he has fathered his 20th child, this one out of wedlock.
- Talked politics and cultural differences with an English couple staying at the guest house
- Received my rental car, a tiny red car, check out the picture on Facebook
- Got reacquainted with driving on the left side of the road as well as driving a standard transmission
- Took some amazing pictures of the University of Cape Town campus before I realized that I forget to put the sim card back in the camera. Very disappointing!
- Practiced my talk a couple times, feeling comfortable with the delivery, although it is running a few minutes long
- Ate pizza for dinner, was remarkably good, with a slight twist (sweeter sauce and whole olives)
- Watched the India vs. South Africa 1-day cricket match. Started at noon and ended around 9:00 pm. Wow, and Diana thought that baseball games were long. India won by one point (298 - 297). And no, I did not watch the whole thing, just the end
- All in all, a good, long day. And now I am ready for bed!

Trip to Cape Town: Day 1

The first day of my trip to Cape Town was spent on the plane (shown here). Was able to get quite a bit of sleep, although it was not good sleep. The plane did have a Video on Demand system, which is like a DVR with about 50 movies on it. Very cool. I sat next to two people who had left South Africa 20+ years ago to move to the US and were on their way back to visit. I also met a guy in Johannesburg who attended the University of Cape Town and got his degree in Physics. More to come, Steve

Job Update: Interview at UCT

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the job situation. I have been invited to the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa for a job interview with the Department of Physics. I will be flying out of Houston on Friday, Feb 19th at 1:00 pm and arriving in Cape Town on Saturday, Feb 20th at 9:10 pm. My interview starts on Monday, Feb 21st with a research presentation at 1:00 pm (5:00 am CST) and continues all day on Tuesday, Feb 22nd. I will get back to Houston on Friday, Feb 26th at 12:30 pm, which will give an extra day or two to check out housing possibilities.

We are both excited about this opportunity and I am looking forward to the interview, but we would really appreciate your prayers. Unfortunately, Diana cannot go with me on the interview, but she will be with me in spirit. Please pray for safe travel and for the interview. Also pray for Diana being home alone for a week and for the continued health of our baby. And as always, pray that we will continually seek God's will through this entire process.

Travel Itinerary
Departure: Fri Feb 19th - Sat Feb 20th
IAH to ATL (DL 5876)
-> dep: 1300 - arr: 1555 / 01:00p - 02:55p CST
ATL to JNB (DL 0200)
-> dep: 1855 - arr: 1705 / 05:55p - 09:05a CST
JNB to CPT (SA 0367)
-> dep: 1900 - arr: 2110 / 11:00a - 01:10p CST

Return: Thu Feb 25th - Fri Feb 26th
CPT to JNB (BA 0201)
-> dep: 1550 - arr: 1750 / 07:50a - 11:50a CST
JNB to ATL (DL 0201)
-> dep: 2120 - arr: 0700 / 01:20p - 06:00a CST
ATL to IAH (DL 5875)
-> dep: 1104 - arr: 1230 / 10:04a - 12:30p CST

Joshua 1 (why?)