I’ve woken up to yet another beautiful, sunny morning in South Africa. I could not be more grateful to all the people who decide that we deserve some winter sun on tour, when our English winters just seem to get darker and colder. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This is our fourth full day in South Africa, and I’m totally in love - and we haven’t even made it to the Western Cape yet, where everyone tells me that I will tie myself to a tree (or a braai) and pledge never to leave. I’m not sure I’ve ever been fed this much food before. It’s all red meat and all extremely lekker. Marathon training can start again in earnest once we’ve left Johannesburg, and I will do my best to shrink my burgeoning African food baby.
Those of you who know me will know that I love learning and understanding new languages. Being here in South Africa has brought me to a whole new level of excitement. So many languages are spoken here. The first point is that I’m absolutely sure I should be able to understand Akrikaans - although I can’t. The linguistic roots are so obviously European, and of course specifically Dutch, which in turns shares so much language with German, which I learnt as a (more-or-less) native speaker growing up. Written down, it’s not a problem to read at all. There are some quite acute differences in pronunciation, but I’m convinced I’d pick them up if I stayed here just a bit longer. What’s really piqued my interest is the variation in sounds and particularly clicks within the main African languages spoken here: Setswana; isiZulu; isiNdebele; Sepedi; Xlosa; Xitsonga; Tshivenda, just to name a few. I first came across Xlosa (for instance) when I was 13 at school and was determined I knew exactly how to do the click at the beginning of the word. I learnt yesterday that my version of that very click wasn’t even used as a sound in Xlosa. My precocious 13 year-old self needed to learn that lesson a few years earlier, but getting a bit further inside these languages is an amazing voyage of discovery.
I must do a phone interview with a national radio station now, so I’d better go. We are being so well managed, fed, and publicised on this trip, I have to feel like I’m at least contributing what little I can to the full team effort. I will also do my best not to pig out too much from this point forwards….
I’ve woken up to yet another beautiful, sunny morning in South Africa. I could not be more grateful to all the people who decide that we deserve some winter sun on tour, when our English winters just seem to get darker and colder. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This is our fourth full day in South Africa, and I’m totally in love - and we haven’t even made it to the Western Cape yet, where everyone tells me that I will tie myself to a tree (or a braai) and pledge never to leave. I’m not sure I’ve ever been fed this much food before. It’s all red meat and all extremely lekker. Marathon training can start again in earnest once we’ve left Johannesburg, and I will do my best to shrink my burgeoning African food baby.
Those of you who know me will know that I love learning and understanding new languages. Being here in South Africa has brought me to a whole new level of excitement. So many languages are spoken here. The first point is that I’m absolutely sure I should be able to understand Akrikaans - although I can’t. The linguistic roots are so obviously European, and of course specifically Dutch, which in turns shares so much language with German, which I learnt as a (more-or-less) native speaker growing up. Written down, it’s not a problem to read at all. There are some quite acute differences in pronunciation, but I’m convinced I’d pick them up if I stayed here just a bit longer. What’s really piqued my interest is the variation in sounds and particularly clicks within the main African languages spoken here: Setswana; isiZulu; isiNdebele; Sepedi; Xlosa; Xitsonga; Tshivenda, just to name a few. I first came across Xlosa (for instance) when I was 13 at school and was determined I knew exactly how to do the click at the beginning of the word. I learnt yesterday that my version of that very click wasn’t even used as a sound in Xlosa. My precocious 13 year-old self needed to learn that lesson a few years earlier, but getting a bit further inside these languages is an amazing voyage of discovery.
I must do a phone interview with a national radio station now, so I’d better go. We are being so well managed, fed, and publicised on this trip, I have to feel like I’m at least contributing what little I can to the full team effort. I will also do my best not to pig out too much from this point forwards….
I’ve woken up to yet another beautiful, sunny morning in South Africa. I could not be more grateful to all the people who decide that we deserve some winter sun on tour, when our English winters just seem to get darker and colder. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This is our fourth full day in South Africa, and I’m totally in love - and we haven’t even made it to the Western Cape yet, where everyone tells me that I will tie myself to a tree (or a braai) and pledge never to leave. I’m not sure I’ve ever been fed this much food before. It’s all red meat and all extremely lekker. Marathon training can start again in earnest once we’ve left Johannesburg, and I will do my best to shrink my burgeoning African food baby.
Those of you who know me will know that I love learning and understanding new languages. Being here in South Africa has brought me to a whole new level of excitement. So many languages are spoken here. The first point is that I’m absolutely sure I should be able to understand Akrikaans - although I can’t. The linguistic roots are so obviously European, and of course specifically Dutch, which in turns shares so much language with German, which I learnt as a (more-or-less) native speaker growing up. Written down, it’s not a problem to read at all. There are some quite acute differences in pronunciation, but I’m convinced I’d pick them up if I stayed here just a bit longer. What’s really piqued my interest is the variation in sounds and particularly clicks within the main African languages spoken here: Setswana; isiZulu; isiNdebele; Sepedi; Xlosa; Xitsonga; Tshivenda, just to name a few. I first came across Xlosa (for instance) when I was 13 at school and was determined I knew exactly how to do the click at the beginning of the word. I learnt yesterday that my version of that very click wasn’t even used as a sound in Xlosa. My precocious 13 year-old self needed to learn that lesson a few years earlier, but getting a bit further inside these languages is an amazing voyage of discovery.
I must do a phone interview with a national radio station now, so I’d better go. We are being so well managed, fed, and publicised on this trip, I have to feel like I’m at least contributing what little I can to the full team effort. I will also do my best not to pig out too much from this point forwards….
I’ve woken up to yet another beautiful, sunny morning in South Africa. I could not be more grateful to all the people who decide that we deserve some winter sun on tour, when our English winters just seem to get darker and colder. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This is our fourth full day in South Africa, and I’m totally in love - and we haven’t even made it to the Western Cape yet, where everyone tells me that I will tie myself to a tree (or a braai) and pledge never to leave. I’m not sure I’ve ever been fed this much food before. It’s all red meat and all extremely lekker. Marathon training can start again in earnest once we’ve left Johannesburg, and I will do my best to shrink my burgeoning African food baby.
Those of you who know me will know that I love learning and understanding new languages. Being here in South Africa has brought me to a whole new level of excitement. So many languages are spoken here. The first point is that I’m absolutely sure I should be able to understand Akrikaans - although I can’t. The linguistic roots are so obviously European, and of course specifically Dutch, which in turns shares so much language with German, which I learnt as a (more-or-less) native speaker growing up. Written down, it’s not a problem to read at all. There are some quite acute differences in pronunciation, but I’m convinced I’d pick them up if I stayed here just a bit longer. What’s really piqued my interest is the variation in sounds and particularly clicks within the main African languages spoken here: Setswana; isiZulu; isiNdebele; Sepedi; Xlosa; Xitsonga; Tshivenda, just to name a few. I first came across Xlosa (for instance) when I was 13 at school and was determined I knew exactly how to do the click at the beginning of the word. I learnt yesterday that my version of that very click wasn’t even used as a sound in Xlosa. My precocious 13 year-old self needed to learn that lesson a few years earlier, but getting a bit further inside these languages is an amazing voyage of discovery.
I must do a phone interview with a national radio station now, so I’d better go. We are being so well managed, fed, and publicised on this trip, I have to feel like I’m at least contributing what little I can to the full team effort. I will also do my best not to pig out too much from this point forwards….
I’ve woken up to yet another beautiful, sunny morning in South Africa. I could not be more grateful to all the people who decide that we deserve some winter sun on tour, when our English winters just seem to get darker and colder. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This is our fourth full day in South Africa, and I’m totally in love - and we haven’t even made it to the Western Cape yet, where everyone tells me that I will tie myself to a tree (or a braai) and pledge never to leave. I’m not sure I’ve ever been fed this much food before. It’s all red meat and all extremely lekker. Marathon training can start again in earnest once we’ve left Johannesburg, and I will do my best to shrink my burgeoning African food baby.
Those of you who know me will know that I love learning and understanding new languages. Being here in South Africa has brought me to a whole new level of excitement. So many languages are spoken here. The first point is that I’m absolutely sure I should be able to understand Akrikaans - although I can’t. The linguistic roots are so obviously European, and of course specifically Dutch, which in turns shares so much language with German, which I learnt as a (more-or-less) native speaker growing up. Written down, it’s not a problem to read at all. There are some quite acute differences in pronunciation, but I’m convinced I’d pick them up if I stayed here just a bit longer. What’s really piqued my interest is the variation in sounds and particularly clicks within the main African languages spoken here: Setswana; isiZulu; isiNdebele; Sepedi; Xlosa; Xitsonga; Tshivenda, just to name a few. I first came across Xlosa (for instance) when I was 13 at school and was determined I knew exactly how to do the click at the beginning of the word. I learnt yesterday that my version of that very click wasn’t even used as a sound in Xlosa. My precocious 13 year-old self needed to learn that lesson a few years earlier, but getting a bit further inside these languages is an amazing voyage of discovery.
I must do a phone interview with a national radio station now, so I’d better go. We are being so well managed, fed, and publicised on this trip, I have to feel like I’m at least contributing what little I can to the full team effort. I will also do my best not to pig out too much from this point forwards….
I’ve woken up to yet another beautiful, sunny morning in South Africa. I could not be more grateful to all the people who decide that we deserve some winter sun on tour, when our English winters just seem to get darker and colder. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This is our fourth full day in South Africa, and I’m totally in love - and we haven’t even made it to the Western Cape yet, where everyone tells me that I will tie myself to a tree (or a braai) and pledge never to leave. I’m not sure I’ve ever been fed this much food before. It’s all red meat and all extremely lekker. Marathon training can start again in earnest once we’ve left Johannesburg, and I will do my best to shrink my burgeoning African food baby.
Those of you who know me will know that I love learning and understanding new languages. Being here in South Africa has brought me to a whole new level of excitement. So many languages are spoken here. The first point is that I’m absolutely sure I should be able to understand Akrikaans - although I can’t. The linguistic roots are so obviously European, and of course specifically Dutch, which in turns shares so much language with German, which I learnt as a (more-or-less) native speaker growing up. Written down, it’s not a problem to read at all. There are some quite acute differences in pronunciation, but I’m convinced I’d pick them up if I stayed here just a bit longer. What’s really piqued my interest is the variation in sounds and particularly clicks within the main African languages spoken here: Setswana; isiZulu; isiNdebele; Sepedi; Xlosa; Xitsonga; Tshivenda, just to name a few. I first came across Xlosa (for instance) when I was 13 at school and was determined I knew exactly how to do the click at the beginning of the word. I learnt yesterday that my version of that very click wasn’t even used as a sound in Xlosa. My precocious 13 year-old self needed to learn that lesson a few years earlier, but getting a bit further inside these languages is an amazing voyage of discovery.
I must do a phone interview with a national radio station now, so I’d better go. We are being so well managed, fed, and publicised on this trip, I have to feel like I’m at least contributing what little I can to the full team effort. I will also do my best not to pig out too much from this point forwards….
I’ve woken up to yet another beautiful, sunny morning in South Africa. I could not be more grateful to all the people who decide that we deserve some winter sun on tour, when our English winters just seem to get darker and colder. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This is our fourth full day in South Africa, and I’m totally in love - and we haven’t even made it to the Western Cape yet, where everyone tells me that I will tie myself to a tree (or a braai) and pledge never to leave. I’m not sure I’ve ever been fed this much food before. It’s all red meat and all extremely lekker. Marathon training can start again in earnest once we’ve left Johannesburg, and I will do my best to shrink my burgeoning African food baby.
Those of you who know me will know that I love learning and understanding new languages. Being here in South Africa has brought me to a whole new level of excitement. So many languages are spoken here. The first point is that I’m absolutely sure I should be able to understand Akrikaans - although I can’t. The linguistic roots are so obviously European, and of course specifically Dutch, which in turns shares so much language with German, which I learnt as a (more-or-less) native speaker growing up. Written down, it’s not a problem to read at all. There are some quite acute differences in pronunciation, but I’m convinced I’d pick them up if I stayed here just a bit longer. What’s really piqued my interest is the variation in sounds and particularly clicks within the main African languages spoken here: Setswana; isiZulu; isiNdebele; Sepedi; Xlosa; Xitsonga; Tshivenda, just to name a few. I first came across Xlosa (for instance) when I was 13 at school and was determined I knew exactly how to do the click at the beginning of the word. I learnt yesterday that my version of that very click wasn’t even used as a sound in Xlosa. My precocious 13 year-old self needed to learn that lesson a few years earlier, but getting a bit further inside these languages is an amazing voyage of discovery.
I must do a phone interview with a national radio station now, so I’d better go. We are being so well managed, fed, and publicised on this trip, I have to feel like I’m at least contributing what little I can to the full team effort. I will also do my best not to pig out too much from this point forwards….
