400 days left.

Everyone is talking about it… almost everyone is coming to see it. The 2010 Soccer World Cup hosted by South Africa is causing a serious headache for the Cape Town accommodation industry. How on earth are we going to house all of these foreign (and some local) people, and how are we going to do it in an ecologically friendly manner? That’s the question on the lips of most businesses around the city, but not to worry! Many hotels are being refitted with ‘green’ technology, and more are being built to eco-friendly specifications as we speak!

The first five-star ‘green’ hotel in South Africa, the Blaauwberg Beach Hotel, is located right on the beach in Blouberg, with fantastic views over the bay and the city in the distance. For any environmentally-conscious traveller, this Cape Town accommodation is perfect for a guilt-free stay. The lavish 14-story hotel has 187 rooms and is environmentally conscious. Materials used in the construction of the hotel are eco-friendly such as eco sensitive electrical generators with solar panel appliances. The windows are made from recycled glass and, being tinted, reduce heat and glare to cut down on air-conditioning needs.

Solar heaters, low flow taps and shower heads combine to make water wastage a thing of the past, while energy efficient light fittings aid the hotel’s reducing carbon footprint. The basic heating system is derived from solar power, with a backup generator.

The décor in the luxury rooms are made from recycled material, but still have a unique sense of class. Additionally, all soaps and detergents used when cleaning the rooms are biodegradable, maintaining the eco-friendly brief that this hotel was built for. The carpeting and linen at the hotel is made from 100% natural fibres and the restaurant serves pure organic food.

It is true that for too long the environment has taken a backseat in favour of capital and construction, but hopefully with more and more hotels being built to the eco-friendly brief as in the Blaauwberg Beach Hotel, Cape Town accommodation has only one colour in mind – green.

Down here in Cape Town, it seems that the infamous February heat is here to stay. It is this time of the year that I give up on pretending that being female means you that don’t sweat. Not the best time for a Cape Town tour. You want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? We delicate little creatures, we well-brought up ladies, we do sweat, a LOT.

Which is why leaving the house on a day when the mercury is set to rise to 42 degrees centigrade is not at the top of my list of priorities. There are only a few select reasons why I would even think of crossing the threshold on a day like this – natural disasters, an inviting swimming pool and family members in mortal peril number amongst these; as does registering to vote in the upcoming election.

I had foolishly left my registration for (possibly) the hottest day of the year. Not going was obviously not an option, so I was forced to get up from in front of my industrial strength fan and make my way down to the relevant registration station with the rest of the fools that didn’t yet have that reassuring little bar-coded sticker on the inside of their green identity documents.

I believe in giving credit where it is due and I have to applaud the Electoral Commission for making registration as easy and painless as it was. No queues, no unnecessary paperwork – just polite efficiency. (Granted, when I got outside my car had been decorated with a few COPE stickers but since these came off with relatively little effort I wasn’t too upset.) So now I am officially registered to vote in the upcoming election, which gives me the full right to criticize any halfwit decisions our government may make in the next four years.

Those of you who didn’t register, however, won’t have that luxury. You will have to sit quietly in your little corner keeping mum about corruption, mismanagement and general apathy at the hands of our future leaders. The only way that we will ever get our beautiful country to function to its full potential is to get involved, and registering to vote is the first little baby step in the right direction (even if you run the risk of getting vicarious sunburn just by heading out the door).

The time has come to stop moaning and get actively involved. Stand up and be counted – if we don’t care enough to make this country work, why should anyone else bother?

As I’m sure you have all heard by now, our president was fired and replaced in a 48-hour whirlwind of idiocy, to be replaced by some puppet called Kgalema Motlanthe. From a foreigners point of view, one can only laugh at our situation. I would cry if I could muster even a dry tear for this broken government. Maybe, just maybe this is the shock we need to create a real first-world society, one unburdened by years of foolish apartheid-era decisions. Or Maybe this is how the end begins.

It’s Saturday and the streets are buzzing, liquor stores are coining it while proud Capetonians walk around with Stormers jerseys.

The Vodacom Super 14 has taken Cape Town by storm and rugby enthusiasts are walking around with adrenalin sizzling in their veins. With people from all over living in Cape Town and its surrounds- there’s support for rugby teams from all over.

The Vodacom Super 14 hosts three countries – South Africa, New Zealand and Australia- facing each other. This rugby ‘tournament’ is known as the toughest competition in the Southern Hemisphere.

With tensions building up and the rugby stadiums getting packed with enthusiasts, proud South Africans buy tickets from Computicket, Sport shops make money by selling support t-shirts at R600 a pop, while young and old wait in anticipation for each Saturday.

Some don’t understand the fuzz while others cant wait for the season to end, so they can regain control of the remotes and diets with less local lekker braai’s.

Rugby is an international sport with millions of supporters. The love is inborn and passed down from father to sun, mother to daughter.

Heartache is felt, pride gets hurt and fans from all over feel the pain as each knock hit their favorite team.

We have reached semi-final levels and sadly, there is only one South African team in the semi-finals.

After a tough match my boyfriend tells me I don’t feel the pain he is feeling. It’s a sad statement since I have witnessed every test of our team, screamed with, boo’ed with and cried with.

How do you classify the pain as your team just-just miss the semi-finals with a few points? It’s sad and we are all mad, but I know we don’t even feel a fraction of what our team’s members feel.

We pick up the pieces, sip on a bit more alcohol in hopes that we will forget.

Each person takes the defeat differently. I carry on, since after all, it’s a sport and we will get our chance next year again. He is still down in the dumps, sad and hurt because his childhood team has not made it.

How do we define the pain? I don’t know. Each to his own, we learn to deal with it and carry on.

Good luck to the rest- and VIVA for the one South African team that has made it to the semi-finals.

All we can now hope for is that our South African team makes it to the finals. We wait in anticipation as our support carries on for another few weeks.

While the live band may not consist of household names, their excellent renditions of golden oldies from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s were performed with class and energy this past Saturday night. The temperatures soared to the high-30s on the day and the South Easter which had been fanning veld-fires across the Peninsular for the past 2 weeks dropped, creating a balmy evening on the soft sandy beach.

Young and old, black and white, locals and foreigners all congregated en masse from late afternoon to find themselves a space on the sand, enjoy a sunset picnic and cool off in the icy water. Meanwhile, the band got themselves together and ran through a few practice numbers, giving a melodic hint of what was to follow.

The yachts and catamarans of a local marine club dropped anchor in the bay, creating an off-shore event of their own as their lights reflected on the darkening waves below and echoed the emerging stars above.

The event, sponsored by BP Garages, is in aid of the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI). One of their helicopters did a fly-by before the entertainment kicked off at 18h00, with the crowd standing to salute the work of the men and women who save numerous lives in Cape Town each year.

The MC for the night, Aiden Thomas, introduced a marimba band to start the night’s entertainment. The group warmed up the crowds with some traditional African tunes before the main band got many dancing on the sand under the stars with hit after hit, beautifully performed and accompanied by stringed, wind, brass and percussion instruments.

The spectacular sunset stole the crowd’s attention for a few breath-taking minutes, then candles and glow sticks (sold by the NSRI) took on the job of lighting up the relaxed revelers. As no alcohol was allowed, the event was extremely mellow, with no unpleasant incidents to mar the family-friendly fun.

The night drew to a close on schedule at 20h30. We left the beach with happy memories, vowing to return to next year’s Moonstruck.

For a relaxed, free evening with fantastic music and a great Cape Town vibe, look out for Moonstruck 2009 which will be, as always, in the month of February, a perfect way to get into the mood for Valentine’s Day.

Sudan, Uganda and the Congo have the dubious honour of being the top three on this tragic list. Reasons such as ongoing wars and resultant death, disease and displacement to the millions of inhabitants were touted as reasons for their nominations.

The poll, carried out by Reuters AlertNet, released its findings on Tuesday, where-in approximately 50% of participants named Sudan, and specifically the western region of Darfur.

Well over a million children in the area are affected, and many of these are recruited to take up arms in the on-going conflicts. These children are especially vulnerable to disease and malnutrition.

Hollywood actor Mia Farrow visited the region last month. She said: “Everyone has lost family, seen villages burn, seen relatives raped, been raped.”

Still struggling to recover from a 21-year long civil war, Sudan faces ongoing violence, poverty and a lack of basic services.

With Uganda and the Congo hot on the heels of Sudan in the poll results, other countries named include Iraq, Somalia, India, the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Myanmar. But the top three were by far in the lead.

The children of these countries are seen as the main victims, with malnourishment, child recruitment into the ‘armies’, and resultant physical and psychological trauma named as the biggest negative effects on these innocent lives.

The 56-year-old man, Mo Xiaoxin, got a bit carried away when attempting to convey to his shocked students the ‘power’ of the human body. In order to demonstrate his point, Mo, who was reportedly ‘emotionally excited’ at the time, undid his belt and removed his pants, then stood naked in the middle of the lecture hall.

Many of the students were uncomfortable with this unexpected display, and were uncertain how to respond or where to look.

Mo also organised four other models – two elderly and two younger people, of both sexes, to strip as part of his lecture which was aimed at challenging certain taboos. The lecture was in the context of a course held at the cutting edge ‘Human Body Art and Culture’ research institute – the first of its kind in China.

The professor took things even further by extending an invitation to the students and teachers present to remove their clothes too.

Tian Junting, the cultural minister in question, said “There are no taboos in the field of research, but to do this directly in the course of teaching is obviously not appropriate”.

He added that the course was still in a “research phase” and said it is unclear at this stage whether it had produced “positive or negative effects”.