# 1

Tussen die dun takke van die seringboom
Hier vlak by die agterdeur
Hang die gestalte van die maan
Vasgehak soos 'n flenter hemp op die doringdraad van die wind.

Wie gaan hom vrylaat?
Wie gaan hom van sy nagtelike spinnerak ontrafel?

Is dit jy, Katryne van die dertig dae,
Die dertig dae wat ek jou geken het?

Daar le 'n verhaal kaal en vaag op die bodem van die maan
Bedek met woorde wat soos bitterbessies
Op die tong weerklink

O Katryne!
O vrou van die dertig dae,
Die dertig dae wat ek jou geken het,
Se my nou waar bly die woorde van jou finale naam se verhaal.

Ek wag soos die gestalte van die maan
Vasgehak in die seringboom se takke.
Kom Katryne!
Kom skryf die letters van jou naam
Groter as herinnering oor die bladsy van die maan.

A poem by Kobus Moolman written as an ode to Katryne Swiers, the housekeeper of Glenda and Norman Swart in the hamlet of Nieu Bethesda in the Eastern Cape.

I have two reasons for calling my stories about my travels with my friend Peter Bunde "Sixty Days"

Firstly - our travels lasted twice as many days and Peter filled my life with memories created over those wonderful sixty days...

Secondly - Kobus Moolman wrote the ode to Katryne while staying in my dear friend Glenda?ome in the small hamlet of Nieu Bethesda. Peter and I spent a delightful couple of hours there before travelling further to George where we visited Glenda.

For the benefit of my English speaking friends I will try my best to translate the poem but I am afraid I may not have the ability to truly relate the play of words like Kobus so expertly did in Afrikaans.

Between the branches of the Seringa tree
Close by the back door,
The image of the moon hangs
Like a torn shirt on the barbed wire of the wind.

Who will set him free?
Who will entangle him from his nocturnal spider?eb?
Is it you, Katryne of the thirty days,
The thirty days that I have known you?

There lies a tale naked and dim on the bottom of the moon
Covered with words that reverberate
Like bitter berries on the tongue.

Oh Katryne!
Oh woman of the thirty days,
The thirty days that I have known you,
Tell me now where the words lie that tells the story of your final name..

I wait like the image of the moon
Hooked in the branches of the Seringa tree.
Come Katryne!
Come and write the letters of your name
Larger than memory on the page of the moon.

On Valentines Day 2002 I arrived at the Johannesburg International Airport spot on time to meet my friend Peter Bunde for the first time. The plane was due to land any minute to bring Peter to me after many months of e-mails and Internet chats. The neon sign blinked to show that passengers were already disembarking and my excitement grew as I wondered how easy it was going to be to identify him amongst the passengers that were already walking through the doors at the arrivals terminal.

Fifteen minutes passed...no Peter...
Another ten minutes...no Peter.

He said he would wear blue denim pants and a black sleeveless jacket over a blue shirt...

Another ten minutes - a man with a black sleeveless jacket, blue shirt and denim pants walked through the doors but his face did not match my small photo of Peter. I approach this stranger as he walks past me mouthing anxiously: "Are you Peter?" only to see him shaking his head indicating that he is for sure NOT Peter!

Shucks! The flow of people dwindled to nothing and the neon sign indicating the arrival of BA Flight 55 disappears from the little TV screen. The screen started flashing again to show the landing of a flight from Paris France. Another bunch of people start streaming through the doors, getting wrapped in hugs and smiles from relatives and friends welcoming them. Their luggage tags reading: "Air France"...Still no Peter...

He must have missed the connecting flight at Heathrow...The TV screen comes to life again indicating the arrival of the next flight from London. So off I walked to the information desk hoping to find out whether he actually was on the plane or not. Bad news from the friendly lady at the information desk: "Sorry madam we don't give any information about passengers. He may be on the next flight from London".

So I started walking back slowly in utter distress imagining him frantically trying to get on to another plane at Heathrow..and then...

A man in denim pants with a blue shirt and black sleeveless vest dropped his luggage and covered me up in a first, real, tight hug! Saying: "I recognised you wearing the pink Minnesota T shirt from the photo!"

What a relief! Suddenly there was no time to feel uncomfortable and I found no lack of words to demand and explanation from him for taking so long to arrive. Later on I would get used to Peter almost never being in any hurry...To this day I am sure that he even started investigating everything he saw before he walked out through the doors in the arrivals terminal but - it was time to go home to Pretoria to allow him to settle in and see how quickly we could rid him of the jet lag after a journey that lasted almost two days.

The first thing we confirmed after getting in the car was that we could NOT communicate while I was driving. So it was a more or less silent trip back to Pretoria with Peter being uncomfortable with me driving on the left side of the road. Before reaching home I stopped at the Post Office to mail some Rooibos tea to some of my Buddies in America and to buy fruit. It was a pleasure observing how he delighted in discovering some mangoes and other tropical fruits telling me about eating mangoes at the time that he worked in the Philippines for the American Peace Corps. Soon after getting home I had the first demonstration of how Filipino people go about eating mangoes, but that's another story that will follow later.

Needless to say - the first part of our conversation was about comparing our respective hearing losses and abilities to understand speech, discussing babbleboxes and what not! Our first important task was to get hold of a transformer to allow Peter to recharge his CI batteries in South Africa. We went to the electrical store owned by Barbara's husband, Tony, who supplied the necessary goodies pronto.

After that was taken care of we made a quick detour to the local library to get hold of more travel books on South Africa to fill in the details of some trips that we intended doing over the next two months.

To celebrate the day I got a nice Valentines card, I delighted in receiving Barbara Kingsolver's book "The Poisonwood Bible" and had fun handing him a "South African 'Big Five' T-shirt to try on. I had no doubt in my mind that the next 59 days would be fun-filled!!