Turn your lights down low

“Turn your lights down low
And pull your window curtains;
Oh, let the moon come shining in -
Into our life again” – B.M.

South Africa is a country that has greatly developed itself since the end of the apartheid, and sometimes too quickly. One example of that would be the lack of power supply resources available in Johannesburg. From time to time – once a week on average – there are power outages. It happened yesterday and the day before, from 19h30 to 21h30 right at the time when we go to the gym and to the restaurant. It happens also during the day, so people just sit there waiting in front of their silent computers while the heat starts to sneak in (no air con).
It’s amusing at first then it becomes really irritating, like a mild sickness.

Birthday Boy

Last week was my birthday.

Last year, my colleagues had forgotten to wish me a happy one. I had reminded them numerous times how unfriendly they were of not having given me a birthday card.

That’s what I got this year.

Note that Michael sent this to me, he is 26 and in theory mentally fully functional.

Soweto by Night

Another two-day weekend coming up. Jolly, Jolly. Let’s go see the world out there. Wanna come to Soweto this weekend, they asked with a heavy French accent. We hopped in the car and off we went to spend the weekend in the heart of the infamous beast (SOuth Western Township – wikipedia).

We arriveed there at night, the cars rolling slowly in the empty and dusty streets.

Grand-Pa, a remedy for hangovers

On Thursday, at lunch a colleague complains about his hangover, following the birthday diner of my roommate. A South African girl at the table hands him a small rectangular piece of paper folded in an unusual way. Inside lays a white powder. Grand-Pa is a remedy against hangovers, it tastes apparently bad, and is hard to swallow (you are supposed to put the powder in your mouth directly without drinking or mixing it).

On hour later, I meet the co-worker again and he tells me the hangover is gone, but that it has side effects. He shows me on his left cheek a large red pimple, 1cm wide and 3mm thick.

Run Cheetah, Run

Already? Two weeks have passed and I haven’t set foot outside Jo’burg yet. On Friday I get the opportunity to visit a Cheetah park (De Wilt Cheetah & Wild life trust) the following Sunday.

At half past three Sunday morning we leave the club and head back home for an early rise at 6.30. At 8.30am we arrive in Pretoria, driving through green hills scarred by red land underneath a blue sky. It is the first time I see the countryside. It is breathtaking and overwhelming, despite the tiredness.

The cheetah park was nice, although we were expecting a wild park rather than a zoo with very big cages; nevertheless it was a good tour. We drove through some of the enclosed spaces. We saw cheetahs, hyenas, wild dogs, wild cats, Charcoals, honey badgers, vultures, impalas, ostriches and some other creatures that I can’t remember.

I can’t wait to go in a real park.

Band of Brothers – The “we”

Who’s that “we”, I was asked several times. When I arrived here I was put in a B&B. Staying there at the same time was another VIE – Jerome – who had arrived a couple of weeks earlier. We had to share the car, and as the only two VIE still looking for accommodation it was only logical to look four our housing together.
I would like to make a point here that even though we he seemed fun, I didn’t know him much and did not have the choice. So from one day to the other, we started to hang around together 24/7 – apart from sleep. From 6.30 am breakfast to 12pm bedtime we wandered, again, not by choice but by necessity: no car means staying put, so if you want to do something you have to share the car and all that goes with it – party, friends, sport, shopping etc..
I am lucky that he is a fun guy otherwise I would really be looking forward to come back by now.

Digging my grave

A few things have happened since my last post.

I went to the gym on Thursday, to the Virgin Active one, which is a little expensive knowing that you can’t register for less than a year…. So Friday my body was all pain, again.  On Thursday we also went to have a drink in Melville, further away from the city, in a nice neighborhood where you can walk around the streets, and where black and whites meets and mixes to the sound of the beat and tinting glasses.

At night I went to have diner at Sandton, then we headed to a (swimming) pool party at some expatriate’s birthday. Three expatriates can rent nice a house around here. Hard to describe – no pictures – but imagine a large villa, with a parking on both side of the land that can accommodate roughly ten cars. A large pool surrounded by fifteen-meter high palm trees, a large garden, several sitting rooms, living rooms bedrooms. Large clear modern spaces like LA villas. It was fun, but I had some hard time getting to know people there as I knew only a little few and the others were busy partying.

Hot Wheels

I have been here less than a week and it seems like a month. Not that I do a lot of things, but the rhythm of life is quite intense and I am not used to it. I wake up at 6:30am, at my desk before 8, I leave after 6:30pm. Go home, rest for half an hour, have diner at 8pm, then hang around for an hour or two, and back to bed.
It seems a little strict, but this is mainly because Nancy, the B&B host cooks for us at 8:00 every day. When we have our house, thing will be easier.

Fun facts about South Africa and my first week:

• Sun is up at 4:30 and sets at 18:30 in summer.
• Food is good and very similar to Europe – although maybe it’s only Nancy’s food
• Somebody in the office is watching websites with porn adds at lunch break and after 17:00, but the fun thing is that he is sitting with his screen facing the only entrance to the entire floor!
• We got a new car (to share for two) and it is massive. The footstep is knee high!
• The girlfriend of another VIE said I looked like Ben Affleck.
• I went to a first diner party, to celebrate one of the managers’ birthday yesterday. Fine but fun.
• I took R2500 ( 250€ ) and it gave me only R100 and R50 bills, so I had a 3cm thick pile of bleu and red bills.

First day at school, it was a Saturday

I wake up at 8 on Saturday, the sun is up and shinning, and the air is already warm. During breakfast I meet another VIE, we have a chat and I get the big picture. He tells me he is leaving after work for Soweto to run a semi marathon with other VIEs who talked him into it.
At half passed ten someone from works comes to drive me to the office. I found out that we work every other Saturday. Why do I found out know? That’s what I love about HR people. In the office there is nobody from my team or from HR to welcome me, so I start reading 400 pages of docs.
At lunch we go get a pizza, one our way there I see my first SA (South African) shantytown. On the way back I see my first SA Lamborghini…
After work I come back to my B&B, have a chat with the landlord’s stepfather, then to another expatriate Frenchman who doesn’t speech English. He is speechless. He cannot speech English. It’s a nice place to stay, I really feel like staying at some friend’s friend’s house (especially as I don’t pay) so I really feel like I should help and disturb them as little as I can. They invited me to come to their little girl’s communion the following day.

On Sunday, I went to the afternoon party in the garden, around the pool, talked to a few South Africans, all from different backgrounds, and talked to my first Diamond Dealer who has been working in all these diamond countries like Sierra Leon etc. It was an interesting experience.

Life here is quite different from in Europe, for reasons that are inherent to the history of the country.

Here we go

After months and weeks of preparation and anticipation, the time has come for me to move to my new life in Johannesburg.
Thursday first of November, my parents drive me to the airport at 5pm. I check in, have a last drink with them, wait a bit and then I go through customs, and wave back at them as if there was a possibility I could never come back.