A glimpse into another world

Seasons Wither, Jet, 30 May 2010

The consequences of jolling at Johnny's

 This is how my weekend started:

Friday night, head off to Johnny's for an afrikaans jam with about 10 of J's mates who had already arrived.

Note 1: Johnny's is in Glencoe (a town five min outside Dundee) which us Dundonians refer to as the trailor park of Dundee

Note 2: the ATM outside the 'club' has like a garage door in front of it, preventing anyone from using it. Why? you might ask...well i settled everyone down in front of it to explain - there have been too many ATM bombings in Glencoe so they are now all closed off at night.

 

K anyway, so J had hired a taxi (like a real taxi) to fetch us and drop us off etc, James and I were in the front and were dropped off down the road to my house (the rest were going to the farm). we took about half an hour to walk the 500m, stumbling, swaying and stopping for breaks on the grass. eventually get to house, think remote doesnt open gate and go round to back door which is also locke.d then discover garage does open and off to bed we go (me in my mom's room and james in j's room) i did have a few spoonfuls of cold soup that were left from mom and gran's supper (just what you feel like after a night out)

 

next morning have many errands to run - driving farmer's bakkies, fetching millions of mattreses, decorating tent etc. anyway. i couldn't find my purse - stress! phone standard bank to see if any activity on my cards (none), get hold of taxi man (he doesn't see anything) and i keep stressing. look at home again, nothing. so big stress....it must have dropped out when we stepped out of of taxi and some delightful person has a nice new guess wallet.

 

so i cancel all my cards (please bear in mind that i have spent at least 5 hours in the last 2 weeks getting new accounts, fetching cards, going back to change limits etc). also go to police department to report wallet lost.

sadness

 

then i go home on sunday and front door locked again so i go round back (suddenly a sense of dejavu descends on me).

BOOM. a pretty guess wallet lying on the path!

The true supporter

Besides the matches, the foreigners and the excitement that has completely gripped our country, the national pride and unity is the greatest part of the 2010 World Cup.

Everyone, from the president of the country to the lady that cleans and sweeps for a living (pictured left) is feeling the gees and has welcomed the world with open arms. And so what that Bafana is the first host nation to be knocked out in the first round...they still whipped the asses of the frogs...and the whole nation remains proud of our national team. 

Jonathan Jansen recently wrote a column on the seven reasons why the World Cup has been a success in South Africa. And the most important reason of them all is that this has been so much more than football for South Africans. It's about an opportunity for the entire country to get together and showcase our diversity of culture, language, food and scenery - plus the vuvuzelas - to the world.

And with just a few days left of the football spectacle, we have certainly succeeded.

 

Maid in the RSA

Yesterday morning I decided to forego my usual gym workout and embrace domesticity. This decision was not motivated by plans on becoming a housewife any time soon but by the fact that our newly hired maid, Viola, had disappeared.
My housemate, Miranda, and I don't have the best of luck with maids it seems. The last one smoked like a chimney, had the most unpractical and interrupting cleaning schedule (a bit of bathroom, a touch of washing up and a sprinkling of ironing throughout the day, in between her 2 boxes of cigarettes). Needless to say, she complained about us to her other employer (Miranda's boyfriend's mother) calling us disgustingly messy and said there were strange men walking in and out of the flat all the time. The only men - who might appear a bit strange to people until they get to know them - are my boyfriend and a friend who slept on the couch once. So anyway, Miranda very nicely told her that because I'm 'moving in with my boyfriend', she couldn't afford her. And the transaction was complete, with even a 'God Bless' from Alice.

So now, Maid Number 2. She's the girlfriend of the handyman of the complex so figured she was a safe bet. Until the night before her first day when Gift (her boyfriend) rang my doorbell and informed me that she had disappeared. He'd heard that she had family in Midrand but otherwise she had just taken some of his things and upped and left on Monday. I was so disturbed by this relationship crumble and really appreciated his honesty and courtesy of coming to tell me.

So, I cleaned the kitchen from top to toe, did the washing, scoured the bathroom and was just about finished with the dishes when the doorbell rings.
Enter Viola, our new maid (who had simply had a fight with Gift and gone off in a huff), here to clean the kitchen from top to toe, do the washing, scour the bathroom and wash the dishes....again.