Jan 16th 2009

My life so far is juggling mainly three things, work, personal life (apt) and trying to meet new people.

More on the power-cut
The load shedding dictates your life here. You have to plan your day around it. For example, there are some days when the electricity goes off at 8 at night. When I come home, I have to jump into a shower immediately so that I can blow-dry my hair. You have to dress really warmly to go to work. When there is no power, essentials such as lights and computers can run on a generator but not a heater. I wear my winter jacket in the office and am now contemplating to bring a blanket as well as a hot water bag. The hour is now going to be extended to 16 hours a day, so I will see how this will even further affect my life. It’s amazing though how you quickly adapt to the new way of life.
No street names
Streets here do not have names. There are only loosely defined neighborhood names. This makes it really challenging to explain where you live. I had numerous attempts to explain the location of my apartment, but combined with the language barrier, people don’t understand my directions. It feels like such an accomplishment that I had water delivered to me this weekend!!
Work
There is so much to learn at work, and my brain is saturated with information. My new big boss has arrived last week. There have been a series of meetings on reviewing 08 projects and planning 09 activities. I was assigned more specific tasks now, so I will soon be “working working”.
Quality of life is expected to improve when my shipment is delivered. It has already arrived in the country but needs to be cleared in terms of custom etc. I badly need some sweaters (I didn’t bring enough warm clothes) and kitchen stuff. I will be so happy to be “re-united” with my things!