Somethin new under the sun
(voice of aJamaa)
I have been in Cape Town for the last two days and there's so much new stuff.
House
They got me a one bedroom flat by the sea side.So I have a pretty nice view of waves. The place is Ok, just OK. I have nice comfortable couch that a chik would find good for cuddling. However, it would be nice if I had DSTV and could figure out which radio station plays the kind of music I like and does not have presenters who talk all the time or every so often switch to Afrikaans or Xhosa.
Car
They got me a small Toyota, its even smaller than mine. And the damn thing is completely manual. It does not have power steering, power windows or central locking. I am also concerned about the fact that it does not have air bags. I have been getting lost and its just a matter of time before I get onto a one way driving the wrong side.Its a well known fact that I have a poor sense of direction. I am yet to make a single trip without getting lost. On the first day a guy from the office (who has the unenviable task of taking care of me) met me at the airport, hooked me up with the rental and asked me to follow me to where I will be staying. He then got into 'my' car so that he could show me the way to the office and show me where I can shop and get food. For a normal guy this would have been enough to guarantee that they find their way around. He also gave me a map so that I can find my way around.I have gotten lost everytime since then. On the first day I got lost going out for dinner. On the second day I got lost coming to the office and then got lost again getting back to the house. Today morning I missed a turn on my way to the office and ended up on a free way (the damn thing has three lanes going one way) but luckily I was able to turn off it after a 5kms.
Office
The office is very white. There is surprisingly a good proportion of women. I also find people to be a bit older than Kenya where the average age of guys in the office must be 28, but I might be wrong white guys look older than they really are. Just look at Roonie. The other thing about the office is that guys are more comfortable speaking Afrikaans than English. I have not been assigned any jobo yet, they are not sure what to do with me so they will probably toss me from one training session to another. Guys also dont have to wear suits which is good but it also means I will have to buy some trousers. A guy can gate away with wearing three suits but not three trousers.
Cooking
It was so cold yesterday evening that I did not want to go out for dinner. I was also a bit full so decided to have a little snack. I decided to make a sandwitch using sausages that I got earlier in the evening. I take the frying pan out, add a bit of olive oil and toss in two sausages. After a few minutes the damn thing start swelling at an increasing rate. I decide to pock them with a knife to stop the inevitable explosion. The stuff inside starts leaking out. The damn things now look like slags that have been squashed. They start smoking so I add some fat which jumps right out of the pan and onto my hands. The place has so much smoke I am concerned the security guard my come to check it out. I take the pan out of the fire and survey the damage. The bleeding slugs are badly burnt outside but the insides dont look cooked.I toss them into the bin thinking that I am better of paying for more sausages than going to hosi with food poisoning.I still have four sausages (I assume they are sausages, the pack says bangers) and I am determined to have some of them. The microwave must be able to do it. I remember the manual of the microwave back at home had instructions on how to cook sausages. So I take one (for test purposes) and throw it in the microwave. I start with the first level, my concern is that the damn thing will burst so I want to take it slowly. It survives the first level but is not cooked. Feeling braver I toss it back in and put the dial at level 2. It swells, suddenly the oven gets steamy so I cannot see inside, I panic and turn off the microwave. I take it out and alas it is bigger but not yet cooked. What can a guy do at this stage but put it back in? So I do the only thing I could and the invetable happens it bursts. When I take it out it has shrunk and is not cooked. I deduce that it will never get cooked and if it does I wont eat so it joins its siblings in the bin. I take out some ham, and tomatoes (which are raw even though they are a bright red) from the fridge and make a nice sandwitch. I sit with the door open in an attempt to clear some of the smoke and enjoy the sandwitch wondering how the hell a guy can cook sausages without makaa.Today, morning I take eggs I bought on Wednesday out of the fridge and on breaking two of them they had already gone bad.
I need my mummy.
posted by 0.5 @ 15:50
4 Comments:
poor baby @ the food crisis...
I couldn't eat those bangers...I'd never eat them even if someone else cooked them....
Hope you settle in quite nicely...
Hehehehe.
That's made my monday morning.
Don't belee that i learn this from the blog. Been trying to call you. Goodness.
Ajamaa, you coming back?
Would love to know if you got lost again today...he he
Still cant post so someone please put this up for me.
Last weekend and a few tit bits
The first weekend was interesting. I know a Kenyan who works here but he dissed me all weekend, must have been with some chik, so I had to spend all the time alone. On Friday, I watched a movie, MI3 which was interesting and on Sato took a walk on the beach (bila chiks in bikinis though the water is too cold) and took a drive into the city (Im starting to get a hang of reading maps and finding my way after getting lost).I had a late lunch in the city and then got into a pub just after 6. Guys go out late here so the pub was pretty empty up to around 10pm. By the time the place was filling up, I was a bit high (hakuna Tusker the most popular beer is Amstel which has 5% alcohol) and since I was not sure about the way home had to leave early. On the way to the flat I discovered a short cut from the city so I stopped at a local pub and had one pynt. The interesting thing about the pub was that the average age of the patrons must have been like 40 both men and women. Beer ni expensive. A 350ml bottle of Heineken or Windhoek (both have around 4% alc) go for like 160/= in a pub.
I spent Sunday chilling bila hangie. Took a walk at the beach and went to church at 6pm. It was an interesting mass, did not know any of the songs and they did not have hymn books or bibles. Instead they had a projector which they used to project hymns and readings behind the altar. Pengine ndafika strip club by the end of the week or weekend.
Some tit bits
They call traffic lights robots, round-a-bouts circles, their dasani is called banqua, and have strange people names like Trudy,Elizma,Su-anne (must hav a bro called Billy-bob), Snyman, Somaya, Wessel e.t.c
I have seen a few no parking by order signs
Their Vodacom network suffers more congestion than Safaricom
Apparently one of the nuclear power stations broke down during routine maintenance resulting in blackouts/rationing a few weeks back and the poor folks did not have torches,candles or hurricane lamps
Traffic is also an issue here the other day a chik told me she took 1.5hrs to do 10kms. I still think Nbi traffic is worse
Parking for the day at a private building in centre costs up to KES 500. Apparently you cannot park in the streets since most parking spaces have time limits of 30 mins to 2 hours.
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