Yesterday, with a rested head on my shoulder, I took to my neighborhood of Hyde Park. Currently I have the problem of wanting to know everything now. I haven’t even been here a full 48 hours and I am itching for more knowledge about the city and the culture. Fortunately I keep making mistakes and that is lesson learned enough.
The first lesson learned so far is that even though developed more than any other African country, South Africa still has a ways to go on getting their internet available to everyone.
Second, grocery stores, as do most stores, close at 7pm. This is why I ate gas station food this evening. I decided to pop into an inexpensive movie., Before I went in, I looked at a pair of jeans hanging in a window next to the theatre. The extremely handsome salesman mentioned that if I changed my mind, and did want to purchase the jeans (which there is no money in my budget for clothes), the store would be closed by the time the movie was over. That should have been my clue about the closing of the stores.
The third lesson that I have learned is about hand signals for taxis. Taxi buses honk at you all over town and to inform them of where you are going, you must use proper hand signal. I made a simple mistake. If you point your finger up, it means you want to go north. If you point your finger down, it means you want to go downtown. Guess who got this wrong and got kicked out of his taxi-bus. I only asked the driver if we were going downtown, he looked at me, sighed, and then said, “You want to go downtown?” Stopped the car and then followed with, “Get out!”
Everyone in my taxi bus looked at me like I had stolen all of their day from them. I think if one thing is getting to me more than anything else, it would be not comprehending anything in a large city. This is where I shine the most; keeping fast and at pace with the masses in a large city. So far in Johannesburg, this is definitely not happening. I am clueless and second guess my steps and get in the way of the people around me. Thankfully people have been extremely kind when I do get in their way.
The grocery store closest to my hostel is called the Pick n Pay. It took a team of their staff to get me set up on my pre-paid phone. Seriously, five people were needed to get me set up. The final element to this team was the woman who cashiered for me. I had no clue how many rands, South African money, were needed to get me through a day let-alone three months. Coincidentally, I returned to her line when I returned to the store to get dinner. When I came to her line and tried to pay for oranges without a barcode, because I didn’t realize I was suppose to weigh them and print out said bar code, she scolded me, “really?” and walked away to do it for me. I was devastated and thought I ruined her day. When she returned, she smiled at me, laughed, and said, “Mr. Potter, you will get on to it soon.”
The hostel I’m staying at is the oldest in the country. It has been a hotel, clinic, circus house and a home before becoming a hostel. To me, as I lay in my bunk bed in the circular tower of the establishment, I am reminded of 4-H camp. It has the smell of cabin with a brisk chilly night hint. I haven’t slept well yet. I attribute it to having a lot on my mind and not a lot of experience in this country under my belt. I am also having a hard time shedding baggage from before I left the country. All of these worries will subside soon and I feel a full nights sleep is in my future.
I have only met two staff members here so far. One, the one who checked me in is kind and keeps to himself. He is pleasant when I ask him questions and I worry that I have asked too many. The second staff member is the gentleman that works at night from about 7pm to 7am. He is burly and loud and sarcastic. I love it. He answers my questions with attitude and gives me a hard time but continues to aid me because he is extremely caring. When I woke up at 2am, he had no problem turning on the computer and getting me online to the dial up internet.
Today I am going to travel to a part of town called Melville. There I will find a man named Fred who has a room for rent in his three-bedroom home. I hear Melville is a nice neighborhood and I can easily get to work from there. I am excited to see it but am hesitant to leave the hostel. I keep meeting great people while on their travels. Time will tell what I decide…