First day in the new country

May 5, 2007
After sleeping in big time (gosh, I hadn't done that in a _loooong_ while), I wanted to scout out the area. For one, I did not know where exactly, or even roughly, I was in the city. Outskirts? Near the city centre? No clue. I was 'fearing' that we would live close to our work, which is on the the eastern side of the island, and a great deal way from the city centre. Time to find out.

Getting to the reception I saw two guys standing in front of me. I had heard at some point that I would be training with two guys, two South Africans. So I took a guess and asked them if they were SA's, and they were. Sheer luck would have it that we ran in to each other right from the get-go! Johan and Gerhard, or Master G :)

We decided to scout the city out together. We took a cab to Marina Mall, which is the posh, very big mall on the tip of the island. I started looking around and trying to get my bearings, to my great surprise, we were just outside the heart of downtown! And going to Marina Mall was actually going out of our way since there is a mall just a few blocks away from the hotel. But we went to Marina anyway. Long story short, we had a very good time and we got to know each other slightly better. And we get along! Big bonus!

Listening talking in Afrikaans is weird, never met (and spent time with) South Africans before, so it's interesting to listen to them. I really have to pay attention to get what they say, but it is cool and strange at the same time to understand as much as I do. Johan is from Cape Town and Gerhard is from Joburg, or Johannesburg (just love the abbreviation they use for it).

Anyways, we also got to do our shopping at Carrefour, a huge one right in the mall. Gosh, the ordeal of having to buy everything new again, pepper, salt, sugar, olive oil, soap, flour, everything! I think I'll make quite a few trips before I'm well and truly satisfied with the contents of my kitchen. Hey, who would've thought otherwise :)

After having rested in the hotel for a little bit, we decided to venture out some more and discover the area around our hotel. Johan was craving Burger King, which he had seen along the way coming back from Marina Mall. We obliged and started looking for it. I, on the other hand, discovered that the BK Johan was looking for was actually one block away from an Indian restaurant Shu and I had visited on our trip in February. So I made up my mind and decided not to go for fast food but for for Indian instead, Gerhard happily obliged. Johan brought his BK with him and we sat down at the Indian restaurant. Both G and I ordered some currys with some garlic naan. Fin-ger-li-cking-good :) yumyum. Johan regretted having taken BK and promised himself he would visit this restaurant again soon!

It was getting late, so we started walking back. On my way I found an internet cafe, which I stopped at so I could chat to Shu, the parents and a few other ppl. Very annoying, my hotel does not have internet, so that's why I had to look for it elsewhere. Shu put it best when she said: "It's almost like you're alive again by being online :)"