The Hidden Fence

Today it is exactly one month that I arrived in South Africa. My adventure began when my Swiss A340 landed on May 1 at about 9 AM at O.R. Tambo Johannesburg International Airport.

In the last 31 days I learned much about this city and its inhabitants, but I have not yet seen much of South Africa - no wildlife, Kruger National Park, Drakensberg mountains, the Cape or anything else but the city of Johannesburg. This does not mean that I had not my personal “adventures”:

• Car rental: since you cannot be in Jo’burg without a car, I had to rent a car on my first day. The problem was that May 1 is a public holiday and the renal branch I had reserved a car at was closed. The second branch did not have a spare car and at the third branch we had to wait about half an hour to finally get the car because the lady was out for lunch… That was only the car for the first weekend, afterwards I had to get my one-month rental car at a garage, but since the car was not yet there, I got a replacement for another two days. Then finally I got the car I am still driving and will be driving for another month: a white 1989 Toyota Corolla.
• Shopping centre: In Switzerland we are not used to very big shopping centres (even thought Westside will become one), so the first days I spent in Sandton City one of the biggest shopping centres of Johannesburg. I had to buy new clothes since I could not take much with me - a 20 kg limit is not much! Also I had to buy food and other stuff needed for living. Sandton City is so big, that you can spend half an hour just to find a certain shop… For now I know where Checkers (hypermarket), CNA (bookshop), Woolworths (clothes and food), Ackermans (cloths) and of course the Food Corner (all fast and slower food restaurants) are.
• Get to know Jo’burg: The first two weekends I just drove around Johannesburg to get to know the city and its suburbs. I stay in Melrose North and work in Sandton, which is one of the two business centres of Johannesburg (the other is Jo’burg CBD - Central Business District). I have to know at least a little bit the suburbs to be able to search for an apartment - which will be my big adventure for the month of June.
• Open a bank account: it is not as complicated as in France, but on the first time I got to the bank, I did not have a confirmation of my address, the second time the letter from my company was not formal enough, but the third time it worked and I got my debit card a few days later. And my employer transferred the refund of my expenses for getting the work permit so I finally got the first Rands on my account and did no more have to use my Swiss credit card (with a very bad exchange rate and a 2% fee on top).
• Xenophobia: I have already written a few lines about that and just want to add here that it has become calmer in the last week even thought still five foreigners were killed. Government is now building refugee camps for the displaced and several civil organisations take care of the displaced.

As you see, my life is going on down here in South Africa and I hope, I will get soon out of this city to see more about what must be a very beautiful country.