A Tour of Northcliff Cottage

What it's like to walk down the street in residential Joburg

A note on internet access...

So, we've been without regular internet access for about two weeks. At our host councilor's house, a lightning strike killed the router. At our current place, there's a problem with the physical line and the state owned monopoly (Telekom) is taking their good time in getting around to fixing it.

The point is, the only place we can get internet access now is at the University or at certain cafes. So, please bear with us as communication (e-mail, blogging) will be delayed by a couple of days at the best.

Thanks,
Chris and Mary

And you thought the DMV was bad in the states!

Here's an account of the struggle at the local DMV in getting myself registered as a vehicle owner in South Africa. [written on 2/12/2009]

The last two days have been a nightmare of bureaucracy as I tried to get a "traffic register number" (basically a sheet of paper making it legal for me to buy a car) at the local DMV. Since the metropolice had been on strike for almost a week and a half, the station was overwhelmed with people. I stood in line for hours upon hours trying to get to the right teller. Once I did, he was so kind as to tell me that my bank statement would not work as proof of residence but I needed to bring in my lease. So, basically a whole day and $40 in cab fare for naught. Luckily, I finally got the deed done yesterday (they took my paperwork) but still have to go in on Monday to pick up my traffic register number certificate. This, in turn, I give to the seller (a car-dealing Rotarian by the name of Clive who's been exceedingly helpful) and then they struggle with the mess of getting it registered (back to the DMV, egghh!)

Clive currently has my traffic register number certificate and is in the process of getting the car registered under my name.

This is Africa (TIA) describes the situation well.

Phewwww! It's been a crazy couple of weeks!

Hello everyone,

So, 2 weeks since we last posted. Much has happened in the interim. Suffice to say that we have been a little out of the loop. Lightning, moving, and monopolies are all to blame (I'm not kidding). More on that later. First, let me post a few pictures of our new car, Walter, and our new "garden cottage" in Northcliff. I'm sure it's photos that most people want. The particulars in writing will be posted very soon.

Looking at the cottage from the front

A view of the kitchen

Close up of the range and stove. The range is gas (yeah!) and fed from outside on a cylinder. The stove is electric. It's already seen a batch of cookies :)

The kitchen table. It was among the many amenities our gracious landlord included with the place!

The living room, complete with an ancient TV that has an audio issues sometimes. But, we're not complaining because we have basic "DSTV" (satellite) and get to watch 2-3 yr old version of our American sitcoms/dramas/reality shows.

The vanity, me in the mirror, and a good sense of what the bathroom looks like.

The tiled shower. The water is scalding hot so we have to be careful!

The bedroom, the bed is quite comfortable and was also included!

Walter!!!! Our rough and tumble, 1989 C200 Kompressor Mercedes. 281,000 km's (174,000 mi) and still ticking. Leather seats, a huge boot (trunk), once state-of-the-art alarm system, and it's an automatic! (quite rare around these parts; you try shifting with your left hand while driving on the wrong side of the road in a foreign country and you'll have a whole new appreciation for the automatic transmission!)

Walter's home. The attached, one car (it literally fits about a foot on each side of Walter) garage.

Ruskie, the ferocious (cuddly and aloof) guard dog of the compound. Possibly a cross of a German shepherd and a rottweiler?

Jackie, the little, louder, and more docile friend of Ruskie's

The front gate of our compound.

Well, that's all for now. A video tour will be up soon!

Busy, Busy, Busy

We apologize about the break in communication, but we have started to get busy. However, we've taken a break to watch Eli Stone--Jimmy we think of you every time it comes on.

Today was Chris's first day of school. It is actually orientation week so he will be on campus Monday-Friday to get a feel for the campus and his program. Speaking of the archeology program we went to Chris's main professor's, Thomas Huffman, house for lunch. He is a Texan by birth and made Mexican for lunch. From what we hear it may be some of the only semi-authentic Mexican available in JoBurg. After a great lunch we watched the final match of the Australian Open--tennis is HUGE in SA.

The weekend was very productive after a week of disappointing car and house hunting. We signed a lease on a really neat garden cottage Saturday morning. It is newly remodeled and in a good part of town. It is right by a big park and the neighborhood is hilly and safe for running. Plus, our landlord is an Ironman so I think that he should be a good source of running routes. We also made progress on cars and will hopefully be driving by the end of the week. Our top choice is a old red Mercedes with an automatic transmission. We will post pictures as soon as we are moved in and have the car in our possession.

On the social front we have become quite popular. On top of lunch with Chris's professor, we also went to a Rotary Braai (aka BBQ) on Saturday. It was a welcome to all of the Ambassadorial Scholars, and a great opportunity to meet some of the local Rotarians. I made a lot of promising contacts regarding volunteer opportunities, and met one of the past scholars who works at the Oprah School and is going to set up a tour for me.

Everything is going really well, and we will try to do a better job of keeping up the blog.

Mary and Chris

(p.s: for those of you who haven't read the Twilight series yet, I suggest waiting till you have a good block of time on your hands. It's what I did all day:)