Smitten Kitten

Welcome to the Jungle…

Hello!

I’m taking my first trip out of the Johannesburg/Pretoria area today. Les has a training class in Polokwane.  So far I’ve heard: It’s very pretty and in the middle of nowhere. I’ve packed my media to keep busy, and my camera to take pictures. (My big camera. My little camera died and I have to return it. Hmph.)

I feel like I’m getting a little more used to the city and feeling more comfortable. I still haven’t learned to drive, but I hope I will soon. The traffic is crazy here, which I may have mentioned.

I took this picture while waiting in a traffic jam on the N1, north out of Jo-burg.

Also, it’s the rainy season and there are thunderstorms and lightning almost everyday.

This is the only picture I could get of lightning; it refuses to keep still. But there is a lot of it.  And when it rains, there’s a lot of rain.

Flooding happens on a fairly regular basis, and I understand it causes a lot of problems in poorer areas. Some people have mentioned that the rain has been worsening the last few years.

You may have noticed my successfully posted pictures - which I’m very happy about. I switched to photobucket for posts here, but I’ll still be posting more pictures to my Flickr photostream, so go there for extras.

I’m starting to miss stuff from the US. I mean, I was missing stuff already - like my family and friends and my cats, and the internet availability and options, etc. But, I’m starting to miss some smaller things now, like iced animal crackers and nutrition facts that I understand.

I’m glad to be here, though. I’m very happy to be with Les and excited to see new things. I’m gaining a better understanding of how things are here and in other countries around the world, which I think is valuable.

But I still miss everybody.

Since last Friday - We had a busy day on Saturday; went to a gaming event in Pretoria in the morning, tried (unsuccessfully) to change money and went to watch Jannie race.

Then, went to an art opening and dinner. The art was fairly cool, but it’s not really my scene.

Dinner was ok. We went to Cape Town Fish Market with Ulricke, Joss, Johan (sp?), his wife and a man whose name I don’t remember. (He was boring and rude.) Joss and Ulricke were Les’s friends. (The other three were friends of Ulricke and picked up at the opening.) Johan’s wife and I spoke about politics for a bit, but I didn’t feel like we connected at all. Johan was cool; we spoke about something … I don’t quite remember what. I admit to being somewhat inebriated during the whole event. I mostly spoke with Ulricke, Joss and Les during dinner. So far, I’ve been committed to dinner with Ulricke and attendance at Joss’s wedding (my role at the wedding has not yet been decided.) The food was quite nice, but my seafood pojtie (kinda like a stew) had too many shrimp heads for my taste.

Sunday was laundry and then gaming. Les and I stayed at Ulrich’s pretty late afterwards. It was nice to just relax with a friend. (It’s just too bad there’s a 40-minute drive home afterwards.)

Sunday night, I started reading Empress by Karen Miller and stayed up all night to finish it. It’s good, but addictive is a better way to describe it. Vi has several other books of hers, I’m going to borrow them. (And keep them in perfect condition!)

I talked to Dad on Sunday night, too. We got some credit card stuff sorted out, which is a big relief and means that I have cash here instead of just credit. So I can avoid the per transaction fee. Whew. Got money on Monday.

Last night, Les and I went to a really lovely Thai restaraunt and had dinner. It was expensive, but the portions were huge and there are lots of leftovers. (Next time, we’ll only order one main.)

We went to see Body of Lies. Was very good and refreshing after seeing some bad movies in theatres lately … Eagle Eye for example.

Today, Alchemex (Les’s company) is having a big conference today and I’m in his office while everybody’s giving presentations. I sat in on two - interesting, but it’s not really my field. Les is an excellent presenter, but that’s to be expected.

So, we’re heading out to Polokwane this afternoon and are there until Saturday morning. We were talking about going to the whiskey festival on Saturday, so I hope that’s still on. On Sunday, we’re going to either the Pretoria Zoo or the Lion Park before gaming. I can’t wait! The only (African) animals I’ve seen so far are ostrich and springbok (or possibly some related antelope species; they all look the same).

I should have packed my big book of animals for Polokwane. Damn.

Later!