My New Home In Acornhoek

I have only been in South Africa for 5 days now and I have already moved into my new 1 bedroom house, was given a car, started a new job, and had two all staff meetings. Needless to say I have many stories to tell and limited time to tell them, so let me know if you would like me to elaborate on anything.

My house is great - still getting used to the bugs dive bombing me in the middle of the night, but all in all it is good. I have posted some pictures for you to see for yourself. Luckily for me I have running water (hot and cold - a luxury) and I have electricity. This morning as I attempted to leave my house to go pick up a colleague I found three curious monkeys on my porch. They were standing right next to the door so I couldn't get out without them getting in. I tried to scare them away but that only kept them entertained. I had to sit in my house for 15mins staring face to face with these monkeys till they decided they weren't interested. I then got into my 1995 VW bug in an attempt to speed away. Unlikely case, it actually took me another 15mins to get the car started. Although that was the least of my worries as a pack of impalas stood right in front of my path out. The sound of the engine didn't even concern them.

When I finally got the car on and slowly worked my way through the impalas, I proceed down the bumpy, pot hole ridden, dirt path to the guard gate. The guard has laughed at me every morning since my arrival because the first time he saw me I had just been given my car and was trying to drive a stubborn manual car while driving on the left side of the road....lets just say it wasn't pretty...I guess it was funny enough to leave a lasting impression.






My new job is about a 20min drive from where I live. It is at the hospital (The entrance is pictured to the right) and the organization I work with has two "offices" basically some desks in the rooms with chairs. There is no internet although in a way it is nice....they actually communicate in person and by phone rather than email. My tasks of the next year are going to be daunting as I will have to quickly be oriented with the community and try my hardest to pick up some of the local language. I can already understand a few words, but speaking is a whole new ball game.