The Journey and my new pad

The Journey

Having stayed in London on Friday night and enjoyed some of the sights of Hackney with an old work colleague, Alec Taylor, I made my way to Heathrow airport on Saturday to catch the 6pm flight to Johannesburg aka  ‘Jo-burg’.

The 11 and half hour flight really does test the ability of the body to put up with a lot, leg space on the South African Airways flight was pretty good (though the views into first class always make you feel hard done by…if only). My flight companion (person sat next to me) was the colourful Sonya from Durban, pink hair and quite a character. Also not tall like me, which always is a bonus for legroom. After a few chats about South African life, and having watched a couple of films including ‘Taken 2’ (ok film just pretty predictable and a weak story) the time passed by. I managed a mere 3 hours sleep before landing, not ideal preparation.

Jo-burg airport is as big as they come, and the transition through transit to International Departures was straightforward enough. Another wait for my Maseru flight, three more hours – the fear of missing my flight the only thing keeping my eyes open. Finally boarded the flight for Maseru, with a flight time of 45 mins and stunning scenery it was a treat.  Managed to get through customs without too much of a delay and was picked up by my host contact Motselisi to head to my ‘pad’ shortly after picking up my fellow assigned ILO volunteer Polly, who has been here for a week already – good to see a familiar face.

My bachelor apartment

I have a lovely pad above the city in a place called White area (as the houses are all painted white) At least in my state of drowsiness, that's what I remember. It's a circular hut that overlooks the valley and has a straw roof. I think I have landed a good one, I have an open plan bedroom, living area and kitchen and a separate bathroom. It’s clean and modern and pretty close to both the shopping malls, good times.

After dropping off my bags, lunch was in order and we all went to the mall to grab a bite to eat, do some grocery shopping (can't believe you can even by Marmite here!!) and catch up.

On return to my flat with a trusty box of Cheerios for comfort food, I sat down to relax and watch some TV – the African Cup of Nations is a must see, and it was good to fall asleep in font of TV and finally start to relax.

However, a few hours later I woke up and decided to have some food, only to find a scorpion in my sink, I’m not the most squeamish or easily surprised, but a scorpion in the sink doesn’t happen very often to me…a feisty fella too!! Though I must admit, it took a few minutes to compose myself and find something a bit bigger than a basic glass to put him in, didn’t think a trip to the doctors on my first day would have gone well, so a glass vase did the trick and a quick throw into the yard.

Having eaten and relaxed, I re-read my terms of reference in preparation for Monday’s work, just to prepare the mind and looked out at a stunning sunset before heading to bed. After all, I am here to work!!

Thanks to everyone who has messaged me this far – I really appreciate it. It helped me get through one of the wobbly moments I was having with the combined tiredness and culture shock. Hope to get some photos on here soon.