Moving day

I moved into my new place on Christmas Eve. When I woke up at 8 in the morning I had no idea how I was going to fit everything into the day, but I was pretty excited to leave the hotel. As nice as the staff were, over three weeks in the place was more than enough and even the receptionists were starting to marvel at how long I had stayed there. Plus the fact, one of the girls in the restaurant was trying to convince me to go to Kingdom Hall with her and kept giving me Jehovah's Witness magazines to read. 

The first task was getting my wages from the bank. Without my resident permit I can't open an account, so the only way to receive my salary at the moment is through a cheque which I have to cash at a specific branch. Thankfully there was one close to the hotel, and that task was achieved pretty painlessly, giving me more time to negotiate with the hotel management about my room rate and enabling me to pay my hotel bill. 

Getting your salary in cash is kind of fun but
a little impractical

My next move was to have a big breakfast - the offer of complimentary breakfasts from the Chairman was extended, as I knew I had a big day ahead. 










So I chose a breakfast for champions - plantain porridge and liver sauce. Yup, this place isn't really a cornflakes and croissants kinda place. But it was delicious and set me up for the day. 

I then took a taxi to one of the big supermarkets. In true Christmas Eve style is was rammed. Well I assume it was just due to Christmas, it might always be that busy but it felt like Christmas madness. There was even a Santa Claus giving out Shoprite caps and freebies. I befriended the taxi driver on the way, mostly because he was laughing at how low I had started my price negotiations ('the place is far - you will see'... to be fair it was a lot further than I thought!) so I asked him to wait for me while I shopped. I was so glad I did - when I came out the car park was jammed - finding a taxi would have been difficult and even getting out of the car park would have taken an hour judging by the queue. Thankfully my driver had parked outside the gates which made things a lot simpler. 

The queue for the checkout

The supermarket was great though. I got a lot of the things I needed including buckets, glasses and cutlery, food and importantly - red wine, crackers, and brie! The wine was a good price but the brie was pretty pricey... hey it was Christmas Eve! 

After that I went to the little supermarket near the hotel to get a few more bits, before being picked up by the work driver who helped me to move. We stopped at a market to get a mattress, and then I picked up the fridge and gas oven that I had bought the day before. I had been slightly nervous that they would have somehow sold my stuff to someone else and true enough there was a slight hitch when I got there. At first they told me I couldn't take the oven until 'next tomorrow' (day after next - also Boxing Day) because the ones they had in store were faulty. Trying not to panic about the idea of Christmas Day with no means of cooking I asked what the problem was. Turns out the glass lids that cover the hob were all smashed. I remembered that two of my colleagues had recently bought new ovens and had mentioned the exact same thing, so figuring this was a batch issue and no chance of anything changing over the next couple of days I negotiated to take the oven as it was... with a discount of course! 

After packing the goods into the pick-up and working out who to 'dash' (tip) and who not to (young guy who had moved all my belongings around the pick-up and lifted the purchases in - yes; security guards who had 'watched the vehicle' even though I was stood right next to it for most of the time, and who really had just got in the way - no). After picking up a gas cylinder we drove to my new place and the painter and security guards helped me to lift my stuff into the house... more tipping. 

And then I was on my own. With stuff everywhere. But I was home! 

I managed to clean, set up the oven and the fridge, and make the bed, ignoring everything else until the next day. By this time it was around 8pm - and I couldn't believe that I had managed to fit everything in to the last 12 hours. To celebrate I cracked open the wine and cheese, and gratefully collapsed into bed.