Day 9 – Monday

I was pretty surprised to find Wynand at home in the morning. He has to leave for work at 6 o’clock in the morning. He’d called in sick for the day. Wynand and Diets were planting grass in the garden when I had to leave at 9 o’clock. I made it without too much difficulty, got a little lost in the streets around Tukkies – but that’s what the GPS is for! Drove through the gate and had to give them my phone number and driver’s license number.

I met Erika in her office and she took me to get registrated at the university. Afterwards she went with me to find the place I would be staying. “Tuksdorp” was about three streets down from the laboratory where I’d be working, no more than a 10-minute walk in the mornings.

The little house I would stay in for the next six months was pretty old. There were two other rooms beside mine, with a shared bathroom and a shared kitchen. The bathroom had two showers and a separate bathroom. The kitchen had an oven, a fridge (with freezer) and pots and pans and the like.

She left me to get settled, which mostly just meant being bored out of my mind. I went down to the store for some food, came back, had a nap. Woke up to find my airtime was all used up. I hurried back to the shops (apparently they close at 5.30) and bought some more. Dinner was cereal, I’m sad to say… 

Day 8 – Sunday

We had to get up early because I was meeting my cousin Wynand. He’d taken the bus out to Odendaalsrus to drive back with me. Apparently he overslept after a night on the town and was an hour late to the meeting point.

When he finally got there, we all said our goodbyes and were off to Pretoria. I drove the first two hours and then we stopped at Wimpy’s. Wynand had had to skip breakfast and was practically singing about Wimpy’s delicious breakfast menu’s. And yes – it was very yummy.

Afterwards Wynand drove the rest. It started raining just before we arrived in Pretoria. Hills and heavy rain make for a unsettling combination (I’m quite glad that I didn’t have to drive this part). When we got to Rynette’s, we watched a movie and waited for the weather to clear up a bit.

My weirdo Cousin <3

Wynand drove with me to the University of Pretoria (“Tukkies”), just so I could see where I was going. Luckily I also had a little GPS so I wouldn’t get lost. Pretty anxious about having to drive alone tomorrow…

Day 2 – Day 7: Monday to Saturday

My first week was spent at my uncle’s Farm Spes Bona in Odendaalsrus (Free State). Here I learned that the little car that they were going to let me borrow, wasn’t all that small at all… I was expected something the size of a mini or maybe slightly bigger. What I got was a Volkswagen Tauran… 

I had to learn to drive on the left side of the road, so my aunt made me drive on the first day. The second day she made me drive with only my cousin Zandri and the third alone. The adjustment was much easier than I thought it would me. There’s just more space for everything there. The people standing in the middle of the roads at traffic stops still freak me out a bit. They must be slightly suicidal to do that, in my opinion...

The week went by far too quickly. I’d gone to Saskia’s cheerleading session at the Netball/Rugby event at her school, watched Zandri play and win a Netball competition and played around with both AJ and Boetie (Who I’ve started calling Gogga – which means “bug”). At least I'd be seeing them again in only two weeks - with Easter.

Arrival in South Africa

I had to wait for quite a while, uncertain whether I was even was even in the right queue. Apparently I was though and after being scanned for Ebola with a thermal camera, security let me through and I collected my suitcase. 

My cousin Tommy and his girlfriend Nicole picked me up and drove me to his mother’s – my aunt – Rynette’s place in Pretoria. My aunt’s boyfriend Diets and his son Werner and daughter-in-law Altea were waiting there with my aunt and my other cousin Wynand. We all chatted in the bright sun – quite different from Dutch weather – while my aunt Rynette made a fantastic Sunday dinner: chicken, beef, pumpkin, potatoes and salad.

Tommy, Nicole, Werner and Altea left soon after. Wynand needed smokes so I went with him to the store – he went without shoes (!). Everyone was a bit tired so we all caught a short nap before my other aunt and uncle came to pick me up.

My aunt Zanne, my uncle Burgert and cousin AJ (10) picked me up and we drove to Odendaalsrus, where I’d be staying for a week. It’s about a 3.5 hour drive on a good evening. It wasn’t a good evening… The thunderstorm was visible for ages before we drove into the rain. It was like a disco – flashes through the  sky every few seconds all over the horizon. When the rain finally started I swore Burgert couldn’t even see through the rain, it was coming down that hard.

When we finally arrived at their farm, their eldest daughter Zandri (16) was waiting for us. Saskia (13) and their youngest Burgert Jr. A.K.A. “Boetie” (4) woke up just for a hug and went back to bed. Everyone followed shortly.

D-Day

I woke up feeling a bit sad, a bit stressed and a bit excited. My suitcase is packed (oops, 2 kg overweight) and my friend Izzie brought me cinnamon-cupcakes for on the road to the airport. My elder sister Melissa met us at the airport and managed to pull us all from out melancholic moods. My parents, me, my sister and my little brother all squished ourselves into one of those passport booths to make a photograph. I don’t think any one of us has more than quarter of our faces on that picture, but I love it just the same.

My sister gave me an adorable ring with the face of a little fox before I had to go through security. My dad pulled us all into a hug and prayed for my safe journey. His voice wobbled a bit, which was pretty hard to hear without tearing up myself.

The security check went without a hitch and with one last big wave at my family, I was on my own. We’d cut it pretty close with the boarding time so I hurried to my terminal. My first flight was to Frankfurt with only an hour to wait before getting on my second flight, directly to Johannesburg. During the 10-hour flight I managed to watch two movies (“The Imitation Game” and “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World”) and tried to sleep uncomfortably the rest of the time. The plane touched down in South Africa just before ten in the morning.

Took a picture with my phone :)

Got my Visa!

That snake at the Embassy was probably just having a bad day or a bad year… I could pick up my passport with approved visa within one week. In your face, Mr Mean!

Everything is set, all I need to do now is pack my suitcase!