Safe and sound...

After 27 gruelling hours of travel Maple has made it safe and sound to her new home, Johannesburg. The first 3 days have been only exciting as it has been 5 months since I last saw my boyfriend.

Our little house is beautiful and very “African” with the thatched roofing and pavement walls. It’s winter, so the pavement doesn’t necessarily make a warm house at night, but I’m sure I’ll be thankful when summer arrives. While the house is cozy and homey, I also like to refer to it as Fort Knox…we are well secured…barred windows, many locks and high voltage electric fencing, simply a necessity in this town.

I haven’t been so much out and about just yet; it’s been a lot of unpacking and settling so far. So for those waiting for some crazy, hectic story (perhaps just to prove a point ;) ) it hasn’t happened yet.

I got the sit down lecture that I’ve been hearing for months and know what is out there waiting for me if I’m not careful. While confident and slightly excited for my new life, I can’t say nerves aren’t there beneath it all. I start work across the city next week, then I will begin to drive the highways alone and face the real Johannesburg that I have been barred away from.

To touch quickly on the subject, the violence that has been happening across the country (referred to as Xenophobia) is terrible and sad. One guy that works for my boyfriends company was badly hurt last week and he is not even a foreigner, but was mistaken for one. Let's hope and pray that the violence will slow down, as it doesn't look like it's going to any time soon.

I will write more and dive back into debates when I'm not so jet-lagged and overwhelmed.

Cheers!