I’m really enjoying life here in South Africa, at the moment we are in basic rented accommodation, one small TV, no telephone or internet....we have pay as you go phones and a dongle but the speed is slow and the cost is high, family can’t contact us as promised and the kids haven’t been able to keep in touch with the UK as promised either. But three weeks with this lack of technology is starting to suit us. The kids have been able to play games on their laptops and DSI light, but even now they are losing interest it that...the boys have made friends very quickly in their new school and joined every club available. They are sociable children and make friends easily. There have been quite a few rows in the early days while they adapted to their new life, but this wasn’t due to lack of technology alone this was mostly down to our accommodation. Since the middle of December the kids have been sharing a room at their Dad’s or staying at our house in the UK without any furniture or sharing a bed in the flat in Manchester for 2 weeks prior to coming to SA. Now we are spending more time as a family, watching football on the telly or the discovery channels (they’re the only programmes we all agree on) we are having a Braai every other night, going out for picnics on weekends, we go to bed tired and relaxed every night by 9pm and the children are playing football 3 evenings a week in Pretoria, while Peter and I sit and watch them whilst chatting. There are cricket matches in the week we enjoy also.
Life here is more about family.
However, I need to meet people now. It’s been hard work trying to buy cars, rent a house, sort out bank accounts without any help and not having the internet and a phone has made it harder. So I went to a nail bar this week, I don’t normally do that sort of thing, but I met 2 lovely women, Tshego (pronounced sayho) and Celline...we have swopped phone numbers and will be meeting up next week for lunch.
