First Days in Durban

As I arrived in the apartment I was already highly emotional, exhausted and a bit overwhelmed.  When asked whether I liked it I had no idea how to respond.  Jan told me that this is an excellent apartment with an excellent view for a really good price.  I just said that we’d take it for a month and then once Alison gets here we can decide what to do.  Jan took me to a little store on the side of the building and bought me some drinks to have with me.  Once left alone in the apartment the loneliness set in.  Why had I left a very happy life in Canada?  I cried a bit, made a distressed phone call to my fiancé on my Rogers phone (still has emergency calling on it, cheaper than cancelling my plan), which I am sure cost a fortune and then quickly fell asleep.

As I woke up the next morning I looked out the window.  The sight took my breath away.  I found out that the apartment was located on the third floor of the building with my balcony overlooking the ocean.  It was BEAUTIFUL. 

The beach extended as far as my eyes could see in both directions and there were a large number of surfers in the water waiting for the opportune waive. 

Unfortunately, this sensation did not last very long. As I looked to the left of me on my balcony I discovered a dead pigeon, which was on its own quite disgusting.  But on top of that there was an upside down playing card beside the pigeon’s head.  That was completely freaky.  I quickly ran back inside the apartment, closed the door, and (just to be sure) the curtains. (Looking back that was perhaps a bit exaggerated!)  All I thought was, “What kind of weird black magic thing is this.” And remember I am already emotionally unstable, alone, and pretty much disconnected from the world.

Jan’s friend took to me see the Landlord (or landlady) up on the penthouse floor.  She told us that she is leaving on holidays for two weeks but will do all the paperwork upon her return.  That was it.  So to summarize where I am at: I have no lease signed, I am staying at an apartment I have not paid anything for yet that I have been informed will cost between R5,000 and R5,500 ($715 and $785), I don’t know where to do laundry, I don’t know where to throw out my garbage, I don’t know where to buy food, my stove is not working, my TV is not working, oh yes and there is a weird dead pigeon on the balcony.  Just great!

Jan showed up around 9:30 that morning to take me to breakfast and show me around. Our first job was to visit the office where I’ll be working and meet my future colleagues.  The office was fantastic and everyone was very friendly.  It consists of two lawyers (one being the office manager), a receptionist and another intern from the United States.  Although I thought I was going into this experience with absolutely no expectations the office was exactly what I thought it would be. It is located in a beautiful three story complex which houses a number of other NGO’s including the Legal Resource Centre, where Alison will be working.  In the centre courtyard there is beautiful vegetation and a cute little cafe. This raised my spirits a ton!  I couldn’t wait to start work.  So when Sherylle (the office manager) asked when I’ll be starting I said, “Tomorrow!”

After taking me to do some basic shopping and get some breakfast, Jan dropped me off back at my building.  He kindly got rid of the dead pigeon and fixed my stove.  The TV however was still a mystery.  I spent the afternoon walking along the beach, which was absolutely gorgeous.  I walked for four hours before returning home.  And yes, it was beginning to feel a bit like home until I discovered that there is a power outage when I entered the building.  The electric doors downstairs were stuck and a bunch of people were waiting in the lobby.  I guess they did not feel like climbing the stairs.  As I was on the third floor I went up to my apartment.  It was beginning to get dark and all I could think was, “Oh great! I still don’t have a phone, I don’t have internet, my electronics are dying as I don’t have a power adapter for the weird plugs that were largely lacking in my apartment anyway, oh yes and even if I had an adapter, I could not recharge anything because the power was out!”  So I sat there and read for a bit.  The power came on shortly after.  The good thing about it, my TV somehow started working!

Noone was sure exactly why the power outage took place.  However the major power failure affected all of Durban including its more sophisticated suburbs, Morningside, Glenwood, the Berea, Umbilo and parts of Sherwood.  Some said it was a sabotage of the electrical company, others say that people were trying to steal cable.  I tried googling it and found out that ESKOM, South Africa’s electrical provider is supremely unpopular with consumers.  The reasons are many and include sudden increases in rates of 25%.  In addition, it appears ESCOM has been using “Load Shedding”, the shutting down of electricity for a few hours a week in order to preserve electricity for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.  Apparently this policy is still used in some unprivileged communities where power is shut off without warning.  The Mercury, the local newspaper, reported that the power failure occurred due to transmission fault.

Some background information:

Lonely Planet describes Durban as “a maturing adolescent that’s ever-changing and taking steps to be more sophisticated.  There’s more to her than meets the eye yet she is often passed over (unfairly) for her ‘cooler’ counterparts, such as Cape Town.”   Durban is South Africa’s third largest city, located in the province of Kwazulu-Natal on the Indian Ocean coast.  It is the busiest port in Africa.  Its population is 3.5 million.  Although the city centre and the beach are dynamic during the day, the night life is largely in the fashionable and more sophisticated suburbs.