Top Ten Things I'm Struggling With

I've written lots of posts now about the amazing things that I've encountered and done over the last few weeks now, but everyone deserves a chance to rant a bit, as well. So here is my countdown of the top ten things that I've been struggling with recently. My shit list, so to speak...

10) Going up and down stairs after Table Mountain.

It has now been several days since my Table Mountain hike, but I'm still super sore. There are a lot of stairs on campus, and I've been doing a lot of walking back and forth from bus stations, and around the city. Either way, it's killing me, but will be over soon.

9) I go up and down stairs on the wrong side still.

No joke, I didn't realize how engrained road directions are in my head. When I get to a staircase (on campus, for example), I find myself walking up the right side, until a huge group starts walking down the same side. I'm doing it wrong! And I keep doing it wrong! Then I slowly try to get to the other side (see number 10).

8) Servers at Obz Café.

This is a smaller restaurant right in my neighborhood, and I'm so tired of the service there. I would stop going, but they have half price pizzas on Wednesdays. They bring you one water at the beginning of the meal, and never refill water until asked, and it can take 10 minutes for it to arrive. That's Africa time for you. We've also had many other bad experiences there, I don't want to get into it.

7) Howling dogs.

There are two dogs across the street from my bedroom window, and several others nearby. They regularly have wars in the morning, other times they sing to each other. Give me a tranquilizer gun, and I'll get back to sleep. Hell, a regular gun would also do fine.

6) Stuff molds so quickly in this country.

A loaf a bread molds within a few days, fruit within a few days, and a bag of potatoes that I bought was covered in mold in a week. And I've never had bananas mold... ever. They just get old. But three days after buying bananas the top of the bunch was moldy. I suppose the food is fresher and has less preservatives, but that doesn't do me very good after a few days.

5) I'm still without my debit card, and it probably won't come anytime soon.

After being pick-pocketed last week, I obviously have no debit card. Luckily, I took some money out the day before, and have been surviving on that since, but I'm now running low. They sent me a replacement, but it will likely take quite a while to arrive. I'm probably going to need to get a cash advance on my credit card soon.

4) Things are cheap and it makes me spend money much faster.

Yes, the exchange rate is very favorable. I mentioned how cheap it is to get food on campus, etc. I just bought two 40 oz. of beer for $2.00, and nice wine is only $3-$6 for a bottle. Groceries are also very cheap, and it makes it so easy to go out to dinner instead of cook at home. Or to pick up extra things at the store, or stop for ice cream and stuff like that. As a result, I'm probably burning through money faster than I would. See number five for why that is a problem.

3) Cockroaches.

They fumigated last week, they are back. I killed three last night, two were very small and had just hatched or something. They aren't nearly as bad, but they have returned.

2) There are no drinking fountains anywhere in this city.

I don't get it! If you know me well, you know how much water I drink in a day. At a restaurant, I usually go through four glasses of water (see gripe #8). I have only seen one drinking fountain in public since I arrived, and it was on the Table Mountain trail! They are nowhere on campus, how do people drink here?! I keep forgetting my water bottle, so I keep having to buy beverages on campus when I eat, which I normally don't do (see number 4).

And number one...

1) Everyone Smokes Everywhere.

This is driving me crazy, and I'll explain. I've never smoked, but cigarette smoke has become so rare on campus at UW that if I catch a whiff... I don't mind, and I almost like it for some reason. It's just something different. And no, not everyone smokes, but so many people do. Outside most buildings there are lots of students smoking, and every restaurant I go to the smoke is nearly inescapable. My religion class is two hours long (I'll talk more about my classes soon), and it typically has a 10 minute break halfway through. We were given the option of skipping the break to leave early yesterday, and after almost everyone opted to keep going and leave early, the professor asked how many smokers we had. There were two, so we took a 5 minutes break so people could smoke. Seriously!? I'm going to have the black lung by April.

Okay, I'm done complaining. I just had to vent a little. Below you will find one of the many things you, too, can waste your money on. It was only like $3.00 -- the fruit drink that is.  The water is what I 'bought' after asking the waitress for a water.  I suppose I should have said "bring me a free tap water that is in a cup and doesn't cost money."

I will have many exciting things to talk about in upcoming posts.