RMB Means Really Mothertrucking-useless Bucks

When I left China I ended up having about 250RMB with me. I figured this was no big deal since I could give the money to my mom, who visits China every year in the fall to celebrate her mother's birthday. I left the RMB with my dad in South Africa so he could give it to her when she got back from her summer in the US since she would be flying to China in November from Johannesburg. Well, my grandmother's passing last week really threw a loop into those plans, as my mom ended up flying to China from Vermont for the funeral. She doesn't plan to go back for many years, especially considering there is a 3 year prohibition on visiting the grave site (Chinese tradition). So, my poor mom is in China and she can't visit her mom's grave AND she can't visit anyone elseSU's house because of the recent death in the family. From what I understand, there is a concern about bringing the taint of death to others.

So, getting back to my problem of RMB, I decided I would just exchange the RMB into South African Rand so I wouldn't have to hit up the ATM again in Cape Town (I get charged a fee for every ATM use). Well, it turns out no one in South Africa accepts RMB. China, you continue to be the bane of my existence! It's not like I"m rolling up with a wheelbarrow of Zimbabwean dollars! I'm going to try to exchange at JFK if I can, otherwise maybe I can pawn them off onto a Chinese student at T-bird. ARGH, stupid China and your stupid non-convertible currency!!

Cable Theft of a New Variety

On Tuesday night the Cedar Lakes housing development experienced a blackout in the evening for about 4.5 hours. Only the development was affected and not surrounding areas. The suspected reason was cable theft, which is a huge problem here. This isn't cable theft in that your sketchy downstairs neighbors have hacked into your box to get free Skinimax, but rather theft of electrical cables that can be sold due to the copper content. The main issue that I have with this is that the traffic light in front of the Alpha Gate entrance is also tied to the development's power grid, so the traffic light was out, which caused a huge backup all the way to Witkoppen road, which made our commute about 20 minutes longer. Then, when we got back to the house, we realized we didn't have a key to get in, as we rely on the garage door opener. No power = no garage door opening. We then had to get our landlord to come and drop off keys for us while we ate at Spur next door (Spur is what would happen if being totally un-PC came back into style and someone started a TGI-Friday's esque place but with American Indian theme). We got back into the house around 9:15pm but the power still wasn't on. I was in the midst of boiling water for hot water bottles when it finally kicked on, which means that the oven clock is all off and the pool timer is messed up as well.

So, thanks a lot, cable thieves, for messing up everyone's Tuesday night!

Wacky Wednesday

My work schedule is ridiculous regimented and annoying. I get up at 5:40am and leave the house by 6:10am. My dad and I drive from Fourways, which is a suburb in northwest Johannesburg, and drive to his office in Woodmead, which is a suburb in northeast Johannesburg. I then drop him off and continue on to my office in Sandton, which is south of Woodmead. I work from 7-4, then go back to Woodmead and go to the gym. At 6pm, my father and I depart his office and drive back to Fourways, where we eat dinner, clean up, watch an episode of House and then my dad goes to be at 9:30. I usually force myself to go to bed around 10:30 or 11pm, as I can't fall asleep any earlier. Thus, today's first fatwa is on regimented schedules.

As South Africa is a developing country, there is still a large population of urban poor who cannot afford to own their own car and must rely on a form of group transport, the minibus. Minibus drivers always drive beat up Toyota Siyaya vans which seat fifteen plus one passenger up front. There is a complicated system of hand signals which passengers use to flag down buses and indicate their destination; most hand signals are highly colloquial. Fares are on the basis of whether or not your Zulu is colloquial enough to make the driver think you know what you're doing. The minibus taxis would be a great resource with the exception of their extreme danger. Most white South Africans tell me that you'll get robbed or knifed on the minibus, which is unlikely. You will, however, be putting your life at risk to get into a horrible auto accident. Most minibuses are rented, so drivers have little incentive to keep up maintenance or even care about a dent or minor fender bender. Minibuses are notorious for taking as many road shortcuts as possible (i.e. driving on the right if traffic one way is slow, going the short way around the rotary [which happened this morning]) as well as stopping and starting randomly in traffic to pick up passengers. They also take turns indiscriminately from any lane and are in general a menace to society. So, today, I declare fatwa on dangerous minibus taxi drivers, especially given that I almost got hit by two on the way to work, one going the wrong way in the rotary by my house and the other who cut me off during a right-hand turn.