Challenges of living in South Africa

There have been several things that have been quite difficult for me in South Africa. The first thing probably has to be the bank. When I first got here, the bank refused to give me a bank account because they wanted proof of address (the 1 month stay at the hotel wasn’t sufficient) and a paycheck (which in South Africa they don’t do live checks, it is all direct deposit, so explain how I am suppose to get money!) After 2 attempts and bringing a South African with me, I was able to open an account. The next hurdle was when pay day came and passed. I tried to use my card and it said that there were insufficient funds and then it locked my account after I tried several times and maybe entered the incorrect # at some point. In order to unlock my account, I had to go back to the bank which is only open from 9am-3pm…prime time when I am suppose to be working and don’t have a car. I called the bank and they said that it could take 3 days for my money to be active since it is a new bank account but guarantee it would be in there. I went in to activate the pin number, waited 3 days and still no money. At this point, I hadn’t gotten paid from the US since the beginning of October and I was flat hunting and expected to hand over first, last, and maybe a deposit. I called the bank at 4pm after the 3rd day, and they passed me around different departments for 30 minutes to then tell me that the dept I needed to finally talk to closed at 4:30 and I would have to go to my branch where I opened the account to unlock the funds, really? Really? REALLY? I have tried to have patience and be nice up to this point, but everyone was telling me that I was being too nice…is that why you won’t help the poor (literally) American? Haha. I arrived at work the next morning late in order to stop by the bank to sort out this mess. They were able to unlock my account and said that since it was new, they had to lock it. I asked why the heck they couldn’t have told me this 5 days ago and when I opened the account so that I could schedule time off to accommodate their lovely hours that they are open to serve their customers. I was not the nicest to the person at the bank, and I do feel bad…but the customer service was just awful, they took no ownership, and didn’t care…oh man I sound like I may have been working for Amazon too long. HA HA!
The second challenge has been trying to find a flat. I originally wanted to find a furnished place so that if I leave in 2 years, I won’t have to worry about selling or getting rid of things. Most of the furnished flats were either cheap but disgusting furniture, cheap but in a bad area, or expensive and expensive! There were 2 places that I was interested in and they both fell through. There was one that had a side view of the Atlantic Ocean but I was placed on a waiting list. The man said that the person who looked at it the day before had priority. So not how the US functions. If I have the money to put into your hand right now, you won’t accept it? I guess that is a courtesy thing in Cape Town, but to me it sounds stupid. What if that person doesn’t take it, and then you call the most recent person and that person already had to look at other flats and found one better. Now you are out of luck! Well, the other person took the place so I continued my hunt. The 2nd place I found was in CBD (central business district) and close to work. This one was furnished and everything was brand new. The only thing that I didn’t like was that the only window in the flat was looking into the side walk and had bars on it. It was doable though as I was running out of time and had to place my name on that list. I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to get this place as there was this other person who stayed after me...and was basically kissing ass….I found out later that person got the place, not meant to be, but now my stress level was rising! After the cancer walk, my co-worker took me to a place in Mouille Point. This place is close to Sea Point and by the ocean. Other than that, I didn’t really know too much about the area besides everyone said that it was a safe area. I walked in and thought it was suppose to be furnished, but I was wrong. I had started to look at both furnished and unfurnished out of desperation. So the down falls of this place was that it was unfurnished and no appliances like an oven and refrigerator. In South Africa, unfurnished means UNFURNISHED. Other than that, I liked the lighting of the place and the view from the living room…is well…pretty spectacular with the Soccer Stadium and 3 mountains. I asked if I could have first dibs on it but to let me think it over as it was unfurnished. He said he would and off we went to debate. In the end, the place was nice and if I took a furnished place I would be paying at least R2000 more a month which comes to almost R50,000 in two years which is a lot in South Africa. Would I spend R50K on furniture? The answer was no, so I decided to take the furnished place. Here is the view from my living room and the last one is from outside of my complex. From the left is the 2010 World Soccer Cup Stadium and in the middle are a soccer field, a golf course, Green Point Park, and a horse barn. In the background where the clouds are is Table Mountain, Signal Hill is in the middle, and then there is Lion’s Head to the right. Pretty blessed I must say!