Molweni!

Wow, it’s already been a whole month since I was boarding my plane to South Africa. So far, the days have just flown by… It is crazy how fast time is passing and at the same time I feel like I have  experienced so much in such a short time. It’s hard to find words for this weird space-time continuum I’m going through right now. Things are even more messed up since we work from Tuesday to Saturday every week and everybody else’s Mondays are now my Sundays… But well, at least I can honestly say that I don’t hate Mondays anymore. And still, I don’t even hate Tuesdays because working for this project doesn’t compare to any 9-to5-job I’ve had so far. My colleagues are all unbelievably great people and it almost feels like working together with friends (though it’s maybe weird to speak of friends after only 1 month, but I guess living in this kind of diaspora binds us together…)




Apart from that, I am pretty sure I won’t get bored any time soon, as my tasks at work are pretty diverse so far and there are new challenges and problems (well, let’s maybe rather say surprises) every day. I got assigned to most of the office logistics and organization (I guess being a frantic list-maker due to a very bad short-term memory and a latent OCD got me there…) and since yesterday I even have my own team of 8 lovely Research Assistants who I have to look after now. As they are the ones actually going into field and doing the interviews in Xhosa, the whole project relies on their work. And I am now the one making sure they know where they are going every morning and whether they have everything they need when they leave for the field, plus checking if there’s everything alright with the data when they come back, etc. This is actually a huge responsibility (or at least it feels like one), so I’m quite excited how the next weeks will turn out! (But as we are all amazing at our jobs, everything should go smoothly - at least more or less ;)


So, let’s dig into living in the Eastern Cape. Being a white European here in King Williams Town felt really weird in the beginning. You feel like carrying a flashlight saying „I’m not from here. I don’t belong here.“ and the fact that I was unable to blend in and hide in the masses was really bothering me the first days. But I guess I will eventually get used to it - or maybe at least be able to ignore it. Anyhow, though I still feel like a part-time-intrudor sometimes and I really hate drawing attention to me without any reason, King has become my home quite quickly. I even got used to the annoying powercuts, which cut off your cooking mid-term or leave you without coffee (and hair straightener!) in the morning… An at all times well-charged laptop and a hard-drive full of series is a crucial thing not to turn crazy at this point.

So far for my everyday-life here in South Africa, where winters feels like summer and roads seem to be consisting solely out of potholes and cattle. Besides this, people generally seem to be unable to maneuver a vehicle in this country, especially if a roundabout is involved in the process. I don’t even care to wait for any green light anymore as a pedestrian, since they seem to be more some kind of a recommendation than a crucial instruction. So I am slowly trying to lose my inherent germanness, which is alright for me regarding this matter, but every time I have to throw something into a bin without recycling or separating it, a little part of me dies.

But let’s do a quick jump to the touristy part and provide you guys with some cliché photogrpahs. I have so far managed to spend two lucky long weekends in lovely eco-hostels (and one not so lovely hostel with a spider under my pillow, an ant-colony in my room and brown water in the shower…). But apart from that, I have had an exciting post-birthday safari-day in Addo Elephant Park, watching out for the great grey pachyderms:

Deserted Waterhole...

Kudus...

Finally an Elephant - and what a beauty!

And to relax from this strenuous animal-hunt in Addo, we've spent two very relaxed days in Tsitsikamma, chilling at the beach, eating everything the local farm had to offer and enjoying a perfect breakfast view:

You see, I am having a great time here and I might possibly never come back until they drag me out of this beautiful, crazy and somehow deeply messed-up country.