The importance of a crackberry

Day 2
I realize quickly that the adaptors I brought from home are useless. So begins panic number 28. What happens if my blackberry dies? Oh god – I really will be isolated and alone. Not to mention, that without power, there’s no way I can use my laptop, or fire up my iPod speakers. This is serious.
I text the only person I know in the country. No answer. I wait. Several hours, growing more and more panicked, lonely, and miserable.

Finally, I decide drastic measures are needed. Not having a laptop means no internet, which means I cannot find a taxi to take me to an electronic store. Not having a car means I cannot wander around in search of one. And being in Johannesburg means there’s no fucking way I’m walking anywhere.

I do the only thing I can think of. I wander down to the guards at the gate, bend down to the little speaker, and try to explain that I need a taxi, but have no idea how to get one. I repeat myself a few times before the door to the guardhouse opens, and one of them peers out at me. He really can’t understand why this weepy looking foreigner is asking him to call a taxi, but he’s helpful, and gives it a shot. Apparently he doesn’t have a phone book, because he indicates to me he’s going to look through the newspaper to try to find a number. He writes down two possibilities, and asks if I have a phone. I show him my blackberry, and tell him I don’t know how to dial local calls here. He looks at it in amazement “you can make calls on this?”
I quickly realize one of us is going to have to learn a new skill today. It will be me.
I dial one number and it rings, but no answer. The other beeps, and I quickly pass the phone to him to identify the sound. “Ah, it is busy.”
Shit.

“OK – let me try this.”
He makes a call, and comes back smiling. He’s called his friend to come fetch me. I can’t believe it. Really – his friend is going to get up off his couch, get in his car, and is going to drive me to the shop. Which he does. Five minutes later, Thabo shows up, I jump in the passenger seat, explain I need an adaptor, and off we go.

Honestly – I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’m pretty sure near the top of the list of things they tell you NOT to do in a foreign country is “jump in the car of a complete stranger who has been referred to you by other complete strangers.” But there you go.
I got my adaptors, got back to the apartment in one piece, powered up the crackberry, and made three new friends in under an hour. Things were looking up.

THINGS I'VE LEARNED SO FAR

• You can call it Jo-burg, but it’s cooler to call it Jozi.
• It is winter here in August, and it’s effin cold. Almost zero at night.
• Houses in Jozi don’t have central heating.
• You should always bring a toque on any trip you take. You never know. In Jozi, it is helpful to wear it in your apartment with no central heat in August. Two wool sweaters, wool socks, and a duvet stolen from the guest bedroom are also in order.