Observations

• The weather here seems to be quite predictable. Warm, pleasant days followed by thundery showers and lightning in the evenings. And its rain you don't want to be outside in that's for sure! Last night the sky was like a drum it was thundering that much - love the stuff!
  
• Cars here are not as old and banged up as I imagined. I mean, there aren't Ferraris parked on the streets like in London but they're all quite recent model Peugeot, Toyota, Suzuki,etc.
  
• Black people do a lot of the manual work. There are an army of people maintaining the university gardens. The university is quite large and sprawling and there is great landscaping so they do a good job. There are also people who "administer" the parking lot.ie. stop cars so that parked cars can get out. Sorta reminds me of the Philippines.
  
• The percentage of blacks and whites seems to be about 50/50. Some Indians and muslims (don't know what ethnicity) but Asians are rare. I think I've seen 3.
  
• Stationary is in short supply. Usually one of the first things people do when you start a new job is take you to the supply cupboard. Luckily I have my own pens and I'm writing stuff on loose bits of paper! I did get a laptop that is pretty quick. I have my own here as well but rather use the work one that I lock away every night and don't have to lug to and from home. Still waiting on LAN and network access and security card, using Team Leader's in the meantime.
  
• I'm having trouble discerning the 'W' and 'Y' with the Sth African accent. Sometimes when they are saying 'We' I think they've said 'You'. Obviously sometimes context will help you work it out but otherwise it makes for some misunderstanding in responsibility!
  
• Even though everyone can speak English they mostly speak Afrikaans with each other. Afrikaans is a variant of Dutch I think. I'm sure Wiki will correct me but I can't be bothere looking it up.
  
• Unlike London where the supermarkets don't even bag your food for you, in Sth Africa thereis a canning person and a bagging person! Now that's service! There is a plastic bag chargethough but if it goes to the bagger then I have no objections!
  
• I'm not racist 'cause if I was I wouldn't have come to Sth Africa. But everyone looks the same!! The girl next door asked me to re-charge her phone 'cause their electricity got cut off and when I saw her housemate later that evening I thought that was her! And I bumped into her at the supermarket and never would have known if she had started talking to me!
  
• I get a lot of looks. Not bad looks, second looks. There aren't many Asians, I think I can count on one hand all I've seen. I still dress like in London except for the layers so yeah...These other customers were just staring at me when I was in the phone shop talking to the shop guy about a SIM card.
  
• Its not that bad, seriously. You have to be careful but you're not going to be robbed by every second person! Yes, bad things happen to people but that is the case everywhere!