6 months on...

And I just had the following conversation with the kid next door:

Nomsa: When is the baby coming out of your belly?

Me: She came out in June

(Nomsa sometimes gets her tenses wrong)

Nomsa: Not that baby. The one that's in your belly now. 

Me: There's no baby in my belly now.

Nomsa: Really? Only food? 

Me: Only food.

Nomsa: You know, God says that lying is bad.

Me: No really, it's only food.

Nomsa. You are lying. Food can't be that big. It's a baby

*sigh*

Does that mean I should join a gym?

Entering the car economy

When riding around with friends with cars, I always had the job of paying the car guard. Because I always had a purse full or R2 coins, and for some reason that was completely beyond me, people driving cars never had change. I never understood why. It's true that I hoarded change, because it was useful on taxis….but that couldn't be all.

And in fact, I realized this week that it wasn't all, when I was pulling out of the parking lot, and had no change for the car guard. 

For the past month, I have been driving everywhere I go, even if it's to the park to go for a walk. As a result, I go to places which are car friendly, I stock up, and I pay with a credit card. I no longer walk by the Yeoville market and buy vegetables for dinner for R8. I don't pick things up from street vendors, where I used to do most of my shopping. I drive to Fruit n Veg and put R500 on my debit card. In fact, since getting a car, I haven't drawn cash at an ATM, which I used to do once a week. 

I have become suburban! We hold the hope that no condition is permanent….

Entering the cash economy

I live next door to a 6 year old boy. He's lovely, and good company. We hang out a lot. For the past couple months, it has been more than a lot - his mother has decided he's now old enough to stay home alone after school (he didn't like after care, which was at his former creche), which, in practice, meant he came over to my place for 3 hours every day till his mother got home from work. We would do all the expected after school things - make a snack, read stories, draw stuff, play games, and so on. Usually, it was fun.

All that changed last week - as 6 year old - mother negotiations work, he's managed to get an allowance of 3 Rand each day (about $.30). This is enough money to buy about 15 sweets from the spaza shop across the street. So he now shows up at my door with both hands full of sugar-filled wrappers, and begins his after school sweets bonanza. This generally well behaved, fun, sweet child transforms into an unbearable, bouncing off the walls, hysterical, not listening sugar monster in about 15 minutes. I send him home right away, and he proceeds to watch television for the whole afternoon.

It just highlights the urgency with which I want to get out of Joburg before my sweet innocent little baby transforms into an after school sugar monster (it's only a matter of time). 

Passing Home Affairs Woes on to the Next Generation

I have been chronicling bits of my home affairs frustrations here and here (still no progress on the ID book, by the way). Now there's a whole new person to fumble through the system.  Fun home affairs facts with a new baby:

- The jury is out about when and whether double barreled surnames are allowed, but according to the Randburg supervisor on the day that we went, unmarried parents cannot register the baby under a double barreled surname; they must register it under the name of the father first, and then apply to have it changed (grumble grumble. Why?). So, this is what we did. Lord knows how long that will take. Double whammy, because her well meaning father registered her with my last name as a first name (meaning we also had to apply for a first name change - or my surname would appear twice). I wonder if it will be sorted out by the time she's in college?

- Abridged birth certificates don't have both parents name listed! 

- We applied for an unabridged birth certificate under the old name (on the assumption the name change would take Forever). This is supposed to take 6 weeks. That was 10 weeks ago. 

- To get a US passport, you need an unabridged birth certificate. After Much Hysteria from Grandmother, I'm petitioning the embassy to grant her US citizenship on the basis of other documentation; we have a meeting with them coming up in a few weeks time, will see how it goes.  I'm quite optimistic that they'll be sensible and efficient, in marked contrast to home affairs. 

- Grandmother and her Much Hysteria made me realize how far I've come since my first days of Home Affairs woes. I wonder if any research has been done on dysfunctional systems and zen?  

- Every expat in the world probably has to dealt with this. Family at home wants to meet new baby. Paperwork to let new baby travel takes awhile. It's hard not knowing what and how long and whether. I figure, if I can make it through this round of guilt, I'll be better equipped for the rest of motherhood.

- People in my situation shouldn't plan to take Baby to the US for the first 9 months, to be on the safe side. 6 months is pushing your home affairs luck. Remember, there are lots of steps involved in the process. 1. Register the birth and get an abridged birth certificate, 2. Apply for an unabridged birth certificate. 3. Wait. 4. Take this to the embassy to register the birth, and apply for citizenship and a passport. That's *without* a name change tossed in the mix. 

- The passport section of Home Affairs is rocking. She had a temporary passport from the time she was a couple weeks old, and a  full one well within a month. That's why we're going to India before we go to the US (sorry Grandma, life's not fair!). 

One more way the world is unfair

The Wits campus is a bit of a fortress. When people in South Africa talked about opening the doors of higher education, they certainly didn't mean it literally. As a visitor, you can drive onto campus in a couple different places. The nice attendant at the boom gate gives you a slip of paper, and away you go.  There's only one walking entrance for visitors, however; at Senate House. You must show a photo ID, and tell them where you're going. The process takes significantly longer than driving, and security occasionally calls the person you're going to visit. And the reason the security folks gave me for the measures were because there had been computer thefts on campus. Really. Who takes computers and leaves with them on foot? And not in a car? Really? 

All protocol observed

I had the pleasure of recently attending the first ordinary session of the third pan african parliament, for a post 2015 consultation on governance. Like any institution, it has its own vocabulary and ways of working; one is saying 'all protocol observed' when thanking the relevant chairperson, people who have spoken before, etc. My initial reaction was that this was quaint and charming - until they wouldn't let my baby through security in the interest of 'protocol'. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't trying to take an infant into the parliamentary chambers.  There is a large administrative office block, a huge lawn, and plenty of space around the parliament itself, so I didn't think it would be a problem to have the baby close enough to feed.  A good friend was kind enough to come along and take care of the baby for the day. It turns out, she (and the baby) had to spend the whole day sitting in the Gallagher Estate parking lot because of protocol.  I missed half the meeting because I had to hike up through security every time the baby was hungry. I wonder what else 'protocol' dictates in such forums, and who else it excludes. Given how we go about making decisions, the outcomes shouldn't be any great surprise. 

Where to have a baby in Jozi

Okay. Last mommy blog post, and then we'll be back to the regularly scheduled programming. 

Genesis was amazing. If i have another baby, I'd like to do it in Johannebsurg just so I can go back. It's just a birthing centre, that various health professionals work out of; slightly different from hospitals. It was a fabulous place - the focus is on natural births (though they do emergency C-sections), you get a big, comfortable, private room, with a big bath, shower, chest of drawers, music, garden, etc. The food is good, the staff are *incredible*, and the experience is, all in all, unbeatable. Oh, and it is fully covered by medical aid, without payment upfront, or any paperwork.  And they have a full contingent of related services, from breastfeeding support to antenatal classes. I can't say enough good things about it. 

It's the only place I've ever had a baby, so I can't comment first hand on the places, but I do know people who've chosen other locations:

- Brenthurst and Park Lane. I'm lumping these two together, because they seem quite similar (though Park Lane has a 'stork's nest', which is handy). They're clinical. There's good quality care. C-section rates depends on individuals involved; no particular support or opposition to natural birth. You have to pay for a private room. It's generally functional, and not terribly unpleasant, but not an enjoyable environment. The bigger downside is that it seemed impossible to find any information about how much it would cost and what insurance would cover.  The paperwork headache seemed substantial and thankless.

- Joburg gen and helen joseph. Public hospitals. In general, these have gotten positive reviews from friends who had uncomplicated births and aren't looking for bells and whistles. In Johannesburg, service seems often as good or better in public hospitals than private ones, and c-section rates are actually quite low, since most births are attended to by midwives. Lack of capacity, in an area that's generally over-medicalised, has perks. If my insurance coverage weren't as good, I'd give it a try - I was more worried about the unknown than quality of care. I didn't want to have to learn how to negotiate a difficult system while in labour. Downsides reported is that they're a bit crowded, and you need to sort out all the extras yourself.