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). 

Where to go for baby shots

There are certain things that, no matter how long I've lived in another country, I never seem to understand quite as well as my country of origin. Examples: taxes, retirement savings, and health care systems. I didn't understand how much I didn't know about the health care system in South Africa until having a baby. The pregnancy and delivery lessons are for a different day. For now, the check ups.

I've taken the baby 5 different places now for her vaccines, and have now settled on Genesis, the clinic where she was born. Reviews:

- Meldene Medicross. It was advertised online as a public clinic, but in fact, you do need to pay, and was actually the most expensive of the places visited. The nurses are nice, but people weren't terribly clued up - I called to ask if I needed an appointment for vaccinations and was told no; when I showed up with the baby, I was told yes, though accommodated anyway. Otherwise, the place seems fine.

- Parkhurst public clinic. The wait was just over 2 hours, not bad, and there is a separate 'well baby' area. The downside was there was almost no communication about the baby's general health - more of an assembly line setup. For shots, it would have been fine. However, I was told that since I didn't live in the area, I couldn't come back, and had to start the baby's file at the clinic closest to where I live. If i lived the area, I'd probably go back.

- Bez Valley public clinic. I went twice, once at 11 in the morning, once at 7, and both times was turned away and told to come the next day (after nearly a 2 hour wait) because the crowd was so big. Others in the queue told me that this is a new state of affairs, but this is decidedly the most over-crowded place I went to. May be that I tried to go once on a week with a public holiday? Avoid at all costs.

- Yeoville public clinic. The lines are long, but they move fast if you arrive early. The wait was under 2 hours. The downsides are that the baby must wait with all the sick people, staff are far from friendly, and the xenophobia makes me irritable. On one hand, a good way of connecting to the 'hood. But with a 2 month old baby, just not quite what I was looking for.

- Genesis. The private clinic where she was born. A woman comes Thursdays and Fridays to give vaccines; you text her in advance, and she gives you a time slot. She's incredibly knowledgable, and visits for vaccinations have basically made a visit to the pediatrician unnecessary, because she's so thorough.  It's not cheap, but it's also not much more than health insurance rates.

Conclusion: Private care, in this case, doesn't cost much more than public (if you have insurance). If you don't, the Yeoville clinic was probably the best of all visited so far, but coughing up the extra for Genesis is worthwhile. I see all my principles slipping away with the arrival of the baby....

Moving weekend

Moving weekend is always a particularly fun time to sit on the balcony and watch the neighborhood go by....there are always amazing things being transported down the street, usually by hand. Sometimes, the stuff itself is entertaining (Saturday, there was a wardrobe that had been converted into a chicken cage). Sometimes, the transport feats are incredible (on Sunday, 6 couches in a row paraded by, on 6 men's heads. I wonder who needs 6 couches, and I wonder how hard it is to see with a couch on your head). Sometimes, the stories created in my head are the highlight (a particularly masculine man went by, carrying a humongous heart shaped glass plate, delicately etched in flowers. I tried to imagine where he lives, and how it will fit in).