My Work Life in Cape Town....

OK, so part of the settlying down process in CT was getting a job. I arrived, sent out my CV to heaps of agencies (mind you, this is the first time I've properly applied for a job in years!) and one got back to me. I went in there for an interview and 3 days later I was working for the agency! They hired me as manager of their Training Academy. Its a great gig, I'm teaching people to be waiters and barmen, and the students are from completely different walks of life to me. Most of them are refugees from Zimbabwe and Congo, and the others are from very disadvantaged parts of Cape Town. Its really interesting getting to know them, seeing where they are coming from. It can be so heart warming when you help someone get a job which will change their lives, but at the same time it is heart-breaking to have to tell someone they wont make it in the hotel industry...

But asside from the fullfillment of the job, there is the day to day. I get up at 7am and I'm greeted by this view (I usually dont close the blonds because I know it wont get light before I get up...). The sun comes up as I get to work.

Most mornings I catch a "Taxi" to work. A taxi in South Africa is different to most places, they are minivans that drive certain routes picking people up and dropping them off wherever they like. Its very easy, I walk down to Main St, put my hand up, a taxi stops and picks me up and takes me to the taxi rank pictured which is above Cape Town Station, a 5 min walk from work. It costs 5 rand (about AUD$0.80) and takes about 20 minutes from my house to my work.

I should also mention that by some freak of planning, the Southern Suburbs are all served by a Main St, which is not unusual, except that its the SAME Main St. It stratches from the city through Woodstock, Mowbray, Observatory, Rondebosch, Newlands, Claremont, Wynberg, all the way to Simon's Town about 40km away! Makes it so easy to get around...

Anyway, back to it. After getting a Taxi into town, I walk to Greenmarket Square (pictured) which is where I work. Its a lovely little tourist market which is surrounded by a hotel, a church and cafes. My building is opposite the newspaper distrubutuon building, so the road is always chaotic, but otherwise its a very peaceful area.

After work, I don't catch a taxi back home, I get a bus. Its strange because in the mornings the buses are packed, and the taxi's only half full, in the afternoon its the other way around. They caost about the same though, and are just as convenient during peak hour. I catch the bus from the bus terminal which is opposit the Town Hall (pictured). The buses all look about 50 years old, and have the engine actually in the bus (covered), which becomes prime seating when its cold, cus the engine is warm, and it vibrates....