The Friday Late Bus: Shopping and the Peace Corps Office, October 13

We should have taken heed that we were planning another trip into Pretoria on Friday the 13th, but necessity demanded that we return to the city. This time we were accompanied by our friend Angie who had spent the night before so that we could leave bright and early in the morning. We actually missed the first bus and ended up waiting over an hour for another one, but still managed to make it into the city with enough time to accomplish our goals.

Our first stop was the Peace Corps office to pick up packages and medicine for Kelli. Kelli had developed a pretty nasty sinus infection over the past week and finally decided that she needed some heavier drugs than cough drops and nasal decongestant. Joe thinks that her infection was the result of cleaning up all the dirt and scat from our house – a likely explanation. We had heard from another volunteer who had visited the office last week that we had packages waiting for us and Angie had been expecting a package for some weeks, so we were excited at the prospect of mail. Kelli got her two birthday packages from her family (THANKS!!) although Angie’s package was not there. Peace Corps told her that they would check the post office that day so we decided to stop back later in the day. We also checked out the resource room which has lots of books and computers for doing research. We were excited to check the book exchange, but most of the books were garbage. We did find a few that looked interesting enough to carry back home on the bus.

The next stop was Menlyn mall for some more shopping and to introduce Angie to the craziness that is one of the biggest malls we have ever been in. We started with smoothies, delicious, and then buckled down for some serious shopping. One of our principals had agreed to pick up our larger purchases from the mall and bring them to school on Monday so we didn’t have to cart them on the bus. Taking advantage of this, we purchased a fan, comforter, broom and plastic drawers for our bathroom Angie was also able to purchase some larger items. We treated ourselves to a pizza and Carvel lunch before making our way back to the Peace Corps office. We were hoping to ask our principal for a ride to the office when he picked up our things, but unfortunately he arrived in a truck and even though it was temping to jump into the bed, we obeyed the rules and declined. (Among a number of other rules, one of P.C.’s big no-no’s is riding in the back of trucks.)

Instead, we found a taxi and then began the task of trying to explain to the driver where the office is located. Both parties flustered, we finally recognized a road that was close and hopped off. It was close, but we still had quite a hike through unknown territory and even the fear of mugging couldn’t spur Kelli to walk faster in her sickened state. We finally made it to the closed office, but thankfully Angie’s package had been left with the guards at the front gate.

As usual, the real adventure lay in the ride home. Learning our lesson from last time, we convinced the taxi driver to drop us off at the correct bus station and we only had to wait a half an hour for the bus. As before, every one was friendly in line and we met some interesting characters who were asking us all about the states. However, as soon as the bus was in sight, the pushing and elbowing began. We had tried to warn Angie of the chaos, but it’s unimaginable until you personally experience it. During the shove fest, Joe felt a tug at his pants and realized that someone had unzipped the pocked that held his wallet. From then on he was on high alert and thankfully nothing was stolen. The three of us finally managed to push our way into the bus and we all found seats, Angie near the front, Kelli near the back and Joe on the rear bumper smashed between a group of intoxicated men.

Kelli was seated next to two very pleasant women, one of which works at the U.S. Embassy, and they chatted most of the way home. She was only bothered a few times by the drunken men behind her, pleading with her to marry them or at least to drink a beer. Joe on the other hand was in the middle of Friday happy hour in which the men were smoking, drinking, shouting, and urinating into their empty bottles before tossing them out the window. The ride was pretty bad, with cans, beer and urine sloshing about underfoot, but it was made much worse by the fact that it took us over two hours to get home. Traffic was horrible and we could have walked faster than the bus was moving. We finally made it to our village and in our enthusiasm to get off the bus, we accidentally got off a stop early and had to walk a few blocks in the dark to our house. Once home, we celebrated by opening our packages and eating bran flakes. Another eventful journey!