Machines, Manuals, Power, Oh No!

I cannot believe that we have been in South Africa for almost a month now. From the point that we walked in our home, directions awaited us. How to use the telephone, oven (Celsius, you know), microwave, Satellite/Surround Sound TV system, front loading washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, window a/c units, computer hook-ups, security system, Kyalami Estates pre-clearance for any visitors, find keys to mail box, and every door in the house (each has a separate key), etc. A large binder of manuals awaited us.

Once we semi-mastered the "binder", we obtained cell phones with directions for use, learned procedures for driving a car on the "other side of the road", learned how to get to the store to buy essentials, like food :). Not to mention the mound of paperwork from the school and the requirements of parents with students attending the American International School of Johannesburg. I just realized today, that I needed to download the school newsletter every Friday and that it would not automatically come to me. Oh well, I guess I was not as informed as I thought I was.

So assuming that I have all of this figured out and have taken the time to read up on all of these new devices, etc. (which I have not), I should be ready to use all of them, right? Well, not always. I realized that there are power outages here quite frequently and when that occurs, nothing works, except those things that can be charged up in advance. I should not be surprised, since that is the reason Stan is working here, and we are living here. Black and Veatch was hired by Eskom (the local utility here) to design and build a new power plant which was needed about 8 years ago.

Usually, I am O.K. with all of this, but this past Friday was a bit frustrating for me, because every time I tried to use something, it did not work correctly and during the afternoon, we had a 3 hour power outage. To lesson my frustration, and to better accept this common occurrence, I grabbed a book and read. I was soon a bit calmer and more relaxed. By the time Stan got home from work, he was able to get the power back up in our home. It turns out that this outage was caused by the rain (remember all of the rain that we get during the rainy season), which tripped our outdoor lighting causing the whole house to be without power.

Procedures, directions, manuals, etc. are starting to be absorbed finally and I continue to look for the blessings, like a Garmin in my car that I already knew how to use, since we owned a Garmin in Kansas. One less device to learn :). I am starting to cook in my own kitchen, now that I know how to operate all of the appliances. I do have to account for the high altitude when baking though. There are some things that are already starting to be automatic, if you can believe that. Routines are starting to be established, like attending a quilting class every Sat. morning and driving by myself there. Going grocery shopping on my own, attending a weekly bible study on my own, walking around the community, etc.

This 50 year old brain is sure getting a workout. So you can "teach an old dog new tricks".