the first month

We have reached the very symbolic 4-week mark, meaning I am here officially one month. And I am getting restless.
As usually the case when I get a bit restless, I can't exactly tell you why. Is it because I am not in my new apartment yet? Is it because I am still spending time browsing ads, this time for a car? Is it because so many evenings look alike? No clue. Probably a bit of everything, either way I have a faint feeling of frustration.
Fortunately I have a way to cope with that: making more plans. I like having plans, primarily because I can assure myself I will do something (slightly more) useful than just hanging around. Plans serve as a benchmark : I can compare possible other activities to the one planned and see if they are better. If the activity is deemed less interesting, based on my very subjective and arbitrary judgment, I might still do them if other factors justify that: uniqueness, involving unknown third parties, overall cost (monetary, opportunity costs, search costs,...), time or other constraints. To sum up a lot of BS: I like having plans when I feel restless.

So the plans for this weekend are (non exhaustive, not compulsory list):
- finishing the book I am reading
- finding a means of personal transport, i.e. a scooter of some sort
- leaving the city bowl for a significant amount of time
- watching the rugby game on Saturday (Bokke VS Ireland)
- go and hike in Kirstenbosch Gardens (see right inlay)
- deciding on a car
- go to bank to pick up bank card
- go and check out the switching on of the X-mas lights
- to be determined

I think it is mainly because my situation hasn't changed much in the past weeks that frustration is building up. I have found a place to rent, as I mentioned before, but I still don't hold the keys in my hand. Reason being that HR are not as efficient as I would like them to be (sharp contrast to Belgian HR). My container still isn't customs cleared. I still rely on taxis to get around in the City. I still haven't found something interesting to do on weekday evenings,... and all those things are interrelated.

But the coming week is very promising: Tuesday I should get my keys, Thursday they will deliver my stuff at my apartment, Friday there is the staff party, and there is the lottery of the World Cup groups which means there will be plenty of activity around the city. Already they are putting up extra decoration and there is a sense of excitement.
Everyone knows this will be a very important moment. News stations from around the world will take this opportunity to look at how the preparations are going. Still a lot of preparations to do in these final 200 days - the organization does not take chances on safety - let's look at the stadiums - but what about those vuvuzela's -...