If you love it, you can complain about it

I may complain a lot, but I do truly love Cape Town. Reading over my few previous posts I realize I may be making this place sound like a mini war zone, it truly isn't that bad but this stuff happens its just part of everyday life. So with that said it's time to complain (a little).

Sometimes (most of the time) I forget that this is a third world country, on one hand you have the latest technology and you can find (although may take a quite a while) anything you want. This weekend we were partying a little, and it was 430 in the afternoon, no one had sleep and somehow I was voted most presentable to the outside world since I had stopped drink about an hour earlier. I asked for two recounts before I actually got my ass off the couch to go to the store. Everyone should be extremely impressed that I made the whole 100 meters without falling, hurting myself or anyone else or without being run over by a car (I can guarantee that by the time I leave I will be hit by at least one car, will kinda sort of did but that's another story).

Of course living in Obz is like living in a small town you cannot leave your house without running into someone, so of course I run into a fellow masters student (not horrible but I do like to keep un-sober me away from people associated with my other life, i.e. school) he looks at me and says 'what the hell are you on', oh I'm just hung-over, at that he gives me a skeptical look and smile and is on his way. I go back to shopping praying (well not praying but wishing) I do not see another soul I know, the shopping list was pretty simple: a bottle of wine, buns and hummus, tomatoes, ice and cigarettes. On a Sunday afternoon at 430 one would think that to fulfill this shopping list would not be a problem right... wrong. The wine, which had the potential to cause some problems because the groceries stores aren't suppose to sell it on Sundays, wasn't a problem at all. The problem... the buns and tomatoes, what kind of grocery store can you not find tomatoes and whole wheat buns. Okay I could give them the whole wheat buns, maybe, but they didn't even have whole wheat bread!! WTF! And tomatoes, who doesn't have tomatoes. This is a common theme for stores here though. You can never guarantee that what you want, even the most basic product will be in stock when you want it. I have never seen stores anywhere else that actually post signs saying, Sorry Temporarily Out of Stock, well you do but not on items like pasta, milk, and bread. What I don't understand is that these are not the small independent little groceries stores, these are large chains that you find across the country. You think if you run out of something you would call up the closest store (the 1 not even a 5 minute drive away) and be like hey can we get some of your wholewheat bread until tomorrow, but unfortunately no. A good rule of thumb, if you find something you love they will stop carrying it for a quite awhile. There is a type of cracker I absolutely love, but I have been waiting for over two weeks for it to come back, still waiting. A berry juice I discovered about month ago (goes perfectly with vodka) has not been in stock since and the weird thing with that is none of the stores have it, I hope they didn't stop making it, fingers crossed.

At least I can experience several walks of life without even leaving my little community, going to the store like a Russian (stereotype I realize) hoping there will be food on the shelves, next door go to the Internet cafe to play on the Internet like a true North American, pass the berkie begging for money (will that could be anywhere I guess), the women who just gave birth at the hospital and is climbing into a minibus taxi with 15 other people to bring her new born home to her shack (not that everyone lives in shacks but there is over a million that do so...) all this within a 100 meter circumference from my front door. Not bad, but still wish I could get my crackers, juice and tomatoes.