Up at 6, got to sleep late!

Downloaded the email and into the office before anyone else at 7:30.

Came up with a more efficient way of downloading the data from the test equipment for transmission to HQ. Worked on that for an hour.

Then, I went to the company's other local office. I Was WARMLY welcomed by everyone there, the local boss, asked me to come back tomorrow at 11 to talk about my project to the group at their regular team meeting. The computer guy started working on my computer security card issue (he never did resolve it) and he emailed my data. (it took him 10 minutes vs 3 hours for me on the dial up!) Technical guy issued me a brand new Motorola GSM StarTAC 130, I yanked my rented SIM card out of the rented NOKIA (http://www.nokia.com/) so I have the same number +27-82-858-0088...[don't call that, someone else is renting that phone now!] WOW this phone is MUCH nicer than the several year old NOKIA!!! GSM is a MUCH nicer system than AMPS!!!! Since most of the people reading this [the first time I wrote it] have the same last name as me, and I might be the only person in the family who knows what that means, GSM is "Groupe Special Mobile" or something like that, also its commonly call "Global System for Mobile", the european standard digital TDMA phone (see http://www.gsmdata.com/overview.htm and  http://www.gsm.org/). AMPS is Advanced Mobile Phone System, the US analog standard. The battery lasts about 36 hours and is half the size of my  AMPS startac battery which lasts about 12 hours! (There is more cellphone info at: http://www.iit.edu/~diazrob/cell/intro.html and elsewhere if you search for it) (Being a Ham Radio operator, expect to see more comments from me on electonics throughout these pages!)

The sign at the door to the office instructs everyone to secure their firearms with the receptionist.

Back to the office to find problems with my test equipment.

Met a different guy from the company who took me to lunch. He talked about  other advanced electronics business in Africa.  There was a guy with a stick waving drivers to empty spots along the street to park. Turns outs, he was a freelance car guardian, working for tips, my host gave him 2 rand I think.

I learned today that the  Northern Sotho guy at work can speak English (I knew that), Afrikaans, N Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and that he learned those languages just working in the city. Every person I met could speak English, half the whites speak Afrikaans as their first language and all (it seems) the blacks speak an "african" language as their first language, and many of them speak also other "african" languages including Afrikaans (the only germanic language group language to evolve into a unique language outside of europe).

My friend (above) from the internet competitive shooting list and his wife took me out to dinner. We went to a restaurant called the "Train" actually old 20's vintage dining cars. They have a wide variety of game meat. Crocodile, Giraffe, Ostrich, Hippo, Elephant, Zebra, Springbok, Buffalo, Mopane worms (yes, worms!). It all tasted like beef, except croc was like chicken and worms were like rubber. See one of the signs above the buffet!

We had an interesting chat and they offered to take me sightseeing if I have time, or to a rifle match.

My friend has a "domestic", a person who works in the home doing odd jobs. He says nearly all houses used to be built on an acre with simple servants quarters in back and nearly everyone used to have hired help..."the dishwashing machine has black hands" (that was not intended as a derogatory term). Other folks I met mentioned having domestics. I sensed that they were considered part of the family. My friend said Unions are forcing wages up to the point where domestics are no longer affordable. The domestics get a place to live (at least they used to), all their food, basic medical, often schooling for the kids paid for, and a fairly low salary.