Updated software rev of the test equipment had gone nuts and the working correctly, resulting in screwing up the other equipment.... I HATE computers!!!!
I'm starting to feel a LOT more comfortable here, the half-mile walk from the hotel to the office seems perfectly safe in the AM and up till 6PM.
I went to the other office today as I had more emails to send (I think I'll go there every day) and I had been asked by the country manager to speak to the group at 11:00AM. There is an employee there who looks exactly like actress Andie McDowell!, and another who could pass for Gorbachev, birthmark and all!. The computer/technical dude got me a phone line set up, someone else, I forget who got me a vacant office. I sent my emails, then three of the my co-workers took me to lunch, I had to strain to keep up with the conversation. this SA accent is tough to follow. The indicated they'd invite me out on a weekend or evening. The lady in the group got REALLY excited when I showed her a picture of my Chevy 4x4 Truck. During the lunch, One'a the guys got a phone call in afrikaans, and another got one in portuguese, all 4 of us had top'o the line GSM phones, but it seems everyone in SA has one.
Another guy at work got me a security card, so I can get into my newly assigned office anytime I want to! (If I can only get a ride to the building, maybe a mile away.)
Dang these people are nice!!!
After the 4 PM over-an-hour conference call, I had to set up the test and get back to the hotel and run (literally) down to the grocery store before it closed at 6, I barely made it, to get something for breakfast and some coke for the office (it was on sale! 8.99 normally 11.99 per 6-pack), that's like $1.60 vs $2.10.
One of the people I encountered in my travels wears a star, looks like a small old-timey sheriff's badge with a green ribbon on his shirt. He said it is a symbol of his Zion Christian Church, I've seen other guys on the street wearing it too.
Electricity here is 220VAC 50Hz, the plug is a HUGE triangular plug with 2 round power pins about 1/4" diameter spaced maybe 1.1" and one round ground pin about 3/8" in diameter and 1.25" away from the power pins. There is an on-off switch near every outlet. The hardware stores sell adapters to the european standard, and many products such as the cell phone charger are sold with the european plug. (I charge it in the bathroom!, there is 220 and 120 there, small round pins 1/8" maybe spaced 1" or so)
Phone line appears to be the exact same as US, although there are a lot of digital lines in offices. apparently, even from your home phone, you have to pay per call per minute. but it is 10x cheaper than the cell-phones that EVERYONE seems to have. I heard there are more phones in RSA than in all the rest of sub-saharan africa, maybe 6 million (to call 40 million people) and there are like 1 to 2 million cell phones. There are 2 cell phone companies here, Vodacom, which I mentioned earlier and MTN (which should be at http://www.mtn.co.za). All cell phone numbers start with area code 082 for vodacom and 083 for MTN, whereas 011 is jo'burg, 021 is Capetown, 012 is Pretoria etc. It makes it easy when you see a phone number to know whether you are calling (or being called by) a mobile or a real phone.
Since I had a nice sit-down lunch with new friends, ice cream at 6 and I hate eating alone in a nice restaurant, I went to the mall and got Nando's take-out chicken for dinner. That place is REALLY good, really messy to, I bet one could do well expanding the chain to the US.