Solid Place to Stay

After a week and a day of staying at guest lodges, I've finally locked down an apartment. It's not anything special, in fact it's decidedly less than special, but it's a good place to call home base and to fall asleep at night. Well, I haven't actually slept here yet, but I'll found out about that last part shortly.

The apartment is one of two bachelors in the backyard of a single-family home near the Melville area of Johannesburg. But really, bachelor is a bit generous. It's basically one room, with a sink and counter, and a bathroom in another room outside. Yeah, like walk out of my apartment, take a few steps and walk into the bathroom. Not quite luxury, but good enough. And at a fairly standard local rate of 2000 Rand per month (a little less than $300), it's definitely a get-what-you-pay-for type of deal.

The guy who owns the property with his wife is very nice, though, and has really helped me out. Being a foreigner, here for only a few short months, I didn't really have a bed. Or bedsheets. Or a chair to sit on. Or a plate to eat from. He hooked it up big time with a nice air mattress and sheets, some dishes and flatware and even a kettle. Because my bachelor doesn't have a stove. This "bachelor" is more like a dude who lives in his parents' basement and has stopped trying to get dates.

But it will do. And I might even get to move to the other bachelor (with indoor toilet!) at the end of the month when the student who's currently living there moves out. Either way, I'm feeling a lot more rooted now.