Phew! From Vanderbijl to Potch to Seoul in a Dash

It's been a while since my last post and update on my travels in South Africa. South Africa?! When was I in South Africa?

So a week and a half ago I found myself in the Vaal Triangle on my brother's plot (small holding) about 20 kilometres outside of Vanderbijlpark. He has horses on the plot. And an Alsatian-Bull Mastiffish cross with horselike ears. And three doves in a rusty aviary. Technically the latter belongs to my wheelchair bound father who manoeuvres himself into the living room around 5 PM in order to watch his favourite weekday TV program: Dragon Ball Z! The week that I stayed at my brother's plot I got to notice a number of my invalid father's daily habits. Although he cannot speak and only has limited mobility, there is nothing wrong with his understanding, nor his ability to appreciated the subtleties of anime. I wonder if I inherited my love of anime from my father.

I mentioned in previous posts about my car that got stolen some time last year and how it was miraculously recovered by the police. Well it would seem that the devil refuses me the luxury of enjoying the miracle, since the police are yet to allow us to get the car from the police's pound. Their excuse is that they are still busy with the investigation. My goodness! How long does their investigations take, and do they really need to keep my car to do so? I'm starting to think that they are just devilishly spiteful.

In any case, it was my intention to share the time of my last week and a half in South Africa between Vanderbijlpark and Potchefstroom. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way and I only got to go to Potchefstroom this past Monday afternoon and Tuesday, resulting in my last moments in South Africa being terribly hurried as I ran from one appointment to another. It also caused me to miss out on a number of people I would have liked to see.

I started my journey back to Korea on Wednesday, arrived late Thursday afternoon, went to bed at 11 PM and only got up at 11 AM on Friday.

I suddenly found myself with a blocked toilet, causing me to go on a rampant search for drain unblocking tools: chemicals, a plunger, a strange springlike wire, pipes and what not. Got the drain cleared eventually, but this was certainly not the way I planned to start my time back in Korea.

The good part is that I was able to salvage most of my plants. After six weeks of neglect they looked terribly sad, but with gallons of water and love I was able to rescue the majority.