When we visited PE for our house/school locating visit, our relocating agent told us that there was so much to see in the city. Lots of history, nature, museums, amusements and cafes. I was told that PE takes going out for coffee to a new level, and there were dozens of quaint little cafes to experience. Then of course there was the shopping and restaurants.
Here is a list of all the exciting and historical places I have seen so far.
Nature sites - I have been to, I think, perhaps every grocery store in Port Elizabeth. Given that they have so much produce I'm calling them a nature site. Spar, Super Spar, Pick n' Pay, Pick n' Pay Hyper, Woolworths, Splendor. I've found either the same products or adequate subsitutions for my tried and true recipes and we've tried many new things that we will be adding to our everyday menu's, but with so much on my mind I forgot to write down where I found what. So, my next goal is to find everything for a second time and write down where it came from. If you ever move make sure to take a pad and paper (or smart phone) with you everywhere to go so you can write stuff down.
Historical site - The school was established in 1959, so I'm calling it historical. DS #2 started school within a week of arriving, but with DS #1's learning disability we have decided to focus on remedial tutoring for his reading and writing, so he is attending school part time. The school the kids are going to also has different hours for each of the different grades. As children progress through the grades they attend school for longer each day. So, DS #2 starts at 7:50 in the morning and finishes his academic time at 12:55. DS #1 has various start times and finishes at 14:10. Which means I see the school parking lot 4 times per day. DD will start in July for 3rd term as they do not have room for her yet. Then, it will be 6 times a day (or hopefully only 5 if DS #1 is full time by then). I'll post more on the education in the school later.
Museums - Car dealerships are kind of like transportation museums, right? We were a 2 vehicle family in Canada. We probably didn't need to be, but it was more convenient. Here in PE 2 cars are a must, if for no other reason than getting the kids to and from school. DH has a company car and we figured I would lease. Unlike Canada, where there are multiple dealerships for the same manufacturer, here in PE there is one dealership per manufacturer only. I have visited almost all of them. I have test driven several models that seemed to fit the bill. A decision was made, but it turns out leasing here is not the same as leasing in Canada. In fact it is much more expensive to lease than it is to purchase. Therein lies the rub. We are not South African Citizens nor have we lived here very long, so we have no credit history which makes purchasing a car with a bank loan impossible. So, we are on the hunt for a used vehicle that doesn't cost too much, that we can pay cash for and won't sell for too much, as we can't take money out of the country when we leave. More on that in a later post. Used car dealerships, here I come.
Amusement parks - Standing in line for hours just for a couple of minutes of exhilaration, that's an amusement park. It could also describe what I experienced trying to set up our technical services. Line up for an hour, then the exhilaration of getting the service you've been waiting for and finding out the ride wasn't the one you thought it was. You have to join a different line for that ride. Much like purchasing a vehicle, setting up any service, television, telephone, or Internet has been a challenge as an expat. I was warned that things take more time in South Africa. South African time they called it. I'm not sure I can accurately comment on whether it is South African time or the fact that we are not South African. Here in South Africa everyone has an ID card. Without one, some things, like using our South African credit card online are impossible, as in, it can't ever be done. Without an ID card I have to use my passport number for everything that I can access and I can honestly say for the first time in my life that I have actually memorized my passport number.
Cafes - I have been to one cafe. It's called the The Pink Fig. The only reason I've been to The Pink Fig is because it has a giant playground with swings and slides and climbers. The kids love it. It also has what they call the "Clay Shack". You can paint pottery pieces and they will fire them for you. You can do sand art and glass mosaic pieces too. Did I mention the kids love it? Hopefully, some day, when the kids are all in school, I will visit more than just the one and truly experience the cafes, plural, of Port Elizabeth. In the meantime I will have to get my cafe fix through my neighbours blog http://www.portelizabethcoffeecrawl.blogspot.com/. She's a retired teacher, from New York State, who arrived here in July 2010. She accompanied her husband on a transfer too. She's a mom, but her kids (and grand kids) are all grown and still in the states. She was looking for something to do to get her out and about and so the Port Elizabeth coffee crawl began. She encouraged me to start this blog, as she has had a great deal of fun doing hers. Thanks neighbour.
Shopping - There is a mall very close to the children's school. It has 2 grocery stores attached to it, so between pick up times at school, we go to the mall. I grocery shop most days as I'm there anyway. Our fridge is a side by side and much smaller than the one we had in Canada so it's hard to shop just once a week for a family of 5. We don't have a chest freezer either. The mall is definitely first world. Big and bright with stores for books, kitchen ware, furniture, beauty supplies, jewelry, clothes etc.
When dh and I were deciding what to bring with us from Canada we looked at it as an opportunity to get rid of some of the furniture that had survived (barely) the infant and toddler stages of our 3 children, not to mention 2 dogs. It helped the decision when we found that furniture was less expensive here in PE. We got the kitchen table easily as we had seen in on our prior visit, but living room furniture is still eluding us. We have our outdoor furniture in the living room at the moment and it will suffice until we find something the suits us. In the hope that we would have visitors, as so many people indicated that they would love to visit South Africa, we decided to get all the kids bunk beds and just bring our mattresses from Canada, thus having extra sleeping space. Did you know that South Africa uses European sized mattresses? Nope, we didn't either. Sigh! Let's just say it was fun trying to locate a bunk bed that would fit our North American mattresses. Just one more thing we should have researched better before we left.
So, in closing, there is much sightseeing to be done in PE, during the week I'm exploring mommy style and the truly exciting stuff will have to wait for the weekends.
Next Post - Driving on the left
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