safety issues

Ah, another long weekend full of work. Yesterday was K-Day, which is a big rugby match between the two private high schools in Grahamstown. A lot of alumni of the schools come in to town for the weekend from all over the country. Which translates to lots of obnoxious white kids and their equally obnoxious parents in the restaurant. I really hope I wasn't that obnoxious when I was 14 and 15. Other than that, I'm really enjoying work. The other waitresses are great to work with and the women in the kitchen treat me like a daughter. One woman, Pinks, always greets me with, "Hello my baby!" They feed me really well too. I've moved into Kate's room at her digs since she finished exams early and went home to Durban. It's a little bit farther away from work than Carmen's place - a 25 minute walk as opposed to a 10 minute one - but that's okay. I love everyone who lives here. It's also in a safer neighborhood. It's strange how everyone here is used to the idea of break-ins. When I first got here I noticed that all my friends lock their bedroom doors when they go to sleep. I asked Carmen, "What if there's a fire?" And she looked at me like I was stupid and said, "Uh, then I unlock it, duh." I didn't realize that the bigger and more real threat is a break-in. Everyone I know has been broken into at least once. The only part that scares me is that it's such an accepted fact of life. How is a break-in not that big of a deal? The other night when I was at Carmen's we all woke up around 5:30 in the morning because we heard someone climbing over the gate into our backyard. He couldn't get into the house, so he left, but we called our security company and they came to take a look anyway. The next day our friend Xanthe who lives a few houses down the road told us her house got broken into around 6. Presumably the same guy. But at her house he got inside. She is crazy - she started cursing at him and even got a few good kicks in and he just grabbed her cell phone and ran off. She was pretty shaken up, but she's really tough. So now I realize, hey, I'd better start locking my door at night. I don't mean to worry anybody - I can imagine Mom and Dad freaking out as they read this. Don't worry! I'm fine! Here they have a saying, "TIA." ("This Is Africa.") I'm just accepting it as one aspect of life here - this life that I am loving. I'll take the bad with the good.