Work

Very unfortunately, working abroad isn't like study abroad in one key respect - study abroad means very little (if any) studying, but working abroad is still work. I probably work longer hours here in Joburg than I have in Chicago in recent months. The hard part for me is that work days here start at 8 AM - supposedly a vestige of the old mining culture in South Africa. Of course, those miners used to get off work by 3 or 4. At least the ones that weren't forced laborers paid pennies per hour and lived in shanty towns until they died when they were around my age. Ok I guess things could be worse for me. My days usually end around 7 or 8, followed by a quick trip to the gym in my apartment and a late dinner out somewhere. Maybe once a week there will be a night that goes until 10 or 11 PM, and only once so far have I been in the office past midnight, which had me leaving arond 3 AM. I'm hoping I don't see my first African sunrise from my desk. It's okay though - as long as I can play with baby lion cubs on the weekends, I'll maintain my sanity.