Finding a Flat in Pretoria or The Women in the Box

This weekend Ewa and I were on a mission: Find a flat – no excuses! After two weeks of viewing various flats, houses and holes we have still not found a place to stay! Apart from being picky, some of the places were just totally unacceptable: We saw many flats that had one of the bedroom windows face the main hallway – who wants to wake up and see their neighbours on their way to work? I certainly don’t! Some houses were so big that it would almost be scary to live in them, some (especially those which promised modern furniture) would have been old-fashioned in the 1920s and others were beautiful, but had very chatty owners live in a flat in the house … I could go on telling you about weird constructions, odd neighborhoods and strange owners, but that may all be soon forgotten because we did find something in the end: a newly build two bedroom flat in a nice quiet yet lively area in Pretoria. The estate agent made it incredibly difficult for us to rent the place: apart from not turning up when we arranged viewings, returning calls or being permanently late, she also kept on running away from us when we had actually managed to meet her so that we spend ages trying to find her again. She is just a total disaster! But I think the flat is worth the hassle. Even though it is quite small, the garden is beautiful and we are very close to malls, bars and the university sports grounds. The only downside is that we do not have a spare room (but will do in December), so that everyone who wants to come and visit, will have to camp in the garden 
Another problem was that the place is not furnished – there is nothing in there apart from wardrobes and some kitchen appliances. So for the past two days, Ewa and I have been running around like crazy trying to find good deals on furniture. We have to buy everything: Sofa, fridge, iron, plates, collander… literally everything! And there is no Ikea! So after many overpriced designer shops, minging second hand furniture and bizarre elephant-teeth-table constructions, we found Mr Price – the Primark of South Africa! We found it, loved it and will no doubt leave nothing for other people!
So rather than spending a nice weekend by the pool, we chased an unreliable estate agent, argued with contractors and ran through hundreds of shops, but at least we finally have an idea of what our new home will look like.
Thinking about it though, we could have had it a lot easier if we had just followed the example set by the mysterious women in the box that we pass every day on our way to work. But let me start from the beginning…
There are hundreds of street vendors in Pretoria. Many sell fruit and vegetables, others individual sweets for half a penny each, many have little telephones on their stands – a bit like mobile phone booths - and then there is always those, who try to sell you all sorts of stuff at traffic lights. So while you are waiting for the lights to turn green, you can buy new handbags, coat hangers or sunglasses ... very useful … I guess.
But then there is this woman in the box. We drive past her daily and since the very first day she has fascinated me. She sits in a quiet road (as in, no other vendors around) a little table next to her with some random things on it – some days it looks like bread, others like paint! – and she herself sits in a box. So all I can see is her head sticking out of the box and so far I have not had a clue what the hell she is doing! She must be selling something and initially I thought it might be some sort of hot-dog or boiled maize, but once the paint tubs showed up, this theory seemed unlikely. I have asked a few of my South African friends, but they had never even noticed. I guess I could just get out and look, but where’s the fun in that?