The George Hotel and the Zululand Backpackers' Hostel

 I suppose I should get around to describing this place which is to be my home for the next month. Like the luxurious guesthouse where I stayed before, both the George hotel and the Backpackers' Hostel are owned by Graham Chennells. The Backpackers' is only accessible by walking through the Hotel, which means it feels nice and secluded from the life outside. The George is more than just a hotel and hostel though - it also has a pub, the 'Quarters' restaurant, the Rotary club headquarters, the 'Mama Zulu' coffee house and a microbrewery attached, which brews an award-winning 'Zulu blonde' beer. (The pub is one of only three choices in eShowe, and from what I've heard, one is for the old folks and the other is the Sports' Club, which isn't nearly as nice.) So it feels less like living in a hotel, and more like being at the centre of an important hub of the eShowe community.
 The Backpackers' itself is wonderful. It has everything necessary for a spartan lifestyle: the main building includes the kitchen with fridge and washing machine, the indoor lounge area with books and television, and the outdoor covered lounge-bar area with extremely comfy chairs and tables. Then across the small lawn is the steps down to the rectangular tiled courtyard. All the bedrooms have a door facing into this courtyard, and each door is given a name after a famous Zulu chieftain. My room is number 7, 'Malandela'. Apparently, Malandela is famous for having lots of cattle and, consequently, lots of wives. My room is just big enough for twin beds separated by a bedside table, and one cupboard-shelf thing. It's perfect.
 The whole place would be simple to the point of austere if it wasn't for the decoration. It's difficult to describe the style - various walls are painted lime-green - but the theme is definitely Zulu. There are large prints all over the place of Zulus cutting sugar-cane or historical photos of eShowe. In the kitchen one wall is papered with portraits of Zulus (a baby, a chieftain, a young woman) and in my room is a photo of a black boy's chest wearing a beaded necklace which spells 'Zulu'. In the girls' bathroom the designer has let himself go a bit, with dozens of photos of women in various stages of nudity, but it's all just the right side of artistic.
 On my first day I met the artist responsible for giving the whole hotel this unique character. His name is Peter Engblom and he's recently put his back out, so the first time I met him he was lying on the sofa in the covered outdoor area. He ranted about the government, moaned about his back, said 'I'm not racist, but...' and then proceeded to state that in a business partnership blacks will take all the money and do none of the work (although the worst partnership, of course, is with a black and a Jew). He swears steadily and always seems a little grumpy. Despite this and the depressing world-view, I like him. He's the only other person I've seen using the Backpackers' facilities, and we exchange comments on the weather and egg-mayonnaise sandwiches whenever we run into each other.
 I have glimpsed other residents, but have yet to strike up any conversations with my fellow backpackers. I have had more success with the workers; the boy who comes every day to rake the leaves in the garden is called Pilane (Pill-ah-nay). Having broken the main barrier of learning each other's names, we are now becoming friends. (Today he had a go at playing on my violin.) I surprised the three cleaner-ladies today by humming 'Sho Sholoza', a traditional Zulu song that they couldn't believe I knew. Many of the workers in the hotel seem to live in a complex just the other side of the fence from the Backpackers' hostel - from my window I can nearly see my friend Gladys' front door. And let's not forget Blue the cat. Today marks my third day in eShowe, the end of my first full week in South Africa and also my parents' wedding anniversary (twenty-two years now?). I feel well settled in to my new community.

My bedroom, neatly organised.

(There, Mum - two posts in one day! Think of it as an Anniversary present.)