Laundry excitement

We've all arrived in our host library cities/towns and it's been a settling in kind of weekend. Because there hasn't been much work action, I thought I'd tell you a little story about my weekend adventures:

I've arrived to the most incredibly beautiful apartment. It's in a converted tobacco factory and my apartment is brand new. I feel very very privileged.

My first priority on arriving here was to do laundry. I'd just spent a week in a hotel and I'd gone through just about all my clothes. I was ready to start over with some clean ones.

Laundry: simple enough, right?

Wrong.

I remembered hearing on arriving here that you needed a laundry card to do laundry - no coin machines. Ok, I thought: I'll get a card. Mmm, but where? Resourceful me: I found out that I could buy one at a machine in the Business Centre (Center!). And so the sad story begins:

Catch the lift (elevator!) to the ground (first!) floor to get to the Business Centre (Center!).
Get to the door and discover I need a code to get in.
Catch the lift (elevator!) back up to flat (apartment!) to find the code.
Back down to the Business Centre (Center!) to punch in code.
Success! Find laundry card machine.
Attempt to purchase card.
Discover machine all out of cards.
Leave Business Center and enquire at office.
They'll call the laundry machine guy, but there's another machine in the "old cigarette factory". You mean one of the buildings around here that looks like all the other buildings? Yes, that one.
Find 'old cigarette factory' and discover all doors locked. Find an open one and make complete fool of self by asking someone who looks at me like I'm from another planet - no, we don't have a laundry card machine here, lady.
Sigh.
Walk back to apartment to gather strength.
Strength gathered: catch lift (elevator!) back down to office to find out if laundry card machine now fixed.
Didn't I get a card in the other building? It was locked? Here's a key card to get in.
Walk back over to other building. Use key card and enter. Find empty corridors, no people, no signs.
Walk around for a good 5 minutes and eventually locate laundry room.
Success! Purchase card.
Walk back to flat (apartment!) and gather dirty clothes. Excited now.
Go to laundry room.
Chuck clothes in washing machine (washer!).
Insert card.
.............
Nothing.
Sigh.
Realise that card itself costs $5, but have to add value to it to use it.
Catch lift (elevator!) back down to Business Center.
Punch in code. Add value to card.
Back up to laundy room.
WASH CLOTHES.

Entertaining, no? All in all, it cost me R90 and took me most of a day to get clean clothes.

It can only get better from here....