prelude to a post

i am not fond of statistics, but:

i moved to johannesburg 136 days ago. i have spent 91 of those days, including weekends, at work.

i am 24 years old and i have 24 grey hairs. the number of grey hairs on my head correlate with the number of weekends i have spent at the office instead of exploring johannesburg.

i feel the need to counter these troubling statistics with words. i need to write about what jozi has meant to me in the past 136 days despite the daily grind and grey hairs.

there was a time in my life when the only grey hairs i noticed covered my grandmother's head. when we visited her in iran, one of my highest priorities was to walk to the corner store and buy turkish "love is" bubblegum. each chewy cube came wrapped in a liner that made a curious proclamation about love. i would collect pieces of what "love is" in my pocket throughout the holiday.

in a similar vein, older me wants to collect pieces of jozi in her pocket - to write of moments that resonate with my definition of johannesburg. to remind me of my transient place in this city. hence, this post.