Instead of posting a response to Nikky’s comment, I thought this might be a fun chance to post on the topic… so, in case you didn’t read the comment it says…
“South Africa must be a trip! How is it different from the US (I'm sure there are many differences) and how is it the same?”
So, how is it different? Well…
1)There are MANY more languages here – 11 official languages to be exact. So that makes it difficult sometimes! I am commonly spoken to in Afrikaans and I feel like a complete idiot and try to get out, “ek prat nie Afrikaans nie” which means I don’t speak Afrikaans (I don’t know if I spelled that right)… then that leads into a whole discussion of where I’m from and why I’m here.
2)We drive on the left side of the road, on the right side of the car, and almost all the cars here are manual, so I shift with my left hand.
3)There’s no Hershey’s chocolate here… that makes me sad. BUT, the major chocolate company here is Cadbury’s and it’s quite lovely. :)
4)You can call someone “coloured” and not get in trouble for it. ;) Here, coloured actually refers to a group of specific people and it’s the proper term.
5)When we say that Indians live here, we actually mean people who descend or are directly from India!
6)We’re on the metric system… so I can drive 120 on the highway and not get in trouble for it! :)
7)Sometimes things happen a lot slower here than they would in America. I live in Johannesburg, which is a big city, so that’s not as much of an issue… until you talk about the townships, which are more of what you’d think of as “Africa.” There, I never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes an event is scheduled to start at noon and might not start till a few hours later!!
8)The big sports attractions here are rugby, cricket and soccer. Very few people even know how to play basketball and baseball.
9)We use Rand instead of Dollars. $1.00 equals about R6.50.
How is it the same?
1)There are malls everywhere, with trendy and expensive shops, coffee places to hang out and movie cinemas (our movies always come out at least a few days after the States).
2)There’s McDonald’s and KFC! (and Pizza Hut in some places, but not around here)
3)Almost everyone carries a cell-phone… even some of the poorest people I’ve met somehow still have a cell-phone a lot of the time.
You know, life here to me is very much like life in America, but for some weird reason it’s hard for me to list ways that things are the same. I don’t know why that is. I mean really, I don’t live any differently than I would in the States! I guess it’s just easier to think of ways that are different, because I rarely think about things that are the same.
I would love it hear from any of you who either live here or have visited. What have you noticed is different or the same??? Do tell! :)
Thanks for checking in on me!
in Him,
Bonnie B.
2 comments:
There are no biscuits in south africa. Random, I know. But KFC gave me a roll, and I was really craving a biscuit :) Someone told me that they don't really have biscuits up north in the US either, so maybe they are just a southern thing?
The other things I noticed are things you mentioned.. driving on the left side of the road, the rands, the languages. And what surprised me the most is Joburg is really just an urban city like Raleigh, with malls and fast food and highways. I often forgot that I was in Africa, because it felt like home... until I had to buy something, haha! I learned quickly how to divide by 6 ;)
And yeah, no Hersheys... but Crunchies are worth the trade off!!!
Actually there are many biscuits in South Africa, but they're non-American biscuits, not American "biscuits." Our "biscuits" are your "cookies" and our "cookies" are your "cupcakes." Fun, huh?!
Other differences? I've generally found Americans louder and more confident in themselves than South Africans...more self-assertive (that's a generalisation - spent most of my time in the North East).
American coffee - excellent. Can't find a French Vanilla here but in *every* petrol station (oh, right, "petrol" = "gas") you could get French Vanilla to go (or "take away"). Probably the thing I miss most about the States!
Shameless self-promotion and extremely cheesy ads - radio, tv, you name it. I love the medical advertisments which tell you how good the product is for you, and then the guy pretty much raps the side effects: "May cause sickness, diabetes, excessive sleep and death." Hilarious!
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