What goes on in South Africa

Hi there! Time for another blog. You might be thinking: doesn’t she have anthing else to do? Yes, I have A LOT to do. We really need to do more for our thesis and Health Promotion to be finished in time (12th of June). But, my partner in crime was gone for the weekend until tonight, so I had to do it on my own and after working the whole day I’m done with it. Last weekend, I was in Mossel Bay with a few of the students. Another girl and I were thinking what kind of weird and funny things happen around here in South Africa. I always write about everything I do, but now I want to tell you about some of the things I have seen. Be prepared.

First of all: the road. Dramatic! When you drive here, you see literally everything. In one of my first blogs I already told you that Africans walk next to the highway. There are also many people who stand along the highway with apples to sell them, or they stand there with apples or 10 or 20 Rand for a lift (10 Rand is 0,70 Euro).. But the most annoying and terrifying thing is that the people also walk along the highway in the dark. Last weekend, a men was walking on the road! Literally between the lines, while I was driving at least 80 km/h. There are no street lights, so you can’t see further than your own car lights.. but my driving skills are that good that I didn’t run him over… Lucky him.
Second of all, people are not the only creatures on the highway. Baboons also live there! With their cute red butts. And as tourists (which we still are), everybody in the car goes like: AAAAAAH BABOOOONS *opens snapchat as fast as we can*..
Furthermore, traffic signs are really weird here. For example: ‘High risk of crime, don’t stop on freeway’ (anybody who would even think of stopping on a highway where everybody drives at least 100km/h?! No didn’t think so) or ‘You speed, you’re killer’ (Which language is this?!). Another thing about traffic signs: they are always AT the exit, so when you see them you’re already too late.. Also, traffic lights are always before the stop stripe, so that’s the second thing you miss.. Luckily, they’ve set another set of traffic lights on the other side of the road. Two for the price of one. Another thing about the highway, which makes South Africans so social, is that the highway is most of the time just one track, so every time someone wants to pass you, you automatically drive partly on the emergency lane. Then, when the other car passes, they use their emergency lights to say ‘thank you’. So, if you are co-driver, you really have an important job. We as Dutch people should take an example of that and should not be as anti-social in the traffic as we are. And the last thing: cars coming from the right (or left in this case) don’t have right of way. The first one who stops at the junction is the one who has priority..

Okay, enough about the road. Secondly: creating jobs. That is a really big thing here, because too many people are unemployed. So, what do they do? They create jobs. Jobs such as waving an orange flag alongside the road to warn people of an accident all day long, or packing groceries at the supermarket or working at the petrol station. So, when we go shopping for our groceries, you CANNOT pack your own groceries because you’re then doing somebody’s work. When we’re at the petrol station, we just sit and wait till a nice South African has put gas in our car, cleaned our windows and checked the wheel pressure and the oil. So, when I’m back in Holland and we’re going to the petrol station or supermarket together, please remind me to do something. Or I’ll just be sitting in my car waiting for someone to fill up the gas…

Third thing: ‘oh you come from Holland?! As ek stadig praat kan ons verstaan’. Yeah, well, not really. That we’re Dutch doesn’t mean that we understand Afrikaans.. Stadig praat means ‘talk slow’ and it’s something we hear often. Secondly, our favorite sentence: alles sal regkom. Everything will be all right. Stress doesn’t exist here. I haven’t had a moment of stress since I’ve been here. And if you really know me, you know that that is an exceptional thing. Here in South Africa, you always have to have a plan B, C, D and E. In Holland, we are always exactly on time, but here, if you plan an appointment for today, you will have it next week, because alles sal regkom and there’s always enough time. No need to hurry.

I hope you liked to read this. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me! In my next blog I’ll tell you about the outcomes of our research and the content of our Health Promotion assignment. And of course I’ll tell you about new experiences here in South Africa. Talk to you soon!