Random Thoughts about Culture!

Some of my MANY random observations and thoughts:

A lot people in SA drive hatchbacks. Lucy and Gary both drive them. Brand names like BMW, Range Rover, and Mercedes Benz are very common here. It’s very rare that you will see a Nissan or Ford. 

Okay…I have to admit that I am going through a food withdrawal. Pizza here is not the same as the Giordano’s, deep dish spinach, Chicago original that I’m used to.

To me, this is flatbread, but they call it pizza.

I love hearing the different names for Johannesburg. It is referred to as Joburg, Jozi, eGoli, or the City of Gold. 

The Absolutely Captivating Jacaranda Trees

The summer season is approaching soon and I’m getting a glimpse of the Johannesburg thunderstorms, which are quite frightening. Each storm is like something you’d see on National Geographic. One word: EPIC! I prefer the moderate temperature and sunny days in SA, over the Midwestern weather extremes in Chicago; but I am adjusting to the afternoon storms that happen religiously each summer day here.

I still haven’t adjusted to seeing people drive on the other side of the road. We went to the drive thru at Chicken Licken and it was fascinating seeing my host mom drive on the other side to pick up the food. 

When I lived in Pretoria, occasionally my friends and I would have to take a taxi to school. Taxi’s here are vans that carry 12-15 passengers. When you get into the taxi, you pass your money forward and the person sitting closest to the taxi driver counts the money and passes back everyones change. Taxi drivers can be reckless drivers and their taxis can be in ridiculous conditions. People ride them because they are very inexpensive. A one way ride cost R12 ($1.20) and you can either get dropped off really close to your destination, or right in front depending on the driver. There are different hand signals that you put out when you want to catch a taxi, and they change depending on what neighborhood or city you’re in. Where I live, your index finger pointing up means that you want to go to the Jo’burg CBD (Central Business District). When you point down it means you want to go somewhere local. I’ve steered away from riding taxis; in part, because I don’t speak the local language that most of the drivers use, and secondly, I don't, nor do I think y’all, really want to see my journey end in a taxi accident? 

In my complex the water went out twice last week. The second time it lasted for 5 hours. Each time was without notice. This time we got a notice that on this coming Tuesday, October 28th , we won’t have water from 7am until 5pm. This will be the case for about 5 neighborhoods in Jozi. It’s true that you don’t know what you have until it's gone, and a water outage is an extreme rarity in the States. Being the hygiene freak that I am, I was shocked. It’s crazy how the universe works, because the first day we experienced this, I couldn’t cowash my hair, like I normally do everyday. I just dampened it with my face towel and put my normal "juices and berries" in it (http://jadelilly.com hair butter and Jane Carter Collection’s Curl Defining Cream). My hair was flawless that day.

Fro-Shizzle

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