Who are we?

This blog is an agglomeration of the thoughts and experiences of two American girls who packed up and moved to South Africa on a whim. Caz from Fairfield, Connecticut and Mandy from Milwaukee, Wisconsin first met as roommates in 4127 on Semester at Sea in Fall of 2010.
In the interim, Caz returned to finish her Bachelor of Science with a double major in Biology (concentration in Microbiology) and Geography with a minor in Chemistry at the University of Miami in Florida, while Mandy took a hiatus to rediscover her real passion working with pregnant women, advocating for home birth and delivering babies outside of a hospital environment. We reconvened to follow both of our fields of study (read: hopes, dreams, asiprations, life goals, etc.) outside of the United States. Hello South Africa?

We are both here for at least a year and a half, though the more time we spend falling in love with South Africa, the more we'd like to think it'll be longer. We are both starting jobs in November/December: Caz working with infectious disease at a hospital clinic and Mandy beginning her training to become a certified midwife. Before then, we are both writing a book about our experiences leading up to this adventure as well as the multitude of serendipitous happenings that led us here.

As always, feel free to comment or ask questions. If you have an interest in a topic, let us know and we will surely oblige you (within reason). Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Groenvlei... Yeah Try Pronouncing That

Happy Heritage day South Africa!

 Also, in related news, happy National Braai Day! 

 While Mandela has covered the significant happenings of this past week, I will leave you with a quick synopsis of several things I have learned:

 1. When passing someone illegally in South Africa, (ie. no passing lane, they drive in the break down lane and you drive at a terrifying breakneck speed, edging between them and equally crazy oncoming traffic, usually on a precipitous cliff face with massive ess curves/along the winding side of a mountain with just a guard rail between you an 100 meter + drop - don't freak out American readers, this is a totally normal and acceptable way of doing things) the polite thing to do is flash your hazard lights. It's their way of saying thanks for not causing my immediate death during this incredibly dangerous and somewhat stupid maneuver. 

 2. (a) I don't love composting toilets. 
    (b) But I will tolerate them. 

 3. Baboons are scary. 

 4. Old, white Afrikaaners love Rugby. They also love wearing extremely short shorts. Like I'm not talking gay men in the USA short, I'm talking mere inches between the waist and the hem, usually bunched up at the sides to show as much rippling, massive thigh muscle as possible. All of a sudden the weather will turn cloudy with a chance of OH MY GOD THOSE ARE TESTICLES. 

 5. Most of the rural communities in Western Cape (the province that contains Cape Town) speak Afrikaans. Thus, all the signs/names of places are Afrikaans words. Also thus, Mandy and I can't pronounce any of them. Some rules of thumb we've learned: w is actually v and v is f. F is also f (probably). G sounds like you're scraping the back of your throat with a cheese grater and H is breathless like in Spanish. Sometimes. The rest is a total mystery. 

 6. The N1 is NOT THE SAME as the N2. No matter how much your boyfriend demands that he knows where he is going and what he's doing and he's South African and knows this country like the back of his hand. (Americans: this would be akin to someone telling you I-95 is the same as I-80; expecting to get to Miami you end up in Miami, Ohio... NOT THE SAME). 

 7. South African police are extremely lazy when it comes to catching speeders. Thank God. They are quite eager at roadblocks though (which are frequent, and very random). However, luckily for me, one look at my International Drivers License and a quick "I don't understand this" is usually enough to let me go.

 8. Dogs in the suburbs bark like all hell is breaking loose. Township dogs bark as though they are complaining about the government.

 9. The fact that I speak Spanish is really impressive to South Africans (which I find very amusing, seeing as most of the US speaks Spanish and that's quite unimpressive at home). The fact that I can't speak Xhosa is depressing to me. Gotta work on that. Though seriously the clicking noises are hard. 

 10. South Africans are amazing. AMAZING. I've never smiled so much!

 I'm sure I'll think of more soon, but in the meantime, time to take a break after the 4.5 hour drive!
- Rh
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