Laughter track, please
I'll be back soon in old Europe for a long Christmas.
Time to make some considerations about these first months in South Africa
Life, now.
Sometimes I wish I had a laughter track or a portable crowd that I can activate whenever I want. My gross and dark humor (and subtle sarcasm) is not appreciated with the same reaction that I had in old Europe.
I'm sure that if I could film myself delivering my jokes or comments and be able to use a laughter track seconds later, I will avoid the embarrassing silence or the upset stares that too often pop out in my direction.
It's the end of November here, and it's still hot.
The whole season thing is a bit messed up in this part of the world. I talk daily with my work colleagues in London or with my family, and they are all complaining about the cold weather, the wind, the rains, the grayness of the sky.
Yes, there are some moments in the day where the temperature drops very fast, or when a damn storm hits the area (with the usual 2 hours black out that some times just drives me mad, especially while I'm working), but generally I'm lucky enough to be able to enjoy 30 degrees (Celsius, that's 86 Fahrenheit), and, when my ass gets too sweaty, enjoy the swimming pool available in my complex, only 30 meters away from my garden.
By hey, working in underwear is a pleasure, and if I had decent internet connection that would let me to show my world through a webcam, you would understand.
Lindsey and I are still on lovely speaking terms and are still planning to get married, so I'm usually too busy in the weekends on various duties and I haven't started exploring South Africa, or at least my region, Gauteng.
I took some trips in the Muldersdrift, in the mountains, by I want to get to the Indian Ocean one of these days (probably next year).
Less than four months before the wedding. Just a personal reminder.
The football season hasn't re-started yet. Only in the year, a year that will finally see the Olafmeister joining a team (probably the Panorama Football Club) in his fourth different country and take them to glory. As I keep repeating myself, I want to retire from played football once I reach 40, but every time I tell this to my married friends they all laugh and say something like "yeah right". We'll see.
It's actually nice to be able to plan the immediate future now that I got my visa . We (me and Lindsey) have been looking for a house, but it's quite a difficult tasks. Even with the power of my English pounds.
We know what we want, and we found some houses in the area that have almost exactly what's on the list, but there is always something missing, and I don't want to spend the first months of my married life with a building site on my property or with gardening duties.
I simply want to enjoy life as much as possible with my future wife in this big and complex country that is South Africa. And play football again.
Differences
So, life is proceeding, as you have just read. Sure, not everything has been easy and I still feel in an adaptation period that will require still some time to complete.
Someone asked me if I miss anything about Europe, or my previous life. The list is long folks, but it's all a matter of compensation. For something I missed in London, there is something I discovered here that helps coping.
I miss a decent pint of Guinness, though. And some of my very London habits, like going to the pub on Friday night, drink many pints of Guinness with a final round of Jack Daniels and Coke, and complete the evening (night already) by buying cheap Chinese takeaway and watching Peep Show , or Futurama , or Seinfeld , on DVD. And then wake up on Saturday afternoon to get some nice ass-kicking punishment at the Kickboxing club.
I miss being able to go wherever I want without a car, or still be able to find shops opened in the darkest hours of the night, and maybe even meet someone I know and complain about, well, everything.
I don't have a car yet. After some unlucky experiences at car dealers and auctions, I decided to re-invest the money for the car to pay the deposit for my future house, which should help a lot toward the final payment. If I find a house.
So far I had to relay on the poor Lindsey, who is my personal taxi driver, and her kindness.
With my bicycle I can get as far as the two huge shopping malls (Clearwater and Cresta) around Weltevreden, but obviously the amount of stuff I can carry back home is minimum.
Things are different here, and it will probably easier to adapt to what I have here than just expect to carry on every single aspect of my previous London life.
If you're coming to my wedding, you will probably notice few things in your stay: the bad, bad traffic that is crippling South Africa (and so far it seems the biggest obstacle to beat to achieve a smooth 2010 World Cup), 90% produced by the taxis (minibuses), with they own rules and regulations , the only cheap way of traveling for the black population.
I would say that if you're going to die in South Africa, it's either of Aids of a car accident...
Religion is another aspect of life that reminds me more of the Bible Belt's USA than Europe.
Just like the Americans, people genuinely believe in a christian life and salvation and other certain aspects of christianity that people like me find hard to believe (evolution vs creationism, for example, or a literally interpretation of the bible).
Communities are built around churches and everyone likes to help members of the various congregations.
Unlike Americans though, many of South Africans try hard to walk the talk, which, no matter what religion you are, you have got to respect that. It is difficult.
Food is different too. They eat a lot in the evening, and while some stuff is absolutely outstanding (the steaks! the poultr,even KFC is better here!), some stuff still makes me cringe, like fruits in the salads or pineapples everywhere. Luckily Lindsey's mum is a great cook and I know probably I've been a challenge to her.
Milk tart (gotta love the name) is my favorite dessert at the moment. It's that damn good, even when bought from the cheapest and nastiest supermarket.
Insects are bigger. They are the same (cockroaches, spiders, earthworms), but while in Europe they are easy to squash with a chopstick, in South Africa you will need a full katana to kill them. They are faster too. And not that tasty, no matter what Discovery Channel / Survivor you've seen on television.
Games are dangerous and you will probably end up getting hurt. Scrumming kills you, footskating leaves you almost dead. But they are a lot of fun!
Probably there are hundreds of other considerations worth some mentioning (why the hell did they call it soccer?), but at the moment these are the first that sprung to my mind.
Some final thoughts before my trip to Europe? (and before that a weekend away with Lindsey in some resort, expect a report)
I'm quite happy, so I guess things are ok after all.
Posted by Olaf Olgiati the 29 November 2007
Yes, there are some moments in the day where the temperature drops very fast, or when a damn storm hits the area (with the usual 2 hours black out that some times just drives me mad, especially while I'm working), but generally I'm lucky enough to be able to enjoy 30 degrees (Celsius, that's 86 Fahrenheit), and, when my ass gets too sweaty, enjoy the swimming pool available in my complex, only 30 meters away from my garden. 
By hey, working in underwear is a pleasure, and if I had decent internet connection that would let me to show my world through a webcam, you would understand.
It's actually nice to be able to plan the immediate future now that I got my visa . We (me and Lindsey) have been looking for a house, but it's quite a difficult tasks. Even with the power of my English pounds.
So, life is proceeding, as you have just read. Sure, not everything has been easy and I still feel in an adaptation period that will require still some time to complete.
I don't have a car yet. After some unlucky experiences at car dealers and auctions, I decided to re-invest the money for the car to pay the deposit for my future house, which should help a lot toward the final payment. If I find a house.
Religion is another aspect of life that reminds me more of the Bible Belt's USA than Europe. 
Insects are bigger. They are the same (cockroaches, spiders, earthworms), but while in Europe they are easy to squash with a chopstick, in South Africa you will need a full katana to kill them. They are faster too. And not that tasty, no matter what Discovery Channel / Survivor you've seen on television. 
Games are dangerous and you will probably end up getting hurt. Scrumming kills you, footskating leaves you almost dead. But they are a lot of fun!