It’s June
already! South African winter! You
can definitely say that because every now and then the temperature decreases to
22 degrees! Brrrr.. Today it’s 29 again though. The past two weeks were pretty
quiet, but I will give you a short update!
Lolly was talking
about a movie for a while which she wanted to see in the cinema, so last
weekend we went to ‘Think like a man, Act like a lady’. The title describes
exactly what it is about. We wanted to get us some popcorn but as the cue for
popcorn was even longer than the cue for a Madonna concert (even though there
were only two movies on) we decided to leave the popcorn. I think there were
about 50 people in the room and once again, I was the only white person. The
actors were also Afro-American which made all visitors their family. It was
just like a movie. Every joke or statement the actor or actress made, you could
hear someone in the crowd: “That’s my brother!” or “You hear that sisters” or “That’s
right my man!” People were laughing very loud and the woman who was sitting
next to me was also very enthusiastic. There was this one joke that she had to
laugh so hard about that she hit my knee incredibly hard. Oeehh what a movie!
Then the monkeys! Last
week I was driving home from work and suddenly the taxi pulled over. I was
sitting on the front seat so I could see very clearly what was going on. I saw
a lady running and screaming around on the road. Then I saw what she was
chasing. Six monkeys were sitting with a plastic bag from Spar on the grass.
Another 4 monkeys came to them to choose something from the back to run away
with. When the lady finally reached the bag, there was nothing left, except for
some packaging. The monkeys
were sitting in a tree safely.
I think I’m starting
to get used to the African way of living more and more. I don’t get surprised
anymore when I have to wait for something, when I see people looking for food
in trash cans on every corner of the street or when girls use the trash cans in
clubs when the cue for the ladies room is too long. (Okay, I’ve only seen that
twice and I still believe it’s disgusting). I don’t think I’ll ever become a
real Afrikiki though. It gets clearer to me every day that I can’t walk by
myself at nights and that I can’t trust everyone. I don’t think that I can ever
get used to that fact. I really miss my bicycle during the night!;)
Furthermore, the past
few days were pretty calm. Next week starts the annual Tuberculosis Conference
in Durban and OneVoice will have her own booth. Marlijn asked me to manage that
so I am looking forward to that! It is from the 12th to the 15th
of June and the weekend after I will probably visit another project where Amimi
works, close to the Valley of a thousand hills. It is beautiful over there so I
am very excited!
Besides all this, I am
starting to miss everyone more and more though! After this week I’ve finished
10 weeks which means I am half way there! Amazing how time flies!
