- Altogether, there are 11 languages in South Africa… English and Afrikans are the most common languages but there are so many people who come from Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa and because of that there are SO MANY languages.
- The currency is called the Rand – The exchange rate is something like 8 rand to every $1USD so we can get some things much cheaper than in the U.S.
- In Nebraska in the summer, our days are hot and humid and our nights are hot and humid. There is no escape from the heat, except air conditioning. In South Africa, the days are hot, with no humidity, and the nights are so cool. You can open the windows and for the most part, A/C isn’t used!
- They drive on the opposite side of the road!
- In the U.S., we wash our dishrags after every use – well at least I do! In South Africa, they hand wash, hang dry, and re-use dishrags over and over and over again. And if they use sponges, they’re used until they fall apart. I try not to imagine all of the bacteria growing inside the sponge. I had to get over the cleanliness that I’ve accommodated myself to really quickly!
- Every single house and business is surrounded with a gate or an electrical fence. In the U.S., we have a key to our front and back doors and our car, maybe our garage. In South Africa, every single house has a gate key, a front door key, backdoor key, master bedroom key, bathroom key, storage key – If there’s a room, there’s a key. I’m sure locking and unlocking doors and gates ends up taking up a year of each South African’s life.
- There’s a lot of violence in South Africa – kidnapping & theft because of the poverty. The organized crime is so thought out. For example, let’s say you go to the ATM and withdraw money. One guy will watch you and follow you to the car and call another person with the type and color of your car and the next person will follow you for a while and then phone another person and they will take over and follow you to your home and then take your money and your car. Pretty crazy!
- If we are going to wash our hands, we either wash them with really hot water, or really cold water because the hot and cold water faucets or separate.
- McDonalds is 5-Star ***** – Its actually not five star but its treated that way – The parking lot is full of Range Rovers, BMWs, and Mercedes. Every single McDonalds in South Africa is way nicer than any I’ve ever visited in the States.
- Internet is not unlimited like it is in the states. In the US. We can get internet anywhere and everywhere for FREE. In South Africa, you can get internet at McDonalds for one hour for free. We’ve also been able to find 30 minutes of free internet at Mugg & Bean (a café) – So I’ve been at McDonalds more in South Africa than a year in the U.S.
- Only the wealthy have dryers.
- South Africans do not use screens = a lot of bugs as roommates
- South African chocolate is WAY, WAY, WAY better! My grandma, Eileen, would love it! I’ll have to send some home!
- There’s milk you can buy off of the shelves – it’s warm. Milk also comes in bags. I still don’t trust it.
- They have PIZZA! I was such a happy girl when we had pizza last Sunday!
- iPhones haven’t made it to Africa yet – Blackberry’s are in & everyone has one! If I pull out any of my Apple products, you’ll immediately have a curious audience.
