Some musings about South Africa

Hey everyoneeeee!

First off, I found the pictures of the cheetahs, so here they are:

Okay, besides those, I don't have any pictures to post really, so instead I thought I'd give you some general idea of the odd/different/interesting things about South Africa. Here goes...

1) Avocados are EVERYWHERE and so inexpensive. I almost feel like I'm getting sick of them, which I previously thought wasn't possible. Also, they call them "avos" here.

2) The library is closed on Sundays... what?!

3) Lime's are inexistent. Lemons replace them. Tequila shots? With lemon. Mexican food? With lemon. Gin and Tonics? With lemon. It also doesn't make as much of a difference as you would think.

4) I'm sure most of you know this already, but the way that race is broken down here is very different. There are basically 3 races: White, Black, and Coloured (none of which are considered offensive terms). White refers to, as you'd expect, white people and Black refers to dark skinned people. Coloured refers to anyone in between, basically "mixed" race.

5) Flip flops are incredibly hard to find. When I realized I had forgotten my shower sandals I went all around Rondebosch looking for flip flops and failed miserably. This is why I now have a pair of fake crocs. For the record, crocs are not good as shower sandals...every time I get out of the shower I have to shake my feet to get all the water out of them.

6) Most people here use PCs rather than Macs.

7) Most of the time, the books assigned by professors are not carried by the University's bookstore. Makes sense, right? I'm still trying to find one of the books and have checked 5 bookstores so far.

8) Movies are a little behind the US here. Currently playing in theaters: Grown-ups, Twilight, Inception, and Shrek 4.

9) When you order coffee, you are asked if you would like cold or hot milk, kind of nice actually

10) African time is very different. "Just now" means anytime in the future, not necessarily soon. For example, "I'll call just now", could mean anytime in the future: 10 minutes, or two weeks. "Now-now" means soon or shortly, for example if a professor says I"ll give your papers back now-now it means they will give it back soon.

11) Traffic lights here are called "robots"

12) Heating and AC don't exist in South Africa

13) We call BBQ's "Braais" here

I think that's all I have for you now. I'm starting to realize I won't actually be at Kenyon this fall which is really weird. That means I only have one more fall left at Kenyon before I graduate... and I also realized I will never be under 21 at Kenyon ever again, which is also weird. Everyone is going to Kenyon soonish and I really wish I could be there, just for Beer and Sex (I hope you all know about this program...I don't mean literal "beer" and "sex) and being a UCC and SMA and everything. Oh well, I hope you guys all have fun and bring them freshmen in with grace!

More to come soon!

Love,

Jules