Well… where to begin. It has been one year since our arrival to new jobs, a new country, new city & new continent. Although a pathetic cliché, where has the time gone!
The year has been filled with contrasts, excitement, frustration, learning and contentment. When we first landed at the airport in early October 2007, we weren’t sure what the next 2 years would hold for us. We weren’t even sure whether we would make it to our new home safely from the airport (mostly due to the constant barrage of comments and concerns we received from friends and family in Australia prior to our departure).
As is the way with all travel, work or play, go with the flow and bring yourself to give people a chance, ignore your constant scepticism and a good result is usually achieved. This has been a common theme throughout our Stay so far and has got us to see and experience more of South Africa than most South African’s! It has to be mentioned that it is not only our attitude but Pete’s expat wage that has helped us as well.
What we can report is that life is treating us both well in Johannesburg. We enjoy living in Johannesburg, the heartbeat of South Africa. It is the same as any diverse cosmopolitan city in the world. Yes… it does have crime, however crime is present in every city in the world and every city in South Africa. It is a fact of life & we decided from day 1 that we would not let it disrupt our ‘African experience’. We are yet to witness any crime, and luckily no close friends or colleagues we know have been involved in any serious crimes.
One of the main reasons we decided to accept the assignment in Johannesburg was the culture we hoped to experience and the travel it would enable us to partake. Our experiences to date have managed to fulfill both of these desires.
Travel
As you can tell from our blog entries, we try to get away at least once a month to visit all corners of South Africa. The country is not that dissimilar to Australia in the sense that the landscape is very diverse. The landscape offers dry desert surrounds inland, high and impressive mountain peaks exceeding 3800m in the center, coastal tropical wetlands in the east and wild and rugged coastline in the west and south. Our highlights include numerous trips to game reserves (Pilansberg & Kruger NP), hiking in the central Drakensberg Ranges with friends, beach trips to Bollito, St Lucia & South Broom, and exploring the Western Cape coastal and winefarm (SA name for winery/vineyard!) region.
We have also managed to fit in a holiday abroad with a visit to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Chobe National Park, Botswana. The sound and mist from the falls was exhilarating as was seeing Zimbabwe amidst the political turmoil. You only feel heart felt sorrow to the locals who are trying to survive on a bust economy. The game at Chobe never failed to impress. Herds of 50+ elephants roaming around us and upto less than 1 meter from our game vehicle was nerve racking, whilst witnessing a herd of wild dog hunt & kill displayed our raw inhumane nature! Whilst on this holiday we also spent a few days in Namibia and visited a rural local village accessible only by boat (in a hippo and crocodile infested river!). Even a village this remote had been infiltrated by the commercial nature and globalization of the world. They thrived on the hand-me-down clothes that were given to them and looked to want to defy local customs adopted by the elders. What the future holds for a village like this remains unknown?
Our impressions of South Africa
We feel quite proud to be working in South Africa (even though our contribution to the economy is measly). Considering the country only abolished apartheid in 1990 (less than 20 years ago), the country has come a long way. It is one of the few countries in the world to survive a major political reversal without resulting in a civil war.
White South Africans appear to have one of two impressions of the country:
one of great pride and prosperity which the future holds; or
one of frustration, anger & despair due to the corrupt nature of the country.
The government has introduced legislation known at BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) in an attempt to introduce equality in the work place and provide an advantage and opportunity for the blacks after years of oppression during apartheid. Occasionally this means that skilled white labour is replaced by unskilled black labour. This effectively results in reverse apartheid. Unfortunately one generation needs to take the brunt of prior generation’s actions to enable the country to move forward and prosper.
The cultural divide between the whites and blacks is unparallel. We have had the obligatory maid and gardener since arrival which has given us the chance to closely integrate with the race that makes up 85% of the population. It is embarrassing how different our quality of life is from theirs, however we can only hope that by employing them the future of their children will be different.
Extremes in wealth
Rolls Royce’s, Ferrari’s and Porsche’s are a common sight when driving through the northern suburbs of JHB. Car’s are the main status symbol in SA reflecting the extreme wealth (or loans) that are enjoyed by the individuals (not all white). No where other than Monte Carlo have we seen this so evident.
Contrasting the above, NOT to see 15-20 okes (Saffa for blokes) packed into a 1.4 litre bakkie (ute) at least on three separate occasions on the commute would be a shock! I even saw a building labourer this morning piling himself in as the bakkie started to move off. He was determined to get a lift. From what I could see there was only room for his left leg with the rest of his body left dangling precariously out the back of the vehicle!
Beggars & hawkers
At all major intersections, items for sale can vary wildly from cigarettes to kiddies toys to rosary beads. The mandatory newspaper boys are a telling sign as to whether you are either getting to work too early or having to stay too late. Some of the beggars will offer to take your rubbish for a small donation. They are also known to take half smoked cigarettes from drivers (they butt them out on their finger and save them for later!). Strangely none of the hawkers are as aggressive as the notorious Punt road window washers in Melbourne!
Work
Work is work. Not that dissimilar to Australia except it is with Saffers. The contrast in personalities between Australians and Saffers was quite testing at first, however has proven to be beneficial for our ‘soft’ people skills!
We will leave it at that (just in case any of those pesky work colleagues read our blog!!;-))
Unfortunately we have had to start kicking ourselves when we say the following which was picked up in the work environment:
“yaaarr” replacing yes;
“shame” said at any occasion, either good or bad!;
“oaks” used when referring to a burly man;
“lekker” replacing great, except shows a lot more emotion;
Thankfully we have some friends from Queensland (particularly Dabbo) to keep our ‘Australianism’ in tact!
Future
Our plans for the remaining year in Africa include:
- a holiday to the Namibian desert & coast next week;
- driving along the ‘garden route’ on the South Coast of SA with Ian & Julie Chandler next month;
- moving houses to a suburb closer to our work offices;
- touring Egypt and Jordan over the Christmas break;
- hopefully a trip to Tanzania to visit the Serengeti, climb Mt Kilimanjaro & sunbath on the white sands of Zanzibar;
- More camping to master the art of Potjkie cooking;&
- visits from family & friends.
Oh… and of course fitting in some work (LOL)!
We look forward to the challenges and adventures we will encounter for the remaining period of our assignment here in Africa.
xx
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