Observations
One of my favorite things about traveling abroad is observing the little things of daily life, like the types of items that are sold in grocery stores or the process for getting gasoline or the difference in naming of basic, everyday items. While traveling, I generally spend a good deal of time just observing, then asking questions of locals. (Just like when I was a kid, eh Dad? “What means...?”)
So, for kicks, I thought I’d share some of my silly little observations periodically on this site. I’m taking a cue from my good friend Joanie’s website, which is always full of interesting little details like this. I know it takes a special sort of person to find this stuff interesting, so I’ll always warn you of the content by calling the entry “Observations.”
To give you a window on what I mean in terms of *potentially* boring… Once I decided that I should write down my observations, I bought a little spiral notebook to record them in. [Geeky, eh? :)] I wanted to buy a medium-sized notebook, but that size is called a “Manuscript Book” here in South Africa, and I can do without that kind of pressure. So, I bought a slightly larger one, this one referred to as an “Exercise Book.” I can’t tell you the exact size though (I know you care) because they don’t use dimensions (ie…8.5x11) for paper and notebooks and such, but instead call them A3, A4, A5…whatever that means. (Of course, if they used dimensions, it’d be in metric system so I’d still be clueless.)
So, that’s the kind of rambling you are in for if you read my Observations. If you are interested, read on. If it’s not your cup of tea, whenever you see “Observations” as the title, move onto the next blog entry immediately! :)
Here are a few silly observations I’ve made so far:
Are we both speaking English?
South Africans speak Afrikaans, English and a number of local/tribal languages. But, as I LOVE to discover, South African English and American English can often be different enough to lead to curious misunderstandings. For example:
(1) "Is It": The phrase “Is it?” is used instead of ‘really’ in South African English. This is very very common and I am just barely not getting stumped by it. For example, here’s a conversation I had last night with a South African couple staying at the hostel: Woman: “Are you traveling alone?” Me: “Yes.” Woman: “Is it?”
Oooh, funny coincidence: Right now I am sitting at a café writing this. The owner just came out to chat and told me all about her recent trip up to Kenya’s Masai region. When she was done, I said “Good, because I am going to visit that region next February”, to which she replied “Is it?”
(2) The nows: On one of my first days here I went to the ATM to get some Rand out (the South African currency) and the ATM wasn’t functioning. I asked someone about it, and he said “They’ll fix it just now.” So, I waited. And waited and waited…then I gave up. I have since learned that in South Africa there are two ways to say “now”. There’s “now now” which means ‘as soon as possible’. This is the good now. And then there’s “just now” which means ‘in a little while’. Good to know.
(3) Sirens: One night I was feeling a bit bored, so when a fellow traveler that I had met a few days prior invited me to go to a nearby pub with him, I thought ‘why not, it’s something to do’. My dinners lately have consisted mostly of pb&js or cheap noodle packets, so pub food sounded like haute cuisine. But... bars aren’t my scene. Immediately after I got there, I was irritated at myself for going. (It was too far from the hostel to walk home). I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t do ‘bar chatter’ (“…dude, we were so wasted, so then we…”). Bars are hopelessly boring to me. I spent the entire time playing with a little four year old who had been dragged along by his 20-something, partying mother. We played with his little cars, I taught him how to take pictures…anything to pass the time.
He didn’t speak English—only Afrikaans—but ‘vroom’, ‘vroom’ seems to translate pretty well in any language. But when he made the sound for the little police car, he said “he haw, he haw, he haw”. What? I asked the adults at the table what sound a police siren makes in South Africa and they confirmed the ‘he haw’. I shared my mimic of an American police siren, and they were equally surprised by our odd-sounding siren. Welp, good to know... now if I suddenly hear a loud ‘he haw, he haw, he haw’, I won’t fear an Attack of the Giant Donkeys.
Shopping and Stores
I am pleased to report that 98% of the stores and restaurants I have seen so far are not American chains. Yea for diversity!
I love observing the store names, many of which—when removed from familiarity—are kind of odd. (I’m sure the same would be true for a visitor to the US). For example, the store across the way from the café (here in the Phalaborwa mall) is “Mr. Price.” It’s a fairly popular clothing store, and each time I see it I laugh at the thought of The Simpsons making one of those fake Japanese commercials for “Mr. Price.” Down the aisle from Mr. Price is “Truworth.” And next to “Truworth” is “Artificially-Inflated-Worth.” (Just kidding)
My favorite little cookies here are called Eat-Sum-Moore, which I gladly do.
The Tube
South African television shows are mostly soap operas. I watch a half-hour soap called “7 de Laan” most evenings, just for the cultural experience. It’s in Afrikaans, but it has English has subtitles. I’m not sure how much longer I can stick it out though. A soap is a soap, regardless of the culture.
Oprah is on twice a day. Seems that South Africans love Oprah, no doubt because Oprah loves South Africa (she just built a big, state of the art private school here for girls). And I have seen one episode each of My Name is Earl, Friends, and King of Queens. It’s very odd to see these shows in a different country, knowing that the locals are basing their impressions of Americans on characters like Earl and Arthur.
So, for kicks, I thought I’d share some of my silly little observations periodically on this site. I’m taking a cue from my good friend Joanie’s website, which is always full of interesting little details like this. I know it takes a special sort of person to find this stuff interesting, so I’ll always warn you of the content by calling the entry “Observations.”
To give you a window on what I mean in terms of *potentially* boring… Once I decided that I should write down my observations, I bought a little spiral notebook to record them in. [Geeky, eh? :)] I wanted to buy a medium-sized notebook, but that size is called a “Manuscript Book” here in South Africa, and I can do without that kind of pressure. So, I bought a slightly larger one, this one referred to as an “Exercise Book.” I can’t tell you the exact size though (I know you care) because they don’t use dimensions (ie…8.5x11) for paper and notebooks and such, but instead call them A3, A4, A5…whatever that means. (Of course, if they used dimensions, it’d be in metric system so I’d still be clueless.)
So, that’s the kind of rambling you are in for if you read my Observations. If you are interested, read on. If it’s not your cup of tea, whenever you see “Observations” as the title, move onto the next blog entry immediately! :)
Here are a few silly observations I’ve made so far:
Are we both speaking English?
South Africans speak Afrikaans, English and a number of local/tribal languages. But, as I LOVE to discover, South African English and American English can often be different enough to lead to curious misunderstandings. For example:
(1) "Is It": The phrase “Is it?” is used instead of ‘really’ in South African English. This is very very common and I am just barely not getting stumped by it. For example, here’s a conversation I had last night with a South African couple staying at the hostel: Woman: “Are you traveling alone?” Me: “Yes.” Woman: “Is it?”
Oooh, funny coincidence: Right now I am sitting at a café writing this. The owner just came out to chat and told me all about her recent trip up to Kenya’s Masai region. When she was done, I said “Good, because I am going to visit that region next February”, to which she replied “Is it?”
(2) The nows: On one of my first days here I went to the ATM to get some Rand out (the South African currency) and the ATM wasn’t functioning. I asked someone about it, and he said “They’ll fix it just now.” So, I waited. And waited and waited…then I gave up. I have since learned that in South Africa there are two ways to say “now”. There’s “now now” which means ‘as soon as possible’. This is the good now. And then there’s “just now” which means ‘in a little while’. Good to know.
(3) Sirens: One night I was feeling a bit bored, so when a fellow traveler that I had met a few days prior invited me to go to a nearby pub with him, I thought ‘why not, it’s something to do’. My dinners lately have consisted mostly of pb&js or cheap noodle packets, so pub food sounded like haute cuisine. But... bars aren’t my scene. Immediately after I got there, I was irritated at myself for going. (It was too far from the hostel to walk home). I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t do ‘bar chatter’ (“…dude, we were so wasted, so then we…”). Bars are hopelessly boring to me. I spent the entire time playing with a little four year old who had been dragged along by his 20-something, partying mother. We played with his little cars, I taught him how to take pictures…anything to pass the time.
He didn’t speak English—only Afrikaans—but ‘vroom’, ‘vroom’ seems to translate pretty well in any language. But when he made the sound for the little police car, he said “he haw, he haw, he haw”. What? I asked the adults at the table what sound a police siren makes in South Africa and they confirmed the ‘he haw’. I shared my mimic of an American police siren, and they were equally surprised by our odd-sounding siren. Welp, good to know... now if I suddenly hear a loud ‘he haw, he haw, he haw’, I won’t fear an Attack of the Giant Donkeys.
Shopping and Stores
I am pleased to report that 98% of the stores and restaurants I have seen so far are not American chains. Yea for diversity!
I love observing the store names, many of which—when removed from familiarity—are kind of odd. (I’m sure the same would be true for a visitor to the US). For example, the store across the way from the café (here in the Phalaborwa mall) is “Mr. Price.” It’s a fairly popular clothing store, and each time I see it I laugh at the thought of The Simpsons making one of those fake Japanese commercials for “Mr. Price.” Down the aisle from Mr. Price is “Truworth.” And next to “Truworth” is “Artificially-Inflated-Worth.” (Just kidding)
My favorite little cookies here are called Eat-Sum-Moore, which I gladly do.
The Tube
South African television shows are mostly soap operas. I watch a half-hour soap called “7 de Laan” most evenings, just for the cultural experience. It’s in Afrikaans, but it has English has subtitles. I’m not sure how much longer I can stick it out though. A soap is a soap, regardless of the culture.
Oprah is on twice a day. Seems that South Africans love Oprah, no doubt because Oprah loves South Africa (she just built a big, state of the art private school here for girls). And I have seen one episode each of My Name is Earl, Friends, and King of Queens. It’s very odd to see these shows in a different country, knowing that the locals are basing their impressions of Americans on characters like Earl and Arthur.
And for that reason, I am especially sad to see that most of the American television shows and movies on South African TV are our most violent, poorly-written, ultra-macho types--the kind of movies that are just thinly disguised excuses to see people beating each other up. There’s always lots of kicking going on. TV wrestling was on all night last night. And I had no idea Jean Claude Van Dame even made that many movies.
(I have to admit I actually resorted to watching “Walker Texas Ranger” once--although in this episode the bad guy was a bear, so there wasn’t as much punching and kicking.)
(I have to admit I actually resorted to watching “Walker Texas Ranger” once--although in this episode the bad guy was a bear, so there wasn’t as much punching and kicking.)