Cape Town and the culture shock
Thrown into Cape town one morning, you would never know that you're in Africa, Europe maybe or even more so somewhere back in North America, it's a huge modern city and I realized I wasn't quite ready for this return.
When Meggi and I were travelling through Mad, every time we'd get into a new city with a grocery store we'd look for something that resembled chocolate or chips or anything from back home, but in Johannesburg it was all there and I couldn't even look at it. Of course I had been crying for the entire flight...... I had to force feed myself a Ferrero and not even that would help. All I could think of was that I wanted Meggi with me and I wished I could show my kids or my girls the airport in Jo'burg and visit Cape Town with them before returning to Betafo.
Everyone here has shoes, there's hot water, yogurt.....big stores and way too many white people and yes some of the luxuries from home were missed but all wanted to do last night was sleep in my room in Betafo and have rice this morning with my coffee.
My hostel here is in the trendy part of town (St-Laurent-esk) and I realized I don't even have the right clothes to go eat at some of these places and to be honest i'm not even sure I want to. In Betafo I could go out in my jammies, socks and sandals and still be the best dressed person. The car that picked me up from the airport started on the first try, it was clean, I wasn't worried I might collapse from CO intox and it wasn't filled at 800% capacity. I miss Mad, I really do.
The sad part is that people here are very nice and I'm not even giving the country a chance, it seems like there's nothing i want to see, no one I want to meet, I had a drink with this American guy last night at the bar in my hostel (which is lovely even though for now I've opted for the shared room option....that might change towards the end of my trip) and he was very nice and I think I gave the complete impression that I don't want to make friends with anyone or even pretend that I'm happy to be here. I've heard from other volunteers that it took them months before they could go out once they got home and go back to a more "normal" lifestyle.
Today I'm just going to walk around and maybe buy a pair of shoes so I can go to a Jazz bar tonight or maybe I'll just go as I am. Cape Town is very nice, it's me that just wasn't ready for it but in a few days I go see the sharks and kayak with the whales so I'm sure my mood will pick up a little.
Meggi, la communaute, mes petits choux et mes cheries vous me manquez a la folie
When Meggi and I were travelling through Mad, every time we'd get into a new city with a grocery store we'd look for something that resembled chocolate or chips or anything from back home, but in Johannesburg it was all there and I couldn't even look at it. Of course I had been crying for the entire flight...... I had to force feed myself a Ferrero and not even that would help. All I could think of was that I wanted Meggi with me and I wished I could show my kids or my girls the airport in Jo'burg and visit Cape Town with them before returning to Betafo.
Everyone here has shoes, there's hot water, yogurt.....big stores and way too many white people and yes some of the luxuries from home were missed but all wanted to do last night was sleep in my room in Betafo and have rice this morning with my coffee.
My hostel here is in the trendy part of town (St-Laurent-esk) and I realized I don't even have the right clothes to go eat at some of these places and to be honest i'm not even sure I want to. In Betafo I could go out in my jammies, socks and sandals and still be the best dressed person. The car that picked me up from the airport started on the first try, it was clean, I wasn't worried I might collapse from CO intox and it wasn't filled at 800% capacity. I miss Mad, I really do.
The sad part is that people here are very nice and I'm not even giving the country a chance, it seems like there's nothing i want to see, no one I want to meet, I had a drink with this American guy last night at the bar in my hostel (which is lovely even though for now I've opted for the shared room option....that might change towards the end of my trip) and he was very nice and I think I gave the complete impression that I don't want to make friends with anyone or even pretend that I'm happy to be here. I've heard from other volunteers that it took them months before they could go out once they got home and go back to a more "normal" lifestyle.
Today I'm just going to walk around and maybe buy a pair of shoes so I can go to a Jazz bar tonight or maybe I'll just go as I am. Cape Town is very nice, it's me that just wasn't ready for it but in a few days I go see the sharks and kayak with the whales so I'm sure my mood will pick up a little.
Meggi, la communaute, mes petits choux et mes cheries vous me manquez a la folie
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