Thursday, October 3, 2013

Saffers. We're Like That.

This lovely post, by my daughter who has recently moved to Luxembourg, triggered this post of South African-ness . . .
Pop over and have a look. . . .
But don't forget to come back here, k?

It was a beautiful morning in early spring
Spirit-lifting after all the greyness and coldness of the long winter.
A man, unknown, was standing on the verge opposite our house, admiring the view. This is a common thing where we live
We have a sweeping view of the bay and the mountains, which is gorgeous at any time -

But in the Spring?
Spectacular!

The man called out to me as I approached my parked car.
"Beautiful day! And what a view!" he enthused.
I agreed and we chatted a while -
He told me he had recently returned from two months in Europe and some other bits and pieces about himself and his family before I jumped into my car.
As I reversed it out of the garage, he called to me again.
I opened the window to hear what he was saying -
Because I was then stationary across the width of the road, I asked him to watch for oncoming cars while we chatted -

With a wide delighted smile he said, "
"Now I know I'm home.
Overseas no one spontaneously engages in conversations with strangers.
They are friendly enough there: they'll greet you but this kind of thing?
No, it doesn't happen.
This is South African.
This is home!"

And ja ("yes" for any non-Saffers!) that is what we're like
And I love it too.

Viva SA, viva!


6 comments:

MrsLG said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
allie. said...

And we miss friendly, warm-hearted you!

MrsLG said...

Yes, he is right! ....sometimes one even feels invisible, even a smile on a bus I celebrate these days! Hahaha.

I miss my friendly warm-hearted home!

Lynette Jacobs said...

Nowhere like home.

Misty'sMum said...

Where's the 'like' button?! I really, really miss SA. I was struck by how friendly everyone was - black and white. I loved it, my apprehensions were completely blown away. I do wonder sometimes why we left...

cat said...

Exactly!