I'll be back soon in old Europe for a long Christmas.
Time to make some considerations about these first months in South Africa

Differences

So, life is proceeding, as you have just read. Sure, not everything has been easy and I still feel in an adaptation period that will require still some time to complete.

Someone asked me if I miss anything about Europe, or my previous life. The list is long folks, but it's all a matter of compensation. For something I missed in London, there is something I discovered here that helps coping.

I miss a decent pint of Guinness, though. And some of my very London habits, like going to the pub on Friday night, drink many pints of Guinness with a final round of Jack Daniels and Coke, and complete the evening (night already) by buying cheap Chinese takeaway and watching Peep Show , or Futurama , or Seinfeld , on DVD. And then wake up on Saturday afternoon to get some nice ass-kicking punishment at the Kickboxing club.

I miss being able to go wherever I want without a car, or still be able to find shops opened in the darkest hours of the night, and maybe even meet someone I know and complain about, well, everything.

I don't have a car yet. After some unlucky experiences at car dealers and auctions, I decided to re-invest the money for the car to pay the deposit for my future house, which should help a lot toward the final payment. If I find a house.
So far I had to relay on the poor Lindsey, who is my personal taxi driver, and her kindness.
With my bicycle I can get as far as the two huge shopping malls (Clearwater and Cresta) around Weltevreden, but obviously the amount of stuff I can carry back home is minimum.

Things are different here, and it will probably easier to adapt to what I have here than just expect to carry on every single aspect of my previous London life.

If you're coming to my wedding, you will probably notice few things in your stay: the bad, bad traffic that is crippling South Africa (and so far it seems the biggest obstacle to beat to achieve a smooth 2010 World Cup), 90% produced by the taxis (minibuses), with they own rules and regulations , the only cheap way of traveling for the black population.

I would say that if you're going to die in South Africa, it's either of Aids of a car accident...

Religion is another aspect of life that reminds me more of the Bible Belt's USA than Europe.
Just like the Americans, people genuinely believe in a christian life and salvation and other certain aspects of christianity that people like me find hard to believe (evolution vs creationism, for example, or a literally interpretation of the bible).
Communities are built around churches and everyone likes to help members of the various congregations.
Unlike Americans though, many of South Africans try hard to walk the talk, which, no matter what religion you are, you have got to respect that. It is difficult.

Food is different too. They eat a lot in the evening, and while some stuff is absolutely outstanding (the steaks! the poultr,even KFC is better here!), some stuff still makes me cringe, like fruits in the salads or pineapples everywhere. Luckily Lindsey's mum is a great cook and I know probably I've been a challenge to her.
Milk tart (gotta love the name) is my favorite dessert at the moment. It's that damn good, even when bought from the cheapest and nastiest supermarket.

Insects are bigger. They are the same (cockroaches, spiders, earthworms), but while in Europe they are easy to squash with a chopstick, in South Africa you will need a full katana to kill them. They are faster too. And not that tasty, no matter what Discovery Channel / Survivor you've seen on television.

Games are dangerous and you will probably end up getting hurt. Scrumming kills you, footskating leaves you almost dead. But they are a lot of fun!

Probably there are hundreds of other considerations worth some mentioning (why the hell did they call it soccer?), but at the moment these are the first that sprung to my mind.

Some final thoughts before my trip to Europe? (and before that a weekend away with Lindsey in some resort, expect a report)
I'm quite happy, so I guess things are ok after all.

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