Day 4: Cultural Differences

I wouldn't necessarily say that today was a bad day, but I have to admit that I'm feeling a little 'eh'.  Silly me assumed that since most folks here speak English, the assimilation process would be fairly seamless.

I was wrong.

Let me just give a brief rundown of the slang, translations and other miscellany that I'm trying to learn and the challenges that I've faced.

• "Just now" means that someone will do something for you fairly soon.  This is in contrast to "Now now" which means that someone will do something for you right away.
• I have yet to hear someone promise to do something for me "now now".  
• My impression is that "just now" really means "I'll get to it in due time so please stop asking."
• Why are Americans so much more impatient than most other folks in the world?
• Pancakes are "flapjacks" and crepes are "pancakes"
• The hubs and I wanted pancakes for breakfast and headed back to the grocery store for ingredients.  I feel quite illiterate at the grocery store making purchases based primarily on the pictures on the packages instead of the product labeling.
• After deciding on 'flapjacks', we searched for maple syrup.  The hubs asked me, "traditional or golden?"  My response, "traditional to whom?"  In the absence of Mrs. Butterworth's glorious curves and pleasing smile, we opted for 'golden' as the color seemed most similar to both the Mrs. and her aunt Jemima.
• R100 is about $10
• That makes for simple mental math unless you can't understand what people are saying.  That's typically my problem.  I kinda thought R10/day was too good to be true for my room upgrade.  I was right.  It turned out to be R100/day.  Still, after the smoke cleared, I payed $292 for a virtual palace in comparison to my original digs.
• Speaking of a 'failure to communicate', I still can't understand large numbers.  That is, anything over R999 really gives me trouble.  I tried to explain to someone that I wanted to spend under R5 000 ($500) but he basically just looked at me as if to say "lady, you are clueless, aren't you?"  Reading his mind, I nodded and apologized and we went on with our business.
• "Cheers" is goodbye?
• The first time I heard this, I assumed that there was a bar nearby and I was overhearing a private toast.
• The second time I heard this, I thought maybe I looked sad and a well-wisher was trying to cheer me up.
• The third time I heard this, I worried that I was being rude for not returning the exclamation.
• Now, I'm thinking of creating my own language and pretending not to speak English to minimize conversations with strangers.
• Everyone has a 'hustle' -- as the hubs describes it -- likely because the unemployment rate is @ 30%
• There are men in the street outside our cottage selling hangars and rags.  Really?
• There are men careening through the streets driving unmarked mini-vans that honk the horn wildly and yell from the vehicle soliciting passengers.  I'm not sure that I could ever need a ride so badly that I would accept their invitation.
• There are 'car guards' who don bright yellow vests and assign themselves areas of street parking that they guard in exchange for spare change.  Mark suggested that we pay them.  The hubs acknowledged that it's basically a fee for them NOT to slash your tires.
• I don't necessarily look American but I definitely sound American (or at least not African)
• As soon as I begin speaking, vendors want to sell me far more than I need at prices significantly higher than I intend to pay.  One mobile phone vendor attempted to sell me a $1,100 Samsung smartphone and even followed us to the grocery store to continue the pressure.  Another vendor sold me a basic smartphone plus data and airtime for $155.
• The second vendor admitted that the camera on my new phone isn't very good.  I suggested that I could still use my iPhone for pictures.  His response: "Don't pull out that iPhone unless he (the hubs) is around."  *deep sigh*
• No matter how well you think you have prepared, something will go wrong.
• Putting a travel alert on your bank card does not necessarily mean that Visa will let you use it.  My bank card works at ATMs but not for purchases.  Well, it works now -- I had a few words with a very nice lady at my bank until that was all cleared up.
• The number of things (both important and trivial) that I forgot is staggering.  Oh well.  There's nothing I can do about that now.
• No matter how bad things are, there's always tomorrow and a nice dinner with a great guy always helps.
  
  
  
  Cheers!  :-)