I promised some feedback on my trip to South Africa - 12 days plus flying time. I got back to Adelaide last week, and am now over the jet-lag.
We have been living in Adelaide around 15 months now, and I wanted to go back for 2 weeks to see my family. Some of you 'oldies' may remember that my little niece had a big heart operation last year at around 8 months old, and also my grandfather aged 81 had a heart attack a week before Christmas (he is now a lot better). So the oldest and the youngest members of my very big family had heart problems recently, and I wanted to see them again before it became a funeral trip. I went on my own, leaving the kids and DH coping perfectly without me, as always. Lots of uninterrupted Super 14 viewing....
Well, SA Airways was scary, to say the least. The safety video/demonstration was skipped entirely, the ancient rattling drop-down TV's showed only 2 movies, both for kids. No matter, as none of the earphone attachments in my vicinity worked anyway. The food was even worse than usual plane food, and the blankets smelt funny. The only good part was that the flight was empty, so I got 4 seats on the middle to have a snooze on. I was very gratefull when we touched down alive.
On landing at OR Tambo I walked out to see my dad for the first time in 15 months, which was great. But the best bit was the lovely black sky, thick with rain, and the perfect ambient temperature. The whole time I was there is was around 28 degrees and lovely. No searing days and chilly nights like here. The drive to the East Rand was a bit more hairy. My dad's 1600 Bantam spent most of the time driving in the yellow lane, while people overtook us. Traffic was a shocker to me, as the highways are chockablock full of cars and trucks. I had forgotten so many people share the roads up there, after sleepy Adelaide traffic. The problem as always is that the trucks go 50 and the BMW's go 160 and heaven help you if you get stuck in between. In the time I was there I borrowed cars from family, and after the first 2 days I was used to it again, zipping in and out like the maniac I am in my sister's little Golf. The roads are definitely in a worse condtion than when we left, the road markings are faded, and potholes a bit bigger. I experienced 3 or 4 roadrage incidents and - dare I say it - the problem was always with white people, I had no trouble with taxis' etc. One aunty near Menlyn would NOT let me change lanes in front of her, and we ended up having a colourfull sign-language conversation. One drunk guy followed me home drinking a beer and flashing his lights at me and swerving all over the show on my second day. This was in the middle of a Friday afternoon and I got a bit of a fright. I realised I have become used to men behaving a bit better than that here in Aus. Luckily after about 15 minutess he got bored and turned around. I was shaking after that one, I can tell you!
Still on traffic - I realised that some members of my family have no problem drinking 5 beers and half a bottle of wine and driving home at 150kph. Just like always. Others ignore traffic lights at night, and all take fat chances on the road. It made me annoyed because my family needs me alive, and gratefull for airbags.
I had scared myself quite a bit before leaving, but I lost my fear after about 24 hours again. I decided, however, I would not drive alone at night, and made sure I was home before that. I think that reading News 24 scared me too much, as I actually felt safe most of the time. The truth is that it does take just one 50c bullet, as someone said in another thread, and I was very aware of this.
The gardens - absolutely beautiful. Both my gran and mother in law have award-winning gardens, and it was great to see green grass and flowers, sprinkler systems and swimming pools! My garden in Adelaide now resembles a desert. There are no plants left and the grass is not really hanging in there. We even have fake put-put style 'grass' on the traffic islands. I realised how much I missed the lovely green, and just being able to plant something and water it so it can stay alive.
The shopping - Oh My GOSH! I loved everything in the shops. I blew a cool R4k on my Edgars account in 2 days. I will pay it back over the net. Now we are all kitted out with winter basics. Approximately 50% of the cost of Australia. The problem was getting my 40kg's of luggage back without paying in.... I can honestly say I find the clothes shopping in Aus a nightmare. The stuff is HIDEOUS and EXPENSIVE. I make no excuses for my comment here. I wouldn't even dress my worst enemy in some of Harris Scarfe's finest. I think their buyer is colour-blind. On the contrary, Mr Price, Woolworths, oh WOW, lovely stuff!
Did I mention the clothes are better?
The cars - YES, YES, YES. Nice cars. No crappy, ugly wagons.
The people - The ladies in Eastgate, for example, wear make-up! And nice clothes. And paint their nails, and have their hair done. Let's just say it's been a long time . The men weren't too bad either. It was nice to be among beautiful people. How much am I going to be lambasted for that one??? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know - looking well-groomed doesn't make up for not being alive. While on the sbject I had the most amazing facial for only R200 - almost 2 hours. I was in heaven. South African beauticians rock. Funny story though - as I was coming out of the cubicle I yanked the curtain and the whole curtain rail fell down on my head and gave me a huge bash on the forehead. I saw stars!!! I still have the lump 10 days later. Duh! Serves me right for being vain, most probably.
What else? Oh yes, some of my family was just as they always are. Full of cr@p. I remembered why I now live a few thousand miles away. Most were lovely. Some blatantly said 'When are you coming home?'. They are all just getting on with it. Business as usual.
Eating out - Expensive!!! My inlaws took me out for Italian and the mains were R60 for a salad and R120 for a lamb shank. Much more than I remembered but still a helluva lot less than Aussie prices. No matter which way you look at it. The exchange rate going to R7,45 to the Aussie dollar today says it all. If we go out to eat we never spend less than R800 for 4 of us now. Let's just say we eat out a lot less nowadays (And before everyone starts telling me not to convert, we earn Rands, and pay with a South African card, so we see the bill in Rands, thank you very much. Thanks to the lovely exchange rate we have had a 26% drop in income over the past year. So I unfortunately have to convert to Rands).
Friends - of my 3 close friends, one is moving to Salt Lake City, one to Canada, and one to the USA somewhere. They all 3 told me on different occasions that things are far too bad now to consider staying in SA. It's funny how different factors push different people over the edge. For some it's Eishkom, for some it's the education system, and for some it's Zuma and corruption.
Lifestyle - the lifesyle in SA seems amazing still. It's just braai's, eating out, interior decorators, big bike trips, nice cars, holidays, and property investing. Nothing has slowed down, the whole place is buzzing with money.
Houses - When I saw again how nice people's houses are, I was embarrassed about my little Aussie house, to tell the truth. It's the same style and size of a townhouse we owned exactly 10 years ago. It goes to prove that you can expect emmigration to set you back financially by 10 years. Oh well. When you have to fix everything and clean everything and plant or mow everything yourself, you realise the smaller the better. No oceans of cream porcelain tiles for me, thank you!!! No manicured lawns or shiny cars, either! No trellidors and double locks. No ADT phoning you at odd times, either....
Well, in a nutshell, I enjoyed my trip, but the last few days were torture, I couldn't wait to get back to my family. I actually missed some of my friends here too. I thought, and thought on the plane, but I cannot honestly say I missed Adelaide (Australia???) itself. In truth, all the friends I missed here are also Saffers. Probably because I don't have any Aussie friends. What does it mean? I still have a long way to go on my personal 'journey'. See ya on the other side.
Bronwyn
PS. For anyone reading this that was at the Pretoria coffee club on the Saturday afternoon, I hope the newspapers and pamphlets helped. If not, we left a bit of a mess at Irene. Thanks so much Bridge, it was a good meeting!
Question
Guest Bronwyn
Hi guys (warning - mammoth post)
I promised some feedback on my trip to South Africa - 12 days plus flying time. I got back to Adelaide last week, and am now over the jet-lag.
We have been living in Adelaide around 15 months now, and I wanted to go back for 2 weeks to see my family. Some of you 'oldies'
may remember that my little niece had a big heart operation last year at around 8 months old, and also my grandfather aged 81 had a heart attack a week before Christmas (he is now a lot better). So the oldest and the youngest members of my very big family had heart problems recently, and I wanted to see them again before it became a funeral trip. 
I went on my own, leaving the kids and DH coping perfectly without me, as always. Lots of uninterrupted Super 14 viewing....
Well, SA Airways was scary, to say the least. The safety video/demonstration was skipped entirely, the ancient rattling drop-down TV's showed only 2 movies, both for kids. No matter, as none of the earphone attachments in my vicinity worked anyway. The food was even worse than usual plane food, and the blankets smelt funny. The only good part was that the flight was empty, so I got 4 seats on the middle to have a snooze on. I was very gratefull when we touched down alive.
On landing at OR Tambo I walked out to see my dad for the first time in 15 months, which was great. But the best bit was the lovely black sky, thick with rain, and the perfect ambient temperature. The whole time I was there is was around 28 degrees and lovely. No searing days and chilly nights like here.
The drive to the East Rand was a bit more hairy. My dad's 1600 Bantam spent most of the time driving in the yellow lane, while people overtook us. 
Traffic was a shocker to me, as the highways are chockablock full of cars and trucks. I had forgotten so many people share the roads up there, after sleepy Adelaide traffic. The problem as always is that the trucks go 50 and the BMW's go 160 and heaven help you if you get stuck in between. In the time I was there I borrowed cars from family, and after the first 2 days I was used to it again, zipping in and out like the maniac I am in my sister's little Golf. 
The roads are definitely in a worse condtion than when we left, the road markings are faded, and potholes a bit bigger. I experienced 3 or 4 roadrage incidents and - dare I say it - the problem was always with white people, I had no trouble with taxis' etc. One aunty near Menlyn would NOT let me change lanes in front of her, and we ended up having a colourfull sign-language conversation. One drunk guy followed me home drinking a beer and flashing his lights at me and swerving all over the show on my second day. This was in the middle of a Friday afternoon and I got a bit of a fright. I realised I have become used to men behaving a bit better than that here in Aus. 
Luckily after about 15 minutess he got bored and turned around. I was shaking after that one, I can tell you!
Still on traffic - I realised that some members of my family have no problem drinking 5 beers and half a bottle of wine and driving home at 150kph. Just like always. Others ignore traffic lights at night, and all take fat chances on the road. It made me annoyed because my family needs me alive, and gratefull for airbags.
I had scared myself quite a bit before leaving, but I lost my fear after about 24 hours again. I decided, however, I would not drive alone at night, and made sure I was home before that. I think that reading News 24 scared me too much, as I actually felt safe most of the time. The truth is that it does take just one 50c bullet, as someone said in another thread, and I was very aware of this.
The gardens - absolutely beautiful. Both my gran and mother in law have award-winning gardens, and it was great to see green grass and flowers, sprinkler systems and swimming pools! My garden in Adelaide now resembles a desert. There are no plants left and the grass is not really hanging in there. We even have fake put-put style 'grass' on the traffic islands.
I realised how much I missed the lovely green, and just being able to plant something and water it so it can stay alive.
The shopping - Oh My GOSH! I loved everything in the shops. I blew a cool R4k on my Edgars account in 2 days. I will pay it back over the net. Now we are all kitted out with winter basics. Approximately 50% of the cost of Australia. The problem was getting my 40kg's of luggage back without paying in....
I can honestly say I find the clothes shopping in Aus a nightmare. The stuff is HIDEOUS and EXPENSIVE. I make no excuses for my comment here. I wouldn't even dress my worst enemy in some of Harris Scarfe's finest. I think their buyer is colour-blind. On the contrary, Mr Price, Woolworths, oh WOW, lovely stuff!
Did I mention the clothes are better?
The cars - YES, YES, YES. Nice cars. No crappy, ugly wagons.
The people - The ladies in Eastgate, for example, wear make-up! And nice clothes. And paint their nails, and have their hair done. Let's just say it's been a long time
. The men weren't too bad either. It was nice to be among beautiful people. How much am I going to be lambasted for that one??? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know - looking well-groomed doesn't make up for not being alive. 
While on the sbject I had the most amazing facial for only R200 - almost 2 hours. I was in heaven. South African beauticians rock. Funny story though - as I was coming out of the cubicle I yanked the curtain and the whole curtain rail fell down on my head and gave me a huge bash on the forehead. 
I saw stars!!! I still have the lump 10 days later. Duh! Serves me right for being vain, most probably.
What else? Oh yes, some of my family was just as they always are. Full of cr@p. I remembered why I now live a few thousand miles away. Most were lovely. Some blatantly said 'When are you coming home?'. They are all just getting on with it. Business as usual.
Eating out - Expensive!!! My inlaws took me out for Italian and the mains were R60 for a salad and R120 for a lamb shank. Much more than I remembered but still a helluva lot less than Aussie prices. No matter which way you look at it. The exchange rate going to R7,45 to the Aussie dollar today says it all. If we go out to eat we never spend less than R800 for 4 of us now. Let's just say we eat out a lot less nowadays (And before everyone starts telling me not to convert, we earn Rands, and pay with a South African card, so we see the bill in Rands, thank you very much. Thanks to the lovely exchange rate we have had a 26% drop in income over the past year. So I unfortunately have to convert to Rands).
Friends - of my 3 close friends, one is moving to Salt Lake City, one to Canada, and one to the USA somewhere. They all 3 told me on different occasions that things are far too bad now to consider staying in SA. It's funny how different factors push different people over the edge. For some it's Eishkom, for some it's the education system, and for some it's Zuma and corruption.
Lifestyle - the lifesyle in SA seems amazing still. It's just braai's, eating out, interior decorators, big bike trips, nice cars, holidays, and property investing. Nothing has slowed down, the whole place is buzzing with money.
Houses - When I saw again how nice people's houses are, I was embarrassed about my little Aussie house, to tell the truth. It's the same style and size of a townhouse we owned exactly 10 years ago. It goes to prove that you can expect emmigration to set you back financially by 10 years. Oh well. When you have to fix everything and clean everything and plant or mow everything yourself, you realise the smaller the better. No oceans of cream porcelain tiles for me, thank you!!! No manicured lawns or shiny cars, either!
No trellidors and double locks. No ADT phoning you at odd times, either....
Well, in a nutshell, I enjoyed my trip, but the last few days were torture, I couldn't wait to get back to my family. I actually missed some of my friends here too.
I thought, and thought on the plane, but I cannot honestly say I missed Adelaide (Australia???) itself. In truth, all the friends I missed here are also Saffers. Probably because I don't have any Aussie friends. What does it mean? I still have a long way to go on my personal 'journey'. See ya on the other side. 
Bronwyn
PS. For anyone reading this that was at the Pretoria coffee club on the Saturday afternoon, I hope the newspapers and pamphlets helped. If not, we left a bit of a mess at Irene. Thanks so much Bridge, it was a good meeting!
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