[NS]Episteme
01-06-2005, 11:28
I'm just asking because I'm going out there in a few weeks on a volunteering project- working with terminally ill people affected by HIV and AIDS, and also teaching conversational English. I've never been before (I've never even been abroad before) so if anyone is either from SA or has been there and seen what it's really like then I'd like to know, seeing as the images we get in the media about other countries are almost invariably wrong. The place I'm going to, by the way, is just outside Cape Town.
I'd like to go there sometime.
Certainly less "dirty and corrupt" than most of the U.S.
Sorry to turn another thread into an America-bashing thread... Moving on...
Lacadaemon
01-06-2005, 13:06
I'd like to go there sometime.
Certainly less "dirty and corrupt" than most of the U.S.
Sorry to turn another thread into an America-bashing thread... Moving on...
Where are you from, bizzaro world?
Camiflowerland
01-06-2005, 13:11
OOH! i know, i know, pick me!
heh, sorry, i just moved here a few months ago, supposed to have been staying til march, but changed it to august this year. (that's 8 months less than planned) I was wondering when my knowledge of s. Africa would come in handy, although, i'm sorry to say i can't tell you much...
it definitely depends on where you go. i'm in grahamstown, a.k.a the middle of nowhere, but it's very suburban. right, a few facts: the majority is black, the most spoken language is afrikaans. wherever you go the most widely used slogan is likely to start with 'proudly', but only if you go somewhere with businesses and stuff like that. grahamstown is 'famous' for Rhodes University. whereabouts are you from, anyway? IMO, S Africa is like a cross between England and suburban brazil. (but, as you've never been abroad, that probably doesn't help)
the people are generally friendly. if you will be using a car there, make sure you don't leave stuff on the seats when you leave it outside. we made that mistake with our dirty washing. (maybe that's just our street, though) errm, township is the other name for shanty town type areas. errm, what else?
errm, lets see. what do you want to know?