Snow!! (The real stuff)

Snow in SA! It's more common then I thought. Every year there is a snow season in the area of Ceres, an 1,5 hour driving north of Cape Town. There is actually a snow club where SA's can ski for about two to three weeks per year.
It was busy in Ceres when we went there this weekend. The minute we walked into the Tourist Information Centre the guy asked us if we were looking for the snow. He advised us to get a snow-map(!) that would direct us there. The snowy fields and roads were covered with people throwing snow balls and building snow mans.
And of course there was the inevitable Boerewors and coffee stand; the only two things the couple behind the stand and braai sold. Talking about bare necessities!

Land of milk and honey

On my way back from Holland I encountered a Dutch couple at the airport. The two 50 year olds were beaming with energy. When they learned that I lived in SA they looked at each other and said simultaneously;
" We are going to buy land in South-Africa! In Somerset-West!"
" Well", I replied, " Then you are just in time, because the government is planning on making it a lot harder for foreigners to buy land"
"I heard sometime like that from a friend of ours", the lady said and turned to her husband "Isn't he going there now as well to buy some for himself?"
"Yes, he his", the husband replied.
" The government is making it harder because the purchases of wealthy foreigners are driving up the prices so much that locals find it almost impossible to afford property, especially in the Western Cape", I explained.
"Really? So we are just in time then!”, the man replied happy.


The corridors at airfields are pretty long so the conversation continued until we reached gate 16.
"Isn't it wonderful to live in SA? I mean; it's like the land of milk and honey", he asked me.
Just coming back from Holland with it's small gap between rich and poor and all it's healthy, well fed people, I couldn't help but reply: "I don't know, there's so much poverty and misery. A lot people are uneducated and unemployed, they live in shacks. Every day I get confronted with the fact that I have it better than most. I loved being in Holland where so many people can afford the same things I can and where poverty is hidden".
Obviously this wasn't what the guy had expected and he fell silent for a little while. "Yes of course, but what about the wine, the diners, the climate. It's wonderful!" and he turned to see if his wife was still following him. "Let's go!”. And off they were.

Safe strawberries

The safety in Holland is a blessing compared to SA. People there don't realise it enough, but it's great being able to sleep with the windows open, to step into your car and throw your bag next to you without the worry of a high jack, biking back to your house at 2 o'clock at night, and so on...

One of the things people in SA have a hard time believing is the following; in the Dutch countryside there are little unmanned stands next to the road where one can buy farms products like flowers, fruit (strawberries, apples and pears) and potatoes. The money that one pays for this, has to be put in a little jar on top of the stand or in the postbox of the house behind it. THERE IS NO ONE WHO CHECKS IF PEOPLE ACTUALLY DO PAY AND THERE IS NO ONE WHO CHECKS IF ANYBODY IS STEALING THE MONEY IN THE JAR. You don't believe me? Look at the pictures for proof.

First time victim

First of all I would like to apologise to all my readers for not publishing any new posts on this weblog for so long. I was in the Netherlands for some time. During my absence there was a breaking and entering in our house by which my laptop got stolen. Now I have a new one (thank god for good insurance) and am back to blog. It is the first time I've been a victim of SA's huge crime.

The persons who robbed us were two 14-year old boys. Because my boyfriend interrupted them in their quest for our (expensive) goods they didn't steel that much: a laptop, my mini-disc recorder, shoes and my whole CD-collection. All the cd's I have bought over the last 12 years, including my very first...George Michaels Faith. It's awful. I try not to think about it to much otherwise it hurts.

As some icing on the cake they pooped in front of the door and wiped their butts with my boyfriend's best jacket.