Cultural Mix
Our first week in South Africa has been packed with action! Everything from delayed and cancelled flights to meeting new people from all over the world and making new friends has made the first week in Port Elizabeth (or PE as the locals call it) a fantastic experience!
Our adventure was meant to begin with a flight from Dublin International airport to Abu Dhabi to Johannesburg and then on to PE. Instead due to fog in Abu Dhabi we ended up landing in Doha, Qatar (I know, where?) for a few hours first. After watching a few extra on flight movies we flew on to Abu Dhabi where chaos welcomed us in the airport as it had shut down for several hours. After waiting in total for about seven hours in manic queues, and taking full advantage of the free meal vouchers in between we were eventually provided with a hotel in Abu Dhabi for the night which I can only describe as awesome! After another night sleeping over in Johannesburg we finally reached Port Elizabeth and were introduced to our accommodation at Annie’s Cove. Although our journey was long, we met some cool young South Africans in the airports who we hung out with throughout the trip.
Annie’s Cove is a real mix of cultures, playing home to students from all over the world, from Norway to Germany, to Botswana and the USA. There is also a number of South African students staying here making the off campus lifestyle diverse and culturally rich. We have already had the opportunity to experience some traditional Swedish food when some friends cooked us Swedish meatballs which were delicious! From the first day of our arrival at Annie’s Cove I knew that I was going to enjoy my time living here. PE is known as the ‘friendly city’ and my first week of living here has proven this to be true. PE is also known as the ‘windy city’ and the first few days of rain wind and overcast skies showed me that even Africa gets its occasional share of the ‘Irish climate’. Thankfully blue skies and sunny weather appeared shortly and the sun cream was in use! I have noticed quite a few cultural differences between Ireland and South Africa already. The most striking and possibly the best is the relaxed and easy going atmosphere and way of life. I’ve already adjusted myself to the idea of ‘African time’ where it is okay to be late, although I was fairly well practiced in this at home!
On Friday morning we travelled to the Tsitsikamma Valley for a weekend orientation with the other international students. This was a great opportunity to not only make friends with new people from all over the world but also share in other cultures. Explaining that in Ireland terms such as ‘craic’ did not in actual fact mean drugs and getting used to people using the word ‘pants’ rather than ‘trousers’ proved to be very entertaining. While learning from each other’s cultures we also got opportunities to experience some South African traditions and culture. After a South African meal we got a lesson in traditional African drumming, which created an incredible sound. A lecture on the history of South Africa turned out to be a fascinating insight into what has shaped the country into the ‘rainbow nation’ of today. We were taught how cultural, racial and political differences have been divisions of the past and how as a nation South Africa is working towards and more inclusive future. The story of the unsettled history between black, white and coloured people reminded me in many ways of the troubles of Northern Ireland between religions and political views.
The highlight of the weekend was of course zip lining through the Tsitsikamma Valley over incredible waterfalls. This was an adrenaline junkies dream and was a great way to make friends and have fun together. The views were amazing; unfortunately the photos do not do the scenery justice.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my first blog, and I’m sure that there will be plenty of exciting posts to come!
Glenn
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