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Posted
15 hours ago, Frosty said:

Spent 4 days in China, last week, only to be reminded again how fubar this country of ours has become. So sad. At least we have lots of open space to ride our bikes.

I have that feeling every time I travel to places where "things just work". But every once in a while I am reminded that I tend to wear glasses that give me a limited view of my own world, despite thinking that I see it exactly like it is. Last week we had a young visitor from Spain and it was her first time to Cape Town (yes, I know it isn't the whole country). She is of Argintian and Colombian ancestry, grew up in both countries, studied in Sweden and Italy and lived in the Netherland sbefore moving to Spain, first to Madrid and now lives in Majorca.

She was simply blown away by Cape Town and the winelands, the mountain, the food, the beaches, friendly people, the art galleries, weather, the waterfront, Kirstenbosch, Boulders, even Uber, shops. She did not quite expect lion and wild animals in the streets, but said she certainly did not anticipate such first world beauty. Yes, I know she visited while there were no power cuts, demonstrations  and the weather was perfect, but it mademe look at my own surroundings again.

Sometimes it is good to see through an outsiders eyes!

Posted (edited)
23 hours ago, DJR said:

I have that feeling every time I travel to places where "things just work". But every once in a while I am reminded that I tend to wear glasses that give me a limited view of my own world, despite thinking that I see it exactly like it is. Last week we had a young visitor from Spain and it was her first time to Cape Town (yes, I know it isn't the whole country). She is of Argintian and Colombian ancestry, grew up in both countries, studied in Sweden and Italy and lived in the Netherland sbefore moving to Spain, first to Madrid and now lives in Majorca.

She was simply blown away by Cape Town and the winelands, the mountain, the food, the beaches, friendly people, the art galleries, weather, the waterfront, Kirstenbosch, Boulders, even Uber, shops. She did not quite expect lion and wild animals in the streets, but said she certainly did not anticipate such first world beauty. Yes, I know she visited while there were no power cuts, demonstrations  and the weather was perfect, but it mademe look at my own surroundings again.

Sometimes it is good to see through an outsiders eyes!

A man walks into our office on Friday (no this is not one of those jokes) and with a heavy Irish accent asks if anyone speaks English, being the only person in the office whose mother tongue is English I jump up first and say to him, yes I do but do you….. immediately he bursts out laughing and says “you sound South African” 

Turns out he is a road worker busy painting yellow lines on a road nearby and has about 5 liters of already mixed yellow paint left over and wanted to know if we need any of this special yellow paint…. We called the airport manager who was very happy to accept the free gift of paint.

Anyway he then goes on to describe his last holiday he had in SA and amongst everything that was fantastic he mentioned how friendly South Africans  “always smiling and easy to talk to they are” and how big the steaks are that you can get for 5€ and the fantastic beach and hotels at a place called Omhlangi (Umhlanga). 

My Swiss work colleague asks me after the Irish guy left, “Why did you leave SA then….” 🤣

Edited by SwissVan
Posted
On 3/29/2024 at 9:00 AM, DJR said:

I have that feeling every time I travel to places where "things just work". But every once in a while I am reminded that I tend to wear glasses that give me a limited view of my own world, despite thinking that I see it exactly like it is. Last week we had a young visitor from Spain and it was her first time to Cape Town (yes, I know it isn't the whole country). She is of Argintian and Colombian ancestry, grew up in both countries, studied in Sweden and Italy and lived in the Netherland sbefore moving to Spain, first to Madrid and now lives in Majorca.

She was simply blown away by Cape Town and the winelands, the mountain, the food, the beaches, friendly people, the art galleries, weather, the waterfront, Kirstenbosch, Boulders, even Uber, shops. She did not quite expect lion and wild animals in the streets, but said she certainly did not anticipate such first world beauty. Yes, I know she visited while there were no power cuts, demonstrations  and the weather was perfect, but it mademe look at my own surroundings again.

Sometimes it is good to see through an outsiders eyes!

But Cape Town is "South Africa" is it not, and everything beyond Worcester is "North Africa"?

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