Affirming Africa

This past week, Roger pointed out that my blog doesn’t exactly give the impression that I’m loving life here in Africa. I started to protest before realizing that he could have a point – the in-law angst, the driving drama, the lost in translation issues, even the pining for proper movie theater popcorn – I can see how one might draw the wrong conclusion from my ramblings. I’m not miserable though, not at all. Yes, I’m anxious to move out of my in-law’s house and of course I’m a little homesick, but I still think we made the right decision in coming here. So, I’m okay. I’m more than okay, and to remind myself of this fact, I’ve decided to make a list of my favorite things about living in South Africa.

1. More time with Roger – Okay, it’s not directly related to Africa, but it is a result of my career change. As a real estate agent, I worked onsite five or six days a week, including every Saturday and Sunday. The only full days I got to spend with Roger were national holidays, and on the days I worked, I rarely got home before seven. So it’s been an amazing change. No, we don’t exactly spend our weekends gazing into each other’s eyes, like I had once imagined, but it’s nice to be able to go out to brunch together or see a matinee movie or go to the mall. Of course, he spends 80% of the weekend in front of the television watching sports, but that other 20%, that’s all me, baby.

2. The in-laws – Don’t be silly, not those in-laws! I’m talking about the other ones. The brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their two perfect children. A weekend with them is all I need to remind myself that coming here was a good decision. Because as much as I miss my family back home, if we hadn’t moved to South Africa, I wouldn’t know this part of my family the way I do now. I wouldn’t know that Dale loves chocolate almost as much as I do, or that she’s the most perfect ballerina on the planet. I wouldn’t know Connor makes amazing desserts or see him perform the lead in his school play. I wouldn’t know the extent of Laurel’s loyalty or Gary’s patience. I might have been told these things, but being here, well, it’s different somehow.

And perhaps, in the near future I will be able to add the other in-laws to this list – when I am no longer living with them, that is. After all, I used to think my mother and father-in-law were pretty fun. And even though I now know that they’re completely insane, I do love them.

3. Nando’s – I believe I've established my love of Nando’s in a previous post, but for those of you just tuning in, I fell in love with Nando’s in London. Every Sunday, Roger and I religiously devoured their extra-hot spicy chicken sandwiches. Lucky for me it's an intercontinental franchise. So, to reaffirm our decision, Roger takes me to Nando’s once a week.

4. South African wine - It's not that the taste is particularly distinctive - no, wine is on the list because of the sheer quantity of it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that a glass of wine is usually cheaper than a Diet Coke, but for whatever reason, people drink a lot of wine. It's at lunch, at dinner, at happy hour, at dessert...so maybe it's not specifically the wine that I love, but the attitude towards wine. Because as you know, I do like to wine a bit!

5. My job – As I’ve mentioned before, I am now a writer. A writer! I know; I need to stop squealing when I say that. Perhaps I could have explored this option in Atlanta, but I didn’t really know where to start. But here I am in Africa…Robyn, the writer.
And I love it.

6. My blog – Why didn’t I do this earlier? I’ve always been overly introspective and a bit narcissistic, and how better to indulge those traits than a blog? It’s kind of a stretch, but I derive the content for my blog from living here in South Africa, so that’s why it makes the list.

7. The African sun – It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen, and to try and describe it in words is a task too daunting for this novice writer...it’s closer, brighter, more vibrant. It’s as if Africa has a sun all to itself.
Photo most definitely not taken by me! This is one of Gary and Laurel's.

Perhaps this will put it in perspective: To compensate for my new relationship with sausages and potatoes, I’ve taken up jogging. I hate to exercise, but if I continue to eat my mother-in-law’s sausage rolls and sausage sandwiches and sausages with mashed potatoes (not to mention Nando’s once a week), I realize exercise is a necessary evil. So even though I hate it, I’ve been getting up at 6:30 four or five days a week and going to the park. You’re in shock, I know. Me? 6:30? But it’s true, and the thing that helps me drag my butt out of bed is knowing I’ll see that amazing African sunrise. There’s just nothing like the feeling of the African sun on my face as it first peeps over the hill. It truly takes my breath away…or perhaps I’m just breathless because I’m out of shape. That’s entirely possible, but regardless, it’s pretty damn beautiful.

So that’s a good start, huh? And there are other reasons too, things that aren’t part of our everyday life, but things I certainly wouldn’t see or do very often if we didn’t live here – like the African bush or the Capetown vineyards or Victoria Falls or the Namibian desert. Plus, how many people can say they’ve lived in Africa? Okay, a whole continent’s worth of people, but you know what I mean, right? One day Roger and I will move back to the States, and I’ll casually say at a dinner party, “Well, when we lived in Africa…” and suddenly, I will be fascinating and exotic. Perhaps that’s not legitimate enough for the list, but if I’m being honest…well, it’s another reason I like living here – the simple experience of it all. So yes, I still feel good about our decision. I'm happy to be here.

And when I’m not, I just go to Nando’s.