We were not required to learn a language to come on our mission to Durban. “They speak English in Durban!” Well, technically, yes..
This trolley is late
Translation: This shopping cart is dead. It’s similar to when we say, “the late Mr. So and So” in an obituary, but the South Africans will say, “My father has been late for 5 years.” It’s so charming! I like the thought that they are not dead, just late. Love these hot pink shopping carts, no—they’re called trolleys, that we use to shop for groceries in the mall. You have to remember to bring your “packets” (grocery bags) from home or you’ll be buying new ones at the mall. South Africa is very eco- minded.
When asking the store clerk if they have garbage bags, we got the deer in headlights look in response. After awkward antics and descriptions, the clerk finally got what we were asking for: “Ahhh, you mean bean bags!!” I later figured out that he was saying, “BIN bags!!!😂 We did find bin bags here for our trash.
If you’ve ever been to London, or worked on computers, you know that to “queue up” is to get in line. We’ve learned that you do a lot of this if you go shopping at the mall on Saturdays.
You never say “no” if someone wants you to do something you cannot or do not want to do. Instead you say: “Next time!” I will buy that next time.
In South Africa if you have an appointment at 10:00, you are still on time if you get there some within the hour. If you arrive at 10:59, you are still on time! There’s a lot of grace in living here.💗
To keep traffic at safe speeds, they have a lot of speed bumps everywhere. Actually they call them “traffic calming.”
”Just now” does not mean this very minute. What they are telling you is, “ I’ll get to it when I get to it.”
We love the British flavor and hope it rubs off. We aspire to speak with the South African flair by the time we return home!
As it turns out, our couple months of Zulu on Duolingo has been very fun. We’ve learned some words and phrases for interacting with many of the locals, for example y trying say hello, how are you, etc. President has also asked everyone to brush up on our Portuguese.
You may think these look like cookies, but here in South Africa, they are called “biscuits”. These are from the awesome bakery at Checkers, coconut crunchies drizzled with chocolate.
If you’re struggling to accomplish something, like opening South African packaging (which is no easy feat), they’ll ask: “Are you winning?”😂😂