It has been almost 1 month since I left my amaze-balls life
in the city of Cape Town Swaziland
When I departed from my comfy Cape Town cloud, I was aware
that I was heading for rural KZN but I don’t think I ever “processed” the facts,
in addition to this I made many assumptions; for this reason my first few days
in Ingwavuma was filled with “surprises”.
 |
| Bright eyed and bushy tailed in the CT...dazed and confused in the Voomles |
For example:
Fact #1: I knew that my village was 400km from Durban
Response to Fact #1: Ag, 400km, chilled vibes bra! That’s
like from Cape Town
Reality of Fact #1: first 300km-easy. Last 100km=pot holes
for Africa + kamakazie cows + never ending
road + no street lights + no signal = FREAK OUT OF NOTE!!! Total travel time
from Durban
Fact #2: The population is Zulu…thus they speak Zulu
Response Fact #2: so what they speak Zulu, I will have a
translator…chilled vibes
Reality of Fact #2: uhm…sorry dah-ling, no translators-you
must learn ama-language
Once I got over the initial shock, there were a few more
discoveries to be made. Winter is not my favourite season…its wet, it is cold. If
Winter had Facebook I’d click the like button just so that I could immediately
click unlike, I would unfriend it and block it. Summer on the other hand is by
far my favourite! Summer = no rain which equals sunshine which in turn equals
happiness…this is of course if you live in Cape Town. Since KZN has a
sub-tropical climate summer is their hot and rainy season and winter is their
dry season, so though it is raining it is not cold-its hot/humid-so you
sweat…but its raining…this leaves my medulla oblongata most confused and
disturbed. People have always said that KZN is humid and hot, seeing as I am
such a fan of warmth and sunshine I assumed that I would LOVE the sweltering
heat this sub-tropical climate brings-uhm, NO…FAIL! Running here is like
running in a sauna-you sweat because it’s humid, you sweat because you are
running and you sweat because you are sweating.
Eventually I built a bridge and got over my wealth of
surprises, which allowed me to start absorbing my environment. I swapped the
hustle and bustle of the city for the rustle of leaves and the creaking of
crickets. The dreaded load shedding is a problem of the past, however it has
been replaced by inconvenient water cuts, I’m more likely to be held up by a
heard of cows than a pile up on the N2, you compete with goats, sheep and
potholes for a place on the road instead of a taxis (mind you, the mad skills
of city taxi drivers have carried over to the country side…the use of
indicators and blind spots are so over rated when changing lanes) I swapped
Cape Town where everything is a mere 15-20 minutes away for a village whose
nearest “big city” is 300km. My new “mall” consists of Pep stores, iThala (a
local bank), Elerines, a small electrical winkel, Spar Trader and 2 Chinese
shops; a massive step down from Cavendish to say the least. I live in a little park home on the hospital
premises with my housemate - this means I leave my house at 7:57 to get to work
by 8:00-BOOM!. The park home is like a container that they have converted into
a house, it has an open plan kitchen and dining room, three bedrooms, a shower,
and toilet and most importantly it has air-con. In essence I’m surrounded by kilometres
of untouched natural beauty; lush green hills that roll into eternity, aloe
trees and beautiful people.
 |
| Artistic impression of my housie |
