Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

Friday, June 09, 2006

Happy South Africa Day!!!

Okay, so I don’t actually think there is a South Africa Day (please correct me if I’m wrong), and I know that Youth Day is coming up, and perhaps Freedom Day or Heritage Day would be more appropriate, but I’m feeling very patriotic today. So I have declared today South Africa Day in London Above. And to celebrate I’m making a list of some of the things I love about SA.
PLEASE add to this list in the comments section, and send your friends this way so that we get a really comprehensive and diverse list going.

In no particular order:
1. Miriam Makeba
2. biltong, nik naks and fanta grape
3. Madiba (predictable I know, but what’s not to love?)
4. Mandela print shirts and the “Madiba shuffle”
5. summer evening braais
6. like, sha-wa, Table Mountain, man, m’kay?!
7. the devastating beauty of the wild coast
8. Melville coffee shops, and Cat’s Pyjamas
9. Rev. Des Tutu (the hippest square on the block)
10. drinking quarts in your local shebeen
11. meerkats
12. sunflower fields in the Free State
13. The Valley of Desolation (Karoo)
14. Athol Fugard (the second most reproduced playwright in the english language – I read it somewhere so it must be true)
15. Knysna elephants
16. gumboot dancing
17. wire and bead animals
18. the Owl House
19. bunny chow
20. eleven official languages – that’s just cool!

And so much more…

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

The smell in natal just before a big thudnerstorm... That ozone and sugar cane heat. And then of course, during and after said thunderstorm.

Damn you, now you've made me homesick.

TashJoeZA said...

--dinner and drinks @ the Brass Bell in Kalk Bay on a windy night, when the waves are smacking the windows

--Grahamstown's Botanical Gardens on a summer's afternoon

--the smell of braaivleis and potato salad

--storms on the Highveld

--Table Mountain by night (it's backlit)

--Afrikaans

Pieter K13 said...

- The Stellenbosch Winelands

- Swimming in the sea in the moonlight (and not freezing to death...)

- Being lulled to sleep by the sound of the ocean

- Vleesbaai (If you haven't heard the Karen Zoid song or been there, I pity you...)

- Karen Zoid, Johnny Clegg, Freshlyground, Springbok Nude Girls, Koos Kombuis... The list goes on!

- The Transkei (for various reasons)!

- The mornings in "die platteland" after much-needed rains... The entire place just comes alive.

Katie Possum said...

Chelsea sent me an email with her favourites:
- storms on the highveld (this one's really popular)
- guava rolls (i'm not even sure what these are, but okay)
:)

Duncan said...

single ciggarettes

Anonymous said...

hey hey
i would miss...
super friendly car guards.
all the multilingual inhabitants.
rugby watching, beer drinking, wors eating afrikaners (maybe).
the spectacular beaches.
road trips through little towns from yester-year.
the positive disposition of the 20 something generation.

Peas on Toast said...

Kate I love it. Even being here, one forgets about the cool things - believe me!

Nevertheless, here's my list:
- Our diverse scenery. Sub-tropical, semi-desert, Mediterranean, bushveld, the list goes on.
- Kulula.com (this isn't necessarily good. But the fares beat SAA anyday.)
- Cheap booze at the Zoo Lake Bowling Club (R9 for a g and t. You can't go wrong.)
- braais.
- The Drakensberg.
- People who say things like 'china', 'oke', 'ek se fokken woah' with a straight face.
- Places that you think are just in the movies. Eg: Brakpan, Blikkiesfontein, Pofadder.
- Tassenberg.
- Leon Schuster
- Plett during the Christmas period.
- Durban on New Year's Day (again, charming)
- Township tours

And the list goes on. Hey this is kinda fun! :)

Anonymous said...

Hey katie,

As someone who is still in this gorgeous (although very cold if u're in cape town right now) place:

- the clear blue sky and sun in joburg in winter (even if it's cold there's still hope that summer's round the corner)
- cape town taxis and gatchi's (those chaps that scream "mowbray kaap" out the window)
- highveld thunderstorms: the smell before and after, their punctuality (4 o clock every summer afternoon), their beauty (the lightening looks like a fireworks show)
- sunrises from my balcony in kenilworth and sunsets on clifton fourth
-tassies :-)
- pap
- mnqushu (samp and beans for those who don't know)
- transkei cows
- meat (we've got really good meat...)
- capetonians (including myself) who say things like "hectic broer"
- sandton kugels
- bakkies (i know they have them in other places but ours are just so much cooler)
- pig and swizzle on rondebosch main road (R5 booze on a thursday- happiness!)
- hearing our eleven official languages
- SA hip hop and SA Djs
- You, Huisgenoot and Drum (the intellectual snob in me says no... but I would miss seeing them at the check out counter...)

Luvies!

Anonymous said...

- the toyi-toyi.
- South African girls - always up for a laugh, full of fun and so good looking.
- driving on long, straight roads with the radio on in the heat.
- swimming in the sea at Kleinemond.
- weekends in the bush.
- zambuck
- jolling (there's no equivalent in any other language)
- Afrikaans (no-one else gets to say things like: "n Grap is n grap, maar jy maak nie n sambreel in n man se gat oop nie.")
- Corne and Twakkie
- 2010

kevin burden said...

- the people... all of them (because they're all prettier and a damn sight more pleasant than some other nations...)

- the feeling of the hot sun on your back for more than 3 weeks a year

- people bitching about the cold when
it's a balmy 12 degrees out

- Stellenbosch in spring (yes, yes... i know it's a song but it's a song for a BLOODY good reason)

- Stars in a clear Karoo sky and sunrises on Camps Bay beach

- Tassenberg, Windhoek and Creme Soda... (usually in that order)

- Afrikaans, Xhosa and Setswana (spoken in a non-conspiritorial fashion)

- Fillet steak (REAL fillet steak, not fat-streaked, overpriced, overcooked, under-aged wannabe horse meat)

- The ENTIRE N2

...could really do this all day but seriously now...

TheTart said...

I can't contribute, bummer ~ 4 lack of knowledge! But am loving the comnts, natch!

Big smooch,
The Tart

BTW, my mom is delight have company regarding Men & thier clothing issues! U have a 2 fans in Texas now!!

Danielle said...

How much space have you got

1. No football hooligans
2. the guys who take their tops off at home are so much better looking
3. All my friends
4. Hunters dry
5. Sushi that won't bankrupt you
6. lazy afternoons in camps bay
7. wine farms
8. Decent meat... i'm not sure what the substitute is over here but it may as well be exceptionally overpriced bergie
9. SUN
10. being able to swim

And these are a few of my favourite things....

Cat Murray said...

1. Mango Groove.. there's a special star that shines...
2. Gorgeous beaches
3. Friendly people
4. Open space
5. Knysna
6. Hiking in the Drakensberg
7. The way South Africa smells - hard to pinpoint but always there
8. Umbrella thorns
9. Amstel draught in plastic SAB cups at the rugby/cricket
10. Real meat
11. Eating outside on the verandah on a summer evening

Katie Possum said...

Hey Jocelyn,
no stress - just come and visit! :)

Claire Hawk said...

- Freshly Ground
- Koos Kombuis
- Red aloes on the hills of the eastern cape rising out of the dry, white winter grass and in between the thorn trees
- the huge, pale-blue sky
- ha-de-dahs (seriously, I'd miss them!)
- Stellenbosch in autumn
- Rosebank, Joburg when the Jacaradas are blooming
- Cape Town on a perfect summer afternoon
- Kirstenbosch concerts
- Grahamstown. Always. Especially in early winter
- Fest
- McGinty's in Joburg airport
- East London airport
- The beach road from Muzenburg to Somerset West
- Pringle
- Morgs (especially the cliffs)
- Llandadno
- Rondebosch squirrels
- the mountain

I could keep doing this for a long time but just one more:
- (in anticipation) all my favourite people come home!

Lovely Gold said...

1. the genral friendliness of our nation
2. cheap bozze in general
3. my mother's cooking
4. my grand mother's cooking for that matter
5. would definitly miss the southern hemispheres stars...they just are more beautiful on this side of the world

Lovely Gold said...

meat to say...BOOZE at number two...hehehe...am probably drunk right now thanks to cheapiness of said alcohol

Lovely Gold said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Framesby 86 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Framesby 86 said...

You sent me an invite and after reading all of the above I can still add:

- Houtbay !!!
- the drive along Chapmans Peak - nothing can beat the sight that awaits your eyes
- saying Jistie man!
- Boerewors
- Beautiful Port Elizabeth, with the clean beaches and friendly people
- "dop en chop" parties
- street vendors in Cape Town selling "appeltjies en uitjies"
- the African handshake - gotta know it!!!
- eating ice cream in Hermanus while watching the newly arrived whales
- the "platteland" and it's cultures and people

Framesby 86 said...

and Kate, guava rolls are made from the guava fruit that is pulped, pressed and the dried sheets are then rolled into fruit rolls. About a nice fat cigar size. They use all sorts of fruit to make these rolls from - apricots and pears are other popular fruit rolls.

Katie Possum said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Katie Possum said...

buddess: There's some good stuff in your list that was left out of previous posts. Oh, and the guava rolls: is that like those sugared fruit squares but rolled up?